Interview: Dan Chameroy of SOMETHING ROTTEN! and GUYS AND DOLLS at Stratford Festival

Musical theatre maven Dan Chameroy is attracted to opposites. Luckily, at this year’s Stratford Festival, he’s drawn a perfect pair.

At Stratford, recent years have seen Chameroy in roles from Billy Flynn in Chicago to Frank N. Furter in The Rocky Horror Show. In his 18th season with the festival, Chameroy takes on two contrasting parts. He returns to 2024’s smash hit comedy, Something Rotten!, as the peculiar prognosticator Nostradamus (no, not that Nostradamus). He’s also playing romantic leading man Sky Masterson, an inveterate gambler with a charmed streak both on and off the craps table, in the Frank Loesser classic Guys and Dolls.

BroadwayWorld spoke with Chameroy about what makes a musical sizzle, trusting your scene partner—even when it’s the stage itself—and how to balance explosive humour with laid-back cool.

BWW: Thank you for joining me to talk about your roles at Stratford this year in Something Rotten! and Guys and Dolls. In these shows, you're playing two parts that seem like they couldn't be more different. You've got a romantic lead, Sky Masterson, in Guys and Dolls, and you've got this lunatic side character, Nostradamus, in Something Rotten! However, although they express this side differently, both of them are confidence men in their own way; there's a little bit of a trickster to both of them. What's it like going between these two parts, and what do you find compelling about playing each one?

CHAMEROY: Obviously, the first thing I love is that they're so different. I've always been drawn to extremes, and I think that they are a prime example of that.

It's one of the blessings about working in repertory theater, where you get to flip-flop back and forth from one character to the next, and occasionally you get to play two characters that are so opposite of each other. They do both have a confidence. One [Nostradamus], his confidence is, how can we say...misdirected. He’s so in his own zone, reality has no meaning to anything. Whatever comes to mind is where he goes. It's like a squirrel. He gets easily distracted, whereas Sky Masterson is definitely a man who knows what he wants, and knows what to do get it.

His passion is what he's following, and he’s a leader who leads because of his confidence, because of his comfort with who he is, and his understanding of the world. He’s a traveller; he’s seen a lot. And so they’re so different, and they’re fun to play because one relies on a comic spin, and the other one is just sitting in his centre. So, it's great to play those two parts. It's a great balance for me to have, and it's also very rewarding playing parts like this, because the audience responds to them so differently.

I get a great amount of joy from doing Something Rotten! and knowing that an audience is having such an experience. It's such a vocal experience as well, whereas in Guys and Dolls, the response isn’t as noticeable when Sky and Sarah are on stage. Instead, people are in awe of the dancing, because the numbers are extraordinary, and the comedy that Nathan and Adelaide offer is obviously received in a very specific way. People are having a very different experience, and that's a great thing about doing these shows in one season. I’m just loving it; love, love the experience of it all.

BWW: It's always easier to see the audience response to your part when you’re playing a fundamentally comic role. With laughter, you can't force or fake that, or hide it, it's either happening or it's not.

CHAMEROY: Yes. And the tricky thing is trying to trust the different levels. When you're playing Sky, after you've played Nostradamus, you really have to trust that the response is okay. You're used to that sound, and then all of a sudden it's quiet, and you think, is this landing the way you want to? When you do a play, for example, you really don't know how it's landing in an audience, because people aren't clapping after you do a monologue, so you really have to trust that what you're doing is working. I do have to remind myself occasionally that this is the way it's supposed to feel and that everything is going fine.

And that’s only because Something Rotten! gets such a response. I've never been in a play, other than Rocky Horror, where it was encouraged for people to shout things out. With Something Rotten!, the audience is responding throughout the whole piece; there's no lull in terms of the laughter. Tt's like it's recorded, because it's so consistent. There's always just something to enjoy. Tt's a very deceiving way of doing theater, because it doesn't usually happen. Like, that's not normal. This is not normal. In my 30 years in this business, I've never done something where the laughter starts from “Renaissance” to the very last word.

It's a really rewarding experience as artists, because, you know, we do this because we love it, but we also do it because we want people to enjoy it, and when you know that they are, it's just great. It's like a shot of a serious drug. It's just extraordinary joy to feel the people having that experience.

BWW: I saw Something Rotten! in 2024, and as someone who sees upwards of 150 shows a year, I’m not sure I've ever seen a mid-show standing ovation. That was fascinating to me, to see the extent of the reaction. I mean, of course, the ovation is encouraged.

CHAMEROY: Of course.

BWW: However, it is freely given.

CHAMEROY: Yes, absolutely. The structure of the show is great. I saw it in New York in 2015, and I thought, wow, this is cool, why aren't they doing this at Stratford? As many people, I’m sure, did. And it was a good piece of theatre. I think that our production is better, because I think it's an ensemble piece. I don't think it features one person in particular. I think everyone's going to have their favorite character, but I think everyone has their moment to shine, and it's not like a vehicle for someone.

If it turns into a vehicle for someone, it's because of the person's work, but it was never a show about one specific character. It really was about the group of us, and that's what I think really works about the piece. It's an ensemble company, and it feels that way, and I think that's why the audience is also responding that way. It doesn't feel like they're waiting for one character in particular; they're just happy to be in the room with all of them.

Coming back to it, it feels like there are people who obviously are seeing it again. And I think it's just going to revisit an old friend, you know? I think there's something really comforting about coming back to see that show, especially in the world that we are currently living in. It's nice to come back to something that you know won't threaten you in any way and will bring you joy. That's a great part about doing that show again.

BWW: As you say, it's perfect for a company like Stratford, because it's a parody straddling the middle of what Stratford does, which is classic musicals and Shakespeare.

CHAMEROY: Yes. It takes the piss out of both of them, and that's what I love about it. If people don't like musicals, they love Something Rotten!, because they go, they're making fun of it. And if people who think Shakespeare is too blah blah serious, or it's not their thing, come to see it, they see it makes fun of Shakespeare as well, but it honours both things. It's not dismissing them; it's going, these are great theatre forms, and we're going to make fun of them, but at the same time, with great respect. So, that's what's really fun about the show, and it's a perfect fit for the festival, for sure.

BWW: I’ve spent a long time thinking about what makes a good parody, and one main concern has always been that it has to understand why people love the original. It has to not just attack, but have some sort of affection for what it’s parodying.

CHAMEROY: Absolutely, because I don't think anyone walks out of Something Rotten! who loves Shakespeare and goes, what have you done? I think people just have a great time. Because I think that everyone who watches whatever they love has always had a moment of thinking it's a bit much. And then this show makes you go, yeah, it's a bit much on occasion. It's great. And parodies are really hard to pull off.

People have tried it. I mean, I love Book of Mormon. When I saw it years ago, when it first came out, I was like, wow, this is edgy and insane, and it's pushing the envelope to a certain degree, and I liked that it was so risky, you know? The Producers was something that was similar to that extent. This one is another one that's really successful.

Something Rotten! vanished in New York because Hamilton came out, because Hamilton was such a brilliant piece of theatre, and nothing could really touch it. I think Something Rotten! is a really solid piece of theatre that lost its way in New York to a certain degree. But it'll come back, and it'll find its way there again, without question.

BWW: Well, it certainly found its home in Stratford.

CHAMEROY: Yes, and we're very happy about that.

BWW: Being that we just had the production a couple of years ago, is this essentially a shot-by-shot remount, or have you found anything different this time around?

CHAMEROY: We all signed on for a remount, but I think that there's definitely a difference to the show this time around. I think when people have an opportunity to have a character live inside of them for two years, whether they're playing it or not, when you come back, it’s grounded in a different way for everybody who's back playing those parts. It's not something you can train for, it's not something you can rehearse, it's just a part of you.

So I think everyone's game is up to a certain degree, which I know is weird to say, because I thought everyone was at the top of the game in the show the last time, but I think there's just a new depth to the characters. And I think that we have made some minor adjustments. I mean, you don't want to fuss around with stuff that was working to begin with. So, there are little things that Mark [Uhre] and I, because he's my partner on stage, that we've added or embellished a little bit, not in a crude way. We've done a few things that are different.

But it's pretty much what people would have seen the last time. The comedy is still what it was. I was apprehensive, as I think most people were when they were saying, we're going to bring it back. Because you kind of go, is this going to work the second time around? And we were in rehearsals at one point one day, and I was laughing, and I was like, this thing is still funny. The wit of the piece, the work that people are doing is still really very fresh and interesting and feels original, so my concerns have been gladly dismissed.

I think it also helps that we're doing Guys and Dolls as an opposite piece. It keeps everything in perspective. The weight of that piece over the craziness of Rotten certainly keeps things fresh as an actor.

BWW: Stratford mounted Guys and Dolls in 2017, but this is more of a new version.

CHAMEROY: It's a newer version with a lot of similarities from what we saw the last time. Visually, it looks very similar. There are different things that have been added to the set, more lights. The costumes are slightly different, the leading players are all different. Some of the choreography is the same, not all, a lot of it's been revamped. I didn't sign on to do a remount or revisit of that piece. I was coming in to do my version of what that character was. I think we've been successful at that.

It's always tricky when you're coming back to do something that was successful nine, 10 years ago. It was well received back then, so you just hope that, when you come back to it with different people, it's either improved or hasn’t been led in a negative way. And I think that we've been successful at it. There's some really fine work happening on that stage, and our director Donna [Feore] has led us all

in the right direction, and the choreography is spectacular, and the dancers and ensemble are just unbelievable.

It's amazing to watch these people do what they do and maintain their excellence in both shows. I think it's going well, but it can be a tricky thing when you're coming to do something that's sort of been done before. And it's not yours, but you're trying to make your own version of what that part will be. I've loved working with everyone, so it makes it a lot easier.

BWW: Do you have a favorite moment or number in Guys and Dolls?

CHAMEROY: I love “Luck Be a Lady.” I've known that song for 100 years; I've never played this part before, but it's just something about that song. The energy of it. I love doing that number because I love the movement in it. I love the way it's lit. I love the croony-ish quality to it, and the edginess to it. I love the rhythm of the song. I think it's just got a great, cool energy, and I love where it happens in the play. I think it's in a perfect spot. I think the musical is one of the best, in terms of those classic traditional musicals.

The book of Guys and Dolls and the music are just so epic on so many levels, and the structure of the show is just so well done. And, of course, it's sexy. I mean, the show is a sexy-looking show. You have these men in these crazy suits, doing these crazy moves. You have women doing their showgirl things.

It's just a really well-balanced show, and it's got a great amount of comedy, and then some weight to it, so it's a great show to introduce people to musicals, because it has everything you want in a musical. You know?

BWW: It was one of the first musicals I ever saw, as a child. And I agree with you that it's an incredibly tight musical with fantastic music and a well-paced book. It’s a classic. It just works.

CHAMEROY: It really does. You know, I was watching the Tonys, and they were honouring shows of the past, and they did Chicago, and Pink was doing her tune. That show, I know it's been running there for 30 years, and whether you like the version or not, it doesn't really matter. It's run for 30 years because the material is great.

And I think that when you have something that's been around for so long, it’s because it still feels so current. It feels like it could be today. I think that that's what's so amazing about these older musicals. There's a current element to them. I don't feel like I'm watching an old-timey thing. We want people to come to the theatre, and we don't want to make people feel that it's dated. Guys and Dolls is something that's really survived well over many, many years.

BWW: Speaking of not wanting to make things seem like museum pieces, you're in these two shows that everyone describes as really high energy. What's it like on your energy, throughout the week, having to deal with these two very intense musicals?

CHAMEROY: It's really about finding balance, and pacing yourself with what you have to do. If I had to dance in both the shows, like the ensemble cast has to, I don't know how I would manage that. I think it's intense. Maintenance is key on all those things, certainly if you're doing a lot of movement. I work out, I try to eat healthy, and I try not to do a ridiculous amount of stuff on my days off, which is sometimes a challenge, but you really need to find the right balance.

Something Rotten! requires a different type of energy. When I come out, I always feel it's a bit of a nuclear explosion. It's very sudden, and it's very aggressive, and it happens instantly. That energy is so intense for a brief amount of time. I need to make sure that I maintain that, because I think that part requires it, and there's no way to mark that part, you have to go full force.

For Guys and Dolls, there's a back-footed type of energy with Sky, but still, if you're too far back, the audience is like, what the hell is this guy doing? So, there still has to be a forward energy, but laid back at the same time. Trying to balance that is really critical in that role as well.

But as I said, because I'm doing both, I'm really being fulfilled as an artist, because they're both very satisfying in different ways.

BWW: You can be forward, and then you can be a little bit back.

CHAMEROY: That's right. Playing people that are a little further back is cool because you have to draw the audience to you, as opposed to being on their lap. You're drawing them in, and that's a very cool feeling as an actor. It's a beautiful thing on that stage. The Festival Theatre stage is such a unique space, and a real scene partner, as opposed to playing on a proscenium stage, where it's a little more flat. The Festival Theatre audience, I think, feels like they're somewhat involved in the play in a very different way.

BWW: Because there are more opportunities for entrances and exits, and you're closer to the audience in many ways.

CHAMEROY: Yes. And the thing is, depending on the show you're doing, they're almost a piece of the play. When you're playing someone like Billy Flynn, he's such a manipulator. You're manipulating the people on stage, but you're also manipulating your audience. And being on that stage doing that part, it's like he is the puppet, but he is also a puppet master, and I felt when I was doing that, that I was also puppeteering the audience. I felt like they were equally a part of my plan. So it's a very cool space to play on. Really, really interesting. Makes you a better actor, for sure. Nowhere to hide.

BWW: There's no “this is my good side.”

CHAMEROY: No. You see the good, the bad, and the ugly on that stage. There is really nowhere to hide. If you embrace it, then you'll be successful. If you are intimidated by it, if you are challenged by it, it'll just get in your way. Just let it be your best friend, and it will help you achieve great things. You just have to trust. It's like working with a scene partner, you need to trust the person you're opposite. You also need to trust the stage is not there to get in the way, it's really there for you to open up and just be authentic.

BWW: You were saying that each of these characters has a particular scene partner throughout the show. What do you enjoy about working with your partners?

CHAMEROY: Well, first of all, they're both such pros, and they're collaborative, and they're present, the both of them are. Olivia [Sinclair-Brisbane] is just a delight to work with, and she's got great ideas, and she's so driven in a positive way, and professional and skilled, so I just have loved working with her. And then there's Mark, who's just a mess, in the best possible way. He's a great comedy partner, he's a great straight man. He welcomes it. So, our partnership in Something Rotten is an absolute delight because comedy needs a straight man, and Mark is not always a straight man, he can do both, but he's not threatened by it. There's a great amount of play that happens in that show that is just our comic chemistry together and our trust with each other. I have a blast working with him, because it always feels fresh and present.

And it's the same with Olivia. It's just a different energy. It's not comedy. It's a different kind of process when you're doing that kind of work. But they're both fantastic people to work with. You want a scene partner who wants to play, and who's looking at you, and listening to you, and both of them do that, so I'm so grateful. I don't do it for them. But they do it for me. So I'm grateful for them.

BWW: When you say Mark’s not threatened by the straight man role, it sounds like that’s a tension you’re pretty familiar with, as you’re balancing a fiercely comedic role and a straight man role. You also have to be aware and not be threatened by the more comedic roles in Guys and Dolls.

CHAMEROY: Yes, of course, absolutely, and just know that what you're doing is absolutely what is meant to be. What's your function in the play? I think it's such an important thing for people to know, and to honor that function, and know that that's enough. We all tend to want to do more, but if you just look at the structure of character and what is the relationship with the other person, and what is the other person's relationship with your character, and what is their function in the play, if you trust what the function is, you'll be on the right track.

It's when people veer off it, when their egos or their creativity gets in the way, and they want to do stuff, you need to ask, is that really what the part is, is that really what the play is trying to say? It's just trying to honor what is on the page, and sometimes it's hard to do that, you know? It's the trick of what we do. That's what I try to do. Not too much “what's my motivation,” but a little more, “what's my function?” And then everything starts to happen, then it makes sense.

It's especially important to know what your function is when you do long runs, because people can get swayed either by audience response or lack of response, or by people saying, I thought this was better than that. You can easily get distracted, so you just need to go, what is my function? What did we rehearse? And I have to remember that, because 7 months into the run, bad habits can arise, and you may not even know what's happening. So if you just go back to what the function of your part is, and what is the play? Then you can keep yourself on track. It's about staying on track on these long runs.

It’s easy to get distracted. There's just so many things. And we continue to evolve in the part as the months go by, and the world changes, and every day, your life is faced with whatever, and sometimes you bring that into your work. You have to stay the course; it's part of the job, really monitoring yourself in the part.

BWW: You want to evolve, but not turn it into something unrecognizable.

CHAMEROY: Yeah, because then that's not the vision the director had, and it's not what the play's about, so we have to keep it clear in our minds.

BWW: Is there anything else you want readers to know?

CHAMEROY: You know, doing what I do, I've had the privilege of doing it for a long time. I've had a great opportunity to play some really fantastic roles here and elsewhere. I wouldn't be able to do any of this without the support of my family, my wife, my daughter, who've been by my side through all this, and have given me the freedom to pursue what I love to do. They're my foundation, and they're really all that matters.

This place has been an amazing gift to me. I've been here for many, many years, on and off, and it's a second home for me. It's given me the luxury of growing as an artist and working with amazing people, exceptional people. There's coaching teams at Stratford, there's so much support for artists here that you don't get anywhere else. If anyone ever has the opportunity to work here, it's a really special place. It really is. I mean, it has its negative parts, like anywhere, there's some things that work here and some things that don't, but in reality, as an artist, if you want to grow while you're working, there's classes here, there's coaching, there's nothing like it anywhere else.

You have four different stages to play on, of different sizes, and a huge company of actors that you can watch, and you can mentor, and you can be mentored, and it's a spectacular thing in the history of this place. It’s a special place, and what a privilege it's been to be here.

BWW: Thank you so much for talking with me, and best wishes for the long run ahead.

Something Rotten! runs until October 31.

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