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THE LEADING MEN: The Three B's — Boheme, Bogart and 'Blue's Clues'
By Wayman Wong
01 Jan 2003
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David Miller.
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Tenors, anyone? How about baritones and basses? Welcome to "The Leading Men," a new monthly column that's devoted to the male musical stars of Broadway and cabaret.
We'll be offering interviews, previews and reviews of their shows and CDs. This month, we run the gamut from fresh faces (like David Miller from La Boheme and cabaret's Justin Daniel) to polished young pros (like Matt Bogart, one of Aida's recent Radames). And, we'll include a handful of our highlights from 2002 and a peek at upcoming performances in 2003.
IT'S MILLER TIME
Baz Luhrmann's romantic and rhapsodic production of Giacomo Puccini's La Boheme has set the tenor for reinventing opera for Broadway. And speaking of tenors, David Miller took center stage at the show's Dec. 8 opening night as Rodolfo (a role he rotates with Alfred Boe and Jesus Garcia at the Broadway Theatre). There, he performed before a celebrity-studded crowd that included Sandra Bullock, Leonardo DiCaprio and Hugh Grant. Blessed with movie-star looks himself, the 6-foot-3 American has been called the "stud tenor" by the San Francisco Examiner.
More importantly, Miller plays the impoverished writer Rodolfo with a rich, vibrant voice. His control and technique are breathtaking, and his acting is just as impassioned. The 29-year-old tenor has sung opera across America, from Portland to Pittsburgh, and even played Tony in West Side Story at La Scala in Milan, Italy. Onstage and off, he revels in taking risks. For instance, his hobbies include snowboarding and riding motorcycles. We caught up with Miller to see what makes him tick . . . and talk.
Question: You're an American tenor making his Broadway debut singing Italian opera opposite a glamorous Russian soprano (Ekaterina Solovyeva) in a production directed by an Australian (Luhrmann). Has the reality of it all sunk in?
David Miller: Yeah, it's been a whirlwind. It's surreal. It's surpassed all my expectations. Two years ago, when auditions first started, I thought, "Broadway opera? What the hell is this?" But I also thought, "This could be really cool!" Personally, I didn't discover opera until college [Oberlin Conservatory of Music]. Omigod! In the 17th and 18th centuries, this art form produced the rock stars of their day, and now it's become this tradition of stereotypes of large people screaming their guts out. This [Boheme] was an amazing chance to bring some youth and vitality to it.
Q: Over 2,000 singers tried out for it, and you auditioned 5 times before you got to meet Luhrmann. What was that like?
Miller: Incredible. Baz approaches everything from the standpoint of truth. Baz strips away all the "opera acting," all the Italian, and gets to the words and what you're trying to convey. To Baz, the voice is the last layer of the performance, not the first — unlike opera, where the emphasis is on the voice, and if you can act, it's a bonus. But Baz believes, as I do, that you have to connect with what you're singing and the other people onstage. If you want pure vocal tone, go to a recital. What's the difference between going to an opera and a recital? The drama.
Q: To play up that drama and make it more accessible, Luhrmann has cast Boheme with young, good-looking leads and reset it in the 1950's. It's very sexy.
Miller: Yes, but the show is sexy. It's about a bunch of kids who fall in love in Paris. What could be sexier? It's all in the libretto. But in most opera companies, you have only two weeks to rehearse and limited tech and orchestra time. Here, we rehearsed for two months and explored the text before we even went into the theatre.
Q: One factor that has generated some feedback among opera purists is the miking, even though it's pretty subtle. What do you think?
Miller: The miking in this show is not for amplification. Acoustically, the Broadway Theatre is not good. When Miss Saigon played it, they lined the walls with velvet to dampen all the sound. Without the mikes, we'd feel like we're singing into a pillow. We'd oversing and hurt our voices. Thanks to technology, we get a reverb effect, as in an opera house, so I'm singing just as I would at Detroit, Sydney or anywhere else.
Q: What's it like to work with your Mimi?
Miller: Katya's great. She really looks you in the eye. Baz says, "Acting is not what you convey. Acting is what you draw out of other people." And she's got incredible presence, just like Greta Garbo. She's such a movie star.
Q: Is there any friendly rivalry among the three rotating casts of Rodolfos and Mimis?
Miller: None. I consider Alfred one of my best friends. And Jesus and I hang out all the time. We went to see Joey Fatone in Rent, and I didn't even know it was based on Boheme. It was terrific. Anyway, we're one big family.
Q: Maybe the six of you should do a sitcom called "Opera Friends."
Miller: [Laughs.] But seriously the cast rotation keeps it fresh and interesting for everyone. I couldn't imagine being in a single cast of, say, Cats, and doing it for ten years or whatever. I'd want someone to claw my eyeballs out. But every time I do Boheme, I always find something new.
Q: So where are you from, and how did you get started?
Miller: I was born in San Diego, but I grew up in Littleton, Colorado. In high school, I got roped into musicals because they needed guys. I played Rooster in Annie and Noah in Two by Two. My voice teacher recommended that I study with Richard Miller (no relation) at Oberlin. And the show that inspired me to sing opera was Boheme. My roommate put on a recording of [Luciano] Pavarotti and [Mirella] Freni. Wow! I thought, "I wanna sing that high C and hold it twice as long." Even though there's so much pressure in opera, I decided to go for it because my dad always told me: "Better to shoot for the stars and miss, than shoot for a pile of cow s--- and be on target."
Q: Opera aside, what kind of music do you like to listen to?
Miller: Opera is what I do, but it's not what I am. I don't listen to it when I'm home. I like hard rock, alternative bands, techno. Korn, Third Eye Blind, System of a Down. One of my hobbies is deejaying, and I even got to deejay for the opening-night party [of Boheme]. I actually was more nervous about that than singing that evening.
Q: Finally, what's next for you?
Miller: I'm signed to do Boheme until July, and we're negotiating an extension, but I'm off in April to do a world premiere of an opera at La Scala. It's Marco Tutino's Vita [based on Margaret Edson's Wit]. Meantime, it feels as if everything I've done has prepared me for this Boheme. It's a show I absolutely adore.
GOING FOR THE RECORD
Once you hear the new CD by Matt Bogart, you'll want to play it again . . . and again. Entitled "Simple Song," it's a thrillingly theatrical showcase for his charismatic and commanding baritone. Produced by John Yap and lushly orchestrated, this handsome CD is literally a record of Bogart's Broadway credits, such as Miss Saigon ("Why God, Why?"), The Civil War ("Tell My Father") and Aida (in which he sings "Elaborate Lives" with the entrancing LaChanze).
He is also joined by his brother Daniel Bogart, and they belt the beautiful "If You Still Love Me" from Martin Guerre. What's more, his girlfriend, Jessica Boevers (who plays Ado Annie in Oklahoma!), accompanies him on an adorable duet of Rodgers & Hart's "I Could Write a Book." Bogart, who first met Boevers at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music, says, "We didn't start dating until four years ago, so this is kind of our song. It's about 'how to make two lovers of friends.'" Continued...
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