ראיון עם קונסי מתקופת RENT =>
[לפני איידול] כשהוא שיחק במחזמרים וכו'... דווקא התרשמתי. נשמע די אינטלגנטי... Where are you from? I'm from New York-Brooklyn. I was raised Greek Orthodox. I'm the youngest of three. How did you get started? My brother and sister got me into the arts. My older brother, I always looked up to him, he got me into the music scene pretty early. Once I got into high school, I started pretty soon with the bands and the rock and roll and the New York City music scene. I went to the Boston Conservatory for college, and graduated, actually, in 2002. Tell me about the audition process... most people have no idea how you get to be in local repertory theaters, not to mention the touring company for Rent. Well, in spring of 2002, there were final callbacks for Rent. But I actually got the opportunity to apprentice with the Williamstown Theater Festival at their annual summer festival, and I went with that. It's such an awesome opportunity. The scouts who attended Williamstown pretty much had a list of people that they had their eye on, and I was lucky enough to get a few calls. So I went through some more Rent auditions, and here I am. Its still all so surreal. What is the Williamstown Festival? It's regional theater, and it's only during the summer. It's definitely "more for the art" than anything. I met the director of Rent, Michael [Grief], at Williamstown. I mean, it's a place where you can just sit down and have a hot dog with Kevin Spacey. It's great. Tell me a little bit about your band. Our band is called "Pray for the Soul of Betty." We are so lucky because we are able to tour right with Rent. We actually [had] two shows right in Providence the weekend of the show. This way people are able to see a different side of me. We can go out there, and just play a few shows low key...it's a completely different thing. Whats your favorite role? Well, Hedwig [role of Hedwig] out of Portsmouth, NH was a pretty awesome experience. It really contributed to that "breakthrough" that everyone needs as an actor. I had the wig, my tools...It was really my show, I could do my own thing. After that, MacBeth [role of MacBeth]. Shakespeare is just amazing... there's the danger, the sex, and all the adversity and the victory you need in a show. You can really wrap your mouth around those words. The amazing thing about Shakespeare is that it's all in the text. It was true 500 years ago, and his stuff still is today. Its amazing. Who in the entertainment business do you admire? Oh wow... well, Sam Cook, Jim Morrison, Led Zepplin, U2, Bob Marley, Queens of the Stone Age, Nirvanna, Sean Penn, Gregory Peck...to name a few. How is the psychological impact of RENT different as a performer? It obviously involved incredibly difficult issues of today. How do you inhabit a role that others have already played? Honestly, this Rent thing is really such a groundbreaking, magical experience-not to sound too corny or anything. But I guess above all, work is work, and that's how you gotta think about it. I try to relate this to Roger; I try to bring a totally different thing to him. He's a struggling musician; I can totally relate. I mean, he has relationship problems, I've had my fair share. But in the end, work is work. Try to keep things as simple as possible. How do you feel about this tour in particular? I think that there's really something special about this tour. A lot of us are native New Yorkers. It's a lot of fresh, raw talent. How do you feel about the acting part of these shows? I've always been into rock music and into singing, but I've also always been an actor. At the Conservatory I got all the classical acting training, and that "breakthrough" I talked about during my senior year just added so much to me-it's definitely a learning experience. You're so exposed in acting-it's so dangerous, it's so sexy. When does the tour end? The tour ends in July. We are all so excited, we are ending with Japan. People have already emailed us from Japan (from Osaka, Tokyo), and they are so excited. What advice would you give to the college actor? I read once that "complexity is best expressed through simplicity." You have to learn through applying the work, through learning about it. Just get up there and do it, get involved in the community theater... you have to hustle, you have to meet people. You have to know that it's gonna be really tough, but it's definitely worth it. As a professor used to say to me, it's life or death out there-so make it happen.
[לפני איידול] כשהוא שיחק במחזמרים וכו'... דווקא התרשמתי. נשמע די אינטלגנטי... Where are you from? I'm from New York-Brooklyn. I was raised Greek Orthodox. I'm the youngest of three. How did you get started? My brother and sister got me into the arts. My older brother, I always looked up to him, he got me into the music scene pretty early. Once I got into high school, I started pretty soon with the bands and the rock and roll and the New York City music scene. I went to the Boston Conservatory for college, and graduated, actually, in 2002. Tell me about the audition process... most people have no idea how you get to be in local repertory theaters, not to mention the touring company for Rent. Well, in spring of 2002, there were final callbacks for Rent. But I actually got the opportunity to apprentice with the Williamstown Theater Festival at their annual summer festival, and I went with that. It's such an awesome opportunity. The scouts who attended Williamstown pretty much had a list of people that they had their eye on, and I was lucky enough to get a few calls. So I went through some more Rent auditions, and here I am. Its still all so surreal. What is the Williamstown Festival? It's regional theater, and it's only during the summer. It's definitely "more for the art" than anything. I met the director of Rent, Michael [Grief], at Williamstown. I mean, it's a place where you can just sit down and have a hot dog with Kevin Spacey. It's great. Tell me a little bit about your band. Our band is called "Pray for the Soul of Betty." We are so lucky because we are able to tour right with Rent. We actually [had] two shows right in Providence the weekend of the show. This way people are able to see a different side of me. We can go out there, and just play a few shows low key...it's a completely different thing. Whats your favorite role? Well, Hedwig [role of Hedwig] out of Portsmouth, NH was a pretty awesome experience. It really contributed to that "breakthrough" that everyone needs as an actor. I had the wig, my tools...It was really my show, I could do my own thing. After that, MacBeth [role of MacBeth]. Shakespeare is just amazing... there's the danger, the sex, and all the adversity and the victory you need in a show. You can really wrap your mouth around those words. The amazing thing about Shakespeare is that it's all in the text. It was true 500 years ago, and his stuff still is today. Its amazing. Who in the entertainment business do you admire? Oh wow... well, Sam Cook, Jim Morrison, Led Zepplin, U2, Bob Marley, Queens of the Stone Age, Nirvanna, Sean Penn, Gregory Peck...to name a few. How is the psychological impact of RENT different as a performer? It obviously involved incredibly difficult issues of today. How do you inhabit a role that others have already played? Honestly, this Rent thing is really such a groundbreaking, magical experience-not to sound too corny or anything. But I guess above all, work is work, and that's how you gotta think about it. I try to relate this to Roger; I try to bring a totally different thing to him. He's a struggling musician; I can totally relate. I mean, he has relationship problems, I've had my fair share. But in the end, work is work. Try to keep things as simple as possible. How do you feel about this tour in particular? I think that there's really something special about this tour. A lot of us are native New Yorkers. It's a lot of fresh, raw talent. How do you feel about the acting part of these shows? I've always been into rock music and into singing, but I've also always been an actor. At the Conservatory I got all the classical acting training, and that "breakthrough" I talked about during my senior year just added so much to me-it's definitely a learning experience. You're so exposed in acting-it's so dangerous, it's so sexy. When does the tour end? The tour ends in July. We are all so excited, we are ending with Japan. People have already emailed us from Japan (from Osaka, Tokyo), and they are so excited. What advice would you give to the college actor? I read once that "complexity is best expressed through simplicity." You have to learn through applying the work, through learning about it. Just get up there and do it, get involved in the community theater... you have to hustle, you have to meet people. You have to know that it's gonna be really tough, but it's definitely worth it. As a professor used to say to me, it's life or death out there-so make it happen.
