The music director, Stephen Oremus, was telling me: "I hope you've done your work." We only have ten days rehearsal. The music is no joke. My solo singing is not that hard. But the stuff I have as part of the choir or as a "Dead Guest" in the second-half... I'm singing some really incredible chorus stuff that I haven't done in a long time. It's extremely difficult.
Max von EssenThe music director, Stephen Oremus, was telling me: "I hope you've done your work." We only have ten days rehearsal. The music is no joke. My solo singing is not that hard. But the stuff I have as part of the choir or as a "Dead Guest" in the second-half... I'm singing some really incredible chorus stuff that I haven't done in a long time. It's extremely difficult.
Max von Essen, I have a friend living as a woman. But she's almost too "normal," to be quite frank. I'm not relying on her, because "The Jerry Springer Show" has such huge characters. I'm trying to come up with a little more dysfunction than that.
Max von EssenFor instance, my friend would never go on the show to air her dirty-laundry. But Tremont is outrageous! I've been watching a lot of clips of "The Jerry Springer Show" on YouTube (I can't tell you how many clips there are!) I get to witness these men going through the process to become women and what they're sharing. My character is pre-op. She's had the breast augmentation but still got "the goods" down there.
Max von EssenThere's was no pressure on it for me - I just went in and had fun. Whatever Jason Moore, the director, asked me to do, I did it! I ran around the room acting like a crazy guest on "Jerry Springer" and yelling at the audience. I just went for it.
Max von EssenI'm a New Yorker. I'm liberal and open-minded. Things don't really shock me. But I was reading the second-act today and thinking that if you're religious, you could be. But you shouldn't be! You can be extremely religious and have your faith and still be open-minded to art. Because this is art. That's part of the excitement. It literally is "The Jerry Springer Show" on-stage set to beautiful operatic music. That's what's so incredible about it!
Max von EssenI absolutely never thought I would! But it's something to look forward to in my career. I'm not just the young, leading guy who falls in love, simple and naive. Even just doing Enjolras recently in Les Mis. I used to cover Marius and thought: "Oh, that's simple. What I should be doing." But then when I got Enjolras, I hadn't even thought about it. He's more powerful, sure of himself, a leader. It was nice! It was much harder singing, passionate, declamatory. Which was awesome - and now this!
Max von Essen