David Turner: Putting On The Ritz
About the author:
Actor, composer, writer, director, go-go boy: David Turner has all the career bases covered. As a sweet-natured bathhouse attendant named Duff in the current Broadway revival of The Ritz, Turner turns on the charm—and is unrecognizable as the actor who played the unplayable role of an angel named Winston in the notorious 2005 Broadway musical In My Life. In addition to his work onstage including a Helen Hayes-nominated performance as Sir Robin on the national tour of Spamalot and a recent stint off-Broadway in Gutenberg! The Musical!, Turner is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Workshop and won the Jerry Harrington Award for his work as a composer and lyricist. He wrote and directed the aptly named feature film The Debut featuring Spamalot stars Rick Holmes and Tom Deckman and, after shooting in South Africa in June, is currently editing a documentary about the work of ASTEP Artists Striving to End Poverty, a Broadway-based charity founded by orchestrator Mary-Mitchell Campbell. As demonstrated by this piece for Broadway.com, Turner's also got a future as a New Yorker-style satirical essayist!
Have you ever noticed that if you ask an actor to talk about the show he's currently in, he'll always describe the story from his own character's point of view, no matter the size of his role? For example:
"So, what's Wicked about?"
"Well, there's this monkey—only he's got wings, see..."
Truth be told, I can understand the temptation. But in agreeing to write this essay for Broadway.com, I resolved to tell you honestly and unequivocally that The Ritz is about a bathhouse attendant named Duff. And he is played by me, David Turner.
Without giving too much away, the plot of The Ritz pretty much follows a day in the life of Duff and his partner of three years, Tiger. Tiger is played by a great actor and now a great friend named Lucas Near-Verbrugghe. I'm assuming he had to add the "Near" because there was already a "Lucas Verbrugghe" in Actors' Equity.
Duff and Tiger run a gay bathhouse. But they are not above doing laundry, making beds and dispensing advice to inexperienced patrons. Keep an eye out for someone named Kevin Chamberlin in a hilarious cameo as a man whose bed gets made by Tiger and Duff. If you're thinking that this doesn't sound like enough of a story to hang your hat on, then you know a thing or two about stories and hats. Things get complicated when Duff has to unlock a door for talented supernumerary Brooks Ashmanskas. I'm telling you, remember that name!
You may be asking yourself, "What good is a soul-stirring ambition if the audience doesn't get to see it realized before their very eyes?" As usual, Terrence McNally is a step ahead of you. That is why he concocted the role of Latina chanteuse Googie Gomez, played by up-and-comer Rosie Perez.
First-time director Joe Mantello took a big risk casting an unknown as Googie. And I had my doubts. But let me be the first to admit that this risk has paid off handsomely. As the woman who sings back-up for Duff and Tiger's big dance number, Ms. Perez exudes just enough warmth and personality to complement the go-go moves without distracting from the proceedings.
Many of my fans write to ask me how I landed the role of Duff. The answer is this: The Roundabout needed beefcake and, simply put, Lucas and I are beefcake. I am not a casting director but I know the way things work. So, I imagine the conversation went something like this.
JIM CARNAHAN [Roundabout Casting Director]: "We need beefcake."
JOE MANTELLO: "I have six words for you: Lucas Near-Verbrugghe."
JIM CARNAHAN: "And what about David Turner?"
JOE MANTELLO: "Okay, eight words."
Still not convinced I am beefcake? Don't take my word for it. The newspaper of record—that's right, the New York Post—ran a shirtless photo of me with the caption "Taut-ally awesome," under the headline "The AbSolution." You can't buy that kind of publicity. My mom was over-the-moon! I mean, these are the puns she always dreamed of for me.
Much has been made of Duff's and Tiger's revealing wardrobe. Purple Speedos and silver knee-high boots may not be de rigueur on the Great White Way, but it is just that sort of attention to detail which has allowed us to transform Studio 54 from a staid legitimate theater into a place where gay men from the 1970s dance, preen and do poppers.
So, what's next for me, now that all of New York knows I have hair on the backs of my thighs but not on the fronts? Sondheim, of course. That's right, I will remain at Studio 54 to play Franz in the Roundabout's much-anticipated revival of Sunday in the Park with George.
What's that you say? You've never heard of Sunday in the Park with George? Oh, well, let me fill you in:
There's this German servant...
