Actor-director and man-about-theater, David Edwards, met the COVID lockdown head-on by creating a weekly Zoom series, “Beyond the Green Room,” which debuted on July 19, 2020 to “debate, dish and delight all things theatre.” All things theatrical is a topic he well-knows, having first appeared on Broadway as a child in the original production of The Rothschilds. Edward possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of The Great White Way and beyond, born of extensive experience and intellectual interest. His credits are impressively extensive, and include the Broadway/National Tour of The Producers (as both Max Bialystock and Roger DeBris) and Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s By Jeeves. He starred in the acclaimed revival of Room Service and also appeared in The Roar of the Greasepaint…, Jolson & Co., Company and Ionescopade, among others. Edward’s regional credits are many, and his appearances also include television and film. For full information, please go to www.davidedwardsonline.com
NiteLife Exchange (NLE) asks David Edwards (DE) Six Questions:
NLE: How were you inspired to begin your weekly Zoom “Beyond the Green Room?” Has it been all that you expected?
DE: My husband Tony Javed (co-producer of Piano Bar Live) had been after me for years to either write a book or do a podcast and after attempts at both I discovered that I found the process excruciating. It was so solitary and I kept second guessing myself and getting nowhere. And there would always be another theatre job that came up to distract me from the process. But after the shut down of theatre I had no excuses. I realized, too, that I enjoyed the give and take of a panel discussion and that it played into my strengths as a host and storyteller.
Tony basically threw down the gauntlet and challenged me to do it. At first I thought it would just be a way to keep busy during the pandemic, but it quickly became so much more than that. The audiences and perhaps even moreso, the panelists seem to be so uplifted by the shows—we feel more in touch with our colleagues and hopeful that there will be a bright future for live theatre. People in the theatre thrive on contact with audiences and their colleagues and for 90 minutes each week we are providing a platform to connect, swap theatre lore, educate and assess. Not to mention laugh! Every week there is something unexpected and moving from the panelists. The response by our viewers and guests has inspired me to keep going with the show as long as we can.
NLE: Your show business career goes back to The Rothschilds playing Young Amshel. How did you get started at that early age? What was the experience like being on the stage of the Lunt-Fontanne Theater?
DE: I don’t remember ever NOT wanting to be int the theatre. My mother had been a performer and sent my brother and I to dancing school when we were kids at at a studio run by one of her former colleagues. Lots of students there were chid actors and we were snapped up by an agent who represented kids. I came into The Rothschilds as a replacement and auditioned several times before I was cast. There were four little boys in the show and I always seemed to be the wrong height for the kid they needed at the time. Finally it all came together—but the show was in its final weeks on Broadway so I mostly performed when the show was on tour.
It definitely was exciting to have been on the stage of the Lunt-Fontanne—when I auditioned I was on the actual set where the show was performed so it helped put me in the world of the play. In those days most auditions were still in the theatres, not like today where you only see the inside of a rehearsal space. And the Lunt was especially meaningful because my grandmother took me to see my first Broadway show in that theatre when I was only a toddler: Mary Martin in The Sound of Music. I was only about two years old and it is unbelievable that I was old enough to appreciate it—or that I can still remember it! But I still hear Mary’s voice in my head as she sang the title song and see images of all those Von Trapp kids up there in front of me (I am told my seat was the in the first row center and the usher remarked that I was “a very lucky little boy”). I was completely smitten. Incidentally, Theodore Bikel who played Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music was also my “Papa” years later on the tour of The Rothschilds.
NLE: Directing has also become part of your creative tool kit. What circumstances brought you into this expansion of your career?
DE: Early on in my acting career I thought that someday I’d like to be a director, but I waited until I had established some sort of solid resume as an actor. Also, I wanted to be sure it was because I felt I had something to offer as a director, rather than as a knee-jerk reaction to having worked with some directors who I felt weren’t very good. I wanted to be sure there was a place for me and what I had to offer. I like to think of myself as an actor’s director, and that being a director has helped make me a better actor and vice versa. It is difficult to juggle these two careers because sometimes you have to make choices for purely practical reasons like finances or keeping your health insurance coverage. Under ideal conditions though, having two skills increases your career opportunities and longevity as a creative artist. Directors don’t have to worry about aging out of roles necessarily the way actors do. And I’ve come to realize there are some roles I’d like to act, and some other projects in which I’d much rather be a director. It’s about finding the balance between creative ambitions and everyday practical needs.
NLE: Another of your multi-faceted talents is career coaching, particularly audition guidance. Presuming you saw a need for this, what, in your observation, is the primary thing that auditioners need to know to succeed?
DE: Be true to yourself and your passions. You can’t control other people’s choices, but you can make strong choices for yourself. Ever since I was a kid I was an obsessive collector or musical theatre recordings, original cast albums. I bought new ones the same day they came out and cut-outs in bargain bins. I had to have everything. I sang along with them, played every part in my imagination and devoured the liner notes. My obsession extended to books about the history of musical theatre and by the time I was a young adult I had amassed quite a collection.
I assumed that every actor pursuing a career in musical theatre did the same thing, but gradually came to the realization that it was not true. So many of my friends came to me with questions about repertoire and what started as an evening of brainstorming and free advice became an idea for providing a service for musical theatre repertoire selection and audition coaching. I get a great deal of pleasure out of suggesting neglected musical material to actors for the purpose of auditions or cabaret acts, and it puts my knowledge of the repertoire to great use. There is so much wonderful material from shows that have been forgotten, much of it written by the great craftsmen of the art form. For example, so many young actors think Kander and Ebb wrote only Chicago and Cabaret and have no idea of the gold mine from their lesser known shows. It is my mission to keep the work of the writers of the golden age of musicals alive.
NLE: What has this pandemic and it’s terrible consequences for creative taught you?
DE: I know it’s an old cliche, but live theatre, the “fabulous invalid,” will rise again stronger than ever. It is so apparent that we are all hungry for in person connection. There are times when we take things for granted and it is now apparent to all of us what a precious and unique gift the experience of live theatre is for both performers and audiences. When we return to performing we will appreciate its uniqueness more than ever.
One of my fondest professional memories was doing The Fantasticks in the original production at the Sullivan Street Playhouse. I joined the show when it had been running for more than 40 years and was honored to have been in the very last performance in that venue. I was the last guy to sing “Try to Remember” in that production—what a gift! Doing that show was always like going back to the basics of live theatre: a handful of actors on an almost bare stage, a piano and a harp, no microphones and the audience just a few feet away. We have all learned to reinvent during this time, but reinventing has also meant going back to the essence of what live theatre means. Virtual productions and streaming have been a great help to get us through, but there’s nothing like the real thing.
NLE: When we are finally able to get back to normal, what is it that you’d most like to accomplish?
DE: Keep moving forward and not saying “no” to any new possibilities. I have a “bucket list” of theatre roles, but anything new and different is welcome. There are new lessons and possibilities that come with every new job, and invariably the lessons you learn are never the lessons you expected to learn. Embrace every new opportunity and grow—wherever it leads.
Leave a Reply