Heckle & 'Jekyll'
Don't laugh: Hair-metalist Sebastian Bach is a scream in his Broadway debut
He sold 22 million records by the time he hit his early 20s. He was the tortured screech behind such late-'80s cigarette-lighter classics as ''I Remember You'' and ''18 and Life.'' He had, arguably, the best hair in pre-grunge rockdom. So how much of a stretch was it for former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach, 32, to morph into the crotch-grabbing, needle-toting star of the Broadway musical Jekyll & Hyde? Lazing in a white bathrobe in his midtown-hotel suite, the gangly rocker told EW what it's like to be Bach on a different stage.
-- Clarissa Cruz and Ann Limpert
On the magic of the theater: ''I love the gorgeous clothes, I love the sets -- it's just so classy. It's so classy when I beat the priest to death with a billy club and slit the hooker's throat.''
On playing out Jekyll & Hyde's erotic scenes: ''At the beginning, it was very hard. And it's still hard sometimes. I just said to [my costar Coleen Sexton], 'Listen, there's something straight I gotta get between you and me.' But now that I've done 20 or 30 shows, it's not so hard.''
On Method acting: ''The whole play is like a parallel of my life -- the whole drug thing, the whole castigated-from-society thing, the sex thing.''
On role models: ''When I first saw Jekyll & Hyde, I didn't know if it was schmaltzy or Barry Manilow or something -- I had no idea. But when I watched [predecessor] Jack Wagner play the part, I believed in him the same way I believe in, like, Sean Penn. He made me see how cool Broadway could be.''
On stage fans: ''I got a letter yesterday that said, 'I was your lover in your past life. This was in the 1800s. You were disabled and ugly and nobody liked you. Your name back then was Joseph Booze.' I'm not lying to you! 'You died in my arms of polio. How do I know this? Because of your beautiful singing voice and body.' It was this crazy letter that said I was married to this chick in a past life and now she's coming to the show. I'm like, 'Okay..
www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,277055,00.html
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Park Avenue may lead to Skid Row, but Sebastian Bach has bigger plans. The former Skid Row frontman has been pursuing a successful solo career for several years, and has now made his phenomenal Broadway debut performing the dual lead in "Jekyll & Hyde" at the Plymouth Theater in New York's theater district. Only weeks into his four-month run, he is receiving rave reviews and standing ovations for his near sold-out performances. He has earned guest appearances on shows like "Late Night" with Conan O'Brien (NBC) and "Live" with Regis and Kathy Lee (ABC), a 40-foot billboard in the heart of Times Square, and a two-page article in the July 24th issue of People magazine for starters.
Bach may be the new Broadway leading man, but according to Bach, the production, based on Robert Louis Stevenson's novella, "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is "metal," and he will always stay true to himself. In fact, when he was first approached to fill the slot by Atlantic Records, he says he had to see the play first before he could decide.
"As you know, everything I’ve ever put my name on, I am a complete fan of it or I don’t do it. That is the reason I am an entertainer, to make sh!t that I think is cool, to me that’s what a performer is -- You do the best you can. You make something that you love. -- If they would have asked me to try out for Saturday Night Fever, that’s just not me…This is rock 'n roll. This is sex, drugs, death, blood, knives, f*ckin beatings, f*ckin fires, smoke. It’s incredible man, it’s so heavy. So, I said yes I love this play. I love it and I’d love to try out.”
After playing a sold-out show at the House of Blues in Los Angeles, California, with a guest appearance by WWF pro wrestler Chris Jericho during "Youth Gone Wild," Bach says he flew to New York City and auditioned for the role.
“I didn’t just get the show. I was auditioning at 11:00 a.m., and singing all the songs from the show and I just treated it the same way as I do my rock shows. I warmed up and I sang it as hard as I could and I didn’t even think they’d call me back. They loved it – they loved the audition, but I thought I’m too rock. I’m just too f*cking rock for Broadway.”
Much to his surprise, Bach says two weeks later while sitting by the pool with his road crew, his chick, and his band, the phone rings and his agent asks “How’s it feel to wake up today and be a Broadway leading man?”
“I started crying. I could not believe it. I can’t believe it. Thank you Lord! If you remain true to what you know is right in life, things work out. I’m living proof of that…If you trust in what you know is good, things come to you.”
He sums it up by saying “You get what you give, ” and “I’m not out there playing just songs from ten years ago, I’m making new music and trying my hardest to entertain my fans, and I think that it comes back.”
Though Bach says he loves the stage and he has never done anything like this in his life, whether he will return, "all depends on the role."
“When you say do you see yourself doing more Broadway, its like when people say 'Why aren’t you in Skid Row?' There’s no such thing. If Skid Row wrote a song that was as good as 'Monkey Business' or '18 & Life,' I would be in f*cking Skid Row! There’s no songs like that, that I said ‘No I don’t want to do that’ there’s none, there’s zero, they don’t have any new songs. So, if there was a role like Jekyll & Hyde, which I find hard to believe, like if it was 'Drakula' or f*cking 'Blade Runner,' or f*cking 'Legends of the Fall' or 'Thor' or 'Spiderman' or 'Ironman' -- If it was a role that I was a fan of then yes, then I would be doing it…I am real excited that I am on Broadway, but I’m more excited about becoming 'Jekyll' and 'Hyde' every night.”
He says that the best part about the show is “The challenge of talking with an English accent and having short hair and being reserved. That’s not me…When I’m Dr. Jekyll, I’m a doctor, so I can’t be up there doin’ kicks off the drum riser. I love challenging myself, I feel good about myself if I can do something that I never thought I could do and pull it off that to me kicks @ss."
"The first night I was really nervous, obviously. I mean you would be too. I didn’t f*ck up or anything -- knock on wood --, but I couldn’t believe it – rock 'n roll brought me to this – I can’t believe it -- its unbelievable, and I never compromised who the fuck I was. Its not like when (Jon) Bon Jovi said, ‘ I’m going to be an actor now.’ Its like I’m just Sebastian Bach and if you don’t like it suck me. Like I don’t care, I’ll never change who the f*ck I am, cause I love me too much. – It’s true, it’s totally true, I love what I do, so why change. If it ain’t broke, don’t’ break it. And yes I did make that up.”
Having never done anything like this in his life, there were sure to be a few snags during rehearsals, one in particular that Bach says happened while performing the steamy sex scene between Hyde and Lucy, who is played by Coleen Sexton, in front of the rest of the cast.
“Well, to me the funniest thing that happened was the first time I did 'Dangerous Games' in rehearsal, and I had to really do it, I got a hard-on (he laughs) and I had to stop half-way through and like walk around and everybody was laughing their guts out. ‘Cause I’m not an actor – of course I’m an actor now, obviously, I’m a f*cking excellent f*cking actor but to me the reason I’m a good actor is because I’m not acting, when I turn into Hyde, I’m F*cking Hyde OK! There’s no joking around. Every time I turn into Hyde and I’m standing there in silence, you can’t hear a fucking pin drop in the whole f*cking theater and I feel it…It’s true there’s your story.”
www.tprs.com/interviews/bachonbroadway.htm~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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