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All the World's a Stage
Broadway star Colm Wilkinson takes his tunes on the road
Catherine Lawson, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Saturday, October 06, 2007
To interview Colm Wilkinson is also to be treated to a superb mini-concert. The Broadway star can't mention a song title without singing a few bars. Some Enchanted Evening, Danny Boy, Whisky in the Jar, House of the Rising Sun, these are just a few of the tunes he sampled during a recent visit to the Citizen cafeteria (much to the delight of those dropping in for an afternoon coffee).
Wilkinson wasn't singing at full power (that definitely would have rattled the coffee cups), but there was still enough passion, drama and charisma to remind us why so many consider him the definitive Jean Valjean and a superlative Phantom of the Opera.
Wilkinson was the original Jean Valjean in both the London and New York productions of Les Miserables and it is his voice on both cast recordings. Here in Canada, he made his mark playing the title role in the Toronto production of The Phantom of the Opera for 41/2 years. During that time he bought a house in Toronto's Rosedale neighbourhood, where he still lives, and became a Canadian citizen.
What may not have been apparent in these seminal performances in two mega musicals is this Irishman's puckish sense of humour. It's obvious in a face-to-face encounter, however. When Wilkinson sings a couple of bars of Music of the Night from Phantom, he stands, swirls dramatically and cups one hand over his face to suggest the iconic mask.
Wilkinson seems like a great guy to spend an evening with, and that's exactly what he's inviting audiences to do in his concert tour Broadway and Beyond, coming to the National Arts Centre's Southam Hall on Oct. 14.
"I've always wanted to do this," says Wilkinson, "just get a band and do a really good show." The tour is scheduled to begin in Halifax tonight, make stops clear across Canada to Victoria and to end in Regina Nov. 11.
- Wilkinson is excited about the musicians he has assembled, under the direction of Steve Hunter. "They're all virtuosos." Although Broadway and Beyond is similar to concerts Wilkinson has given on occasion over the past several years, he has added a new element by inviting two other musical theatre performers to join him.
Susan Gilmour played Fantine to Wilkinson's Jean Valjean in Toronto in 1999. "One of the best Fantines I've worked with."
With Gilmour will be Gretha Boston, a Tony Award winner for her performance in the Broadway revival of Show Boat. "A great set of vocal cords and lungs."
The tour is being produced by Toronto impresario Garth Drabinsky, a friend and associate since the Phantom years. Drabinsky has been suggesting song selections, says Wilkinson, "or trying to, as usual."
Gilmour and Boston will perform solo as well as serve as backup for Wilkinson's medley of Ray Charles songs. They're also planning a few trio performances, including Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.
If the cross-Canada tour is a success, it will be followed by dates in the United States and Europe. Broadway and Beyond is a compromise of sorts, a way for a born performer to keep doing what he loves best without the rigours of eight shows a week, month after month. His last long-term engagement was performing Les Miserables in Shanghai in 2002. "Anytime you're not working you're sleeping."
Wilkinson, 63, doesn't like to be away too long from his wife Deirdre, with whom he has four adult children. "She's a saint. Her dad was a musician, so she's always understood."
An evening with Wilkinson is musically eclectic, reflecting the styles he was exposed to as a child growing up in Dublin and in his long and varied career. In the 1970s he performed with the Irish band The Action and has had success as a songwriter and pop singer.
-In every concert there are a few songs carefully chosen for their message. John Lennon's Imagine and Tom Paxton's Peace Will Come resonate with him "because of the times we're living in."
Wilkinson doesn't just sing about making a better world, although it takes some coaxing to get him to talk about his charitable work. He says he prefers to support small organizations with low administration costs.
He speaks with warm admiration of a relative, a Franciscan missionary in Zimbabwe who teaches AIDS awareness. "We recently did a concert and bought her a Toyota wagon," he says.
"My real heroes would be people like Betty, an unsung hero."
Colm Wilkinson's Broadway and Beyond plays the NAC's Southam Hall Oct. 14. Tickets & times:
613-755-1111.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2007
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