Malcolm Gets - InTheater Interview

From sitcom to stage, Malcom Gets hits prime time with A New Brain.
By Paul Wontorek

For Malcolm Gets, talking on the role of neurotic gay song writer Gordon Schwinn in William Finn's A New Brain was a no-brainer. After three seasons in Los Angeles on NBC's "must-see" Caroline in the City, the 33-year-old actor was looking for an opportunity to flex the musical theater muscles that brought him attention in shows like Hello Again and the Work Theater's successful revival of Merrily We Roll Along.

But life has changed since Gets' pavement-pounding days, both financially and emotionally. Although he lives a quiet life outside of the sitcom, Gets has attracted the attention of a legion of fans of the show -- mostly in the form of teenage girls, if his fan flub website is any indication. On the lovefest that is known as "Meg's Malcolm Gets Page" (named after 16-year-old webmaster Megan Miller), fans like Carrie, Courtney, and Caitlin obsess over the intricacies of his life. Was he flirting with Frasier's Peri Gilpin on a recent appearance on Later?!? Are those soulful eyes of his brown or blue?!? In the wake of A New Brain, a fan named Nancy offered her breathless review: "I should probably warn everyone -- Malcolm kisses a guy! Somebody please assure me that he's not [gay]!" Such blantant interest in things beyond Gets' acting isn't new. When the site's poll section recently asked fans what kind of outfit Malcolm would look best in, his "birthday suit" was the top choice.

With all this attention, it's no wonder that Gets is determined to spend next summer's hiatus away from any kind of work -- and publicity. He recently spoke candidly to InTheater about the things he holds dear: a new attitude, a new appreciation for the other coast, and -- of course - A New Brain.

I knew I wanted to come back to New York and do something. Almost two years ago, I was doing a workshop of Triumph of Love and Graciela [Daniele] called me. I had no idea what the project was like. Two summers ago we worked on it for a month, a staged reading. Last summer, we just did a three-day reading. Finally, this year we went into production. I've never been involved in something for so long.

In a strange way, the piece started to get more serious. When I first read it, there was a real frivolity to it. The thing that Graciela talks about it is the emotional illness of the character. He's self obsessed, consumed by fear...and then his body cuts out on him. At one point I pick my work over my lover. The sort of stuff really fascinates me. What's weird is how the mood of the piece has been reflected in my own feelings. Last summer, working on it was a lark. This year, it gets heavy for me.

I had a change of life a couple of years ago. I've been realizing there's more to my life than work, and that I have some amazing people in my life. And I appreciate that my life has been so blessed recently. But I'm at this juncture where just having all this stuff is kind of empty if that's all that it's about. I feel like I'm at a point where I really want to give something back. As a friend, as a son, as a boyfriend...I don't know -- as a person. I want to be a person who can be there for other people. I don't know what that means as far as my work. Graciela and I did this directors' lab a couple of weeks ago, and someone asked her when she decided to stop dancing. She said that she reached a point where she didn't want to be the interpreter anymore; she wanted to take the mirror that had always reflected herself and put it behind her and see how it reflected others. All my life, teachers have asked me when I would get into directing. I'm starting to open up to those possibilities.

At several points in A New Brain, you play piano onstage. Is that nerve-wracking?

Actually, that's the easiest thing. I can do that in my sleep. I started playing when I was about eight. By the time I was 10, it was clear it was something I was born with. I pursued it seriously for a few years and it eventually got me into theater. Occasionally in my work I get to use it, in Merrily We Roll Along and Amadeus. I paid my way through college with it; I would play at auditions. It's funny, but that's the one moment in the show where I'm ost comfortable and relaxed.

Your character is based on William Finn, who actually went through all of this. Did he offer you any insight?

No way. He hates talking about that stuff. I would try to ask him occasionally, but.... You know, he's a really fascinating guy. I think Billy doesn't believe in spelling everything out, which is the nature of poetry -- it's suggestive instead of literal. Some of the material in this show is life playing a clown in Shakespeare. Nobody can know what Shakespeare meant by something he wrote, so as a performer you just internalize it for yourself.

I first saw Graciela's production at Hartford Stage. That's a good story, actually. I was at Yale School of Drama, and Graciela came in and directer some classes. I asked her if I could show her a dance piece that I made up. I did it for her and she gave me her number. Two weeks later, I went to Hartford and saw that production. I was that idiot you see in the audience afterwards sobbing. I was crying so hard at the end of that show. Anyway, I left her this message saying how much I loved it. So years later I was going in to audition for Hello Again [which Daniele directed]. I did this whole weird piece that I had concocted, which I always do. [He laughs.] I remember auditioning for Big. They hated it!

Well, I hate traditional audition pieces. I put together Tony from West Side Story and Romeo from Romeo and Juliet and did this whole montage: I would go from "something's Coming" info Romeo into "Tonight" into Romeo. Anyway, I did this whole piece and expected Graciela to say, "you're that briliant kid from Yale!"

No, but she did recongnize me. She said, "Did you dance in one of my shows?" Thankfully, she did end up casting me, so I did Hello Again, which was such a.... I was in such a dark place in my life.

Misery, despair, drama -- all that crap. Six months ago I listened to the [Hello Again] CD and it was so wonderful and sad to hear. Now that there's space and time it seems so obvious that they cast me as the guy who was completely disconnected from himself, looking for himself in everyone else. That's where I was at the time. I was in need of a breakthrough. I had it. I'm feeling very human again. Even at my worst times now. [He pauses.] Is this too much?

[He chuckles.] There's something in me now...a seed in me that makes me feel life things will never be as bad as they were. I finally found some space. I don't go to church or anything; it's just not all about me anymore.

I had just done The Molière Comedies at the Roundabout; I was totally burned out. I didn't want to go to L.A. to audition for Caroline. I did go, though and here I am. Going into our fourth year. And you know what? I miss L.A. I never though that I would say that.

It's not that terrible of a place. I've gone from hating it to missing it. I love the sunshine. I love driving. I have made a lot of really good friends out there. More than L.A., I love other parts of California: Laguna, San Franciso -- what a heavenly city!

What is sitcom fame like? Is it weird to have teenage firls decicating websites to you?

It's all a little weird. I tend to stay so much out of it. A friend did recently fax me an Internet thing -- a celebrity sighting. It was this girl saying that she saw me walking up Seventh Avenue with a friend and she described what I was wearing. I'm grateful for the show and the financial security it provides but the whole thing is so scary. I got in, do my job, and go home. I mean, I could have been picking my nose when she spotted me!

I don't think so. It doesn't matter at all to me. I never thought twice about that. I mean, there's good work and bad work. I don't want a career that would be affected by those things.

No, and I really believe that my life is my own. [He pauses.] I'm not interested in being a politician. Even in the three years that the show has been on the air, I've become motr ptotective of my family. I used to go on Jay Leno and imitate my parents. I'm not comfortable doing that now. I'm just interested in sharing my work with people, which is a personal thing in itself. I use so much of myself in my work. I'm not really interested in telling people what color underwear I wear. I've lost some of that frantic ambition to just get my fave out there.

Was it difficult to develop an onstage intimacy with Chris Innvar, who plays your lover?

Chris is the best. It either happens with a co-star or it doesn't. I've known him for four years; we just get along. This is a very easygoing cast. Graciela says that a lot of the firecting was in the casting. She's really good about sensing that unity. Trust me, I've been in situations where the reverse is true.

Are you sick of playing Richard, your neutotic character on Caroline in the City?

SOmetimes, yes. Most times, no. I mean, you do 26 episodes a year. I never though I'd learn so much from it. I stated ths series thinking that I was so different from the tortured guy. Now I think he's so much like how I can be! I remember a year ago on a Frieday night at around 9 p.m. I went into Virgin Records in L.A. to buy the opera Wozzeck, which is about a man who murders his wife. The cashier said, "Het, aren't you that guy from Caroline in the City?: I thought, "This is so Richard. I'm alone on a date night, out buying a really depressing opera!"

I certainly don't dress like him. I have many colors in my wardrobe beyound black. I love him. I've played so many young leading men that Richard is great; I find him so human and so flawed, not just likable and chipper. My only wish is that he could smoke.

[He laughs.] I'm grateful for the success that Craig Zadan has found on television with them [Gypsy, Cinderella]. What I'd like to do is film something like Merrily We Roll Along or Falsettoes for Showtime. A small musical for one of the cable channels. That's the kind of thing I think about. Merrily is a project that I can't ever let go of. I think a lot of the problems with the story going backwards would be easier on television.

Sorry. I'm gonna take next summer off. I'm one of those actors who always had the good fortune of having work. Now I really wanna kick back and take some time off -- just to be able to relax. In fact, could you do me a favor?

Put that in print. So that all of my agents will read it: I'm taking next summer off!