INTERVIEW: André Ward finds the heart in Toulouse-Lautrec in ‘Moulin Rouge’
Photo: Moulin Rouge! The Musical features André Ward as Toulouse-Lautrec. Photo courtesy of Matthew Murphy / Provided by BBB with permission.
André Ward has appeared in a great number of Broadway musicals, everything from Rock of Ages to Xanadu to Saturday Night Fever. Now, the accomplished actor is performing in the hit show Moulin Rouge! The Musical, which tells the story of truth, beauty, freedom and love in a Paris taken over by singing, dancing Bohemians. The setting is the legendary Moulin Rouge nightclub, which features a floor show of exquisite glamor and enticing sex appeal. Ward’s character of Toulouse, based on a real person, is part of a ragtag team of artisans trying to gain notoriety and entry to the cultural scene that surrounds them in the capital city.
As Ward and the company tell their story, various musical numbers come to popping life, thanks to a dizzying soundtrack of pop hits, plus the jaw-dropping scenery of Derek McLane, the infectious choreography of Sonya Tayeh and the steady direction of Alex Timbers. Watching Moulin Rouge is an immersive experience, one that feels like the audience is the personal guest of the emcee, Harold Zidler (played in the new few days by Eric Anderson and then taken over by Boy George starting Feb. 6).
For Ward, the journey to Moulin Rouge began from being in the crowd one night.
“A friend of mine, he’s like, ‘Oh, I have tickets to see Moulin Rouge tonight,’ in 2019,” Ward said in a recent phone interview. “And I said, ‘Oh, OK, that sounds fun.’ I knew I had a couple of friends in it. His ticket happened to be in the third row on the aisle, and I watched it. I had so many friends — friends I didn’t even know were in it were in it. I was like, oh my goodness, the show is so amazing and beautiful and fun and touching. I was like, well, I know that was fun. I’ll never be in this. The only thing I could do in it is Toulouse-Lautrec, and that role is not available. So, oh well. I eventually put it away in my mind.”
Then, the audition came up for the show’s national tour. Ward’s agent called and asked whether he was interested in trying out for the Toulouse-Lautrec character. Before trying to attain the role, Ward sought the advice of a beloved friend, Karine Plantadit, known for her performances in Come Fly Away and Movin’ Out, among others. “We danced together in Saturday Night Fever for a year,” Ward said of their friendship. “And I have been doing her accent for 20 years, and when I got this audition, I called her up.”
Ward asked her a simple question about pronouncing a particular word with a French accent (hint: It’s the city where the Moulin Rouge is located), and Plantadit set him on the right course. “I did all I could do, and when I left, I tore up my [pages],” he said. “And I put them in the garbage, and I let it go. And I kept getting called back, and I kept getting called back, and before you know it, I had the job. It was such a beautiful, wonderful experience.”
Ward sees Toulouse-Lautrec’s characterization in Moulin Rouge is based in reality and based in fantasy. He is a person who sees beauty everywhere he looks, even in the places where people turn their heads.
“He saw the beauty in all of that, and that’s been one of the best jumping-off points I have,” the actor said. “I try to look at what the script tells me about the character in the show, and one of the first lines that’s said about Toulouse and Santiago is, ‘They were like two knockabout vaudevillians escaped from the nearest asylum.’ And that is where I began my characterization. … If I start there, I can grow from there, and that’s where I started. … Oftentimes we miss out on the deepest of people because they’re hiding their hurt, their brokenness under laughs and under silliness and under their art. Sometimes people miss their hurt and their sorrow. Sometimes he can be, for lack of a better term, a sad clown.”
Moulin Rouge is brought to life by a large cast singing an impressive list of pop songs, some of them receiving the full-on belting treatment, while others are sampled for only a few seconds. For Ward, this was a part of the show he needed to prepare for because he didn’t have these tunes in the house when growing up.
“I was raised a PK, a preacher’s kid,” he said. “My grandfather raised me and was a preacher, so I didn’t listen to a lot of popular music. So there are songs that I actually didn’t know. I assumed they were pop songs, but I hadn’t heard them. I sing ‘Royals.’ I had never heard ‘Royals,’ so I had to listen to it before we began rehearsals. I did know ‘Nature Boy’ because I knew that was Nat King Cole’s beautiful song, and I feel so incredibly lucky to be able to sing it. But a lot of the popular music I didn’t know, and I’ve been in lots of catalog shows where I didn’t know the music. But also I think that sort of worked in my favor because I don’t have a preconceived notion of how it’s supposed to sound and what the original artist has done.”
That “Nature Boy” number is a highlight for Ward.
“You’ve gotten to see him be the knockabout vaudevillian escaped from the nearest asylum in a lot of the other parts of the show, and then everything slows down,” he said. “And you get a chance to see his heart, and Satine is still there. She’s always thought of him as a bestie, but he’s always loved her and in some way still does. She’ll always occupy that space in his heart, and that’s what’s so beautiful to me about being able to play him.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Moulin Rouge! The Musical, featuring André Ward, continues on Broadway at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. Click here for more information and tickets.
