Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing.
Speaker 1: A few actors are as deeply associated with the character
Speaker 1: as Davis Gaines is with The Phantom of the Opera.
Speaker 1: When the Kennedy Center honored how Prince, Phantom's original director,
Speaker 1: they turned to Gains to perform the musical's signature song,
Speaker 1: Music of the Night. That's your mind, saw Journey, it's
Speaker 1: your strange for thoughts, al if you your soul change you?
Speaker 1: Oh can you be at all? To that spine tingling
Speaker 1: vibratos shook the risers more than two thousand times in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, San Francisco, and eventually Broadway, where Phantom remains
Speaker 1: the longest running show in history. But Davis Gaines isn't
Speaker 1: just that legendary voice. He's an actor first and foremost,
Speaker 1: with fourteen Broadway and off Broadway credits to his name.
Speaker 1: That's something he hoped for but had trouble picturing. Growing up.
Speaker 1: He was a theater obsessive in a place that didn't
Speaker 1: have much of an outlet for kids like him. I
Speaker 1: want to be an actor since my earliest recollection growing
Speaker 1: up in Orlando pre Disney, Orland, pre Disney describe pre
Speaker 1: Disney or lots of Orange Groves and um, no traffic, sleepy, little,
Speaker 1: sleepy town. UM. I grew up there knowing what I
Speaker 1: wanted to be an actor, but not knowing how. But
Speaker 1: I found a children's theater group I joined early on,
Speaker 1: and then I had an amazing junior high school drama
Speaker 1: teacher and Dirflinger, and she just took me under her wing.
Speaker 1: And I just couldn't stop after that. And and I
Speaker 1: was cast in musicals then because I had a loud voice.
Speaker 1: But I, did you model your singing after so well? Interesting?
Speaker 1: I was really introverted, quiet, painfully shy kid. And that's
Speaker 1: the way I think I tapped into that phantom rolls
Speaker 1: so much that I understood his pain and his loneliness
Speaker 1: and his I get it all that. UM. And So
Speaker 1: I had grew up in my room mostly by myself
Speaker 1: with my record player, listening to cast recordings, listening to
Speaker 1: John Rayton, all those people, and it's somehow sunken, and
Speaker 1: I guess I just sung naturally. So when I went
Speaker 1: to Florida State major in theater and not musical theater,
Speaker 1: but theater, and then UM came to New York and
Speaker 1: just started going to audition sold and deer Flinger and
Speaker 1: a young Davis Gains when he's in pre Disney Florida.
Speaker 1: Where does the but where does the middle school child?
Speaker 1: Where does he audition? Like? What was the theater? Reality?
Speaker 1: Back then? There wasn't nearby? There's no there was, There
Speaker 1: was not. It was only in school. I mean to
Speaker 1: see theater with the shows that came through town that
Speaker 1: they were touring shows back then, Broadway touring shows that
Speaker 1: came through and um at you know, early age. Mom
Speaker 1: and dad knew that I loved I wanted to be
Speaker 1: an actor and I nothing else would do. So they
Speaker 1: I don't know if they had been to New York
Speaker 1: at the time, but when I was ten, eight, nine, ten,
Speaker 1: they would take me and my sisters to come to
Speaker 1: New York, my twin sisters to three of us. So
Speaker 1: they knew I loved it so much, so they took
Speaker 1: us here when I was ten and my saw my
Speaker 1: first Broadway show, Oliver Um and who was in it?
Speaker 1: Oh my god, it was I think Georgia Brown. Yeahclistening
Speaker 1: who Will Buy in the car and went in your
Speaker 1: way home. But I've since done the show and I've
Speaker 1: done it several times did. When I was here early on, Um,
Speaker 1: I was in the ensemble of a dinner theater show
Speaker 1: along Island, and the woman playing Nancy was Shaney Wallace
Speaker 1: of course, which was in the movie of Course. And
Speaker 1: so I got to like as a like a kid
Speaker 1: loving as long as he needs me, my goodness. So
Speaker 1: I got to watch or do that everyone. But uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's my life has been like that. Like my first
Speaker 1: Broadway show was Camelot with Richard Burton. Like I was
Speaker 1: thirty fourth spirit carrier from the left, but I got
Speaker 1: to know him and hang out with him and be
Speaker 1: his friend and watch him work every night. Did he
Speaker 1: teach you anything? Oh my god? Yeah, what did he
Speaker 1: teach you? Like? Um, storytelling? He was a great storyteller,
Speaker 1: and he thought I was as well. But uh, he
Speaker 1: taught me that the simplicity, the less is more, especially
Speaker 1: economized on stage. And it was just wonderful, man. Because
Speaker 1: for me, when I would work with people that were
Speaker 1: older in television or film or in the theater, what
Speaker 1: people taught me in the theater was he is a
Speaker 1: little bit more precise and useful, you know, like I
Speaker 1: know people come between you know. I did the first
Speaker 1: prope I ever did was Loot, where we moved the
Speaker 1: Manhattan Theater Company production with Kevin Bacon. They moved to
Speaker 1: the Joe Wharton played David Merrick, moved it too Broadway
Speaker 1: and Kevin couldn't come, so I replaced him with Joe
Speaker 1: mahar And so we want to maker and Charlie Keating
Speaker 1: and Jackavanick and Nick I'll let and all these people
Speaker 1: that I remember like it was yesterday. And Charlie Keating
Speaker 1: was saying to me, you come down stage mate with
Speaker 1: that screwdriver in the hand. And he says, and how
Speaker 1: did up? Will you say that line? I'm going to
Speaker 1: batton down the acts now and howld up the screwdriver?
Speaker 1: I bet you get a laugh, tonight, give it a try, Bengo,
Speaker 1: come down stairs, hold it up. I get a laugh.
Speaker 1: And I would get these tips from people who they
Speaker 1: taught me how to do the business, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? And uh it was and Burton was one
Speaker 1: of those people for you. Yeah, yeah, I gave me
Speaker 1: just simplicity. I mean, he was Richard Burton, so I
Speaker 1: just would could just like a sponge. I just took
Speaker 1: it all in. And uh, he was a friend and
Speaker 1: we hung out. Did you become the star? And how?
Speaker 1: When you hate that word? But why? But when did
Speaker 1: you become the lead actor in the I guess my
Speaker 1: first break in that way was Cornelius Hackle with Carol Channing.
Speaker 1: I think maybe that was a big step for me
Speaker 1: in my career to step out of the ensemble and
Speaker 1: Richard Mwin's he played Lancelot in the production and Christine
Speaker 1: ever sold Guinevere, and I remember sitting on the bus
Speaker 1: with him and I wanted to be him. I wanted
Speaker 1: to be Lancelot. I wanted to be play roles and shows.
Speaker 1: And I said, how do I do that? And he said,
Speaker 1: just well, stop taking jobs. It's gonna be easy for
Speaker 1: you to get a job in the course and you'll
Speaker 1: get pegganed that way, and so just you might not
Speaker 1: work for a while, but you know, just hanging there, wait, wait,
Speaker 1: And sure enough I got a call to audition for
Speaker 1: Jerry Herman, Carol Channing and Jerry's penthouse on the on
Speaker 1: the East Side, and walked in saying it only takes
Speaker 1: a moment, and got the job. And then that's what.
Speaker 1: Then Carol and I were turned main friends ever since
Speaker 1: until she died this year and sang. I just sang
Speaker 1: at her memorial service in Palm Springs and and so
Speaker 1: that opened the doors that started me on a different
Speaker 1: path of playing roles. And then I had done a
Speaker 1: couple of things at paper Mill Playhouse. Um So, Angelo
Speaker 1: del Rossi was the producer over there at the time,
Speaker 1: and he called and said, we're gonna do a production
Speaker 1: of Damn Yankees, and when we want you to come
Speaker 1: in an audition. Um I said, great, it's fantastic. Um
Speaker 1: look at the music and oh, by the way, George
Speaker 1: Abbott is directing it. And I went deed, Mr Abbott,
Speaker 1: he ba, I said, oh my god. So I was
Speaker 1: just like I learned all Joe Hardy music. And I
Speaker 1: walked into minskof rehearsal studios and it was just Mr Abbott.
Speaker 1: He was ninety nine at the time, and Angelo del
Speaker 1: Rossi and I walked up and shook his hand and
Speaker 1: I said, Mr Abbott, what what an honor it is
Speaker 1: to meet you and be able to audition in front
Speaker 1: of you? And what would you like me to sing?
Speaker 1: And he goes, well, you you look like a baseball player.
Speaker 1: And I said, thanks, thanks you much, thanks so much.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. Um. He goes up, Um, can you
Speaker 1: swing a bat? And I said, yeah, of course, you
Speaker 1: better right, and I can do that. He goes, well,
Speaker 1: the guy we got for the movie I forget his name,
Speaker 1: and I said tab Hunter and he goes, yeah, well
Speaker 1: he couldn't swing a bat. I said, oh, but I can't.
Speaker 1: I can do it. What would you like me to sing?
Speaker 1: And then he long paused and he looked at Angela
Speaker 1: and he says, well, if Angelo says you can sing,
Speaker 1: that's good enough for me. I'll see your first day
Speaker 1: of rehearsals. So I got to play Joe Hardy, directed
Speaker 1: by George Abbott orson Bean was the Devil. Um it
Speaker 1: was supposed to come to Broadway, but that's the story
Speaker 1: of my life. But then, um, from that chance meeting,
Speaker 1: he was and that next year he turned a hundred.
Speaker 1: So there's huge celebration for him on Broadway. And who
Speaker 1: who put them together and directed them was Hal Prince.
Speaker 1: So from Mr Abbott, that's how men. Yes, George Abbott,
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about who George Abbott is from the people. Goodness,
Speaker 1: tell us who George Abbott. I mean, he's like before
Speaker 1: Hal Prince there was George Abbott, and he was like
Speaker 1: he was an actor to begin with and a playwright
Speaker 1: and producer director. He wrote so many things and directed
Speaker 1: so many things. Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, he wrote them
Speaker 1: and directed them and the movies. And when Hal got
Speaker 1: out of the service, he came to Mr Abbott and
Speaker 1: they shared an office up until Mr Abbott died at
Speaker 1: a hundred and seven. And uh uh. He was the godfather,
Speaker 1: He really was. He was the beginning. There's a joke
Speaker 1: that he always said that somebody asked him what was
Speaker 1: the biggest change that he's seen in his lifetime on Broadway?
Speaker 1: And long pause again electricity. So that was Mr with
Speaker 1: a great sense of humor. And so by chance then
Speaker 1: I'm at how and then how it took me under
Speaker 1: his wing. And and when Hal called and said, Um,
Speaker 1: would you come audition for the Phantom? And I said sure,
Speaker 1: so I I had where where they at in the
Speaker 1: run of the family by that point. Um, this was
Speaker 1: like maybe three years into the Broadway run probably, But
Speaker 1: I remember auditioning first on the stage of the Majestica again,
Speaker 1: and then then it was down to two people, um apparently,
Speaker 1: and they flew me to Toronto because he was putting
Speaker 1: the Toronto the Canadian Company together, and they flew me
Speaker 1: there and put me up. The driver dropped me off
Speaker 1: and he said, I just dropped someone else off here earlier.
Speaker 1: Oh there's somebody else auditioning as well. So they kept
Speaker 1: as totally separate. And then I guess he went first
Speaker 1: and I went second. And then how it comes on
Speaker 1: stage and said do you want to go to l
Speaker 1: A and be the phantom? I went, sure? When you
Speaker 1: when you look at these roles where you were people,
Speaker 1: I think, I'd love to get your take on this.
Speaker 1: Mistakenly think you just come out and you just blow
Speaker 1: those notes and just saying where is the acting involved?
Speaker 1: And there in the rehearsals, what was the discussion about
Speaker 1: acting the phantom? That's a big pet peep in mind,
Speaker 1: like people like after after six doing the phantom for
Speaker 1: six years, I would tell people what I did or whatever,
Speaker 1: and they go, oh, so do you also act? And
Speaker 1: I went, that's what I've been, that's what I do.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna chop you up in the ba and that's
Speaker 1: what I do. But to me, I can't separate the two.
Speaker 1: When you were directed by people how much were to
Speaker 1: do when when you if you were doing collection for
Speaker 1: inst and how well George abbott Um you know he
Speaker 1: wrote the script so he would was a very old
Speaker 1: school and the way he would give us line readings.
Speaker 1: You know, let's say it just like, and I go really,
Speaker 1: but then I did it and then sure enough after
Speaker 1: we opened like he was he was honestly it was right.
Speaker 1: But then how Um would say to me, you know,
Speaker 1: I've never seen it that way before. I've done that before.
Speaker 1: I've never seen that before, but I get keeping in.
Speaker 1: So he didn't want me to be uh like Michael
Speaker 1: Cropford whoever else had played at that point. He was
Speaker 1: just open to my ideas and my interpretation, which was
Speaker 1: a credit to him and how he cast um so
Speaker 1: so you didn't feel you had some some pressure as
Speaker 1: a put in. They didn't say to you, Michael did this, No,
Speaker 1: they your interpretation. How do you think you were different
Speaker 1: from him? I saw him do it once, but I
Speaker 1: thought it was really pretty bad. When I first first year,
Speaker 1: I went into it pretty young, and I you know,
Speaker 1: I played him to you push a madman and like
Speaker 1: he's all over the place. And then after six years
Speaker 1: and two thousand performances. I would do just the slidest
Speaker 1: bit of the head or the hand, and it just
Speaker 1: really it just makes all the days it's there. It's
Speaker 1: it's like part of me. Two thousand performances. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: did that. When you do a show two thousand times?
Speaker 1: What's the key for the long distance runner like you
Speaker 1: in that isn't husband and your voice and you take
Speaker 1: care of your voice and you're very cautious. Well that
Speaker 1: I was a monk. And I listened to your podcast
Speaker 1: with Julie Andrews, and when she said I think she
Speaker 1: was talking about I don't about herself, but I had
Speaker 1: no life for six years. Basically, I I that was
Speaker 1: my life. And I couldn't drink, I couldn't go out.
Speaker 1: I just went home and slept and drank water and
Speaker 1: came back and because I felt a huge responsibility to
Speaker 1: the people that were buying tickets to be it on
Speaker 1: my best on my best game. And yeah, and I
Speaker 1: that was my life. Um. She also said, Julie Andrews
Speaker 1: on your thing that you asked her about doing the
Speaker 1: same roll over and over it and I just figured
Speaker 1: out things that that no acting class could teach me,
Speaker 1: or it was just I would have hit a plateau
Speaker 1: like two years in like that was my personal best.
Speaker 1: And then a year later, no, that was my personal best.
Speaker 1: So I kept challenging myself and get trying to get
Speaker 1: better and trying to tell the story more clearly and
Speaker 1: more economically. And you did l A for how long?
Speaker 1: I did two and a half years at the Amondson
Speaker 1: And then uh, I thought, I bought a house in
Speaker 1: Hollywood Hills, and I just I'm gonna start my TV
Speaker 1: and film career and you know, and and that didn't
Speaker 1: and how called He said, would you would you poor thing?
Speaker 1: He would you open the show for us in San Francisco?
Speaker 1: I said, oh, sure, like so I did it four
Speaker 1: months up there. I was on my way back to
Speaker 1: l A literally and uh starting mine. Then he kind
Speaker 1: called again and he goes, you know what, Uh, it's
Speaker 1: not right. I think you should come back to New
Speaker 1: York and show everybody what you've been doing for three years.
Speaker 1: And so I said, okay, so two and a half
Speaker 1: years at the Majestic And so when you left l
Speaker 1: A and I'm sure it was a very comfortable life
Speaker 1: for you, and he went back to New York. What
Speaker 1: was that like, uh, well as now it was fantastic
Speaker 1: as a dream come true, like I was playing the
Speaker 1: freaking family opera. Probably it's like it's not you know,
Speaker 1: a good perspective. Yeah, it was like how lucky? How
Speaker 1: lucky can one one person when you when Phantom is
Speaker 1: going to end in New York? Whose decision is that?
Speaker 1: What happens? For me? It was once again I was
Speaker 1: home and hal caholed, how's your travelated from christ? He
Speaker 1: goes Davis Andrew and I are doing a new show
Speaker 1: and together first once since we did Phantom, and we
Speaker 1: want you to be in it. And I went, well,
Speaker 1: can I once again? Could I sing something for you?
Speaker 1: Because is there anything you can't sing? And I said,
Speaker 1: well probably yeah, no, just just just stay putting Phantom.
Speaker 1: We'll pull you out when the time comes. And that's
Speaker 1: how it happened. Um it was called whistle down the
Speaker 1: wind Um hal cahold and said time to come. So
Speaker 1: I left the show, so mine it was gonna be
Speaker 1: a new show. How Prince Andrew Lord Howeber playing the
Speaker 1: lead Mine to originate a role on Broadway. It was
Speaker 1: like it was everything was great and we we we
Speaker 1: got to Washington, d C. And opened in the views
Speaker 1: were imagine didn't happen, no, and and we got okay reviews,
Speaker 1: but Hall and Andrew didn't. And like the next day
Speaker 1: how I went to Spain and Andrew back to England
Speaker 1: and left us there and they were they were Marquis
Speaker 1: was up at the st James were coming in and
Speaker 1: then um, last night they came on stage and told
Speaker 1: us that it was the stay chance, because where do
Speaker 1: you want your trunk to go? I said, I guess
Speaker 1: back to l A, so that that was my one
Speaker 1: chance to come back. They pull you from and then
Speaker 1: Washington and then you know, I went back and didn't
Speaker 1: have a job anymore. But but then I think I
Speaker 1: did Phantom one more time in Los Angeles at the Pentage.
Speaker 1: Is just like six months or so. Yeah, um, but yeah,
Speaker 1: whatever House said, you do. I'm at some show. I
Speaker 1: want to say. It's like a good benefit for the
Speaker 1: round About or something like back in the nineties, maybe
Speaker 1: late nineties I think. And McIntosh is there at the
Speaker 1: table and he says Mr Baldwin, and he's very gleaming
Speaker 1: and very shiny, and he says, Mr Baldwin, I like
Speaker 1: very much for you to come and meet with my
Speaker 1: staff and I and we'll talk to about doing a
Speaker 1: play a musical. And I said, well, I said, I
Speaker 1: don't think nonsense, Mr Is, that anyone can sing, and
Speaker 1: he is, and this is a part that was made
Speaker 1: for You're born to play the spot and he said,
Speaker 1: it's we're going to do the Witches of east Wick.
Speaker 1: Can I want you to assay the role played by
Speaker 1: Jack Nicholson in the film, the lead male role. And
Speaker 1: I said, oh god, that sounds phenomenal. And you I'm
Speaker 1: in such a boundless admirer of you. But I said,
Speaker 1: you don't want me to do this. You don't want
Speaker 1: me to do this, I said of Mr Boaldwin, nonsense.
Speaker 1: I want you to meet with Is. You're going to
Speaker 1: meet with my New York based music director John Clark,
Speaker 1: and he will take you through some tunes and he
Speaker 1: will take so we go to his apartment on the
Speaker 1: Upper West Side, this old old building. We're going and
Speaker 1: you got the piano and we're singing. Just say that
Speaker 1: word and our beach your bird down to a Polco bay.
Speaker 1: I'm doing all my Sonatra rip offs. I'm doing it.
Speaker 1: I'm'm doing impersonation. So I can't sing. I finally get
Speaker 1: to like the third song, you know, John larry By
Speaker 1: or whatever his name was, and he stops the piano
Speaker 1: in the middle of song. We're literally, we're literally in
Speaker 1: the middle of the song. He goes, Mr Bould, and
Speaker 1: I believe you are. He says, you really really come sing.
Speaker 1: You were listening to my conversation with the actor Davis Gains.
Speaker 1: If you're a Broadway fan, here's a quiz. Gains is
Speaker 1: to the phantom as Audrey McDonald is too. Well. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's a trick question. You could say Porgy or Billie Holiday,
Speaker 1: But to me, the answer is Carrie Pittbridge, the spunky
Speaker 1: mill worker with the best songs in Carousel. It was
Speaker 1: her breakthrough role, performed in the shadow of her alma mater, Juilliard,
Speaker 1: where she had once felt so hopeless that she tried
Speaker 1: to take her own life to then open in Carousel
Speaker 1: at Lincoln Center, where you can look up and I
Speaker 1: can see this school that I had a hard time
Speaker 1: in and and I remember standing in those windows seeing
Speaker 1: Patty Lapone performing there, going why am I not doing that?
Speaker 1: And then how do you feel? Um like lucky survivor
Speaker 1: in the world. You can find the rest of that
Speaker 1: conversation with Audrew McDonald. If you text Audre, that's a
Speaker 1: U D R A to the number seven zero one
Speaker 1: zero one. I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to hear
Speaker 1: is the thing. Davis Gaines is remarkably unassuming for a
Speaker 1: Broadway leading man, but he nonetheless has got friends in
Speaker 1: high places. The entire Bush family, for one, starting with
Speaker 1: the late President George H. W. Bush. I sang in
Speaker 1: Orlando for a cancer center gala benefit and h W
Speaker 1: was the speaker. I had met him during the Whistle
Speaker 1: Down the Wind Time in Washington, had a picture, but
Speaker 1: he doesn't remember, but I did. And so then after
Speaker 1: the show he came up and said, Barbara would really
Speaker 1: like you, and thanks, like, yeah, her birthday is coming
Speaker 1: up and I'm gonna get my boys and we're gonna
Speaker 1: do something. But what's your email? So I gave him
Speaker 1: my email address. Two weeks later he wrote and said
Speaker 1: would I come and sing for Barbara Bush's seventy surprise
Speaker 1: birthday party in Kennebunkport. I said yes, yes, you know
Speaker 1: I can't. I cannot pass this out of course, And
Speaker 1: so it was amazing experience. Barbara Bush ran that family,
Speaker 1: and she was the boss and she had a mouth
Speaker 1: like a sailor. She was an amazing lady. I loved her.
Speaker 1: But they just took me in and h W said,
Speaker 1: what are you doing tomorrow Sunday? I said, I'm going
Speaker 1: back to New York because well, come I a house
Speaker 1: for coffee and donuts. I said, okay. So I walk in.
Speaker 1: There's no servants, no secret service. Really to park and
Speaker 1: went in the house and there's Henry Kitsons, you're going.
Speaker 1: Good job last night, David's good job, and thank you general,
Speaker 1: thank you so much. And then h W goes, there's
Speaker 1: coffee in the kitchen, go help yourself. And so I
Speaker 1: was in the dining room, um, hanging out, and George
Speaker 1: W walked in. W W walked in and said, good morning,
Speaker 1: having no how are you doing? How you doing? It's
Speaker 1: like feeling fine, feeling fine. It ran for a couple
Speaker 1: of hours after church, feeling good. So good for you.
Speaker 1: And he goes, can I ask you a question? He said, yeah,
Speaker 1: he Um, can you learn how to sing? Or is
Speaker 1: it something you're born with? And I said, good question.
Speaker 1: I think one can learn to sing, but you probably
Speaker 1: have to have some musicality in your head. Maybe long
Speaker 1: pause again and he goes, well, I don't know shit
Speaker 1: about singing, but you probably got the best boys in America,
Speaker 1: and so well, thank you so much. And then I
Speaker 1: looked around. All the out of town guests were gone
Speaker 1: but me and the Bush and I said, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I just me and him. Now I better get going,
Speaker 1: and he goes, no, no, no, no, stay for lunch.
Speaker 1: And I said, I really overstayed my welcome. Look there's
Speaker 1: mama was putting out lunch stuff and I got to go.
Speaker 1: He goes, no, no, no. If you're gonna pick a
Speaker 1: day to eat here, this is the day because we're
Speaker 1: having tacos. And I went, oh wow, I love me
Speaker 1: some tacos. I said, you better go ask your mom
Speaker 1: if I can stay, because you're right wait right here.
Speaker 1: So he went in the kitchen to ask Barbara bushop
Speaker 1: I can stay for lunch, comes out and goes, you're in.
Speaker 1: So I was his little buddy all day long, and
Speaker 1: pinching myself undertainb why pinching myself like thanks, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: Do you know when you go out there every night
Speaker 1: the effect you have on people? No, but no, no,
Speaker 1: but you know know, but sometimes like that's the goals
Speaker 1: to move people or you know or um, like in Phantom,
Speaker 1: like if I didn't feel like I had a if
Speaker 1: I wasn't my best that night, there was a huge
Speaker 1: long embarrass bow that we had to do, like stage left,
Speaker 1: stage right in the middle of I said short bow,
Speaker 1: short bow, because I didn't think I deserve I didn't
Speaker 1: deserve that all that. So yeah, I go out there
Speaker 1: trying to do my best, and it's nice when people
Speaker 1: laugh or cry. Um. Yeah, it's nice to do that
Speaker 1: to feel that. I love that the show you go
Speaker 1: back six months of the amis and then what happens
Speaker 1: then you know, I just uh settled back in l
Speaker 1: A and so a lot of concerts. Yeah, I do
Speaker 1: a lot of concert work. Enjoy that, yeah very much.
Speaker 1: So pays the bills and people want to come see
Speaker 1: very muchself. Could you need to do anything? I get
Speaker 1: to do what I want to do. But what's great
Speaker 1: about that is like I get to sing. I can sing.
Speaker 1: It only takes a moment as that character, as Cornelius,
Speaker 1: I can do Fagan. I can sing uh reviewing the situation.
Speaker 1: As Fagan, I I can go impossible possible dream and
Speaker 1: every every song has it. I've become a character, which
Speaker 1: that's what I love to do, and so like morph
Speaker 1: into that and then I can just sing, you know,
Speaker 1: normal standards or some standards that you were. What are
Speaker 1: some of your favorite I did on an album Sammy
Speaker 1: Contunes because I sang at his memorial service. I wonder
Speaker 1: if that's the go to what these guys are dying
Speaker 1: and they're saying, you know, I love you, Irene. And
Speaker 1: one more thing, Yes, Sammy, you gotta get Davis my memorial.
Speaker 1: You know who. Michael Schilders is, the photographer. He called
Speaker 1: me the day to come sing at a funeral of
Speaker 1: someone I didn't know, but it's so sure. And then
Speaker 1: I was sitting next to him because you know you're
Speaker 1: singing at my funeral on it? No I didn't. I
Speaker 1: didn't know that, Michael. He said, you know you sing
Speaker 1: at John Schlessinger's funeral. I went, you're too kind. How
Speaker 1: did the film and TV thing go many years? Well?
Speaker 1: I did a lot during the fense when I was
Speaker 1: spent him. They wanted me as a guest star on
Speaker 1: Vernics Closet with Kristie Alley, and I did it. Murder
Speaker 1: she wrote with Angela Lansbury and those guests, Things Charmed
Speaker 1: and all those. But since then, I have no representation
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, so I don't go out on anything. You
Speaker 1: don't want to? Yeah, I do, but I don't have
Speaker 1: an agent, so that stuff has kind of fall off.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't really have anybody to book me
Speaker 1: in concerts and clubs or music anymore. So people just
Speaker 1: come to me and say, well, I sing um, I
Speaker 1: definitely want to, but I'm only I'm really good when
Speaker 1: I'm working. When I'm not working, I'm not so good.
Speaker 1: And you know, as a person, and as I get
Speaker 1: what do you mean, any get anti depressed? And when
Speaker 1: I'm on stage. When I'm on stage, I'm like the
Speaker 1: long as you went where you didn't work? Oh gosh,
Speaker 1: months six months year, six months? A year? Maybe, so
Speaker 1: let's let's say we'll split the differences nine months. Maybe
Speaker 1: we'll say a year. And without getting to too much detail,
Speaker 1: I don't want to pride. But when you say you
Speaker 1: get answer it? What what's what does that say? I
Speaker 1: don't feel like I'm worth what do you do? What
Speaker 1: do you want to tell? This? Interesting? So I don't
Speaker 1: I just I probably wanted to quit many times the business,
Speaker 1: like I don't know else, but I don't know else
Speaker 1: to do, but I would rather I mean, the part
Speaker 1: of me wants to just have a normal job, like
Speaker 1: a normal person. But on the Phantom, like its happened
Speaker 1: on and the Majestic. Um. I was probably you know,
Speaker 1: five years, five and a half years into the run,
Speaker 1: and for whatever reason, I just hit me, Um, I
Speaker 1: was at the organ. I had just came in and
Speaker 1: I was Phantom was going at the organ in the
Speaker 1: beginning of the show, and I just burst out into
Speaker 1: tears like me not the Phantom, I had to use it.
Speaker 1: And I just realized that that moment, like I only
Speaker 1: felt worth anything or loved between eight o'clock and ten
Speaker 1: thirty every day. It's like I went there's and I
Speaker 1: loved what I did, and I just loved it. But
Speaker 1: I realized there's got to be more to life than
Speaker 1: Phantom or between our job, TV business and film business. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I just like knew that I just had this
Speaker 1: thing like that I only felt worth anything in those
Speaker 1: hours that I was there to work on that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I went just there at me. The next probably the
Speaker 1: next day, I found a great therapist here. But I realized, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's always a balance now just to you know,
Speaker 1: be happy, um doing not working. But but when I
Speaker 1: appreciate when I get on stage even more now because
Speaker 1: I've just it's like home. It's like, don't to me exactly,
Speaker 1: don't let it define you in the way that it's
Speaker 1: going to cripple you. Yeah, And when I did when
Speaker 1: I did I did this Joe Orton play. I did
Speaker 1: another Joe Orton play after we did Luton eight six
Speaker 1: Entertaining was just Sloan in two thousand four. And I'll
Speaker 1: never forget when I had the scenes with the young guy.
Speaker 1: I'm ed the middle aged of brother with you know,
Speaker 1: my sister lives in the house with my father, and
Speaker 1: then this male hustler shows up and I'm this bisexual
Speaker 1: man who's in love with and Chris Carmack. And I
Speaker 1: remember the moment when I was alone with Chris on
Speaker 1: stage for some of the funniest parts of the play.
Speaker 1: I remember saying to myself, oh my god, I never
Speaker 1: want this to end, because I don't have as much
Speaker 1: fun anywhere else. Right. This is before I met my
Speaker 1: wife and my kids. This is two thousand four. I
Speaker 1: met my wife and too in eleven so seven years
Speaker 1: prior in the in the thick of my divorce, and
Speaker 1: my life was hell and custody, battles from my daughter
Speaker 1: and just everything outside the doors in the theater was shit.
Speaker 1: And I'd walk into that theater, I thought, I know
Speaker 1: exactly what I'm going to say for the next two
Speaker 1: and a half hours. I know exactly what you're gonna say.
Speaker 1: I know exactly how they're going to react, and people
Speaker 1: will love you. And I was, yeah, I never had
Speaker 1: more fun in my life. He's like, that's line from applause.
Speaker 1: I'm only alive at night when I'm in the show.
Speaker 1: It's like, that's what I gotta do. That's what I do. Now?
Speaker 1: Would you do shows? Now? Yeah? I mean I do
Speaker 1: most of my stuff in l A. But I've got
Speaker 1: the thing about living there, Like the last ten years,
Speaker 1: I got to play roles that I never would have
Speaker 1: played here. What's the least. I just played Nostradamis in
Speaker 1: Something Rotten, and then up Fagin and Oliver and music
Speaker 1: Man and silence the musical Hannibal Electors. That's that's the
Speaker 1: nastiest but the greatest silence of the lambs of the
Speaker 1: music and you played lect her. Yeah, you could probably
Speaker 1: of beans and everything. The song my first song, it's
Speaker 1: like I can't even speaking on My parents were so
Speaker 1: great about coming to everything I ever did. And that's
Speaker 1: the only show, the first song that you can't I
Speaker 1: can smell your blank if I knew if I could
Speaker 1: smell her w Yeah, it's huge. Oh god, what is
Speaker 1: that you've done? The gamut was something really fun. I
Speaker 1: just play with Rita Rudner a comedy just the two
Speaker 1: of us kind of and and uh so, yeah, I
Speaker 1: love doing all different kinds. Not to sing, but I can,
Speaker 1: but I don't have to. But it's fun to do
Speaker 1: all those different things. Uh. And what I'm wondering are
Speaker 1: their songwriters and are their individual songs get you name
Speaker 1: a couple that you never tire of singing. Gosh, there's
Speaker 1: a song Sammy con the words that he wrote and
Speaker 1: he won four Oscars and twenty Oscar nominations all that
Speaker 1: music that he wrote. His words are amazing. It's me.
Speaker 1: There's a his his one of his favorite songs that
Speaker 1: my favorite song that he wrote was from a Broadway
Speaker 1: show called Skyscraper, and it's called I'll only miss her
Speaker 1: when I think of her, and it's like just a
Speaker 1: simple poem. It just I never tired of singing something
Speaker 1: like that, songs that are are sad, songs that hit
Speaker 1: the heart and UM like listening to. Like when John
Speaker 1: Rate was old in his eighties and I was doing
Speaker 1: Phantom in l A. We did concerts together, me and
Speaker 1: John Ray and it was my and I would we
Speaker 1: would sing if I Loved You together as a duet
Speaker 1: or hey, they're from Pajama Game, and I watched I
Speaker 1: would watch him sing soloquy and then he watched me
Speaker 1: singing music to night and it was like a dream
Speaker 1: come true. Why Why? Why me? And and be able
Speaker 1: to like having Rosemary Clooney come backstage in l A
Speaker 1: after Phantom and said, I can listen to you sing
Speaker 1: all day. I said, no, Rosemary Clooney, and she give
Speaker 1: me your home phone and call me. It's like, I
Speaker 1: just don't embases me. And I'll bring this full circle
Speaker 1: back to Carol Channing's memorial. The other day, I was
Speaker 1: in the wings in rehearsal sound check with Time Daily
Speaker 1: and we were talking about how lucky we are too
Speaker 1: to be there and keep working and be there and
Speaker 1: keep working and how much? And she goes, yeah, I
Speaker 1: felt she thought I felt so great about being in
Speaker 1: the golden end of television with Cagney and Lacey and
Speaker 1: then I then Gypsy on Broadway, and I said, yeah,
Speaker 1: I just feel the same way, like I don't know
Speaker 1: why me? And why did I get to work with
Speaker 1: George Jabbott and how Prince and Carol Channing and Richard
Speaker 1: Burton and and um, I just don't sometimes can't put
Speaker 1: process it, like I loved it. It was a dream,
Speaker 1: but I and I don't know why me? Um? And
Speaker 1: then she just put her hand on my chest and goes,
Speaker 1: why not you? And I went it was like a
Speaker 1: lightbulb moment for me, like wow, why not me? And
Speaker 1: I'm told us to people since then, and it's like
Speaker 1: if I only knew that twenty years ago, thirty years ago,
Speaker 1: why not me? It would have mind emitted given me
Speaker 1: that thing. But now this week just just I'm here
Speaker 1: talking to you and and why not me? And I
Speaker 1: I'm so grateful and I can't wait. I just you
Speaker 1: know what I want to say as we go out
Speaker 1: of this show. Sometimes it will wraps itself up perfectly,
Speaker 1: does it wait, we'll tell you why, because we're gonna
Speaker 1: play some music as we go out here, and when
Speaker 1: I play this music, everyone will know what I know,
Speaker 1: which is when you say why me, This is why.
Speaker 1: The music we're going to play right now, this is
Speaker 1: why because you are literally one of the greatest singers
Speaker 1: ever in thank you so much. I love you too,
Speaker 1: Davis Games. While you were seeing now One Manue Low,
Speaker 1: I saught one all my old I'm Alec Baldwin and
Speaker 1: you're listening to Here is the thing us know Heavens
Speaker 1: he dont le