prominent regional stages.  Among his most notable credits are his Tony Award®-nominated performance in Annie Get Your Gun opposite first Bernadette Peters, and then Susan Lucci and Reba McEntire; starring roles in Chicago, Guys and Dolls, 42nd Street, Carousel, and The Music Man; and a turn in David Mamet’s play Glengarry Glen Ross. 

Wopat received his second Tony nomination earlier this year as the father in the musical A Catered Affair.  Just days after that show closed, he returned to the New York company of Chicago, and has since gone out on the road in this Kander & Ebb crowd-pleaser.  Our correspondent Ben Pesner caught up with the 57-year-old Wopat by phone from his hotel in Raleigh, NC last week. 

Ben Pesner: Every time you return to Chicago, what do you do to make Billy Flynn come alive again?

Tom Wopat: I’ve been doing Billy such a long time that I don’t have to reinvent him.  I allow what I do to reflect what my cast mates are doing, especially Roxie and Amos.  And the songs are self-contained. Over the years, I’ve gone through a couple phases of how to sing them, which reflects what I’m doing at the time. I just finished a new record called “Consider it Swung,” which has a combination of standards, pop tunes and original songs. So when I get out there and sing “All I Care About is Love,” all of a sudden I’m singing it with a different style: a little less kitschy in the musical-comedy sense, and instead using it a little more as a vehicle for a jazz expression.  It’s subtle stuff—how long you hold a note, how long you go without vibrato, how much straight tone you use. These things are stuff that keeps me interested. It’s like a mechanic tinkering with a motor. I do a little nudge here, a little tune-up there.  It’s a lot of fun that way.

What is your favorite part about being on the road?  Or your least favorite part?

The road is tough. My wife’s not here and my cats aren’t here and my kids aren’t here—not necessarily in that order! The hard part is staying in different hotels all the time. What I do to alleviate that is to stay in [hotels] that have kitchens.  I’ll cook for the cast on occasion, and I’ll make a big portion of chili or chocolate chip cookies from scratch just to keep myself entertained during the day.

The best part about [touring] is the work itself. The high point of my day is when I’m onstage. I have a feeling—or at least I’ve deluded myself into thinking—that I know what I’m doing, and it seems like people enjoy what I do. The other cast members feed off what I would like to think is my enthusiasm, and my commitment to bringing my A-game to the stage every

night, and not just going through the motions.  There were times when it was a real pain in the a** to be onstage, but these days I really, really, appreciate it.

Has there been a city that was an unexpected delight for you?

We played Charlotte, N.C. a month ago. It’s a delightful little city. We’re going to Calgary, Alberta, at the end of December.  A lot of people would say, “Calgary in December is not my idea of a great place!” But you’re two hours from Banff and Lake Louise, and Calgary itself has kind of a frontier mentality. I enjoy the different cities for the different things that they bring.  For example, when we got to Raleigh yesterday, I stopped on the way from the airport at a barbeque joint on the west side of town that I knew from being here two years ago while doing The Music Man.  I bought a couple pounds of pork and brought it to the hotel. It’s stuff like that: trying to find things that are unique about a place and enjoying them for the little time you get there.

You work constantly.  When you move from project to project, how do you handle those quick transitions?

It comes fairly naturally to me. The glib answer I always used to give is that I have two characters—one’s urban and one’s rural. But now with Mamet and A Catered Affair, I’m mixing and matching and doing things that are more of a stretch. It’s one thing to say that I’ve been doing Chicago for five years. Actually, I also made a science fiction movie over in Thailand in 2006, made a movie with Kevin Bacon that’s going to be on HBO in February, then A Catered Affair, a couple of records, and my Harold Arlen tour—all since I started doing Chicago in 2004. So I’ve managed to keep some balls in the air. 

It’s too bad that A Catered Affair didn’t run longer.

I was disappointed that we didn’t have more of a life.  There are some problems with it, but it’s a really valid piece.

Your life changed about 30 years ago.  What happened?

I moved to New York in the fall of 1977. I got an agent, and I started working Off Broadway on a show called A Bistro Car on the CNR. That led to a show in D.C., The Robber Bridegroom.  While I was down there I got cast in I Love My Wife and made my Broadway debut. A CBS executive saw me Off Broadway, and she was involved in the casting of “The Dukes of Hazard.” All that happened because I was a new face, and because I was prepared. I knew what I was doing on stage was OK.  Television was a complete surprise and a lot of hard work, especially at first, learning the different craft involved.  So 1978 was a big year.  It’s when I arrived, it’s when I hit the scene and the scene hit back.

In addition to your stage work, you have made a lot of CDs.

I had a long career doing country tunes and country records, but I was never really working with the quality of material and musicians as I am now in jazz. The ironic thing is I’ve sold a lot more records in the country business. But the fact of the matter is I am

now hooked up with the best musicians in the world to make jazz records.  I’m very, very, very fortunate.

Is there a role that you’ve always wanted to play, that you’re still holding out for?

[sings] “Don Giovanni!” Actually, I’ve been asked by a few people, especially when I was doing A Catered Affair, if I’d ever done opera. That’s just beyond the pale for me, I think.  I’ve always wanted to play Sweeney.  When Mr. [John] Doyle was getting ready to direct Sweeney Todd on Broadway, I knew they were going to use Michael Cerveris. I told my agent, “I just want to get in the room, to sing and act for [Doyle and Sondheim].” I wasn’t in the running, but it’s such a dream part. I did it in summer stock and it was a pretty good fit.

How are you spending the holidays this year, seeing as you’re on the road?

We have two weeks off over Christmas, so I’m going to be spending it with my wife.

Is there anything you’d like to add?

I know that times are tough economically, but people seem to keep supporting the arts. I want the fans out there to know that the performers really appreciate them and realize that we wouldn’t be here without them.

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