David Pittsinger

Age: “Emile de Becque-ish” [the South Pacific script gives the character's age as 44].

Hometown: Clinton, Connecticut

Currently: Making his Broadway debut as suave Frenchman Emile de Becque in the first of two extended stints replacing Paulo Szot in Lincoln Center Theater’s smash-hit production of South Pacific.

A Singer’s Beginnings: Pittsinger’s path to his current status as an internationally known operatic bass-baritone began early. “I was a soprano in a boys’ choir and had great musical preparation in high school,” he says, which led to roles in summer stock productions of classic shows such as Man of La Mancha and Shenandoah. “But when I got to college [at the University of Connecticut] I tried a lot of other things—I played soccer and was very involved in politics; I was an intern to Senator [Lowell] Weicker.” Pittsinger got serious about music again at age 19 when opera singer Richard Cross and his wife, Doris, took him on as a student. “Classical music opened up a whole new culture for me, offering the chance to study languages, to sing in other countries and absorb the culture of opera,” he says. “And it prepared me well for this role, which was written for an opera singer.”

In a happy coincidence, Pittsinger and South Pacific’s Tony-winning original star Paulo Szot have worked together in City Opera’s The Marriage of Figaro and are “great friends,” he says, adding candidly, “I watched the Tonys, and I was proud of him and envious at the same time, because I saw what [South Pacific] has done for his career. When 10,000 people a week see you, you get name recognition and you’re going to sell more records.” Operatic engagements are set years in advance, so Pittsinger signed on for two stints as Emile through January 25 and a month-long stint in mid-March while Szot fulfills prior commitments. “I feel like I’ve been welcomed into a special club,” he says with a smile.

The Paulo Connection:

The Beaumont Connection: Just after he was approached by South Pacific director Bartlett Sher, Pittsinger and his wife of 19 years, opera singer Patricia Schuman, went to see the show at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre: “There we were, sitting sixth row center, and she turned to me and said, ‘I did Carmen in this theater.’” Peter Brook’s stripped-down staging of the Bizet opera caused a sensation in 1983 and helped reverse the Beaumont’s reputation as an unworkable house. “I had no idea that she had sung the role here,” he says with a laugh. At the end of South Pacific, Schuman turned to her husband and said, “You have to do this.’”

Becoming Emile: Opera involves acting, of course, but musical theater adds the challenge of spoken dialogue—and in Emile’s case, dialogue spoken with a French accent. “It would have been much easier for me to do the whole thing in French, which is my second language,” says Pittsinger, who works steadily in Europe. “The stage manager had me look at the dialogue, translate it in my head and speak it in French, then put a French accent on the English.” Singing “Some Enchanted Evening” and “This Nearly Was Mine” which drew the show’s biggest applause at a recent matinee came much more easily. “I know how to make this music work for my voice,” Pittsinger says. “I just have to let myself go and feel free when I’m singing these iconic songs, and the rest takes care of itself.”

Support from Within: Pittsinger joined a cast that still includes Tony-nominated original stars Kelli O’Hara Nellie, Danny Burstein Billis and Loretta Ables Sayre Bloody Mary, as well as Matthew Morrison Cable. “I’m very open to their comments on how to read a line because it makes me better,” he says. “In opera, we get protective and defensive; I hope when I go back, I can retain the openness I feel now. Let me put it this way: I feel like I’m meeting a part of myself for the first time, and I like the person I’m meeting. I’m a much more emotional person and a more generous artist onstage because of this.” As for his chemistry with O’Hara, Pittsinger says, “She is amazing. I look forward to seeing her every moment I’m onstage.”

Man of the World: The father of nine-year-old twins a girl and a boy, who has followed in Dad’s footsteps as a boy soprano, Pittsinger and Schuman manage to maintain busy international opera careers. “It was easier when the children were younger,” he admits. “We’d be working in London or Paris or Cologne, and we were never more than an hour away from each other no matter where we were in Europe. At one point I felt like a man without a country, but the dividend has been huge because our children have grown up multicultured.” Now, however, the family is looking to put down roots, perhaps in Vienna or New York. More musical theater could also be on Pittsinger’s career menu: “I would certainly consider doing something on Broadway if the experience was anything close to this,” he says. “I’m enjoying this moment, and I feel so grateful.”