{"id":245247,"date":"2012-08-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-03T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/broadways-blessing\/"},"modified":"2012-08-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-08-03T07:00:00","slug":"broadways-blessing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/broadways-blessing\/","title":{"rendered":"Broadway\u2019s blessing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christopher Sieber returns to San Diego to star in \u2018La Cage aux Folles;\u2019 says there is \u2018nothing like\u2019 performing for an audience<\/strong><\/p>\n

Por Charlene Baldridge | Reportero SDUN<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Broadway\u2019s
Christopher Sieber (Courtesy Broadway SD)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Actor Christopher Sieber is back in town, for a welcome return. Though he will hardly be remembered as Angel Rick \u2013 \u201cthe English guy with the bomber\u201d in the \u201ccool and weird\u201d 1995 La Jolla Playhouse \u201cFaust\u201d production, Sieber said \u2013 he is perhaps best known as the widower Kevin Burke in the television series \u201cTwo of a Kind,\u201d as well as the stuffy Lord Farquaad in \u201cShrek the Musical.\u201d<\/p>\n

On this visit however, Sieber plays dancing drag queen Albin, a.k.a. ZaZa, opposite George Hamilton\u2019s nightclub manager, Georges, in the Broadway tour of the musical \u201cLa Cage aux Folles.\u201d The Broadway San Diego production plays Tuesday, Aug. 7 through Aug. 12 at the Civic Theatre.<\/p>\n

In the Tony Award-winning musical, Albin and Georges are longtime lovers who raised Georges\u2019s son Jean-Michel, the product of a heterosexual indiscretion 20 years previously. Jean-Michel becomes engaged and announces to Albin and Georges that he is bringing his beloved and her straight-laced parents over for dinner. Chaos ensues. Albin\u2019s impersonation of frumpy housewife goes just so far.<\/p>\n

Sieber is a high-heels veteran, who earned his stripes as Edna in \u201cHairspray.\u201d He laughed over the memory, doing \u201cHairspray\u201d at the Cape Playhouse in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so much fun; total summer stock: eight hours of rehearsal and eight of tech. I call it throwing darts, hoping something will stick,\u201d he said. Subsequently, he played Edna at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, wearing three-and-a-half inch spike heels, in which he had to tap dance.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor \u2018La Cage\u2019 they made my shoes specifically for me, so I asked for a big, wide heel. They are very stable,\u201d he said, calling the show \u201cnon-stop,\u201d partially because he does not get an intermission.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019m not on stage, I\u2019m back stage, changing clothes, shoes, wigs, makeup and eyelashes. It\u2019s the best weight loss program I\u2019ve ever been on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joking aside, the intensive production has other side affects, Sieber said, though he tackles the challenge with ease.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be very careful, otherwise it takes its toll on your voice,\u201d he said. \u201cIt takes so much to get through the power number, \u2018I Am What I Am.\u2019 You need the voice and you need the acting to make it fly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sieber was raised in Minnesota in a farming town with a population of 642. When he was 17, he announced his intention to leave. \u201cMy parents didn\u2019t want me to go because Minnesota people don\u2019t leave. Imagine me, a kid of 18, getting on a plane \u2026 and moving myself \u2013 and I paid for everything \u2013 to New York City,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Saying he did not exactly know what he was doing during that 1988 move, Sieber said he was motivated by his dream of performing. \u201cI wanted to do it, acting anyway, or just changing my life, and I did. I had a teacher who told me, \u2018Yes, be afraid, but never let fear stop you,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sieber studied musical comedy and acting at New York\u2019s American Musical and Dramatic Academy and made his Broadway debut as Agis in the musical \u201cTriumph of Love\u201d at age 25. He then specialized in firm-jawed roles like Trevor Graydon in \u201cThoroughly Modern Millie,\u201d Billy Flynn in \u201cChicago,\u201d Rapunzel\u2019s Prince in \u201cInto the Woods\u201d and Gaston in \u201cBeauty and the Beast.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, it was in the company of \u201cBeauty and the Beast\u201d that Sieber met his longtime partner, Kevin Burrows. Sieber was playing Gaston and Burrows was the Fork. Because each had a rule not to date in the company, they were fast friends for a long time. When Burrows quit the show, the two began dating, and married Thanksgiving Day, 2011.<\/p>\n

Both sets of parents attended the wedding. At the reception, Sieber, now 42, took his dad aside and said, \u201cYou know, getting old sucks. Everything hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n

His father\u2019s response? \u201cJust wait till you\u2019re 68.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to wake up and feel like I\u2019m 9 years old again,\u201d Sieber said, \u201cbut what a blessing. I\u2019m pretty well established now, and people know who I am and what I can do. The challenge is proving myself even more, every single time. I will never, and I have never, just sat back and gone through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For \u201cLa Cage,\u201d Sieber said he gives \u201c135 percent,\u201d per usual, but is aware of what that means for him exactly.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing in front of an audience, there is nothing like it. I wouldn\u2019t trade it for the world,\u201d he said. \u201cIf someone asked, \u2018Would you stop doing this for a million dollars?\u2019 the answer would be, \u2018No, not for a billion dollars.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

See Sieber as Albin through Aug. 12 at the Civic Theatre, 1200 Third St. (Third and B streets), Downtown. Show times are 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday, and 1 and 6 p.m. Sunday. For tickets visit broadwaysd.com or call 619-570-1100.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christopher Sieber returns to San Diego to star in \u2018La Cage aux Folles;\u2019 says there is \u2018nothing like\u2019 performing for an audience By Charlene Baldridge | SDUN Reporter Actor Christopher Sieber is back in town, for a welcome return. Though he will hardly be remembered as Angel Rick \u2013 \u201cthe English guy with the bomber\u201d […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":245248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Broadway\u2019s blessing","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}