Joel Gray

At an amazing 66 years old Joel Gray is tiny, dapper and very relaxed but, get him onstage (currently playing Amos Hart in Chicago at The Adelphi Theatre, London), and he becomes an animated colossus. I caught up with the star that the New York Times called 'pure showbiz electricity' backstage at the Adelphi shortly before he went on for an evening performance. His first question to me was 'What is QX Magazine? Is it good?' and then asked for a copy. I'd taken the middle section out first. I wouldn't want to corrupt the corrupt MC from Cabaret on his first visit to London.
Did he realise that he had a huge gay fan base? 'Cabaret is very popular and a gay icon, as is Liza [Minnelli]. I hope I am'. Being always associated with just one, long running role would make many a soap star depressed but not Mr Grey. 'I did it for a year on Broadway [in 1966] and then I did the film for three months. Then I didn't do it again for 20 years' What he modestly neglects to mention is that that initial year gained him a Tony Award, the film got him an Oscar and the revival in 1986 earned him a Golden Globe Award.
Every production of Cabaret sees a very different interpretation of the MC and I asked Joel Grey how he had settled on his very definitive playing of the character. 'It was, as all acting is, a matter of trial and error and a lot of research. I looked at a lot of paintings of the period; listened to a lot of music of the period and ultimately I had Lotte Lenya [Frau Schreiber in the film] in the cast. She's a gay icon, too. She would say 'How do you know this?' and I don't know how I knew it. It was just one of those lucky things, the intuition went in the right direction.' The original concept for the MC was Hal Prince's [the director of the first tour] but Grey took it and made it into a symbol of both escapist entertainment and also the decay of Nazi Germany, both light and dark at the same time. When it came to making the film Bob Fosse's choreography helped highlight the MC character's interaction with his audience. Such was the search for reality in the film that each night club scene was shot in German - as well as in the final English - in front of a German audience to ensure that the right ribald reactions were captured on film.
Prior to the revival of Cabaret in 1987 Joel Grey embarked on what he called 'probably one of my most cherished memories' when he was in the New York production of Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, the ground breaking drama about the author's fight to bring AIDS to the attention of both the gay community and the medical and political worlds. 'As difficult and painful as it was, you really thought you were doing something that was about something.'
Those of you that know him primarily from Cabaret will be surprised to learn that, apart from 16 films, Joel Grey has nearly 50 years of constant stage work under his belt, yet this is the first time he has graced the UK stage. 'I wanted to come over in 1966, I'd liked to have come over with Cabaret but George M came along,' which gained him a Tony Award nomination, 'so I did that for two and a half years.
Born in 1932, Joel Grey came from a theatrical family and first stepped onto a stage at the tender age of 9 playing Pud in On Borrowed Time. His father was Mickey Katz, 'A very popular Yiddish parodist, he would write parodies of the hit songs of the 50's. They were fantastic. He started out as a jazz musician, a clarinetist and then he was with a band call Spike Jones and The City Slickers [an early novelty record group very popular in the fifties on 78's]. Then he went on to doing his own songs. They were even in the charts. But I never learned to play an instrument.' But what of his mother? 'My mother secretly wanted to be an actress. I think that's how I got into acting so young.'
Last year saw Joel Grey in very illustrious company when he joined the dwindling band of Surviving Winners at the Oscars Ceremony 'All those legends. All I thought about was I wish I had my autograph book, or a bigger shirt tail.' His modesty refuses to let him admit to being something of a legend himself. 'You never see that about yourself, at least I don't' he added waspishly.
And now, finally, he has made it to London's West End (from August 17th for 3 months only) in Chicago, yet another revival but one which has somehow managed to reinvent itself and become a very 90's show. A lot of this is to do with Ann Reinking's choreography 'It's in the style of Bob Fosse [the original stage choreographer] but it's Ann Reinking's interpretation. I played in New York with Ann. She choreographed and played in it. It was remarkable.' From the night in May 1996 when the initial 4 night concert version sold out Joel Grey has been in the thick of the current revival 'Right from the inception.'
Chicago is the story of two women, Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, awaiting trial for murder. Velma stands accused of cold-bloodedly shooting her husband and sister when she catches them in bed 'doing the spreadeagle'. Roxie, however, is up for shooting one Fred Casley, a nightclub patron, in her bed! Amos is persuaded to admit to shooting him, mistaking him for a burglar, until he realises Roxie is taking him for a dope. He retracts his admission and launches into his show stopping song, Mr Cellophane.
I asked him if he ever regretted not being in the original 1977 production 'No, never. It [Amos Hart] was always played as a big, six foot tall, dumb mechanic, and I never saw myself that way.' Being a five-foot-very-little, articulate actor hasn't stopped him making the part his own in this production. 'I like the part and I love the show and I've always wanted to play in England so it's a dream come true.' That's aside from the fact that he is garnering still more awards for his mantelpiece; The Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards so far.
Chicago, on at The Adelphi Theatre since November 1997, is currently booking to January 1999 and also stars Ruthie Heshall and Nicola Hughes (taking over from Ute Lemper).

First published in QX Magazine
© Paul Towers 17/8/1998