Grey brings characters to life in Lloyd Webber’s ‘music of the night’

Thursday, April 25, 1996

Singer uses experience, lessons learned from loved ones to
achieve his goalsBy Jennifer Richmond

Daily Bruin Contributor

He is Jesus Christ, a cat, a phantom and a screenwriter.

In one night, Kevin Grey assumes all these roles in the new
production "Andrew Lloyd Webber ­ Music of the Night" at the
Ahmanson Theatre.

But although Grey has played the lead in "Phantom of the Opera,"
he really doesn’t know that much of Lloyd Webber’s work.

"I’m not familiar with all of this material," he says in an
interview at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. "I’ve played the
Phantom, but I certainly didn’t do ‘(Jesus Christ) Superstar.’ I’ve
never done ‘Aspects of Love’ or ‘Song and Dance’ or ‘Sunset
(Boulevard)’ or all these shows, so it’s interesting to me because
I’ve never explored these characters before. Now when I get to
‘Phantom’ and ‘Music of the Night,’ it’s like an old friend. It’s
like putting on an old coat. But some of the other stuff I’m still
sort of working out and it’s still new."

It’s one of these new songs that Grey likes most. "I really like
that song ‘Gethsemane’ (from ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’). I think
it’s really an interesting piece. I think it’s so interesting
dramatically.

"Luckily Andrew has a feeling for the theatrical and the
dramatic," Grey continues. "He likes to write the big moment like
‘Memory’ and ‘Gethsemane.’ So, that’s been enjoyable. But it’s a
little odd not to have a role, a life to seam through throughout an
evening."

Having to switch from song to song and from character to
character has been a big issue for Grey. It’s been difficult for
him to decide whether to just sing the songs or play the character
out of context.

"If I stand there and don’t do any characterization at all, I
run the risk of going to Vegas. But if I try to completely inhabit
the character than I run the risk of people not understanding what
context I’m coming from," Grey says. "In some situations, if you
don’t come through the entire journey of the show, a number may not
make sense. So, some of the battle is to discern where to put it
together and how to make it fit."

After a month of doing the show, Grey has decided to do a
combination of both. He wants to present the character of each
piece as much as he can, considering the songs are out of context
and he is out of costume.

"Some of the things lend themselves more to it more than
others," Grey explains. "For example, in ‘Evita’ you’ve got Eva on
one side and Che on the other ­ there’s natural conflict
there. When you’re doing ‘Music of the Night’ from ‘Phantom of the
Opera,’ a role that I did 1,200 times, that again tends to lead
toward being the character. But other sections of the show have
been taken completely out of context."

Switching back and forth hasn’t really been a problem for Grey
though, because he says he believes that "all singing is character
singing and all acting is character acting.

"I think that when you’re singing you have to have a point of
view, you have to have a story to tell."

Grey realized this while watching a PBS special on Frank
Sinatra. He was singing a Jimmy Van Husen song called "One for the
Road" which is a drunken conversation with a bartender.

"I watched Sinatra turn around and light a cigarette and very
subtly become this character," Grey explains as he lights an
imaginary cigarette. "And it was the first time that I was ever
aware that every single song he sang, he was singing from the
character’s point of view. He would find one little thing to help
him bridge the gap of imagination and before you knew it, he was
saying ‘It’s a quarter to three there’s no one in the place except
you and me so set ’em up Joe ,’" Grey sings. "And the drunk tells
this story about a girl he loved and when he realizes it’s late and
the bartender wants to go, he wanders out into the night.

"(Sinatra) didn’t leave," Grey continues, "but you could see
(the character) walking out lost, with no place to go and at that
moment I thought ‘that’s how it’s done. You have to embody
somebody. You have to tell a story from a point of view or it’s not
a story."

But that PBS special wasn’t the beginning of understanding
characterization for Grey. He realized the importance of playing a
character a long time ago. Grey can thank his grandfather for
that.

One night while Grey was staying at his grandfather’s house, he
woke Grey up at 2:30 a.m. to watch the western "Shane" starring
Alan Ladd, which Grey says is famous for the little boy. His
grandfather wanted him to watch the little boy to see how he acted,
but Grey was immediately drawn to Jack Palance because he was the
character man.

"He was so interesting to me," Grey says. "He did not need to
play a stereotype or an archetype of any kind. He did not need to
seem to play what should be done, He simply was there. I mean Jack
Palance in those days was like Robert DeNiro today, he would come
on the screen and you would go ‘Oh my God.’"

That was the beginning. From then on, whenever Grey came home
from college, his father would have left the television page for
him with red circles around the times certain old films were
scheduled to air. The singer would grab a snack and watch the film
with his father who, would point out why he had wanted Grey to
watch the film.

Along with those great film actors, Grey says he also learned a
great deal from the musical actors of the time.

"When I was coming along, actors like Mandy Patinkin and Kevin
Kline were doing roles, people that were really wonderful actors,
in which they never seemed to be just singing. They seemed to
really have something going on. They were talking to somebody," he
explains.

And Grey feels that’s what makes the difference. Stephen
Sondheim once told Grey that Oscar Hammerstein had said "No one
should sing on the stage unless they have to; unless they can’t
express it any other way."

And Grey completely agrees. "You should be able to say it and if
you can’t say it, you should be able to gesture it and if you can’t
gesture it, you should have to dance it and if you can’t dance it
then it should burst from you. That to me is what great writing
is."

CONCERT: "Andrew Lloyd Webber – Music of the Night." Starring
Kevin Grey. Running at the Ahmanson Theatre through May 5. Thursday
through Saturday at 8 p.m., Wednesday and Sunday at 7:30 p.m. with
matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. TIX: $60-35. For more info.,
call (310) 436-3661.

NIMA BADIEY

Kevin Grey sings at the Ahmanson Theater through May 5.