On The Road: Mark Campbell
Today, I am crazy excited to introduce you all to my new friend, Mark Campbell! His On The Road interview is one of my favorites to date because he knocked his answers out of the park!! Mark is a Nebraska native, Sarah Laurence alumni and has previously toured with the hit shows Mamma Mia and Guys and Dolls. In 2013, he played the Phantom in the 25th anniversary tour of The Phantom of the Opera. Currently, Mark is touring the country while starring as Scar in the highly-acclaimed musical The Lion King. (You’ve probably never heard of it..) While the tour was in Birmingham, Alabama, I set up a photoshoot for Mark with the awesome local photographer Rylo Creative. I am confident you all will enjoy his interview as much as I did! (I mean, who doesn't love a Disney villian!?)
How long have you been a performer?
I think the first thing I did was a TV show for the Local PBS station when I was 5 or so. I was just a kid in the background of a little one room school house playing a Swedish immigrant. I was so blonde that every time I walked across the screen they had to readjust the lights because my hair was glowing. I did community theatre the whole time I was growing up and did shows in high school and college. My first professional gig was halfway through College at the College Light Opera Company.
What was your "big break"?
I don’t know that I think that’s really a thing. I’ve had many momentous highs and lows. Each one felt like a step to the next thing. My first really decent salary was covering all three Dads in the National tour of Mamma Mia. That taught me so many things, among them, how to not be terrified of having to dance onstage. But some of my favorite gigs have been after ‘big deal’ jobs where it’s just me, a bunch of hungry actors and a small theatre. So I guess I’m saying it’s a path. You can’t always see around the next hairpin turn. The highs and lows are unexpected. Sometimes great and sometimes awful. But you ARE on a path and that’s the path you’re supposed to be on.
What is your favorite show you've ever worked on?
That’s really an impossible question. I love what I do. I truly do. Sometimes you have a perfect cast of amazing people in a not so great show. And sometimes you have an amazing show in trying circumstances and you just have to make things work. But I could definitely give a short list: Lion King (of course), The Music Man, Beauty and the Beast, Phantom, and 39 Steps. All for completely different reasons.
What are some items you absolutely can't live without backstage?
I’m honestly pretty low maintenance. I need access to a good book and a LOT of coffee.
What is the most interesting day at work you've ever had?
Another tough question. I think I’d have to go back to early in my career when I was doing the romantic lead in Maury Yeston’s Phantom at the Carousel Dinner Theatre. Phillipe, the romantic lead, is a pretty useless character. The requirements are that you have good hair, look great in a tux and can understudy the Phantom. I hadn’t had a single understudy rehearsal or even been able to watch the show or any of the rehearsals of the Phantom because I was off doing my scenes and numbers. In any case, the Phantom came down with a serious case of Laryngitis and I had to go on. Luckily, I’d been responsible enough to teach myself the songs and the lines, and the Phantom and I were of similar dimension so I could wear his costumes. I sang through the songs with the Music Director and went on that afternoon. I just remember making lots of bold, dramatic choices of what I thought the staging must be…..only to turn around and see a pool of light where I was supposed to be. That happened about fifty times in the show. But I survived. No one died. And I only crashed the gondola (a converted golf cart, as I recall) a few times. I went on for a few days, and then went back to being lame, champagne drinking Phillipe. I lived and survived ‘The Actor’s Nightmare.”
What has been your most memorable moment OR most hilarious moment on tour so far?
Right after I had joined the tour, I think maybe the second or third week, Nala didn’t make her entrance during the first scene in Act 2. To be fair, it wasn’t her fault. The PA system in the theatre had gone off above the 2nd floor and she hadn’t heard ‘places.’ So I scream my line “Immortality will be mine!!!” and wait to hear Nala’s line so I can turn to her. Silence. So I turn to look to where she is supposed to be in case her mic failed or I didn’t hear her. She’s not there. So the actor playing Zazu at the time, Drew Hirschfield, and I started improvising. I started complaining about how I’d entrusted the decoration of my cave to him and he’d ruined it. I told him that I would eat him but he was barely a mouthful. I was about to ask him if he’d listen to a little ditty I’d written and launch into a Shakespeare monologue when Nala arrived looking as pale and terrified as I’ve ever seen her. My next line is ‘Ah Nala, your timing couldn’t be more perfect….” I think for a brief moment she thought I was teasing her with that line. Anyway, it was a crazy thing to happen and a lot of the crew who had been there for ten plus years thought it was the greatest thing ever to happen. I had a couple of beers bought for me for that two minutes of empty time. When you amuse a spot operator who’s seen the show thousands of times, that’s a win.
What is your favorite thing about your job?
Telling stories in the way we get to tell them. Theatre is an empathy machine. There is no better way to expose people to new ideas, experiences and perspectives than a story well told on a stage. There was a recent study where they found that audiences’ heart rates sync when watching theatre. Theatre, or at least storytelling, has probably been around as long as humans have. It’s is an experience that we are meant to have. A deeply human experience. In this era of short attention spans, political turmoil, and lack of meaningful communication, sharing a common experience with a theatre full of people feels like a deeply important thing.
What is the most challenging part of being an actor on tour?
The schedule is very, very grueling. I can’t tell you how many times I get told “oh! That must be so fun!” And it IS fun. But it is also very, very hard work. We do eight shows nearly every week. Occasionally, we’ll do seven, but that will likely be followed by a nine show week to make up for it. We get Mondays off but, if it’s a travel day, we are traveling that entire day. Keeping oneself healthy and happy on a schedule like this is a challenge and requires discipline and grit.
What is your favorite fun fact about The Lion King?
That no one in the original company, performers or creatives, had any idea how successful the show would be or even how it would be received by the audiences. The most successful stage show in the history of the world had actors auditioning for their next gig before previews. You just never know……
What is your favorite number to perform in your show?
Well, obviously, I have to say ‘Be Prepared.’ It’s a really fantastic song with some very clever lyrics. Of course the bar is very high from the animated film. I have my own spin on it, of course. Hopefully, it gets the audience exactly where they need to be for “The Stampede.” Muh ahahahahaha!
Was any of your Scar character development at all inspired by your time playing the Phantom?
I don’t think so. Interestingly, I think my performance of Scar was influenced the most by The Beast. I do seem to play a lot of social outcasts. Beautiful misfits, if you will. But I remember, when I was rehearsing Scar, calling my Belle and saying “Scar is what would’ve happened to the Beast if he hadn’t found Belle.” When I did the Beast I was carrying around a massive costume and I was determined to move like a giant graceful creature. For it to look effortless and lithe. Scar upped the ante in that department.
What is your favorite part about playing Scar?
Scar is a delicious enigma. There are the broad pillars of why he is the way he is that the audience gets let in on. But most of it is up to the actor. He’s very like Iago in Othello. There is a sense of entitlement and malice that radiates from him and the actor gets to decide why that’s there. That’s why, of all the roles I’ve ever played, it’s the only one that I’ve seen done MANY different ways that all worked in their own way. There is no definitive Scar. You can only try to be as iconic as the role deserves.
How challenging was it to get used to wearing and operating your Scar costume?
Very, very difficult. I knew right away that I wanted Scar to be graceful, dangerous and serpentine. Even the most damaged lion is dangerous and beautiful. But the costume weighs 40 pounds. Fortunately, I did a lot of researching coming in, so I lost about 20 pounds and really worked on my legs so I’d have the strength to do what I wanted to do physically. But getting that physicality to meld with the puppetry of the mask seamlessly is a real challenge. I am always trying to better what I’m doing physically, even two years in.
What is your favorite part about telling this story every night?
Lion King is a truly, truly universal story for all audiences. I think that sort of thing is thrown around as a marketing phrase for a lot of shows, but it is more true of Lion King than any show I’ve been in or seen. I’ve seen adults moved to tears at various places in the show, and I’ve seen kids as young as 2 sit through the whole thing and hang on every word. Every age, race, creed, religion or culture, there is something here for everyone. There is something about Lion King. Something that can’t be replicated (or it would’ve been by now). It reaches to a deeper humanity in all of us. It is modern mythology.
What does it feel like knowing you are playing an iconic Disney villain in one of the most legendary shows of all time?
Iconic is a really great word for Scar. And it’s the great thing about him, and the pitfall in playing him. Scar is, on the page, really, really fascinating. And he was played with dry gusto in a very iconic way by Jeremy Irons in the original animated film. So obviously, one can’t ignore or try to duplicate that performance. It’s a huge honor to be entrusted to bring him to life every night. But so much of Scar’s character and intent is conveyed in closeups in the movie. You absolutely cannot do that onstage. There are 2000 plus people watching every night and the front row has to get the same story as the back row. So you have to find an entirely different way into Scar, and the way you do it is very important. Scar is the engine of the entire show. If Scar didn’t kill Mufasa, The Lion King would be a story about a happy pride of lions with a clear succession to the throne. As my Stage Manager Matthew Shiner likes to point out, all I have to do is walk onstage during Circle of Life, and the whole rest of the show doesn’t need to happen. But because Scar DOES kill Mufasa, he pushes Simba from a path of spoiled prince onto a path of greatness. Ironically, probably the path Mufasa was trying to steer him to in the first place. But because Mufasa IS such a doting father and benevolent leader, I don’t think Simba would become a great king in that scenario. Simba’s journey to responsibility and adulthood is entirely against the backdrop of Scar’s awfulness. A dark Deus Ex Machina. So to play Scar is to provide the necessary stakes so that the show feels as epic as it possibly can every single night using no close ups. A huge responsibility. A huge honor.
What is it about this job that makes you come back each day?
Telling this story for the first time to thousands of people who have never seen it. That is a thought that keeps me going throughout my career. Somewhere in the audience, there is a child who has never seen theatre. This show is going to change her life. It’s going to let her fall in love with theatre. If I don’t give everything I have on a given night, I might miss that opportunity. I try to never miss that opportunity. I was that kid.
What is the best advice you've ever been given?
My voice teacher in college, the great American tenor Thomas Young, was like Yoda when it came to career advice. I still frequently quote him (probably paraphrased) to myself and others. He once said “Be expressive, not impressive: impressive will get you a job, expressive will get you a career.”
What piece of advice would you give your 25 year old self?
Control what you can control, let the rest go. This business is chock full of rejection and things you can take personally. It is a waste of time, energy and sanity to do that. Prepare. Do your work. Every time you do your work to the best of your ability, you’ve done your job. Let the rest fall away and enjoy your life.
What advice would you give to a young person who wants to pursue a career in the arts?
See both questions above. But also, learn and listen. Artists tend to be very obsessive about what they are passionate about. That’s fantastic as long as it isn’t to the exclusion of all else. How do you know if you would fall in love with 18th Century Romantic literature if you never get exposed to it? How do you know how being exposed to that literature might help you find rich details in a performance that you NEVER would have found without it? Tunnel vision in any discipline is a huge mistake. Follow every avenue that interests you. You’ll be the richer artist for it. As far as listening, obviously it’s essential onstage. The best actors are those who, despite doing dozens if not hundreds of performances, are still able to truly listen to their fellow actors onstage. Leave open the possibility that they will hear a line differently and that it will shift their performance in an amazing new direction. Listen to actors you respect and want to emulate. If you are in a show (or concert, or reading) with an actor you admire, watch them work. Try to figure out how they work. If they are open to it, ask questions. I’m sure I was a huge nuisance to many of the veteran actors I worked with early in my career. I was always curious, always asked questions, and was always ready to analyze and learn. I’ve never lost that.
FUN FACTS:
What was the first Broadway show you ever saw?
I think Cats? But the first Broadway show that changed my life was Les Miserables.
What is your favorite Broadway show you've ever seen?
Impossible question. I think I might have to say the tour of Les Miserables that came to my home town when I was around 14. I will never EVER tire of that score and it’s one of the few dream shows I’ve still never done.
What is your favorite restaurant or bar that you've found on tour?
WAAAAAY too many to list, but I love a good speakeasy and a perfectly cooked lobster.
What is your favorite city you've visited on tour so far?
Another impossible question. I can find something to love about most every city we go to. Some are easier than others. I love a great surprise. Greenville, SC last year was an amazing surprise.
How heavy is your Scar costume?
My costume weighs almost 40 pounds.
Are your mask and tail considered costumes or puppets?
Mask is puppets, tail is costumes. The lines of who does what on Lion King are often surprising like that.
What is your favorite costume you've ever worn?
Now THAT one is easy. Scar might just be the coolest costume ever designed.
Images by Rylo Creative
Birmingham, Alabama
