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Una Conversazione Con Matteo Morrison

By: May. 31, 2005
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Il teatro Vivian Beamont al Lincoln Center è la casa di una nuova commedia musicale che s'intitola "The Light In The Piazza" (La Luce nella Piazza). Poiché alcuni dialoghi e canzoni sono in italiano, ho pensato di scrivere quest'articolo in italiano, ma dal momento che i lettori del sito internet BroadwayWorld.com parlano soprattutto inglese, il resto di quest'articolo sarà nella lingua di Shakespeare, Milton e Neil Simon...*

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Few things in New York City are more idyllic on a balmy Saturday afternoon in May than a walk across the plaza at Lincoln Center. The fountain sprays a refreshing mist into the air and the reflecting pool creates a mood of serenity. What is extremely apparent, though, is that no one appears to be rushed. The matinee performances have ended and there's a genuine lack of tension abounding in that large cultural complex. Even backstage at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, Matthew Morrison is completely calm as he sits in his dressing room munching on chocolate chip cookies.

Morrison has just finished an afternoon performance as "Fabrizio Naccarelli" in Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas' much-discussed musical THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. It would be understandable if Morrison were fatigued and lethargic, but the young actor seems quite relaxed and eager to talk about his young career; the projects he's been involved with; and the growing list of celebrities he's worked with.

The actor's dressing room is reached via a labyrinth of stairwells and corridors and is decorated with buckets of candy and photographs--including a framed snapshot of the city of Florence as viewed from the Piazzale Michelangelo which serves as the setting for a pivotal scene in LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. There are a few stuffed animals on a sofa and a coat rack upon which he graciously hangs his guest's jacket. It's a comfortable room. It's also the dressing room that is closest to the stage.

Running his fingers through his curly hair, Morrison, 26, admits to being an "Army Brat". His parents were both military nurses and he was born in Fort Ord, California; which is near Monterey. The family moved around quite a bit and they settled in Chico, which is in Northern California. At that time soccer was the most important part of his life. When his father left to attend school in Southern California, they moved down to Orange County when Morrison was in the sixth grade. That summer his parents sent him to Arizona, where his grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins were living. He and his cousin found themselves thrown into a little play called "The Herdmens Go To Camp". He had fun playing one of the leads and, although he had never sung before, he found himself really enjoying the experience. When he returned to Southern California he told his parents that he thought he'd really like to continue performing.

This started his involvement in children's theater and there were people in the group who were older than he and were attending a high school called the Orange County High School of the Arts. It was a big performing arts school that was hard to get into. It became his goal to go there and he was happily suprised when he was accepted there. In his Junior and Senior years he starred in all the shows. After graduation he came east to attend NYU at CAP 21, the Tisch School of the Arts. Oddly enough he didn't like it.

"I had learned so much in high school that when I got there I felt that I was so far ahead of everyone and I was re-learning everything". Despite the regulation that students couldn't audition in their first two years at NYU, he got himself an agent. It wasn't long before he was cast in FOOTLOOSE and that was the end of his college education. He toured in the show and played the Broadway engagement.

Almost immediately, Jerry Mitchell became a fan of Morrison's talents, casting the young man in a film called MARCI-X--a film that Morrison describes as "a really bad movie". Mitchell cast him as "Rocky" in the revival of THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW that was to play at the Circle-In-The-Square Theater. However Morrison was involved in a boy band at the time and felt that this would be his path to stardom. He turned down ROCKY HORROR and toured with the group called LMNT (pronounced "Element") for a year "and it was the worst year of my life," says the actor. In the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy, several Broadway shows closed and ROCKY HORROR was one of them. However, the producers decided to re-open it a few months later and Mitchell contacted Morrison about being in the ensemble. By then LMNT had become lamentable and Morrison was in need of a job so he joined the cast when it re-opened.

Just about that time there was a reading for a musical called HAIRSPRAY and Jerry Mitchell was choreographing it. He asked the actor if he'd like to take part. Morrison played the part of "Fender" in the reading and wound up "having a ball!" When the show actually went into production he didn't have to audition because many of the people who participated in the reading were put into the show. James Carpinello was originally cast in the role of "Link Larkin" but after two weeks of rehearsal he was offered a movie role and left the show. At that point the production team wanted to cast the role with the likes of Justin Timberlake or someone from 98 Degrees. Morrison, Carpinello's understudy, was asked to try-out for the role. His audition went well and Morrison was cast in the part. "It really brought the cast together because the producers had stuck with someone in the show. However," the actor continues, "they didn't give me the Broadway contract right away. I had to 'try out in Seattle'. The whole Seattle run was pretty much my audition for the part The rest is history." For his efforts in HAIRSPRAY, Morrison received the Outer Critics Circle Nomination for "Best Supporting Actor in a Musical".

Matt Morrison did the Los Angeles production of HAIRSPRAY and did a TV pilot out there when his agent called him about a musical version of the novella THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. There had been two out-of-town productions of it and the reviews had been quite good. "I had my agent send me the music and the script. I took one look at the score and said, 'No way!' Not because it wasn't good but because I felt I couldn't do that." One of the reasons for his reluctance to get involved in the project was that the character of Frabizio is called upon to sing in a legitimate tenor voice. Until that time, Morrison had only sung "pop" or "rock" and sincerely felt he didn't have the pipes for such singing.

"They were having a real rough time casting this part. They went through everyone in New York and out-of-town. They tried getting people from California and different places They asked me to come in again and once again I turned them down. And then I happened to be in New York for a week and they asked me to come in. At that point I felt that it just might be fun. What would I have to lose? I worked really hard on the music and I worked really hard with my friend Emilio on the accent and it was one of those auditions where there was a sense of magic in the room. I felt great and I could tell that the people behind the table were into it. Bart Sher, the director, had me running around doing really crazy stuff...They called me back, which was cool and there were some guys there. I found out later that day that I'd been cast." Even more surprising to him was learning that he has a legitimate tenor voice that was very capable of serving Guettel's music well.

It turns out that THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA is the perfect match for Matt Morrison's talents. He acts the part with great sensitivity and sings with such elan that he might easily be at home in an opera company. His voice soars and possesses a marvelously appealing tone. Vocally, he could easily be at home on an opera stage. Speaking of the role of Frabizio, he says, "It has fulfilled everything that I've wanted. It fulfills me artistically every night." He adds that "it's a pleasure to work with this cast and there are so many people that I look up to here." In addition to a batch of fine reviews for his performance in this show, Morrison has been honored with a Tony Award nomination as "Best Supporting Actor In A Musical".

There is a special effect used in the show where a breeze blows off the straw hat that Kelli O'Hara wears in one of the scenes. Has it ever malfunctioned? Actually it never has. However, he does have to pull a wire out of the hat and it's on a button underneath, "I have to undo the button and pull a wire out. One night it didn't separate and I had to rip the wire out. My finger was bleeding all over the place. That only happened once." Elevators are also used in this production to raise and lower furniture and actors. One night during Frabizio's first song, "Il Mondo Era Vuoto" he turned, as directed, to the spot where his father was supposed to be standing. Instead, there was just a big hole in the stage floor. Eventually the elevator (and actor Mark Harelik) came up. "But it's only happened once." Morrison, whose heritage is Irish and Scottish, admits that he normally likes it when things go wrong in front of an audience. The quick-thinking and improvisation always result in "the truest moments". In this particular show, though, he'd rather these calamities not occur. "I'm a good ad-libber," he explains, "but not in Italian."

Other shows he's been in underwent drastic changes during previews. This was not the case with THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. "HAIRSPRAY changed a lot, but this show had been done so many times before coming to New York that the creators really had the basis of what they wanted. We did have a beautiful overture, but the problem was that we don't have a curtain in this theater and it was kind of like the audience was sitting there waiting for something to happen, so it was substantially trimmed. The full length version is going to be on the CD, though."

One moment in THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA that gets an audible reaction from the crowd is when Morrison takes off his shirt to play the rest of a scene barechested. It's not unusual to hear gasps from the people watching the show. Does this daunt the actor? He laughs when he responds, "There's no better motivator than vanity to keep your body in shape; knowing that 1,200 people are going to be looking at your bare chest!" He added that he heads to the gym on a daily basis to keep his torso looking buff.

The topic of Morrison's fans came up and he admits to having a very good relationship with them. He willingly signs autographs and poses for pictures with his admirers. He does recall the time, though, when two teenagers met him at the stage door after ROCKY HORROR and followed him on the subway to Brooklyn. That was certainly an isolated incident. He chuckles when he notes that during ROCKY HORROR and HAIRSPRAY there was always a bevy of teenaged girls waiting outside to meet him. With THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, the material appeals to more mature audiences and there seems to be groups of gay older men waiting outside the stage door--not that there's anything wrong with that!

Speaking of crowds, there has been a steady stream of celebrities coming backstage to visit with Morrison at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. Marissa Jaret Winokur made it a point to see the show and visit her "Link Larkin" when she was in New York for a mere 48 hours recently. She loved the show and got so excited when Morrison took off his shirt that she later told him, "It's a good thing that blackout came when it did because I was gonna come up on stage and beat that bitch up!" Carol Burnett also stopped by and gushed over Morrison's performance. She appears with the actor in another TV version of ONCE UPON A MATTRESS that was filmed in Vancouver a few months ago. This all indicates that Matthew Morrison is highly esteemed by his peers.

When Morrison is asked what it was like for him to learn he'd been nominated for a Tony Award for this performance, the actor takes a deep breath and an almost beatific smile comes across his face. There's a pause and he slowly responds, "It took me a while to process it. It's a dream come true. It makes me remember how I got here and the people who helped me along the way, but it hasn't changed my life. I still have to pay $2.00 to get on the subway, but I feel like I'm 'in the club' now."

Of course the actor is excited to be participating in this year's Tony Awards and mentions that the cast of THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA would be performing the opening number, "Statues and Stories" during the telecast. Additionally, he will perform a brief excerpt of "Passeggiata" in a montage of all the musicals that were produced on Broadway this season. This is something that audiences across America should find enjoyable.

What does the future hold for Matthew Morrison? "I see myself doing movies. One of the reasons that I didn't want to do this part was because I didn't want to do theater right away. I wanted to take a little break. Obviously now I'm grateful I did come back. I think I want to do film and my ideal career would be like Hugh Jackman, who balances his work in movies with appearances in the theater. I'd love to have his career, but I can honestly say that the theater is where I want to be. I just think if I keep doing it over and over I won't appreciate it as much as I want to."

ONCE UPON A MATTRESS is scheduled to be aired around Thanksgiving and features Tracey Ullman, Denis O'Hare, Zoey Deschanel, as well as Burnett and Morrison. "I haven't seen the full thing because they're keeping it really under locks. Kathleen Marshall, Mark Platt and Carol Burnett are the only people who have copies of it and each of their copies have their initials on the whole show, so if it gets out they'll know who it came from." He notes that there is a real connection here, because Mary Rodgers wrote the music for MATTRESS and her son is Adam Guettel, who wrote the score for PIAZZA. "I guess I'm keeping it all in the family." he chortles.

Just before the visit ended, Morrison asked his visitor if he would like to use the bathroom. It seemed to be an odd request, but it was the actor's way of showing how he's been moving up in the world. It seems that when he was in HAIRSPRAY, he was chasing rats backstage. Here at the Beaumont his dressing room is very comfortable and his toilet facilities include a bidet which not only works at the press of a button, but which also sends a warm and drying zephyr of air when another button is pressed. It's an odd way to measure a fellow's first flush of success, but it is definitely a success that Matthew Morrison deserves. When the Tony Awards are announced, there will be exceptionally large groups of people in the theater community who are hoping that this talented and ingratiating young man receives the award he so richly deserves.

Bravo, Matteo! Bravo!

* TRANSLATION: "The Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center is currently the home of a new musical entitled THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. Large segments of the lyrics and dialogue are performed in Italian. Therefore,it is only fitting that this article should be written in Italian. However, it is understood that most of the BroadwayWorld.Com members are English speaking, so the rest of this piece will be in the language of Shakespeare, Milton and Neil Simon..."

(The author expresses his appreciation for the contributions Christina
Trivigno made to this article)

To order tickets for THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA: click here.



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