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BroadwaySpace's Newest Crush: Steven Pasquale
BroadwaySpace hottie Steven Pasquale is definitely not just a
pretty face. He’s a multi-talented performer who seems to switch
effortlessly between musicals, plays, films and television. He
spent two years developing the role of Fabrizio in Adam Guettel’s
acclaimed musical A Light In the Piazza, but then couldn’t
open the show because he was committed to his popular television
show “Rescue Me.” His album “Somethin’ Like Love” is a gorgeous voyage through some
of the greatest love songs of the musical theater. BroadwaySpace
was really nervous about talking with Steven Pasquale but he put us
right at ease with his humor, honesty and deep love of Broadway.
Okay we have a HUGE crush…
Q: How did it feel to make your Broadway debut in a play when you are best known for your performances in musicals?
Steven Pasquale: I’m thrilled that people associate me with musicals but the irony is I’ve done many more plays than musicals. I’m a proud lover of the world of musical theater as an art, and I’m looking to get back to it, but it’s funny that I’m thought of as a musical theater person because I’ve done a lot more straight theater in my career!
Q: You have worked with some amazing composers and lyricists on new musicals. Do you enjoy that process and do you have an interest in creating a new musical of your own?
Steven Pasquale: I worked on Adam Guettel’s Light In The Piazza for the first 2.5 years of its life and that was the most incredibly fulfilling professional experience I’ve ever had. I think he is an absolute genius and the great heartbreak of my professional life is that I didn’t get to work on it in New York because of my television schedule. I think the only downside of that collaboration is that Adam set the bar for me in terms of being moved by a piece of music. Of course I would love to work on a new musical as soon as I get some availability in my schedule.
Steven Pasquale: You have to have talent for that!
Q: How do you see balancing your love of theater with the increasing pressures of television and film work.
Steven Pasquale: That’s the hardest thing about being as blessed as I’ve been in the television world. My first love is theater and I love that life. I love performing at night and sleeping late in the morning and being a part of the theater world. But, it’s very hard to have a high quality of life if that’s all you do. My consistent challenge is to find a balance between my television and film work, which provides a nice life for me and my family, and the theatre which I love infinitely more.
Q: Would you do a cabaret with Laura? I think everyone wants to see and hear you perform together.
Steven Pasquale: We will at some point - once we’ve done a big musical together.
Q: What else are you doing to promote your album “Somethin' Like Love.”
Steven Pasquale: Feinstein’s went incredibly well. However, I injured myself doing the play so I’m going to spend the next two months doing post-op recuperation and physical therapy. Then I go back to work on my television show for 8 or 9 months so I’m not going to have any time to do more live engagements until the spring.
Steven Pasquale: Anything by Adam Guettel! For classics I would do Billy Bigelow from Carousel or Sweeney from Sweeney Todd.
Q: What originally drew you to performing as a young man?
Steven Pasquale: I was an athlete as a kid. When I got injured playing football, I did the fall play with a friend. I had such a good time and I remember feeling proud that my little ripple in the pond had created a small social change because I got the football team and the basketball team to come to the play and they talked about it for weeks. Typically those two worlds don’t collide.
That was also a big moment for me. I realized that I was probably not going to be a professional athlete but I really loved theater and all the people involved in it. And people thought I was relatively good. So, I decided to throw all my energies towards theater and see what happened. I went out on a tour of West Side Story when I was 18!
Q: Was that too young to be on tour or was it an amazing, grounding experience?
Steven Pasquale: Half and Half. I was on my way to Carnegie Mellon to pursue that wonderful conservatory training when I got that tour. And I often feel like I really missed out on something spectacular. Specifically, a four-year training program, the relationships you develop there, and the network of people that will forever be in your life.
Instead, I had on the job training. I did 1000 performances of Miss Saigon before I turned 21 so I really had to figure out what I was doing as a singer. I never studied singing so that was like being thrown into the fire for me. I had an Incredible on-the-job training in how to maintain a performance over a long period. That kind of training you just can’t get without doing it.
Q: How did you preserve your voice with no training?
Steven Pasquale: Well…. I don’t know! Miss Saigon is a hard score, and it took me two months to learn how to turn some things up and other things down to get through every performance successfully. I learned how to maintain my energy and have something left over for a potential 2nd show while also ensuring that the audience doesn’t miss anything. It was trial by fire.
Q: Having performed in two Neil LaBute plays – how do you feel about romance and truth-telling in relationships?
Steven Pasquale: Oh, I think it’s the most important thing – truth telling. It’s the most important thing of all. You don’t want to be second-guessing what’s actually happening with the person you love in your relationship. So, Neil does a whole lot of truth-telling, which is why I think that his plays are so powerful. Romance is a close second I would say. Granted, I fall into the stereotypical male category of forgetting that sometimes – but I do recognize how important that is.
Q: How did the audience respond in those talkbacks after reasons to be pretty? You did a lot of them – did you think that was a good/useful format?
Steven Pasquale: I love the idea of a talkback but, in my experience, most of the time it’s people wanting to be heard and express their opinion of the play rather than actually ask a question. For me that can be frustrating. What you want people to ask is questions about the playwright, the rehearsal process or question moments and acting choices in the play. However, what they mostly end up doing is giving their opinions of the play or talking about how the play made them feel. Interesting stuff, but you don’t need me there to express that!
Q: What do your “Rescue Me” colleagues think of your theatrical endeavors?
Steven Pasquale: Daniel Sunjata is a Tony-nominated actor for Take me Out – Callie Thorne has done a ton of theater as a member of Naked Angels – so both of them are true-blue theater folks. Everyone else loves the theater even if they don’t work in it. It’s a great environment for that.
Q: It seems like you have a great community of friends who are also performers. Would you encourage our members to make their own creative communities?
Q: How did it feel to make your Broadway debut in a play when you are best known for your performances in musicals?
Steven Pasquale: I’m thrilled that people associate me with musicals but the irony is I’ve done many more plays than musicals. I’m a proud lover of the world of musical theater as an art, and I’m looking to get back to it, but it’s funny that I’m thought of as a musical theater person because I’ve done a lot more straight theater in my career!
Q: You have worked with some amazing composers and lyricists on new musicals. Do you enjoy that process and do you have an interest in creating a new musical of your own?
Steven Pasquale: I worked on Adam Guettel’s Light In The Piazza for the first 2.5 years of its life and that was the most incredibly fulfilling professional experience I’ve ever had. I think he is an absolute genius and the great heartbreak of my professional life is that I didn’t get to work on it in New York because of my television schedule. I think the only downside of that collaboration is that Adam set the bar for me in terms of being moved by a piece of music. Of course I would love to work on a new musical as soon as I get some availability in my schedule.
Steven Pasquale: You have to have talent for that!
Q: How do you see balancing your love of theater with the increasing pressures of television and film work.
Steven Pasquale: That’s the hardest thing about being as blessed as I’ve been in the television world. My first love is theater and I love that life. I love performing at night and sleeping late in the morning and being a part of the theater world. But, it’s very hard to have a high quality of life if that’s all you do. My consistent challenge is to find a balance between my television and film work, which provides a nice life for me and my family, and the theatre which I love infinitely more.
Q: Would you do a cabaret with Laura? I think everyone wants to see and hear you perform together.
Steven Pasquale: We will at some point - once we’ve done a big musical together.
Q: What else are you doing to promote your album “Somethin' Like Love.”
Steven Pasquale: Feinstein’s went incredibly well. However, I injured myself doing the play so I’m going to spend the next two months doing post-op recuperation and physical therapy. Then I go back to work on my television show for 8 or 9 months so I’m not going to have any time to do more live engagements until the spring.
Steven Pasquale: Anything by Adam Guettel! For classics I would do Billy Bigelow from Carousel or Sweeney from Sweeney Todd.
Q: What originally drew you to performing as a young man?
Steven Pasquale: I was an athlete as a kid. When I got injured playing football, I did the fall play with a friend. I had such a good time and I remember feeling proud that my little ripple in the pond had created a small social change because I got the football team and the basketball team to come to the play and they talked about it for weeks. Typically those two worlds don’t collide.
That was also a big moment for me. I realized that I was probably not going to be a professional athlete but I really loved theater and all the people involved in it. And people thought I was relatively good. So, I decided to throw all my energies towards theater and see what happened. I went out on a tour of West Side Story when I was 18!
Q: Was that too young to be on tour or was it an amazing, grounding experience?
Steven Pasquale: Half and Half. I was on my way to Carnegie Mellon to pursue that wonderful conservatory training when I got that tour. And I often feel like I really missed out on something spectacular. Specifically, a four-year training program, the relationships you develop there, and the network of people that will forever be in your life.
Instead, I had on the job training. I did 1000 performances of Miss Saigon before I turned 21 so I really had to figure out what I was doing as a singer. I never studied singing so that was like being thrown into the fire for me. I had an Incredible on-the-job training in how to maintain a performance over a long period. That kind of training you just can’t get without doing it.
Q: How did you preserve your voice with no training?
Steven Pasquale: Well…. I don’t know! Miss Saigon is a hard score, and it took me two months to learn how to turn some things up and other things down to get through every performance successfully. I learned how to maintain my energy and have something left over for a potential 2nd show while also ensuring that the audience doesn’t miss anything. It was trial by fire.
Q: Having performed in two Neil LaBute plays – how do you feel about romance and truth-telling in relationships?
Steven Pasquale: Oh, I think it’s the most important thing – truth telling. It’s the most important thing of all. You don’t want to be second-guessing what’s actually happening with the person you love in your relationship. So, Neil does a whole lot of truth-telling, which is why I think that his plays are so powerful. Romance is a close second I would say. Granted, I fall into the stereotypical male category of forgetting that sometimes – but I do recognize how important that is.
Q: How did the audience respond in those talkbacks after reasons to be pretty? You did a lot of them – did you think that was a good/useful format?
Steven Pasquale: I love the idea of a talkback but, in my experience, most of the time it’s people wanting to be heard and express their opinion of the play rather than actually ask a question. For me that can be frustrating. What you want people to ask is questions about the playwright, the rehearsal process or question moments and acting choices in the play. However, what they mostly end up doing is giving their opinions of the play or talking about how the play made them feel. Interesting stuff, but you don’t need me there to express that!
Q: What do your “Rescue Me” colleagues think of your theatrical endeavors?
Steven Pasquale: Daniel Sunjata is a Tony-nominated actor for Take me Out – Callie Thorne has done a ton of theater as a member of Naked Angels – so both of them are true-blue theater folks. Everyone else loves the theater even if they don’t work in it. It’s a great environment for that.
Q: It seems like you have a great community of friends who are also performers. Would you encourage our members to make their own creative communities?
Steven Pasquale: For me it is ironic and fantastic that I
have worked with Taye Diggs and Brian D’Arcy James on
different
projects.
It was Bryan who first inspired me to pursue theater when I saw him
in Blood Brothers as a teenager. It’s incredible to me that
I became his understudy in The Wild Party and that we went
on to become friends. The same is true for Taye. Those
relationships are very fulfilling, personally and creatively. If
you feel like you have stories to tell – tell them – if it’s not
quality, you’ll know – your talent will shine through. Creating
work and creative communities is central to maintaining your soul
as an artist. I’m constantly trying to develop things on my end –
trying my hand at writing and work-shopping. One would hope that
all the talented people I am surrounded with have rubbed off on
me!
Click here to purchase Steven Pasquale's album, "Somethin'
Like Love"
For more information about Steven Pasquale, please go to his
website
Click here for information about Laura Benanti
Steven and Laura both have pages on BroadwaySpace where you can
write to them and keep up with their latest activities.
Find your Wicked tickets for sold out shows through OnlineSeats. Get your Jersey Boys tickets for Broadway, A Little Night Music tickets to see Zeta Jones, and Billy Elliot seats for Elton’s Favorite
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