For actor Brian d’Arcy James, Broadway’s allure reaches back into childhood, when his older sister, returning home to Michigan from visits to their Connecticut aunt and uncle, would relay the magic of Manhattan’s plays and musicals.Little did James know, as he made his eighth grade singing debut and, later, studied theater at Northwestern University, that one day he would bring a little green to the Great White Way.
“Unless I’m completely delusional,” he says of his upcoming starring role in “Shrek the Musical,” “I’m not necessarily what you think of when you think of a big, huge, smelly ogre.” James pauses to consider this and laughs, adding, “Well, maybe some of those attributes I can ascribe to myself.”
Opening December 14 at The Broadway Theater, “Shrek the Musical” takes its story from the fi rst installment of the DreamWorks movie trilogy. Theater is nothing new to James; he earned a Tony Award nomination in 2002 for his role in “Sweet Smell of Success.” Like any seasoned actor, he has had a career fi lled with characters from all walks of life, but this will be the first from a swamp. How has he approached his current role as a fl atulent, toothy beast? “One thing you’re taught is to never judge the character,” James explains. “Shrek doesn’t pity himself for being ugly; he relishes it.”
While two hours of makeup, prosthetics, and costuming help transform James into the beloved character, it is his daughter, Grace, who has extended the stamp of approval. At fi rst, the six-year-old was wary of her father’s extreme makeover into fairytale freak, but now she dispenses performance notes as well as any hardboiled director. As he refi ned what the show’s director, James Moore, calls a character’s “vocal imprint,” Grace lent her sharp ear while James practiced Shrek’s Scottish accent. “When I was putting her to bed I would do lines as Shrek and she would say, ‘That doesn’t really sound like him,’” James recalls. “Kids aren’t going to lie. They want it to be what they know, and she was not shy in saying, ‘Do it again!’”
Don’t assume, however, that James caters only to the kiddie set; Shrek’s themes are deceivingly rich and satisfying to adults. And clowning around, of course, appeals to all ages. Just ask James what his favorite parts of the show are, and he’ll tell you about the song “You’ve Got Me Beat,” a contest about the innumerable ways to, well, pass gas. But he’ll also mention Shrek’s moving lament “Who I’d Be,” sung to the ogre’s indomitable sidekick, Donkey, about his longing to be a hero. It’s this message that James relates to most, describing his innate penchant for the underdog, stemming partly from his experience as a comparatively small kid. “Those moments when you feel like you can’t do or be something because of who you are,” he says, “I think that’s what I love the most—that by taking a chance, Shrek realizes that anything is possible.”
As a New York City parent, James sees that lesson in his own young daughter and her special sense of city kid confidence. “I’m amazed when I see her doing things like walking up four fl oors in an old, dark building to go to a class,” James refl ects. “I was intimidated by this as a young adult moving to New York, but she’s six years old, tromping through the city like it was no big deal.” James says that he and his wife, who is also an actor, have reexamined their own pastoral versions of childhood, having grown up in Michigan and Oregon, respectively.
While New York City has its challenges, James says, “You become pretty adventurous and undaunted by it after a while. What you didn’t believe could be the norm becomes the norm.” And for James, playing a gassy green ogre on Broadway is soon to become just another part of the routine.
