{"id":35367,"date":"2021-09-17T16:05:48","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T16:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=35367"},"modified":"2021-09-17T16:05:48","modified_gmt":"2021-09-17T16:05:48","slug":"five-questions-reeve-carney","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/five-questions-reeve-carney\/","title":{"rendered":"FIVE QUESTIONS FOR \u2026 Reeve Carney"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Amber Grey, Reeve Carney and Eva Noblezada onstage (Photo by Bruce Glikas\/WireImage)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Reeve Carney\u00a0returned to\u00a0Broadway\u00a0on September 2nd\u00a0as Orpheus in the Tony-winning musical\u202f<\/span>Hadestown<\/span><\/i>.\u202f He made his Broadway debut in the title role of\u202f<\/span>Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark<\/span><\/i>.\u202f\u00a0Other roles have included Dorian Gray in\u202f<\/span>Penny Dreadful<\/span><\/i>\u202fon Showtime and Riff Raff on Fox\u2019s musical version of\u202f<\/span>The Rocky Horror Picture Show.<\/span><\/i>\u202f His great uncle was Oscar-winning actor Art Carney.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Before the COVID pandemic shut down Broadway,\u00a0I met with Reeve in the empty orchestra section of the Walter Kerr Theatre before an evening performance of\u202f<\/span>Hadestown.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u201cAn evening performance\u201d\u00a0is, week by week as the fall\u00a0approaches, thankfully\u00a0becoming an apt term for what is beginning to happen inside Broadway theaters that have been dark and dormant for much too long.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You grew up in Greenwich Village, Reeve.\u00a0Was it an artsy-fartsy environment in your home?<\/i>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah. The first place I\u00a0lived\u00a0was right around the street from the Village Vanguard which was on Tenth and Seventh Avenue South. But then we moved to the Flatiron District and the Union Square area. But I always went to school in the Village. I went to PS 41. And The Little Red Schoolhouse. I used to live in the Catskills for a bit\u00a0also\u00a0when I was a kid. Croton-on-Hudson. My parents are musicians, too. They met at the Bitter End on Bleecker Street. They are both singer\/songwriters. My mom is also a jewelry designer. All this stuff (he points to all\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span>jewelry<\/span>\u00a0he is wearing) is mostly my mom\u2019<\/span>s.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As I look at your professional resume from the title role in the Broadway musical based on Spider-Man to Dorian Gray in\u202f<\/i>Penny Dreadful\u202fto Riff Raff in Fox\u2019s\u202f<\/i>The Rocky Horror Picture Show\u202f<\/i>to\u00a0Orpheus\u00a0in<\/i>\u202f<\/i>Hadestown\u202f\u2013\u00a0and even to your being Taylor Swift\u2019s love interest in her video for her song\u00a0<\/i>\u201c<\/i>I Knew You Were Trouble\u201d \u2013\u00a0they are all rather odd, heightened roles.\u00a0They are all about longing in some strange way.\u00a0How do you ground yourself in the reality of them to make them believable?<\/i>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I can relate to that quality in those characters. And I think it is something I\u2019m interested in watching as well. Longing is\u00a0a quite\u00a0active emotion. It is always interesting to\u00a0play things\u00a0as\u00a0active\u00a0as possible.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I saw an early production of\u202f<\/i>Hadestown\u202fat\u00a0New\u00a0York Theatre Workshop where the production values were much simpler and the actor playing Orpheus was different. I saw\u00a0this Broadway. iteration of it the other night. What struck me was the choice you\u2019ve made as Orpheus within the framework of what is now a very elaborate production. You have chosen to simplify him and be even more tender and still and quiet. And in that, you have become the sweet spiritual heart of the very busy and carnal narrative going on around it. There is a\u00a0a\u00a0controlled craziness to it all.\u00a0\u00a0Are you aware of being kind of the idler on its motor?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is my third time doing it. (Carney played the role at the Citadel Theatre in Canada and The National Theatre in England before starring in the part on Broadway.). And this is the only time I\u2019ve played it this way.\u00a0I think because I\u2019m playing an ancient Greek myth,\u00a0there was a temptation or a desire to connect to the original text that at times may have even fighting against the beauty of the text of Ana<\/span>\u00ef<\/span>s Mitchell who wrote the music and lyrics and book. I think at a certain point they found they could take certain liberties with it. What I\u2019m trying to say is that the original Orpheus was much more confident. I think that the things that originally motivated him sort of came from a place of ego maybe than certainly this Orpheus. And in the earlier version that I was a part of, there was that aspect of pridefulness in him and sort of an ego-driven impulse\u00a0which was part of his fall.\u00a0 At least, I\u00a0think\u00a0it was. That\u2019s how I feel about the former versions I was involved in. It\u2019s not true in this latest version. It\u2019s more about the doubt which is part of what Ana<\/span>\u00ef<\/span>s has written so beautifully. I think the more you live\u00a0on-the-text\u00a0the less the intention is to be ironic or to go against that in\u00a0a some\u00a0way. I think it helps just to trust the text and build from there. As an actor, that is what I try my best to do.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That was the biggest change\u00a0about\u00a0my character. I like to describe this Orpheus as guileless. The earlier version of Orpheus had a higher degree of machismo and bravado. There wasn\u2019t that purity. And that\u2019s\u00a0something that Ana<\/span>\u00ef<\/span>s\u00a0did change in the text for the Broadway debut in describing him as someone who is naive and can perceive the world as it could be\u00a0in spite of\u00a0the way that it is. That is one of the starting points that drive the choices I am making as an actor.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Did you go back and listen to the operas about him\u00a0– Gluck\u2019s\u00a0<\/i>Orfeo ed Euridice, Offenbach\u2019s\u00a0<\/i>Orpheus in the Underworld, Rossi\u2019s\u00a0<\/i>Orfeo, among others –\u00a0or study the myths or read Tennessee Williams\u2019s\u202f<\/i>Orpheus\u00a0Descending\u202fwhen\u00a0you got\u00a0this role?<\/i>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I asked our director, Rachel Chavkin, what I should investigate. I did look at those things. But in general, I guess, I think that in all these characters that I have been asked to play, which you mentioned earlier, they all are not fully human in some ways.\u00a0So\u00a0I don\u2019t find studying the other versions of Orpheus as helpful as trying to find what would motivate him as a human. I am not aware that there are a whole lot of actual gods that come into the theatre every night sitting in the audience. Maybe invisibly there are. It\u2019s all humans watching these shows as far as I can tell.\u00a0So\u00a0I want to help the people who are visibly there to find those human aspects about Orpheus and my job is to help them get to the core of that the quickest.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How do you do that?\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I like to think of it as that we all have as humans\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and I do believe this\u00a0\u2013\u00a0we all sort of have\u00a0all of\u00a0the spectrums of light. We have\u00a0all of\u00a0the frequencies of light within us. Or sound. Or whatever you want to choose. The vibrations. You can use either light or sound to describe it. I have a different fundamental vibrating frequency than Orpheus does. But we both share all the same frequencies. Just like you share all the same frequencies with Orpheus. I sense you do. And with any character onstage. I think that\u2019s the beauty of this show. You\u2019re able to see how easy it is for someone like Orpheus potentially to become someone like Hades. Because we\u00a0really truly\u00a0do have\u00a0all of\u00a0these things in our being, in my opinion. That\u2019s how I feel.\u00a0So\u00a0I guess what I try to do is to try and find the fundamental vibrating frequency in each character and I try to turn the parts of myself down that get in the way of that and turn the other parts up. Dorian Gray and Orpheus to me are not\u00a0polar opposites, but they\u00a0definitely have\u00a0different fundamental frequencies.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mine are somewhere in the middle. If I am around let\u2019s say 1K\u00a0\u2013\u00a0if that is my fundamental vibrating sonic frequency\u00a0\u2013\u00a0then I\u2019d say Orpheus sits somewhere around 6 kilohertz.\u00a0Whereas,\u00a0Dorian Gray sits around 300 hertz.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe it has to do with my musical background.\u00a0But it is about light too.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know the numbers that correspond to the frequencies of light as well as I do with those that correspond to the frequencies of sound vibration. But light is maybe something that more people would understand. The way that our lighting designer in\u202f<\/span>Hadestown<\/span><\/i>, Bradley King, paints these beautiful pictures. He is such a brilliant lighting designer. He truly underscores the emotional aspects of this piece. You can see when we\u2019re changing. He really watched closely in rehearsals. When we have subtle shifts in our emotions, the lights go with it. People understand darkness and light. I guess that\u2019s what I should say. I guess that\u2019s what I mean about frequencies.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u00a0definitely believe\u00a0in an invisible realm. I am very fascinated by it. That is another of the beautiful powers of this show. I can feel that every night with the audience. There\u00a0are things that are\u00a0unspoken and unseen that I feel connect us as performers and audience. You don\u2019t always get that with live theatre, but with this show we really feel it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I think the beauty of this show is that we have experienced both sides of the Orpheus myth as humans\u00a0\u2013\u00a0the times we did look back and the times in which we didn\u2019t. To me, this show gives us the opportunity to learn from Orpheus. Being able to accomplish something starts with having the best of intentions but it doesn\u2019t end there. You\u00a0have to\u00a0go a little bit further.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u00a0wrote\u00a0a song titled\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>Intention.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0The catchphrase in the song is\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>there\u2019s no greater drug than intention.\u201d\u00a0I think it is important no matter what you\u2019re going through to do that, to have a good intention but also to follow through. I learned that from my parents. For example, I have had jobs that weren\u2019t my ultimate end goal\u00a0\u2013\u00a0like most people, everybody has that sort of a job sometime\u00a0\u2013\u00a0but when I did\u00a0them\u00a0I really enjoyed those jobs. I learned from my parents that I might as well enjoy it because it takes just as much time to enjoy it as it does to not enjoy it. I am certainly not someone who says,\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>I have no regrets.\u201d\u00a0For me, I don\u2019t buy into that. There are things you\u00a0go\u00a0sometimes,\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>Oooh, I could have done that a little bit better.\u201d\u00a0But you can\u2019t let that stuff hold you back from stepping into your future. It\u2019s interesting. Sometimes some things that you might be regretful for, ten years later you go,\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>This great thing wouldn\u2019t have actually happened if that thing I regret hadn\u2019t happened.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if faith and fear can exist simultaneously. I guess they can exist simultaneously. I don\u2019t know. But I tend to go with faith more than fear. I grew up with a family that is quite spiritually interested.\u00a0So\u00a0it has always been a part of my life.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But to bring this back to acting.\u00a0\u00a0I have a few incredible teachers. You might know of one: Sandra Seacat.\u00a0\u00a0And her daughter Greta.\u00a0Also\u00a0Sheila Gray. After studying with Lee Strasberg, Sandra came up with her own ideas regarding The Method. One thing she says is,\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>Heal yourself, heal the audience.\u201d\u00a0That\u2019s certainly what I try to do.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29575,"featured_media":35369,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[38,16],"yoast_head":"\nFIVE QUESTIONS FOR \u2026 Reeve Carney - GRAZIA USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Reeve Carney\u00a0returns to\u00a0Broadway\u00a0on September 2nd\u00a0as Orpheus in the Tony-winning musical\u202fHadestown.\u202f\u00a0He made his Broadway debut in the title role of\u202fSpider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.\u202f\u00a0Other roles have included Dorian Gray in\u202fPenny Dreadful\u202fon Showtime and Riff Raff...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/five-questions-reeve-carney\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FIVE QUESTIONS FOR \u2026 Reeve Carney\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reeve Carney\u00a0returns to\u00a0Broadway\u00a0on September 2nd\u00a0as Orpheus in the Tony-winning musical\u202fHadestown.\u202f\u00a0He made his Broadway debut in the title role of\u202fSpider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.\u202f\u00a0Other roles have included Dorian Gray in\u202fPenny Dreadful\u202fon Showtime and Riff Raff...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/five-questions-reeve-carney\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grazia USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/09\/feat-26.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/five-questions-reeve-carney\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/five-questions-reeve-carney\/\",\"name\":\"FIVE QUESTIONS FOR \u2026 Reeve Carney - 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