Next week Chris Peluso stars in Funny Girl at Milton Keynes Theatre, joining Sheridan Smith for what promises to be a 2017 highlight.
But what makes this stage-star tick? Chris went On Stage with Total MK, and talked on-stage injuries, pre-performance routines and striving to hit the perfect work-life balance...
Oh, and did we mention his beautiful dog, peety?
Settle back for an engaging read...
Tell us about your first memory of the theatre
My first memory of going to the theatre was watching a production of GYPSY at the Pittsburgh CLO in my hometown.
The brilliant characters, story, music and performances utterly blew me away. GYPSY is to this day one of my favourite musical comedies.
Before I saw GYPSY I was actually in a musical tour of JOSEPH that passed through Pittsburgh. Sam Harris was the star and I can vividly remember trying to imitate the way he beautifully sang “close every door”.
And the moment when you realised the theatre was your calling
When I made the decision that I wanted to quit baseball to focus more on training to be an actor. I loved playing baseball and dedicated many years to it. My father was a bit shocked to learn I’d be choosing singing, dancing, and acting over playing baseball. But overall my friends and family were very supportive and even my dad came around as my college acceptances came.
Any dreadful calamities, or funny happenings on stage that you would care to share with us?
There were two instances where I actually blacked out on stage due to injuries.
The first was when I was still in college performing at a wonderful summer theatre called the Music Theatre of Wichita. I was rather sick one night performing the role of Armand in THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL.
A fabulous actor named Aaron Lazar and I had a scene where he elbowed my back and I fell onto the ground. All went well with his part of the stage combat but unfortunately I was too slow to catch myself from hitting the ground and I took most of my body weight directly on the chin.
I hit so hard that I temporarily blacked out and had blood running down my shirt. Luckily the next direction was to have my body dragged offstage. I imagine I was bit heavier than I had been for prior performances. Also luckily my costume at the time was filthy with fake bloodstains on it. To this day I still have a patch of skin under my chin where no hair will grow.
The second blackout came when I was playing Marius in a production of LES MISERABLES in Chicago. During a slow motion battle sequence on the barricade a cast member threw their REAL musket directly onto my face as I was lying on the ground pretending to be passed out.
I saw stars and blacked out for a moment. The musket hit directly above my right eye. Luckily, again, the next stage direction was for Jean Valjean to carry me offstage in a fireman’s carry. The actor could tell I was non responsive and made sure I was ok to be carried back on. I sort of was.
The rest of the show I had blood pouring down my face from a wound that led to multiple stiches that night! I remember the audience, who were quite close, staring at my blood covered face and talking about it. To this day I still have a scar above my right eye.
Which stage actor, living or dead, would you most like to meet, and what question would you ask them?
I would most like to meet Mark Rylance. He is my absolute favourite stage performer. I don’t know if I’d ask him anything specific. But I would like to get a sense as to the choices he makes regarding his personal life. I absolutely adore the choices he makes in his professional one and I imagine he takes the same care when deciding things about his personal life.
Do you have any superstitions, or pre-performance routines?
I am not very superstitious but I definitely have a few pre-performance routines. They are not necessarily exact in nature.
But I always try to eat a healthy preshow meal. I tend to stay away from dairy before shows since it can cause excessive mucous production. I always warm up my body before warming up my voice. I find that breaking a little sweat and then lightly stretching even if there is no dancing in the role helps activate my body and mind in a way that is helpful.
If I’m feeling a bit tired or sick I will gargle with warm salt water and ingest a small amount of manuka honey. And one thing that I do that makes a great difference in my mental acuity is taking a 20 minute power nap.
On two show days I ALWAYS try to rest in silence for twenty minutes usually with my cavalier King Charles spaniel son named Peety.
The best piece of advice given to you when you started in the business
The best advice I got was likely from my dance teacher Buddy. He was my mentor growing up. One day after class he sat me down and described life as a pie with various slices. Each slice represented a slice of life: my career, baseball, my studies, my family, my friends, theatre, singing, dance, etc.
He explained that the amount of time and focus I put into each slice would likely proportionately determine my success in them.
And that I only have so much room in the pie so I need to make sure I choose the things most important to me to give the most time and focus to. He was pushing me to become a dancer and to focus more on dancing. Little did he know I would take his advice and apply it to other aspects of my performing career/personal life.
What do you think has been your steepest learning curve
The thing I had/have the most trouble with is balancing my personal life with my professional life. Finding time for myself, my friends, and my family and exploring interests outside of theatre is something that I have struggled with. Finding the right slices of personal life pie to focus on has been difficult for me. What has helped me the most has been my dog Peety.
He has taught me the importance of life outside of work/training. Though it is still a constant struggle to find the right balance. As an actor you have to take the work when it comes.
How do you fill your spare time while on tour
I will fill my time hiking! I love exploring natural settings and parks with my dog Peety. I am also excited to get to know local cultures and customs throughout the UK. I only really know London and I feel that it is such an international city that it may not necessarily be representative of the true heartbeat of the UK. I also read quite a bit, especially science and health related books.
Nerves or excitement? Which takes over just before the curtain rises?
Hopefully the perfect combination of both! I find that the adrenaline rush of nerves can help energize while the excitement of an audience can help focus that energy in the right ways.
How can the future of theatre be safeguarded? What would you do to entice new blood to audiences?
I sincerely hope that theatre is something that will persist no matter what we do.
It may shift from proscenium to in the round to a crowd on the street. But I believe that act of people telling stories to other groups of people is something that is vital to the human experience. Theatre needs to find the stories and ways of storytelling that interests kids/adults immersed in the age of the iphone and Internet.
I suppose I would entice new blood to audiences first by ensuring that theatre is alive and well in schools and education.
It’s so important to occasionally get away from the likes of Facebook and videos of Youtube and engage oneself with real people and real situations. Theatre is a real connection between storyteller and story listener. Theatre is alive and it is never the same each night.
I believe that it is a form of entertainment/education that is vital in counterbalancing the shallowness/emptiness that can come with the overuse of technology.
Book now for Funny Girl in Milton Keynes by clicking www.atgtickets.com/miltonkeynes
