Singer-actor John Philip has had many of the jobs New York City could offer anyone in the arts—from several stints as a waiter, in advertising and non-profit work, and then finally law. The last was a surprise, but it was a profession that allowed him to choose not to practice full time, but to develop his own practice and return to performing. His artistic 
work has ranged from daytime television to a principal role in the Merchant-Ivory film
The Bostonians, and many Off-Off Broadway productions. Most recently he appeared in the George R Carr work Poem. It is New York City and the sum total of its acting teachers,
workshops and fellow performers, that has taught him what he has learned about the art of performance. Lately, Philip has been studying with Marilyn Maye, and about her he says that no coach/performer has inspired and taught him more.
Philip will be performing his Maye-directed show Oceans of Love and Life, with music director David Pearl and Tom Hubbard, bassist, at Don’t Tell Mama (www.donttellmamanyc.com) on Tuesday, November 7, Wednesday November 8, and Saturdays, November 11 and 18, all at 7 PM.
NiteLife Exchange (NLE) asks John Philip (JP) Six Questions:
NLE: When do you realize you had the capacity to get on a stage and sing and entertain? Was there an aha moment?
JP: I do remember being about 6 or 7—doing an improvised skit with my cousin—we were making fun of TV ads then current, and the adults laughed. I liked that. There were school productions, even at college. But then I almost froze. I was back in NY, taking acting 
classes, going to dance and voice and working years as a waiter! But somehow I was “afraid to fly” in the words of one of the songs in my new show. It was years of productions, some television and film as I inched back. I hope each time to find more of those “aha” moments.
NLE: Who would you consider your greatest influences in your love of the Great American Songbook and the realization you’d like to bring the songs to life in your own way?
JP: Without doubt Marilyn Maye. No one has inspired me more, taught me more, given me more. But certainly others I know only through their recordings: Amanda McBroom; Andy Williams; Peter, Paul and Mary; Marvin Gaye and almost any of the great soul singers,who represent to me yet another Songbook chapter.
NLE: As an attorney, are there skills to draw from that profession to aid you on stage?
JP: I always use to balk at that question. I went back to law school in my thirties to give myself a profession that could keep me alive, and yet, I hoped, leave me time to pursue acting and later singing. But now, especially as I do more criminal law, I see a connection. In both cases less is more, and be always as sincere as you can be.
NLE: Marilyn Maye: what’s the most important thing she’s taught you—so far?
JP: That we are there to give to the audience, not vice versa. They have given of their time and money, we are there to entertain. And with Marilyn, you learn so much in this respect by watching her. She is—above all—selflessly generous on stage. May I aspire to be the same.
NLE: How did you come to be one of her students?
JP: Knew of her of course, and one day saw she was doing a “Master Class”–attended and felt immediately this was where I should be.
NLE: Your marketing/publicity quotes “you have to accentuate the positive;” what would you like to say about this philosophy of life?
JP: Okay – now I will borrow from other of my songs in the show—gather round me “while I preach some:” it is a “restless” world we live in, and it is Positivity-Positivity that is always right.
Photos above:
1. With partner Andrew Loren Resto and their adopted daughter, Jamie.
2. Fellow cast members from a production of Sordid Lives (Duplex, NYC 2014)
3. From All That Might Happen (Manhattan Theatre Source, 2010)
(Run cursor over photos below for captions)
