Interview: Robert Petkoff Talks MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL and More

When actor and singer Robert Petkoff was cast to play Harold Zidler in the North American tour of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” there was no question about his knowing the score.

The musical, which had its world premiere at Boston’s Emerson Majestic Theatre in July 2018 and is now on a North American tour that will bring it to Boston’s Citizens Bank Opera House January 16 through February 4, is based on the Academy Award-nominated 2001 Baz Luhrmann film of the same name and features a score that incorporates pop hits – including “Nature Boy,” “Lady Marmalade,” “Every Breath You Take,” “Your Song,” “Never Gonna Give You Up,” “Brick House,” “Firework,” and “Rolling in the Deep” and the original love song, “Come What May” – made famous by Adele, Elton John, Katy Perry, Rick Astley, Madonna, The Commodores, Nirvana, The Police, Whitney Houston, Lady Gaga, Nat King Cole and more.

“I am so familiar with these songs,” explained Petkoff by telephone recently from a Columbus, Ohio, tour stop. Everywhere I go, I hear them. It delights me that these huge hits are among the 70 different pieces of music in our show.”

The winner of 10 Tony Awards for the 2020 season, including Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical for Alex Timbers, Best Choreography to Sonya Tayeh, a book by Tony Award winner John Logan (“Red”), and music supervision, orchestrations, and arrangements by Justin Levine, who won the Tony for Best Orchestrations along with Katie Kresik, Charlie Rosen and Matt Stine.

The Tony-winning design team also includes Derek McLane (Best Scenic Design of a Musical), Catherine Zuber (Best Costume Design of a Musical), Justin Townsend (Best Lighting Design of a Musical) and Peter Hylenski (Best Sound Design of a Musical).

Set during the Belle Époque in the Montmartre quarter of Paris, and depicting a world of beauty and luxury, the story is the fictional tale of a lovelorn British writer and composer, Christian, and a chic chanteuse, Satine, whose lives collide at the Moulin Rouge, which is run by showman Harold Zidler, a role originated by Tony Award winner Danny Burstein and now being played on tour by Petkoff.

“I saw Danny in ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical’ on Broadway and he was just magnificent,” recalls Petkoff. “Danny is a true treasure of the American theater.”

Petkoff knows of what he speaks, having found his own considerable success as a stage actor who has performed on Broadway, in regional theaters, and in London’s West End, where a 2001 Peter Hall-directed revival of “The Royal Family” had him sharing a stage with Dame Judi Dench and a young Emily Blunt.

Known for his work in Shakespearean productions, the Sacramento, California, native’s first role in a Broadway musical was as Perchik in the 2004 revival of “Fiddler on the Roof.” He subsequently appeared in the original Broadway production of “Spamalot” in 2007, the 2009 revival of “Ragtime,” and the 2012 revival of “Anything Goes.”

In 2014, Petkoff played former vice president Hubert Humphrey, opposite Bryan Cranston as President Lyndon Baines Johnson, in “All the Way,” which won that year’s Tony Award for Best Play. Petkoff also played Humphrey in the play when it was presented by the American Repertory Theater at the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge in 2013, prior to Broadway.

The New York-based performer not only appears in stage productions, he also keeps a keen eye on them.

“I look for a role for me in every play I watch. When I saw ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical,’ I knew it was Zidler. That’s why I jumped at the chance to go on the road with this tour for a year, says Petkoff. “The way I see it, Zidler is a hustler, first and foremost, and the Moulin Rouge is his life. A venal man with great appetites, he’s more of a salesman than a businessman, and that results in his having financial troubles. As he ages, he spends time looking back on his past while clinging to what’s left of his prime.”

One of the impresario’s saving graces is his fondness for the beautiful Satine, whose background is not unlike his own.

“He’s come from the streets just like Satine. And at the Moulin Rouge, he’s become like a father figure to her. He has worked hard to build Satine up and make her a star, but she already innately has ‘it.’ She is a diamond that Zidler has polished to a sparkle,” explains Petkoff.

In the story, Zidler gets great pleasure in working with Satine and seeing the impact she has on the success of the club, but those good feelings are not always sustainable.

“In the beginning, Zidler is so joyful. Then you see his venality and desperation,” according to his portrayer. “He’s not quite a pimp, but he does use Satine. No matter what, he gets the audience back, mostly because he and Satine have a genuine and mutual love for each other, but he can also turn on her and be quite mean.”

Petkoff says he has no hesitation in playing characters with dark sides.

“I don’t mind if the audience dislikes the character I’m playing,” he explains. “However, I think it’s different for Zidler. He leers at his Moulin Rouge patrons but adds a wink, too, telling them, ‘I want to make desperate love to each and every one of you.’”

In addition to stage plays and musicals, Petkoff has made guest appearances on numerous long-running television programs including “Who’s the Boss?” “Quantum Leap,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” and “The Good Wife.”

As an award-winning audiobook narrator and self-described Trekkie, Petkoff can also be heard on some 35 audiobooks based on “Star Trek,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” and “Picard” and written by science fiction author Dayton Ward.

“When I’m doing Captain Kirk’s voice, I won’t do a parody, but I will evoke a bit of William Shatner. I respect ‘Star Trek’ so I’m glad when I get good feedback from listeners,” says the actor, who has lent his voice not only to “Star Trek” titles but also to more than 350 other audiobooks.

“With fiction books, I read the whole book through and then highlight each character to prepare. I read every character in the book and I also do the narration. One of my favorites to work on was Annie Proulx’s ‘Barkskins,’ about the Canadian lumber industry, because I love doing dialects.”

And while some might find reading every character daunting, Petkoff likes it that way, and credits his wife, actor and writer Susan Wands, with explaining why.

“Susan likes to kid me about my audiobook work by quoting a line from Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ that reads, ‘Let me play the lion too! I will roar, that I will do any man’s heart good to hear me; I will roar, that I will make the duke say, “Let him roar again, let him roar again!”’ It’s spoken by the Nick Bottom character, a self-confident actor who wants to play all parts,” says Petkoff with a laugh.

Photo caption: Robert Petkoff and the company of the North American tour of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical.” Photo by Matthew Murphy. Head shot of Robert Petkoff courtesy of Bond Theatrical.

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