Alexander Hanson on Wooing an Oscar Winner in A Little Night Music
Age: 48
Hometown: “I was born in Oslo, Norway, but now live in the suburbs of Southwest London, right near the River Thames. It’s lovely part of the world.”
Currently: Making his Broadway debut as Fredrik Egerman, one-time lover of Oscar winner Catherine Zeta-Jones’ Desiree Armfeldt, in the first Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music.
How to Succeed in Business: The oldest of three boys raised by his mother and stepfather, a successful casino entrepreneur, Hanson explains that as a child, he never considered performing. “We were a business family. Theater was pie in the sky kind of stuff.” Appropriately, after boarding school he ended up at hotel school in Paris. But while studying the hospitality industry at the upscale Ritz Paris, Hanson found himself more interested in the artists he met in nearby Saint-Michel. “One day, a musician asked me what I did. When I told him I was to be a businessman, he laughed and said, ‘You are not a businessman.’” The exchange left Hanson questioning his future. “Sometimes all it takes is one person to put an important thought in your head, and he did.”
Down and Out in London: Faced with an existential crisis, Hanson did what many others do: “I ran away!” he admits. “I quit hotel school, had a falling out with my family and ended up squatting in London without the slightest clue as to what I would do.” Adrift, Hanson decided to give acting a go. “It seemed a great way to meet girls,” he jokes. “And I’d done one show in boarding school. I forgot all my lines, but really enjoyed performing, so [drama] seemed worth trying.” The young vagabond started auditioning for schools—and getting callbacks. Encouraged, he patched things up with his parents and eventually enrolled in (and graduated from) Guildhall School of Music and Drama. “At some point afterwards my uncle told me, ‘We always knew you’d be an actor.’ I wish someone had told me!”
An Actor’s Life for Me: Hanson’s star rose when he caught the eye of A Little Night Music director Trevor Nunn, who cast him as Septimus Hodge in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia on the West End in 1994. The play led to four more Hanson-Nunn collaborations, including his current role and the part of Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard. Hanson’s most high-profile gig, as Captain Von Trapp in 2006’s revival of The Sound of Music (which found its Maria, Connie Fisher, via the BBC reality TV show How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?), was almost a bust. “I was called three days before opening to replace Captain Von Trapp, who had left during previews. I was so consumed with learning the lines, I didn’t realize that my debut, due to the reality TV factor, would be on national television. I showed up for my first show, with a cast I’d never met, and there were news cameras—and I panicked. I wrote the lyrics to ‘Edelweiss’ on my hand! Thankfully I made it through just fine.”
You Must Meet My Wife: During his transition from “average jobbing actor” to West End regular, Hanson met fellow trouper and future Tony Award nominee (for Amy’s View) Samantha Bond, known to movie audiences as Miss Moneypenny in Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond films. “I know this is so odd and corny, but I remember thinking, ‘I’d like this woman to be the mother of my children.’” Bond was clearly open to the idea. The pair got engaged during her starring run opposite Kenneth Branagh in Much Ado About Nothing, and 20 years later, they have a teen son and daughter. “Sadly, yes, they’re both interested in performing—my daughter just played Lady Macbeth at school,” Hanson says of his brood. “But it is the family business and they’re both quite good at it. You can’t say no to these things.”
The Dream Job: Having played young Henrik in a regional production of A Little Night Music early in his career, Hanson admits he always wanted to play Fredrik, a distinguished lawyer wooing an old flame. Director Nunn granted his wish when he tapped Hanson for the show’s Menier Chocolate Factory revival in 2008, which transferred to the West End before crossing to Broadway (Hanson is the only Londoner to jump with the show). “Fredrik is swaggering, urbane, fun to play—he is so very bright, and I am so very not. Plus I like having gray in my hair. I feel as close to George Clooney as I’ll ever look!” As for making his debut opposite another Broadway newcomer, Catherine Zeta-Jones? “She is a global icon, and so is Desiree, so it’s a natural match. And come on—every night I get to rekindle amazing emotions with beautiful women and sing the most beautiful Sondheim songs. It’s rather a dream job, don’t you think?”
