Millburn-Short Hills Magazine Spring 2019 | Page 47

Q & A
“I WALK TO THE MAPLEWOOD TRAIN STATION OVER THE [PERMANENTLY PAINTED]
RAINBOW CROSSING AND THINK , ‘I LOVE MY TOWN.’” —GAVIN LEE
killed me. I kept saying to the sound
guy, “You’ve got to turn me up
today,” because I had to hold back
when I didn’t feel there were three
shows left in me.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE PERFORMING AT
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN COM-
PARED TO THE BROADWAY STAGE?
I went there for the interview, and
it’s almost like an arena. There are
5,000 seats on one level with no
balconies, so you have to give a big
performance. If you’re not gestur-
ing and over the top, you’ll look like
a big green blob in the back row.
Fortunately, there [was] no problem
with me having to be subtle. The
Grinch is over the top and eccentric,
with these fabulous claws with hairs
coming out of the fingers.
EVERY WHO DOWN IN WHOVILLE (Left) Mackenzie Jane Mercer as Cindy Lou Who and Gavin Lee
as The Grinch; (Above) Cast members of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical.
Whenever you finish a big Broadway
show, it’s nice to know you have
something to go on to.
DID YOU HAVE MUCH TIME TO
REHEARSE? It was a short process,
because the production company
[had] been doing the show every
holiday season since 2005. I was
the only new cast member — and
they had two new young actors. You
couldn’t keep the same Cindy Lou
Who from ’05 — she’d be too big!
So, there was a sort of scary eight
days of rehearsal when I had to learn
this whole massive part.
HOW DID YOU PREPARE FOR THE
ROLE? I watched the TV version from
the ’60s, when Boris Karloff — yes,
Boris Karloff — did the voice. Patrick
Page originated the role on Broadway
and did the cast recording, but his
voice is so low and rich, I couldn’t
keep that up. So, I took a bit of what
he and Boris were doing and made
it fit my own vocal ability.
Then, I moved on to the physical-
ity. The cast wears a “pod,” which
is a whole cat suit underneath your
costume that has foam and stuffing
to give you a shape. Mine gave me a
beer belly and a massive butt. I wear
a green costume over the top, and I
saw that shape and realized how to
stand and walk to make a silhouette
that looks funny. The Whos down in
Whoville have weird large hips and
butts and skinny waists.
DID YOU EVER DO SO MANY PER-
FORMANCES IN SUCH A SHORT TIME
BEFORE? SOME DAYS THE SHOW
WENT ON THREE TIMES. [It was] a
crazy schedule, but it’s a seasonal
show so you have to cram them
in; there’s no point in doing it in
September. We just finished [touring]
in Boston, and after three Saturday
and three Sunday shows, it nearly
WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO
MAPLEWOOD AS A COMMUNITY,
AND WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST
ABOUT IT? My wife and I came to
New York with Mary Poppins in
2006, and we lived in an apartment
on the Upper West Side. It was the
first time I’d ever lived in America.
Then, we went on the national tour
together and she got pregnant com-
ing off the tour. We’d been out to see
two separate friends in Maplewood,
and both of us wanted to live there.
A good friend of ours, who was a
realtor, showed us 17 houses in one
day, and the next Wednesday, we
put in a bid. We moved in 2010, just
before our first child was born.
We love it. We have so many
friends who are in the business,
actors and people in different
Broadway departments. It’s so easy
to get back into the city to work, and
it’s so progressive and liberal. I walk
to the Maplewood train station over
the [permanently painted] rainbow
crossing and think, ‘I love my
town.’ ■
MILLBURN & SHORT HILLS MAGAZINE SPRING 2019
45