By Wayman Wong LISTEN TO THIS HUNK
Friedman's life-affirming anthems, which include "We Live on Borrowed Time" and the show's title tune, strike an emotional chord for Hunsaker: "They're beautiful and every single song is melodic. They all come from David's soul, and they're so inspirational." Friedman says, "He performs with such feeling." And he adds with a wink, "Michael looks and sings the way I think I look if I don't look in the mirror."
Hunsaker's credits include Younger Brother in the national tour of Ragtime and Tony, opposite Marla Schaffel's Maria, in West Side Story at Theater by the Sea in Matunuck, R.I., just before she starred on Broadway in Jane Eyre ("She's amazing and she was robbed of the Tony"). He also did a workshop of Ed Dixon's Fanny Hill with Kristin Chenoweth at Paper Mill in Millburn, N.J. ("I played this strapping stable boy and I got to make out with her. She's hilarious!").
At 28, Hunsaker knows the score, and as a composer, has written a few himself. He has collaborated with book writer-lyricist Leslie Becker on Fetching Water, a new musical about what happens when Jack & Jill meet Dick and Jane. It just played at the Human Race Theatre Company in Dayton, Ohio, with Max Von Essen, and it'll get a reading at the York Theatre this season. The Transport Group will produce it in March.
01 Nov 2003
It's no accident that you can find the word "hunk" in Michael Hunsaker's last name. With his wonderfully fit physique and powerful pipes, this 6 foot-2 actor was born to play the leading man in musicals. Hunsaker is now starring in Listen to My Heart, the new Off-Broadway revue of David Friedman's songs, which includes the astonishing Alix Korey and the show's incredible composer. There, this gifted tenor has a rollicking frolic with Anne Runolfsson on top of a piano during "Two Different Worlds." And the audience embraces him when he belts the stirring ballad "I Can Hold You."
For more info about Hunsaker, visit www.listentomyheartsite.com.
A TENOR WHO RATES A '10'
Tom Andersen has a sweet, soaring voice that's as golden as Fort Knox, but you don't have to take my word as his biggest booster and buddy. Time Out New York calls this good-looking tenor "simply the finest male vocalist in town," and he has won five MAC Awards for his singing, songwriting and recording. He has played Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, and after Stephen Sondheim heard him sing "Anyone Can Whistle" at Weill Recital Hall, the composer told him: "You were terrific and you made me cry!"
Betty Buckley also has raved that Andersen is "a great singer who can sing everything," and if you need any proof, it's on "Who Knows?," his exciting new CD that combines pop, country and swing. It features "Ghost in This House," a hauntingly beautiful song by Hugh Prestwood, who's written hits for Trisha Yearwood and Randy Travis; a toe-tapping swing treatment of "A Lovely Night" from Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, and a shattering rendition of the Patsy Cline classic "I Fall to Pieces." Plus, "Who Knows?" includes four of Andersen's finest originals (co-written with Tim DiPasqua and Ian Herman), such as "Another Tuesday" and "Then Again." The 5-foot-11 singer from Arlington Heights, Ill., says, "I've always loved all kinds of music: country, showtunes, pop, rock. A good song is a good song no matter where it comes from."
Andersen, 43, grew up a nice Catholic boy who met a future Broadway star while doing community theatre: "Karen Mason and I were in the WASP-iest production ever of Fiddler on the Roof. She was phenomenal even at 18. She played Golde, and I was second villager to the left." They also did Oliver! together, and Mason jokes, "It was ground-breaking. Tom was Oliver, and I was Nancy. You do the math!" At 17, he sang at the local Great America theme park, where he befriended yet another "fantastic" future Broadway star: Liz Callaway. Then, he went to San Francisco to headline in Beach Blanket Babylon and became "a minor disco star" in 1984 with a tune called "Rock Dancing": "My producer didn't think Tom Andersen sounded sexy enough, so he changed my name to Tom Granite! Doesn't that sound Flintstonian? Like Stony Curtis or Ann Marg-rock."
"San Francisco was a blast," he said, but a disease took its toll on the city in the 1980s. Andersen captured that indelible time in his award-winning song, "Yard Sale," in which he meets a young man with AIDS who's selling his possessions. Ever so subtle, the song never even mentions the word "AIDS." It earned him a rave review in Billboard, and "Yard Sale" has been recorded and sung around the world. He says, "I had no idea how universal this song was, and I'm touched that it's reached so many people."
Between his music and his homespun humor, Andersen has really found his voice as an all-around entertainer: "Songwriting is introspective and quiet, and singing is public, but a song doesn't really exist until it's sung, so I'm lucky I can do both!"
For more information, visit www.tomandersen.com.
WHERE THE GUYS ARE
There's so much to see in New York: Holy cow! Chad Kimball was an udder delight as Milky White in Into the Woods, and now he's bringing back his Bistro Award-winning cabaret act on Nov. 2 at 7 PM at Joe's Pub, 425 Lafayette St. (212-539-8778). Wait'll you hear his hilarious lounge version of Stephen Sondheim's "Giants in the Sky." It's genius! … Steven Ray Watkins, who also has made a dazzling solo debut, performs Nov. 3 at 7 PM at Mama Rose's, 219 Second Ave. (212-533-0558). This sunny singer-songwriter can light up any room with his smile and his style. … Newcomer Tom Grounds will bring his critically acclaimed show and CD, "Something That I Wanted You to Know," Nov. 18 and 25 at 7 PM to The Duplex, 61 Christopher St. (212 255-5438), and Nov. 22 and 23 at 4 PM to Mama Rose's. … Shaun Rennie, the latest boy from "Oz," hopes to shine brightly as the "Second Star to the Right" Nov. 2 at 2 PM, Nov. 19 at 9:15 PM and Nov. 30 at 8:45 PM at Danny's, 346 W. 46th St. (212-265-8133). … And another Aussie, the charismatic Kane Alexander, will return to N.Y. cabaret like a boomerang, Nov. 2 and 3 at 9 PM at the Algonquin, 59 W. 44th St. (212-840-6800).
Topnotch tenor Bill Daugherty celebrates his CD, "Look to the Rainbow," at Barbara and Scott Siegel's "Picks of the Month" series on Nov. 2 at 7 PM at Dillon's, 254 W. 54th St. (212-307 9797). He'll share the bill with Karen Oberlin ("Secret Love" CD) there and Fridays at 6:30 PM through November, he'll share the stage with Connie Pachl at Don't Tell Mama, 343 W. 46th St. (212-757 0788). Speaking of "Rainbows," Jonathan Frank adds "Mama, a Rainbow" to his act Nov. 5, 12 and 19 at 9 PM at The Duplex. Called "Some Kind of Music," it's some kind of show. This lovely, light baritone does an especially stellar job with Janis Ian's "Stars." … Also returning to The Duplex is the marvelous Marcus Simeone, whose angelic tenor is heavenly to behold. This 2003 Bistro winner opens his show, "Cat on a Leash," Nov. 6, 7, 13 and 14 at 7 PM
Congrats to Jason Robert Brown, who married his "personal Aphrodite," Georgia Stitt, on Oct. 19. Also wedded to his work, he'll star in a concert version of The Last Five Years, with Lauren Kennedy, on Nov. 8 at 7:30 PM at Cooper Union, 7th St. at Third Ave. (212-279-4200). … Finally, for a good time and a good cause, catch "Making Miracles!," a benefit for Miracle House, Nov. 17 at 7:30 PM at Branch, 226 E. 54th St. It'll star Tom Andersen, Terry Burrell, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, George Dvorsky, Eddie Korbich, Alix Korey, Karen Mason and Phillip Officer. Miracle House provides housing to caregivers of people with AIDS and cancer. (212) 989-7790 or www.miraclehouse.org.
Got comments or questions? E-mail me at waymanwong@hotmail.com.
Until next month, let's hear it for the "boys"!
Wayman Wong edits entertainment for the New York Daily News. He has been a movie and theater critic for the San Francisco Examiner, a writer for The Sondheim Review and a Drama-Logue Award-winning playwright.
