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So you left “Wicked” to become a rock star?
I
came back [to Los Angeles] and took some promo shots and started
rehearsing. We had a handful of songs. I don’t know if any of them were
great, but it was a start. At the time, we believed in them. We did a
couple gigs here and there. The band was called the Citizen Vein. We
performed at the Knitting Factory one night, the Cat Club on Sunset, and
a club in Hermosa Beach. We did three gigs and that was it and we
recorded a couple things, like rough recordings, and I don’t know, it
didn’t quite click. We kept writing and doing things, but then I got
into my first relationship and I fell in love and I was going out a lot.
I was dressing up, just living my life and having a great time. Falling
in love was major. It changed everything, because up until then, I was
25 and I hadn’t been in love. I felt like there was a part of me that
was like, “I don’t understand something about life, like a big thing.” I
listened to these songs on the radio or CDs or I’d see these musicals
about people being in love with each other and what that feels like and
what heartbreak feels like and the joy of what love is and I had sex but
I’d never been in love and just didn’t get it. It was really
interesting because during and after that relationship, everything
changes. It’s like, “Oh, that’s what they were talking about.” I thought
that was so corny before and now I am crying because I totally identify
with what that feels like. So that was a big turning point for personal
growth.
I went to Burning Man… which was another big eye opener. People
living in this utopian society and how beautiful that idea is — and
after Burning Man, I looked for social outlets here in L.A. that were
part of that underground scene, not the typical bar scene but more of a
neo-hippie movement.
Adam is on the left and Cheeks is in the middle
You know, these underground clubs downtown. That was a really fun
community to become a part of. Then I did a production of “Debbie Does
Dallas” in Lake Tahoe. It was a topless revue at Harveys Casino. I was
desperate. I could not find a job. It was going to pay me. They were
going to put me up. It was with Anita Mann, the woman who did the cruise
ship. I went up there and I was missing the person I was with and I was
miserable because I was in a long-distance relationship and the show,
when it was pitched to me, sounded like it was going to be a different
situation and it tuned out to be not the most professional situation in
the world. There was hardly an audience. They wanted to see boobs. They
didn’t want to hear me sing, so they would talk. It was not a good gig.
I heard they were rehiring for the Los Angeles company of “Wicked,”
and it had been about a year since I had been out of the touring
company. They were going to form a new company and I thought, “I don’t
know why I left. That was so stupid. I need to get that job.” And so I
begged. They said, “Why did you leave? We don’t know if you’re just
going to leave again. It’s a liability for us.” I told them, “No, no,
no. I was stupid. I was lonely on tour. I wasn’t satisfied and had
outside opportunities. I really want to be in a sit-down company and
then I can work on all my outside stuff and still work on the show,” and
they said fine. So I came back and I opened the L.A. company of
“Wicked.”
As Fiyero again?
The understudy, yes. Exactly the same thing.
For the same actor?
This was a different guy. He was out a little more often, so I got to go on more, during the almost two years we were open here.
So you stayed for the entire Los Angeles run?
I stayed. I lived right down the street from the theater, and I
really enjoyed being a part of it. It was a great job, and it was nice
to have money again in the city and live my life. There was a producer I
started working with. He was forming his own publishing company for
placement in film and TV and advertising campaigns, so they hired me to
be a songwriter. And so I would go down there a couple days a week
during the day and lay stuff down and write and really started to build a
nice collection of music and I felt like it was at a much better level.
I’d learned more about writing, about pop hooks, how it all works.
Through trial and error, we got some good stuff. I was doing some
session work here and there, so I was really starting to move toward, “I
really think I should go for this now.” I felt more confident and I
started getting frustrated with “Wicked.” I felt they weren’t promoting
me and it wasn’t satisfying. I started performing at clubs, just to get
my name out there. I was going to release music. I really got into the
idea of becoming a solo act. I think a couple years before, the idea of
that really scared me because I was concerned about, “How are people
going to think of me?” and “I’m never going to have a private life if I
do that.”
I didn’t think I was ready for that. I didn’t think I could handle it
and then I really got into the idea of it. I had turned 26 and felt,
“I’m getting old and I still haven’t been to New York yet.” I knew there
was work for me in the theater and I could move to New York and
probably work there, but I’m particular and I never really considered
myself the best actor in the world. I wanted to be myself, so I was less
and less enchanted with the idea of musical theater. There weren’t a
lot of shows that were interesting to me musically or conceptually. I
wanted to do my own thing. So I started experimenting, doing club acts
and the pop/dance thing.
I sang and I had two dancers and we were wearing really wild clothes
and then I was doing stuff with Upright Cabaret. It was like the New
York tradition of having all the show actors and people in town come
together and sing, like Joe’s Pub [in New York]. I met a lot of great
people through that and got a lot of attention.
Where did you think this was all leading?
I put my faith in the producer that I was working with, Monte
Pittman, that when all this music was finished, he was going to do all
the work to get it out there, and he did do a lot of work. But he had
just come from New Zealand. He was really established there, but he was
new here, like an outside player. So I didn’t know how quickly that was
going to happen, and I wondered, “What are my other options?” And last
year when “Idol” was on, we were all watching it at “Wicked” and
everybody would discuss their opinions of who did better and why, and
then somebody said, “Adam, you should audition for that,” and I thought,
“Yeah, maybe I should.”
This happened during Season 7?
Yes, but I watched a lot of the seasons. Not all of them, but a lot of them.
When did you first watch the show?
I watched the first season. I remember Kelly [Clarkson] was on and
she was great. I was really excited, but I didn’t think they were going
to like me. I thought I was too out there.
You are a little out there!
I am a little out there, but I’m kind of a strategist in that I knew
what I could get away with and what I probably couldn’t get away with,
so I tried to dumb myself down for the first couple auditions. You know,
look a little more normal, dress a little bit more low key.
Where did you audition?
In San Francisco. I drove up with two of my best friends. The next
morning I had gotten an hour’s sleep because I was really anxious, and
right as I auditioned, I reached this epiphany where I thought, “You’re
about to be 27. What do you have to show for yourself? You’ve done a
couple shows. You’re working. You know you can pay your bills but do you
want to do something great? Do you want to do something major and
launch yourself? Yeah, I do,” and I knew that “Idol” was going to be, if
I could get it, such a platform. I’d seen people that had been on
“Idol” and were eliminated playing leads on Broadway, and I knew that’s
the way New York is now. If you’re on TV and you’re a celebrity, you can
get a lead in a Broadway show. I thought that’s what I should do
because they don’t seem to want to promote me at “Wicked.” The
worst-case scenario is that it would enhance my career in the theater
and the best-case scenario is that I could do really well — and I didn’t
know what it was going to be.
You knew the odds were against you, but that was OK, right?
Yes. I walked into the first audition with the judges, and Simon and
Kara said, “You’re theatrical.” I had a feeling it was going to go down
like this. They’re going to be, “Oh, he’s too Broadway,” even though I
don’t feel like I actually am when I sing. I’m theatrical, but I don’t
think that it’s necessarily musical theater.
What did you sing at your first audition?
I sang “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley and then “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and
they said, “Don’t sing ‘Crazy’ at the next audition because they can’t
get the rights to it and everybody tries to sing it.” I sang [“Rock With
You” by] Michael Jackson and they wanted to hear another one so I sang
“Bohemian Rhapsody” and that’s the one they ended up showing on TV.
Were you a Queen fan?
I’m a huge Queen fan. Freddie’s the man. He’s the voice. Just the
musicianship required to sing that kind of music is really high. It’s
very melodic and rangy and dramatic and I appreciate all that.
Could you ever have imagined while auditioning with “Bohemian
Rhapsody” that a few months later you’d be on stage singing lead vocals
with Queen?
Weird. It’s weird full circle stuff all around. It’s thrilling, but
it almost loses its impact in a funny way, like, “Oh, of course I’m
onstage with Queen.” What the hell’s going on? “Of course, KISS.” I
can’t believe it. This can sound very pretentious if taken the wrong way
but I almost feel like I’ve been preparing for this my whole life. I do
feel this is what I’m supposed to be doing and I have a fatalistic view
on life that things happen for a reason. I feel like everything that’s
led up to this point has prepared me for this. It’s the whole “Slumdog
Millionaire” thing, where it’s like his whole life like leads up to that
moment and the only way he gets through that moment is because of all
of his experiences. I went to see “Slumdog” as this was all happening
and I was just in tears because I was so touched by the concept of that
movie. And I wouldn’t have done what I did on the show had it not been
for what I’ve gone through and my experiences in my life and what age
I’m at. I wouldn’t have been that confident. I would have been second
guessing myself. I would have been really busy people-pleasing as
opposed to just doing what I do. It was meant to be now.
–Fred Bronson
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