Just found this delightful 2006 interview that Walter Charles did with Joel Markowitz for DCTheatreScene.com.
At that time, Charles was playing Herr Schultz in Arena Stage's ''Cabaret.'' He waxes nostalgically about his Broadway debut in 1973 in ''Grease,'' which included Marilu Henner and John Travolta. He recalls being in the original company of ''Sweeney Todd'' and years later, in 2002, playing Judge Turpin opposite Brian Stokes Mitchell's demon Barber at the Kennedy Center. Charles also remembers Arthur Laurents offering him the choice to understudy George Hearn or Gene Barry in ''La Cage aux Folles.'' He initially chose Barry because he had understudied Hearn in ''Sweeney'' and said Hearn seldom missed a show. But Laurents really wanted Charles to understudy Hearn, so he did. Charles also dishes about ''1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,'' as well as two less-than-successful Andrew Lloyd Webber shows: ''Aspects of Love'' and ''The Woman in White.'' What a life in the theater!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yV7bxnQIpI
Updated On: 8/4/23 at 11:47 PM
