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This Spring, Broadway and daytime veteran Terrence Mann not only
returned to his old role in Les Miserables and assumed a
recast role on ATWT, he's also preparing to take on a brand new
role in his personal life - one destined to keep him up even more
nights than simultaneously performing on stage and in a soap. SoapCity
delivers the exclusive scoop, here....
SoapCityAlina: Newman is your second ATWT role. Please tell
us about your first.
Terrence Mann: In 1987, I was Jester, this bad guy who murdered
people. I think I ended up being dumped in acid or something. And
I got an Emmy® nomination for it! It was the first year they
did the guest star nominations. I had such a great time with the
ATWT folks, I just had a ball and loved everybody and they were
nice enough to nominate me. It was pretty amazing. To be voted amongst
your peers, to be singled out, it was awfully nice of them to do
that. I also did Another World for six months, once. And
I was on One Life to Live when Walt Willey (Jackson; AMC)
was actually an extra, playing a bartender. I owned a club, Theo’s,
and he was a bartender there. We used to hang out together. And
look what happened to him, he made a living out of that. (Daytime
actors) are just the hardest working actors. It’s relentless
and it’s forever, and I am just so impressed and in awe of
these folks that walk in there and turn 40 pages of dialogue, within
three hours, into a person. Whether it’s good writing or bad
writing, it doesn’t seem to matter, these guys make it really
palatable. They’re available and they’re just good. I
can’t believe how fast they do it. These are 14-hour days and
they live their lives like that four, five times a week.
SCA: That must be such a change for you. Coming from theater,
where you have months to work on a piece, to daytime, where you
have to get it done in a couple of hours.
TM: You know what’s similar about it? There is a certain
sort of spontaneity in theater and daytime that’s similar.
But walking into this running machine, it’s like jumping on
a speeding train and you hold on for dear life. You have got to
find your little track and learn. Of course, everybody is so nice
to you, they take you along and they help you out. Over the years,
I’ve learned what the environment is and what you’ve got
to do when you get there. First, you find your dressing room, although
what you really want to do is go back to sleep because you’re
there at five o’clock in the morning. And that’s another
thing. When you’re on a nighttime schedule like I am -- I’m
up till one or two o’clock in the morning -- and then to get
up at five AM to go do the show, you start to see things. I see
dead people.
SCA: So, I take it you would have no interest in a regular soap
role, then?
TM: I would love a regular soap role! But nobody’s ever
asked me. So, if there’s any soap opera out there that wants
me to do a regular role, ask me. I have a baby on the way (due in
late June), and we’re adopting a little girl (in May), so I
could use the steady work. We started the adoption process about
18 months ago. We were always going to have one and adopt one, and
then, because (wife) Charlotte (D’Amboise) was working so much,
the timing just sucked. We really couldn’t spend any time on
having a kid, because she was working and you don’t want to
shortstop her career. She came off Contact and then she went
back into Chicago, and you’ve got to take advantage
of that, so we said, "We’ll just wait, and let’s
start the adoption thing," which we did. When they called us
last July to tell us our paperwork was in China, it dialed us into
a different place in our lives. And then lo and behold, Charlotte
started eating a little more food and started resting and all of
a sudden she got pregnant. I’m traveling to China in May. Charlotte
is not going to be able to go because she’ll be too far along.
I’m taking her sister, and her nine-year-old niece and we’re
going over there together to pick up our little girl.
SCA: So, let me get this straight: You’re getting ready
for two new babies, you’re on stage in Les Mis every
night and your day job is playing a lawyer where you make one, long
legal speech after another?
TM: Well, the legal has been easy. I like it. I love it. I’m
addicted to Law & Order and I watch it. And I’ve
done Law & Order, too. Once you’ve gone up against
Sam Waterston in a (TV) courtroom, you can handle anything. And
I started Les Mis on February 4. It was at once familiar,
and incredibly unfamiliar. It’s been a great experience to
be able to go in there and remember everything I liked doing when
I did the show 16 years ago. But there’s no pressure, there’s
no expectations. I’m just really enjoying going in there and
working with the kids who are doing it now. I’m finding so
many other ways to play the role (Javert). I’m older, I have
a little more dimension. And you go, "My God, why didn’t
I think of that before?" Well, you know, you don’t have
the life experience to tap that yet. But, eight (Broadway) shows
a week is hard. Musical theater is probably just the hardest work,
you have to maintain your voice, maintain your body. So, going in
and doing that was fun for the first few weeks, but then I had to
get up at five in the morning. So, for the three weeks I was doing
both shows, I was in a daze. I just didn’t know what the heck
was going on. I almost started to do my (ATWT) summation speech
in the middle of Les Mis! But, then, I was thinking, I’m
doing this for three weeks and literally working on three hours
of sleep, seven days a week, so I’m ready for baby-land. Everybody
tells me you’re just tired all the time. Right?
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