For Wagner,
one princely role, then another
BY TERRI ROBERTS
The Sondheim Review
Chuck Wagner seems to be building a theatrical reputation based largely on dualities, literature, and fairy tales. After his success as Rapunzel's Prince in the original Broadway production of Into the Woods. Wagner slipped into the skins of Cinderella's Prince/The Wolf for the show's first national tour. Following that, he spent five years as the handsome-but-arrogant young prince trapped in the body of a hideous animal in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, then moved on to another hirsute role, that of the psychotically split Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
At the time of the interview, Wagner was on the road with the first national tour of the wildly successful revival of Kiss Me, Kate, but although he was clean-shaven for a change, he was still pulling double duty. Wagner plays the pompous Harrison Howell (a broad spoof of Gen. Douglas MacArthur) while also covering leading man Rex Smith as the flamboyant actor, Fred. But he was eage to take a break and talk about the double life he led with Into the Woods and his memories of the creation of the show.
"At one point there was lots of other fairy tales involved," he recalled, "and they started editing them out to make it smoother. There were, I think, three wolves, not one, and references ti the Three Little Pigs as well. And Chip Zien said that in an earlier workshop he was Rumpelstiltskin. But all that stuff came out."
Wagner was impressed not only with Stephen Sondheim's score, particularly the "Agony" duet between the royal brothers, but also with his collaborative attitude during the rehearsal process. He remembered the composer as "pretty quiet" but "very supportive."
"What was really charming about this show, and what I think is one of its strengths, is that it's really like a chamber piece. The orchestrations (by Jonathan Tunick) are very delicate for the fairy tales; it's really quite elegant and simple, and it was great to see them all working together to pull this off. Then add to that this really psychological, almost collegiate, master-level, approach that James Lapine has to directing.
"We had tests, we were given assignments and told what kinds of psychological responses to come back with. 1 mean, there was homework involved! And if you had a weakness in your approach to what you were doing, James would cut it out of you—and I mean that in a very nice way He had several of us doing some serious soul-searching. It was pretty emotional. This was not a cakewalk—it was an exhilarating and almost multidimensional boot camp. I'm very honored to have had such a memorable part in what I think is such an amazing show."
Parts, actually, if one includes the national tour. Playing both princely roles gave Wagner a unique opportunity to explore the dualities between these blue-blooded brothers.
"I always thought of my prince as Prince Valiant," he said. "Not quite so charming, not quite so slick, but a little more sincere. The insincerity of these princes comes from the fact that if somebody turns the corner, they'll fall in love with that one, too. But they're still sincere in that insincerity. So there's a real depth of commitment to this, even though it may be shallow. But they don't mean it shallowly. It's totally heroic." Wagner, who is a younger brother himself, enjoyed playing both roles but related more to the younger (Rapunzel's) prince, who he described as "in a vaudeville sense, the snappy one."
He also recalled his own less snappy/ more honest response to one of Lapine's psychological test questions.
"James asked, 'What don't you like about your character?' and I said, That I wouldn't be king.' But I like that prince because he gets to be the Wolf, too. Plus there's the whole parallel of the two songs ("Hello, Little Girl" and "Any Moment"). The Wolf sings to Red Ridinghood, 'Any path./So many worth exploring./Just one would be so boring./ And look what you're ignoring.' And then in the scene with The Baker's Wife, he repeats that phrase, musically of 'one would be so boring.' So that parallel is really kind of cool because the eating of Red Ridinghood and the seducing of The Baker's Wife are both pretty much the same story."
While Wagner despises the recent terrorists attacks, he also thinks the tragedy will bode well for the upcoming revival of Woods, and hopes audiences will take its meaning to heart.
"We need those kinds of morality tales," he said. "They canceled Assassins. which makes me sad. But Into the Woods has such a message of hope and unit)', even amidst these tragic events; it's very positive and upbeat. I think the timing for Into the Woods makes it ripe for success."