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THE LEADING MEN: Bashoff, Bowen and Lopez
By Tom Nondorf
02 Jul 2008
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Blake Bashoff in Spring Awakening.
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| photo by Joan Marcus | It's that time of year when there's a good deal of coming and going on the Broadway stages of midtown Manhattan. A Chorus Line may be ending its run Aug. 17, but Mario Lopez is enjoying his time "stepping up to the line," as the posters say. Young Blake Bashoff is exiting Spring Awakening but only to head out on the national tour. And, [title of show] arrives on Broadway as the first musical of the new season, leaving co-star/co-creator Jeff Bowen pleased as proverbial punch.
Blake on Broadway and Beyond
Moritz is hitting the highway. Blake Bashoff and his pal Melchior (Kyle Riabko) will be taking their roles on the road with the Spring Awakening national tour beginning in mid-August. The rest of America, beginning with San Diego, is in for a treat because they are both individually and in tandem continuing to capture and refine the spirit of the characters created by John Gallagher Jr. and Jonathan Groff. No easy feat. Bashoff, who has been acting since he was a child, came to Broadway a stage newcomer, fresh out of TV phenomenon "Lost," where — SPOILER ALERT— his character had a violent death at the hands of some mercenaries. Normally this would be a bad thing, but this demise dovetailed perfectly with a chance for Bashoff to join the cast of Spring and face the twin specters of repression and death on a nightly basis as Moritz.
Question: Congratulations on heading out on tour.
Blake Bashoff: Yes, it's finally official. I'm really excited. When I first auditioned at the end of October 2007, it was actually for the national tour or for the Broadway replacements. Then John Gallagher Jr. departed, and they were in need of a Moritz, and so I feel really lucky that I got to do these six or seven months on Broadway leading up to the tour. I'm excited because I'm from Los Angeles and the world of film and TV, so to be able to do it at home for six weeks in front of the film and TV industry is really exciting to me.
Q: This show is your first big-time theatrical experience, yes?
Bashoff: Yes, in fact, I sort of passed on the opportunity when it first came to my agent and manager because I felt like it was so far out of my comfort zone, but it ended up being a really great thing. I just needed a kick in the ass.
Q: Was it a big adjustment coming from TV to your Broadway debut?
Bashoff: I had no preconceptions. I knew going into the show, to replace a Tony Award winner is pretty daunting and intimidating, but luckily the cast is and was amazingly supportive from the get-go. It was a totally different ballgame for me. I remember from the first day of rehearsals I'd go onstage and notice that everyone around me had their props and their costumes on and I was like, "Oh! So we do that ourselves here!" Because, you know, in film and television there is somebody else responsible for everything.
Q: You mentioned replacing the acclaimed Gallagher. Did a part of you get caught up in the idea of, "Hey, I better bring something different to this"?
Bashoff: Absolutely, because he was so brilliant in his own way, and he was so specifically and uniquely him. So it was more about going back to the original source and re-creating from scratch rather than replacing. Luckily, the creative team was very open to me putting my spin on it, and of course I wanted to be true to the Moritz and the essence that Gallagher created because it's just so great, but also putting my own stamp on it. That's been a challenge but also really satisfying and exciting, too. When I entered the Broadway production, it was already an existing machine, which is a different ballgame from the tour, being able to create something new and organic from scratch with people who are just starting, so I am looking forward to that as well.
Q: Did you consciously work to bring more humor to Moritz?
Bashoff: Well, I think Gallagher is innately a rock star, and I'm not. So just naturally he's a bit more rock star-ish and intense. It wasn't a conscious choice. I think there's humor on the page, and when you bring it to life, it just sort of lives there. It wasn't intentional — it's become this accidental great thing.
Q: What would you tell a friend of yours from L.A. about Broadway if they were thinking of coming out east to work onstage?
Bashoff: The hardest part, I would tell people, is the schedule. It's grueling, it's demanding. Film and TV, you have breaks here and there, you work, you go back to your trailer, but this is a grueling schedule, . . . and if you love it, it's really rewarding.
Q: So while you are doing the Broadway show, you have to be rehearsing with the tour cast as well?
Bashoff: Yeah, it's going to be intense. It's going to be almost a month of double duty. I'll pace myself, and I don't think I'll be needed every day because of Moritz's character track, but I am looking forward to spending my days rehearsing for the tour and my nights on Broadway. It's fun [laughs] and exhausting. I don't now how I'll feel.
Q: Do you get asked a lot about what is going on on "Lost"?
Bashoff: It's crazy how many questions I get! I always knew it was a worldwide phenomenon, but it's pretty intense how many die-hard fans there are.
Q: Of course, now I have to ask you if your character is really dead.
Bashoff: Well, it's "Lost," so, who knows? I mean, [the "Lost" producers] were really accommodating with Spring Awakening and vice-versa, because when I first started, I was here for two weeks rehearsing. I went to Hawaii for two weeks to film the death episode, then I came back and actually gained a week of rehearsals because of the stagehands strike. But if "Lost" needs me or wants me, I'm there; and it's "Lost," so hopefully there will be some flashbacks before the end of the series. I would love to return in some capacity.
Q: It is wild that you have been part of a phenomenon-type of TV show and now this musical with its own dedicated followers.
Bashoff: I know. It's really amazing. The fans of both are just really committed and impressive, and it's all for them. It's the people that we do this and for and our love of the craft, and luckily we have very amazing and supportive fans whose lives you touch through art. What's better than that?
[Spring Awakening is playing the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. Tickets are available by calling (212) 239-6200 or by visiting www.TeleCharge.com. The Eugene O'Neill Theatre is located at 230 West 49th Street in Manhattan. For information on tour dates and cities, go to springawakening.com.] Continued...
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