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David Bedella Talks & JULIET and Winning His Third Olivier Award!
Oct 27, 2022
American actor David Bedella's incredible work includes playing Kevin Rosario in In the Heights and the Warm Up Man/Satan in Jerry Springer: The Opera - both of which netted him Olivier Awards. He picked up his third Olivier a couple of weeks ago for playing Lance in andamp; Juliet.
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Greetings and salutations. My name is Tom Hayden Millwood and my guest today, as you can see
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is the freshly crowned three-time Olivier Award winner, David Badella. David, thank you so much
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for being with me today. What a joy. Thank you, Tom. It's nice to see you again
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And what a crazy year to win your third Olivier Award. How does it feel to win in such a strange year in this virtual world
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There's no denying it is bittersweet. There's so much to be excited about and there's so much to be sad about
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So it's a sad thing that we're not able to be together at the Royal Albert Hall as we have in some years
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And the last time that I won, the second time that was at the Covent Garden Opera House, which was just beautiful and very glamorous and very exciting
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And none of that is happening this year. So it's a little bit sad, but it's also, I think, really, really important because we have to remind people out there that this is still going on, that it's not an industry that has completely collapsed
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Not yet. I'm hoping that it doesn't and that we'll be back
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And, you know, that's that's got to be the message that we're putting out every day. So I'm trying to stay lighthearted about all of it, but it's exciting
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Well congratulations from me, you know, three for three. It's a hat trick. Three nominations
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three wins. So let's talk a little bit about the role of Lance that you've won this Olivier Award
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for in the smash hit musical, Anne Juliet. Now for those that don't know, Anne Juliet, smash hit
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western musical comedy that reimagines the fate of Juliet from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
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and also incorporates hip-hop songs from Max Martin, a Swedish songwriter and producer
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that features the likes of Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys and many, many more
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Juliet plunges Romeo's dagger into her heart. If Juliet didn't kill herself, I mean, really, that should almost be the start of the play
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So Lance how does he rank in your resume would you say in terms of all the roles that you played in the past from Frankenfurt to Satan in Jerry Springer you know Kevin in In the Heights
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How does he rank for you? Well, he certainly ranks high on the level of favorites
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I've had so much fun right from the beginning creating this role
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And one of the reasons is that it's just plain silly. Right from start to finish, it's silly
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I remember when we were in rehearsal, the very first workshop that we did back in California
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I was in Los Angeles at the time. And it occurred to me the day that we were speaking the lines
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for the first time, we weren't just learning music as we had the previous couple of days. It occurred to me that the girls had just taken a trip to Paris and they were going to meet Lance
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Dubois. And I said to the director, you don't want me doing this with a French accent, do you
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And he said, can you do a French accent? I said, absolutely not. I can do a caricature of a French accent
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And so we started to let some of the lines out and the whole room just started laughing
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No matter what I said, everybody started laughing because it is a ridiculous caricature
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In the end, it's turned out to be, I think, one of the things that brings the character much charm
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And I think you really gravitate towards him just because of the silliness
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It's my life, it's now or never And I ain't gonna live forever
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I just wanna live while I'm alive It's my life And what are your favourite moments in the show
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for Lance to perform eight times a week? Well, obviously the boy band stands out pretty far
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I can watch that till the car has come home, David. It's a Backstreet Boys number with you and three or four of your, am I allowed to say younger castmates
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Yes, absolutely. And what's going through your head when you're living your true boy band fantasy on stage, David
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Well, and that's the thing is the Backstreet Boys were a part of my early years in New York
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I was in New York and they were part of the soundtrack to my life at the time
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I had to let go of my preconceptions about what I should look like and what I should move like
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Because you know I surrounded by 20 year olds and they all really good Everybody in that show can dance And then I had to get out there not only you know a man nearly 60 years old trying to dance with the 20 year olds
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but also they put me in a costume that was very revealing
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Why am I wearing mesh when everybody else is covered? So I had to get over myself in a big way
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But once I realized that part of the reason it works is that it's funny
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It's funny that this guy who is an older person and has, you know
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memories and dreams of his youth when he used to do this well
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it's funny that he's getting out there and trying it again in front of everybody. And when I realized I could bring the comedy element to that part of it
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I relaxed a little bit about dancing with the younger. Well, you've not thought about creating your own boy band in real life now
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I do dream. I'm not gonna lie. And I also loved your onstage chemistry with your castmate, Melanie Labarry
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You know, tell me a bit about, you know, working with her and forming that great onstage chemistry, comic timing
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You know, what's it been like working with Mel? Well, you know, I've seen her work for many years
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I saw her in Wicked as Madame Horrible. I saw her in Matilda with the role that she created as the librarian
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and many, many other things. We at one point had the same agent
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We were both represented by Stuart Piper. And one day he had us meet for champagne in the Ivy Club
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And I tease her about this. She'll say she never did it. But she sat down and he said, you two are wonderful
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You should do something together sometime. And she said, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, and she moved on
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Thinking, oh, that would be nice. But OK, maybe not. more time
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Oh, show me life. Show me life. So as things stand, we're hoping to get back into the
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Shaftesbury Theatre next spring. What are you most looking forward to about getting back to
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the musical? I think every person that I know says they're longing for the experience
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of being in the same room with other people again. And isn't it funny? We never thought that we'd reach
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point where just being ar treat was a luxury. Um, b everybody feeling So t music together and to perf other you know all of these days is like this is on camera speaking to a screen or speaking to the lens
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To have that energy that you just can't, you can't replace any other way will be miraculous
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That's the main thing that I'm looking forward to when I get back is just being around people
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and bouncing off each other. That love and that energy and the playfulness
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that you don't get anywhere else but being in the theatre. I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter
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dancing through the fire. Because I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me
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Let's end this then on an optimistic question. Yes. Let's say it's spring, you know, the theatres are back
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You know, come on in. Why do you think Anne Juliet might be sort of the perfect choice for somebody's first trip back to the theater after this pandemic
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Do you know what? There's no might about it. Honestly, it is the number one choice that people should go see
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And I'm not just saying that because I'm in the show and I'm doing publicity. Not that at all
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I had a wonderful conversation this week with Luke Shepard. He's our director
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He said to me, I feel so strongly that it's important that we get back with this show because this show, more than any other we've seen in years, has people feel good in a time when things are going so badly
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No matter how you feel, within the first few minutes of the show, you're celebrating
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And you're celebrating love and you're celebrating courage and strength of character
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all of these things, they inspire. And this show does it more than any other I've known
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I can say that having done, you know, years and years of theatre, you just walk out of there feeling great every single time
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So I think this is the number one show to go see when you get back. I do. Well, and I, for one, cannot wait to get back to it
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and be sat there in my little seat at the Chaspery Theatre watching it and Juliet
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Thank you so much for joining me today, David. It's been a pleasure and fingers crossed for 2021. 2021
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We should rewrite all your plays
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