Actor Michael Urie transports his New York hit show to Chicago this May and June.
Buyer & Cellar tells the imaginative story of Alex More, a struggling actor in L.A. who takes a job working in Barbra Streisand's mall—located in the basement of her Malibu, California, home. Urie plays multiple parts in the one-man show and has won a Drama Desk Award as well as a Clarence Derwent Award in the process.
He draws upon an acting career complete with four seasons of Ugly Betty on ABC and a Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
Nunn on One sat down with Urie for a cocktail to discuss the Chicago debut of Buyer & Cellar.
Windy City Times: Hey, Michael.
Michael Urie: First of all, thank you for a bringing a tape recorder and not trying to write this all down.
WCT: I bought this recorder originally because I didn't want to misquote Lily Tomlin when I interviewed her in the past.
MU: She is such an inspiration to me. I saw her do her one-woman show on Broadway, and I remember every minute of it. I always think about her because I am in a one-man show and I never leave the stage. At one point she was in the middle of one of her characters and she said, "I'm sorry. I have to blow my nose." She went off stage then came back and went right back into it.
I went alone to the show because I was in school, and wept [because] it was so good. I think about her all the time during this show.
WCT: You grew up in Dallas. Was that a conservative place to grow up?
MU: It was and I have a very vivid memory of being in the ninth grade when the movie Philadelphia came out and hearing two jocks discuss it. One said, "It was gross that he was a faggot but it was sad at the end." The other said, "No, it's not sad—it's filthy and disgusting!" I will never forget that.
I had a very accepting family, was in the theater and had it very easy. I wasn't bullied but I remember there was a lot of rage with people there—not everybody, but there was a stigma.
There's a lot of tradition in Texas, and it can go good or bad. I really think it's changing. Every time I go back I am surprised out how liberal it has become.
I had a great family life. My sister, who is seven years older, is married to a woman. They live in California with their kids.
WCT: Excellent. Before we get into your show, tell me about Vanessa Williams in Ugly Betty.
MU: Vanessa Williams is the greatest; truly, she gave me my career.
WCT: Because you were only supposed to be on the pilot episode...
MU: Yes; she could have easily made it where I never came back. She was supposed to have a new assistant every week, much like Murphy Brown. She loved me immediately and I loved her. She thought I was funny. My choice in the pilot was to mimic every thing she did physically. She realized I was doing that and thought it was great. She asked me what else she could do that I could mimic.
WCT: She sounds very giving.
MU: She was so giving. Those are the kinds of actors that I like to work with, says the guy in a one-man show—people who know you are better if you surround yourself with good people. As soon as she was good to me then I knew she was great. We became a great team and the producers saw that.
She knew the business and I didn't. She told me where to stand to be in certain shots. She could have easily not given me the spotlight.
WCT: She took you under her wing. Did you go see her show After Midnight?
MU: I did. I was there the first night. It was wonderful.
WCT: Did you have a favorite moment from Ugly Betty?
MU: It wasn't my favorite moment but the most devastating was when we finished it and sat in this conference room where we did the table reading. We were all crying. Someone came in with a birthday cake because it was Vanessa's birthday. We all sang "Happy Birthday," she blew out the candles, and we kept crying. I cried more in the last two weeks of Ugly Betty than in my whole life. It was a sad thing and we didn't want it to be done.
We still see each other all the time but we just don't work together.
WCT: How did Buyer & Cellar come together? I read it was originally a joke.
MU: Jonathan Tolin, the playwright, made a joke about it and then turned it into a play. He wrote it for Jesse Tyler Ferguson. When he finished it, Jon and I worked together on Partners on television. I had done some readings for him and had known each other from being around. We had become really good friends. He slipped me the script and said, "This is written for Jesse Tyler Ferguson but maybe you can do it one day." I loved it immediately. Jesse didn't do it and I got the job.
Jesse liked it also, but he was only on a short hiatus from Modern Family and opted to do Shakespeare in the Park instead. Jon asked for Jesse's blessing so I could do it. Jesse would have only had a few months to do the show. I got to do it for over a year. This show would have been a different experience if he had done the role. Someone might have been able to replace him but I was able to own it. I needed a job because Partners got cancelled and the Rattlestick Theater had something fall through. It worked out really well.
WCT: How did the show journey to Chicago?
MU: After we were a hit in New York, we started talking about other places that might want it. It was Daryl Roth who had a relationship with Broadway in Chicago with Kinky Boots and Love, Loss, and What I Wore. Daryl told me to take it to Chicago and you do whatever Daryl Roth says, but I had never been to Chicago and loved the idea of coming here.
I knew it would be a challenge and knew people come to the theater here. In New York audiences are smart but their jaded. I have done shows in Seattle, Austin, D.C. and San Diego. People that go to the theater in places like that just want to see theater.
WCT: Have you heard a reaction from Barbra about the show?
MU: She hasn't come to it yet. I have heard a few things. She is aware of it and been told about it. Entertainment Weekly included us in the Best of 2013 and interviewed me. I said I would shit my pants. It came back to me that she read it and said, "He's smart."
WCT: What does that mean?
MU: It means I have a right to shit my pants! I don't know if she will ever come. It is not for her; it is for everybody else. All that she needs to know is that we love her and everybody else does too.
WCT: You have said in the past that you identify as queer, not gay. Do you not like labels?
MU: It is not that I don't like labels. I find sexuality to be fluid. I have a boyfriend. We have been together for five and half years. I certainly don't discriminate in the roles I choose. I have been with women and it wasn't fake. It wasn't a lie. I just happen to have fallen in love with a man.
Queer made more sense to me than bi because there is a such a contention with bi. Queer feels like the future in a lot of ways to me, although I don't like the other thing that queer means, which is weird.
I don't regret anything sexually, and I don't feel like I was lying or pretending.
WCT: It wasn't testing out the waters for you.
MU: Right—it was still me. By the way, I never didn't date boys. It wasn't like I was one way and then started the other. I always dated boys even when I dated a girl. I find it fluid. I think Kinsey was really on to something.
Urie is at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut Ave., now through June 15. For tickets, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com or call 800-775-2000 .
