Royal Syns’ Blog

I’m a HUGE Cheyenne Jackson fan – after ‘meeting’ him backstage at Xanadu last year (ok I waved and he smiled back – if he was any closer, I’d have SWOONED!, but I digress).  So, I was pleasantly surprised to find this article about him – I’m passing it along to y’all.  And if Mr. Jackson is reading this, I’m still single….

Oh the article is by By MICHAEL KUCHWARA, AP Drama Writer – - -

What’s the best way to describe the momentum of an actor’s life? Treadmill? Carousel? Or maybe a roller-coaster ride that is never quite the same each week, even one anchored by a big Broadway musical?

Consider the eclectic and sometimes hectic existence of Cheyenne Jackson, one of Broadway’s busiest leading men, currently starring in a revival of the 1940s musical-theater classic “Finian’s Rainbow.”

The Burton Lane-E.Y. Harburg musical, a bit of mock-Irish fantasy slyly tinged with social commentary, is, make no mistake, Jackson’s primary focus, the foundation on which he builds his chock-full schedule.

“Eight shows a week is no joke,” Jackson says, his strapping, nearly 6-foot-4-inch frame crammed into a booth at the Edison Hotel coffee shop, a Times Square hangout known to theater folk as the Polish Tea Room. “Everything in your life has to be about the show. Mentally. Physically. Vocally. You always have to be thinking about those three and a half hours you are in the theater.”

Yet Jackson has managed to squeeze in a bit more since he first did a concert version of “Finian’s Rainbow” at New York’s City Center last March:

A critically lauded club act with cabaret guru Michael Feinstein and a CD — “The Power of Two” — to commemorate their collaboration. A recurring arc on the NBC sitcom “30 Rock,” portraying a genial street performer named Danny who, according to Jackson, “is going to pop up throughout the season” as an addition to the cast on the comedy’s show-within-the-show, “TGS With Tracy Jordan.”

Or his work for worthy causes — such as Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and AMFAR, among others — that are part of his Pacific Northwest upbringing where he “was taught early on that you have to give back. It is not really an option.”

And then there are the one-shot deals — such as his appearance last week on a float at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. A gig that, beside nonstop smiling and waving, included belting out an up-tempo anthem called “Play to Win,” written by Feinstein and William Schemerhorn, and extolling virtues that propelled the 2009 World Series champion New York Yankees.

“It was surreal but fun,” says Jackson of parade, even though he struggled not to think about needing a restroom as the float made its way from 72nd Street to Macy’s on 34th Street, a more than two-hour journey.

Yet Jackson’s home base these days is the St. James Theatre, where “Finian’s Rainbow” opened in October to mostly glowing reviews. The notices included cheers for the actor’s portrayal of Woody Mahoney, a labor organizer who helps the sharecroppers of mythical Rainbow Valley, falls in love with a spirited Irish lass (played by Kate Baldwin) and gets to sing such Broadway standards as “Old Devil Moon” and “If This Isn’t Love.”

Jackson’s robust performance recalls singing actors from the golden age of musical theater — big names such as Alfred Drake and John Raitt. It’s an assessment seconded by the song-savvy Feinstein, no slouch in evaluating singers.

“Cheyenne has tremendous range and an amazing musical facility, a natural musical instinct,” says Feinstein, who first met Jackson last year when they both were doing a Christmas television special atRockefeller Center. “He’s a great interpreter of lyrics. He really sings the words, and being an actor, he acts what he sings.”

Which makes Jackson a natural for musicals. That’s what brought him and his partner of 10 years, Monte Lapka, to New York in 2002 by way of Seattle. Understudy roles in “Aida” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie” led to bigger things — starring as the Elvis Presley-like hero of “All Shook Up” in 2005 and the roller-skating artist in the campy spoof “Xanadu” two years later. Not to mention television guest spots on series such as “Ugly Betty” and a role in the film “United 93.”

Still, doing “Finian’s Rainbow” was not an easy decision.

“It really comes down to a gut feeling,” Jackson says. “There were a couple things that came to me right at the same time (as ‘Finian’s’). But I write everything down, (listing) reasons why or why not — pros and cons — and then weigh them. And talk to Monte, my partner. We make every decision together. At the end of the day, I just make a decision and if when I wake up I feel at peace, then I know that’s the way to go.”

Jackson did a solo turn earlier this year at Feinstein’s, the posh Park Avenue cabaret spot run by its namesake, before he joined Feinstein for a double act during the summer.

Jackson’s cabaret appearances came about after he attended a dinner party at Feinstein’s town house. After dinner, the cabaret superstar played the piano and Jackson sang. “We just clicked,” Feinstein says and their act and then the CD, based on their show, was born.

“It’s always a juggling act to come up with the right combination of songs for an act,” says Feinstein, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of the popular American songbook.

“We wanted to find the right balance in every sense of that word. So we made sure that we included songs that would be more contemporary, that would push me a little bit more in Cheyenne’s direction (for example, the Indigo Girls) and included more standards that would push him more in my direction.”

One of the surprises to emerge from the collaboration was a duet of “We Kiss in a Shadow” a love song fromRodgers and Hammerstein’s “The King and I.” Or as Jackson says, “I didn’t realize how political our show was, but it really was.”

As Feinstein explains:

“It was something that I thought of in terms of taking a classic song and interpreting it without changing the lyrics and yet putting it in a context that completely changes the meaning or illuminates it in a different way.

“I had thought about what an older gay gentleman had told me years ago: That listening to Johnny Mathis’ recording of ‘We Kiss in a Shadow’ was for him and his friend sort of an underground anthem of liberation that spoke to him in a different way from the way it spoke to other people.”

When Jackson and Feinstein performed the song in their cabaret show, they stood next to each other, looking out into the audience; then at one point, they exchanged glances, then turned away.

“For many people, the song became a highlight of the show because it’s simply expressing a part of what is now being seen in the world more without making a political statement, which neither of us desire to do,” Feinstein says.