Actor goes to Scotland and comes back with a job
By ELAINE SCHMIDT
Special to the Journal Sentinel
Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on July 31, 2002.
You can starve and struggle for years, hoping for that first big break as an actor. Or you can go to Scotland to visit family when you're 21, hear a notice on the television for an open call, take the audition, and snag a leading role on London's West End opposite Elaine Paige.
The Scotland route was the one that took actor John Barrowman, who appears on Stepping Out Productions' Cabaret Artists Series this weekend at the Stackner Cabaret, to a career that now includes starring roles in West End and Broadway productions as well as TV and film credits.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Barrowman came to the United States at 8, when his father's job brought him to Illinois. After attending high school, Barrowman went to the United States International University in San Diego.
Barrowman left for London during his senior year of college to study Shakespeare, intending to go back to San Diego to finish up his degree. But that trip to Scotland, a TV notice for actors and a career happened instead.
"I saw an advertisement on the news while I was in Scotland," he said, "saying that there was a national search going on for a leading man of British descent to replace the man playing opposite Paige in the revival of 'Anything Goes.' It also said they needed someone who could speak in an American accent and sing.
"I thought, I am being trained to do this, I might as well try."
His dual citizenship meant that he could work in Britain.
After his audition in Scotland, he was flown to London, where Paige, who was also the show's executive producer, heard him. She decided he was too young to play her romantic interest but could play the role as her friend.
"The ironic thing," he said, "is that two weeks prior to seeing the ad, we (he and his parents) had gone to see 'Anything Goes.' My mother leaned over to me and said, 'You could do that.'
"I leaned back and said, 'Don't be ridiculous; these are professionals.' "
Since then, Barrowman has done numerous roles on London's West End, as well as Broadway. On television, he has appeared on "Central Park West" and "Titans." He starred in the Washington, D.C., revival of "Company," and performed on Broadway opposite Carol Burnett in "Putting It Together."
When Barrowman appears in Milwaukee, he will perform with Beverly Holt. Their program will be a mix of Broadway and pop, and perhaps a little traditional Scottish music as well.
"A lot of people my age or younger think cabaret singers are cheesy lounge lizards," Barrowman said. "So I try to do new songs in the context of the show."
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