Playbill
Online Interview, April 23, 1997
Asked what research he used to prepare for the role of ship designer Thomas Andrews,
Michael Cerveris told Playbill On-Line he'd initially hoped to go to Belfast, Ireland, to
see the Harland & Wolff company who built the original Titanic.
He couldn't make the trip but did trade many faxes with the people there. He also went to
the Titanic Historical Society in Indian Orchard, MA, and spent an afternoon with the
president, Ed Kamuda.
"We looked through photographs. They had a couple of artifacts sent by survivors,
although they don't agree with salvaging things from wrecks. Also, there's a very helpful
book written in 1912 about Thomas Andrews, and I'd see documentaries like on the Discovery
Channel. By now, most of the cast have big Titanic libraries."
Cerveris, who came to national promise as the lead in The Who's "Tommy", told
Playbill On-Line that although there are differences in singing rock and show music,
"Singing steadily over the years made me able to sing now in Titanic.
I studied voice at Yale with Blake Stern from the music school, and he had me singing
German lieder and Italian songs. Tommy was the first musical I'd done
professionally. That was a real change and challenge for me. I'd grown up having rock and
roll bands, so the style of music was something I was a little more used to. But I wasn't
used to the rigors of singing eight times a week and maintaining a voice in that way. My
voice grew a great deal from the time I started singing in California [La Jolla] to years
later."
Asked how he went from playing a pinball wizard to a prideful ship builder, Cerveris said,
"When I came back from doing Tommy in Germany and tried to figure
out what my next job would be, I wasn't looking for another musical. But Titanic
came along...and the music is so rich and exciting -- a treat to be able to sing. I do
seem to be Broadway musical stunt guy -- if it blows up, sinks or spins around, they call
me."
Cerveris is serious, though, about the creative process Titanic needed to
go through before being ready for audiences. "[The creators] are pretty satisfied
with the point it's reached. We had all that technical stuff, but really, when we first
left the rehearsal room, we were tremendously well-prepared as far as the cast went. We
were even ahead of schedule. We did all you could do until you get it up on a set in front
of an audience. As for the technical challenges, it was a longer, more grueling process
than I've been a part of before, but it wasn't really that unusual. All shows go through
this kind of thing. They just didn't used to go through them in New York. Plus, if you put
the name "Titanic" on it, people are waiting for disaster."
Cerveris continued, "A lot of the difficulties were exaggerated, and the
precariousness of the whole thing was exaggerated, too. Maury Yeston and Peter Stone have
been around the block a number of times on Broadway. I was surprised how much courage they
had to cut things that weren't working and write new material when it was required. They
did it with compassion and thoughtfulness. Everybody in the show lost things they'd grown
attached to, and they'd d also get completely new pages in the morning for that night's
performance. But the atmosphere was so positive and professional. The result is, I think,
a terrific show in fine shape."
Cerveris, who's stopped giving opening night gifts to individual cast members and instead
makes a donation to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, tries to make opening night special
by giving fellow performers a copy of a letter he has that Martha Graham sent to Agnes
DeMille.
"It's about how each person's performance and individual contribution to any kind of
work of art is unique, because it's them doing it. No matter what anybody thinks of it,
you don't need to worry about good or bad or whatever; it's special because it's
you."
