BWW Interviews: MUSIC MAN's Charis Leos: I've Never Wanted To Do Anything Else!

"I never wanted to do anything else!" the dynamic blonde character actress tells Broadway World one recent afternoon on a break in her rehearsals for Maine State Music Theatre's Music Man, which opened July 16. Charis Leos is currently playing Eulalie, the Mayor of River City's wife in her third with the company role this summer season; she has already delighted audiences as Georgie in The Full Monty and Sister Mary Patrick in Sister Act, and she looks forward to undertaking Frau Blücher in Young Frankenstein in what will be her tenth season in Brunswick. Leos has strong ties to MSMT, to Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark, and to director Marc Robin (Music Man/Young Frankenstein), and she says she "loves the quality of work we do here. A lot has to do with the community which is so incredibly supportive. This is the best-paid vacation ever. Of course, it it's a great deal of hard work because the schedule is so compact, but I am having a wonderful time!"

Leos knew theatre was her calling at a very early age. When she was five, she recalls appearing as the youngest of the Snow children in a local production of Carousel and practically stealing the show with her antics, something which even the reviewers noted. "I had a scene with Julie Jordan, and I just did something that came naturally, and people laughed. I liked that! I liked making that connection."

"A military brat," as she styles herself, Leos was born in Texas and moved with her family every year or two. She sang in choirs and at church and performed in community productions wherever they lived. She attended high school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and matriculated as a theatre major at the University of North Texas, followed by study at Northwood Institute for Advanced Study in Theatre Arts, where she was a Mary Martin Scholarship recipient. She believes the peripatetic life of military families had its impact on her personality and her subsequent occupation. "I learned to assimilate very quickly. I made friends from day one. It was a valuable skill because in the theatre you are asked from the beginning to be candid and intimate, to let your guard down. Then there is this gypsy life style actors live. Married and the mother to seven children, the last of whom just headed off to college, she credits her supportive husband who picks up the slack when she is away. "My children have grown up thinking this is normal, and for me for me, this life style is simply an extension of what I did as a kid, and it keeps things exciting for me - it's always new.

Leos thrives on new challenges. This summer three roles at MSMT are ones she has never performed before. "It's a little daunting, given the short amount of time, but that's what makes it fun. I had done The Full Monty with Chuck Ragsdale as Malcolm nine years ago here, and being on that stage with him again in the show was a wonderful reunion." She says she is stimulated by the summer stock process of mounting a show, which is "so quick. We all have to come in having done our homework."

Another strategy Leos uses to keep her own work fresh is to perform a mixture of straight plays and musicals. "I try to do at least a play a year because it gets me back to the basics. It is nothing but character work, and I think doing a drama then makes me better in a musical because I know I have to work constantly on my character's development."

Asked about Eulalie Shinn, the woman she plays in Music Man, she says the mayor's wife is "a perfect example of the journey everyone in River City takes. Because her husband is mayor, she fancies herself the leader of the other ladies in town. She sees herself as the most well bred, educated, best dressed of her peers, and she thinks her role is to set an example for the other women. But, she is so full of herself that the example she sets is not always the best one, until the end. We all know people like the townsfolk in River City, who are all about appearances. Everyone knows everyone else, and it takes a stranger to come to town, loosen them up a little, help them discover their talents, and learn to have real conversations and relationships. Harold Hill brings joy to River City."

'Leos also acknowledges that because Eulalie has no solo number of her own - "she has solo bits in songs" - she has to make an impression with just a few lines and not a great deal of stage time." But she adores being part of this huge production and working with director/choreographer Marc Robin, who has, she says, "a way of making any production unique." Part of that magic touch, Leos believes, comes from Robin's way with an ensemble. "Marc will tell you he started out as a chorus person, but that there is no such thing as just a chorus member. He expects each actor to have an intention, to know his own goals, and to flesh out his character to make the piece richer. In his productions, it doesn't matter whom the audience is watching, there is a story going on in everyone on stage. It's his attention to detail that makes things pop and sparkle." Leos also praises the way Robin can "communicate with a cast and remind us how lucky we are to be doing what we do."

Asked what roles remain highlights of her long, productive career, she cites Jean in Good People and Louise in Always Patsy Cline, which is "more talking than singing," though it is a musical. Of Mama Rose in Gypsy, an incandescent performance she created on MSMT's stage in 2013, she says," The part is a blessing and a curse. It is by far the most gratifying role I have ever done. Every skill you have is called upon. There are heart-wrenching moments and moments when you have to sing your face off, and there is all that movement. I was exhausted every night, but it was euphoric! Yet, when it was over, I felt as if I needed a break because it takes so much out of you."

So many of Charis Leos' successes have been on regional stages, and she waxes eloquent about the merits of working all around the country. "I started working right after school, and I saw how many actors were out there trying to get jobs. The ones who did were a crazy small percentage. I learned early on that the fact that I was a working actress meant that I was a success. I think knowing that has kept me happy and content in this business, because it is a profession where it is easy to get down on yourself. You are judged on a personal level that few other people are in their jobs. I realize how fortunate I am. I go from town to town, meet new people, and do some fabulous shows. Just because the production is not taking place on Broadway doesn't diminish the quality of the work. In fact, I think it is sometimes a blessing to be removed a little. Some of the most exciting work I have done has been in the middle of nowhere. There is a freedom because people don't have preconceived notions, and you can focus intensely on a piece and take chances."

For Charis Leos it is all an ongoing adventure, one she embraces. "I feel lucky to have known always what I wanted to do." And she is doing it each and every night to the delight of admiring audiences.

Photos Courtesy of MSMT, Roger S. Duncan, production photo

MUSIC MAN runs until August 1, 2015, at the Pickard Theatre, Brunswick, ME 207-729-6789 www.msmt.org