Steve Kazee: A Starstruck Starbuck

About the author:
Any adventurous actor would be happy to jump from a '60s melodrama The Subject Was Roses at the Kennedy Center to a Monty Python musical romp Spamalot on Broadway, in which he played Sir Lancelot, the Knight of Ni and other roles to a musical love story with a classic score the Roundabout Theatre Company's current production of 110 in the Shade at Studio 54. That's the recent career path of Steve Kazee, who's co-starring with Audra McDonald as rainmaker Bill Starbuck in the 110 Broadway revival, directed by Lonny Price. The charming Kazee, a Kentucky native who earned an MFA from NYU's graduate acting program, shared his feelings about this exciting career break with Broadway.com.

As I was walking in the theater district not long ago, I spotted the poster for 110 in the Shade. I've never seen my name on a show poster, so I stopped to have a look and think about all the times I had dreamed of this moment. As I was looking at the poster a couple came up behind me.

"Oh, look! Audra McDonald—I love her so much!" the lady exclaimed.

"And John Cullum—we saw him in The Grinch. Now, who is Steve Kah-zy?" It was truly one of those New York City moments. It's pronounced kuh-ZEE, for the record. It was a sentiment that I completely understood and, in a strange way, sort of agreed with.

You see, if I were a director or producer making a list of guys to play Bill Starbuck in the revival of 110 in the Shade on Broadway, Steve Kazee would probably not be the first choice. In this business, butts in the seats is what it's all about, and it doesn't take a genius to know that Hugh Jackman or Harry Connick Jr. would sell a lot more tickets than me, based on celebrity alone. Instead, director Lonny Price, producer Todd Haimes and the Roundabout decided to take a chance on someone new—and now they've got a four-time Tony Award winner Audra, a two-time Tony winner John Cullum and, luckily for me, a guy nobody has heard of.

Don't get me wrong: It's not that I don't feel capable of playing this part. I do. It's just that it is important to always remember how lucky we are to be in these situations. This is the greatest opportunity of my life, and the best professional experience I've ever had. No one was obligated to give me this chance, but they did—and now that I've got it, I hope I can do it justice it. Am I nervous? Yeah, who wouldn't be, sharing the stage with such an amazing cast?

At the callback audition for the show, I was so nervous about reading with Audra and singing in front of her and everyone else in the room. However, from the minute we started the scene, I knew we were going to be okay. She has that thing that all of my professors at NYU had preached about for so many years. "If ever you are lost," they would say, "just look to your fellow actor and get what you need." I had never seen a clearer representation of that advice in my life than looking across the room at her. She is an adorable human being, a consummate professional and a great friend. Every honor she has received has been richly deserved, and I have a sneaking suspicion she has many more to come over the years. When we recorded the cast album, all I could think while standing in the booth was how lucky I was to be on a recording with these people, singing this music and telling this story. I love that I will always have that recording to remind me.

Starbuck is a part that comes with loads of expectations and preconceived notions. I have never played a role that so many people have such strong feelings about how it should be played. I've been trying to take a more realistic approach than I feel is usually given to the role. Yes, he's a snake-oil salesman and yes, he is a con man with a strong persona —all smiles and handshakes—so the tendency is to do it big and broad and, dare I say, a little schticky. However, the thing I tried to remember is that he is a real person. To me, he's like Bill Clinton, a man who comes into a crowded room and makes you think you're the only other person there.

In every role I play, I look for parts of myself that I can tie to the character. In the case of Sir Lancelot in Spamalot, I tried tapping into the sense of playfulness and imagination I had as a child. For Starbuck, I remember standing out in a field in Kentucky as a boy, trying with all my might to concentrate and to make the wind blow, as Starbuck does when he looks at the sky and commands "let the rain come." That was the thing that locked me in, and once I find those triggers, things start to fall in place around it. It's rewarding to find little things in your character that are a part of you. It makes for a fascinating study.

As far as the pressure of opening the final Broadway show of the season, it isn't any different than being the first one. I can only go out, do the most faithful job possible and hope that I am helping to tell the story we've decided to tell. Whenever it all feels like too much, I look to Michael Cerveris, one of my heroes, who has built up such a wonderful body of work. The care and precision that he brings to every role is something I dream of, and a standard that I try to hold myself to every day. He is a tremendous inspiration and a revelation every time he is in a show, be it musical or play. That's the kind of career I aspire to have.

The truth is, 110 in the Shade is a completely romantic, traditional love story that just happens to have songs in it. A show about relationships... a show about love... and a show in which every character is changed in some way by what happens: Lizzie, her father, her brothers, File and Starbuck. That's my job: to tell the story. It has been a challenging journey, but I am extremely proud of the reinvention we're doing.