INTERVIEW: Aaron Lazar on crossing those ‘Bridges of Madison County’
Photo: Aaron Lazar plays the role of Robert Kincaid at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal Park, New Jersey. Photo courtesy of the artist / Provided by Axelrod with permission.
Celebrated actor Aaron Lazar, a frequent presence on Broadway, has taken on the role of Robert Kincaid in the new production of The Bridges of Madison County, playing through March 27 at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal Park, New Jersey. Joining Lazar on this journey is Kate Baldwin, playing the role of Francesca Johnson, and Hunter Foster, the actor-turned-director who is spearheading the staging.
In the show, Lazar’s character is a National Geographic photographer who has turned up in Madison County, Iowa, to capture the world-famous covered bridges. He meets Francesca, an Italian woman living in the heart of the United States, circa the 1960s. They almost immediately fall in love, but the question becomes whether Francesca will leave her home for Robert’s life on the road. The musical comes courtesy of composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown, with a book written by Marsha Norman.
“My agent called with the offer, and I loved this show since it first came out,” Lazar said in a recent phone interview. “It’s a dream role and a dream score. Marsha Norman wrote an incredible book. It’s like a play, so I just jumped in.”
Lazar counts himself as a fan of both Foster and Baldwin, so it was easy to sign on the dotted line. The score, with such monumental numbers as “One Second and a Million Miles” and “It All Fades Away,” has always impressed Lazar, an actor known for The Last Ship, A Little Night Music, Impressionism, Les Miserables and The Light in the Piazza.
“I have been looking forward to singing this score,” he said. “There are roles that you dream about singing and don’t know if you can actually do it, and so that’s the challenge. Let’s find a way. It’s a very demanding score, and it’s a glorious score. It’ll be the biggest role that I’ve played in a long time, so I started working a couple months ago vocally. It takes time to get the voice in the right place to sing this score and be able to get all the way to ‘It All Fades Away,’ which I think is the eighth or ninth song that I sing, and still have what you need to finish the show. It’s thrilling. I’m having the best time, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to play this part in this show with this group of people.”
Chemistry is definitely needed between the actors playing Francesca and Robert, and luckily Lazar has a quality scene partner with Baldwin, herself a frequent presence on Broadway stages. She is known for her work in Hello Dolly!, Finian’s Rainbow and Big Fish.
“Kate is the best in every way,” Lazar said. “If I was working with someone I didn’t know, there would just be that more work to do in a way, so Kate and I almost have a bit of a shorthand. She’s got a fantastic sense of humor, as does Hunter. We’re just having the most fun that you can have while telling this story, which is very deep and it’s epic and it’s intimate.”
Usually Lazar likes to conduct a lot of research before taking on a role like Robert Kincaid, and he has a lot to choose from. The Bridges of Madison County, of course, exists in many forms. The story started as a book by Robert James Waller, which was adapted into an Oscar-nominated film with Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood. The original Broadway production ran a few years ago as well.
“I started the book and kind of read a little bit about my character, and then I started the movie to just get an idea of Iowa and the bridges and the world and the nature and the tone and the colors and all of that,” he said. “I didn’t go very far into either of them because I’m just enjoying taking what’s on the page, what Jason has written and what Marsha has written, and bringing that to life instead of stealing from Clint Eastwood. I’m not relying on the source material as much as I might have for other projects.”
Lazar’s credits extend far beyond the Broadway stage. He also appeared across Kate Cattrall in Filthy Rich on FOX, and his other TV work includes The Strain and Quantico. The creative muscle he uses for TV and film is similar to the one he uses for stage, but for a musical like The Bridges of Madison County, the experience is all-consuming.
“I think playing a role like this on stage, this takes all the muscles,” Lazar said. “You’ve got to get through the whole thing, not just a moment repeated until you get it right. I love this part of the art form. A fantastic, challenging role on stage is I think one of the things I was born to do.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Bridges of Madison County, featuring Aaron Lazar and Kate Baldwin, plays through March 27 at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal Park, New Jersey. Click here for more information and tickets.
