Michael McKean

Michael McKean is a big girl now. The man known for playing Lenny in Laverne & Shirley, starring as a wigged-out rocker in This Is Spinal Tap and appearing in Christopher Guest movies Best in Show, A Mighty Wind probably has the largest chest on the Great White Way. And one of the best dresses! That is because McKean is currently showing his stuff and donning a lot of extra bulk in Hairspray, having taken over for Harvey Fierstein as Edna Turnblad in early May. It's been a pretty terrific year for the actor--he won a Grammy for writing the title song of the movie A Mighty Wind with Guest and Eugene Levy, was nominated for an Oscar for penning that film's "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" with his wife, popular actress Annette O'Toole, and made his Broadway musical theater debut in a mega-hit musical. But in a recent phone chat with Broadway.com, it quickly became clear the size of McKean's ego does not approach that of his padded stomach.

You're already about two months into your Hairspray run. How's it going?
It's going really well. We do this show--this is what we do. It's nice to be part of this amazing bunch, who are just so on the money every night. These are just amazing young people. And people of a certain age… Dick Latessa. People of all varieties and stripes. Jackie Hoffman makes me laugh every night. Carly Jibson is amazing to watch. She is this kind of Tasmanian devil girl.

I love Carly, but I saw her on the tour and thought: 'She's going to run out of energy.'
It doesn't seem to be happening! I don't know where she is getting it. She's a funny little creature, that's all.

How did you get involved in Hairspray? Were you a big fan of the movie?
No. I mean I liked the movie. I think it's a really sweet and very cool movie, but I didn't know a lot about the musical. Marc [Shaiman] and Scott [Wittman] were at a party I was at, and they sang 'Timeless [to Me],' this is before the show had gone into rehearsals, and I thought it was wonderful. Then I saw the finale on the Tonys and I thought, 'Yeah, this looks great.' But I had never seen the show prior to being considered to do it. It just happened because somebody had the idea that I might be good in it.

That's cool.
I have this feeling about Broadway that it gets a hold of what it wants. Hopefully. Before I went and auditioned and did OK, I was really just another name in the hopper. But as for how I was scouted--who knows? I heard a rumor that it was Eugene Levy, but he denies it!

I assume you saw the show before you auditioned and witnessed Harvey Fierstein's iconic performance. Did it make you nervous?
I knew the simple fact that I wouldn't be hired to do a Harvey Fierstein impression, nor could I. I just assumed the license was there to do the character and get it right and have it make sense and get a lot of laughs. There are a lot of laughs in this show to be had. So I don't do too much thinking along those lines. I don't know whether that's germane. You get an opportunity to do a job and you think you can be funny in it and give people their money's worth every night--then that's what you go for. It has nothing to do with who did it before.

Did he help you out at all in the beginning?
When I met Harvey, he gave me a very logical theory about who these people were: this is a loving family. They really adore each other, but they have all these little issues and the show is all about how they collide with history and somehow get it right. It was a real nice breakdown of what needed to be done. He was extremely generous, helpful and very funny, too. I think Harvey really loves that he is an entertaining person. He gets off on it! So do we, so it's a good relationship.

And you have your own happy family to draw on. I always see you and Annette around town holding hands.
Well, it took us a while to find each other and we are kind of loathe to let go. She should do a Broadway show, too. She is this amazing singer, which she hasn't done a ton of in her career, but she has done some big jobs. She did Copacabana with Barry Manilow, and she played Tammy Wynette. She is primarily an actress, but she is this amazing creature.

You've been in films together and you've written things together. I know you two are writing a movie musical…
We like to do this together. We write a lot of our own stuff, and we love the same older stuff. We're kind of like a really low-budget Comden and Green.

You should bill yourself as that!
Yeah, especially the 'low-budget' part. That's always a good sales pitch! 'Looking for something cut-rate for date night?'

Well, I think it's good that Adolph [Green] never needed to shave his eyebrows. That may have been frightening. What do you have to shave to play Edna? Just the eyebrows?
I have to keep my arms kind of shaved,too--though my arms were never terribly hairy. Right now, I have some stubble on there, but I am letting it go for a while. I have to shave my legs up to my knee. I should go a little higher actually, but you know what? Shadows play a role. My back, but again, my back isn't exactly Ernest Borgnine territory. I can't wait to see what they all look like when they grow out--it's going to be quite remarkable.

You know the one thing I was really afraid of when I faced the reality that someone would have to replace Harvey? I was afraid someone would try to do his voice.
There is no way you can. It's a different set of gear than I got. I couldn't make that sound if I tried. He owns that. It's his trademark. He had a very off-color line in the show once: 'You just cleared my throat, now there goes my career.' Which is a pretty funny line, and it's true. It's a standout characteristic.

You also have your own Lenny Kosnowski [of Laverne & Shirley] voice that I thought you might use.
I wanted to keep it in as much of my own register as possible. It makes it easier to remember that way! Dialect and vocal choices are like lying, if you tell the truth, it's easier to remember.

You're one of the only straight guys to play this role.
I don't think that looms all that large in this legend frankly. I think it's traditionally a role for a guy and that goes back to Divine. There is something about the comic core of this show that it is a guy. As an actor, I try to break it down into what the real story is and make him a real story. It's kind of like, women always playing Peter Pan. Do you really think they go through a lot of gender thought? No! It's freakin' Peter Pan, guys. So I don't think it's huge. I mean if I actually had sex with Dick Latessa on the stage, then I think that would come into it. Otherwise, I am fine with it.

They should rewrite it for when Peter Scolari comes in. It could be a sexier, racier Hairspray.
Well there is still the movie! It could be Brad Pitt as Wilbur and, of course, Harvey.

I read a story where it said you only played drag in an ESPN spot. But, actually, you have more experience. You were in drag for the film Never Again, right?
Yes, I thought about that later. It's funny; I kind of compartmentalize it, I think. I thought of that as being a pre-op transsexual, which is not exactly the same. I thought of it in a different ballpark, but it's true.

You were a little scary looking in that if I remember correctly.
I know! It was pretty grotesque. Actually Lenny and Squiggy were in drag once also. David [Lander, who played Squiggy] did more than I did. He played a Spanish maid in a Rudolph Valentino parody and he also played his sister Squendolynn. This is all very important stuff. I hope you are taking this down! But I do know one time both Lenny and Squiggy got into drag. I looked a little like some guy doing a tribute to Gena Rowlands. It was completely non-sultry.

I am sure by now you are getting more used to the drag thing. Do you think your performance in Hairspray has been changing as you get settled?
I guess so. [Director] Jack O'Brien and [choreographer] Jerry Mitchell have come back and seen the show and they give notes. And there are also other people watching… You try and work on the notes as kind of new thoughts within what you have already developed. You learn to discard. It's all in service of making it real and making it flow like it is really happening, or else we're just clowning up there. You have to tell the people the story.

I think you tell the story well. You make it your own.
Well it can't be my own if it's also John Waters' and Jack O'Brien's and [librettists] Tom Meehan's and Mark O'Donnell's… and everyone who ever wrote a lick on the show, and the people who rehearsed it and developed it in the beginning. I make as much of Edna mine as possible. Listen, I think we all have an inner Edna. We all have someone who is maybe not presentable, maybe not a creature of great intelligence, but very loving and caring. That should be our hero--not the person with the $100 haircut.