Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
BY MELISSA RUGGIERI
The appeal of Josh Groban is vast.
He’s a bright, wickedly funny guy who sings pop-opera. Not exactly the music associated with hipness.
Yet with his boyish handsomeness – recently augmented by a fluff of scruff – and charming self-deprecation, he’s managed to get people who might have otherwise scoffed at blustery ballads such as “You Raise Me Up” and “Believe” to admit that hey, bombast can be great in the right hands. Or voice.
And Groban is certainly a masterful singer as well as song stylist.
He’s sold more than 25 million records worldwide and in April released “Stages,” the album that Grobanites have clamored for because it features the 34-year-old slaying Broadway favorites such “Bring Him Home” from “Les Miserables” and “All I Ask of You,” the soaring centerpiece of “The Phantom of the Opera” that Groban and worthy duet partner Kelly Clarkson turn inside out and upside down.
Squeezing in a lot of chit-chat in a breezy, 15-minute phone call last week from Los Angeles where he was preparing for tour rehearsals, Groban discussed his Broadway-centric “Stages” album that is the backdrop for his tour that launches at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre Saturday, as well as singing celebrity tweets and when we might finally see him on Broadway.
Q: You’re kicking off the tour in Atlanta. Is it a city that has any particular meaning or special memories for you?
A: "I love Atlanta. It's one of my favorite cities to visit and tour and eat in. But really, it just wound up being the right place for us to start from a tour mapping standpoint. I've had a wonderful time at the outdoor venues there, and the arenas are fantastic for singers. It's like a space-age opera house at Philips Arena with the (club level) boxes on one side.
Atlanta is also the city that got me interested in getting my pilot’s license. A couple of summers ago (August 2013) we played outdoors (Chastain Park Amphitheatre) and there were a couple of people from Delta there and they said we have a flight simulator here if you want to come fly our simulator. I literally took my bow, got into the SUV – I didn’t even shower – and went straight to airport and took a tour of the simulators until 6 a.m. I said, ‘How can I continue doing this?’ and I’ve been doing it ever since. I’ve been studying for my license now for 6 months.”
Q: I’ve seen you go big and go small with shows. Which will this be?
A: "We wanted to go to venues that had the right ambiance for this kind of record. These songs were written and designed to be in theaters, so to be able to bring back these songs in acoustically sound places, it provides a really intimate evening.
We’re going to fill the stage with a lot of music. It’s going to be a music forward show. We’re going to take some set pieces and lighting that were designed for my TV special (on PBS) that will be coming out soon. I wanted the tour to have a local feel, so aside from me and my guitarist and conductor, the stage will be filled with Atlanta’s finest musicians and choir members. That’s something we’re going to do at every stop with local musicians. It keeps me and the conductor on our feet every night, especially as we change the set list throughout the tour and see how the evening progresses. These songs are so difficult vocally, there’s no autopilot for me.”
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Q: How many songs from “Stages” will be in the set list?
A: "We'll do a lot, including bonus tracks and maybe some that are not on the record – some songs that we wanted to tackle but the arrangements weren't done in time. It will be a tour celebrating the world of these songs."
Q: But there is that handful of songs that you almost always have to do…
A: "To be honest, I'm not sure yet (what the set list will look like) or if they'll be included. To the core fan base, sometimes it can be more special if you leave the expected songs at the door."
Q: What were some of the songs that you wanted to do for “Stages” that just didn’t make the cut?
A: "'Being Alive' (from "Company"), but I'm not sure we'll do that since with (Stephen) Sondheim, the arrangements have to be so flawless. There's an endless catalog. From when I was 14, there have been songs from countless shows. I might bring out my cheat sheet musical piano vocal book and throw it at my pianist and say, 'Let's go!'."
Q: What about actually doing Broadway yourself? Is it something you’d consider?
A: "I've always been saying yes…soon. My fans assume it's a stock answer. I've been so honored to be friendly with the Broadway community for so many years and have had incredible offers. But truly it's been about the time constraints, both creatively and contractually, to have the time and the head space to give it everything I'd want to give it. Truth be told, I have cleared the board and made it apparent that 2016 is the time for me to make that leap. It's the first time in my career that I've forced the issue and said, 'This is what I want to do.' If it doesn't happen in 2016, then I'm just a chicken."
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Q: Are you still talking with Tim Rice about reviving (the 1988 Broadway musical) “Chess”?
A: "We'll have our cup of tea when I'm in London. We have a fondness for 'Chess' and it's one of those shows that we both feel deserves a kicking shot. The music is so brilliant, it's extraordinary. You see shows that come and go over a decade and some are hits and some are not. But sometimes what makes it a hit comes down to, 'Did the public wake up on the right side of the bed at that moment in time?' And 'Chess' needs some fixing for sure, but the music is timeless. It's a monster of a show, from a musical standpoint, and a vocal standpoint. But we look at it and it's an exciting thing."
Q: You’ve gotten this reputation as a funny guy – because you are – but is there anything you draw the line at when you’re asked to do these various skits or late night appearances?
A: "I don't like to overdo a bit. I've done the tweets thing with Jimmy Kimmel twice in four years. Whenever I do it, literally every single interview for the next year is, 'Can you sing a tweet?' and it's like, you don't get it! I draw the line if I feel like I'm genuinely being mean in the humor. I find that there is a fine line. The thing about the Kanye (West) and (Donald) Trump tweets (on Kimmel), is that you're just singing them, you're not writing them. However you want to feel about them, that's how you feel about them. Kanye's were just weird, Trump's were just asinine. There were some in that list (of tweets) that I didn't want to read and pass (Trump's) insults along to other people. Any time things cross the line from satire to mean-spirited, that's where I draw the line."
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