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THE LEADING MEN: Snyder, Reichard and Kind
By Tom Nondorf
03 Apr 2008
Kindide
Of his Candide co-star Richard Kind, Reichard says everywhere they go, Kind is stopped by people saying, "Oh my God! I can't believe it's you!" Such is the familiarity of Kind, the tireless performer on stage and screens, large and small. A man who has made an art-form of obtuseness, the affable Kind says he is most recognized for his roles on "Spin City" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm." If you're like me, you first loved his work on the Carol Burnett TV shows of the early nineties. Theatregoers know him for anything from The Producers on Broadway to The Front Page in Williamstown last summer. He even went to Iowa in January to play Pseudolus in Forum. The man can't be stopped.
Question: Were you intimidated at all to be in an operetta?
Richard Kind: Not only was I intimidated, I was properly intimidated because the music is so tough for me. I know music, I can sing. Not opera-sing, but I can carry a tune, and this stuff is difficult, it really is.
Q: Clearly you can carry a tune, and in The Producers you had the volume for opera, but what are the differences between something like that and Candide?
Kind: Where I come from in plays, you want to evolve into a role, make it your own. In the opera world, the music comes first — so much so that they don't really care a lot of times about what surrounds the character. Usually tech at a Broadway house can take a matter of days or weeks. Here, it's a matter of hours. We're having dress rehearsal on Friday, and we open on Tuesday. We are not on stage between Friday and Tuesday. It's like they want to give their voices a rest. I want to say, "No! Let's do it again! Let's do it on Saturday! Let's do it on Sunday!" I can't believe that we have four days up till curtain to forget about it.
Q: Do you find the show hard on your voice at all?
Kind: No, the music isn't taxing on my voice, but as Voltaire, I do an old man's voice, and any voice teacher or throat doctor will tell you, you start doing an old person's voice, and usually you are going to give your throat a bit of wear. So by hurting my throat that way, my singing voice isn't as good as it should be. I'm glad I'm not an old man. I'm just going to fake being an old man using the voice.
Q: How do you like playing in an opera house?
Kind: This house is huge. Huge! They fit 80 people in this orchestra pit, whereas normally they fit from 12-18 people. Here, you have 80, so the first row is a bit of a distance and then the upper tiers are so high, it's not like playing a theatre, it's a stadium.
Q: Did you get to see any of the earlier permutations of Candide over the years?
Kind: The only one I saw was Hal Prince's production back in '74. That was with Lewis Stadlen, who at that time was a hero of mine. He was magnificent. He did Minnie's Boys around that time, he did The Sunshine Boys, and he did Candide, and I just adored him. I don't remember much of it, but what I do remember is how it overtook the audience. They went in and out of the audience. It was not just theatre in the round, but really environmental theatre. We are trying to do a little bit of that, but we're really a proscenium production.
Q: Do you have a good feeling for Voltaire and his sense of satire?
Kind: Oh yeah. I gotta admit, I'm not playing the satire, but I am playing the humor. If that satire comes through, that's good. That's up to [lyricist] Richard Wilbur and Leonard Bernstein and everybody else who put their work in. I'm just trying to tell the story in a funny way.
Q: How do you go about choosing projects? Do you look for a challenge or mostly a good time?
Kind: That's a very good question. First and foremost, I like to work, so it's very difficult for me to turn down work. I worked with Hal once before on a show called Bounce, so he knows what I can do. I think if he hadn't worked with me, I would not have even been on his radar for playing this role. A lot of times, if you are associated with a great piece of theatre, that in itself is its own reward.
Q: You work so often. Does it get crazy for you at all to balance theatre and your young family?
Kind: It's not crazy at all. My sustenance is my work, and my sustenance is my family. You ask a guy who is a lawyer or a banker or a guy on Wall Street… I'm lucky, when the show is up, I get to spend time with my kids until seven o'clock. Nobody gets to do that. I got to spend the summer in Williamstown…and I got to be with my kids all during the day. When I am rehearsing during the day, I work from 10-6, let's say. That means I get to have breakfast and fool around with my kids for a little while and then leave for work at 9:30. Most guys have to leave at 7, 7:30 and don't get home till 6 at night and are exhausted, and the kids are in bed an hour-and-a-half later. I think I'm just the opposite. I think I'm blessed to have all this time and still be challenged by different roles, which is great.
Q: And your preference of late has been the stage?
Kind: Not just of late. For the past 25 years, that's my preference. I love being onstage. What's going to be tough is when this show is over. I love working in New York, and I really love working in theatre. I went to Iowa to do A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which was sort of a ridiculous thing for me to do, but there was an actor's strike on, it's a role I always wanted to play, and it was a brand-new theatre. I could help them out, so everything seemed right… Now that was a bit self-indulgent, as far as what I want to do with my career, but I didn't do that as career move, I did that as an artistic choice, to play Pseudolus. I thought it would be great. But then there are other things like doing TV and having to go out West trying to get work there, and that will draw me away from my family, and then all of a sudden it becomes worse than a lawyer or banker. That's tough. But there are a lot of plays coming in next year, and I'm not in one of them, so I gotta go look for work!
[Candide is at the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center (63rd Street and Columbus) April 8-20. For tickets visit www.nycopera.com or call (212) 721-6500.]
Hither and Yon
Charles Mee's Fire Island, which is billed as a "multimedia beach party" opens on April 10, at 3LD Art & Technology Center (80 Greenwich St. at Rector St., NYC). It's one of those things you can read all about and probably have no idea what it is until you show up. Holograms are involved. Also free beer. To buy or reserve tickets go to www.3leggeddog.org or call (212) 352-3101 . . . . Dean Martin fans: George Aline presents his Ain't That a Kick in the Head tribute to Dino at the Laurie Beecham Theatre at the West Bank Cafe, April 5 at 6:30 PM. Call (212) 695-6909 for reservations. . . . April 21, Michael Feinstein hosts a tribute to the late legend Kitty Carlisle Hart at Feinstein's. Proceeds will benefit the Dramatist's Guild. Go to www.feinsteinsattheregency.com for more details. Hart celebrated her 96th birthday onstage at Feinstein's just a couple short years ago… Meanwhile, spring is here, and boy am I glad! See you next time.
Tom Nondorf can be reached at tnondorf@playbill.com.
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Daniel Reichard (l.) and Richard Kind, who will both star in Candide.
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