Posted: 7/22/26 at 4:11am
Mentioned in interview for his new album
What’s interesting to me is that you very quickly achieved huge success in musicals, but that wasn’t your passion — you were looking for something else. It’s the opposite of what happened to Nicole Scherzinger, who felt hemmed in by the pop machinery and had this rebirth as a star on Broadway and the West End in Sunset Boulevard. I know you were in Cabaret.
I had an amazing time doing Cabaret. The thing I loved most was that it was a full-circle moment, coming back to my roots, going back to theater people. Theater people make a lot of sense to me — I feel very at home in that community. One of the things that had initially drawn me away from theater was that I felt it was limiting in the types of parts, and the number of parts, that I found compelling. One element was my sexuality; another was that I liked the more alternative stuff. I wanted to explore themes and musical styles that weren’t really common in theater.
But in the 20 years since I stepped away, there’s been a lot of new material, a lot of new exploration. There’s been a whole awakening on Broadway of diversity and different walks of life, and there’s just a lot more to offer an actor now. So coming back to theater, it was like, “Oh, it’s a different world now — there’s so much more of an open playing field.” And even with the Emcee, who’s always been an alternative, strange little character, it felt even more the case that you can make it into whatever you want.
You should hook up with [Sunset director] Jamie Lloyd. He’s really talented.
He’s brilliant. I’ve spoken with him before.
You have? I think you two could do something amazing together.
My big question is that I just don’t know what the show would be. It’s definitely been a conversation I’ve had with a couple of people, but I can’t quite seem to find a show that would make sense. Maybe it just hasn’t been written yet. And I personally am writing a musical — I’ve been writing one since the pandemic. It’s on the back burner, but it’s something I’m working toward. So we’ll see.
Updated On: 7/22/26 at 04:11 AM
