Post by Lynda on Oct 9, 2007 20:17:50 GMT
Q&A with Dean Collinson
You could be forgiven for thinking that the current revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was entirely about Lee Mead, the reality TV-spawned star who has turned the latest revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice perennial into a West End must-see. But there has been extensive praise heaped, as well, on company member Dean Collinson, who, as a distinctly Elvis-like Pharaoh, turns a relatively brief amount of stage time in the second act into a veritable show-stealer. It helps that Collinson gets the production’s only new song, a solo entry entitled “King of My Heart.” But it also helps that the six-foot-tall, broad-shouldered 39-year-old actor knows how to hold a West End stage—something he hasn’t done since playing Amos in director Gale Edwards’s original West End production of another Lloyd Webber show, Whistle Down the Wind. Collinson, who is from Hull in the north of England, took time recently to talk up what it is like premiering the reunion composition of Lloyd Webber and Rice; his ancillary career managing properties in Bulgaria; and whether or not his Pharaoh really is Elvis reborn.
Andrew and Tim write their first new song together since the movie of Evita, and it falls to you. That must be great.
Yeah, it is quite cool, really. It brings the house down, which is very nice. I had a meeting with them and Andrew said, “I want to write you a new song,” which was phenomenal. So my seven-and-a-half minutes [on stage] went up to 12 minutes. When I auditioned for the role, I hadn’t seen Andrew since Whistle, and you can imagine how I felt about meeting them all. I thought, this is it—I’m going to walk in and walk out. But Andrew said, “I’ve had this idea of doing a ballad; would you mind singing a ballad?” So I did the George Michael track One More Try a cappella and there were a few high notes in that which Andrew liked. He then said, “I’m going to work on that; would you be up for possibly doing a new song?” He was like a little kid about the whole thing. He really was very excited about it as if this was his party piece , and I was his little performing monkey.
That must have been especially satisfying following your experience on Whistle.
That was a difficult time. It was frustrating as hell and maybe my reaction wasn’t as professional as it should have been. I was contracted for two years on Whistle: during the first year, I missed 109 performances due to injury and in the second year, 106 or 107. I was Amos, the guy on the motorbike, and ended up suffering three dislocated ribs and a hernia. We’re talking serious injuries there. And the whole journey of the show was a nightmare for everyone; the script of the show that you saw was nothing compared to the original script that we got. It was all a very strange process. I didn't get the job, for instance, until two weeks before we started.
How did you end up in Joseph?
Simon Lee, the musical supervisor on Joseph, is Andrew’s top boy, really, and I’ve done a lot of work with him on sessions and recordings and had done a lot of corporate work with Anthony [the choreographer Anthony van Laast]. They wanted me in, and the Really Useful Group was like, “We don’t give people second chances.” But I had a meeting with them and in any case I don’t think Andrew had been involved with my court case from Whistle. So here we are, and it’s been great.
I can imagine, not least because of what you get to wear.
[Laughs.] Yeah. I’ve got tight white pants going into huge gold flares at the bottom and a Gary Glitter-type leather design, which shows my bare arms. I’ve got a gold chain all the way down the side and a huge gold belt to the pants—and, of course, blue suede shoes. Everyone in the scene has to wear blue suede shoes.
Did you see yourself as an Elvis type prior to this?
Well, I’d always been into Elvis as a kid though my voice is not Elvis at all; I used to do George Michael, actually. I’m a very high rock tenor, not a high baritone, as Elvis was. But whenever I’ve been in vocal trouble, I call a friend of mine, Marry Hammond, and I had a conversation with her about doing this part. She said, “Try yawning,” and that became my Elvis sound. It’s such a simple bit of advice—yawn while singing—but that opened up my throat and made me sound deeper. It became a realistic sort of voice without trying to be a caricature, though it did feel strange for the first two months. It would almost put a slight strain on my speaking voice. That said, this isn’t a big sing for me.
This production, of course, was dealt the grievous blow of losing the director, Steven Pimlott, prior to rehearsals.
Yes. The show was staged by Nicola Treherne out of a book that was taken from Steven’s original direction and then occasionally Bill [co-producer Bill Kenwright] would come in and give comments and ideas just as Andrew did and certain things would be changed—not so much on the directing side but more to do with tempi and arrangements and things like that. And considering that he has had no artistic input, Lee is doing an amazing job. To be honest, I don’t really agree with the reality TV show way of doing things when, in my opinion, you’ve got all these theatre professionals who have worked in the theatre for years 24/7. But Lee is an intelligent boy and he wants to do it. He’s a good lad.
It’s fair to point out that acting isn’t your life 24/7.
I have to say that I’m not a person that just wants to do one job. I have this little property empire in England that I rent out, so I’m very fortunate that I’m in a position that I don’t have to work. And I have a hotel in Bulgaria that I bought with a friend from Whistle: a big 41-apartment block which has taken a lot of time and effort to get in shape. Bulgaria’s a stunning country, I think, if very undeveloped on a social level. It’s a very different way of life but very cheap—36 pence a packet of cigarettes, 37 pence a pint.
That must make for a nice change from England, not to mention the West End.
It does; there was a time when I got a little burnt out there with theatre, though what I’ll do in 10 years’ time, I just don’t know.
for pictures see: london.broadway.com/story/id/3008850
You could be forgiven for thinking that the current revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was entirely about Lee Mead, the reality TV-spawned star who has turned the latest revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice perennial into a West End must-see. But there has been extensive praise heaped, as well, on company member Dean Collinson, who, as a distinctly Elvis-like Pharaoh, turns a relatively brief amount of stage time in the second act into a veritable show-stealer. It helps that Collinson gets the production’s only new song, a solo entry entitled “King of My Heart.” But it also helps that the six-foot-tall, broad-shouldered 39-year-old actor knows how to hold a West End stage—something he hasn’t done since playing Amos in director Gale Edwards’s original West End production of another Lloyd Webber show, Whistle Down the Wind. Collinson, who is from Hull in the north of England, took time recently to talk up what it is like premiering the reunion composition of Lloyd Webber and Rice; his ancillary career managing properties in Bulgaria; and whether or not his Pharaoh really is Elvis reborn.
Andrew and Tim write their first new song together since the movie of Evita, and it falls to you. That must be great.
Yeah, it is quite cool, really. It brings the house down, which is very nice. I had a meeting with them and Andrew said, “I want to write you a new song,” which was phenomenal. So my seven-and-a-half minutes [on stage] went up to 12 minutes. When I auditioned for the role, I hadn’t seen Andrew since Whistle, and you can imagine how I felt about meeting them all. I thought, this is it—I’m going to walk in and walk out. But Andrew said, “I’ve had this idea of doing a ballad; would you mind singing a ballad?” So I did the George Michael track One More Try a cappella and there were a few high notes in that which Andrew liked. He then said, “I’m going to work on that; would you be up for possibly doing a new song?” He was like a little kid about the whole thing. He really was very excited about it as if this was his party piece , and I was his little performing monkey.
That must have been especially satisfying following your experience on Whistle.
That was a difficult time. It was frustrating as hell and maybe my reaction wasn’t as professional as it should have been. I was contracted for two years on Whistle: during the first year, I missed 109 performances due to injury and in the second year, 106 or 107. I was Amos, the guy on the motorbike, and ended up suffering three dislocated ribs and a hernia. We’re talking serious injuries there. And the whole journey of the show was a nightmare for everyone; the script of the show that you saw was nothing compared to the original script that we got. It was all a very strange process. I didn't get the job, for instance, until two weeks before we started.
How did you end up in Joseph?
Simon Lee, the musical supervisor on Joseph, is Andrew’s top boy, really, and I’ve done a lot of work with him on sessions and recordings and had done a lot of corporate work with Anthony [the choreographer Anthony van Laast]. They wanted me in, and the Really Useful Group was like, “We don’t give people second chances.” But I had a meeting with them and in any case I don’t think Andrew had been involved with my court case from Whistle. So here we are, and it’s been great.
I can imagine, not least because of what you get to wear.
[Laughs.] Yeah. I’ve got tight white pants going into huge gold flares at the bottom and a Gary Glitter-type leather design, which shows my bare arms. I’ve got a gold chain all the way down the side and a huge gold belt to the pants—and, of course, blue suede shoes. Everyone in the scene has to wear blue suede shoes.
Did you see yourself as an Elvis type prior to this?
Well, I’d always been into Elvis as a kid though my voice is not Elvis at all; I used to do George Michael, actually. I’m a very high rock tenor, not a high baritone, as Elvis was. But whenever I’ve been in vocal trouble, I call a friend of mine, Marry Hammond, and I had a conversation with her about doing this part. She said, “Try yawning,” and that became my Elvis sound. It’s such a simple bit of advice—yawn while singing—but that opened up my throat and made me sound deeper. It became a realistic sort of voice without trying to be a caricature, though it did feel strange for the first two months. It would almost put a slight strain on my speaking voice. That said, this isn’t a big sing for me.
This production, of course, was dealt the grievous blow of losing the director, Steven Pimlott, prior to rehearsals.
Yes. The show was staged by Nicola Treherne out of a book that was taken from Steven’s original direction and then occasionally Bill [co-producer Bill Kenwright] would come in and give comments and ideas just as Andrew did and certain things would be changed—not so much on the directing side but more to do with tempi and arrangements and things like that. And considering that he has had no artistic input, Lee is doing an amazing job. To be honest, I don’t really agree with the reality TV show way of doing things when, in my opinion, you’ve got all these theatre professionals who have worked in the theatre for years 24/7. But Lee is an intelligent boy and he wants to do it. He’s a good lad.
It’s fair to point out that acting isn’t your life 24/7.
I have to say that I’m not a person that just wants to do one job. I have this little property empire in England that I rent out, so I’m very fortunate that I’m in a position that I don’t have to work. And I have a hotel in Bulgaria that I bought with a friend from Whistle: a big 41-apartment block which has taken a lot of time and effort to get in shape. Bulgaria’s a stunning country, I think, if very undeveloped on a social level. It’s a very different way of life but very cheap—36 pence a packet of cigarettes, 37 pence a pint.
That must make for a nice change from England, not to mention the West End.
It does; there was a time when I got a little burnt out there with theatre, though what I’ll do in 10 years’ time, I just don’t know.
for pictures see: london.broadway.com/story/id/3008850