Chicago's Christopher Sieber on His Love Affair with Hello, Dolly! & the 'Amazeballs' Carol Channing

Valentine’s Day is a yearly celebration of love—so what better way to mark the holiday than by asking stage stars to reminisce about the musical that sparked their love of theater? Read on for a treasure trove of musical memories and inspirational stories from your favorite Broadway actors.

CHRISTOPHER SIEBER (Billy Flynn in Chicago)

The musical that sparked my love of theater:
Hello, Dolly!

My first memory of this musical was:
It was the first musical I ever did as a freshman in high school. I had an amazing teacher who served as director: Henry Hebert, who became a very important mentor to me.

To this day, when I hear or see the show I…
...remember my first entrance playing Stanley, running down the rickety high school stairs, saying my line, "She's here!" and hearing the high school band playing that fabulous entrance music for Dolly as she come down the stairs. Sure, the band and the set and the acting were terrible, but it was so intoxicating!

The most memorable production I’ve seen of the musical is:
I saw Carol Channing do it on tour. I saw it about 10 times. OMG! It. Was. Carol. Channing. Amazeballs!

The closest I came to performing in this musical was:
I auditioned for the tour in 1994, but I was too young.

The last time I listened to the cast recording was:
Just now! I’m not kidding. I am a musical theater nerd.

The most romantic song from the show is:
"It Only Takes a Moment," because it really does only take a moment...

My dream cast of a Broadway revival would star:
Harvey Fierstein (Dolly Levi), Bill Clinton (Horace Vandergelder), Jennifer Cody (any role she wants), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Barnaby Tucker), Jeremy Jordan (Cornelius Hackl), Cady Huffman (Irene Malloy), Ryan Gosling (shirtless Ambrose Kemper) and me, reprising my role as Stanley. Directed by Mike Nichols and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell.

Click here for other theater stars' Showmance stories.