Interview: Levi Kreis of HADESTOWN at Orpheum Theater

Hi Levi! It's such a pleasure to speak with you today. Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions for BroadwayWorld in Omaha.

Absolutely! Thank you.

I would love to start off by just asking you about your start in theater. What drew you to a life in performance art?

That's a great question! I grew up on the road by the time I was twelve years old performing my own music, and I always thought that I would be a singer songwriter. And I have been with original music used on several prime time television shows such as Sons of Anarchy, The Vampire Diaries, and So You Think You Can Dance. There was always this side of me that was just living in music, but it wasn't until I moved to Los Angeles and decided to look through this magazine called Backstage West, which being that I was fresh out of Tennessee I never heard of this magazine before, and I saw this cattle call audition for this show called Rent and auditioned for a musical. I was there in Los Angeles for my first week and I wondered what it would be like to just go and throw myself into something like this. I was 169th in line at a cattle call for the Broadway National Tour of Rent, just as green as could be, and I went in with no headshot or resume and I sat down and sang "I Can't Make You Love Me" by Bonnie Raitt. And they asked if I could like to come back and read some sides for the creative and casting team, and I said that I would love to. As I looked at the sides I thought about how growing up in music, specifically in gospel music, we in the church are taught that if you do it you better believe it or no one else will. So I just took that attitude with the sides. I read them and kept them as honest as possible, and three callbacks later I was offered the role of Roger in Rent. And then I was scared. I thought, "What have I done," because I was now in the company of those who had really been able to back up their talent with education. It wasn't the best performance of my life, but it was the first performance of my life. I came back to Los Angeles after tour and realized I was in love with this and I wanted to learn how to really expand and grow my skills. I auditioned for one of the premiere acting coaches in Los Angeles, Warner Loughlin, and was grateful to get to be a part of her class and that really began what's now been twenty years in theater. I haven't looked back since. It's been a twenty year love affair and I can't imagine doing anything else.

What an amazing story and start to this journey you've been on! It's interesting looking at your resume and seeing a wide range of roles in shows such as Rent, Million Dollar Quartet, Violet, and currently Hadestown. Your resume represents such a wide variety of musical stylings. Who would you say have been some of your biggest musical influences over the years who have really helped you craft your own voice?

You know, as an actor discovering this gift and passion in my formidable years, I think I've always been drawn to the characters and actors who aren't afraid to challenge the box that people want to put them in. I think that's one of the most fun things about moving from something like Million Dollar Quartet to Hadestown to Violet. There's something different about each one, and I enjoy the challenge of not staying in one little narrow place. I think I've always looked at the musicians and actors who have often just been little rebellious about labels. I kind of love that. It's like Johnny Depp, who is a chameleon of sorts. Musically speaking I'm attracted to a lot of artists who seem to move through genres rather easily and not be narrowly defined by what they do.

Speaking as a creative mind and as someone who has had many songs appear in various popular television programs, how do you approaching songwriting and how has a life in the performance arts impacted or affected your approach to songwriting?

Songwriting, to me, has always been a way of coping with life. And mine is a life of conversion therapy to become straight; of being denied my education at a southern Baptist college for being gay; of being denied employment multiple times in the 2000s for being gay; of surviving a gay bashing in New Jersey with a brick to the back of my head; and of surviving two abusive boyfriends. I feel like that life stuff, like all of that as well being twelve years sober from a drug addiction, has been a way of dealing with some really hard life circumstances. It seems to help me find a resilience that, without music, I don't think I would be able to find as well as I can as when I take my pain and I put it into music.

That's an incredibly transparent and powerful testimony. And what a testament to your strength and resilience through so much adversity.

I think so many people hear the story about my introduction to the performing arts and think, "What a lucky dog;" but had they known I went through eight major records labels where I was dropped for being gay, I think they would realize that the moment I was picked up for Rent was actually a sign for me to just not give up... There were things yet for me to do. You know?

Absolutely. Thank you for sharing that. Changing course a bit and reaching back to your experience with Million Dollar Quartet, which is the production in which you won your first Tony Award for your portrayal of Jerry Lee Lewis and was a role you created in that production... What was that creative experience like, knowing what your creative arc has been throughout your career?

Hmmm.... My journey towards Million Dollar Quartet actually started with a show called One Red Flower. It was a musical that was the story of five guys in their one year tour of Vietnam. It was a beautiful story written by Emmy Award Winner Paris Barclay. We workshopped and developed this from smaller theaters, to the Kennedy Center, and we were slated for Broadway. It was going to be a Broadway debut for all five of us guys in the show, but then 9/11 happened, and the producers realized that this was not the time for his piece to debut. So, sadly, after developing these characters and this gorgeous piece, we went back to Los Angeles. But the producers of One Red Flower had received what I liked to call a wonderful hillbilly skit called Million Dollar Quartet, and they knew of my work in One Red Flower and knew that I could play the piano a little bit, so they asked if I would like to be a part of the table reading for this new work. So it started with the table read, and I never auditioned for the role again because they saw that playing the music of Jerry Lee Lewis was second nature to me. I had been playing "Great Balls of Fire" at every family reunion since I was twelve, so this was almost the perfect match for me. But we absolutely had an uphill climb to see what this thing was. And we realized it kind of became the story of Sam Phillips and of his journey to realizing his dream. And as we workshopped it, our characters and our relationships deepened, and I arranged a big chunk of the music for the show. We workshopped at Village Theater and we workshopped in Chicago. And because of challenges I was facing in my personal life, I wasn't sure about the show and almost decided not to continue. I almost did not go to the Chicago production that ended up taking us to Broadway. And honestly I went to get out of a bad living situation, but I did and it went to Broadway and here we are. Our opening night at the Nederlander Theater in New York was simply surreal. It was a such a personal journey for me versus a professional strategy.

Well it sounds like it worked out on both ends in the long run.

It certainly did. The team was so supportive, and the guys were all supportive. Million Dollar Quartet really showed me that actors can show up on stage and not be competitive and ugly, and they can not be driven by their own need to be seen. Everyone in Million Dollar Quartet was very selfless on stage and was a total team player, and really they were all generous with spirit. I think that set a standard and expectation that ever since then I want to maintain, at least for myself. I want to show up and be a really generous Hermes on stage. The cast of Million Dollar Quartet showed me that people could show up on stage and not be ugly and competitive and driven by their own need to be seen. Everyone was very selfless backstage and onstage and was a total team player. I think that set a standard for me and an expectation that ever since then I kind of want to maintain that, at least for myself. I want to show up and be a really generous Hermes and see what I can do to support Eurdycie's and Orpheus's stories. I want to support Hades and Persephone's story. I think that we don't realize that the magic of a performance really becomes sparklingly beautiful when you approach your craft from the question of how much you can give the other actors.

Speaking of Hadestown.... What drew you to audition for Hermes in Hadestown?

I feel like this role was made for me. I just do. It is just tailor made for me. It is one of those roles that I would seek out because it caters to me musically. It is a perfect match for my voice. As far as how I believe Hermes serves the piece is so within my sweet spot. And it appeals to me on a personal level as I believe the message that Hermes is trying to get across is very metaphysical. He says in the lyric "I'll tell you where the real world lies. Between your ears. Behind your eyes. That is the path to paradise. Likewise, the road to ruin." What he is saying is that where we spend our mental focus, our mental energy, our beliefs, our thoughts, our feelings, creates our reality. You can not get away from that message, no matter how many people do not talk about it. It could not be more obvious that there is a beautiful metaphysical message in this piece, and I get to be the ambassador of it.

What surprises you most in the show every performance? Is there a moment or experience/take away that surprises you about this production?

Artful theater is back. That's what I think about. I think a lot of times, Broadway can be very commercialized and we've lost that innovation spirit a little bit. I feel like Hadestown really makes a concerted effort to make art, to create art, to be daring and not care as much about the considerations that more commercial theater tend to consider. I'm taken aback by the fact you could see this musical like five times and still be catching new things because there's so much symbolism. There's just so much to look at when you really pay attention to it like it's a gorgeous piece of art that when you sit and stare at the nuances and the detail begin to expand your experience on it. That's really what this show it. And it's surprising to me. As someone who is in the piece, I find it fascinating that I, as an artist and songwriter and an actor embodying this wonderful role, am still moved as much every night. It is a meal that continues to keep feeding me.

Are there any final thoughts for our Omaha readers?

Yes! I do not say this as an actor promoting his current show, but I say this as a theater fan speaking to other theater fans.... This is the show you can not miss this season. This is the show you will want to say you experienced.