INTERVIEW: Vincent Michael on his newfound family in ‘Mystic Pizza’
Photo: Mystic Pizza stars Krystina Alabado and Vincent Michael. Photo courtesy of Jeremy Daniel / Provided by BBB with permission.
Mystic Pizza, the 1988 romantic comedy, goes down in the history books as the movie that launched the career of Julia Roberts, and there’s still a lot of love for the film. For example, Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey, recent opened a new musical adaptation of the classic movie, courtesy of writer Sandy Rustin, director Casey Hushion and arranger/orchestrator Carmel Dean. The music for this show is pulled from the pop songbook of the 1980s and 1990s; think Cyndi Lauper, Bryan Adams and Wilson Phillips, among many others.
The musical stars Krystina Alabado as Daisy Arujo, one of three servers who works at the title pizzeria, according to press notes. Another key character is Charles “Charlie” Gordon Windsor Jr., played by Vincent Michael.
Michael, an accomplished actor known for Safety Not Guaranteed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, has been with the show since its out-of-town engagement in Florida.
“I knew the following of it being Julia Roberts’ main claim to fame and pushing her into the world of Pretty Woman and all of her movies after the fact, but I was a little surprised going back and revisiting the film and the more adult nature of the movie than our take on the show,” Michael said in a recent phone interview. “It was definitely a nice surprise having revisited the film.”
Michael is particularly excited to bring a beloved Huey Lewis number to life each and every night on stage. He is a big fan of Lewis’ music, and he’s living the dream bringing one of the singer’s most iconic songs to the Paper Mill Playhouse. “I know that Huey Lewis has been in the Broadway sphere for a couple years now, but it is an absolute dream for me to sing ‘Power of Love’ with Back to the Future being one of my favorite movies of all time,” he said. “There are so many good bops in this show that I grew up with. … Every song to me is perfectly fit within the show. We’ve cultivated a really good setlist and song list for audiences. It’s been really great.”
There haven’t been too many changes to the show since its transfer from Florida. Michael reported that the script has remained largely unchanged, but the top of Act II has been modified to speed up the tempo and add “a little bit of a rock feel to a couple of the songs.”
“Outside of a handful of individual line changes, there are no big broad-stroke changes at all,” he said. “All of the beats have remained pretty much identical from the Florida run.”
Michael’s character of Charlie is an interesting one. On the surface, the audience sees him as an extremely rich and privileged guy, but there’s something brewing underneath that exterior. And Charlie’s relationship with his father is quite strained, and there’s no telling whether he’s on the right path with his career and law school aspirations.
“I think there’s a lot more layers to Charlie than what might jump out on the page, so it’s been really cool exploring opposite Krystina,” Michael said. “The stereotype that might follow Charlie is kind of quickly washed away once the audience starts to get to know him. It’s been pretty cool exploring just the layers that he can bring to the show and to Daisy and to aid Daisy’s story, so, yeah, happy to be a component of Daisy’s story and helping her along her journey because that’s really my main goal here, finding the Charlie that helps the audience read Daisy the way that Krystina wants. It’s such a beautiful show about these girls and their friendship and girlhood and family. Charlie is a tiny little piece of that, but I’m happy to flesh him out as much as I can.”
The journey that Michael has been on with the cast members has been extra special. He has spent many moments with them over the past two months, and he feels they have shed a lot of tears together.
“These types of processes aren’t easy, and we had a relatively short rehearsal process down in Florida to put up this massive show,” he said. “I will love these people until my final day on stage, just because of how welcoming and loving Casey and the team that brought us all in. It’s such an incredible group. I would go into war with all of these people. I adore them and respect everyone so immensely for the work that we’ve done and how quickly we’ve had to do it.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Mystic Pizza, featuring Vincent Michael, continues through Sunday, Feb. 23, at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey. Click here for more information and tickets.
