Robert Cuccioli
Robert Cuccioli became king of the Broadway power ballad in the late 1990s as the star of Frank Wildhorn's Jekyll & Hyde. Now, after a long absence from the New York stage, Cuccioli is delivering ballads of a very different sort in the off-Broadway revival of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. Instead of "This Is the Moment," Cuccioli performs songs in which he confesses his preference for dogs over women ("Girls and Dogs"), laments his bad luck at romance ("Jackie") and looks back at life from beyond the grave ("Funeral Tango"). Performed at the intimate Zipper Theater, Jacques Brel provides a welcome change of pace for the 48-year-old actor. In recent years, Cuccioli has kept busy with lead roles at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey including Brutus in Julius Caesar and the title role in Macbeth opposite longtime love Laila Robins as well as starring in revivals of Guys and Dolls, The Sound of Music, Victor/Victoria and Funny Girl at the Paper Mill Playhouse. Over coffee at a theater district Starbucks, Cuccioli chatted about what he's been up to—and why he's happy to spend the summer in the world of Brel.
Were you familiar with Jacques Brel before joining this production?
Yes and no. I was introduced to songs like "Fanette" and "Amsterdam" when I got into the business, but I didn't know anything about Brel or the show itself.
Audiences think of you as the ultimate interpreter of a certain type of show-stopping anthem. What appeals to you about Brel's more esoteric songs?
They're really actable, and that appeals to me more than fluff. I've been in this business for 20-odd years, and I've become known for one thing [Jekyll & Hyde] that happened to throw me into the forefront. One of the reasons I wanted to do this show was because it broke some ground in terms of how people think of me in New York.
Were your character's songs set, or did you mix and match?
It was set. Gordon Greenberg, our director, had done the show at Capital Rep and he pretty much designed what it was going to be. There have been additions and deletions since the original was done in the '60s and '70s. One change we made was the addition of "Girls and Dogs" for me because we needed something a little lighter at that point.
You perform the evening's most challenging songs—and many of them present men in a not-so-flattering light.
It's interesting that you thought that. You could look at it the other way around, too, that Brel had a low regard of women. A song like "Girls and Dogs" can come across very misogynistic, so you have to find the charm and the love of women in it even though it's a put-down to some extent. But there are a lot of songs about the loss a man feels when he's thwarted by love. I think there's a balance.
My vision of the perfect collaboration is that the director hires the actors because they have the qualities he is looking for, and he trusts the actors to give their own interpretations. Then it's the actor's job to throw three or four ideas for how to do a certain song into the mix, and the director will help shape the pieces together.
Long before Jacques Brel, you were in one of the greatest revues I ever saw, And the World Goes 'Round, featuring the songs of Kander and Ebb. What's the key to making this type of show work?
You're handed the material on a platter, and when you're talking about Kander and Ebb or Jacques Brel it's brilliant material, so that in itself makes it work when good actors are doing the songs. And when you design the piece, especially when you're dealing with something that can be considered dated, you have to find a way to make it accessible to a modern-day audience. Fortunately, Brel is not dated at all. Because when you look at things like the war, or everyday things like the loss of a loved one, these are contemporary issues we're dealing with. So we're able to reach a modern audience, not just the audience that knew Brel before but a younger generation.
Did you expect the show to be a commercial success?
Anything is a crapshoot, but I think the producers felt they would have an audience of people who knew the show before. A lot of people think this music is dark and intense, but there's much more variety to it. It's very witty, and what's lovely is you actually walk out of the theater feeling something, which you don't often get. It's a beautiful piece.
When people hear your name, they might ask, "What has he been up to since Jekyll & Hyde?" but you've done a lot of very demanding parts—just not in New York.
It's been four years since I did an off-Broadway play, but I've been working regionally quite a bit, doing a lot of varied things including Shakespeare. Jekyll & Hyde gave me the cachet and allowed people to take a risk using me because I bring a "name" and also somewhat of an audience. I've had the chops to do these other things, but I haven't had the opportunity. So it's been great to exercise those muscles and get people to see me as a varied performer vs. just a singer. You know, a lot of people considered Jekyll & Hyde a melodrama and so I needed to shake up the whole idea that that's all I do. The past few years have been a learning process for me.
Do you think theater people in New York are aware of the fact that you've done all these great roles in New Jersey? And does it bother you that you haven't done them here?
Does it bother me? I don't know. I haven't been working for the rest of the world, I've been working for me. It's been good for me and it's made me grow as an actor. Yeah, I would love to do that kind of stuff in New York. Absolutely. And people look at my resume and say the same thing—they're surprised at all the stuff that's been going on that they haven't known about. But that will all happen.
I'm thinking in particular about Macbeth, which you starred in two years ago. People write about Liev Schreiber, who just did it in Central Park, as if he's one of the few people in America who can carry a Shakespeare production, which obviously is not true.
That's right. Not to take anything away from Liev, but one of the unfortunate things about Broadway is they go for name people to draw an audience. That's not the way Broadway used to be. And because of that, there are a lot of very talented, stage-savvy performers who don't get opportunities. I hope that will change.
What a contrast in the spaces you've performed in, from the vast Paper Mill Playhouse to the Zipper Theater on 37th Street!
It's night and day. This theater is so intimate that you can't fake anything. It's like TV or movie acting with music. I love having the audience right there, as disconcerting as it may be when they're not responding. It's a very truthful environment. A theater like Paper Mill brings its own challenges because you're performing at a much bigger level. To be able to pull the audience's focus into a show without having to say "Hey, look at me" presents an interesting challenge, too. I love that just as much. Both are very hard work.
I read somewhere that you were a business major in college and worked on Wall Street. What did you do?
I worked for E.F. Hutton. In the '80s, companies like Hutton and Merrill Lynch and Shearson Lehman Brothers developed offshoot organizations that would cater to their very wealthy clientele. We created a book that explained a five-year plan of what we would do for them.
You were a financial planner.
Yeah, pretty much. I was a member of that group for about two years but while I was doing that, I was getting into my involvement with the theater, so I did both for about a year.
Yeah, but I never thought of doing it as a career until my senior year.
So how did your family feel about your move into acting? Were they supportive?
No, they were not. My sisters were very supportive but my parents? No. They had a hard time with it. They came around when I worked with Richard Harris [in the tour of Camelot], an actor of their generation that they considered a star.
A decade later, you were the star of Jekyll & Hyde. Looking back, was the show a mixed blessing?
It was mixed in that it brought me to the forefront and it was a major success, but people either really, really loved it or really, really hated it. And because people had a certain opinion about it, whether they saw it or not, I reflected that opinion somehow. The long hair kind of got in the way. Even now, I run into people on the street who say, "I didn't recognize you without the long hair." And I'm like, "Come on folks—get with the program!" So, yeah, it was a mixed blessing. But it all worked out. I felt that I left the show at my peak. Also, I was kind of sung out. It was the most vocally demanding role I have ever played. Since then, nothing else has really been that much of a problem. I feel like I can sing anything.
Was it a disappointment that you were not in the DVD of the show, which featured David Hasselhoff?
Yeah, I would like to have done it, but I'm so much about water under the bridge—I can't really get upset about that kind of stuff.
Would you want to work on another Frank Wildhorn show?
Sure, I love Frank's music.
Luckily for you, you didn't do Dracula.
Let's not discuss that one.
Haven't you been mentioned for other Wildhorn shows?
I don't know. He writes things that he says he has me in mind for, but who knows what will come to fruition.
Do you still have the big group of obsessive fans?
I have very loyal fans. I've never had to call the police. [laughs]
You started the trend of the overly involved Broadway fan.
Oh, I don't know. I've got a lot of loyal people who come to see me in whatever I do. They've seen Brel many times, and they love it.
It ain't Jekyll & Hyde!
But that's what's wonderful about them. They've seen everything that I've done. Everything. All around the country. They're very supportive and they've grown with me and enjoy everything I do. What's cool, too, is that they've embraced the rest of the [Brel] cast. It's funny because Drew Sarich also has a group of fans, and some of them have joked that there's going to be a throwdown one day between my fans and Drew's fans. I said, "I don't think so!" Besides, my fans would win. They've been great.
And you've been able to keep your relationship with them at an appropriate level.
Yes, it hasn't gone to a bad place. I've only had to deal with one obsessive person and that never happened again.
Are you still dating the lovely and talented Ms. Laila Robins, coming soon to Broadway in Heartbreak House?
Yes, I am.
Did you two meet by working together?
No, we were together for two years before we actually worked together. We had both worked at the New Jersey Shakespeare Theater and we were doing a fund-raising gala for them. We hit it off then but it took a good two years before we found a way to work together in a production of Antony and Cleopatra at the Guthrie. We've been together for about six years.
So… are your families bugging you to take the next step?
Well, my parents are no longer around but everyone is patient. [laughs] It's going well.
Are both of you on the same page about the status of the relationship?
Yes, yes. It's great. [smiles]
How do you avoid competitive feelings?
Well, she's a woman and I'm a man, so we can't do the same roles. Of course if one of us is working more than the other, you get that feeling that you wish something was going on for you. But we're not competitive. I'm very supportive of everything she does and her successes and she is for me too. It's been a good team.
The first time we did it, we had to lay some ground rules because her style is different from my style and her needs are different from mine and we needed to talk about that.
How so?
Just how we work in rehearsal. We made a pact not to talk about work when we were not working. You talk about it to some extent but you're not bantering about the ideas all night long. You have life to deal with, as well. Antony and Cleopatra was very much about finding our sea legs working together, but since then we've done a number of readings and also Fiction at the McCarter and the Scottish play [Macbeth] at New Jersey Shakespeare. We work well together and we really respect each other.
Okay, I'll stop prying about your personal life, but tell me something nice about Laila. Brag on her talent for me.
She's a very intense, heartfelt performer. What I love about her is that when you work with her onstage, she's right there. Have you ever heard the expression "tossing the ball"? She's a ball tosser. When I throw something, she throws it back. Unfortunately, that's kind of rare with performers. You throw a ball to somebody and they hang out with it for a while. She's a really good partner.
What's your life like when you're not working?
That's one of the problems of working. For me, when I'm doing a musical, your day is about doing the job. A lot of people think, "You work for two hours a day" but your day starts when you wake up in the morning and you say, "How do I feel, and how do I have to gear my day to feel like performing tonight?" I have to work out and find time to vocalize for an hour and a half during the day because the Brel music is demanding. There's not a whole lot of time for extracurricular activities.
If you could do any project in New York next, what would it be?
I would love to do a play. Whatever the role may be, I think it needs to be opposite to Jekyll & Hyde. Because people still have an idea of me, and I'd like to shake it up.
See Robert Cuccioli in Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris at the Zipper Theatre.
