Harry Connick Jr. on Coming Back to Broadway, Goofing Off on American Idol & Leaving Sia Covers Out of His NYC Concert

Get ready because Harry Connick Jr.’s coming back to town! The chart-topping musician is gearing up for his March 7 concert at Avery Fisher Hall. Although Connick is most familiar as a Grammy-winning recording artist, Emmy-winning actor and hilarious American Idol judge, Broadway fans know him for his Tony-nominated role in The Pajama Game opposite Kelli O’Hara, headlining the revival of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever opposite Jessie Mueller, his Tony-nommed score for Thou Shalt Not and two wildly successful concert appearances on the Great White Way. He took time out from his “nuts” touring schedule to chat with Broadway.com about why his heart is in NYC, his love of Broadway and that super high note in “Chandelier.”

We’re very excited about your concert at Avery Fisher Hall on Saturday.
Me too! I can’t wait.

Everyone knows you’re from New Orleans, but it's easy to think of you as a New Yorker.
Oh, I feel like it. My mother was from New York, so I feel very at home up there. I moved there in ’86, and I feel New York is probably the closest any town can come to being a home for me outside of New Orleans. Whenever I play in New York City, it’s a special kind of feeling. The people there are used to seeing the best in the world, which is humbling. 

Can you give a taste of what you’ll be singing?
We have a lot of songs to choose from and try to mix it up a lot. I’m lucky to have such a great group of musicians with me—there’s about 10 of us up there—and they’re all great at catching curveballs and going wherever I ask them to go. It’ll be spontaneous and fun.

Will you be singing any Broadway songs?
Probably so because so many of the songs that I sing come from shows. But I haven’t really figured out what we’re going to do yet.

Are you ever coming back to the Great White Way?
Oh, yeah. I love doing Broadway. I love writing for it, and I love performing on Broadway. I would definitely come back. I’m not sure when or what it’s going to be because it’s a really big emotional and time commitment. When you do Broadway, it’s 100% dedication to that. You can’t really do anything else. It’s something that I have to think about carefully because it’s a huge commitment, but I will absolutely do it again.

What are your top Broadway dream roles?
I’d like to do something that I wrote. That would be cool: an original work on Broadway. Obviously, there’re a lot of great roles, but a lot of them have already been done. If you look at Sky Masterson or Nathan Detroit—they’ve been done so many times and so well; I don’t know if I would do something like that. I did a reading for Pal Joey—that was a cool show. Though it never made it out of the room, it was fun to do.

Are you still in contact with your two former Broadway leading ladies: Kelli O’Hara and Jessie Mueller?
They’re both good friends. I get to sing with people and do different one-off projects, but to work on the stage eight times a week with people of that level, you’re only going to do that on Broadway. These are world-class level performers. World class! To work with them was absolutely incredible.

Let’s talk Idol. Are you having as much fun as it looks like you are?
It’s really fun. Being a judge is not something that I’ve ever done before. I’ve been a mentor or given master classes, but those are situations where you get to be close to people as you help and teach them. As an Idol judge, you’re just sitting there and critiquing them—whether it’s positive or negative. Before the competition started, it’s just a good time. Now that the competition has started and these kids are singing for their lives up there, I take it really seriously.

So many Idol performers have come to Broadway. Do you see any Broadway potential in any of the contestants?
Yeah, for sure. Broadway is an amazing place, and it’s always interesting to see people who haven’t done Broadway go to Broadway. I think a lot of these young performers would be terrific on a Broadway stage.

Back to your concert on Saturday night: Have you put Sia’s “Chandelier” into your set?
[Laughs.] No, man. That was a one-time thing. They didn’t show the whole piece, but it was funny. Sometimes the kids will come in, and they’ll start singing in too high of a key. If you know the song, you know the note that’s out of their range is coming. So I went up there and started in a key that was too high, but I kept going—probably modulating a half step every time. When I got to that last one, I knew I couldn’t reach it, but I kept going. There was just no way. It was just the most awful sounding thing ever.