To what extent a presidential assassin (or failed assassin) is psychotic in his rage, despair, political convictions, and/or obsessive need for that elusive 15 minutes of fame is, perhaps, arguable. Indeed, some might suggest that the assassin is not necessarily psychotic at all.
Actor Neil Patrick Harris takes the latter view. Harris, who continues to be best known as the child doctor in the 1989-1993 sitcom "Doogie Howser, M.D.," plays Lee Harvey Oswald in the Stephen Sondheim-John Weidman musical "Assassins," a Roundabout Theatre Company production that bowed on Broadway at Studio 54 Thurs. April 22. If nothing else, Harris is hopeful that audiences leave the theatre with a more complex perspective on presidential assassins.
"Americans are compelled to label people," notes the laid-back 30-year-old Albuquerque native in his dressing room before a performance. "It makes Americans comfortable to call an assassin a lunatic. Then it's easier to justify his heinous act. And if he's not mentally incompetent, then he must be part of a conspiracy. This show validates the many other complicated reasons assassins may be determined to alter history."
Set in a surrealistic carnival world, complete with a creepy barker pitching the competitive joys of games in a shooting gallery (get it?), this dark piece considers the respective worlds of American assassins and unsuccessful assassins—from John Wilkes Booth to John Hinkley to Lee Harvey Oswald, among others—and attempts to fathom what made these guys tick.
Harris plays two diametrically opposed (but symbolically connected) roles as the angst-ridden Lee Harvey Oswald and The Balladeer, an everyman who is the voice of reason in a world gone mad. Throughout, he observes how little the assassins have accomplished, at least in terms of their own goals. Futility is a thematic motif. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the nonthreatening Balladeer is the flip side of Oswald just waiting to happen—given the right circumstances.
"My acting challenges are twofold," says Harris, who has worked steadily as an actor for 16 years. "As The Balladeer, I have to be comfortable, calm, and confident. I also have to be able to listen. In the role of Oswald, I'm at the end of my rope. And throughout I'm reacting and processing new information that propels me forward."
(The scene in the Dallas book depository is chilling as the assassins' spirits—from the past and even the future—convene to encourage Oswald to murder President Kennedy.)
"In preparation for this role, I read Gerald Posner's 'Case Closed' because I was interested in Oswald's childhood," Harris continues. "It was helpful to understand something about Oswald's early life to justify what I do in that scene. Thinking about conspiracy theories was not helpful."
He adds, "A major challenge is the complex structure of the piece. It does not have a traditional through-line, so we're constantly having to adjust to wildly shifting tones."
"Assassins" marks Harris' third gig on Broadway in just as many years, having played the Emcee in the musical "Cabaret" (also at Studio 54) and the suitor in the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama "Proof" at the Walter Kerr Theatre. Among his other theatre credits: Tobias in "Sweeney Todd" (Lincoln Center), Mark in "Rent" (L.A., La Jolla), and Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet" (Old Globe Theatre). In addition to his "Doogie Howser" stint, for which Harris received a People's Choice Award and Golden Globe nomination, he has had featured roles in a host of television projects and theatrical films, including the upcoming comedy "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle."
As noted, Harris is relaxed and comfortable. Throughout the interview, he is stretched out on his dressing-room cot; at one point he quips, "I feel like I'm in therapy with me lying here talking and you sitting there, taking notes."
His casual demeanor aside, he is unapologetically mathematical in his approach to a role. He celebrates precision. "I'm a game and puzzle kind of guy. I like to create clarity where there was none."
The Next Step Is Directing
Harris does not boast a theatrical lineage. Earlier, his parents were attorneys; they now make their living running a restaurant. Harris stresses that they were never stage parents and that's one of the reasons he continued acting, unlike many other child actors. "There was no pressure attached to my acting. I acted because I enjoyed it. If I didn't enjoy it, my parents would have pulled me out immediately."
Harris was extroverted from the outset, he recalls. "I was in the school band, church choir, and community theatre." The turning point, however, was his stint in a theatre camp headed by playwright Mark Medoff ("Children of a Lesser God" and Broadway's current "Prymate"). Medoff was so impressed with the young Harris that he helped get him cast in the film "Clara's Heart" (written by Medoff), which, in turn, led Harris to obtaining an agent. By the time Harris was 15 and donning stethoscope in "Doogie Howser," he already had an array of TV and theatrical movies under his belt.
Somewhere in the middle of the series's run, Harris decided that he was destined to act. "This was how the cards were playing themselves out." Still, he regrets not having gone to college. "I would like to have studied psychology and art. But there's still time for that."
But he has no regrets about not having taken any acting classes. "I don't know why I would need to be torn down in order to be built up," he remarks sardonically. "Sounds pretty counterproductive, since I was already a working actor."
Singing lessons are different and, indeed, Harris has been studying voice with the New York-based vocal coach Joan Leder. "She's perfect for me because she's a technician and talks about how the breath moves through the whole body. I like learning a system. I don't want to be told to change a vowel sound. That's not singing. That's cheating."
To date, the biggest performing challenge Harris has faced, he says, is making the move from the screen to the stage. "Television and movies are based on close-ups. In theatre there are no close-ups. Your whole body is involved. I had to learn to invest myself physically in a role and activate every part of me. My big breaks have been appearing in 'Sweeney Todd' and, especially, 'Cabaret.' Both roles were very physical."
Like many actors, Harris says he would love "to give Hamlet a shot. I might also like to do 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' and 'Barnum.' "
That said, Harris admits that he wants to move out of acting and into directing, not unlike Ron Howard. "I love acting," he stresses. "It's an outlet like no other. But the ramifications of the actor's life are disturbing. If you're known, there is the lack of privacy. And then there is the repetition, especially in theatre: performing night after night and still keeping it fresh.
"The director, on the other hand, does his job and he is finished," Harris continues. "He has to know how to interact with the actors and have the vision. That's the appeal of being a director, especially a film director—the central vision is his. I also love the technological aspects of film." Helming a theatrical production will come later, "with wisdom and maturity," which Harris feels are essential for the stage.
The bottom line, however, is this: "I don't want to find myself 45 years old sitting in a hall reading sides and hoping someone will cast me in something." He pauses to reiterate, "I really do feel like I'm in therapy. Any moment, I'm going to curl up in a ball and start crying."