Brian d'Arcy James Becomes Shrek on Broadway

Brian d’Arcy James is a staple in the Broadway world. He’s kissed Kristin Chenoweth, starred in two shows with John Lithgow, and even fell in love while starring in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel with his co-star and now wife Jennifer Prescott. Last week he began previews for his ninth Broadway show – a little production based on a little movie called Shrek. Sarcasm aside -- the new musical has been one of the most buzzed about arrivals of the 2008-2009 theater season. Despite all d'Arcy James's Broadway experience, playing the lovable ogre is his most high-profile role yet. Even though after over an hour in makeup and wardrobe he's completely unrecognizable. After a fairly promising out of town tryout in Seattle, the musical -- also starring Sutton Foster as Princess Fiona, Daniel Breaker as Donkey and Christopher Sieber as Lord Farquaad -- will open on December 14th at the Broadway Theatre, just in time for all those holiday tourists. But hopefully for d’Arcy and crew, the New York audience will find some love in their hearts for the gentle giant as well. D’arcy seemed pretty confident when I got the chance to chat with him on the phone while he was in Seattle. Like that catchy Monkees cover from the film's soundtrack – “he’s a believer!”

Do you have kids that are into the Shrek enterprise?
My daughter is seven. She was definitely familiar with it. I've seen all of them, and she's probably seen all of them by this point as well. At first she thought it was really cool, and then with the whole progression of the makeup and the look and the costumes and this transformation --I think it's a lot for her to experience. She’s not sure what to make of the whole thing.

Did you watch the movies over and over again to prepare?
I watched a little bit of Shrek the Third, because when I
was auditioning for it I wanted to listen to the tone of the movies just for information and research purposes. But I haven't looked at any of the movies since. The show is another dimension in a way, in that it's a theatrical piece --a musical
version. So we kind of had our own rules going on here. While familiar and satisfying expectations, it's going to break new ground.

Was this project more appealing to you because David Lindsay-Abaire wrote the book?
It definitely had an appeal. Fuddy Meers and several of his other plays, with the exception of Rabbit Hole, are very skewed and they're almost absurd in a way. And so his sense of humor is right in line with the whole Shrek take. I consider myself a normal person, but I like that type of humor.

Were you their first choice to play Shrek? Or did you have to express interest?
They had done some workshops with other actors, and I think initially they kind of wanted to think outside the box in terms of casting an actor that wasn't necessarily a New York actor, maybe a former comedian. And, who kind of maybe had a different, interesting take on it, in terms of the world of Broadway theater and musical theater in general. And then for whatever reason, they decided to go back to the drawing board. And I think that's when they started to think of names like myself. People in the New York actor community thinking maybe that would be a different way to go. So I don't think I entered their consciousness till late in the game, and thankfully I did.

The extensive transformation you make into Shrek has been getting a lot of buzz. How long does it take to put all the makeup on?
It takes an hour and a half or a little over that, about an hour forty.

Wow! Do you just sit there quietly that whole time?
The cast has been making mixes of music, and I guess I could start getting books on tape but there's a lot of communication that takes place in terms of how the makeup is applied. There needs to be conversation going on between the people who apply it. It's a very delicate process. But I definitely just kind of zone out and listen to music.

Is it comfortable? It looks very hot -- as in temperature!
It is once the makeup is on. I kind of forget that it's there. It does get hot, undoubtedly. And that's just part of running around and not having a real easy escape from all the heat. There's a big old rubber thing glued to your head. So I'm strategically taking care during the show to kind of sit and breathe or get fluids and all that.

Then what’s the de-robing damage?
It takes about 30 minutes to get out of it. It’s so unlike anything
I've ever done in the theater. You get there two hours before the show, and no one's there. You do your show, and then you leave about 40 minutes after everyone is gone.

Are you worried about the backlash experienced by many of the musicals that are based on big commercial movies?
Not everybody warmly embraces the idea of this trend of movies into musicals, and how these things are coming into fruition. I don't worry about that to be honest. I know what it is I'm doing. While definitely it's an attempt to extend the brand in a way -- there's no denying that -- the reality is that these people are dedicated to creating something unique and creating being the key word, because this is an original musical. It's not a score that's been pulled from the soundtrack for a film. I know that my experience has been one of complete collaboration and complete artistry. And however the consumer decides to view that is their choice and will be formed by their own views of Broadway in this current market, so I can't control that. It's going to bring in people that have never seen a show before. And that's the great thing about a Lion King or a Little Mermaid or a Shrek The Musical, or a Billy Elliot for that matter. There's going to be an appeal to it. The cynicism about something like this will be trumped by the quality of what we're representing.

You were also recently in the film Ghost Town with Ricky Gervais. How was that experience? Funny I bet!
I had such a small part. The trailer cracks me up, because I'm convinced that I'm probably be in the trailer longer than I am in the film. It was so bizarre seeing myself in these great ads for the movie, but it was really quite a stunning experience. It was my first feature film, so to be thrust into the scene with Tea Leoni and Ricky Gervais on a park bench on Fifth Avenue just kind of working things out and trying to hold my own without passing out was such a thrill.

You’ve had a long Broadway career but when did you feel like you’d actually made it on Broadway?
I kind of feel like making it on Broadway is just the experience of being in a Broadway show. So I suppose I felt like I made it on Broadway when I was in [my first show] Blood Brothers. I stood out, and I was like "I'm in a Broadway show." That was probably more memorable, in a way to me, than some of the other things I did on Broadway, because just by virtue of being there is an arrival of its own.

Shrek The Musical is currently in previews and will open at the Broadway Theatre on December 14th.