LES MISÉRABLES - On The Road with Matt Crowle
On The Road With Matt Crowle
CONVERSATIONS | Ed Tracy
Spend any amount of time with the engaging Matt Crowle and it is easy to see why he is one of the most sought after performers on stage today.
In Chicago, you may have seen him as Leo Bloom in Mercury Theatre’s “The Producers,” Cosmo Brown in “Singin’ In The Rain” at Drury Lane, or Hysterium in “A Funny Things Happened on the Way to the Forum,” Charley Kringas in “Merrily We Roll Along,” and the entire D’Ysquith Family in “A Gentlemen’s Guide To Love And Murder” all at Porchlight Music Theatre. There are many other roles that have earned Crowle three Josph Jefferson awards among his ten nominations.
What you may not know is that Crowle had a two-year stint in Monty Python’s “Spamalot” on Broadway and toured with Tommy Tune in “Dr. Dolittle.” Along the way, he has been carving a brilliant career as a chorographer and director of shows like “Crazy For You” and “Holiday Inn.” We talked about this in our memorable 2016 Conversation at a time when the world was a very different place.
And then came the pandemic and all of that came to a sudden stop as it did with the rest of the performing arts community. Those uncertain times that followed came with the frustration of not knowing what, if anything, would come next.
All that is in the past and for the last three years Crowle has been crisscrossing the country as Thénardier, the cleverly wicked innkeeper in the US National Tour of “Les Misérables.” We caught up with him in Knoxville, TN—where the show will be playing through August 3 prior to moving on to South Bend, IN for a run from August 5-10—to talk about the production and life on the road for Matt Crowle, the Master of the House!
The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
ET: It has been three years this August since you were cast in Les Misérables. Almost three years on the road. That's an amazing accomplishment.
MC: It surprises me and also doesn't surprise me every day. I don't know where the time has gone, but then I look back in my log at where I've been, what I've done, who I saw, and the different hikes I've taken, and think that I've actually packed it into three years. I miss my home. I miss my wife. I miss my dogs, but this is what we call the short term sacrifice for the long term benefits.
ET: It was eight years ago that we spoke on the record. You were in the middle of a whopping career in Chicago. You talked about two years in Spamalot on Broadway, how frenetic your audition was and how all of that happened. How do those two years compare to three years on the road?
MC: Well, there are a lot of differences, not the least of which is I'm about 17 years past where I was then. With the passage of time—and how you sort of quantify the passage of time—it is like doing my best floating around in outer space to still feel tethered and have a really good hose back to the spaceship. That's kind of how it feels a lot of the time. On Broadway, and when I worked in Chicago, you go to work, then you go home at night. That is not the same out here trying to make a home wherever you land. I try to keep certain routines like bedtime, a certain amount of exercise every day, finding the right places to eat. I cook a lot. I've become quite the cook in a hotel room with a hot plate.
ET: I'm sure the menu is not beans and franks, though.
MC: It's not far off.
ET: I was looking at the tour schedule and there is an anomaly happening. You are usually moving from one location to the next in three days. It's almost like you're getting out of bed and the next show is opening in another city. But after South Bend, Indiana, which is a week away, you've got a nice little chunk of time off.
MC: Oh, it is. For the first year we were out here, I don't know how many consecutive weeks, but it was well over a full 52 week calendar where we had zero breaks. Then, into the second year, we actually had most of the month of July off. It is just how the seasons work out. Our producers were able to cobble together some layoffs because it's beneficial to everybody to get a break at the same time. It's one thing to go away on vacation and come back, but another for everyone to just take some space at the same time and all come back collectively rested. It's good for morale. It's good for the production.
ET: Is it a challenge to come back after that long a period and be show ready?
MC: After this kind of break, we will come back and do a full run through of the show. We'll be in Tucson, Arizona, do a full run through of the show on the Tuesday that we arrive, and then open that night.
ET: The original Les Mis tour was amazingly long. Has the new tour changed a lot?
MC: The turntable production is legendary and iconic and was retooled around 2009, 2010, where they officially took the turntable out. We were progressing in technical theater where projections were becoming more routine and reliable. Instead of the turntable, we have a lot of automation. A lot of huge moving pieces. There are three or four central pieces with platforms and staircases that are reconfigured and retooled so much that they are unrecognizable from scene to scene. They have turned it more into a puzzle. And the backdrop is all these gorgeous projections, many of which are actual paintings from Victor Hugo himself. Technically speaking, it's still a behemoth. Our two directors, Lawrence and James, went measure for measure through the show, reimagined it and found some very creative new ways of fully embodying the story that honored what it has always been. It shows very clearly why it's still very successful. The fluidity and the seamlessness of the transitions is a stunning feat every night.
ET: Do you find that some theaters are better equipped to deal with the size of the show?
MC: Some theaters definitely come with their inherent challenges. We are now in Knoxville. It's a very tight fit. There is not much space in the wings. For me, in my very privileged space as an actor, I don't really deal with those challenges. I marvel at the fact that I leave the stage in Durham at nine or ten at night on a Sunday and go to bed and our crew is working tirelessly until about three in the morning until everything is broken down and loaded up. Then they get on a sleeper bus and by Tuesday at 5:30, I walk into a brand new city, sometimes after a 10 hour drive, and I see exactly the same thing I saw on Sunday night. It's a disservice to the crew to say that it's a magic trick, because it's certainly not. It is a lot of work. But, from where I stand, it feels like an absolute magic trick that they are able to pull that off week to week. And they have never come in short. It's marvelous!
ET: I'm looking at your resume and I have seen at least six of the shows you were in. It was a pleasure to see your Jeff Award-winning performances. At some point, as a performer, entertainer, actor, director, thespian, you're going to find something that brings you more joy than anything else. Looking at this resume, everything you do is bringing joy to the stage. And during COVID when we were all locked down, you were tapping away on videos.
MC: That was my salvation. I go down there and just put something together.
ET: What did it feel like coming out of that experience, which for all of us was devastating, and then coming on to this great opportunity, an amazing, career changing event.
MC: It has truly been a boon. I had some real traction going there from 2016 up to the pandemic. I felt like I was starting to find my niche in Chicago theater. Chicago has really been my focus. I love working there. I love the variety. I love the community. So, the pandemic was deeply, deeply devastating. I had a couple of big things I was to direct and I had booked this really exciting job in town and that just went away. Over the next year plus, when no one knew what it was going to look like on the other side, or if we were going to get to another side, I was thinking when we come back, what does a rebound look like after this? And how long does it take and what is the landscape? We went through some cultural upheavals, some social upheavals. There were a lot of reckonings that happened and if you are going to make responsible, thoughtful theater, you have to consider all that. I didn't know what it was going look like, but what I did know was that I was sick of submitting auditions on tapes from my basement!
I went back to my first audition, I don't remember what it was, but I was a disaster. My hands were sweating. That one thing I've always loved was auditioning. I liked the challenge of walking into a room and taking hold of it and taking them on a journey. And suddenly I was faced with my worst nightmare, which was like, I'm terrible at this. The second time my agent called me and said, “Hey, we've got an in-person audition for you.” I said, “I don't care what it is, I'm going!” They said, well, it was this and I was like, ‘Oh, that's great, because I'm not going to get it.’ There is a certain image that I always thought Thénardier had… a kind of a bloke, and I am a song and dance man. You can put certain costumes on me, but at the end of the day, I worship under the “Tree of Danny Kaye!”
But I put my all into it for two solid weeks. I didn't really know the song (Master of the House) a six-minute patter song, and they wanted the whole thing. So I was just singing it over and over and over again, because my philosophy is you don't walk in just kind of prepared. I can't walk into a room and hold papers. It was a big one, but I didn't feel any pressure because I was like, I'm not right for this. I'm just going in there and have a great time and get over these nerves that I've suddenly developed. Went in, felt great. My agent calls to say, ‘They want you in New York.’ I said, ‘You sure you got the right Matt?’
I went to New York and again, I didn't expect to get this, but I thought, this is great. For the first time in years I've flown to New York, had a terrible night's sleep on a friend's couch, and then waddled into a studio at 10:00 am and auditioned. So, this is good. Let's just get these legs back under me.
I walked in and did not realize that Cameron Macintosh was going to be there. And, again, without the pressure I usually put on myself. I was like, let's have a really good time, and then we can check this off, fly home and then we'll really get back to work. And when I'm at the airport, my agent calls to say, ‘Well, you got it.’
ET: That's a thrill.
MC: Yeah. But, I'll say that it was a real shift of gears. I felt the speed I was making to the total dead stop for almost two solid years, and then suddenly I'm on the road, which I haven't done since 2006.
ET: It takes a certain amount of stamina and you have the resume for it. If I was Cameron McIntosh, I would cast you, too. And he's not seen all the things we've seen in Chicago.
MC: I miss Chicago. I will be back. That's home.
ET: What's the next dream come true?
MC: I want to get back and get my hands dirty in Chicago again. I have been very lucky to have played a lot of mine. Someday I would love to find a theater that wants a fun little take on Fagan in Oliver. That's definitely something I feel like that's kind of Thenardier adjacent. What I love so much about Chicago area theater is that I have found a way to diversify my career. I would really love to get my feet wet in some more dramatic stuff in Chicago, too. I am putting together a little pipe dream list while I'm out here. In the meantime, it's just one foot in front of the other.
ET: And that is what you are doing every week. This two-day turnaround is just extraordinary. I can imagine how hard it is to come out every night, make it fresh, make it new. It's a special talent that actors have. I think I'm speaking for almost everyone we know, and probably most of the people who have seen you in Chicago, that we're all pretty proud of what you have done in the last three years.
MC: Thanks, Ed. I do feel a strong sense of community. There's no place to me like Chicago. I feel encouraged there. I feel supported there. I feel like I'm part of something bigger than myself and that means and matters a lot.
PHOTO|Matthew Murphy
LES MISÉRABLES
US Tour
TENNESSEE THEATRE
Knoxville, TN
through August 3
MORRIS PEFORMING ARTS CENTER
South Bend, IN
August 5 -10
2016 CONVERSATION PODCAST
MATT CROWLE-CRAZY FOR CROWLE
on AUDACY and APPLE PODCASTS
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