‘Family Law’ actor plays 4 roles in musical about ‘80s idol

Claudia Figueroa

Cruising down the freeway toward Costa Mesa, Gregg Henry looks around to

assess traffic before he decreases the volume on his radio, rolls up his

window and begins a vocal warmup. He is calm and focused.

He’s getting ready for his first musical performance in which he plays

four roles. And, despite the small sacrifices he has made in recent

months -- such as taking a leave of absence from his steady appearances

on CBS-TV’s “Family Law” and his frequent music jams at L.A.’s Genghis

Cohens -- he has a lot to look forward to.

After all, the Los Angeles-based actor is getting ready to work with one

of his musical idols.

Audiences will witness Henry’s rare performance when he returns to South

Coast Repertory’s Mainstage for his performance in “The Education of

Randy Newman,” which will make its world premiere Friday.

The veteran stage actor has performed in comedies and dramas. His recent

L.A. stage credits include “The Joy of Going Somewhere Definite” at the

Mark Taper Forum and “Mad Forest” at the Matrix Theatre.

Henry is no stranger to South Coast Repertory, either. In 1990, for

instance, he appeared in David Mamet’s “Speed-The-Plow.”

If Henry is a complicated man, then so are the characters he chooses. In

film, he’s played opposite Patrick Stewart in “Star Trek: Insurrection”

and he’s caught audiences’ attention with roles ranging from the boy next

door (“Rich Man Poor Man”) to villain (“Payback”).

“I like playing [devious] roles because those characters are always a

little bit more challenging. And they have many guises,” Henry said.

His upcoming films include “Sleep Easy, Hutch Rimes” with Swoozie Kurtz,

and “Recycler” with rock musician Beck. The focused acting machine has

garnered 13 Drama-Logue Awards in the last 20 years.

But his acting techniques have led some to view him as unconventional.

Henry prefers a physical approach over a philosophical one. He said he

prepares for roles by honing in on small details about the character,

such as the way he might walk.

“He tends to work from the outside in,” said his wife, Lisa James, who

directed Henry in several plays, including “Palladium is Moving,” for

which he was nominated for a Drama Critics Circle Award.

“He goes for big, broad strokes of the character at first,” James said.

“As he rehearses, he hones them in and pulls back as he discovers the

essence of his character.”

Speaking about his own acting methods, Henry said: “I’ve studied

Stanislavsky and Viola Spolin. I’ve used a little bit of this one when

it’s needed, and a little bit of another when it’s needed. But I’m not a

firm believer in any one school of acting.”

Not surprisingly, his acting method is similar to the way he chooses his

roles. He said he likes challenges and the emotions that come with them.

And in “Newman,” he’s working with someone he considers one of the

leading songwriters of the 1980s. Like most die-hard fans, Henry is drawn

to Newman’s iconoclastic songwriting.

“Some of the songs in the show are just rock ‘n’ roll songs,” Newman

said, “and Gregg has the kind of voice that I have and does ‘em

essentially the same way I would.”

Henry’s respect for Newman is mutual.

“He defied the rules that were being applied to songwriting at the time,”

Henry said. “Most songwriters were writing [corny] songs about love, and

he wrote songs about his surroundings -- and short people.”

“The Education of Randy Newman” is a musical theater piece created by

Newman, musical director Michael Roth and Jerry Patch.

Their intent was not to be extravagant, Patch said, but somewhat

eccentric.

The show, which features more than 40 Newman-penned songs -- some dating

as far back as his self-titled 1968 debut album -- is loosely based on

the American autobiography “The Education of Henry Adams.”

Even though “The Education of Randy Newman” bears the name of the artist

who created the musical and resembles his life, it is not about him nor

is he in it. The production strives to depict the life of an American

musician in the last half of the 20th century.

It takes place in New Orleans and Los Angeles, where Newman learned and

polished his songwriting, but the creators said it is not meant to be

autobiographical.

“It’s a story that resembles the life of Randy Newman in many ways, but

new ideas were added, and it is no longer consistent with Newman’s life,”

Patch said.

“It’s really kind of cinematic. There’s a story but it’s not told in a

traditional way. It moves from moment to moment. It would be like a story

that’s told if you were to look at a photo album that goes back a few

decades. Each photo is a moment frozen in time. But in that moment is a

circumstance and a story.”

Patch said Henry and the other actors enter the story at critical moments

when the songwriter encounters people who influence and shape him.

Nobody is more eager to bring the production to light than Henry. He and

the other cast members -- Jordan Bennett, Sherry Hursey, John Lathan,

Allison Smith, Scott Waara and Jennifer Leigh Warren -- have devoted

several months to making presentations and tightening loose ends with the

writers.

Their fast-paced schedule consists of 90-minute daily vocal sessions with

Roth, then several hours of blocking and acting preparation. Their goal

is to do a full run of the show at least a couple of weeks before it

opens.

Some of the actors have multiple roles, including Henry, who plays three

characters in the first act: King Fish, a red neck and Elder of the

Quarter. The initial two are the titles of songs found on “Good Old

Boys,” an album Newman released in 1974 that pokes fun at Southern

themes.

Henry said King Fish embodies the spirit of Huey Long, the one-time

governor of Louisiana, who was nicknamed “King Fish” because of his

political approach and belief that corruption was a necessity in

political life.

More in line with his role in “Payback,” however, Henry said of the

Newman play influences: “My character shows him the darker side of life.”

In the second act, Henry plays the part of a mentor to the songwriter.

In some ways, Henry said, the mentor’s philosophies are similar to his

own views. At 44, his clean-cut yet rugged look is just right for the

often misunderstood roles Henry chooses. He’s part tough guy, part poet.

In the late 1970s, Henry was in the actors conservatory program at the

University of Washington in Seattle. After graduation, he headed south to

Los Angeles and held a number of part-time jobs while acting. Among them:

singer/songwriter.

Because of that, he said, being in “The Education of Randy Newman” is

inspirational and daunting at the same time.

Henry also is a self-taught blues musician and remembers fondly, early in

his acting career, when he played gigs with a soul band for extra money.

“Back then, inspiration came to me in a dilettante way,” said Henry, who

spent several years performing his own songs. “But I never considered

myself a performer as much as earnest songwriter.”

“Gregg’s voice has a raw, rock character to it,” said South Coast

Repertory spokesman Cris Gross, who saw Henry perform at Genghis Cohen

several times before recommending him for a role in the show.

“When Gregg performed here for ‘Speed-The-Plow,’ nobody knew he was a

singer. He’s a great songwriter and performer, whose songs come from the

same vein as Newman or Tow Waits. And his songs have the same world of

strange characters as Newman’s.”

When the “Randy Newman” show closes, Henry will pick up where he left

off, playing a recurring role on “Family Law.” He’ll also go back to his

part-time gig in Los Angeles, where, he says, life is as good as a Newman

song.

FYI

* WHAT: “The Education of Randy Newman”

* WHEN: Previews will open Friday and end June 1, with regular

performances June 2 to July 2. Show times are 8 p.m. Tuesdays through

Fridays, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays.

* WHERE: South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

* HOW MUCH: $23 to $52. The June 3 matinee will be a “pay what you will”

performance, with a $5 minimum suggested, subject to availability.

* PHONE: (714) 708-5555