BWW Interviews: Robert Creighton: Making It Real

"The more real you play it, the better for any piece, even a comedic piece like this one." Stage and television actor Robert Creighton is talking about his upcoming role debut in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein, which opens August 6th at the Maine State Music Theatre. Creighton, who is playing the meaty role of Frankenstein's bungling, hunchbacked assistant Igor, says of his approach to the part, "The script is so good, so honed that I just have to say the words and stay out of their way. I don't have to mug. It is so well-crafted that I simply embrace the stupidity of it all, enjoy that and watch the audience enjoy it, too. When you play it for real, you are not making fun of the humor or commenting on the material, and the situation takes care of itself."

Though this is Creighton's first essay of Mel Brooks' musical, he is known for many other comedic parts, such as Luther Billis, which was his last appearance at MSMT in 2006. Asked how he would characterize Brooks' special brand of comedy, he says, "It is humor that is surprising - quiet, subtle - on tilt, and if you get it, it is hysterical." He is amused by my comment that a segment of the local audience who wasn't familiar with the musical was skeptical about coming because they thought it was a horror show. He counters, "It's actually the perfect show to see in the summer. You can come, leave your worries at the door, laugh out loud at the zaniness of it all and cheer for the terrific dancing and production numbers."

Creighton goes on to praise director/choreographer Marc Robin's take on Young Frankenstein. "Marc is brilliant at constructing these big numbers, and it is even more amazing when you realize that he is mounting this whole show in two weeks!" He adds that the young ensemble has been amazing, fitting right into the starry seasoned cast which also features Jeremiah James, Jessica Lee Goldyn and Missy Dowse. "Marc trusts you as an actor and lets you do what it is you do. Then once the show is up on its feet, he will refine it. But he is wonderful at seeing the big picture [as well as the details] and making sure everyone is on the same page stylistically - which, of course, is very important. I appreciate that."

As the conversation takes us back to the origins of Creighton's versatile and prolific career, it becomes clear that finding the truth in all his creative endeavors - "making them all as real as possible" - has been a lesson he learned very early on and carried with him. Raised in Walkerton, Ontario, he initially imagined himself as becoming the goalkeeper for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he also sang in choir and was fascinated by Fred Astaire. At age fifteen, he auditioned for a community theatre production of Oliver! hoping to get the title role. That audition changed his life.

"I often tell the story of how I auditioned, thinking in that cocky, youthful manner that I would get the part because I was the best singer. But the director saw what is now obvious. I am a short guy who has humor. He cast me as the Artful Dodger instead, and it has been character roles ever since! Even at fifteen, it was enlightening to me to realize how much more fun it was to play the Dodger than to sing a beautiful aria." That production was significant for other reasons, too, because "it was then I realized this is what I wanted to do with my life."

Once Creighton made that choice, he pursued it passionately. While still in high school, he took a summer to study at the prestigious Banff Center School of the Fine Arts, honing his musical, acting, and dancing skills -(he fell in love with tap there). He went on to enroll in Wilfrid Laurier University as a voice major, received his B.A. from that institution, and followed that with three years of acting conservatory at New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts. The strong foundation in music, dance, and acting has served him well. "I have been trained in both musical and straight theatre and I can go back and forth between the two. I can handle the classical texts. I recently did Shakespeare in the Park [in New York] and Ben Jonson's The Alchemist in Washington, D.C. It is like working out on both sides of your arms," he adds.

While still in university, Creighton performed in summer stock where he met two of the men he credits with being his mentors, Alan Lund, Canada's foremost musical director, and actor-director Alex Mustakas. "Lund was the one who told me 'just let the words do the work. Don't put a lot of extra stuff into it because that will make it less funny rather than more.'" That was a lesson which ADA continued to reinforce: "They stripped away so many bad acting habits; they would rap your knuckles for not making it real. I became more grounded, and that makes my comedy, my singing, everything I do better."

In addition to playing the Artful Dodger again at age nineteen for Lund, he also came back to Ontario to work with Lund and Mustakas in summers at the Drayton Festival Theatre, where, among other roles, he took the lead in Brighton Beach Memoirs. Graduating from ADA, he found himself an agent and after a brief stint working in a law firm, he landed his first professional assignments at the Phoenix repertory in New York, at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, and in a television commercial with Shaquille O'Neal and got his Equity card. "I have been lucky to have been able to act the whole time since," he concludes.

And for ten years, act he did, playing roles in New York and on the regional circuit such as Peter Pan, Eddie Ryan in Funny Girl, Nicely Nicely in Guys and Dolls, Tobias in Sweeney Todd and even touring with the New York City Opera in the Mikado and Merry Widow. He finally made it to Broadway in Jackie Mason's short-lived show, Laughing Room Only, which ran for only two weeks. Nonetheless, this was "the show that broke the seal for me," he says.

There followed a long list of successes, from which he highlights a few that glimmer in his memory. "The recent Edwin Drood was great fun. I got to play the town drunk, and they let me have fun with what is a very juicy part. It was a remarkable [creative team] and cast! Then I probably had the most fun ever in Anything Goes especially when I got to go on for three months for Joel Grey who had broken his foot. I got to play opposite Sutton Foster, and she more than deserves all the praise she gets and more. She did not treat me as the understudy, but together we found our own thing. It was amazingly satisfying." Creighton also cites a recent stint as the Chef in The Little Mermaid. "That was a great part because I came on and did my thing, then had an hour off, came back with a number that brought down the house, went off again, and reappeared with the cake. I had great fun on stage, and then I used all those breaks in the dressing room to work on Cagney.

Creighton is referring to the original musical for which he has written the music and lyrics together with Christopher McGovern. The project which most recently ran at New York's York Theatre Company from May 19 - June 21, 2015, to rave reviews and box office records is now "percolating for a future life" in New York and on the road. Creighton tells how he came to embrace the subject.

"It was a dream that started for me in acting school. I have been told I look like Cagney, and I was always mesmerized by his films. The more I learned about him, the more fascinated I became. He was a real humanitarian, one of the first members of SAG, someone who stuck up for the little guy. So I felt there was a rich story. And then a long time ago, I had auditioned for the Cagney estate to play him in a biographical play. The script was not really viable; they just wanted someone to imitate Cagney, and the whole thing fizzled out. But it gave me the idea to do my own show about him one day."

In the course of creating his own musical Cagney, Creighton met Peter Colley who became his collaborator in writing the book. "At an early production at Florida Stage, director Bill Castellino became involved, and I met Christopher McGovern who helped me develop the music and lyrics. There were some songs I felt very proud of and some which were place holders, and Christopher helped take care of that. What we have now is a six-person musical with a five-piece band that won the Carbonell Award [for "Best New Work"] in Florida and has created a great deal of buzz in New York."

Another spin off of Creighton's efforts in creating Cagney was the release of a solo vocal album which Creighton conceived as a disc to complement the play, Ain't We Got Fun, on which he is joined by the likes of Joel Grey, Kate Baldwin, Tituss Burgess in singing popular songs of the 20s and 30s. The actor says he never seriously considered a career as a classical tenor (though he had studied this repertoire in university). "I always wanted to be a song and dance man, although I do relish now the opportunities I get to sing 'legit,'" he says, adding that "as a guy matures, his voice increases dramatically. My voice has gotten so much stronger, and I now easily have the [tenor] notes I struggled for back in school."

Thus, singing remains one of the many focuses of his career. "When I get back to New York, I am going to do a cabaret evening at 54 Below," he says. And he is attached to several new projects which "would be very exciting if they were to come about." And then there is Cagney, which has been optioned for a tour in 2016-2017 and which has, he hopes, serious legs for its continued future in New York.

Meanwhile, he is enjoying his return to Brunswick, Maine - a place he says "feels like home; even though I have only been here two times before, I have made some lifelong friendships - and he is looking forward to having his wife and two small children will join him this week for the premiere of Young Frankenstein. Playing Igor will be "great fun" and it will rekindle some of the precepts he absorbed in the early stages of his career. Referencing Alan Lund once again, Creighton says, " His lessons stick with me even for this role. I have to be very detailed physically, and I have to act stupid on stage, but I am doing it for real. I am listening to what the others are saying and looking them in the eyes and telling the truth."

Photos Courtesy of MSMT, Roger S. Duncan, photographer (production photo)

Young Frankenstein runs from August 6-22, 2015, at the Pickard Theatre, Brunswick, ME www.msmt.org 207-725-8765