{"id":22026,"date":"2014-08-15T02:35:22","date_gmt":"2014-08-14T18:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=22026"},"modified":"2025-01-09T21:56:20","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T02:56:20","slug":"its-like-that-crazy-christopher-fitzgerald-does-chicago-double-duty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/08\/15\/its-like-that-crazy-christopher-fitzgerald-does-chicago-double-duty\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s like that crazy\u2019: Christopher Fitzgerald does \u2018Chicago\u2019 double duty"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Christopher<\/a>
Christopher Fitzgerald. Photo by GabboT \/ Flickr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NEW YORK\u2014Christopher Fitzgerald liked being in \u201cChicago\u201d so much that he\u2019s doing it again.<\/p>\n

The actor, who made his debut in the show last October as Roxie Hart\u2019s put-upon husband Amos, has just stepped into the role of slick lawyer Billy Flynn, becoming the first actor in the show\u2019s 18-year history to be contracted to perform both starring male roles.<\/p>\n

\u201cChicago\u201d is a scathing 1975 satire of how show business and the media make celebrities out of criminals. Fitzgerald has gone from singing \u201cMister Cellophane\u201d as Amos to \u201cAll I Care About\u201d as Flynn.<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald is a Broadway veteran whose credits include \u201cFinian\u2019s Rainbow\u201d and \u201cYoung Frankenstein,\u201d so jumping into a long-running musical was no big deal.<\/p>\n

Some might describe such a feat as like walking a tightrope, but not Fitzgerald.<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s because he was on a real tightrope last summer while playing P.T. Barnum in \u201cBarnum\u201d at the Chichester Festival Theatre in England.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Of his time spent nightly walking 8 feet off the ground along a 25-foot long rope, Fitzgerald said it caused \u201cnightmarish stress\u201d and was \u201cthe hardest thing I\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two-time Tony nominee, who has two children with his wife, the actress and director Jessica Stone, took time to talk about \u201cChicago,\u201d the tightrope and why his kids aren\u2019t that impressed.<\/p>\n

AP:<\/strong> What\u2019s it like being in \u2018Chicago\u2019?<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald:<\/strong> It\u2019s a remarkable show. The fact that it has lasted is because of what it\u2019s about. I have a line where I say, \u2018You\u2019re a phoney celebrity, kid. In a couple of weeks, no one will ever know who you are.<\/p>\n

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\u2019 Back then, there weren\u2019t as many phoney celebrities. Now it\u2019s nothing but phoney celebrities. There are no real celebrities any more.<\/p>\n

AP:<\/strong> You\u2019re Billy Flynn. Ever dream of playing him one day?<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald:<\/strong> Did I ever think I\u2019d be playing Billy Flynn? No. I never thought about it 10 years ago, five years ago or a month ago. It\u2019s like that crazy.<\/p>\n

AP:<\/strong> Do you ever get Amos and Billy confused?<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald:<\/strong> I do have a bit of nervous energy when I hear the music to \u2018Mister Cellophane.\u2019 I have to go, \u2018No, that\u2019s not me.\u2019 I have to check myself in that moment. But, other than that, I\u2019m in Billy\u2019s world now.<\/p>\n

AP:<\/strong> What\u2019s next? Velma?<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald:<\/strong> Roxie\u2019s next. (laughs) Honestly? I want to do Mamma AND Amos. They\u2019re never onstage at the same time. That\u2019s my next challenge. Then I\u2019m going to do a one-man \u2018Chicago.\u2019<\/p>\n

AP:<\/strong> Switching gears, how did you possibly walk a wire eight times a week?<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald:<\/strong> The way to do it is to be at utter peace, completely inside yourself and in line. Completely calm and still. You\u2019re trying to shut off all your stress receptors. It becomes this metaphor for life: It\u2019s one step at a time. You can\u2019t get off. You can\u2019t take a break.<\/p>\n

AP:<\/strong> What did your kids think of dad?<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald:<\/strong> I don\u2019t know if this is because I\u2019m an actor with kids, but I was like, \u2018What did you guys think?\u2019 They were like, \u2018It was good. I like the elephant.\u2019 I was like, \u2018But I walked a tightrope!\u2019 They were, \u2018Yeah, it was good, dad.\u2019 They were just not impressed. I think it\u2019s because I do this crap all the time at home. I\u2019m constantly juggling and jumping on things and standing on my head.<\/p>\n

AP:<\/strong> So your kids weren\u2019t blown away?<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald:<\/strong> I think if you grow up with actors, you\u2019re like, \u2018Yeah, that\u2019s what my parents do.\u2019 Only later will they be sitting in therapy, going, \u2018My father walked the tightrope and was basically a clown.\u2019<\/p>\n

Online:\u00a0http:\/\/chicagothemusical.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK\u2014Christopher Fitzgerald liked being in \u201cChicago\u201d so much that he\u2019s doing it again. The actor, who made his debut …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":22027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hollywood","mauthors-mark-kennedy","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22026"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282087,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22026\/revisions\/282087"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}