Broadway? It’s just a normal job to me

May 2 2008 by Karen Price, Western Mail

Double Olivier Award-winning actor Daniel Evans has spent the last few months in New York playing the demanding leading role in Sunday In The Park With George. He allows Karen Price to take a peek inside his Broadway diaries

December 8, 2007

I arrive in New York ready to rehearse for the Broadway production of Sunday In The Park With George. While we were in the West End, there was always a little rumour that we were going to Broadway but it’s so difficult for British actors to come over (to America) because of the Equity rules. But the offer came through in February 2007, about a week after we won five Olivier awards (including Best Actor in a Musical for Evans). By then, the West End production had already closed. When we reach New York, it’s a beautiful day. My apartment has been sorted out for me and I’m really quite nervous about where they’ve put me up as where you’re going to be living is really important. But it’s amazing. It’s on the 44th floor and faces south so you can see the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. When I get inside I almost cry as it’s so lovely – as you come through the door you can see the view. I think, ‘This is perfect.’ Jenna Russell, who plays Dot, is in the same building but on the 29th floor. I have a rest and a few hours later I head to Broadway to Studio 54, the theatre where we will be performing, to see The Ritz.

December 10, 2007

Today Jenna and I are doing a photoshoot for Vogue. The studio is in the Meatpacking District which is right where they filmed Sex And The City. We have to wear costume as it’s a piece about the show and is due to be published in February to coincide with the opening. Photoshoots are part of the job but this one is particularly good fun. How often do you get to do a photoshoot for Vogue? It’s surreal – we can’t believe we’re in New York and we’re doing a photoshoot for Vogue. We have to keep pinching ourselves.

December 18, 2007

After a week of settling in, sightseeing and seeing six Broadway plays, it’s time to start rehearsals in a studio on 45th Street, just off Times Square. While it’s the same production team as in the West End, apart from Jenna and me there’s a new American cast so it’s really nerve-wracking meeting them all. There are about 60 people there, including Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine (who created the show), whom I’ve met before, and lots of rich people who have given money to the theatre company because they’re fans of Sondheim. Today we rehearse the music. It’s been 18 months since I last did the production and I’ve purposely left it alone as I know we will have a full rehearsal period.

Boxing Day 2007

While they celebrate Christmas here, Boxing Day isn’t a public holiday so it’s straight back into rehearsals after just two days off. Jenna and I spent Christmas Day walking through Central Park and enjoying a meal in a restaurant in the evening. It was bizarre not spending Christmas with my family in Wales but we had a really lovely day.

January 15, 2008

We move to Studio 54 to start the technical rehearsals. It’s a great theatre with a rich history. It started out as an opera house and then it was a nightclub – Bianca Jagger rode a horse inside it. It has a really beautiful auditorium and, with 1,006 seats, it’s the biggest space we’ve played – the Menier Chocolate Factory, where this production originally started life, had just 150 seats.

January 25, 2008

Tonight is really special as we start previewing the show. On Broadway you have a month of previews whereas in the West End you only have about six previews. The audience goes absolutely ballistic – it’s a bit like a rock concert as the applause after each song seems to last forever. I’m terrified before going on stage but you have got to just think about the job and get on with it. When it comes to the critics, they don’t all come on the same night like in London – they spread out the press tickets throughout a week. Even though it means you are under pressure for a week, there’s not that huge feeling of pressure on one night.

February 21, 2008

It’s the opening night and I’m feeling less nervous as I’ve already been doing it for a month. I receive lots of cards from back home which cover my dressing room wall and I receive supportive text messages too. My parents, Val and Gwyn, have come over from Wales for the opening night and I’ve got lots of friends from New York here. I think my parents are overwhelmed by it and they feel nervous for me. They are staying with me for a week and once opening night is out of the way I can spend some time with them.

April 23, 2008

It’s been two months now since opening night and the run has been extended three times. We are now booking until June 29. It’s also the day after my latest Open University exam in Philosophy so I don’t have to worry about revising any more. Yesterday I went to Colombia University to sit the exam. I haven’t done anything apart from work and read books so I can relax now. As far as the show is concerned, a number of famous faces have been to see it, including Lauren Bacall, Barry Manilow, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Steven Spielberg. I don’t like to know if there’s a celebrity in the audience. Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters, who played George and Dot in the original production, came to see the show separately. One night I was in my dressing room just after a performance when there was a knock at the door and it was Mandy Patinkin. I nearly fainted! He was really gracious and very nice. He was also very emotional – he had never seen the show before as he had obviously been in it. I can only imagine what it must have been like for him. When you create a role you can feel very territorial about it but he was really generous. Although I’m enjoying New York, I really miss my flat in London and the fact there’s a five-hour time difference and the cost means you can’t just pick up the phone for a chat with your friends and family. But I’m just trying to really enjoy this whole experience and take it all in.

Rhondda Boy On Broadway is on BBC2 Wales and 2W on Monday at 7pm

A long journey from Rhondda

RHONDDA-born Daniel Evans, aged 34, always wanted to be an actor.

He won the Richard Burton Memorial Prize at the National Eisteddfod aged 17 and went on to work alongside Ioan Gruffudd in the BBC’s Great Expectations.

He has performed in experimental dramas such as Sarah Kane’s Tinker as well as Royal Shakespeare Company productions.

Television performances have included cameos in Dalziel and Pascoe and Midsomer Murders.

Sunday In The Park With George was inspired by the painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat.

With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim it is a complex production which sees a fictionalised Seurat immersed in concentration while painting the masterpiece.

The production received its UK premiere at London’s Royal National Theatre in March and ran for 117 performances before it was revived at the intimate Menier Chocolate Factory in 2005 with Daniel Evans in the leading role before transferring to the West End.

It won a clutch of trophies at the 2007 Laurence Olivier awards, including a second Best Actor In A Musical gong for Evans and Best Actress In A Musical for Jenna Russell, who starred as Dot.

In January the pair moved on to Broadway for the New York revival with an American cast.

Welsh offerings in New York

IAN Rowlands’ harrowing play Blink is being taken to New York by Cardiff-based FAB Theatre.

And extracts from a new opera focusing on the relationship between Dylan and Caitlin Thomas will also be premiered in the Big Apple.

Blink will be part of the Brits off Broadway Festival at 59East59 Theaters. There will be eight performances of the play from May 21 to June 8.

The company has received many donations to help fund the New York project and among those who have helped out are Cardiff-born actor Matthew Rhys who is starring in the hit US TV show Brothers & Sisters.

The initial inspiration for Blink, directed by Steve Fisher, was the events surrounding the Clywch inquiry – a report into the systematic abuse of children at a Welsh language comprehensive during the 80s.

Though based on tragic events, it is a warm-hearted and comic drama which deals with father figures and family life.

Rowlands’ fast-paced drama is about the prodigal son who comes back to Wales.

The writer, who is originally from Rhondda but now lives in Carmarthen, says: “Blink tumbled out, almost fully formed, as if it had been seeking life for some time; a play that needed to be written, a statement I needed to make.”

The new opera, Dylan And Caitlin, was penned by Gwynne Edwards, who is behind the plays Dylan Thomas In America and Dylan Thomas In London.

New York City Opera launched a competition to find new work and the 10 pieces which impressed the company most will be showcased at the Skirball Center over two days.

Edwards, who lives in Aberystwyth and is a former Professor of Spanish, will attend the Dylan And Caitlin performance on May 11.

He was initially contacted by composer Robert Manno in September 2006 and they agreed to work on an opera together. Edwards delivered the libretto by February 2007.

“The opera’s divided into two acts – the first is set in Laugharne and the second in New York. They are both based in the last month of Dylan Thomas’ life.”

While Manno is now working to complete the score, Edwards says he hopes the opera will be finished in 2009 and he would love to see a future production from Welsh National Opera.