Q&A: Rent Star Adam Pascal

When Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp take the stage at the Nederlander Theatre for a six-week return engagement as Rent's dynamic duo Roger and Mark, the roles they created 11 years ago, the show's fans (and certainly its producers) will rejoice. But what's the attraction for the two stars? To hear the lively and always candid Pascal tell it, the short answer is...fun. After years of career angst, Pascal is returning to Rent in a happy frame of mind, both professionally and personally. The 36-year-old actor is working on his third album and has carved a successful niche touring college campuses with a show that combines his own music and unique arrangements of a few show tunes. He's contentedly settled in Los Angeles with his wife, Cybele, and their two boys, Lennon (age 5½) and Monte (3½). And a funny thing happened when Pascal gave up obsessing about stardom: He started getting cast in independent films and found an appreciative audience for the songs he writes and performs on the road with collaborator Larry Edoff. Just before his return to Broadway, Pascal gave Broadway.com an unvarnished view of his career, the musical roles he'd love to do and his enduring identification with Rent.

Let's get the basic question out of the way: Why did you want to come back to Rent?
Well, I didn't know I wanted to do it until I actually decided to do it. I had moved to L.A. but I'm in New York this summer making a record and I kind of missed Broadway. So I said to myself, maybe I could do a short stint in some show, six or eight weeks, while I'm here. I could work at the same time. Not that making a record isn't working, but actually making money! [Laughs.] But none of the roles I was interested in were available.

Such as?
Such as the Phantom of the Opera. I wanted to play the Phantom terribly—I still do actually. I went in and sang for them. I have to say I sang great, but the part is not available; that's unfortunately the situation.

I'd read that you were interested in playing Billy Flynn in Chicago.
Oh yeah. That was another one. Before the thing with Rent happened, I said, "What about Chicago? Could I get in that? They put everyone else in it!" Anyway, Jeffrey Seller, one of the producers of Rent, and I are working together on another project and he knew how I felt. At one point, I sort of jokingly said to him in an e-mail, "Hey, maybe I'll come back to Rent, ha ha ha."

I bet that perked his ears up!
Well, it kind of did, I guess! [Laughs.] The timing was perfect because Jeffrey had a six-week window—the New York Mark and Roger were leaving and in six weeks he's bringing new Mark and Rogers to replace them. He said he wanted to ask Anthony [Rapp], and asked if I would be interested. And I said, "You know what? Absolutely." What could be better, really? It's exactly what I was looking for. How lucky am I?

You don't have any feeling that you and Anthony are coming back to close the show?
Oh god, no. Not at all. They certainly aren't raking it in the way they once did, but the show is cheap to run. I'm not commenting on what they're paying me, but in general, they're not hiring Bernadette Peters for 30 grand a week.

At one point, you seemed to rebel against being identified with Rent. I assume that's not an issue for you now.
You know what? It was an issue. And I think it was unfortunately a self-created, ego-driven head trip that I put on myself. Once Rent became so huge, I made mistakes that were immaturity-driven and stupid. Hopefully I've learned from that. I've gotten older, I got married and had children, and my perspective on life and career and everything completely changed. I am having a great life. I have a great family. I realize that I made a lot of mistakes when I was younger.

Like what?
I was interested in music and nothing else; I was driven because I'd been working my entire life to get that record deal and become that rock star, and I was sure [Rent] would do it. When it didn't, that was very difficult. Then it was like, "What do I do now? Uh, OK, I'm an actor now?" For a long time I didn't want to do that, and I was not excelling because I was resisting it yet still half-heartedly trying to do it. My unhappiness was self-created. I didn't realize that I could have a fun, exciting career and not have to be the A-list celebrity who makes millions and millions of dollars. When you set off on the road in the way that [the original cast of Rent] did, it's like "Holy shit, this is it! We just hit the lottery! This is the road to superstardom!" It takes a little bit of maturity and experience to go through that and be able to say, "You know what? That's not the way life is. That was great and we were very lucky, but now let's try and have a career."

So how do you feel about playing Roger again at this point in your life?
I love it. I'm really excited to do it, and I'm glad it's a short amount of time because I won't get tired of it. Every show will be a lot of fun, and that's the way I want to remember Rent. I had a great experience making the movie, but by the end of my last stage experience with Rent. I was feeling tired and busted and broken. I look forward to having my final memories of the show being that I really enjoyed myself.

How important was it for Anthony to come back and play Mark again as well?
For me, it was vital. It's going to make the experience so much more special. I feel that it's more justified if both of us are there.

You said once that you didn't want to be in Rent with a bunch of kids, but the current cast seems to have a range of ages.
I don't know when I said that; it must have been a few years ago when I was in a headspace of "I'll never go back to that show." I'm sure if you asked Taye [Diggs] or Idina [Menzel] or Jesse [Martin], "Will you ever go back into Rent?" they would say "God no, no way, never." I don't feel that way anymore. I think a lot of that is ego-driven: "I can't go back. That's going backwards." I don't feel like I'm going backwards, I feel like I've come full circle. I'm a different person now, I have a different life, so I can go back into it feeling emotionally fresh and just have fun doing it, like it was off-Broadway. That's an amazing gift, to be able to get that feeling again.

Are you enjoying working with Tamyra Gray as Mimi?
Yeah, she's a great singer and she's beautiful and open and genuine on stage. Everyone in the cast right now seems to really love the show, and they also seem to love each other; that's an important part of what makes this show work. Some shows can get by just on having talented people in the cast and others need talented people who enjoy being with each other. I think Rent is one of those shows.

Would you ever have dreamed that Rent would run on Broadway for 11 years?
Of course not. But I never would have thought anything that happened with the show would have happened. The whole thing has been amazing from day one.

What are your memories of the 10th anniversary performance last year?
It was just a blast. Again, that's part of why I said, "Yeah, I can do this again," because I had so much fun doing it for the anniversary. I sort of thought that that was the end of the saga, if you will, because I literally moved to California the next morning with my family; I was like, "Wow, that's an interesting end." But now that I'm doing it again with Anthony, I'm so glad this is how it went.

Have you seen very many other people do the show?
No, I have not seen it a lot. I've probably seen, like, three Rogers do it.

You're the best Roger ever, right?
Of course I would say that! But anybody would say that about themselves. Obviously I helped create this role, and Radames in Aida, but I don't feel the kind of connection in which if I see somebody else do the part I say, "Oh, he's not doing that right; Radames would never do that!" I love the characters, I have fun doing them and I feel humbled when it's referred to as "you created the role." But I don't really feel like I created anything. Jonathan [Larson] created the role of Roger. I was just the guy who sang it, you know? It's not like Rain Man or Sling Blade or any of those parts where the actor really does disappear and you see this other person.

Okay, tell me your true opinion of the movie version of Rent.
I love the movie. Do I have issues with it? Of course, with little things here and there. I think when Roger goes to Santa Fe and his hair's blowing in the car and he's on the mountaintop [singing "What You Own"], that's all kind of stupid. But you know what? As silly as it is, everything [director] Chris Columbus did was so heartfelt and came from a place of love. He loved the material so much and wanted this to be the best movie. My opinion is biased because I think about how much of himself he put into the film, and I know how devastated he is that it didn't do well.

How difficult was the box-office failure of the movie for you personally?
Look, you certainly want to approach it as, "I'm being pragmatic and I'm not thinking about that," but of course in the back of your mind, you are. If that movie had become a huge hit, lots of stuff would have come easier. But I wouldn't be where I am right now in my life, and I'm so happy with everything that I'm doing. Sure, maybe I would have gotten some stupid part on Grey's Anatomy and I'd have made a lot of money, but there's more to life than that.

What's your life like in L.A.?
I have an amazing family and an amazing wife; we're such a team. She does a lot of sacrificing for me, and I do a lot for her. When I'm home, I'm home 24/7. I'm a hands-on parent in every way. Then when I work, I'm gone, either on tour with my music or doing a film somewhere. That can be hard for the boys, but I spend a lot of time with them when I'm there, which I love. I'm a total homebody. We've created a great life for ourselves there. I was born and raised in New York, so I thought I was going to hate California but I love it.

Is your older son, Lennon, going into kindergarten?
He's going into first grade.

Are the boys like you?
They both look like me. They're incredible. Obviously, people can't stop gushing about their kids, so I'll just leave it at saying they are the most amazing people I know.

You've been walking an interesting tightrope between the rock-oriented music of your first two albums and more theatrical material. How do you balance those two sides of yourself?
The "Broadway State of Mind" show I do, which is what Jeffrey Seller is involved in, explores that connection. There's no original material, it's just interpretations of musical theater stuff and also artists like Elton John and Billy Joel and Pink Floyd and Zeppelin. I make a connection between the type of music I grew up listening to, which is vital in who I am, and the musical theater stuff that I find so appealing. The line between the two is the concept behind that show. Then I have my original music show, which is called "Me & Larry." I've been touring colleges and performing arts centers with a songwriter named Larry Edoff, and that's the record I'm making in town right now.

Give us a preview of the new recording.
It's all original material that Larry and I have written together. We've been playing a fair amount of it on these tours, and the response has been really, really great. We're hoping [the CD] will be out by the new year.

You also sing a few theater songs in your college shows, such as "What I Did for Love" and "Maria," which is a fascinating choice.
I picked them because… actually I should say they picked me in a way. I played the emcee in Cabaret, so "Maybe This Time" was always a song I loved to sing. I've never been particularly into West Side Story, but I heard Billy Porter sing "Maria" once and his version was so great. I listened to the song again, and this bass line came to me; I did a jazzy arrangement and then Larry wrote a piano part, and "Maria" became this strange jazz tune, which is a lot of fun to play.

Who's the market for your music? Rent fans? Older people?
I have a broad age spectrum of fans who seem to be interested in whatever I do. They will come because it's me, which is an extraordinary position. When you're in a rock band or on a label, you're trying to define yourself to a national market; there's so much politics that gets in the way. You have to think, "Are my fans going to like this?" I don't write for anyone in particular, thinking "the young girls will love this" or "the 40-year-old gay guys will love this." I'm genuinely thankful for my fans.

Could you see yourself coming back to New York to open a Broadway show?
Here's the problem: If I knew I was going to be in a show that was running for a year, sure, I would relocate my family to New York. Unfortunately, that's not the way it seems to work. Before you have a guaranteed run on Broadway, you spend a year doing workshops and development—and unfortunately, I can't get involved in that kind of stuff. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place because I can't relocate my family to do workshops of a musical that may or may not happen. I get shut out of a lot of stuff because I'm not willing to do that.

What kinds of projects are you pursuing in California?
I've done two films since I've been in L.A. One is called American Primitive and the other is called Goyband. I don't know what's going to happen with either one. You know, you make these independent films and then they go off and try to sell them and try to get them into festivals and all that stuff. I hope either one sees the light of day.

So, you've managed to find a way to enjoy acting as well as singing.
It's interesting—in California, it's all about TV, TV, TV. I just didn't want to do that. I never did. And when I finally got out there, it was like, "OK, pilot season!" It made me miserable, and I had panic attacks before all these stupid auditions. Finally, I said, "Forget it. I'm not doing it." And as soon as I decided that, number one, I felt so much better, and then positive things started happening with the music and the movies and now this [return to Rent]. I realized that you can't be afraid of trying to do something—or of not trying to do something.