Q&A - Matthew Morrison
Let's get the obvious out of the way first: Matthew Morrison is really good-looking. And, refreshingly enough, this popular Broadway star has a playful attitude about his handsomeness, admitting that he reigned as prom king (and dated the head cheerleader) at Orange County High School of the Arts before tackling the Broadway version of B.M.O.C. as Link Larkin in Hairspray. Of course, it takes a lot more than a dazzling smile to snag a Tony nomination (for The Light in the Piazza) and the coveted role of Lt. Joe Cable in Lincoln Center Theater's smash-hit revival of South Pacific. Morrison is also gifted with a beautiful voice, a natural ease on the stage and the ability to create chemistry with all kinds of acting partners, remaining friends with them after the shows close. These days, his home away from home is a small but comfy dressing room beneath the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in which his bicycle and a huge exercise ball share space with Lt. Cable's pressed khaki wardrobe. Morrison's conversational style is sweetly boyish and teasing, but he's serious about his devotion to musical theater.
Before South Pacific started, did you realize you were heading into the biggest hit of the season?
Not at all. I was coming to do the show because of the writers' strike in L.A., plus the chance to work with [director] Bart [Sher] again at Lincoln Center, which is my favorite place to work; I had such a good experience with The Light in the Piazza. But I had no idea it would be like this. I wasn't that familiar with South Pacific, to be honest. I knew the songs, but I didn't know they were all from this show. It's one hit after another. It's crazy!
You didn't realize you were playing one of the most famous musical roles for a young leading man?
Really, you think so?
Yes.
Well, then, no, I guess I didn't [laughs].
I think she was [nervous] because she wanted to put her own spin on it. I did, too. I did my research on the part, and I wanted to make him a little darker than Joe Cables have been in the past.
Lt. Cable is the most perfect, humorless person, and from everything I've read, that's not you.
I'm pretty perfect! How dare you! [Laughs.]
Perfect in the sense of being a straight-arrow Princeton man.
That's not me? Where do you get this information from? [Laughs.] Seriously, as an actor, I feel lost in my personal life. I don't know where I'm going to be in six months. I live in L.A., I live here, I live wherever I'm shooting something. I feel very lost. But this guy? Yes, he's as straight as an arrow, but he's really lost. I feel good about myself playing this guy because he's got a lot of issues with what's going on in his life. The whole "You've got to be carefully taught" idea—he's full of questions about where to go and what's right and wrong. So I enjoy playing him because I feel like he's worse off than I am [laughs].
Aren't you the most eligible bachelor in New York?
Am I?
Yes.
Well, my phone's not ringing! [Laughs.] That's news to me. Why don't you tell all the women about it?
How long will you stay with South Pacific?
I just signed on until January 4. Creatively, I have a hard time sticking with shows, but with this one, right now I'm in the best place I've been. Maybe a month ago, I finally realized who this guy was.
What changed?
I don't know. Something just clicked one day. Another thing about this guy that I really connect with is he's alone. He doesn't hang out with people in the show; I don't get to be in all the "guy" numbers. I'm kind of on my own little journey, and I like that. You know, the best part about doing theater is that you're constantly learning. At every performance, you're given a line differently or you're giving a line differently and you're able to really create a character. I'm never totally happy with what I end up with on TV and film because you only get a couple of shots at it. Theater is the place to really develop as a performer. I'm in my zone now, and I feel so good and so happy.
This is the latest in a long line of romantic roles you've played. Is that a challenge?
Yeah. [Pauses.] No! My first instinct was to say, "Yeah, it's hard to play that," but I'm a very romantic person; at least I like to think of myself that way. I think it comes naturally to me.
What about the idea of falling in love at first sight? Does that make sense to you?
No. Honestly, that is the hardest part of the show for me. In the script, [Cable and Liat] see each other, and we're having sex in half a page. To get all that out—everything that needs to be said—with, like, three lines is ridiculously hard. I guess I accomplish it every night, but I feel self-conscious about it. Because I don't really believe in that. I believe in lust at first sight.
You've had some unusual onstage romances—not the actresses, but the situations.
Completely! [Laughs.] With a hefty girl; with a girl who's been kicked in the head by a horse; with a teenager, in essence, in this one. Yeah! It's interesting, but I actually like that.
You mentioned South Pacific's many hits. Do you enjoy singing a song as well known as "Younger Than Springtime"?
Yes, but there's a lot of pressure to sing it right. Actors sometimes forget words, and you can't in this show because everyone knows every single word of every song; they know when you mess up, and they have an expectation about every song. But I love the fact that the songs I sing in this show have such weight.
You have interesting connections to the Rodgers family, having done The Light in the Piazza [composed by Mary Rodgers' son Adam Guettel]…
…and I did the Once Upon a Mattress movie, so I've worked under [Mary Rodgers] in every single capacity. I have a really cool relationship with her. She's an amazing woman, and I know she likes how I sing!
Do you enjoy performing in this cavernous theater?
I love it. I equate working at Lincoln Center to playing for the Yankees. You know you're going to be taken care of; you know they're going to surround you with an amazing team. I love getting out of the show at night and not being dumped into Times Square. I feel like we're in our own little world up here. It's just really high-quality theater. And the [Beaumont] stage—I know it's huge, but it's so much fun to act on. There's nothing you can't do on that stage because it is so vast but it can also be so intimate with the audience surrounding you. There's no other theater like this in New York.
Yeah, and I expect to be here for the rest of my life. I love being in front of an audience doing musical theater. I love singing. The only thing I miss is dancing. I came into this business as a dancer.
I bet people have forgotten that.
I was the featured white boy break-dancer at the end of Footloose, then I was in Rocky Horror Show, and I started out in the ensemble of Hairspray. [Morrison moved up to create the role of Link when James Carpinello left to make a movie.] I'm a great dancer, but I'm doing all these roles now [that don't include dancing]. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but I miss dancing. That's one reason I did Broadway Bares this year. I did a whole solo number and it felt great to dance again.
You were wearing a baby chick in a strategic spot…!
Yeah, I had a big egg that cracked off. It was a little ridiculous, but [Broadway Bares creator] Jerry [Mitchell] asked me, and I figured that if I was ever going to do it, this was the year. I had to get in crazy shape for [South Pacific] because I take my shirt off every night and I'm really vain [laughs]. That's the best motivator.
How are you dividing your time these days between New York and Los Angeles?
I usually spend about five months a year in L.A., and I've worked a lot out there. I've done a pilot every year for the past five years and none of them have been picked up. I get offers for stuff that I turn down because I need to do my theater. Actually I'm moving more toward the producing side of things. I'm creating my own musical right now.
What's it about?
I can't talk about it yet.
You plan to produce and star in the show?
Yeah. Tom Kitt is writing the music, and I've commissioned a writer—everything is coming together really well. I'm excited to produce something that will showcase everything I can do. It's going to be amazing.
The Light in the Piazza must have been a big confidence booster for you because it was so demanding and so unusual. [Morrison sang his character's opening number in Italian.]
It was really hard. After singing that, I feel like I can sing anything because that score was way out of my comfort zone. So, yeah, it opened my eyes to what I was capable of as a performer.
You got a Drama Desk Award nomination for the off-Broadway musical 10 Million Miles, and I always wondered why you shaved your head for that.
I did it for [the feature film] Dan in Real Life. I played a cop in a running gag; I pulled Steve Carell over three times. It just happened that 10 Million Miles was the next thing.
What lessons do you take away from shows that don't totally work, like 10 Million Miles and the Richard Greenberg play A Naked Girl on the Appian Way?
I always learn things from the people I'm working with. In the play, I learned a great deal from Jill Clayburgh and Richard Thomas [who played his adoptive parents]. I still talk to them a lot. When I do shows, I tend to latch on to the older actors. I'm like a sponge; I really like learning from them. Dick Latessa [Hairspray's original Wilbur] is one of my best friends. And Harvey [Fierstein]. Skipp Sudduth [of 10 Million Miles] is in South Pacific, which is fun. It really is the best community in the world.
Does anyone in L.A. care that you've done these big musicals in New York?
Maybe a handful. In L.A. they know me as a "New York actor," and there's a certain respect that goes with that. But it doesn't really pull much weight. Even the fact that I was nominated for a Tony doesn't really [make a difference].
On the flip side, does everyone in New York expect you to sing?
I don't think so; I hope not. That's one of the reasons I did the [Greenberg] play, for people to see me in a different light. I feel like my acting can stand on its own. Look at Raul Esparza. He sings great, but also does plays.
What other actors have built careers you admire?
My ideal is Kevin Kline. He's unreal. He does it all.
Not at all. I'm an Army brat, so we moved around a bit. I grew up in northern California and we moved down to Orange County. My parents are both nurses; my dad's a midwife and my mom works in healthcare now. They were working a lot when I was growing up, so I kind of locked myself in my room and listened to music.
You discovered performing in a summer program, right?
I went to stay with my grandma and my aunt in Arizona after the fifth grade, and they put me and my cousin in a children's theater [program]. I absolutely loved it, and when I came back home I said, "I wanted to do this." I went to a performing arts high school [Orange County High School of the Arts] that a lot of people have come out of. Actually, it was so good that when I came to NYU for a year and a half, I was miserable. I felt like I wasn't learning anything, so I started auditioning and got Footloose right away.
How did your parents feel about you moving to New York to become an actor?
My parents—I still don't think they get what I do. They were like, "You're going to New York to do what?" Now, after all this, I think they understand, and they're very proud of me, but I don't speak to them all the time. I grew up in a very solitary way.
And now you seem extremely social.
That's a front. I'm a very easygoing, outgoing guy, but I really love my alone time. I'm very much a to-myself guy.
So, do you maintain a place both in New York and L.A.?
When I'm in L.A., I stay with [Hairspray star] Marissa Winokur. She has a huge house out there, and I stay with her and her husband [writer Judah Miller]. They're having a baby next month, but she said I'm still going to have my room. I can't wait to help raise that baby; I feel like it's going to be my kid, too. They're like family to me. I love them.
It's great that you've stayed so close to your co-stars.
All my leading ladies have become like family. Kelli and I are so tight, and it's great to be working with her again now. The relationships coming out of these shows have been amazing. You know, more than anything in the world, I always wanted to be a New York actor. Honestly, I'm living my dream right now.
See Matthew Morrison in South Pacific at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre.
