Cheyenne Jackson interview...

[NativeNewYorker]

Posted: 1/6/05 at 12:16pm

My friend just emailed this to me...the format's a bit out of wack, but, very very good article...







Cheyenne Jackson has starred in plenty of musicals before. He has played leads at Newport (Wash.) High School, the Spokane Civic Theatre and the Coeur d?Alene Summer Theatre.

But his new show, "All Shook Up," has a slightly higher profile:

? It has an $11 million budget.

? It?s in the middle of a pre-Broadway run in Chicago and will soon have one of the season?s most-hyped Broadway openings.

? It?s the first-ever all-Elvis musical, featuring 21 of Presley?s greatest hits.

? Jackson will have to display all of the talent, charisma and sex appeal of The King, without actually doing an imitation of The King. He plays Chad, the show?s Elvis-like character.

None of this even sounds all that far-fetched, for those who saw him on Inland Northwest stages from about 1994 to 1998. Even then, he had Broadway-caliber talent and Elvis-in-his-prime looks.

Still, with all of this pressure, you?d think Jackson?s insides would be shakin?, as Elvis might say, like a leaf on a tree.

Wrong.

As soon as he heard about the auditions for "All Shook Up," he knew it was the show for him.

"I thought, ?OK, if there?s anything that I think I?d be perfect for ? at least that I?ve been told I?m perfect for ? it?s this,?" said Jackson, by phone during a break in Chicago. "I mean, my parents are huge Elvis fans. Like, we didn?t even listen to Christmas carols in my house at Christmastime. We always listened to Elvis? ?Blue Christmas.? "

"I always told him he should go to Vegas and be an Elvis impersonator," said his dad, David Jackson, who lives with wife Sherri in Oldtown, Idaho.

So it was no surprise to either Jackson or his parents when he landed the job as understudy for Tony-winner Jarrod Emick, who had already been penciled in by the producers for the lead role of Chad.

Yet Jackson was flabbergasted when, in October, the producers told him that Emick was out of the show due to a contract dispute. Jackson, the kid from Newport, Wash., was in.

"So it?s been surreal at best," said Jackson. "And it?s just beginning."

"All Shook Up" opened for previews in Chicago on Dec. 19. The word from audiences is positive so far ? one preview-goer reported that even the middle-aged men were singing the songs out loud after the show. The Chicago critics won?t weigh in until Jan. 13. The show begins its Broadway previews on Feb. 20, and the crucial New York reviews won?t come out until after the official opening on March 24.

"All Shook Up" tells the story of a young woman growing up in a quiet small town in 1957. One day, a guitar-playing rebel named Chad roars into town and shakes up her square world. The score includes many of Elvis? biggest hits, including "Hound Dog," "Don?t be Cruel," "Jailhouse Rock" and "Heartbreak Hotel."

"I am absolutely positive that it will be a hit," said Jackson. "People just go mad for it. And it?s not just that the songs are so fantastic, which they are. It?s that the story (by playwright Joe DiPietro) is so touching that you have to be so cynical not to be touched by it."

No matter what happens with "All Shook Up," Jackson has already been the center of his own feel-good story: Small town kid makes good on Broadway.

Jackson has always loved music and singing, but Newport, (pop. 1,88 isn?t exactly the kind of place where a kid could be immersed in theater.

"I went to a yard sale one time and found like an ?Annie? Broadway cast recording," said Jackson. "I didn?t know what Broadway was. I said, ?Broadway. OK. I gotta find out what this Broadway is.? And I started getting as many albums as I could and listening to them and mimicking the voices and stuff."

At Newport High School, he played the title character in "Li?l Abner" and Albert in "Bye Birdie."

"I was always very theatrical," he said. "A big hambone."

He moved to Spokane to take classes at Spokane Falls Community College. In 1994 he went to his first Spokane Civic Theatre audition where he won the lead role of Billy Crocker in "Anything Goes." His first-ever critical notice referred to him as "a real find as a leading man for the Civic."

For the next four years, he was a familiar face on local stages. He was in "Damn Yankees," "The Sound of Music" and "Evita" at the Coeur d?Alene Summer Theatre. He played lead roles in "Kiss Me Kate" and "Kismet" at the Spokane Civic Theatre and in "Carousel" with the Spokane Theatrical Group.

"It was a great to get into such a great theatrical community," said Jackson.

Still, he wanted to try his luck on a bigger stage.

"Everybody in Spokane was always wanting to move to Seattle just because it was big and fantastic and everybody thought, ?Oh, Seattle!?" said Jackson. "So I always saw myself moving there."

In 1998, he did. He landed a day job in property management and started hitting the Seattle auditions. It wasn?t long before he landed the lead in "Gifts of the Magi" at the Seattle Civic Light Opera and as Danny in "Grease" at the Village Theatre in Issaquah, Wash.

Before long, he was winning roles in big shows at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, one of Seattle?s showcase theaters. During a run of the "The Prince and the Pauper," he met established Broadway star Marc Kudisch, who became a mentor and friend.

"He said, ?Dude, you gotta move to New York. That place is really lacking for young leading men, and you have this quality,?" said Jackson. "He said if I ever moved there to give him a call and he?d set up a meeting with his agent. I just kind of tucked it in the back of my mind."

Jackson was content to stay in Seattle and do several more shows at the Fifth Avenue, including "The Most Happy Fella" and "Hair."

"I?m not really super ambitious," he said.

Yet that changed in 2001, for two reasons.

"We had a death in our immediate family and also 9-11 happened, close to each other," said Jackson. "It kind of really shook me to the core and I realized, as we all did, that life is so fleeting and special and short. So I moved to New York."

He arrived without an agent, without a place to stay and without any friends to greet him at the airport.

"I just got a hotel room and started looking for an apartment," said Jackson. "For the first time in my life, I just felt like that story of the guy who gets off the bus and is in a brand new city and wants to conquer it all. I just felt invincible."

He rang up Kudisch, unsure whether he would remember his long-ago offer.

"Lo and behold, he did," said Jackson. "He did everything he said he would."

Kudisch set up a meeting with his agents, who offered to sign Jackson up on the spot. Then they sent him to his first New York audition, for "Thoroughly Modern Millie."

"I didn?t realize how big it was and how much was at stake," said Jackson. "There were hundreds of men there and everyone was nervous, and I wasn?t nervous at all. And there I was, three callbacks later, at the final callback."

He got the part. It was only an ensemble role, but still, it?s practically unheard of to win a Broadway role on the first try. He was also given the job of understudy to the two lead roles, Trevor Graydon and Jimmy Smith.

Only two weeks after joining the show, Jackson stepped in for one of the leads.

So, exactly 5½ weeks after arriving in New York, Jackson was playing the lead role in a Tony-winning Broadway smash.

"Actually, it didn?t surprise me, because he?s quite talented," said his father, a former Pend Oreille County Sheriff?s deputy. "But maybe I was a little surprised that he was in a Broadway show so soon."

Both lead performers (one of whom turned out to be Kudisch) had other acting obligations, which required them to be absent for long stretches. So Jackson was able to play a lead role in "Thoroughly Modern Millie" about 40 times over the next year and a half.

Still, he was beginning to itch, as the song says, like a man in a fuzzy tree. He wanted to show what else he could do.

"Everyone told me, ?You can?t leave a hit show. We just won the Tony!? " said Jackson. "But something in my heart said, ?Leave.?"

So he did. He came in second or third in several auditions for big Broadway roles. He went back briefly to Seattle to appear in "The Rocky Horror Show."

Then he came back to New York and auditioned for "Aida" the blockbuster Elton John-Tim Rice musical. He got the job as the standby (similar to an understudy) for the lead role of Radames.

In a year, he went on as Radames in "Aida" a total of 32 times.

And then "All Shook Up" came along. Suddenly, Jackson is faced with the challenge of originating a Broadway role. And not just any Broadway role. He has to evoke The King without actually being The King.

"The way we describe it is: If it were 1957, Elvis would be playing this part," said Jackson. "It?s very comparable to the parts he played in all of those movies and shows. He?s the roustabout who comes to town and shakes things up."

In a way, that?s what Jackson will be attempting to do on Feb. 20. He?ll breeze into town ? a big, big town ? and start doing some shaking of his own.

NOTES: Jim Kershner can be reached at [phone] or by e-mail at [e-mail]

LOAD-DATE: January 6, 2005

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/6/05 at 12:18pm

awwwww! YAY CHEYENNE!

[luvWICKED416]

Posted: 1/6/05 at 12:19pm

yay Cheyenne is right!! Can't wait to see him on Jan. 31st!

[crp2000]

Posted: 1/6/05 at 12:21pm

Cheyenne Jackson is DELICIOUS!
Didn't catch him in AIDA, but will definitely see him in this.

[luvWICKED416]

Posted: 1/6/05 at 12:26pm

all this Aida talk is killing me

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/6/05 at 12:27pm

I wasn't going to say anything.... I'm still wearing my AIDA t-shirt that I slept in last night in memory. And, Adam had to wear what he after the closing show on TV this morning.

*cries*

[bdwaygirl]

Posted: 1/6/05 at 12:32pm

After seeing Cheyenne in Altar Boyz, can't wait to see him in this! So happy for him.

[Menken Fan]

Posted: 1/6/05 at 8:28pm

I saw Cheyenne from the front row center last night - a very enjoyable experience.

Great interview!

[TabooWickedFan]

Posted: 1/6/05 at 9:22pm

Yay to our boy Cheyenne cant wait for him to get his butt back here! cant wait for feb.

[ponine24601]

Posted: 1/6/05 at 9:33pm

yay!!!!!!!!!! thanks so so much for that interview! i can't wait to see him in 'All Shook Up'!!!

[NativeNewYorker]

Posted: 1/7/05 at 12:29pm

"I saw Cheyenne from the front row center last night - a very enjoyable experience."

glad you liked it!

[bjivie2]

Posted: 1/7/05 at 4:39pm

This is totally nitpicky, but I don't think Cheyenne went to Newport High School in Washington. There's only one and it was in Bellevue, and I went there. I've also worked with Cheyenne and I think we would have talked about high school if he went there. Maybe he went to Newport High School in Oregon. But then again maybe I'm totally wrong.

[TGIF]

Posted: 1/7/05 at 5:47pm

*claps* Yay Cheyenne!

[gertiecummings]

Posted: 1/7/05 at 6:12pm

I found out yesterday that a guy I know in my theatre department went to high school with Cheyenne Jackson, so that's my Broadway connection.

[bjivie2]

Posted: 1/8/05 at 1:28am

Ooh! Then you can answer my question! Which Newport High School?

[gertiecummings]

Posted: 1/8/05 at 1:56am

I think it was in Spokane.

[wildcat]

Posted: 1/8/05 at 8:44am

Marc Kudisch got Cheyenne an agent who got him an audition for Thoroughly Modern Millie....
He got the understudy to Marc Kudisch and went on for him...
And now he's starring in a show of his own...?

Margo? Does the name Eve Harrington ring a bell??

[kyle33nyc]

Posted: 1/8/05 at 9:04am

Hey BJIVIE, when did you go to Newport? That's where I graduated from. Like you, I'm pretty sure there is no other Newport Highschool in Washington besides Bellevue... Updated On: 1/8/05 at 09:04 AM

[Addicted2Seaweed]

Posted: 1/8/05 at 11:01am

That man is so gorgeous!!

I think All Shook Up tickets would make a great birthday presents! Happy Birthday to me!

[LadyMann]

Posted: 1/8/05 at 8:29pm

yay Cheyenne!!! woohoo!

[Nathan2]

Posted: 1/10/05 at 11:18pm

I've known Cheyenne since we were both very little. Our parents were and still good friends in Newport Washington. He did go to Newport High School in Washington. Graduated in 1993.

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 1/10/05 at 11:47pm

Claps for cheyenne too!! He's an amazing triple threat and the nicest guy you'll ever meet. I'm hopping and praying All Shook Up will be a hit (even if it is a juke box musical).

[NativeNewYorker]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 1:03am

"I've known Cheyenne since we were both very little. Our parents were and still good friends in Newport Washington. He did go to Newport High School in Washington. Graduated in 1993."

Very cool!

[MagicToDo82]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 1:04am

Yay! He's so adorable. Despite my anti-jukebox thing, I'm actually excited to see "All Shook Up" in Chicago. I heard it was cute. And Leah Hocking rocks!:)

[PennyLou]

Posted: 1/12/05 at 1:09am

I saw "All Shook Up' this past weekend in Chicago and I absolutely adored both the show and Cheyenne.. I had never seen him in anything before so I didn't know what to expect ... but he was amazing.. he sings like half the show and has his role in a really great place that makes him a lot of fun to watch! I really did like to the a lot! It is a great family show and the music fits in the story so well, it doesn't seem like a 'jukebox' musical ... it really just works!