Being A Musical Theater Perfomer is Easy! Just ask Chris Kattan!

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 10:05pm

How many times have people told you anyone could be on stage? Well, it looks like Mr. Kattan learned the hard way. Here are some choice excerpts from an LA Times interview:


By Geraldine Baum, Times Staff Writer

While the others, including the star of the show, Nathan Lane, anxiously mutter new verses to themselves, only funnyman Chris Kattan seems not to be paying attention. He should be figuring out how he'll crunch the word "con-sci-en-tious" into three notes during his solo. Instead he's fidgeting, looking around, pushing his cap back and forth — and chewing. In fact, he's been eating throughout the afternoon rehearsal, pulling pieces of a Power Bar out of his baggy pants pocket and popping them in his mouth, like a Pekingese dog gobbling treats.

*******

Kattan was told, he says, that his "articulation" on stage wasn't clear and, more importantly, that he "didn't speak the language of the theater."

********

However, he acknowledges there were problems — in his performance, in his pairing with Lane and in the production overall. He simply didn't think it would come to an abrupt breakup.
jokes Lane scripted for the slave-sidekick were well-received by preview audiences. (Example: "My parents sold me into slavery because they desperately needed the money. They opened the first adult novelty shop in [Athens]," Xanthias says. "Basically, they sold condoms to the Trojans.") But Kattan and Lane never seemed to establish an onstage chemistry. And the more Lane was focused on his role as writer — or relentless rewriter, as the case may be — the more Kattan "stopped having fun."

****** And now..mean Kattan:

"I thought I was being invited to do a Crosby and Hope, road-to-Hades-type show with lots of playful back-and-forth bits," he says. "But by the end, it was more about Crosby than Hope."

********
It had never been a dream of the 33-year-old actor to appear on Broadway. But he came, and he was unprepared, by his own admission, when he ran headlong into the routine practice of the theater in which scripts, songs, monologues and even characters are tampered with — often up to opening night. Though he was not in a position to challenge his more experienced colleagues, Kattan found the whole unremitting process, in his word, "unfair," and certainly not altogether rational.

"I didn't know this world, and now I do," he says. "I had a great experience, and it's not going to hurt my career. But to work in theater it helps to have been trained as a theater actor."


Couldn't have said it better Chris! P Diddy, Melanie..ya listening?


PS- He also goes on how Roger Bart plays "gay" characters and he did not see the character as "gay". Well thanks so much for your earth shaking insight Chris!

Updated On: 7/16/04 at 10:05 PM

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 10:09pm

one more interesting bit:

"I sang one song and Sondheim turned to me and said, 'You know, just speak that part.' I said, 'Like Richard Burton in "Camelot?" ' He said 'No. Just speak it.' "


Everyone....stick with those voice lessons!

[Matt_G]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 10:14pm

"when he ran headlong into the routine practice of the theater in which scripts, songs, monologues and even characters are tampered with — often up to opening night. Though he was not in a position to challenge his more experienced colleagues, Kattan found the whole unremitting process, in his word, "unfair," and certainly not altogether rational"

Did a former SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE alumni really utter those words? Someone whose skits and characters were often changed every week minutes before showtime?

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 10:20pm

And the more Lane was focused on his role as writer — or relentless rewriter, as the case may be — the more Kattan "stopped having fun."

Sure Kattan, blame Nathan why don't you.

I'm really fed up with Kattan's whining. It isn't just that he had no theatre background - it's that he didn't even try. He just sat on his butt and thought it was all a game or joke. But this isn't about making sure Kattan has fun - it's about making sure an auditorium full of theatregoers get their money's worth. Quite frankly, they should have fired him weeks ago.

Updated On: 7/16/04 at 10:20 PM

[NuggetMonkeys]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 10:48pm

nathan is god, and hm...supposedly god is "infallible" so suck it, Kattan.
whee that was fun.
--d.b.j-

[Jon]

Posted: 7/16/04 at 11:18pm

According to the rumor mill, Kattan's cocaine habit had a lot to do with his getting fired.

[DoReMi]

Posted: 7/17/04 at 12:20pm

so he was doing "lines" of another kind??

[localonecrew]

Posted: 7/17/04 at 1:23pm

"According to the rumor mill, Kattan's cocaine habit had a lot to do with his getting fired"

if i wrote this the board would be brandishing torches and storming my castle.

[aspiringguy715]

Posted: 7/17/04 at 1:25pm

argh...message to all producers...

STUNT CASTING HARDLY EVER WORKS!!!

it annoys me that these stars are taking roles that struggling broadway actors and actresses SHOULD have.

just read "making it on broadway" and it made me hate Disney and all these "stars" so much!

[zoran912]

Posted: 7/17/04 at 1:36pm

Jon - did you find that on the Hollywood A-List?

[Plum]

Posted: 7/17/04 at 1:41pm

It was a blind item the Post, I think.

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 7/17/04 at 3:10pm

One thing I didn't like is how he puts down Roger Bart..saying that Roger only plays gay characters and that Kattan's version of the character wasn't gay.

Talk about an ego! Roger has played many non gay characters (Bud Frump, Secret Garden).

Me thinks Chris is trying to avoid a certain "gay" issue.

Updated On: 7/17/04 at 03:10 PM

[zoran912]

Posted: 7/17/04 at 3:13pm

SCANDAL!!!

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 7/17/04 at 5:52pm

actually in the revival i believe they did play bud frump as gay- at least in the b'way company

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 7/17/04 at 6:35pm

Wow..
When i saw Bart in the National Tour of HTSS, it certainly didn't come off as gay. In fact, there's a scene where he tries to pick up a secretary.

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 7/17/04 at 7:29pm

I seriously doubt Kattan saw ANY of those Roger Bart performances he dismisses.

He isn't fit to polish Barts' sandals!

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 7/18/04 at 3:11am

yes indeed...

Bart and Kattan are like day and night

[venticelli]

Posted: 7/19/04 at 1:38am

amen!! will everyone allow me to revert back to elementary school when I say that Chris Kattan sucks! I mean, that's all that really needs to be said. He was terribly one-dimensional on SNL - and billing him as an "actor" in "Frogs" is an absolute travesty. not to worry though - maybe Michaels will fund a "Mango" musical...oh good lord now it's going to happen...

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 7/19/04 at 1:39am

Chris Kattan sucks ass. I do not like anymore after this incident.

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 12:51pm

Bronx:

So is this what Chris was doing during his "Equity 10" break?

Updated On: 7/20/04 at 12:51 PM

Posted: 7/20/04 at 12:57pm

To quote another SNL actor....

"I love it! I love it! I love it!"

[Matt_G]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 1:03pm

"I'M 50! 50 YEARS OLD!"

[midtowngym]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 1:24pm

bronxbound-

why is 'Chris Kattan sucks ass' a bad thing? I wouldn't have a problem with it.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 1:50pm

I would, considering that mug of a face.

oooh, I'm being nasty today.

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 7/20/04 at 3:59pm

Sucking of one's ass is very hard and challenging.

Perhaps Chris went to a school and learned this. I wonder where he studied?