WEBVTT - The Eternal Phantom: Davis Gaines 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:06.840 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing. 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:11.880 A few actors are as deeply associated with the character 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:15.880 as Davis Gaines is with The Phantom of the Opera. 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:21.640 When the Kennedy Center honored how Prince, Phantom's original director, 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:25.640 they turned to Gains to perform the musical's signature song, 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:31.800 Music of the Night. That's your mind, saw Journey, it's 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:46.159 your strange for thoughts, al if you your soul change you? 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:13.400 Oh can you be at all? To that spine tingling 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:18.080 vibratos shook the risers more than two thousand times in 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:23.720 Los Angeles, San Francisco, and eventually Broadway, where Phantom remains 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:28.440 the longest running show in history. But Davis Gaines isn't 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:32.880 just that legendary voice. He's an actor first and foremost, 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:36.720 with fourteen Broadway and off Broadway credits to his name. 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:41.400 That's something he hoped for but had trouble picturing. Growing up. 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:45.360 He was a theater obsessive in a place that didn't 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:48.280 have much of an outlet for kids like him. I 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:51.000 want to be an actor since my earliest recollection growing 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:54.680 up in Orlando pre Disney, Orland, pre Disney describe pre 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:58.760 Disney or lots of Orange Groves and um, no traffic, sleepy, little, 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:01.840 sleepy town. UM. I grew up there knowing what I 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:03.760 wanted to be an actor, but not knowing how. But 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:06.640 I found a children's theater group I joined early on, 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:09.960 and then I had an amazing junior high school drama 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:14.239 teacher and Dirflinger, and she just took me under her wing. 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:18.600 And I just couldn't stop after that. And and I 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:21.640 was cast in musicals then because I had a loud voice. 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:24.800 But I, did you model your singing after so well? Interesting? 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:28.320 I was really introverted, quiet, painfully shy kid. And that's 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:31.200 the way I think I tapped into that phantom rolls 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:34.240 so much that I understood his pain and his loneliness 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.760 and his I get it all that. UM. And So 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:40.800 I had grew up in my room mostly by myself 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:43.679 with my record player, listening to cast recordings, listening to 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:48.560 John Rayton, all those people, and it's somehow sunken, and 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:50.960 I guess I just sung naturally. So when I went 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:53.800 to Florida State major in theater and not musical theater, 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:57.359 but theater, and then UM came to New York and 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:01.440 just started going to audition sold and deer Flinger and 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:04.560 a young Davis Gains when he's in pre Disney Florida. 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:08.080 Where does the but where does the middle school child? 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:11.480 Where does he audition? Like? What was the theater? Reality? 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:13.960 Back then? There wasn't nearby? There's no there was, There 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:16.320 was not. It was only in school. I mean to 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:19.120 see theater with the shows that came through town that 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:21.639 they were touring shows back then, Broadway touring shows that 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:25.120 came through and um at you know, early age. Mom 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:27.600 and dad knew that I loved I wanted to be 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:31.760 an actor and I nothing else would do. So they 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:33.440 I don't know if they had been to New York 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:36.000 at the time, but when I was ten, eight, nine, ten, 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:38.800 they would take me and my sisters to come to 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:42.480 New York, my twin sisters to three of us. So 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:45.520 they knew I loved it so much, so they took 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:47.240 us here when I was ten and my saw my 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:50.680 first Broadway show, Oliver Um and who was in it? 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:54.040 Oh my god, it was I think Georgia Brown. Yeahclistening 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:55.800 who Will Buy in the car and went in your 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:58.840 way home. But I've since done the show and I've 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:02.640 done it several times did. When I was here early on, Um, 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:04.720 I was in the ensemble of a dinner theater show 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:10.320 along Island, and the woman playing Nancy was Shaney Wallace 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:12.880 of course, which was in the movie of Course. And 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:14.839 so I got to like as a like a kid 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:17.320 loving as long as he needs me, my goodness. So 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:20.000 I got to watch or do that everyone. But uh, yeah, 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:22.839 that's my life has been like that. Like my first 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:26.919 Broadway show was Camelot with Richard Burton. Like I was 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:29.320 thirty fourth spirit carrier from the left, but I got 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:30.719 to know him and hang out with him and be 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:33.120 his friend and watch him work every night. Did he 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:35.800 teach you anything? Oh my god? Yeah, what did he 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:40.120 teach you? Like? Um, storytelling? He was a great storyteller, 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:42.359 and he thought I was as well. But uh, he 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:46.239 taught me that the simplicity, the less is more, especially 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:51.440 economized on stage. And it was just wonderful, man. Because 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:53.320 for me, when I would work with people that were 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:57.400 older in television or film or in the theater, what 0:04:57.440 --> 0:05:00.719 people taught me in the theater was he is a 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:03.200 little bit more precise and useful, you know, like I 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:06.640 know people come between you know. I did the first 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:09.840 prope I ever did was Loot, where we moved the 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:13.479 Manhattan Theater Company production with Kevin Bacon. They moved to 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:16.040 the Joe Wharton played David Merrick, moved it too Broadway 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:18.960 and Kevin couldn't come, so I replaced him with Joe 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:21.640 mahar And so we want to maker and Charlie Keating 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:23.880 and Jackavanick and Nick I'll let and all these people 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:26.960 that I remember like it was yesterday. And Charlie Keating 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:29.400 was saying to me, you come down stage mate with 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:32.120 that screwdriver in the hand. And he says, and how 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:34.200 did up? Will you say that line? I'm going to 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:36.720 batton down the acts now and howld up the screwdriver? 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:39.679 I bet you get a laugh, tonight, give it a try, Bengo, 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:41.480 come down stairs, hold it up. I get a laugh. 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:43.680 And I would get these tips from people who they 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:45.800 taught me how to do the business, you know what 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:48.200 I mean? And uh it was and Burton was one 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:50.159 of those people for you. Yeah, yeah, I gave me 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:54.240 just simplicity. I mean, he was Richard Burton, so I 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:56.320 just would could just like a sponge. I just took 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.440 it all in. And uh, he was a friend and 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:01.600 we hung out. Did you become the star? And how? 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:06.080 When you hate that word? But why? But when did 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:09.560 you become the lead actor in the I guess my 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:14.560 first break in that way was Cornelius Hackle with Carol Channing. 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:17.039 I think maybe that was a big step for me 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:20.159 in my career to step out of the ensemble and 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:23.719 Richard Mwin's he played Lancelot in the production and Christine 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:27.240 ever sold Guinevere, and I remember sitting on the bus 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:30.359 with him and I wanted to be him. I wanted 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:33.840 to be Lancelot. I wanted to be play roles and shows. 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:36.120 And I said, how do I do that? And he said, 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:39.200 just well, stop taking jobs. It's gonna be easy for 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:40.880 you to get a job in the course and you'll 0:06:40.920 --> 0:06:42.640 get pegganed that way, and so just you might not 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:45.799 work for a while, but you know, just hanging there, wait, wait, 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:49.000 And sure enough I got a call to audition for 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:53.080 Jerry Herman, Carol Channing and Jerry's penthouse on the on 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:55.360 the East Side, and walked in saying it only takes 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:58.640 a moment, and got the job. And then that's what. 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:01.039 Then Carol and I were turned main friends ever since 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:05.000 until she died this year and sang. I just sang 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:07.680 at her memorial service in Palm Springs and and so 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:10.040 that opened the doors that started me on a different 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:13.240 path of playing roles. And then I had done a 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:16.880 couple of things at paper Mill Playhouse. Um So, Angelo 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:20.200 del Rossi was the producer over there at the time, 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:23.000 and he called and said, we're gonna do a production 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:25.320 of Damn Yankees, and when we want you to come 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:28.800 in an audition. Um I said, great, it's fantastic. Um 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:32.280 look at the music and oh, by the way, George 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:37.200 Abbott is directing it. And I went deed, Mr Abbott, 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:41.200 he ba, I said, oh my god. So I was 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:44.160 just like I learned all Joe Hardy music. And I 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:48.920 walked into minskof rehearsal studios and it was just Mr Abbott. 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:52.400 He was ninety nine at the time, and Angelo del 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:54.960 Rossi and I walked up and shook his hand and 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:57.360 I said, Mr Abbott, what what an honor it is 0:07:57.400 --> 0:08:00.280 to meet you and be able to audition in front 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:02.640 of you? And what would you like me to sing? 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:06.440 And he goes, well, you you look like a baseball player. 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:09.680 And I said, thanks, thanks you much, thanks so much. 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:13.960 I appreciate that. Um. He goes up, Um, can you 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:17.240 swing a bat? And I said, yeah, of course, you 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:21.119 better right, and I can do that. He goes, well, 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:24.320 the guy we got for the movie I forget his name, 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:28.080 and I said tab Hunter and he goes, yeah, well 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:31.120 he couldn't swing a bat. I said, oh, but I can't. 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:32.640 I can do it. What would you like me to sing? 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:35.680 And then he long paused and he looked at Angela 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:37.560 and he says, well, if Angelo says you can sing, 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:40.080 that's good enough for me. I'll see your first day 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:43.400 of rehearsals. So I got to play Joe Hardy, directed 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:48.439 by George Abbott orson Bean was the Devil. Um it 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:50.320 was supposed to come to Broadway, but that's the story 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:54.200 of my life. But then, um, from that chance meeting, 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:58.520 he was and that next year he turned a hundred. 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:01.840 So there's huge celebration for him on Broadway. And who 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:05.560 who put them together and directed them was Hal Prince. 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:11.520 So from Mr Abbott, that's how men. Yes, George Abbott, 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:14.920 we're gonna talk about who George Abbott is from the people. Goodness, 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:18.280 tell us who George Abbott. I mean, he's like before 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:20.960 Hal Prince there was George Abbott, and he was like 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:23.640 he was an actor to begin with and a playwright 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:28.400 and producer director. He wrote so many things and directed 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:32.040 so many things. Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, he wrote them 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:35.079 and directed them and the movies. And when Hal got 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:37.319 out of the service, he came to Mr Abbott and 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:39.680 they shared an office up until Mr Abbott died at 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:45.360 a hundred and seven. And uh uh. He was the godfather, 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:47.880 He really was. He was the beginning. There's a joke 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:50.520 that he always said that somebody asked him what was 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:54.960 the biggest change that he's seen in his lifetime on Broadway? 0:09:55.720 --> 0:10:03.000 And long pause again electricity. So that was Mr with 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:06.160 a great sense of humor. And so by chance then 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:07.920 I'm at how and then how it took me under 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:12.600 his wing. And and when Hal called and said, Um, 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:15.360 would you come audition for the Phantom? And I said sure, 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:18.000 so I I had where where they at in the 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:20.560 run of the family by that point. Um, this was 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:24.040 like maybe three years into the Broadway run probably, But 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:28.160 I remember auditioning first on the stage of the Majestica again, 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:33.559 and then then it was down to two people, um apparently, 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:35.520 and they flew me to Toronto because he was putting 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:39.360 the Toronto the Canadian Company together, and they flew me 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:41.280 there and put me up. The driver dropped me off 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:43.920 and he said, I just dropped someone else off here earlier. 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:47.720 Oh there's somebody else auditioning as well. So they kept 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:51.319 as totally separate. And then I guess he went first 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:53.040 and I went second. And then how it comes on 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:54.800 stage and said do you want to go to l 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:58.560 A and be the phantom? I went, sure? When you 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:01.560 when you look at these roles where you were people, 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:03.839 I think, I'd love to get your take on this. 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:05.960 Mistakenly think you just come out and you just blow 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:09.079 those notes and just saying where is the acting involved? 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:11.600 And there in the rehearsals, what was the discussion about 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:15.040 acting the phantom? That's a big pet peep in mind, 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:17.760 like people like after after six doing the phantom for 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:19.840 six years, I would tell people what I did or whatever, 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:21.960 and they go, oh, so do you also act? And 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:24.600 I went, that's what I've been, that's what I do. 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:26.400 I'm gonna chop you up in the ba and that's 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.280 what I do. But to me, I can't separate the two. 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:31.199 When you were directed by people how much were to 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:33.000 do when when you if you were doing collection for 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:36.240 inst and how well George abbott Um you know he 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:39.760 wrote the script so he would was a very old 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:41.560 school and the way he would give us line readings. 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:44.920 You know, let's say it just like, and I go really, 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:48.120 but then I did it and then sure enough after 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:51.800 we opened like he was he was honestly it was right. 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:55.520 But then how Um would say to me, you know, 0:11:56.240 --> 0:11:58.520 I've never seen it that way before. I've done that before. 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:00.480 I've never seen that before, but I get keeping in. 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:03.920 So he didn't want me to be uh like Michael 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:06.680 Cropford whoever else had played at that point. He was 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:09.480 just open to my ideas and my interpretation, which was 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:11.679 a credit to him and how he cast um so 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:14.520 so you didn't feel you had some some pressure as 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:17.160 a put in. They didn't say to you, Michael did this, No, 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:20.240 they your interpretation. How do you think you were different 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:23.360 from him? I saw him do it once, but I 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:26.600 thought it was really pretty bad. When I first first year, 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:30.840 I went into it pretty young, and I you know, 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:33.840 I played him to you push a madman and like 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:36.199 he's all over the place. And then after six years 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:40.880 and two thousand performances. I would do just the slidest 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:42.320 bit of the head or the hand, and it just 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:44.959 really it just makes all the days it's there. It's 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:49.640 it's like part of me. Two thousand performances. Yeah, I 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:53.160 did that. When you do a show two thousand times? 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:57.120 What's the key for the long distance runner like you 0:12:57.360 --> 0:13:00.679 in that isn't husband and your voice and you take 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:03.439 care of your voice and you're very cautious. Well that 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:05.960 I was a monk. And I listened to your podcast 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:09.760 with Julie Andrews, and when she said I think she 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:12.600 was talking about I don't about herself, but I had 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:15.959 no life for six years. Basically, I I that was 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:20.680 my life. And I couldn't drink, I couldn't go out. 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:24.000 I just went home and slept and drank water and 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:28.319 came back and because I felt a huge responsibility to 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:31.199 the people that were buying tickets to be it on 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:34.640 my best on my best game. And yeah, and I 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:38.120 that was my life. Um. She also said, Julie Andrews 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:40.480 on your thing that you asked her about doing the 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:43.640 same roll over and over it and I just figured 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:47.280 out things that that no acting class could teach me, 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:50.640 or it was just I would have hit a plateau 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.040 like two years in like that was my personal best. 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:57.719 And then a year later, no, that was my personal best. 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:01.040 So I kept challenging myself and get trying to get 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:04.120 better and trying to tell the story more clearly and 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:08.280 more economically. And you did l A for how long? 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:10.000 I did two and a half years at the Amondson 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:12.800 And then uh, I thought, I bought a house in 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:14.960 Hollywood Hills, and I just I'm gonna start my TV 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:17.720 and film career and you know, and and that didn't 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:22.600 and how called He said, would you would you poor thing? 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:24.880 He would you open the show for us in San Francisco? 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:27.120 I said, oh, sure, like so I did it four 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:29.280 months up there. I was on my way back to 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:35.640 l A literally and uh starting mine. Then he kind 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:37.920 called again and he goes, you know what, Uh, it's 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:39.840 not right. I think you should come back to New 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:41.880 York and show everybody what you've been doing for three years. 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:44.840 And so I said, okay, so two and a half 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:47.360 years at the Majestic And so when you left l 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:50.160 A and I'm sure it was a very comfortable life 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:51.680 for you, and he went back to New York. What 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:55.360 was that like, uh, well as now it was fantastic 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:57.440 as a dream come true, like I was playing the 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:01.440 freaking family opera. Probably it's like it's not you know, 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:04.480 a good perspective. Yeah, it was like how lucky? How 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:08.000 lucky can one one person when you when Phantom is 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:10.160 going to end in New York? Whose decision is that? 0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:13.240 What happens? For me? It was once again I was 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:18.720 home and hal caholed, how's your travelated from christ? He 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:22.000 goes Davis Andrew and I are doing a new show 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:26.920 and together first once since we did Phantom, and we 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:29.480 want you to be in it. And I went, well, 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:32.000 can I once again? Could I sing something for you? 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:34.240 Because is there anything you can't sing? And I said, 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:37.960 well probably yeah, no, just just just stay putting Phantom. 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:40.160 We'll pull you out when the time comes. And that's 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:42.600 how it happened. Um it was called whistle down the 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:47.960 wind Um hal cahold and said time to come. So 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:50.800 I left the show, so mine it was gonna be 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:54.960 a new show. How Prince Andrew Lord Howeber playing the 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:58.680 lead Mine to originate a role on Broadway. It was 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:03.600 like it was everything was great and we we we 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:06.560 got to Washington, d C. And opened in the views 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:10.960 were imagine didn't happen, no, and and we got okay reviews, 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:14.800 but Hall and Andrew didn't. And like the next day 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:16.920 how I went to Spain and Andrew back to England 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:19.960 and left us there and they were they were Marquis 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:22.200 was up at the st James were coming in and 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:25.960 then um, last night they came on stage and told 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:28.480 us that it was the stay chance, because where do 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:29.800 you want your trunk to go? I said, I guess 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:33.760 back to l A, so that that was my one 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:35.960 chance to come back. They pull you from and then 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:41.120 Washington and then you know, I went back and didn't 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:43.360 have a job anymore. But but then I think I 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:46.640 did Phantom one more time in Los Angeles at the Pentage. 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:50.920 Is just like six months or so. Yeah, um, but yeah, 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:53.840 whatever House said, you do. I'm at some show. I 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:55.200 want to say. It's like a good benefit for the 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:57.800 round About or something like back in the nineties, maybe 0:16:57.880 --> 0:17:01.400 late nineties I think. And McIntosh is there at the 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.120 table and he says Mr Baldwin, and he's very gleaming 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:06.760 and very shiny, and he says, Mr Baldwin, I like 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:08.680 very much for you to come and meet with my 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:11.280 staff and I and we'll talk to about doing a 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:13.800 play a musical. And I said, well, I said, I 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:16.879 don't think nonsense, Mr Is, that anyone can sing, and 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:18.440 he is, and this is a part that was made 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:21.600 for You're born to play the spot and he said, 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:24.160 it's we're going to do the Witches of east Wick. 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:27.040 Can I want you to assay the role played by 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:29.639 Jack Nicholson in the film, the lead male role. And 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:32.399 I said, oh god, that sounds phenomenal. And you I'm 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:35.560 in such a boundless admirer of you. But I said, 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:37.440 you don't want me to do this. You don't want 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:39.200 me to do this, I said of Mr Boaldwin, nonsense. 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:40.520 I want you to meet with Is. You're going to 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:43.280 meet with my New York based music director John Clark, 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:46.040 and he will take you through some tunes and he 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:47.800 will take so we go to his apartment on the 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:49.760 Upper West Side, this old old building. We're going and 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:52.119 you got the piano and we're singing. Just say that 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:56.200 word and our beach your bird down to a Polco bay. 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:58.800 I'm doing all my Sonatra rip offs. I'm doing it. 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:01.720 I'm'm doing impersonation. So I can't sing. I finally get 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:03.320 to like the third song, you know, John larry By 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:05.120 or whatever his name was, and he stops the piano 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:07.040 in the middle of song. We're literally, we're literally in 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:08.680 the middle of the song. He goes, Mr Bould, and 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:13.120 I believe you are. He says, you really really come sing. 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:19.080 You were listening to my conversation with the actor Davis Gains. 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:23.720 If you're a Broadway fan, here's a quiz. Gains is 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:30.359 to the phantom as Audrey McDonald is too. Well. Maybe 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:34.640 it's a trick question. You could say Porgy or Billie Holiday, 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:39.240 But to me, the answer is Carrie Pittbridge, the spunky 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:43.879 mill worker with the best songs in Carousel. It was 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:49.359 her breakthrough role, performed in the shadow of her alma mater, Juilliard, 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:52.760 where she had once felt so hopeless that she tried 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:56.400 to take her own life to then open in Carousel 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:59.119 at Lincoln Center, where you can look up and I 0:18:59.160 --> 0:19:01.800 can see this school that I had a hard time 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:05.640 in and and I remember standing in those windows seeing 0:19:05.880 --> 0:19:08.680 Patty Lapone performing there, going why am I not doing that? 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:17.880 And then how do you feel? Um like lucky survivor 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:21.119 in the world. You can find the rest of that 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:25.879 conversation with Audrew McDonald. If you text Audre, that's a 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:29.760 U D R A to the number seven zero one 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:51.920 zero one. I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to hear 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:56.399 is the thing. Davis Gaines is remarkably unassuming for a 0:19:56.480 --> 0:20:00.280 Broadway leading man, but he nonetheless has got friends in 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:05.000 high places. The entire Bush family, for one, starting with 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:09.480 the late President George H. W. Bush. I sang in 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:13.240 Orlando for a cancer center gala benefit and h W 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:16.720 was the speaker. I had met him during the Whistle 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:18.840 Down the Wind Time in Washington, had a picture, but 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:22.280 he doesn't remember, but I did. And so then after 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:24.480 the show he came up and said, Barbara would really 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:27.160 like you, and thanks, like, yeah, her birthday is coming 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:28.800 up and I'm gonna get my boys and we're gonna 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:31.679 do something. But what's your email? So I gave him 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:34.200 my email address. Two weeks later he wrote and said 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:37.320 would I come and sing for Barbara Bush's seventy surprise 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:42.280 birthday party in Kennebunkport. I said yes, yes, you know 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:44.359 I can't. I cannot pass this out of course, And 0:20:44.480 --> 0:20:48.200 so it was amazing experience. Barbara Bush ran that family, 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:50.160 and she was the boss and she had a mouth 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:52.199 like a sailor. She was an amazing lady. I loved her. 0:20:52.560 --> 0:20:56.280 But they just took me in and h W said, 0:20:56.600 --> 0:20:58.560 what are you doing tomorrow Sunday? I said, I'm going 0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:00.240 back to New York because well, come I a house 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:03.240 for coffee and donuts. I said, okay. So I walk in. 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:05.720 There's no servants, no secret service. Really to park and 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:08.679 went in the house and there's Henry Kitsons, you're going. 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:11.399 Good job last night, David's good job, and thank you general, 0:21:11.480 --> 0:21:14.040 thank you so much. And then h W goes, there's 0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:17.040 coffee in the kitchen, go help yourself. And so I 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:22.720 was in the dining room, um, hanging out, and George 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:26.160 W walked in. W W walked in and said, good morning, 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:27.520 having no how are you doing? How you doing? It's 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:29.440 like feeling fine, feeling fine. It ran for a couple 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:32.520 of hours after church, feeling good. So good for you. 0:21:32.640 --> 0:21:35.240 And he goes, can I ask you a question? He said, yeah, 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:38.600 he Um, can you learn how to sing? Or is 0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:41.760 it something you're born with? And I said, good question. 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:45.840 I think one can learn to sing, but you probably 0:21:45.880 --> 0:21:48.520 have to have some musicality in your head. Maybe long 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:51.640 pause again and he goes, well, I don't know shit 0:21:51.720 --> 0:21:54.360 about singing, but you probably got the best boys in America, 0:21:55.160 --> 0:21:56.639 and so well, thank you so much. And then I 0:21:56.720 --> 0:21:58.600 looked around. All the out of town guests were gone 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:01.240 but me and the Bush and I said, oh my god, 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:03.600 I just me and him. Now I better get going, 0:22:03.680 --> 0:22:06.040