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Interview with La Cage Aux Folles’ Christopher Sieber
Christopher Sieber stars in La Cage Aux Folles which will be in Boston from December 6th until the 18th
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Christopher Sieber has been involved in numerous Broadway shows, including Spamalot and Shrek the Musical. He has also been involved in the television industry, being a part of the shows It’s all Relative and Two of a Kind. He is most recently involved in the National Broadway Tour of La Cage Aux Folles, which will be coming to Boston from Dec. 6 until Dec. 18.
Mr. Sieber has given Encore magazine an exclusive interview concerning his upcoming show.
[Encore Magazine] So how has the tour been going so far?
[Christopher Sieber] The tour is just fine. We started – it seems like it’s been a long time but it’s was only a couple of months ago. But we started in late August, and we started in New York rehearsing there, and then we went to Iowa, in DeMoines for three weeks. We teched it there for two weeks and had a one week run there in Iowa. And then we’ve been going to Minneapolis and all these other cities, and now we’re in Cleveland for two weeks. And the audiences are loving the show, and it’s great to watch. So far so good.
EM: Are you looking forward to any particular stops on the tour?
SC: Well actually I’m looking forward to Boston very much so because there are some of my favorite restaurants in the world there. The Union Oyster House is one of my favorite places in the world. I love that place.
EM: Anything that you’d recommend for people to get there?
SC: Oh just – their oysters on the half shell are so good! The clam chowder is ridiculous. Their muscles – I don’t know what they do to their broth, but the steamed muscles, you can just eat it with a spoon it’s so good! Plus, I just like the atmosphere of that old restaurant. I mean, it really is just a cool place. Actually, I think we’re playing the Schubert Theatre while we’re in Boston so that’s just kind of fun. I haven’t been to the Schubert Theatre since Spamalot, since they toured there. I went to visit the tour while I was doing it on Broadway.
EM: So you’ve performed in a lot of forms of entertainment – stage, film. How does performing on stage compare to performing on television?
SC: Well it depends on what it is. My first two sitcoms were Two of a Kind with the Olsen twins and then another one, It’s All Relative, that was on ABC. And we did those with four cameras in front of a live studio audience, so it was like theatre in a way. But doing a series with a single camera was like a movie. You don’t have an audience there so it’s rough not knowing what’s going to land and you really have to trust yourself.
I like theatre a lot because it’s almost instant gratification. You get a chance to do it every night. It’s dangerous, and that’s why I like theatre too. It’s dangerous because anything could happen; I think that’s why people like theatre as well. The set could break down, someone could forget their lines, someone could forget a dance step – something like that. And it’s kind of like a high wire act, but I like the instant gratification and sharing the energy with the audience that’s right there. And if they’re with you, you can get them right in the palm of your hand which is quite a rush.I do prefer theatre, but I do like television. It’s just a lot of waiting around for television.
EM: You said that some stuff can happen with live theatre. Any instances happen with that with La Cage aux Folles? Any crazy things happen?
SC: We haven’t had – I’m knocking on wood! – we haven’t had any major things happen. I mean, people forget lines, but no one’s missed an entrance yet so that’s good. During Spamalot, I was working with a crazy group of people: David Hyde Pierce, Hank Azaria, Tim Curry, Christian Borle, and Michael McGrath. We loved it when the set broke down because we were all improv comedians and we were ready to go. So anytime something would go wrong we would jump right on it and we were all over it, like “Woohoo, yay! It’s dangerous!” The audience, of course, is right there with us too. We would have a castle during Spamalot that wouldn’t come down, wouldn’t move, or something broke, so we loved that. But this show, there’s not a lot of moving parts in the show, so we haven’t had anything that broke down.
EM: Hopefully it stays that way!
SC: Yeah, hopefully it’ll stay that way.
EM: You were in the revival Broadway cast of the show as Georges. How does it compare being a different character?
SC: Well I had seven days to get into the show. Jeffrey Tambor just left suddenly, he just left and they needed somebody there so they called me and it was great. They said, “We have seven days to go into the show,” and I said, “Oh, well let’s do it!” But I was working with Harvey Fierstein, who wrote the book and the show. So getting to work with him and knowing how he wanted his show to be done while he’s performing it, that was a lot of insight and I got a lot of help from him because I didn’t have a lot of time to learn the show, and I didn’t have a lot of time to really get to know Georges, the character, until I was in it and we were working on it together as we read through the script.
And then playing the opposite part: originally they asked if Harvey and I could go on the road together and I thought that would be great, we would have a blast. And then Harvey had other things to do, he’s working on a show called Kinky Boots, he’s got his new Broadway show called Newsies, which is going to go to the Nederlander Theatre in New York, so he was a little busy and couldn’t do it. But then the producer asked me if I would be interested in playing Albin, or Zaza, and said, “You know, that might be fun.” Knowing now what I know from Harvey, how he wanted it done, gives me a great insight to do the part, so I thought “Why not, let’s do it.” It is opposite because I see George Hamilton doing Georges, and I have to bite my tongue a lot of the time just to let him have his part. It’s his part, not mine. It is difficult in that way because I know how [Georges] supposed to be done and it’s just [Hamilton’s] way of doing it.
EM: What’s it like starring opposite of George Hamilton?
SC: Oh, he’s lovely! He’s so self-deprecating. There’s not a diva bone in his body. He’s the loveliest man. We’re becoming very good friends, which is terrific. I think we have a wonderful relationship. It is fun walking around airports and other places with him because he’s so recognizable. People do stop him all the time and it’s actually a lot of fun. I’ve completely forgotten that he’s a big movie star [laughs] because I know him so well, but it’s funny seeing people react to him in the airport just walking by. They stop in their tracks and go, “Woah, it’s George Hamilton!”
EM: What sort of message do you think the audience will get from this show?
SC: This show has kind of got a covert message. It doesn’t matter who you love, it’s that you love, and a family’s a family no matter who’s in it. It’s a very family-oriented show. It’s a very covert message because it’s kind of a farce-type thing so what’s amazing is about Jerry Herman’s show is even the most conservative of theatre-goers will come away with a great message from the show and people will leave here with more than just a folded program and a torn ticket stub, if we’ve done our jobs correctly.
EM: How are your feet holding up from the heels?
SC: The feet are fine! It’s actually my back! I’m getting used to all that stuff. I’ve got the girls to help me to girl it up a little more if I need to. It’s not the heels, actually, that’s the problem it’s the vocal demands of the show that are more demanding than anything. I have five different voices that I need to used during the show because Albin has his own voice, Zaza has her own voice, Mother has her own voice, there’s falsetto singing, there’s the low voice, there’s high voice – it’s all over the place and for three and a half hours I don’t stop per show. I mean I start and do makeup and wardrobe and do the show for two and a half hours so more than physical it’s vocally demanding.
EM: How do you deal with that? How do you deal with saving your voice so you can continue doing this?
SC: Training helps. Also, the fact that you just have to be quiet during the day. [laughs]
EM: So these interviews are really helpful with that.
SC: Oh no, this is fine! Actually in the beginning of the week it’s all right. We have what’s called a five-show weekend, with one on Friday, two on Saturday, and two on Sunday. That’s the part where it gets really scary because it’s just a lot. It’s one right after the other – boom boom boom boom boom! That’s the rough part.
EM: Do you have any advice for anyone who wants to pursue a future with acting?
SC: Yeah, if you can find something else to do, do it. [laughs] It’s not for the weak of heart by any means. It can be fun and ultimately rewarding, but it is the hardest business you will ever go into. And also, you can never stop. Just because you make it on Broadway or you get a Broadway show does not mean you’re finished. You’re always working to get the next thing, because, you know, most Broadway shows don’t last forever, and you can’t bank on that, so you’re always doing something different. You always have to keep moving forward. You can never just rest on your laurels and say “Oh, I’ve got it, I made it.” No. You’re never done. And it’s constant. So you have to keep yourself optimistic and motivated and it’s a lot more than you think. We make it look easy on stage because that’s our job. But when it comes down to it, it’s not easy and I would say go to college. Get your degree. Find something else to do. If you want to be an actor be an actor, but you have to commit to it.
EM: And just one final question, and I have to ask. Why does your bio say that you haven’t been in Law and Order?
SC: [laughs] Because I haven’t! Law and Order was – or maybe it is still filmed in New York, and in playbills everybody had that in their bios. One person after another person’s bio in a playbill will say Law and Order SVU, Law and Order Special Order, blah blah blah, and I just didn’t have Law and Order on mine so I just made a point to say “Mr. Sieber has not appeared on Law and Order.”