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BWW Tony Interview Special: We're Never Ever Getting Rid of Tony Nominee Christopher Fitzgerald!
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Nov 6, 2022
Christopher Fitzgerald goes up against a jazz-age composer, two of America's founding fathers and an angry British monarch in his Tonys category on June 12. His role in Waitress, which earned him a nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical, is Ogie- a 'strange but beautiful' tax auditor with a heart of gold. As he gears up for the big night, find out how the role came together, why he 'can't stand' leading lady Jessie Mueller, and so much more!
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This episode of Backstage with Richard Ridge is presented by The Living Room at W New York Times Square
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A playful nod to Times Square of the past and a perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of the city
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Welcome to Backstage with Richard Ridge. My guest is one of Broadway's favorite funny men whose career spans 18 years
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And now he is back on Broadway stopping the show nightly as Ogie in Sara Bareilles' new musical Waitress
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and he's been nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical
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Please welcome Christopher Fitzgerald. Hi. I got it out, right? You got it out
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Oh my gosh. So good. 18 years. Yeah, and that was only 18 takes to get that whole thing
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Is that good? 18 years. We just figured that out. They only gave me 20 takes. They're like, forget it, we're done
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Then we're done. 18 years. Seriously, I mean, it seems like only yesterday. I've known you for a long time, my friend, right
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I feel like we both still look pretty good. You have a full head of hair
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Mine's thinning. Thinning. Yeah, it's just starting to go away. No one will notice, right
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No, no one will notice. And the sunscreen. You put a lot of sunscreen on. A lot of sunscreen on
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Yeah, that's why no wrinkles. Like 40-ish. What do you think? Thank you. Yeah, 40
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It's the filters we have. I would drop it. 30, 38? 38. You can sit here anytime you want
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You got it. All right. Where are we? We're at the W Hotel in the living room
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We're at the W, right down the street from Waitress. Right down the street from Waitress. Yeah, this is really cool
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All right. What is it like stopping the show eight times a week in Waitress
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what is it like? Wow. It is really fun. Yeah. It's so fun
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to play a character that let me I'll take you through it
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When we first when we first when I was first heard watch the movie Yeah
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And Barry Weisler was like watch this movie and we're going to do a reading
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would you like to come and join us in this reading. And I watched the movie and I loved the movie
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and I loved this little character. Couldn't quite picture how you would musicalize
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that particular character or storyline. And then I went to their apartment
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This was like four years ago. And Sara Bareilles sat at a piano and played the songs that she had written
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And we kind of read the screenplay, essentially. And it was an amazing moment
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to just watch that all synthesize together. It was really, really cool
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And I just remember hearing those songs and feeling like, wow, these are going to be
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I would love to get my hands on these songs. So then we did some subsequent readings
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and I just feel like over time, I was worried that a character coming that late into a play
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into a story, was not going to register. Like you wouldn't, you know
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meeting a character 50 minutes into a story was not going to, you were going to kind of already be familiar with the story
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and investing in a new character was going to be hard. But what I learned very quickly is I feel like the audience is dying for this kind of character
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A character that is positive, that is so focused and so profoundly weird and strange
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It's just like the palate cleanser that you need in this kind of story where people are really struggling
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It's very funny and very beautiful. But people are kind of, everyone's not quite found their feet as characters
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They're all, everyone's a little kind of desperate and trying to figure some stuff out
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And so when this guy comes in, it's a great palate cleanser. And so it's really fun to know that it works
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You know, that's really, I love that. But you have the audience in the palm of your hand as soon as they see you in that restaurant
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As soon as they see you there. Do they really? Yeah. Don't you feel it? Was I in the palm of your hand
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Yes. Wow. Twice. Was I heavy? Yeah. So I'm going to be shwaying
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So I'm going to be shwaying. Okay. But don't you feel it? I guess so
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As I said, it's just I think they've also had little pellets along the way of Don talking about going on this date and describing this guy
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And you start to just get these little pellets of who this guy is, these little breadcrumbs along the way
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And so I think once you finally see this person, you know a little bit about him before you see him
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And so I think the anticipation of that is kind of fun for the audience
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It is. It's amazing just to come out and have people ready to enjoy that particular part of the story
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It's fantastic. I don't know if I've ever experienced anything like it. How do you describe him
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He's very, very... I don't know how you describe him. He's like the weirdest person on the planet
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it um uh he is i imagine him uh i imagine that he kind of lives like in the basement of his mother's
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house maybe um but he's a really like positive person he's got so many interests he's somebody
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who just fills his life with interests and um and he's just one of the you know you meet people
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I find like you if you give somebody a chance you can find out
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everyone has strange beautiful interesting things about them that you would never
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you'd never know unless you kind of took a few extra steps and this is a classic example
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of that like you meet this guy he's kind of hair slicked down he's a tax auditor
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and yet he's got his dream world his world of himself is like
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is massive it's bigger than the universe his love of poetry His love of music, of dancing, of art, of love
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His love of love is so big that it's just, there's nothing more fun to play
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Yeah. Working with this incredible all-female creative team. Yeah. They are all women
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Yeah. Yeah. Special? Are they special? Has it been special? It has been very special
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Are they special? Are they special people? Yes. They are very special people. I don't know if that really has had any kind of bearing on the way the process was a very similar process to any process
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But everyone has had such an amazing contribution in their own way
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Especially with what I got to work on. I found that the creative team was really fun to get goodies from all of them
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as I built this character with them. Jessie Nelson, who wrote the screenplay
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or who wrote the book based on the screenplay she works a lot in film And what was so fun with her is I think because she works in film she likes to write for the moment And so we would try out ten different things and she was always kind of coming up with ideas and I would pitch her ideas
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And we would kind of, so it was always fun. She always had a million things that we would try, and then, you know, eight times it would all fail
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and then maybe the last time it would get that much better, and we would go back to the one that failed and use that one
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No, I'm kidding. But then, and Sarah Bareilles, who has an incredible sense of humor
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and is so bright, and musically just on another level. And a side note to Sarah
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I just think it's so cool that she is somebody who is at the height of her professional
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pop stardom career and wants to write for the musical theater. I just think that is so..
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I can't remember the last time. Do you know the last time somebody came from that world
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kind of directly in their 30s? Not that young. As opposed to someone like..
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City Lauper. Or Sting or somebody who's kind of branching out into new avenues
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This is someone who's kind of did some albums and now is like, I want to write stories
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I just think that's really cool. And you can kind of feel it in the way she writes
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It's like really, very current sounding. And it's amazing how well she's written for actors to take and to mine and put over
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You know, they're not just pop songs. They're really songs for actors, which is just crazy that she just knew how to do that
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And then is Diane Paulus. And then Diane Paulus, who was so great for me at giving freedom
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She is like best idea wins person. And that's so cool. Yeah
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And she actually asks you to bring in ideas. It's kind of like, bring it
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Bring what, you know, she'll kind of give you some ideas of her own
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But she's really like, let's you play and I'll help you edit
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I love that. And so for me, that's gold. That's my dream
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That's the dream way to work. And Lauren Letero also, as the choreographer, also came with some ideas
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and was also really good at editing and just giving freedom and helping kind of shape the whole thing
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So they all were. It was just a great collaborative team effort as far as I was concerned
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Then it's the incredible cast you get to work with. Yeah. That's where it goes really south
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See, I knew it was going to be something like that. Creative team, great, cast. It's weird
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I've worked with so many wonderful people on this. To a person. Yeah. Stinkers
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All of them. Especially that Jessie Mueller. Have you ever met a meaner person
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She is. Cruel. She's just cruel. She'll come off stage and she just kind of, she like spits on my shoes
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I don't think there's anyone nicer in the business than her. The ice machine. agrees
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No, I think you're sitting with someone who's also... You, of course. Yeah
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But you're in a whole different category. There you go. I'm nice and cute
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Yes. You're both of those. But she is too. Yeah, you're right. She is. Well, I'm nice and cute and I can sing
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She can do that. She can do that too, right? She's amazing in the show
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She's amazing. Fine. She's great. She's perfect. She is. Drives me crazy
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So what's it like when you meet the fans afterwards? They're just so
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I think they They feel They love it I feel like they've laughed
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I feel like they all They all have like Red water eyes From crying Yeah And
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It just speaks to people And When that happens It's just That's just gravy Yeah Yeah
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Well let's go back to the beginning Where did your love for performing begin? Did your mom put you in clown school
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At like five? You've Were you there? Yes I was there You were
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We were in clown school together I was fine I was the tall clown You were the tall clown
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But you wore a bow tie You didn't have your long purple No You had your
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Wide purple You see that funny thing When you balance the chair
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Yeah I remember It was hilarious But you balance a chair Don't you
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I do I balance objects on my face Did you learn it then I started the process then Okay
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But yeah I grew I don't How did that happen How did you say
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And putting you in clown school I think out of As opposed to Little League Or something like that
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Survival for her Okay Basically what is this creature that's running around the house
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We've got to figure out how to... What is he? I was trying to imagine that
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Basically, what I do as Ogie is imagine an unfiltered version of that
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would be what I was when I was four. Just running around crazy
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And I think that was part of her survival was let's figure out this seems to have some kind of affinity for
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look at me! And so she put me in this class that I still remember
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Sam Kilbourne was the teacher, and I just remember beginning the process of learning clowning and juggling
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and just being able to kind of tap into these kind of weird impulses
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At that age. At that age. To be that focused to learn this stuff. Yeah. And I think I both found it really freeing
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and I found working, doing this kind of stuff also helped focus me
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And I still feel that. I feel like it's the combination of freedom and focus
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that still kind of inspires me and juices me and moves me forward
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It's like I take what I do unbelievably seriously to a point that it's like, you know, every moment I want crafted
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and I want it to be right and I need it to land and I need to know that it's..
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And yet what I'm doing is the most juvenile, stupid, weird things
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and yet I take those things very seriously. And it's like that's kind of what I love about what I do
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I get kind of both worlds. And so that's where that kind of stuff began
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And then it was like an exploration of... I did vaudeville stuff growing up
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I sang in a little a cappella trio in my high school called the A Cappella Fellas
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And we were like stars in our high school, I think You were stars
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Yeah we felt like we were stars But we were these are dear friends of mine that we just like started singing and doing little sketches And then it was like community theater and then it just kind of kept kind of evolving
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Was there a defining moment when you said, I'm going to do this for a living or try to do this for a living
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I don't think so. It was just something that I always, that I just did
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Yeah. It just was like I had to do it and that's what I did. I mean, I also played soccer and I did a lot of other things in life
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But it was something I kept returning to as something that I just needed to do
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And so when it came time for larger transitions in life, like going to school
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Yeah, those things. Yeah, those things. Those things. Or moving to a place and starting a life
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It was like, it was all based on trying to do this kind of work
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Yeah. Because without it, without the focus. Remember, unfiltered craziness. Then it's like maybe, you know, headed to Bellevue or something
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I mean, maybe. Yeah, totally. Who knows? Well, you have this incredible 18-year career, so we're going to do a speed round of sort
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of going through your career. And just sort of tell me what comes to mind, a story or a memory
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Okay. Okay? I'm ready. I'm going to... Hold on. Okay. You say when
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Focus. Yeah, I have to focus or it's going to get crazy
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Okay. I'm ready. I'm going to have to be in that clown school. I'm ready. I'm ready. All right. I think the first time
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I saw you Wicked no sorry sorry see I lost it I lost it Corpus Christi ah
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that controversial Terrence McNabb remember going downstairs at MTC when there was like
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security people everywhere there was like bomb scares bomb dogs bomb scares
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and all the bomb dogs and everything else favorite memory of doing that show Corpus Christi
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I can't yes you can tell me because I knew this story tell me khakis
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well first of all i met some of my best friends that i still have to this day
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on that show um amazing cast that emerged from that show but there was one night yes
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i was um i was the guy playing jesus was doing the lord's prayer i was down below him i had just
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kissed his feet uh i uh i don't know i was kind of grouchy that night and he says hallelujah and
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And then all the apostles, we scream, hallelujah, at the same time
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It's a show you don't leave stage. You're on stage the whole time
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And I screamed, I gave it a little extra, hallelujah. And I was convinced that I had, in my khaki pants, soiled myself in front of Manhattan
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Theater Club subscribers. That's a really serious play. It's a very serious play
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And that was a really serious thing that happened to me A life changing show for you
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Encores, Babes in Arms The best I remember that audition Kathleen Marshall called me in for a dance call
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And I did A dance call And this was like real Broadway dancers
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Doing real Broadway dancing It was one of the most Ego shattering moments of my life
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Like I could not do any of it And so she kept me for the end And I had to go
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and I was dancing and I just it was so bad that I took my shirt up over my head
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and I started just being silly and I believe that that was the moment that I got the job really yeah
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but you met someone and then I met someone oh Jessica I met my wife
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Jessica Stone on that on the first day we met we had to kiss
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for eight counts doing an amazing number called I Wish I Were In Love Again
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and we had lunch after that rehearsal and we both were like
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we got to know each other and it was like we were friends
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for a little while and then we were lovers for the last 17 years
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Yeah. Okay. Saturday night. Saturday night? Yes. Yep. Directed by Kathleen Marshall
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Stephen Sondheim's first musical he ever wrote. And 40 years later it had its New York premiere
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Oh yeah. Second stage. That second stage. It was very, very cool
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Loved every second of it. Made great friends. And had a great number
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A similar, you know, it's like, I just feel like over my 18 years
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I just had so many wonderful opportunities of just great numbers. Exhibit A and working with Kathleen to kind of develop that
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and figure out how we're going to do that. Still, it's like the same kind of, my same kind of favorite stuff to do
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Sure. Well, I remember that. What were your sessions with Sondheim like
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Well, when we did the album, I have only one real good story from that, was we did the album, and I ran through my song once, and it was in the Hit Factory, which is a huge room, huge studio, and I was on the way end of it
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And so the booth is over in the corner. I finish singing the song and then the door opens and out comes Sondheim and he's walking
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across the hall coming to talk to me. And I was, what is he going to, you know, you know, I mean, you know, what is he going
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to say? Like, that's how you do it. No, I'm waiting for the, and he comes around and I was like, well, what do you, you know
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is it okay? And he said, um, uh, you're not singing the notes that I wrote
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You need to sing the notes. So I said, okay, well, can you plunk them out on the piano for me
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I was like, no. Someone can plunk them for you. Not me
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So I was like, I just, you know, sheet white. Yeah. Learned the notes
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By the way, we had been performing the show for, you know, months. Yeah. Then, later, came back, said, nailed it
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The phenomenon known as wicked. Wicked. Did you know early on That show
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Oh yeah It's a little bit of a Witches Yeah Yeah Yeah Not gonna last
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When did you realize At what point during the process Did you realize
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This was gonna be a big hit Honestly Yeah I think it was the first Preview Or
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I think it was the first preview Yeah When The first I was backstage
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The character When you play Bach You also come out In the beginning
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Everyone puts on like a comforter or something, like a bed sheet comforter
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and you come out and you sing to the witches. And I was in there in my little bed comforter
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off stage left, and they hit the brum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum
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And the sound the wall of sound coming from the almost 2 young people that were there was so magnificent It was so
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powerful. And that was like oh. Young Frankenstein working with Mel Brooks
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Fantastic. So crazy and funny and nothing quite like dissecting
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a comic beat with Mel Brooks. And he just is, just being around
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those funny bones was, I still treasure that time, for sure. Vinnie and his rainbow
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I'm trying to think. I wore very short shorts. Oh, yeah. That was fun
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Do you know I have very big calves? You do. You have dancers' calves. Do you want to feel them
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Yeah. No, that's... That's not my calves That was a thaw You have big thighs too
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You have nice legs I feel that Wow you have dancers Right Calves I don't know what
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I think it's because Soccer Maybe it's soccer It's clown school It's clown school
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No you look good In those little shorts Yeah Yeah Really But you used a lot
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Of the clown Yes you did We're going to run A photo of that too When we run this piece Alright
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Focus it on Focus it on the calves Yeah But you used a lot
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Of the stuff you learned In circus school In that right Same stuff yeah We did have a really cool
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Warren Carlyle brought in these guys, these magicians Matt Holtzclaw came in
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and we started working on some just some sleight of hand stuff
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that was really a fun cool thing that I'd always done magic
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growing up but never really learned the true basics with a real magician to kind of
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start to learn how they work and then to use some of it in the show
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was really fun you really used your circus stuff in Barnum sure
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which you did in Chichester Chichester Chichester Chichester there it is okay
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somewhere near London right somewhere near about an hour from London great role
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for you I don't know what it sounds it was a great role it was really challenging
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the tightrope oh how did you do that what is the secret to walking the tightrope
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it's really interesting it was like I started to work on it
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about a month and a half before I left which was not in hindsight
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not enough time yeah at a studio in Brooklyn I would go once a week
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twice a week and just kind of start to work with a teacher who was great but
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but bringing in all the elements it was about 30 feet long it was about 8 feet high and
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I had to walk it at the end of act one while singing a song
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in a spotlight in the round so as you're walking it you're seeing like
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you know British people looking at you and then and it's a skill
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it would end up it's a thing that you can either do or you can't do. Unlike
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so much of what we do is about putting something over or the skills are
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they're just this is an actual like you can either walk the tightrope
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or you can't. And it was a very different experience for me in the theater
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Being back on Broadway what it means to you and this Tony nomination. It's not your first time. No
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It means it's it's just great. It's it's the icing on the whole thing
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as I was saying earlier like this particular one I just wasn't sure
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where this was going to go, this character and I was very I wasn't concerned but I just was like
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I just didn't quite feel it in my bones for a while
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where it would go on stage with movement I just don't know
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and so to have it kind of all come together and work
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and to have people really respond to it It's an alchemy. It never..
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It takes such luck to find yourself with material that suits you
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that suits the story, and that you can really excel in, and that also really lands as material for an audience
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And when that alchemy happens, it's just... It's a great thing that all happens, but it's also just..
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It's the lucky break. Sure. There's so many unbelievable people doing unbelievable things all over Broadway
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So to have it all fit in that right place is great for this year
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Finally, what is the best bit of advice that you've been given, both personally and professionally, that you live by
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As an actor, I think it was from this director, Nicholas Martin
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who was my favorite friend and favorite director of all time. He always said make the positive choice
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And I always come back to that when I'm working on anything
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And I think what that means is it's less about making the happy choice
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but making the positive choice, the choice in a story that moves the story forward
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And it always, you know, Even if you're playing a character that's in a dire situation
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remembering that phrase always helps propel things forward in playing a character or telling a story
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And the other piece of advice I would give would be to surround yourself with people that get you
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that get your weirdness, and that love your weirdness, and that you love their weirdness
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and you and how valuable my friendships have been and my relationships
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in this little community have been and one of those is this guy aww
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With this love to be higher Won't we die as I tell myself
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You might make sense And make good what's been so bad Let's see this through
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It's a pretty good bed I'm team Being me This episode of Backstage with Richard Ridge
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is presented by The Living Room at W New York Times Square. A playful nod to Times Square of the past
27:06
and a perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of the city
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