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[0:00] Martín Acuña: Hi, everyone. I am Martín Acuña, and you are listening to Backstage Talk.

[0:18] Martín Acuña: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Backstage Talk. Today, my guest is Michael Fasano. He is a musical theater performer, graduated from the Boston Conservatory with a master's in musical theater. He has starred in shows like Footloose, West Side Story, Jersey Boys Tour, Grease, and has worked on the MTC Festival of New Musicals. Michael, thank you so much for coming over. It is a pleasure. Welcome to Backstage Talk.

[0:49] Michael Fasano: Thank you so much for having me. The pleasure is all mine. I'm so flattered that you even wanted to talk to me, so it is totally a pleasure to be here.

[0:58] Martín Acuña: Michael, talk to us a little bit about how you started in musical theater.

[1:03] Michael Fasano: Yeah. I started when I was, like, nine years old. I mean, I think I've always just been, like, a showbiz kid. I was doing, you know, plays in my living room, and then that grew to doing community theater, which grew to summer theater programs. And then I did, like, every show there was to do in high school. I was always, you know, on stage. And then I parlayed that into going to the Boston Conservatory, where, you know, I could really specialize in dance, and singing, and acting. And that was literally, like, musical theater heaven. I was like, I didn't even want to leave. And then from there, I kicked it to New York City, and the rest is history. I've been working professionally since 2005.

[1:55] Martín Acuña: Awesome. Since then, it's been all about New York City and musical theater. I love it.

[2:00] Michael Fasano: Yes, amen. That's the place to be. If you want to do musicals, this is the place to be.

[2:06] Martín Acuña: I love it. Michael, with you, I want to talk about musical theater character development, because you've done a lot of shows that go and have a lot of variety in terms of character development. So I want to know, what or how is your approach to creating a character in musicals?

[2:30] Michael Fasano: Well, thank you for even noticing that, because it is true. I never would have thought that I would play so many different kinds of characters. You know, when you come to New York, there's a lot of pressure to know your type. What type of, you know, what are the roles that you see yourself in right now? And I always thought that was kind of hard, because I always grew up with the mindset that acting is imaginary, and it's about embodying sort of like a fantasy, like you could do anything, the sky's the limit. So to pigeonhole, be asked to pigeonhole myself was always a little bit daunting. But then it would turn out that I did play, I would end up playing so many different kinds of roles. So I think what I've kind of learned is that I'm an actor that works from the outside in.

I think there's some actors who work from the inside out, and that works for them. But for me, it's like, I got to figure out if they have, you know, something that they do with their hands, or a certain quality to their voice, or a way they stand or a way they walk or a way to carry their body. And once I kind of hone into that, I'll find this one thing, and I'll kind of use it as an anchor. Like when I feel like I'm floating out of the character, like I'm not quite doing it, I will kind of go back to what was that anchor that I made up for myself? What does he do? And that is, that's a big thing for me for character development, for sure.

[4:00] Martín Acuña: I love it. How was creating characters from Jersey Boys to Jesus Christ Superstar to Grease to West Side Story?

[4:11] Michael Fasano: Well, I think for the one that took the most character study and character development was obviously Frankie Valli, mostly because, you know, once you tap into your interpretation, okay, so first of all, I did not want to do an impression, because he's a real life person. So if I really wanted, I could just go on YouTube and watch a million videos and just, but to me, that's very hollow, and very cold. So what speaks more to me is figuring out what about me is like him, and what I could kind of hone in on and what I sort of found with him was sort of his scrappiness and his desire to make his dreams happen. I felt like, okay, that should be a palpable thing about him. I want the audience to see his passion.

I don't want it to be like, you know, because a lot of people have played Frankie and had him be really stoic, you know, and because he is really introverted. But I was like, I don't want that. I want him to feel like how I kind of am as a person. I'm very ambitious. And, and I think that that came across. So then once you find that level, then the next level is he ages, like 40 years over the course of the show. And that it becomes suspension of disbelief, no matter who is playing this part, because if it's somebody super young face, are you going to believe them? You know, when they are playing him when he's 60? Or if it's someone who looks a little older, are you going to believe them when he's playing when they're playing him as 14?

So I felt like it has to come all from how you carry your body, and all in the way that I spoke. So in the I tried to keep him a little more frenetic in the beginning and a little, you know, more teenagery angsty. And then as he got older, I wanted you to see him slowly kind of, you know, how the way people's stances change when they're older, they speak slower, their voice lowers a little bit, like, all of those things are all pieces that I feel like texturize this character. And I, it was very important to me that they come across, because it's not good enough to just have them in your head, and you know that you're doing them. You want them to really, like read to the audience without being over the top.

So it's a delicate, you know, delicate balance. But that's kind of how I approach the other shows, you know, when I did Grease, Grease is very much like once you tap into the vibe, you're tapped into the vibe. It's, it's the 1950s or early 60s. And it's, and it's like, hey, what are you doing? You know, it's like, it's very surface. Jesus Christ Superstar, I was in the ensemble. So I had to make a lot of character decisions, kind of for myself, you know what I mean, to keep myself interested, because the audience wasn't necessarily going to pick up on what I was doing, because I had like one line. So you know, all different approaches, but Jersey Boys, I think, was the most studied, and took it required the most work.

[7:31] Martín Acuña: So which was the biggest challenge right there, besides like, the age of the character through the show?

[7:40] Michael Fasano: In Jersey Boys, the biggest challenge is stamina. It you really have to rely on your technique, you have to rely on microphone technique, because you know, this is a show where you, as the main character, will be singing 27 songs. The version that I did of the show, we had no intermission, because it was done in on a cruise ship. So once you have the audience in, they've got, they have to sit through an hour and 45 minutes of performance. And that's, for me, as playing Frankie, I'm on the stage basically the entire time, except for two numbers that are put in the show, purposely to give Frankie a break. So yeah, pacing myself, just regulating my volume, and also making sure that after the show, the self-care that I put in, would inform my next show.

So that's steaming, and sleeping, and gargling with salt water, and not drinking, and not partying with the cast, even though you really want to party with the cast. So the big, I would say that's the, by far, for anyone who's ever played Frankie Valli, and there are many people at this point, the most challenging aspect is the stamina.

[9:06] Martín Acuña: I love it. I love it. And I love how, as a performer, you started to create a routine to take care of yourself.

[9:10] Michael Fasano: Yes, it is so important. And every routine is different. It all depends on, you have to know yourself as a singer, you have to know what you need. And like I said, when you are on tour, or when you are doing a cruise ship show, or whenever you're in a cast, there is such an inclination to want to party, and get to know everybody, and be there socially, but that requires speaking, and that requires drinking, and these are all things that counteract what your main purpose is, which is you've got to sound like a million bucks every time. So you've got to take that challenge on, and you've really got to sacrifice and focus.

[10:03] Martín Acuña: Yeah, I agree with that. So Jersey Boys was touring, you've been on tour with Jesus Christ Superstar 2 and Grease. How was tour life?

[10:14] Michael Fasano: Well, I love this question, because each of those contracts that you just mentioned were starkly different. Okay, so Grease was my first job out of school, and it was in Korea to start, and then we went to Malaysia, and we went to Singapore. So all of a sudden, first of all, you're dealing with the isolation, you're away from your family and friends, that can be really, really intimidating. Then you're in a foreign country, so I didn't know the language, obviously. So I had to learn how to get myself from point A to point B, I had to learn. Then there's the cuisine aspect, we're so used to, I'm going to pop over to Trader Joe's and get this. You're not doing that in Seoul, Korea. I had to eat locally, I ate a lot of fast food, and so it was really difficult.

That was a big adjustment. So you had that, and then Jesus Christ Superstar was a bus and truck, where, oh, well, what I should say about Grease was that we had really long sit downs. So I basically sat, you know, I lived in Seoul, Korea for like six weeks. It only played a few cities around Korea, it really sat down. Then when we went to Malaysia and Singapore, those were huge sit downs. So when I went on Jesus Christ Superstar, which was very shortly after, that was a bus and truck, and we were in a different city every night.

[11:52] Michael Fasano: If we were in a city for a week, it was like, oh, wow, this is luxury. I'm going to buy a house. So that aspect of tour life, that was the grind. Jesus Christ Superstar was the grind. It was waking up at 5 a.m., getting on that bus, being on the bus all day until we got to the next place, getting off the bus, sound checking, doing a show, checking into the hotel, then going back and doing the night show, then going to sleep to wake up at 5 and do the whole thing again. It was a grind. But it was fun. Some of my very best friends that I still, I'm actually having coffee with one of my greatest friends from that tour right after we wrapped this. So that was super impactful. Then you had Jersey Boys, which was on a cruise ship.

And so we were touring Alaska and Mexico and the Caribbean and Europe. So that was a little more stationary. But in that contract, I had to get used to answering to the officials on the ship. Once we lived there, our life was very much dictated by, you know, all aboard is at this time, and you can do this, but you can't do that. And so you never were on your own time. And so that could be sort of not cute. I was like, here I am, you know, 30 something years old. I want to live my life. I don't want to listen to somebody else's rules. But we are our show on the property of this bigger kind of system and powers that be. So we had to answer to a lot of people. And so that was a very unique experience as well.

But I mean, the traveling that I have done in my career is insane. I mean, I literally have been to every state in the United States and all over the world. So for that, I am very thankful to touring. And that's great. I mean, that's part of the artist's life, to get the chance to discover the world through tours. Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, I have friends who are not in theater who have been to far less places and are just in awe of everywhere I've been. And I feel bad because half of it is a blur. I'm like, yeah, we were there for six hours. Yeah, we were there for like two days. You know, it's not like I'm like, oh, let me tell you where to go in Saskatoon, you know, Canada. But at the same time, it's really unique. And I feel that I'm really lucky to have traveled in the capacity that I've had it in my life. I feel very lucky. So what is the best memory of all touring?

[14:44] Michael Fasano: Oh, my gosh, of all touring. I'll tell you when I was on the Jesus Christ Superstar tour, and we went to Lexington, Kentucky. And they have a tradition on Halloween, we were there on Halloween. They have a tradition where the town recreates a video of Thriller. And that always sort of like, stands out in my mind, because I remember going to see it. And I was like, this is surreal. It was like hundreds of people, you get there when the sun is still going down. They're all lying around dressed as zombies, you know, pretending to be asleep. And then on the loudspeaker, it starts up. You know, like the Thriller music, and everybody starts to come to life. And they do a huge Thriller parade down the street.

I was like, this is the wildest, like town tradition I have ever seen. So that's one of my favorite memories. I'm trying to think. I mean, there's just been so many. I really love Puerto Vallarta. That is somewhere I went with Jersey Boys that, you know, we just had these fabulous beach days. And like, it's just such a beautiful, beautiful place. That's somewhere I definitely want to go back to. We, you know, we performed Jersey Boys. The ship was docked in New York City. We performed it for Frankie Valli himself, and for Des Mechanoff, and for the original Bob Gaudio. That's insane. I mean, I have a picture with these guys. Like, that's nuts. At the time, I was a swing for the show at the time.

So I actually didn't even get to be, you know, on stage. But I was sitting in the audience with them. And it was just like, so that was a huge arrival point for me. I was like, wow, you know, my career is coming together. So yeah, lots of amazing memories.

[16:43] Martín Acuña: I love it. And that town tradition.

[16:47] Michael Fasano: Isn't that sick?

[16:48] Martín Acuña: Yeah, we all have to go to Kentucky on Halloween.

[16:52] Michael Fasano: I don't know if they still do it. I hope they do. It was really insane. It was insane. And I had pictures. I remember putting pictures on Facebook and people were like, really? And I was like, yes. Yes. It was cool. And then being on the audience with the original Jersey Boys. Mind blowing.

[17:13] Michael Fasano: Oh, mind. Mind blowing. You know, on that contract as well. He gave our whole cast tickets to his concert. And before we got on the ship, we went to see him in concert in Florida. And he was just fantastic. I mean, I think he's in his 80s now. It is. I mean, Italian genes. Italians are young forever. And he really is immortal at this point. So he's a cool guy. And we got to meet him. We took pictures with him.

[17:46] Martín Acuña: That's great. That's great. What would you say to a young Michael right now?

[17:54] Michael Fasano: What would I say? I was thinking about this. I would say, well, I would say your life is going to get really, really interesting. So hang in. Because I think we all know what it's like for artists. You know, growing up, we are marching to our own drum. We're not part of the norm, necessarily. People kind of look at us like, wow, they're unique, quote unquote. So I would tell that Michael to hang in and that he's going to find his tribe. And also, like, have confidence. I think that it's amazing how many actors and actresses and painters and writers and all of the artistic people, people like yourself, broadcasters, don't have confidence and have to kind of get it out of, you know, have to try to muster it up in different ways.

And I always think, oh, my gosh, my life would be so would have been so much easier if I just believed in myself from the very beginning. And I didn't, you know, and I didn't rely on, you know, the applause and the compliments and the assurances of other people. But I just knew if I had just known that I had what it took and that I'm great on my own. And I don't know, I think human beings in general are not always, when I meet someone who's naturally confident, I'm always like, wow, how did you get to be that way? But I think for a lot of us, you know, that confidence doesn't always come so easy. So I would tell little Michael to just be so proud, just be so proud of yourself all the time. And don't be self-conscious.

[19:49] Martín Acuña: I love it. I love it. It's great advice. Michael, before we close, what are your top five favorite musical theater shows?

[19:58] Michael Fasano: Oh, oh, my. Before we close, the hardest, like picking between children. All right, let's go. Little Shop of Horrors, for sure. Into the Woods, for sure. Jersey Boys. And it's not just because I'm in it. I loved the show even before because it is so, it is so well written. And as you get older and as you read more scripts and as you do more things, you realize there are so many badly written shows. Okay, so what I said, Little Shop, Into the Woods, Jersey Boys. Oh, God, I need two more, two more. What are some other really, really, you know what? I don't know it well enough to make it a top show, but one of my favorite shows I've seen in a while was Head Over Heels. I like was so taken aback by that show.

I was not expecting a jukebox musical to be as good, but it is so good. It is so clever. And it's really well written. Again, the book speaks for itself. So now I need one more. What is a show that I really, I don't know. Name some shows. What are some other like big iconic shows? I really like Cats. I know that that's, I know that's like a crazy thing to say. I really like Cats. I really like Godspell. I really, you know, I love shows that are driven by the music. I love like really, really intelligent music. I've always loved Phantom of the Opera. I think I've seen that like six times. And you know, these are not like super obscure. But they're not obscure for a reason. They're really, really enjoyable. So that's like seven.

[21:54] Martín Acuña: Michael, do you have any upcoming project that you can tell us about?

[21:59] Michael Fasano: I do. And I actually can tell you about it. Because it starts in a couple days. So by the time this airs, I'll probably have started. I am doing the Rocky Horror Show at Phoenix Theatre Company in Phoenix, Arizona. I'm playing Riff Raff. So talk about character development. And like what you were saying, my funny sort of patchwork of roles. This is totally out of the box for me. And I will be playing Riff Raff. And I also will be understudying Frankenfurter because it's a pretty sizable run. And with COVID and everything, they've really got to have some airtight understudy, you know, situations in place. So I'm going to be playing him. I will be posting all the pictures. I can't wait to have my prosthetics on and my scary wig. And I have no idea what I'm going to look like. But I'm sure it's going to be fierce. It's going to be wild.

[22:56] Martín Acuña: Michael.

[22:58] Michael Fasano: Yeah.

[23:00] Martín Acuña: Thank you.

[23:01] Michael Fasano: Thank you so much. I wish you the best in this upcoming project. And it's been wonderful talking to you.

[23:05] Michael Fasano: Thank you so much. I hope people will follow me at Michael D. Fasano. And I promise I will post tons of pictures.

[23:10] Martín Acuña: Yes, please.

[23:14] Michael Fasano: Well, thank you again for having me. I really appreciate it.

[23:22] Martín Acuña: Thanks, everyone, for listening to this new episode of Backstage Talk. Remember to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Backstage Talk Podcast.