THE LEADING MEN: Kudisch and Silverman
By Tom Nondorf
04 May 2009
RYAN'S HOPES
Ryan Silverman joined the cast of The Phantom of the Opera April 24. He was nice enough to chat with me prior to his rehearsal period and again now that he is in the show. I caught the 8,838th performance last week, and the audience seemed quite taken with his dashing Raoul. Silverman played the part for six months in Las Vegas prior, and he has been a busy man of late, as you shall see…
Q: Are you enjoying being a part of a legendary show?
Silverman: I'm loving it! The cast and crew are wonderful. I had ten days of rehearsal, which was enough to re-learn what I did in Vegas.
Q: Are there a lot of differences between the Vegas and Broadway Phantoms?
Silverman: There are, actually. Now that I'm doing this, I see how much they cut in the Vegas version. In this version, by the time I'm singing "All I Ask of You" in Vegas, I'd be finishing the show.
Q: How have you found the Broadway audiences?
Silverman: They're quite vocal! I thought since the show has been running so long and people say it's a lot of tourists in the audience, I thought it would be a little quieter, but it is like this is a new show. I met a guy last night who said, "Great job! You're a wonderful Raoul. This is my 19th time seeing it." And he was just as excited as if it was his first time.
Q:What does it mean to the cast to have people who stay and greet you after the show?
Silverman: I can speak for myself, but I think we all really like it. To see people who want your autograph or want to tell you how much they like you in the show, it's exciting to get that sort of feedback.
Q: Were you inspired by any other Raouls that you've seen?
Silverman: Tim Gleason was the only other Raoul I've ever seen, and he did a great job. He moved on to play the Phantom on the tour. I had never seen the Broadway production, so I didn't have a lot of comparisons. I saw it in Edmonton when I was young, but I don't remember it very well.
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Ryan Silverman in The Phantom of the Opera
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| photo by Isaac Brekken |
Q: What is the Vegas theatrical "scene" like?
Silverman: It's actually quite interesting. I went out there not knowing what living in Vegas would be like, but I quite enjoyed it because the community there is very close. There's only a small pocket of theatre people there. People have created weekly concerts and places where you can sing something you wrote or workshop a show. One is at the Liberace Museum, which is perfect. There is always something going on.
Q: Speaking of workshops, you've been a part of a couple lately.
Silverman: Yes, I don't know if it is because of the economic crisis that less shows are coming in, but more shows are being workshopped. Not sure if that's the case or not, but I did a reading of Frank Wildhorn's new musical, Wonderland, which is quite good, it's sort of a Wicked-esque take on "Alice in Wonderland," that takes place in present time. I did a "Broadway By the Year" [concert] and the My Man Godfrey reading the week before that.
Q: Earlier this year you also were in Music in the Air at City Center Encores! I wonder if you had a lot of fun working on that.
Silverman: I really did. It was my first time being involved with Encores! It was cool to see what the process was like. You only have nine rehearsal days. It was cool to figure out how to work around having a script in your hand. At some point, having the script is almost harder than not having it. Getting to work with Sierra Boggess and Kristin Chenoweth, who were great, and Douglas Sills, who is one of the nicest guys I've ever met — just to be in the room with them was a thrill every day. And to work on a show nobody knows: It's great to do a show like that and a character that doesn't have any sort of preconceived notions to it.
Q: Sort of the opposite of what you are doing with Phantom.
Silverman: It's the exact opposite, yeah.
Q: You did West Side Story in London. What's it like to see that newly opened here around the corner from Phantom?
Silverman: I sort of feel like the one in London was my last hurrah at doing it. I don't know how much longer I can pass for someone who looks 19 [laughs]. I've heard wonderful things about the show here, so I hope it's a huge success. I had done it regionally and the European tour, so to get to do it in London was very cool. It was nominated for an Olivier, so I went back to London and performed at the Oliviers.
Q: How did acting find you?
Silverman: Quite by accident. I was raised in a small town in Alberta, so I grew up playing hockey, and that was sort of where my focus was, and it wasn't until high school that I was in one of the school musicals. Once I graduated, I was going to become a radio broadcaster, but my grades weren't high enough. My mom told me I wasn't going to sit around the house, so we found a theatre arts program, which I thought would help me get into broadcasting, so I auditioned. And it was like, "I kind of like this!"
[The Phantom of the Opera plays the Majestic Theatre, 247 West 44th Street. Check out the official website at www.thephantomoftheopera.com.]
HITHER AND YON
My predecessor right here in this space, Wayman Wong, has heroically organized another fantastic array of gents for "Leading Men IV" at Birdland on May 11. Make sure you get out there if you can. The benefit concert for Equity Fights AIDS will be hosted by John Tartaglia and musically directed by Seth Rudetsky. Check out some of the names in this lineup: Nick Adams, James Barbour, Jonathan Groff, Norm Lewis, Tony Yazbeck…and stick around for Jim Caruso's Cast Party afterwards. Birdland is located at 315 West 44th Street; visit www.birdlandjazz.com for details…Excited to see Brian Childers' turn as Danny Kaye in Danny and Sylvia: The Danny Kaye Musical opening May 13 at St. Luke's Theatre, 308 West 46th Street; check out www.dannyandsylvia.com for ticket info…And then there's Mame. Had to put on the original cast LP and listen to "Bosom Buddies," which was introduced to me by my sister Anne when I was kid. Bea Arthur was at her scathing best right there, may she rest in awesomeness…A fellow who has worked with Ms. Arthur is Saul Ilson, writer and director of the new revue, Don't Leave It All To Your Children beginning previews May 6 at the Actors Temple Theatre, 339 W. 47th Street. It's an intriguing cast for those who dig '70s TV, including Marcia Rodd and Steve Rossi of Allen and Rossi fame. The production opens officially on May 20; check out www.dontleaveitalltoyourchildren.com for more information…Finally, my extremely rare LP find of the month, if anyone has any memory of this show let me know: the cast album of the staged reading of Whispers on the Wind, book and lyrics by John B. Kuntz, music by Lor Crane, featuring Nancy Dussault, Karen Morrow and David Cryer. Cerebral and haunting stuff…Okay gang. See you next time!
Tom Nondorf can be reached at tnondorf@playbill.com.
