Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 29, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, July 6, 2012 Page: 18 of 36
thirty six pages : ill.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
'Pan'-o-rama
B'way veteran Brent Barrett brings chills to 'Peter
Pan' following his campy take on Hannibal Lector
ARNOLD WAYNE JONES I Life+Style Editor
jones@dallasvoice.com
Without becoming a household name, over the course of
an impressive three decad es, musical actor Brent Barrett
has shared the stage with many of our reigning divas.
Starting with Debbie Allen in his Broadway debut, the 1980 re-
vival of West Side Story, and through co-stars including Kristin
Chenoweth, Faith Prince, Rachel York, Charlotte D'Amboise,
Karen Ziemba, Sandy Duncan and Reba McEntire, he's racked up
a storied list of leading ladies.
So the natural question is: Who was bis favorite?
"I've been so fortunate — it would be easier to tell you the ones
I didn't enjoy working with ... which I won't do," Barrett teases.
Ah, well. Worth a shot.
At least one leading lady liked working enough with Barrett to
give him his latest role. Twenty years ago, Barrett and Cathy
Rigby toured together in Annie Get Your Gun. At the time, Rigby
asked Barrett to play Capt. Hook opposite her Boy from Never-
land in the musical Peter Pan. Barrett passed.
"I had been on the road so much, I just needed some time at
home," he says. Then a few months ago, Rigby announced she
was producing and starring in a new tour Peter Pan (which
launches Tuesday at Fair Park as part of the Dallas Summer Musi-
cals). She asked him again to play Flook. This
time, he said yes.
It was a long time coming to the show, which
he wasn't all that familiar with.
"I never saw the stage production [as a kid],"
he says. "My introduction to it was watching it ^
on television with Mary Martin in black and white. And I cer-
tainly remember my first ride on the Peter Pan ride at Disney-
World."
In the 1980s, he finally saw Sandy Duncan do it; about 10 years
ago, he saw Rigby's version. But the role is new to him. While
Peter Pan has been around more than half a century, he thinks a
lot of people haven't seen it. And this version might surprise those
who do.
"There's no sense to playing down to [the kids in the] audience,
because kids these days are so smart," he says. "You do the role,
BY HOOK OR BY CROOK | Brent Barrett, center, has remained a busy working actor for three decades, but the new production of 'Peter Pan,'
which launches from Fair Park Music Hail this week, marks his return to touring following a 15-year absence from the road.
PETER PAN
Music Hall at Fair Park,
901 First Ave. July 10-22.
DallasSummerlVlusicals.org.
you play the show — what the children will get, the children will
get. But we are not going for the camp aspect here — we want
kids to be scared of Capt. Hook."
In his 30-plus year career, Barrett has had plenty of opportuni-
ties to delight and frighten audiences. For two years, he starred in
the $40 million Las Vegas production of Phantom of
the Opera; prior to that, he spent more than two
years in Grand Hotel (starring as the mysterious
Baron both on Broadway and London), played
Arthur in Camelot ("one of the most satisfying
"" male musical roles," he declares), went toe-to-toe
opposite both Rigby and Reba in Annie Get Your Gun and has, at
least 10 times, played Billy Flynn in Chicago.
"I call Billy my day job — when I'm not doing any tiling else
and they have an opening, [the producers] give me a call to play
him," he says. "I think I probably hold the record for playing that
role most often."
Still, one of his favorite experiences was one of the smallest:
Last summer, he played Hannibal Lector in the off-Broadway
production of the musical Silence!, a spoof of the horror classic The
Silence of the Lambs (not the same as the drag version, The Silence of
the Clams, which played in the Rose Room earlier this year).
"That version sounds very gay," laughs the out actor. "Ours
was not really gay so much as campy and over-the-top. My first
big song is called 'If I Could Smell Her Cunt.' But it's right out of
Les Miz — very serious and intense and not played for laughs.
None of the show is, which is why it's so funny. I have to say, it
was one of the most fun shows I've ever done."
So how does a B'way veteran like Barrett, who has worked
with A-list directors like Hal Prince and Michael Blakemore, wind
up in a small off-Broadway house in a musical spoof? The answer
may explain why Barrett has worked so much over the years.
"Sometimes you have to balance the financial with the artistic,
and I decided this would be fun to do for the summer — most
people wouldn't cast me in this role, so I liked the opportunity,"
he says. "And, it's acting — not brain surgery."
k online exclusive
To read Arnold Wayne Jones' reviews of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoact and Avenue Q, visit DallasVoice.com/category/lifestyle/stage.
Taste the
COME CHECK OUT OUR NEW LOOK AND JOIN US FOR
From 5 p.m. to Close
Kirls Eat Free
Every Saturday from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
steak House
awards
BEST STEAKHOUSE
Lemmon
4664
com
irrerence!
We are a custom
aipvakerq wmt orders
ralced man just for
you. Weddings, special
events, corporate ajfts
and more.
4
C.up£j,l^
Gil! 2J4-./\S.J8W or visit: Mcstl1jQijx3ices.com
Dr.
Paul C. Dunn
8989 Garland Road,
Dallas, TX 75218
214-324-2444
Quality Dentistry that is
AFFORDABLE
18 dallasvoice.com 07.06.12
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Wright, John. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 29, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, July 6, 2012, newspaper, July 6, 2012; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth308874/m1/18/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.