AURORA| Many people know John O’Hurley for his role on the 1990s sitcom “Seinfeld” as J. Peterson, the bumbling, bombastic New York publisher. That role represents only a small part of the actor’s accomplishments on stage and screen. In addition to his work in television and film, O’Hurley boasts an impressive stage résumé, including definitive roles in two of Broadway’s most popular productions, “Chicago” and “Spamalot.” O’Hurley will return to Denver in the touring production of “Chicago,” playing Billy Flynn in John Kander, Fred Ebb and Robert Fosse’s seedy musical about the Jazz Age in America. We caught up with O’Hurley to discuss his longtime role in “Chicago,” as well as the difference between screen and stage.
Can you give me your history with the production of “Chicago”?
I started on Broadway with the show in January of 2006. I’ve been back and forth on Broadway four or five years and I’ve been touring with the show for many years. I’ve done over 1,000 performances of it, combined with another show called “Spamalot” — I’ve done over 1,000 of those. I’ve done both in Colorado
before.
After such a long run, what is it about the role of Billy Flynn that’s remained compelling for you as an actor?
I say one prayer before I go onstage, and that’s ‘Let me be surprised.’ I mean that genuinely. Every night that I go on, I find something different in the role. All this week, I’ve found different things; I find one or two little things in the role that never occurred to me before. It’s constantly renewing to me, and it’s infinitely more complicated than when I began the show in 2006. Over time, I’ve realized that very often, Billy is played very monochromatically, a very slick Chicago lawyer. I actually find a deep paternalistic quality in him that you have to look for and find. But there’s evidence of it in the script.
As a performer who’s been so deeply involved in both the Broadway and the touring production, what do you see as the main difference between the two types of audiences?
I find the touring audiences listen much more and are much more intelligent. People who go to the theater outside of Broadway, I find that they’re going to one singular event that they’re waiting for. When people are going to Broadway, they’re going to see three or four shows. We may be the 2 o’clock matinée that they’re seeing before the 7 o’clock show that night, and they just saw a show the night before. They tend to be not as attentive, and they’re there for more of a total experience.
Is it a difficult stretch performing between a serious musical like “Chicago” and surrealistically silly comedy “Spamalot”?
I like it, actually, because it tickles the two sides of me. Billy is obviously a very sardonic, slick, elegant character, and the exact opposite is true of King Arthur. He’s more like J. Peterman, a thousand years removed.
Speaking of J. Peterman, a lot of people know you for you television and film work. Do you have a preference between the stage and the screen?
I much prefer the stage. On the stage, you’re given a character that has a beginning, a middle and an end and you take them through the arch of two-and-a-half hours on stage. There are no retakes. If you do not have the command, the presence on stage, then you will not entertain an audience. They will just tune you right out. In television and film, they’re editors’ mediums. You say the lines and they will assemble the footage necessary. There’s a sense of displacement to it. Sooner or later it will come out as a finished piece, but you don’t have anywhere near the same sense of the actual creative process as you do on stage. The herd is much thinner, in terms of who’s able to accomplish that.
“Chicago” runs from March 18 to March 23 at the Buell Theatre, Denver Center for the Performing Arts at 13th and Champa streets in Denver. Tickets start at $30. Information: 303-893-4100 or denvercenter.org.