INTERVIEW: Red Concepción brings heart to Amos Hart in ‘Chicago’
Photo: Jessica Ernest is featured in Chicago the Musical on Broadway. Photo courtesy of Julieta Cervantes / Provided by BBB with permission.
For Red Concepción, the past few weeks have been something out of a dream. The accomplished musical theater actor has found great success in Singapore and the Philippines, and he started to make inroads in the United Kingdom as well. But his ultimate goal, like so many working actors, was to share his art in Midtown Manhattan in a Broadway musical. Now, he’s getting that chance, portraying Amos Hart in the beloved show Chicago, running at the Ambassador Theatre.
“I keep saying surreal,” Concepción said in a recent phone interview about his Broadway debut. “I was kind of in a daze the whole time. I come from the other side of the world, from the Philippines. I grew up there. I worked there as a theater actor, but I never thought that anything like this could actually happen, that I would ‘make it’ kind of. It’s beyond my wildest dreams. I feel very blessed and lucky to have this experience.”
When the lights went out in the theater and he walked on a Broadway stage for the first time in front of a paying audience, Concepción was strangely calm. He thought the nerves of the situation would get to him, but his training has been lengthy and professional. He was made for this moment.
“I thought I would be a lot more nervous,” he said. “By the time the show started, I had this sense of calmness that felt like my whole life had led to this moment. I also had a bunch of friends that flew in from different parts of the world actually, friends from the Philippines, friends from Canada. I had all these messages from my friends in the UK. There was so much support and love coming from every angle at me. I ran with that wind of goodwill, and everybody in the cast was so encouraging and so welcoming. It felt like a very safe space.”
Concepción sees the Amos Hart character, who is known for singing “Mister Cellophane,” as trying his best to see the good in every situation and every person he encounters. This is a tough prospect in a musical that showcases the bad, with murder at every corner and legal shenanigans getting people off the hook.
“It’s why he gets duped very easily and manipulated very easily,” Concepción said. “The way the creatives and I created him is he’s the only person in the show that is not out to get anything for himself. He’s the only real light in the show in this sea of really terrible people. It’s kind of in his name; he’s all heart. How do we bring that light out in all this darkness that’s in the show that’s very gilded and very sexy and beautifully packaged, but how do we cut through that? That’s the challenge of Amos Hart.”
The company of Chicago — some of whom have been in the show for years and others who are performing on a limited basis — have welcomed Concepción to the family. They share in his excitement for this Broadway debut.
“They’re so gracious about it,” he said. “I feel very, very blessed to be working with Charlotte d’Amboise [who recently portrayed Roxie Hart]. It kind of blew my mind. It’s very embarrassing, but a few days ago, finally as we were waiting for our next cue, I kind of turned to Charlotte and I was like, ‘Look, I just have to say this: I’m very star-struck. I can’t believe that I’m here with you. I can’t believe that I’m doing this with you. I think you’re amazing, and I just felt like I had to say that so that I could finally be a person around you.’ It’s kind of mind-blowing that I’m getting to share the stage with her because she’s incredible. She has a storied history with the show. She knows it like the back of her hand. It’s incredible, and we get to play a little bit. She’s very gracious about that on stage. I’m very blessed. I’m very excited to be sharing the stage with the next Roxie as well, Ariana Madix [who performs through March 24]. We rehearsed together. We bonded really well, so yeah, it’s incredible.”
Both of Concepción’s parents were musical theater actors in the Philippines, and they had quite the career. They raised him as a music-loving kid, but they weren’t sure the children should follow in their footsteps. It took some convincing; after all, the actor’s life is a tough one. “When I started to really think of musical theater and acting as a profession, they were very, very against it,” Concepción said. “They were trying to protect me, but … the best way to get someone to do something is to tell them not to. So I was like, ‘No, I’m going to do this.’ I started working in the Philippines.”
There was hopes of Concepción becoming a scientist, and he actually won a scholarship from the government that would have taken him in that professional direction. But at the same time, another scholarship came in to learn musical theater in Singapore. He decided to head to Singapore. “I’ve never looked back since,” he said. “I’ve been working as a theater actor in Manila and Singapore, and then I got Miss Saigon in the UK. Now they are very, very proud. Now they’re like, ‘I guess you made the right decision.’”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Chicago, featuring Red Concepción, is currently playing at the Ambassador Theatre on Broadway. Click here for more information and tickets.
