Pop Culturalist Chats with Michael Wartella

Michael Wartella is currently endearing himself to audiences as the doggedly determined detective-to-be, Hugo, in the sweet new musical, Tuck Everlasting. He has had his share of theater experiences across the country–performing at regional theaters and as a Boq in the national tour of Wicked. As one of the few cast members that has been with Tuck since it’s workshop days, Pop Culturalist was excited to chat with him about that process, what he’s learned so far in his career, and why he’d love to play a bully on stage.

Tuck Everlasting Questions

PC: Were you familiar with the book, Tuck Everlasting, before you got involved with the show?
Mike: I was, actually. Did you see it? I can’t remember.

PC: Yes! I did see it. The production was beautiful. I will say Hugo was one of my favorite characters.
Mike: Thank you. I appreciate it. That’s sweet. I was familiar with it. First of all, I was one of those kids who read it in the sixth grade as required reading. I remember that. I also remember a movie version that was not the Disney movie, but like an old seventies weird movie they made of it, that I loved. I was pretty familiar with it. I definitely had to re-familiarize myself with it when we got into the workshop phases of it and rediscover just how beautiful it is and everything. That was great. I sort of had to leave some of that when I got on stage. You can only take so much of it, I would say.

PC: Definitely. That kind of leads into the next part. Doing an adaptation, that obviously has its pluses and minuses. Do you think that kind of helped you, being familiar with it a little bit? Do you think that was a hurdle you had to get over, despite it being such a great story.
Mike: I’ve dealt with this a lot. I think it’s a very common thing as an actor to do a play or a musical that is based on a book. Everything from like Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, to Wicked. You know what I mean? It’s a common problem. I would say, the good news of this situation with that our musical is actually very, very close in style to the book. It wasn’t a far departure. I think, as a general rule of thumb, you take every bit of research material as research. Then, what you end up doing is focusing on the script in front of you, which is the story itself. For me, it was a pretty lucky, easy thing because my character is not in the book. [The author] invented him completely for the musical. That was sort of easy, because for me, it’s always about how they describe a character in the book, and whether I’m close to that or not. In this, it was just total free range to do whatever I wanted to. In essence, I do think it was helpful. I felt like we all sort of knew the style going into the piece. That was very much dictated from the book.

PC: How did you get into the show? Was it something that you heard about and you actually wanted to get into, or were you approached with the opportunity?
Mike: It was pretty random. It really was kind of your standard audition situation. The first ever reading they did of the show was seven years ago. They did one a one week-long table read of it. They had called me in for an audition for that. I didn’t know the project was on the table, in the works, any of that stuff. I didn’t even really know who was attached to it. I don’t think I remember that Casey [Casey Nicholaw, the director] was attached to it until I saw him in the room. My part, at that point, was so much smaller. He didn’t even have a song in the show. They said, “Bring something to sing from your book”; I had one page of material from the show. It literally had four lines on it. I remember also–it’s kind of the luck of how this works–I had like five other auditions that week for other shows, including one or two that I really, really wanted and was in call backs for and thought I was up for. Of course, none of those happened. This one that I almost thought of as an afterthought, was the one that I booked; probably because I was so relaxed. It was just your standard audition session. I ended up doing the first reading and lucked out to be one of those people who, they liked my work, and I stayed with it every single time. I think I’m one of the only three of us who have done every single rendition of this. I think it’s me, Andrew [Andrew Keenan-Bolger] and Carolee [Carolee Carmello].

PC: Working with it from the beginning, how has it been seeing it change, and develop, and being a part of that process?
Mike: It’s amazing! It’s really honestly, genuinely taught me so much about the whole thing. It has changed so drastically. I would say from table reading one, it’s at least 50% different. Half of the songs that were in that version were cut and replaced with new songs; story points. A good example is me and Fred Applegate, who plays the constable; we had no songs in the first one; we just had little tiny bits of scene work to try to forward the story. We had no really strong relationship. He was the one who leaned over to me at one point and said, “You know, we should really have a song.”; Then, he went to them and said, “We should really have a song!”; They wrote us something for the next rendition that turned out to be one of the eleven o’clock comedic numbers of the show. Even all six years leading up to Atlanta, which was our out-of- town tryout, and even in Atlanta, I didn’t have a song in the beginning of the show that introduced me at all. That was new for Broadway. That kind of completely changed things in terms of how people get on board with this character because they were dealing with the ballet and it not really paying off because no one was quite invested enough in me. Just that little 45 seconds of music to introduce me, kind of changed the whole game.

PC: So, was your introduction song something that everybody collectively, as the show developed, thought of and agreed on?
Mike: I actually think it was much more of a surprise than that for everyone. There was never any talk with me like, “We need to develop this more.” There was never any talk from my end about we need to develop this more. I was happy to stay out of the way and do my own piece of the puzzle. I think what happened was they got some feedback in Atlanta; from people, investors and things that said, “We’re not quite on board with Hugo. Maybe there’s a way to make him more”. To be honest, it’s sort of flattering as an actor because I’ve also done enough of these developmental things where, if you’re making something work, they might expand on it. If you’re not making something work, they will cut material from it. It was also proof that they were saying, “We like what this guy’s doing. We’re happy to have more of him on stage. We should develop this”. That’s always incredibly flattering and sweet. I guess that’s the answer to that.

PC: What is something that you’re hoping that audiences–adult and children–take away from the show?
Mike: I really think for me, it is kind of what the book intended and what the show hopefully intends. The big two things are that Natalie Babbitt wrote it, she said, because she wanted to open up this conversation about mortality and death with the young generation in an honest way and a real way, without pandering to them (and also not scaring them about it). It’s a tough subject to breach. At twelve years old, that’s often the age where you start to lose grandparents and dogs and things like that. It’s something you need to talk about. I think the show really, really does it well. I hope that people take that from it. On the adult side, what I really hope is cathartic about it is that, the way we sort of sum it up at the end with that ballet. We really deal with that question of mortality and what you do with your life. I hope that people take from that, that whatever they’re doing right now is worth doing. They should be present in it. If there’s more that they want to accomplish, then they should go out and achieve that, too. It helps you connect through the drudgery of life and say, "Everything’s okay. I’ve got my family. I’ve got my health. It’s beautiful.

PC: If Hugo had actually had had a drink from the spring and live forever, what do you think he would have done with his life?
Mike: Really good question! We had a version of the script I remember with the Tucks–I don’t think we have it anymore–where they talked about what they’re going to do with their immortality now and how they’re going to effect the world and change the world. I think Hugo, in essence, would do the same thing. I think he would probably become the world’s greatest detective; basically, be out there trying to help people all over the place solve crimes, solve mysteries and put bad guys away; almost like a superhero, in a sense. I can see him being a ninja and sort of slipping in and out of being incognito. That’d be my guess.

PC: That’s a good one; and, you, personally, what would you do?
Mike: I think, as a person, I’m very similar to Jesse Tuck that way. First of all, I’d just spend a whole lot of time experiencing every bit of adventure that life has to offer you. Then, I think throughout that, what I would do is quickly turn it around and try to help the world in every little possible way that I could; just get out there and just try to do as much good as possible.

PC: What in general is your favorite moment of the show; either one that you’re in or one that you’re not?
Mike: There’s a lot of moments that I’m not in, that I love. I love Terry’s “Everything’s Golden” number at the beginning of Act Two. I just think it’s one of those wonderful moments of performance. Personally, I love doing the ballet. It was something that I actually kind of hated in the beginning of the process because I’m not a dancer. They trained me for this production. It used to stress me out a lot because I would just be so focused on doing it right. Then, you get comfy in what you’re doing and you can take a breath. Now, it just becomes this beautiful, freeing moment of storytelling. Deanna is so much fun to work with. We play off each other really well. As a singer and an actor, I’m so used to going out and communicating in that way–worry about my high notes and making sure that the music is coming across on stuff. For this, just be able to move and not say a word, just tell the whole story by being in it with her, is so much fun. It’s something I’ve not really ever done in my career. It’s really cool.

Career Questions

PC: Having done the national tours of Wicked and worked on regional shows–what has it been like moving to Broadway and working in a theater in New York City?
Mike: It’s such a different experience. The only other Broadway show I had done before this was Wicked. Like a year ago after the tour, they moved me there for a while. It’s a different beast because when you’re on the road, you don’t live your normal life everyday. You kind of just hang out and explore and bond with your cast. All you have to do and worry about is focusing on the show at night. I’m also not going to lie about the fact that there’s an added pressure in New York versus at a regional theater. [In New York is] where people are paying attention, and you never know who’s going to drop by. There’s the reviewers, too. I think, for me, with this part of the journey, that was also different from Wicked on Broadway. I opened a brand new show in Tony season. You get to do all the things. You get to experience previews and trying to change something while Tony voters and theater reviewers are coming to watch you every night. The negative side to it is that it changes the work because it makes it more result-oriented. It makes, inevitably, this little underlying thing of all the actors and creative people just sort of trying to make sure we are successful. Whereas, when you work regionally and on the road, it’s a little bit more about what makes sense artistically. The positive side to [Broadway] is that it’s the top of the mountain. I have to pinch myself sometimes to be like, “Oh, my God, Michael Grey and Stephen Schwartz stopped by tonight”. As an actor that is what we’re working toward–surrounding yourself with everyone who’s better than you so you continue to rise to the same level. That’s what we’re doing here. I don’t worry about my props not being in order, or my quick changes not working out. Everything backstage and onstage is the most professional thing you can deal with. It makes things a lot freer to be able to really focus on the story of it, which is nice, you know?

PC: When you were touring regionally, did you have a favorite city or place?
Mike: I loved the [Wicked] tour. We had a lot of really nice spots that I discovered–that I would have never discovered before. Montreal was fantastic. I love Florida. I’m a sucker for Fort Lauderdale and Orlando. The one that I think surprised me was when I worked at a regional theater a few times, a few years ago in Denver. There’s a company out there, the Denver Center Theater Company, that I’ve worked with a bunch. I just loved it. I loved the city. I love the people. I love the theater company. I think it’s one of the best in the country that I’ve seen. I actually talked to them for a little while about maybe becoming more of a permanent company member with the theater for a while. That was right before things in New York picked up and I just inevitably said, “I’ve got to go do this other stuff instead”. It’s great out there. That’s one of my favorite place to work.

PC: Growing up, did you have a particular role model actor that you wanted to emulate–either their career or the roles they chose?
Mike: A little bit. I certainly was inspired. My parents were both actors growing up back home–just on the regional circuit and the amateur scene. My dad had done some stuff in New York on Broadway, but mostly he was working back home. My dad was definitely the biggest inspiration. He still, to this day, is one of the better actors I’ve ever seen work on stage. He was almost intimidating as a force on stage. He was that good and that committed and connected. He was kind of my biggest visceral inspiration. I was never really that guy that had a famous person that was like, “I want to be like them.” I definitely was influenced heavily by all the comedic greats like Robin Williams and Jim Carrey. I watched a lot of I Love Lucy when I was a kid. I’ve seen maybe every episode that ever was. I have a lot of that influence in my work. As I got older into my teenage years, and, sort of as an adult now, Terry Mann has always been one of my inspirations for sure.

PC: That’s amazing that you get to work with him now on Tuck. 
Mike: Yeah. It’s amazing to work with him. He continues to be on and off stage my biggest inspiration because he’s everything you’d expect an actor like that to be at his age where he’s just so committed and involved in the work. He gives everything he has to every moment. Also, offstage, he separates himself from it. He’s not wrapped up in his own ego. He’s not a diva. He’s completely concerned with his family and his kids and his wife. He just has such a balanced, wonderful life in that way. I hope that when I grow up…I hope I can be like that.

PC: Out of all the characters you’ve played, is there one that sticks out as one of your favorites?
Mike: That’s a good question. Yes…it’s really tough, actually.

PC: You can give your top three if you want.
Mike: Yeah. I think it’s three! I loved when I got to do the Rent revival a few years ago. I was in the ensemble which I loved. Then, I got to cover Mark and Angel. Getting to do Mark every time I’d go on was such a joy. It felt like such a good fit. It was so easy to do. It was one of those roles that I, in some ways, had been prepping for since I was fourteen. I knew all the material going in and just loved doing it. Also, Angel, at the same time, was an amazing challenge and thing to learn from because I had never ever done anything close to that kind of material. I had to train myself how to stand in high heels, and dance, and kick, and how to wear the makeup, and how to authentically portray that role that, to me, felt so far from who I was–which was amazing. It taught me a lot, and it opened up a lot of doors for me. Then, some others I remember, there’s these two in Denver. I go back to this all the time, but one of the reasons I love the Denver Center so much is that they are far enough removed from the New York scene that they literally aren’t really concerned about their shows transferring to Broadway or doing any of those things. They really just dive into, “Okay. What are we going to do for the next two months that’s really going to change the game for us artistically and be amazing?” We did a production of Midsummer out there where I was Puck, and I’d always wanted to play that role. They really just let me go wild with it, and I had so much fun climbing all over the set, improving off text, and doing all these modern monologues into the audience. It was a blast! We did one right before that called The Prayer for Owen Meany, based on the John Irving novel. The movie Simon Birch is based on that, too. I played Owen Meany over this three act play that just had numerous challenges that I had to carry. It was very early in my career. I was maybe 20-21 when I did it. My son was like three months old at the time when we went out there. I was not in New York. I was auditioning a lot. I was not getting any callbacks. I was not feeling confident in the room. I went out there. I did this play with them. They helped me to remember and rediscover what it is for me to truly be an actor and to just be about the work. Not only did we have a blast–it was an amazing show to do every night, and got great reviews–but then I came back to New York and instantly started getting callbacks all the time and booking jobs. I think it was almost a turning point in my career for me that I thank them for so much. It was great.

PC: How was it working when you have a three month old? I think you’d basically never sleep! 
Mike: Yeah. He’s seven years old now. It’s wild. It’s great. It changes the game a little bit. It certainly changes the reasons for wanting to do it. It becomes a little bit more like necessary–as opposed to just fun. It’s hard. I have a picture from that time of me, in bed, holding him in one arm and reading the John Irving novel in the other. I look exhausted. It was such a good example of juggling those two worlds. There’s a lot of parents, actually, in the [Tuck] cast. They’re always talking about the same stuff. They’re exhausted. They spent their whole day with their kid, and then they showed up at the theater. It,s a challenge, but it,s worth it. It also keeps everything balanced.

PC: Yeah, definitely. Has your son seen the show?
Mike: He hasn’t seen it yet. He’s seen Wicked a bunch of times. Presumably, if we’re still running, he’s going to come see it in the summer. I’m excited for it. He’s going to love it.

PC: You mentioned learning a lot about yourself and acting by playing Angel. Is there anything that you have learned playing Hugo/that Hugo has taught you?
Mike: That’s a good question! Yeah. I think the biggest thing it’s taught me, honestly, is how to trust material and relax. The scariest thing for me playing Hugo–that’s always been hard–is that I’m so much older than the character in real life. I’m so much more different than the character in real life. I often come out of the stage door and people don’t even know that it’s me. When they figure it out, they’re like, “Well, that’s quite a transformation!” I’m always in my earrings and my leather jacket. I’m like, “What’s up guys?” Then, I’m doing Hugo, and I’m like [sings]. I think what’s been hard for me about it–but really rewarding–is a reminder about continuously relaxing on stage and not pushing. And to being really committed to the truth of what’s happening and getting out of your head about, “Are people going to buy this? Is it going to be this and going to be that?” Really, ever since we’ve started this thing, I’ve just trusted it and done my work and tried to stay out of the way and really just tell my tiny little piece of the story. I really had anticipated that, honestly, no one was even going to even remember that I was in the show. When you would say, “Hugo,” they’d be like, “Who was that?” I was fully ready for that. It turned out to be, like, a lot of people have been like, “Oh, no! I love you! I love it when you stand out!” It’s a little bizarre. I think that’s a testament to me just doing the work–as opposed to me being like, “I want to make this something!” That was never my intention going in. It’s funny because you would think, after all those kudos, that maybe I’d just go out onstage every night just relaxed and like, “Yeah. I got this”. I still have to remind myself everyday, “Okay. Just go moment to moment”. There’s something about it that I fear still. It’s a big character. It’s young. It’s specific. I have to take a big leap of faith every night when I jump into it and just remember that it’s okay. I can trust it. That’s really helpful to learn.

PC: I think that makes sense. That probably helps you keep the character fresh every day.
Mike: That’s true. I am very comfy in it, but I never quite get to that last level of comfort where I’m like, “Okay. I don’t even have to worry about this.” There’s always a little bit of connection and focus when I’m onstage that’s probably really healthy.

PC: In playing Hugo, who’s obviously a comedic character, what are the challenges you have? Like in playing a comedic character versus playing something more serious?
Mike: There are challenges. I’ve always said, it’s ironic, but playing Mark in Rent was ten times easier than playing Hugo. Even though it’s like a lot more material and a lot harder and deeper. The less material you give someone, the harder it is to pull off, because every little moment has to mean something without it being a big moment to show off. Especially comedic-ally, I learned this all in school, but it’s really such a good reminder: he’s not a comedic character in my head. That’s the irony. You have to play it completely truthfully and completely honestly and not push it. The timing–they always talk about that comic timing–sometimes is very technical. Fred and I often have moments where when we say a line then we go “One, two…”, then, we say the next line. Also, at times, you find that timing by being really truthful about the moment and playing each moment. For me, Hugo is nervous and he’s scared. He’s working really hard. He’s really concerned about winning. I have a good show if I remember before I go on stage that I care about this girl, and I’m scared to death that she’s been kidnapped. She’s lost, and we don’t know where she is. If I play everything in the show from that spot, it works out and becomes very funny and all the things it needs to be. If I go out going, “Okay. I’m going to do my bits now.”, it loses everything all of a sudden.

PC: Yeah, because it loses that human connection part.
Mike: Right. I just said this to someone else. I think it’s really important as a comedic role. You kind have to do a very similar show, almost the same show, whether it’s going well or not. There are audiences that are going to respond to certain moments wildly and they’re going to respond to other moments with no reaction and vice versa. If you start to let that dictate too much, like how you play everything, it’s just a bad snowball. You know what I mean? Fred and I in our second act song, when we’re getting wild responses, we know what’s happening; we just go with it. Also, in those moments, half the shows we do get total crickets in those moments. We don’t go, “Oh, no! We got to push harder.”; we just go, “Okay. Move on to the next moment.” That’s a really fine line to tread. It’s a hard one.

PC: What is your dream stage role, if you have one?
Mike: The cliché answer that everyone gives–and I’m no different–is originating something that hasn’t been invented; one that is kind of built around you. I would love to do that. I’m also one of those guys who would love to do other roles that have been around already.

PC: Like what?
Mike: At this point, I would love to play a Hedwig or a Frankenfurter. The reality is, because of how I look and what I’ve done, people tend to see me in this business as Boq, Hugo, and things like that. There’s a huge part of my personality that I’ve not really gotten to express on stage which is edgier and darker and deeper and more wildly spun. I’m really excited for the next few years to try to do more of those if I can. The people who really know me know that that’s in my wheelhouse and where I really fit. Those kinds of roles would be great; anything sort of edgy and rock and roll and wild. I also would love to be the bully. I’d love to play on the facts that being so small often makes people have that Napoleon complex (where you think you’re bigger than you are); they pick on other people. Like the idea of playing Cousin Kevin in Tommy: taking out the fact that short guy gets bullied at school by his peers, so he picks on his 12-year old little cousin. You know what I mean? Being horribly evil and demonic. That would be fun to play, for sure.

PC: Outside of Tuck, do you have other projects currently in the works?
Mike: At the moment, there’s not a whole lot going on. There’s one that I’ve also been doing simultaneously the past few years that’s still working. There’s this new  project called Chasing Rainbows. It’s a new musical about Judy Garland’s life when she was younger. I play Mickey Rooney in that. That’s still sort of in the wheelhouse as being kind of young and cute, but, the reality is, what’s fun about it is that the real Mickey off camera was a total nut job. He was a ladies’s man, and he was a wild man. Those parts of his personality I very much connect with. It’s been fun in the musical to at least get to play someone who personality-wise is a lot closer to me and really lets me do what I do best and express freely whatever I get to do every night. I’m a little more like the Terrance Mann in that production because I can change it up every night. It works better when I’m really free and wild and make [my co-star] laugh in new ways. I’m hoping that that one keeps moving. It’s been a dream role so far.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Do you have anything in your music collection that would be surprising to people?
Mike: Surprising. Lets see. I love the Eagles. What else is in there that’s like… Probably not surprising in that sense. It’s all old-school stuff: Billy Joel, Elton John, 1970s, David Bowie…stuff like that. I’m not the guy who listens to Justin Bieber and the new kids–I don’t even know who they are. Musical theater and classic rock, basically.

PC: What is your favorite play or musical?
Mike: Play or musical? You said play and my head immediately went to The Normal Heart. I’m just in love with Joe Mantello and everything he does. He just blew me away in that production and it’s always stuck with me as something beyond the play, beyond the experience. It was a true visceral experience in the theater. Musical? Rent has always been huge for me. It always used to really invigorate me every night. I’m still not sick of it. I think it’s a classic.

PC: It definitely is. A favorite book?
Mike: Of Mice and Men is still one of my favorite books to read.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Mike: I love all the Christopher Guest ones–A Mighty Wind being my favorite because my parents are in the folk scene back home. It’s exactly like that!

PC: Amazing. Then, guilty pleasure TV show.
Mike: This one’s so embarrassing, but it’s true: The Office. It’s embarrassing because I have watched it so many times. The entire 13 seasons, I’ve seen at least three or four times. My roommates at this point are almost concerned when they come home, and I’m eating food and watching it. They’re like, “Dude! Are you serious?”. I’m like, “I think it’s a classic work of art and example of comedy. He’s a genius!”. I never get sick of it. It’s definitely my favorite.

PC: Do you have a preferred social media that you love going to?
Mike: A preferred social media? The truth is I’m not a huge fan of social media, as a whole. I think its cons outweigh its pros in terms of what it’s doing to art and society. At the end of the day, you have to sometimes jump on the bandwagon and with the rest of the world. In that sense, I like Instagram the best because I think its a good snapshot into someone’s life. It’s an easy way to do it without getting lost in the rants and raves. I like it.

 

Make sure to follow Mike on Twitter and Instagram!

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus