“Someone told me when I was in my 20s, ‘You’re a character man trapped inside an ingénue’s body,’” says McGrath. “I’m much more comfortable in the really funny character parts so I was kind of biding my time, waiting for the character roles to roll in.”
And they have. The Worcester, Mass., native cherishes the chance to be funny and won his first Tony Award for playing Cookie McGee in the Gershwin tuner “Nice Work If You Can Get It.”
“If you have such dreams, and I would be a liar if I said I didn’t, it pretty much is that moment that you think it will be,” he says of the experience. “It’s pretty incredible. I recommend it for everyone.”
McGrath shares his acting journey with Back Stage below.
What made you want to be an actor?
Michael McGrath: It started when I was a kid, just being a show-off. I am the youngest of five siblings, and I think, somehow, the youngest gets to be the one that gets the attention. I was naturally a performer and used to sing when I was in grammar school. I would entertain the nuns at St. Peter’s High School at lunchtime. I can remember singing “Strangers in the Night” for a group of nuns. It seemed like it was always natural for me. I got involved in the school plays and community theater as a I grew older and in high school. So, that’s just what I always did. I never thought of anything else really.
Do you remember your first acting experience?
McGrath: It was in grammar school, and it was an original Christmas pageant. It was called “Gift of Love,” and I played the little crippled shepherd boy who delivers the baby lamb to the crèche. I had a very emotional speech too about giving up my little lamb as a gift to the baby Jesus.
Where did you train as an actor?
McGrath: I went to the Boston Conservatory of Music, but I did not stay there. I was only there for maybe a semester and a half. And the two great things that came out of that were I met my future wife, Toni, there and I met Gerard Alessandrini. He was a senior when I was a freshmen. And I ended up doing his senior musical project, and that’s where we met, and we subsequently ended up doing “Forbidden Broadway” together. So I left school and started auditioning and that’s sort of where I started my career.
Did you always know you wanted to be a stage actor?
McGrath: I was sort of naturally drawn to that, and it was really my only access to acting. When I was a teenager, I would commute to New York on the Trailways bus for auditions. It was not the easiest way to do it, but it’s sort of what I did. And of course I was a teenager and you couldn’t tell me anything different. Actually, I used to get Back Stage delivered up in Worcester, Mass.
Do you remember if you ever got cast from a Back Stage ad?
McGrath: I think I booked the tour of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” which was that time being produced by the National Theatre Company, which was Barry and Fran Weissler’s company. And they were doing tours in those days, and I think it was out of a Back Stage ad. I ended up playing Huck Finn.
Judy Kaye and Michael McGrath in "Nice Work If You Can Get It" (Joan Marcus)
You’re known for playing character parts. How do you approach these roles?
McGrath: I’m a huge fan of the old movies. I watched them all the time. And there’s certain guys I went back and looked at that I remembered when I was a kid. Guys like Leo Gorcey and Jack Oakie. They were all real character guys, but there are guys you would see on the street in New York. They’re out there. Those are the kind of guys that do attract me, but they certainly have to be interesting. Having Joe [DiPietro’s] book writing for me was great too because it really wrote for my strengths in [“Nice Work If You Can Get It.”]
How do you make your characters three-dimensional?
McGrath: I actually think you have to take a lot of it from yourself. I enjoy making people laugh, even in my real life, so I think as an actor, you have to bring yourself to those characters. That’s what makes it real. If you draw on those things that’s what makes the character come to life, rather than just a big old cartoon caricature.
What advice do you have for comedic timing onstage?
McGrath: It’s innate. I think being a good listener helps your timing, especially off an audience. You either have it or don’t have it. It’s being able to play off another person’s laugh, by listening or playing off an audience or your next line or the punch line. It’s very difficult to explain, but I can hear it when someone doesn’t do it right.
“Nice Work If You Can Get It” is playing at the Imperial Theater. For tickets and more information, visit www.niceworkonbroadway.com.
