Winning Young Actor Spends 2006 Playing Icons at Toby's

          It seems that I really missed the boat on Buddy: The Buddy Holly Musical which played at Toby’s Columbia location to so much success and acclaim that they are bringing it back for a month starting January 18. Yes, I was pretty much the only critic who didn’t enjoy it (I still maintain that no matter what the script stinks), and I was perhaps a little sharp in my critique of the guy playing Buddy Holly. But then, he opened in Ragtime, playing Younger brother, and my eyes were opened to the wonder that is Matthew Schleigh. He gave a terrific performance, adding a rarely seen depth to a role that practically begs for it. And then he ended the year playing George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life (which closes Sunday at Toby’s in Baltimore). Not a bad year for a young up and coming actor – two iconic roles in one year! And with that performance, he proved he really can carry a show on his shoulders.

          I don’t know who was more nervous about the interview, the interviewee or the interviewer. He admitted he has little experience with interviews, and I quickly admitted I was nervous that he might harbor just a wee grudge for my Buddy review (he didn't). Of course, we got over it and got down to business. I found Mr. Schleigh to be a relatively quiet but well-spoken, warm and passionate young man. Much like when he is on stage, he expresses most of his emotion with his eyes and facial expression – to my mind, that’s what makes him an excellent actor. Anyway, I whipped out my pad of questions and we got started.

          It all started for Matthew in 7th grade, when “I played the title role in Lil’ Abner,” he smiles. Bitten by the theatre bug, he went on to do shows in high school and took some private voice training. Then it was on to Catholic University, where he graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Music – Musical Theatre just this past May. Part of his college years were spent oversees at the London Dramatic Academy, an experience that caused him to “fall in love with Shakespeare. I had always liked it, but the training there really made me love it! I would love to play Hamlet.” Known now primarily as a musical theatre actor, naturally, he has a few roles he’d like to tackle, such as Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar (“mainly because of how he’s depicted – so different from the Bible”), Frederick in A Little Night Music, and when he’s older, perhaps the title role in Sweeney Todd (“I love Sondheim!”). But his interest in straight plays is equally strong. “I’d love to do a Pinter play,” he enthuses, “and any of the male roles in Long Day’s Journey into Night!”

           Even with all of his experience and training, he has been surprised at two fundamental things he has had to really learn as his career takes off. “This sounds silly, but learning to breathe was kind of surprising. I had a voice teacher that taught me to really appreciate taking a breath, and using that to focus. And with that, learning to really listen to the other actors. Sometimes, I would ‘hear’ what I expected another actor to say, rather than what he actually said. Listening really helps when things go wrong or something unexpected happens.” Schleigh’s lack of ego really showed when I asked him what he hopes directors would say about him. He blushed, saying, “I hope they think I’m directable – that I am willing to listen to all angles, ideas and criticisms – that I’m not an ego, but a vehicle for them.” And what about his fellow actors? “I hope they think of me as a humble performer who wants the same things they want.”

          2006, he admits, was very busy, and a lot of work. But the Toby’s experience really fits into his bigger plan. “This is a great place to find my feet. The transition between college and professional life can be so hard, but Toby’s allows me to earn some money to save up for a possible move, and I get to perform regularly in longer runs of shows. It really allows me to control what I want to do, and to make some choices.” So why does he (and many others) stay with Toby’s, show after show? “First of all, I hate auditioning. But with Toby, I know what she wants. She looks for respectable human beings most of all. I mean the skill level runs the gamut here. The most talented people don’t necessarily stay around – it’s the people who can connect with an audience that always stay. And they use the talent you have, and push you to grow. Plus, everyone here that has done a few shows here, we have such camaraderie. We really enjoy being together, and we are all so happy to have the work.”

           Buddy Holly, he says was the most challenging role he played this past year. “I knew how to play the guitar – I’d been in a band before – but I never had to play, sing AND act together. Doing Buddy was like doing a show and a rock concert! Plus, being in the round made it a challenge, too. Everyone (in the audience) is so close to you, you know? It causes you to be a little more natural in your acting style.” The role took a lot of preparation, too. He explains, “I read some biographies of Buddy, and I watched a biography of him to get his mannerisms. My director, Shawn Kettering, gave me a CD of Buddy actually singing the songs that were in the show, and I played it in my car and everywhere over and over. I mimicked him, but I didn’t try to do an impersonation. The script was so different than his actual life – he was much quieter, for instance – but the script made him bigger which allowed me to spread a little in my interpretation.”

          To prepare for his role as Younger Brother in Ragtime, he read the novel on which the musical is based. “Younger Brother was much more in depth in the book. I used that information to fill in the gaps about what he was doing and feeling. I hope that came across to the audience!” Then, with that role, and all of the others, he does a few things to prepare, like getting off book ASAP, and making lists of things the character says about himself and what other characters say about him. Then, “it’s mostly about feeling out the director and their style. You have to adjust your techniques to the show and the director.”

          Surprisingly, Schleigh has not seen the movie It’s a Wonderful Life. The result is, of course, that he doesn’t do a Jimmy Stewart impression, and breathes his own life into the role. “I always have to keep thinking, ‘I’m aging from 18 to 40-something’, and that was hard sometimes. Plus, I also got to play a father with little kids, which I am not!” Getting to know each of the sets of kids (there are two rotating casts of kids) helped him to feel more like a dad. He admits it was a little frustrating at first because “you get used to actors and their patterns from experience with them – all the give and take with an adult actor. But kids tend to be concentrating so hard on what they are doing (especially in rehearsal) and how they are doing it that walls go up.” Now that the show has been running, the kids, like the adults, are more relaxed and can have more fun with it. “It is fun to work with different kids, really. It really mixes things up and keeps you on your toes,” he laughs. Still, his time onstage with the children is more limited than his co-star, Kate Williams, who plays Mary, their mother.

          Mr. Schleigh laughed when I asked why people should still come see Wonderful Life after Christmas. “Just because it is a Christmas show, doesn’t mean we should forget the spirit of Christmas! Now that the hubbub is over, people come now and see what it really is all about. They can remember what it is that they were doing all that running around for.” With the New Year, I couldn’t resist asking him what his resolution for the year would be. “Get new headshots!” he laughed. “Seriously, I need to make a decision about where I want to be in 2007. Right now I have Wonderful Life, then Buddy for a month [at the Columbia location January 17 – February 18], then Fiddler on the Roof here. I’m also looking at a program in DC, at GW. It’s a 1 year Masters in Shakespeare performance, taught by Michael Kahn.” And in the long run? “Broadway, of course, maybe film, but definitely more straight theatre.”

           After the year he’s had, and the year that’s coming up, Matthew Schleigh is certainly a guy to keep your eye on. And who knows? Maybe this time around, I’ll join his growing legion of fans and love him in Buddy! Thanks, Matthew! And congratulations on being named Male Actor of the Year by Baltimore OutLoud, and being named Outstanding Lead Actor for It’s a Wonderful Life and Outstanding Supporting Actor for Ragtime by Baltimore.BroadwayWorld.com.

 PHOTOS: Main Page and TOP: Matthew Schleigh as Buddy Holly; BOTTOM: Kate Williams and Schleigh in It's a Wonderful Life.

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