Interview: CINDERELLA National Tour's Blake Hammond

Whether it's Disney's Cinderella, A Cinderella Story, Ella Enchanted, Ever After, or some other variation, you know the story. This classic fairy tale has been told time and time again. It just never gets old! And now, to make things even better, the national tour of Rodgers and Hammerstein's CINDERELLA is making its way to the Saenger Theatre tonight! That's right, you and yours have the chance to experience the most magical evening of all during the most enchanted week of the year (of course, I'm referring to Halloween).

One of the cast members, Blake Hammond, is portraying a new character that Cinderella fans haven't met before. Sebastian is Prince Topher's caretaker/advisor, and isn't happy when Topher returns from school and is trying to take back control of his kingdom. He conspires with Cinderella's stepmother to try and marry Topher off to one of her daughters instead of our beloved Ella. Not only is there a new character for us to love... or love to hate... but, there's also some new music that we will get to experience during this fresh take on this Broadway classic. Keep reading for an interview with Blake where we discussed his past theatre experiences and this charming musical that is so well loved.

I have to tell you I was very excited when I found out that I was going to be interviewing you because I saw you in FIRST DATE on Broadway a few years ago.
Oh wow, awesome.

Yeah, I loved that show. I wish it would've stuck around longer. It was so funny! I enjoyed it a lot.
Thank you! We had a great time doing it. Audiences loved it, reviewers did not.

You've done a lot of shows with larger casts. What was it like going from something like HAIRSPRAY or THE LION KING to... I mean FIRST DATE had what? It was 7 of you guys?
Yeah, there were 7 people in that. I just did this play LIVING ON LOVE last season with Renée Fleming with 6 people. So, it's kind of bizarre. It's kind of fun, too. Everybody's featured, everybody's happy, everybody is having something to do on stage that they're proud of and excited about. Sometimes you know with the larger casts you have people that wish they had more to do, especially after 6-7 months. I had a great time doing a small production, getting a lot of attention, and just having... like I said everyone having their own special track to do.

I was looking at your resume and it looks like you've gotten to play a lot of fun characters. You were Uncle Fester in THE ADDAMS FAMILY, Pumbaa...
That's right. We actually opened that in New Orleans.

Oh, really?!
Yeah, that was where the tour started for Uncle Fester.

So you're returning to us!
We are. The Saenger was closed for renovation, but now we'll be back. And I did Pumbaa in THE LION KING, yes.

And it looks like a few different characters in HAIRSPRAY. And way more than that. Do you have a favorite character that you have played so far, or a favorite show that you've been a part of?
I think HAIRSPRAY was my favorite up until now. I sort of evolved in that show from playing the authority figure to being the standby and then taking over for Edna Turnblad on Broadway. To play that role in the original HAIRSPRAY run was pretty amazing. I went back... at the very end I went back the last three months to standby for Harvey Fierstein when he came back to play the role, so I was his standby for the last three months. That's probably my favorite to date. It's... one, it's such an incredible musical... wonderful book, wonderful characters... but, just the chance to play someone's mother doesn't come along every day.

How long were you in that show?
Well total I did it for about three and a half years. I did the first national company. I did the Broadway company for about two and a half years. I went back again for three months, so.

Is there a role that you haven't played yet that you would like to give a try?
Well I'm excited to hopefully be getting the chance to be in SOMETHING ROTTEN. It just opened this season, and there's some great character roles in there for me. I'm hoping to get the chance to do that very soon. Let's see, I'd like to get the chance to play Sancho Panza in MAN OF LA MANCHA again someday. I did it when I was 22 years old, and I haven't done it since, so I would love to do that again someday.

How did you get involved with this production of CINDERELLA?
I saw the production on Broadway, and I really enjoyed it. I knew that this role was something that I could do. I wasn't the same type as Peter Bartlett physically, but I really wanted a chance to get in there and do this. Josh Rhodes, who was our choreographer, also choreographed FIRST DATE, and so he was a big supporter and sort of pushed for them to see me. I went to audition and Mark Brokaw said to me, "I'm gonna give you a ticket to go see the show tonight, and come back tomorrow." And I did, and I left the audition the next day, and I got a call ten minutes later that I had gotten the role. That was pretty exciting.

Definitely exciting! So, you play Sebastian, who is our prince's advisor. How does he fit into the story? He's not a character that I particularly remember from other variations of the story.
This is a brand new book by Douglas Carter Beane, and this is one of his creations. Sebastian is... why I wanted to play this part, why I was drawn to it initially is because it's what I normally don't play. He is... in this version the prince's parents have died when he was a young boy, and Sebastian has raised him. I send him off to colleges and schools to get training, and he comes back and he's ready to take over the kingdom, but I am very much wanting to retain control. So, I'm not really nice. I go behind his back a lot, and I'm in cahoots with the stepmother trying to get him to marry one of her daughters as opposed to Cinderella. It's kind of fun to play someone who is kind of working behind his back a little bit.

There are so many different versions of CINDERELLA out there. There's the different Disney ones, there's the movie with Julie Andrews, there's another one with Whitney Houston. It's a story that has been told over and over and over by so many different people in so many different ways. What do you think makes this story so special or classic? Why does it keep being re-told?
I think there's a lot of reasons. I mean, you know, this isn't meant to sound sexist at all but it's just I think a lot of women have that dream of finding their Prince Charming. It's something little girls think about and dream about as they're growing up... finding the knight in shining armor, as it were. We also know that it doesn't exist very often. A fairy tale is just that... it's a fairy tale. But, it's still fun to dream about that happening. Also I think it's just a universal story as far as someone wealthy meeting someone from a lower bracket of income, or a poor family, and then that love transcends that barrier. That's something I think we all sort of hope for as well in our society. That love sort of conquers all. What's great about this version of CINDERELLA is that it's very 2015 in the sense that Cinderella sort of has a lot to do with her own fate in this version. It's not just luck. It's not just that she has a fairy godmother. It's that she's making decisions, and one of the reasons she wants to go to the ball is to be able to tell the prince that what's happening in his kingdom is wrong... that people are being mistreated. I think that's a very different take on CINDERELLA... for her to have that kind of power. It's not just to fall in love. She wants to change society as well.

There have been a lot of shows popping up that are trying to have this sort of... I don't know how to word it, but powerful women characters. I think it's really neat.
It's our time, you know? It's the time we're living in, in America especially, and wanting for the rest of the world, too. We see what's happening... not to be too political, but across the way in a lot of countries women are still looked at as second-class citizens. They have no rights, and no respect. I think that's something that America is continually pushing the envelope with. Women are saying, "Nope. You're gonna have to wake up. We're just the same as anybody else."

What was your first experience with CINDERELLA?
I guess the first thing I saw when I was a little kid was the Leslie Ann Warren movie on TV. It was the Rodgers and Hammerstein music, obviously. I was little. I was probably six or seven. When I was thirteen, I actually did a production of CINDERELLA. That was one of my first shows I ever did that was on a stage in front of people. I played a character named Dusty. There were two of us and we were sort of the fairy godmother's helpers. It was fun.

What about the music in this show? I know it's the Rodgers and Hammerstein music, but is there anything that has been added or changed?
Yeah, there are songs that aren't in the film of CINDERELLA that you would see. It's the same Rodgers and Hammerstein score that you know, but they've taken some songs from other shows that weren't used and put them into the show as well. The fairy godmother has this song in it called "The Music in You," which is a beautiful Rodgers and Hammerstein song that fits the story very beautifully. Yeah, I think there's something new. If you know the score really well it won't be disappointing because you'll still hear all of those songs. But, you're going to hear some new stuff, too. It's nice.

Great! Tell me about the set and the costumes for this production. What does the show look like? What are we going to see?
What's great about this is that you're seeing a Broadway show. I mean it's the same exact designers as Broadway. Their costumes won the Tony Award. They're kind of amazing. William Ivey Long, who has won many Tony Awards, has done a magical job. It's very lush. It's very colorful. The transformations for Cinderella are truly stage magic. You sit there going how'd they do it? How did she become a princess in front of our eyes? So, that's kind of exciting. And, the sets are wonderful. There were a few adjustments they made for traveling and being able to put it in a truck every week. But, as the director said many times during tech, he actually liked the changes better. He thought they were better for the show. It's fun to get a chance to sort of re-do every now and then. You get a better solution.

Since you guys are on tour, what is the process like of getting used to or adjusting to the different theatres that you're in? All of the theatres around the country are so different.
Sure. That's part of the fun of touring actually is change... having a new dresser in every city and trying to figure out where my dressing room is. The truth is that really the stage itself is always the same. They travel the deck and the deck gets placed on the existing stage of every city we go to. It's the same exact width, it's the same exact size, and we know exactly where we're supposed to be on stage. The wings are always different. Trying to find your props... like... where's my sword this week? That's what can be very different off stage. But, that's what we do on Tuesday nights... we go in a little bit early for orientation a couple hours before the show, and that's sort of our job as actors to walk around and see what's different this week and figure it out for ourselves.

Do you guys have time to go explore the different cities that you visit?
We normally do. Of course the principals, we all have understudies, and we all have two understudies apiece. They rehearse usually every week, sometimes two days a week. And then when we're putting new people in... someone will be leaving the show, and someone new will be coming in... they're also part of those rehearsals. But most of the time, the principals... I have all my days free during the week. Weekends are hard. We do two Saturday and two Sunday every week. But, during the week I have the day free so yeah we go exploring. New Orleans will be a great place to play during the day, and at night! We're also excited because we're there for Halloween.

Oh, yeah! That'll be fun!
It should be insane.

Do you have anything else to add before we wrap up?
I'll just say it's fun for everybody. The character Sebastian that I play is sort of also written with adult humor, so there's a lot more things for the adults to giggle at. There's something for everybody. It's definitely a family show.

CINDERELLA opens tonight at the Saenger Theatre, and will play through Sunday, November 1. Check out http://www.saengernola.com for tickets and more information!

ARTICLE MAY ALSO BE VIEWED HERE: http://www.nolabackstage.com/single-post/2015/10/27/BWW-Interview-CINDERELLA-National-Tours-Blake-Hammond