Will Chase on Marriage, Music & Raising Hell in Billy
Will Chase, the Broadway vet who’s made a career of hits like Miss Saigon, Rent, Aida and The Full Monty, is back at the Imperial Theater. For Chase, the return is bittersweet—the Imperial is attached to the memory of High Fidelity, his would-be star vehicle which ended up closing after 13 performances in 2006. Today, he’s playing rabble-rousing brother Tony in the Tony Award-winning megahit Billy Elliot. Sitting in the house before a recent performance, the actor acknowledges his homecoming has been a bit surreal—and volunteers his take on a few career disappointments, including last season’s short-lived Broadway tuner, The Story of My Life. But the conversation is not all maudlin flashbacks, especially since Chase is so amped about his current place in life. Here’s the dish on what new musical he’s most excited about, how the Billy Elliot gang unwinds and how Chase pulled off a marriage proposal dramatic enough for a Broadway show of its own.
So how’s it been playing big bro to Billy?
Awful. It’s horrible to be in a Broadway hit [laughs]. Of course I love it. I hadn’t even seen the show yet when they called me to do it, and I can honestly say I was blown away from moment one. It’s brilliant freakin’ storytelling and choreography. And then there’s the phenomenal kids. What those boys do is on the same level as playing Hamlet or Othello or King Lear…plus dancing. The material is epic.
Tattoos are supposed to be a no-no for actors, but I’m noticing you’ve got several big ones.
I’ve got four, which is more than most: my two daughters’ names, Daisy and Gracie, linked together, this [scroll] saying ‘Spirit, Love, Grace,’ which also happens to be the initials of my fiancée [actress Stephanie Gibson]; the first one on my shoulder and one on my foot. Tattoos might be a technical no-no, but on the last few projects I’ve done they’re not an issue. In Story of My Life I had my shirt on the whole time. Rent? Of course Roger had tattoos. For Billy, it makes sense that a blue collar guy like Tony has them. Whenever I’m playing a lawyer or someone similar I just keep them covered. My agent freaked when I put the scroll down my arm, but hey, Johnny Depp’s got tons of tattoos! Granted, I’m not a huge movie star, but I like to think if I’m the best guy for a part I’ll get it regardless.
I heard you recently pulled off a perfect, movie-style marriage proposal.
I did it right in
It seems like it can be difficult for two actors to stay together. Fact or fiction?
We’re pretty easygoing. We’re in different places in our careers—I don’t want to say I’m bitter, but I’m certainly more cautious, given certain experiences. She, on the other hand, is starting out. So we balance each other very well. She keeps me excited about being in show business.
You’ve been involved some projects that didn’t play out ideally. Are those what make you more “cautious”?
Well, that depends on what projects you’re referring to [laughs]. Let’s be honest—we’re talking Story of My Life, High Fidelity and Lennon, right?
I don’t want to offend you, but yes.
I’m not offended; let’s go for it. Did those shows go how I thought they would? Not necessarily. But I never started doing this to play it safe, and if I could do all of it over again I’d still take those projects in a heartbeat. Every one were original characters I was excited about. You know, I don’t read reviews until after I’m done with a production, but when I do finally get to them I’m always sort of floored by what the bad ones say. I’ll read bad stuff about something that excited me and go, “Am I just dumb? What are they seeing that I didn’t?”
Do you ever agree with the bad reviews, looking back?
Story of My Life was essentially a two-man musical play. In hindsight, I don’t know if there was room for a two-man musical on Broadway. But for me, it was a chance to do a challenging piece by two guys I really respect opposite the amazing Malcolm Gets, so why would I have turned that down? Sometimes I think, “Maybe we should have done Lennon downtown.” I don’t know why some shows get a pass and others don’t—there’s shows running now that don’t move me. But I don’t stress about it.
Is there any show you felt didn’t deserve the criticism?
High Fidelity? That was hard. This is the same theater High Fidelity went up in, and the doorman here has the original Playbill from that show posted on the wall. I have to walk by it every day just to get to my dressing room. I’m like, "You gotta be kidding me!"
Even without reviews, there’s a lot of stress in being a theater actor. How do you decompress?
My girls, Daisy and Gracie, are 10 and 8, so we hang out most of the time. Girls are wonderful at this age. I’m terrified of when they turn 13 and start hating me, but right now they’re beautiful and easy. I watch [co-star] Greg Jbara with his sons, who are similar in age, and they’re so full of energy—just tiny, crazy people—that my head spins. Of course, they’ll calm down right around the same age my girls want to start dating and decide they hate me, so it’s all relative. Your decompression really comes when you have a great cast like Billy Elliot’s, where you spend time together and make your own fun.
How does the Billy Elliot gang kick back?
There’s a gazillion people in this cast, so there’s always something. There are going-away parties for departing cast members, birthdays for the kids, trips to our stage manager Charlie’s lake house when we need to get away from the city. Half the cast went paintballing together recently.
Did you paintball?
Oh no. I needed to decompress, and if I had been there I would have been hardcore. No mercy! I’d be covered in bruises right now. The other way to unwind is to just meet up with your friends in other shows. You’re all stuck on the same schedule, so you have a built in network of people who are off when you are.
You’re a music junkie. Anything cool on the iPod right now?
I’m such a huge Green Day fan. Their new album is awesome, and I’m so excited about their American Idiot hitting the stage out at Berkeley Rep. To have that band be attached to a show that Michael Mayer is directing and Tom Kitt is musically supervising? Oh man, it’s going to be stupid good. That album [American Idiot] alone is genius—“fuck-you” punk, with a grown-up story. It’s like the new Quadrophenia. I cannot freaking wait for that show to land. I’m also a Metallica guy, and I’ve been following Rush for about 20 years, so they’re frequently played on the iPod. I used to live on the Upper West Side, and having that metal cranking while you’re walking the streets of New York is the best. I’m a drummer, I can’t help it.
So you’re a metal head who still finds room to love razzle-dazzle Broadway?
Being exposed to the diversity of music I was as a kid made me the actor I am today. As an actor you have to adapt and do so many different things. You go from singing rock in Rent to doing something more legit, and you have to be able to switch. Look at Greg Jbara! I’ve watched him work for years, always switching. He’s literally a different human being when he’s onstage in Billy Elliot. That’s the fun of what we do.
Is Tony a departure from what you usually play?
No, it’s ramped-up, angry young man [laughs]. But I will say, as someone who loves to sing, that it’s nice not to have to sing that much. Honestly! I sing about 25 bars in the whole show by myself. It’s like playing Mercutio [in Romeo and Juliet]. I get to come on, sing a few bars, be the impassioned antagonist, go offstage and let then let the hero take care of the rest. It’s not a bad gig, is it?
See Will Chase in Billy Elliot at the Imperial Theatre.
