Das Musical Magazin

Musicals
April/Mai '98

Michael Cerveris

The former star of Tommy chatted with Oliver Kamolz


Musicals:
Many German musical fans know you as Tommy from
Broadway and mostly from Offenbach. For one year you have been playing the character of the builder Thomas Andrews in the musical Titanic. How did this nearly seamless Broadway comeback come about?

Michael Cerveris:
It was not nearly seamless. After the end of the Offenbach Tommy production, I urgently needed some distance. After 1,304 shows, almost without holiday, you are nearly mad to see something different than the wardrobe and the stage. That's the reason I packed up my things and made a journey for three months criss-crossing through all of western and eastern Europe. That was great time. When I came back to New York in November 1996, my agent had a date for the Titanic audition - so it worked out well. This was of course a great fortune. Especially after playing a character like Tommy - who was really my life - I was afraid to fall in a hole. But although Thomas Andrews is only a small part of the Titanic story, the work is such a joy, I will extend my agreement.

Musicals:
Usual is a contract extension for one year...

Michael Cerveris:
That's right, but I haven't decided yet if I will extend for six months or one year.

Musicals:
That sounds like you have something up your sleeve.

Michael Cerveris:
Right,you did hear it. Recently, I have been on a workshop for a new project that meets my love for rock music completely.

Musicals:
Can we hear now a little bit more about this?

Michael Cerveris:
It is a plan for a musical about the legendary rock band Queen. At this workshop, I played the character of the bass guitar player John Deacon - that was a big number and totally my thing.

Musicals:
Let us come back to your time in Offenbach. What's the reason why the show was not as well attended as expected?

Michael Cerveris:
At the end, it was a chain of unfortunate circumstances, but my opinion is that the first management is responsible for the disastrous marketing. Think about the Tommy poster, it reminds me more of a drama of Strindberg. When the management changed, it was too late to influence things positively.


Musicals:
That's very sad.

Michael Cerveris:
Absolutely. Also the press seemed to like Tommy, but today the people have wrong idea about the run of a production. After the Lloyd Webber hits, it seems that every production that doesn't run for more than ten years is a flop. If you look at the history of theatre this is purely naive. The productions are too expensive and the producers buy too much garbage - good stories break down.

Musicals:
If it were to come up, would you consider another engagement in Germany?

Michael Cerveris:
I could imagine this is quite possible. Beside the mentioned problems, it was a really great time in Germany. But I would prefer a bigger city. By the way, recently a delegation of the German "Buddy" producers has attended in our show and they are interested in a Titanic show for Hamburg. This could be a possibility.

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