Broadway’s New Pal Joey–Christian Hoff!
November 21st, 2008Patrick Healy of the New York Times has an in-depth interview with Christian Hoff about playing the role of Joey Evans in the revival of Pal Joey, a role immortalized by Gene Kelly onstage and Frank Sinatra on screen.
Reflecting on his success and the role of Joey Evans, Christian states,
The success I’m having right now is the result of 32 years of hard work and perseverance and my share of struggle to get to this point to go to the next step and lead one of our great American musicals. And the most challenging part of this is realizing that everything I need to do to succeed in this role is there. I just need to exercise it. Everything I am, I’ve got to pull out: my dark side, humor, charm, my song-and-dance man, my go-getter, my cutthroat Machiavellian side. But it’s on me to make it happen.
Read the full interview on NYTimes.com.
Christian, so happy you’re getting such well-deserved recognition after these 32 years in the biz. So many of us Jersey Boys fans were thrilled to see your talent exude again on stage this past Friday. And just like the “old daysâ€, you and Melissa could not have been more gracious after the show.
I’m sure the Jersey Boys fans would take exception to “not a household name†and “bankable star”. Who was the star of a Broadway phenomenon for three years that made millions? To use the author’s own words, that was at least partly “on the shoulders of one Christian Hoff.â€
I also admire your healthy attitude about “wags and bloggersâ€. Your great success at “midcareerâ€, as Mr. Healy puts it, has given you the knowledge to put all comments at either end of the scale in perspective. We’re all very proud of you, Christian. I’m looking forward to seeing the show again in early December.
Comment by Howard Tucker — November 21, 2008 @ 9:38 am