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| American television and Broadway star Kyle Dean Massey |
American
television and Broadway star Kyle Dean Massey co-stars on the hit ABC
television series Nashville, but has also drawn rave reviews for his
roles in Pippin, Wicked, Next to Normal and Xanadu on the Great
White Way.
Three
Dollar Bill sat down with Massey – an instructor at such organizations as Camp
Broadway and Broadway Artists Alliance – to reflect on life on Broadway and
what it’s like to be an openly-gay entertainer in Hollywood.
Three
Dollar Bill: Which do you prefer, acting on the stage or the screen?
Kyle
Dean Massey: It’s like comparing apples and oranges. I like all of it. My first
passion was always the stage, it’s what got me into all of this in the first
place. The TV stuff came later. So I lean towards the stage. I know it better.
Laurence
Olivier once said acting on screen is all about the eyes, and onstage it’s all
about your hands. What do you think?
I
approach it all the same way, then steer myself in one direction or the other.
I don’t look at (screen versus stage) as different things. I know when I do Wicked –
I’ve done the show on and off for several years – when I go back I spend almost
all my time auditioning for TV and film stuff during the day, then I’ll come to
work at night on a huge show like Wicked and the associate director
will tell me, “It’s a little small!” I think people have this idea that stage
work is really big and “gestury” but I think it can be just as nuanced as
television stuff.
How
thrilling is it to star in a big-budget blockbuster on Broadway? Does the
glamour and romance of it fade after a while?
Yes,
of course it does! (Laughs) It’s just like any other job, I think. You
show up and you do it. People often ask me what it’s like to be in a huge
glitzy show. And I say it doesn’t matter because when you stand in front of the
set you look out at a big, black empty space, sometimes with a spotlight in
your eyes. In that regard, it doesn’t feel that much different from doing high
school plays. You’re not feeling the environment like the audience is. The only
difference is your partners have Tony Awards!
What
is it like to be an openly-gay actor? Were you afraid there would be a glass ceiling?
No.
It was never a calculated thing for me, to be open about it. I was doing Next
to Normal on Broadway and I was being interviewed a lot and people wanted
to ask me these questions and I wanted to answer them honestly. It was nothing
greater than that.
Did
industry people advise you against publicly coming out?
Nope.
I didn’t have any kind of fame to protect. I mean, I was starring in a Broadway
show – big deal! That’s a very accepting community. People also ask if I’ve
lost out on some roles, and there is no way for me to know that. But I do
honestly feel I’ve gotten roles because I am gay. I think it goes both ways.
What
advice do you have for young gay actors debating whether or not to come out?
I
feel very strongly myself that the best form of activism is being an example.
So for me being a normal out gay person is more powerful than marching on
Washington. It is a personal decision – not like being closeted, but like not
sharing everything personal in this day and age of social media. I think there
is something to be said about keeping some things private and secret and
somewhat special.
What
was it like to play Kevin Bicks in the TV series Nashville? Were you
able to bring some of your own personal truth to the table?
Totally!
I remember when my manager sent me that audition, I knew this was the perfect
role for me because I see a lot of myself in this character. The character is
based on a real person who is a successful award-winning songwriter, a very
cool and talented guy who I identify with. He has no hang-ups about his
sexuality.
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