By Tom Nondorf
01 May 2007

RETURN OF THE MATT
The All-American Road Trip has been the source material for many a film, but precious few musicals. The Atlantic Theater Company hits the road, so to speak, in a beat-up pick-up truck beginning May 11 when their new off-Broadway musical 10 Million Miles starts previews at the Linda Gross Theater. We caught up with Matthew Morrison, who'll star opposite Irene Molloy in the show that features songs by the wonderful Patty Griffin. Morrison's last musical turn on Broadway netted him a Tony nomination in A Light in the Piazza. Prior to that, he was the original Link Larkin in Hairspray.

Q: Can you give a sense of what 10 Million Miles is like?
Matthew Morrison: The way I feel like I can describe it is this musical is like the independent film of musicals. It's really raw and really honest. There are no flashy musical numbers to hide behind, and I feel like we're touching on issues that aren't commonplace in musical theatre. It is exciting to be in a musical but not be an overly animated person. [In] a lot of musicals, the couple gets together towards the end of the play, and they get married or something. Our love story starts from lights up, and we go through a lot of [stuff]. You really get to pick sides as to who you are rooting for.

Question: How'd you get involved in the show?
Morrison: I was looking for something to come back to that would be exciting and challenging, and this was definitely it. It is so nice to be in a rehearsal room, really getting to work with actors, instead of going on set and seeing what happens in a TV gig.

Q: Is it fun working with such a small cast?
Morrison: Yeah! Especially because we get along so well. There are only four of us, so it's kind of like the bonds get tighter, and it's exciting.

Q: Do you feel pressure being one of so few onstage?
Morrison: I do in a sense! This is also the first part I've done where I don't have anything to fall back on. Sometimes I've been the lead in shows, but more often secondary leads, so this is about me and this girl, and we're kind of running the whole show.

Q: What can one expect from Patty Griffin's songs?
Morrison: The music really stands on its own in this show. I mean, Keith Bunin wrote a great book for it. I was never a big Patty Griffin fan — I'd never actually heard of her before I did the first reading of this musical last year, and we all went as a cast last week to see her perform at the Beacon Theater, and it was just so inspiring. Her lyrics are just out of this world, and it is just really honest and truthful and real. It's a different kind of thing for me too because I never really sang kind of "folk" before, so I always enjoy going off. I had to learn how to sing opera, kind of, for A Light in the Piazza. So this is another cool thing to try.

Q: What about your co-star, Irene Molloy?
Morrison: She is going to blow everyone's socks off. She is so talented. I didn't know her before this, but my agent was like, "Oh my gosh, you should have seen this girl in The Civil War." She's really, really talented. She's been away from theatre for awhile doing her own music. This is right up her alley, and Mare [Winningham, who plays The Women] — working with her is fantastic. And Skipp [Sudduth, who plays The Men]. I'm very lucky, very lucky.

Q: Have you ever gone on a road trip?
Morrison: Just a couple years ago I took a road trip with my dad. I was going to L.A., and he just decided to come to New York. It was right after I did Hairspray, and we rented a car here and just went the southern route. We went through New Orleans before everything happened there with Katrina. It was a great bonding experience. It's also that thing where you can talk to someone, but you don't really have to look at them. There's something about that. You start saying a lot of stuff.

Q: What drew you to the acting profession?
Morrison: I went to Arizona for a summer in fifth grade. My aunt and my grandma kind of didn't want to deal with me and my cousin for the summer, so they threw us in this little children's theatre production, and I ended up loving it and had a good time and came home to southern California and told my parents I wanted to do more of it. I always wanted to be a soccer player when I was growing up. That was going to be what I was going to do.

Q: There's still time!
Morrison: No, I don't think so. [Laughs.] Oh man, I've kind of given up on that idea. I played with a lot of the guys who are on the Olympic team right now, so it is exciting to watch them and think where I could have been right now. I'm happy with the choice I've made though.

Q: Are you the sort of actor who takes roles as they come or looks to build a career?
Morrison: I completely am all about building a career. I started out as a chorus boy, a dancer. And then Hairspray was kind of my big break, and I had a lot of opportunities afterwards to do replacements and everything, but I'm really all about originating new works. There's nothing more exciting. If there was ever a financial problem where I was really struggling, I might consider replacing someone in a show, but right now I'm just having so much freedom and growth as an actor being able to become this character with no one to hold my hand into it and just explore it all on my own.

Q: How was the Piazza Tony experience? Completely surreal?
Morrison: It was really surreal. It was always a goal of mine to be nominated. Actually, it is always a goal of mine, and has been, to win a Tony. I'm really actually happy I didn't win because I felt like it would have come too easily. I still have that hunger and that drive to really feel like I have to prove myself.

[10 Million Miles will begin previews at the Atlantic Theater Company at The Linda Gross Theater, 336 W. 20th Street, May 11. For tickets visit www.atlantictheater.com.]

HITHER AND YON
Cellist to the Broadway stars, Peter Sachon, currently in the orchestra of Legally Blonde, has, over recent years, commissioned the work of dozens of Broadway composers, challenging them to write songs specifically for the cello. Further results of this fresh idea can be heard at Sachon's Cello Project III on May 17 at 7 PM at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Peter Norton Symphony Space (2537 Broadway at 95th Street). Cello Projects I and II featured pieces by Stephen Flaherty, Michael John La Chiusa, and Stephen Schwartz. CP III features works by Schwartz, Michael Arden, Maury Yeston and others. . . . Christopher Scott, who once played The Boy in over 1,000 performances of The Fantasticks, is directing Sprang Thang for Amas Musical Theatre Academy at the Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street from May 11-20. . . . Peter Gallagher is heading back to the OC: The Ol' Cabaret, from May 15-June 2 at Feinstein's at the Regency. See www.feinsteinsattheregency.com for more information. . . . Kudos to one of the great voices and a guy who knows how to sell a showtune, Jack Jones, celebrating 50 years in show business this year. He was honored in southern California on April 16 for his contributions on behalf of multiple sclerosis (www.jackjones.org).

Tom Nondorf is a publications editor for Playbill Classic Arts. He can be reached by e-mail at tnondorf@playbill.com.