Charlo Crossley: Born To Be On Stage

All Photos:  Alan Mercer    Lighting:  Eric V.

Charlo Crossley is best known for being one of Bette Midler's back up vocalists known as 'The Staggering Harlettes.'  She replaced original member Melissa Manchester and stayed with Bette for seven years, performing all over the United States and on Broadway in the "Clams On The Half-Shell Revue."

She grew up in Chicago during the Sixties.  In the Seventies she toured in the road companies with 'Hair' and 'Jesus Christ Superstar.'  Along with Ula Hedwig and Sharon Redd, Charlo released an album titled 'Formerly Of The Harlettes' on Columbia Records produced by David Rubinson.  This album may finally see a CD release in the near future.

On her own she has also recorded with Luther Vandross, Chaka Khan and Barry Manilow.  She also guest starred on 'Married With Children' starring another former Harlette, Katy Segal.  She is featured in the opening credits of the film 'Sister Act' singing with Whoopi Goldberg. 

Recently Charlo had been working as a teacher's assistant at her son's school when she got the call to audition for the Motormouth Maybelle role in 'Hairspray.'  The role was a perfect fit and she toured with this road company for a couple of years and ended up closing the production in New York City. 

I fell in love with Charlo the moment I met her.  How can you not?  She has a warm and giving spirit, and so much talent.  It was a real pleasure to photograph and visit with her for this blog.  I can easily see her back on Broadway doing what she was born to do! 

AM:  Hi Charlo!  Why don't you tell me a little about the beginning of your career?

CC:  I grew up in Chicago and started singing in church when I was seven and I sang in the choir during high school.  Then I started doing community theater in South Chicago when I was fifteen at a Jewish Community Temple.  I met Mandy Patinkin when we did shows together.  I already knew that I wanted to be in show business. 

AM:  Did you move to New York as soon as you could?

CC:  I moved to Las Vegas first. 

AM:  You never wanted to do anything else did you?

CC:  No, I tried working in a hospital because there are a lot of nurses in my family.  I cried every day that I worked in that hospital.  I was a ward clerk who was logging in drugs in the narcotic book! 

AM:  Is your family from Chicago?

CC:  My parents both came from Mississippi and my mother had artistic aspirations.  My father and everyone on his side of the family were great singers. 

AM:  Did you have a job offer to go to Vegas?

CC:  I got cast in the Chicago version of 'HAIR' and I got traded with another cast member and I went to Las Vegas to do the show.  I was there for a few months and it was good to get out of Chicago.  This was 1970 and Vegas was a sleepy little town. 

AM:  Did you ever think you'd be a secretary or something not in show business?

CC:  I had been accepted into Southern Illinois University but being on stage was my college.  I didn't want to go to college because I went down there and people were just partying.  I thought to myself that this isn't exciting.  I wanted to get on with my career and living my fantasy.

AM:   How did you do that?

CC:  I went to New York for four months then I went to France and changed everything.  There was so much unrest in the United States at that time and I was sick of it.  When I was in high school I picked my side.   I could hang out with the Black radicals, although I had bourgeoisie leanings, which was very looked down upon.  Looking back I didn't really care, it was radicals or art kids.  I could hang with the radicals intellectually but it was all dribble.  It was just someone's diatribe.  We were all very idealistic!  This wasn't interesting enough for me.  I wanted to be on stage.

AM:  Do you wonder why you wanted to be on stage so bad?

CC:  There's something about being in front of those lights.  I knew this when I was eight years old being in plays.  I felt so good in my skin.  I just wanted to travel in Europe.  I feel like I grew up there.  When I came home I was not the same person.  My father said, "Now that you've got all of this out of your system, maybe you'll settle down and get a real job!"  I said, "What's a real job?"

AM:  How did your father react to this news?

CC:  He said I couldn't live at home unless I got a real job and I said I'm not getting a real job!   I'm not going to give up my dream to work at the post office where he worked.  There's nothing wrong with that except that it wasn't me.  I remember going to the unemployment office and back then people were so mean and hateful.  That was another defining moment for me.  I didn't want to be a part of any of this. 

AM:  How did you meet Bette Midler?

CC:  I stayed with 'HAIR' in Washington DC from January to August in 1971.  All the kids from New York kept telling me that I reminded them so much of this girl named Bette Midler.

AM:  Did you know who she was at this time?

CC:  I had seen Bette Midler on 'The Tonight Show' when my sister and I stayed up late one night.  She was on TV in a black leather jacket sitting at a soda fountain singing 'Leader Of The Pack' and I said nobody is doing this.

AM:  Did you like her act right away?

CC:  I was so smitten with her.  When I got on tour everyone kept telling me I needed to meet her.  Everyone kept telling me I had to see her show and that we were so much alike.  So I went to New York and it was a dirty, gritty monster.  I found a place to stay downstairs from Bill Hennessey, who gave Bette the Miss M persona.  He nurtured it and she took a hold of it.

AM:  Is this how you met her?

CC:  Our company managers name was Clayton Koontz and he invited me to a cocktail party because he wanted me to meet someone.  Soon this couple comes in the door and I recognize the guy because we were in 'HAIR' together and he says Charlo I'd like you to meet my girlfriend Bette.  I play in her band.  I didn't think anything about it and kept on talking, then I asked her if she was on 'The Tonight Show' and she said yes.  Then I said, "Oh my God!  Everyone keeps telling me I have to meet you."  That was the beginning of our friendship.

AM:  Were you close right away?

CC:  I started going to see her shows and there was nobody doing what she was doing.  We became good girlfriends and did everything together.  What a great friendship it was.  She was the first new friend I made after going to New York.  I was doing 'Jesus Christ Superstar' at the time. 

AM:  Did you have to audition to be a Harlette?

CC:  No I didn't.  I did 'Superstar' for a year and a half and kept going to see Bette, hanging out and being a devoted fan.  I left 'Superstar' and was doing a show called 'Tricks' that didn't go anywhere and the day before it opened Bette came to me and asked me to join the Harlettes to replace Melissa Manchester.  Bette was getting ready to launch a big tour and I said yes, not knowing that 'Tricks' was going to close. 

AM:  So you are on the second Bette album?

CC:  Yes I sang on the second and the third albums.  I'm on a few of them. 

AM:  I know you worked with her for a while so what happened to end it?

CC:  There was so much going on.....

AM:  You obviously did the Harlettes album at this time.

CC:  We did that album while we were still working with Bette.  Barry Manilow was our encouragement.  Barry signed with Arista and had to fight like hell.  He was there from day one with Bette.  We had the same fight to be able to open the second act.    

AM:  Did you like working with Barry Manilow?

CC:  We clicked immediately.  He was like a brother to me.  I saw him in Vegas last summer and he is phenomenal.  I'm so proud of him. 

AM:  Now back to Bette....

CC:  I can't pinpoint when things started to change.  I could blame Aaron Russo who's not with us anymore, but I think people make choices.  It depends on how badly you want stardom and recognition.  Bette wanted it more than anybody I ever knew.

AM:  Was it just all hard work?

CC:  What she demanded of us at the time was total and complete absorption into her world.  When you walked into her world of "Divadom" it's all about her.  I was struggling with a lot of my own issues at that time.  I didn't know how to deal with them properly.

AM:  Can you give me an example?

CC:  I didn't understand why when I came off the road I'd be an emotional wreck.  I'd have very little to show after being out on the road.  I would go to Long Island and hang out trying to figure out who I was and it took a long time.

AM:  When did you start figuring it all out?

CC:  I turned 25 in 1976 and I got turned on to myself being beautiful because I felt like a warhorse.  We were all just getting turned on to how to live life.  We were learning how to bring style and quality to our lives.  I was looking at the quality of my life and I didn't like it.

AM:  What did you learn about yourself at this point?

CC:  I realized I liked living on the road.  For years I didn't unpack.  Working with Bette was an incredible experience to be in the company of so many show business legends and meet everyone of my childhood fantasies.  We all worked so hard and struggled the same so we had that in common.  It's not like now where everyone is kind of half-assed.

AM: What is your opinion of the younger artists today?

CC:  This new generation doesn't have any poise or decorum.  They are not grateful and that bothers me, but I'm grateful.  I decided when I was seven or eight years old that I wanted that kind of excellence.  I knew what it took to make it and you had to be excellent.

AM:  What do you want to do now?

CC:  I want to go back to Broadway.  I loved being back on Broadway in 'Hairspray.'  I closed out the New York show.  It was great going back as an A list Actor.  They gave me my own apartment.  It was a prayer answered.  It's always been about the quality of life and it went up!  I live in California but I want to be back in New York because that's where the appreciation is.  That's where the acknowledgment for your body of work is.  This is where you have to earn your place.  I want to go back to Broadway, do my nightclub act and make some records.

Carol Channing Is A National Treasure

All Photos: Alan Mercer   Hair & Make-up: David Blackstock

Carol Channing is an American Treasure who sings, acts, and is a first rate comedienne. She is the recipient of three Tony Awards, including one for lifetime achievement, a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. Carol is best known for originating, on Broadway, the musical-comedy roles of bombshell Lorelei Lee in 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,' and matchmaking widow Dolly Gallagher Levi in 'Hello, Dolly!'

Carol was born in Seattle, Washington, the only child of George and Adelaide Channing. Her mother was born Jewish. Her father was a city editor at the Seattle Star. His newspaper career took the family to San Francisco when Carol was only two weeks old. Her father later became a successful Christian Science practitioner, editor, and teacher.

According to Carol's memoirs, when she left home to attend Bennington College in Vermont, her mother informed her that her father, a journalist who Carol had believed was born in Rhode Island, had in fact been born in Augusta, Georgia, to a German-American father and an African-American mother. According to Carol's account, her mother reportedly did not want Carol to be surprised "if she had a black baby". Carol kept this a secret to avoid any problems on Broadway and in Hollywood, ultimately revealing it only in her autobiography, 'Just Lucky I Guess,' published in 2002 when she was 81 years old.

Carol came to national prominence as the star of Jerry Herman's 'Hello, Dolly!' She never missed a performance during her run, attributing her good health to her Christian Science faith. Her performance won her the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, in a year when her chief competition was Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl.

Carol was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981. She was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 1995, and an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts by California State University, Stanislaus in 2004. That same year, she received the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre. She and husband Harry Kullijian are active in promoting arts education in California schools with the Dr. Carol Channing and Harry Kullijian Foundation. Harry is Carol's fourth husband and junior high school sweetheart, who reunited with her after she mentioned him fondly in her memoir.

My friend Larry Ferguson called me one day and said he was working with Carol on a new gospel CD and would I take the cover photograph? Naturally I said yes. Working with a legend like Carol Channing is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I'm so glad I had the chance to do it. I was able to sit with Carol for ten minutes last week right before she celebrated her 90th birthday at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. She is full of life and enthusiasm and quite an inspiration.

AM: Hi Carol, Thank you for talking to me for the blog. I want to celebrate your 90th birthday!

CC: Oh thank you. That's good of you!

AM: Did you enjoy working with our good friend Larry Ferguson?

CC: Oh yes, Larry in Nashville Tennessee. Larry is a dear. His wife is a dear too. She sends me eyelashes and lipstick and all kinds of wonderful cosmetics.

AM: You'll never have to buy anymore.

CC: No I never will. I have them piled up at home. She's a doll and I love Larry.

AM: Do you consider yourself a gospel singer?

CC: Oh my father was a gospel singer. He was born and raised in Augusta, Georgia. But yes, I am a gospel singer and I grew up with all this wonderful music.

AM: You recorded some country music at one time as well didn't you?

CC: Yes I did, but I forgot it since it's been so long now. (laugher)

AM: Do you have a favorite memory of any of these gospel songs?

CC: Oh this is the milkman who went from house to house singing this song in his horse drawn milk wagon. He would sing, "Mama send me a letter, Papa send me a stamp, I hung my jawbone on the fence, I ain't ever seen my jawbone since" (Carol is singing this to me now) He would sing this between every house. He'd start the song over every time he left a house. The song lasted just long enough to get to the next house.

AM: You know all these classic songs?

CC: Daddy would teach me all these songs and told me this is Americana. This is coming up out of the ground and it bloomed and blossomed south of the Mason Dixon line. This is real Americana and our history!

AM: And so are you!

CC: Thank you.

AM: Are you making a Patriotic CD next?

CC: Yes and that's the best one. I wish Larry had released this one first. I cried over it because it's so genuine. Boy we gotta sing those Patriotic songs now.

AM:: Tell me a little about your foundation.

CC: It's called the Channing/Kullijian Foundation after my husband and myself.

AM: You've known Harry a long time and have an interesting story with him as well.

CC: I met Harry when I was twelve and he was thirteen. He was center on the Soccer team and when he graduated he had the best grades. He also got an award for being the best scholar and athlete. Even today when I think about it...every time he kisses me I'm twelve years old. That's the truth.

AM: That's a beautiful feeling.

CC: Oh it's heaven!

AM: Now your foundation has to do with the arts doesn't it?

CC: Yes , they've taken the arts out of public schools under the fiction and the lie that we need art the least. ALL we need is the arts. That's what Albert Einstein said. You can't understand the theory of relativity if you don't have the arts. Everybody that ever accomplished anything knows that's the truth. It churns your brain and gets the creative juices to start.

AM: You know this for a fact don't you?

CC: I found this out over a lifetime in the theater with very little time off. I did a couple of movies, but I found out the arts stimulate your brain. Only I have this feeling about 'Hello Dolly' yet I saw many of the other Dolly's that Mr. Merrick got after he sent us on tour. They each had their own interpretation of Dolly and I thought they were each valuable.

AM: Since you are so closely associated, did you ever confuse yourself with Dolly?

CC: Well I don't come from New York and I'm nothing like her. Of course it's my own emotions that see Dolly but perhaps it is me...I don't know.

AM: Why do you keep working?

CC: It's all of life. It's like saying why don't you die?

AM: Well some people like to retire and just enjoy life?

CC: That's because they were working at something that wasn't the arts.

AM: Are you still a Christian Scientist?

CC: No but it's good training. It's good for all children. My father worked with doctors. He had deep respect for them. He was one of the great heads of the Christian Science movement but I can't say that I am.

AM: Did you give it up a long time ago?

CC: Oh no I didn't give it up. Harry is an Armenian and they were the first to recognize the crucifixion and say alright we are all Christians. I am a Christian.

AM: Are you excited about having a 90th birthday party?

CC: Yes I am terribly excited! I love all the people who are going to entertain me. These are my friends. I can't wait to see everyone.

AM: How do you feel about being a legendary icon?

CC: I never think about it. I think if you do then you're not an icon anymore. It's about expressing the wonders of singing a song or creating a character. I am always looking for the spine of a character and I found it in 'Hello Dolly' and it's to rejoin the human race. I asked Thornton Wilder, who is one of the six greatest playwrights in America according to our American Government, if that was the spine of Hello Dolly and he couldn't tell me. He had to think about it, but he called me the next day and said I was right. The spine has to include every character in it. It's all about rejoining the human race. Dolly talks to her dead husband and says, "Efrem, I want to rejoin the human race before the parade passes by!" Everything comes out of that.

Rex Smith: A Renaissance Man

All photos: Alan Mercer Lighting: Eric Venturo

Rex Smith is a multi-talented performer whose natural singing ability has led him to a successful career as a singer and actor. A veteran of stage and screen, Rex started his career as a "teen idol" heartthrob with the platinum album hit 'You Take My Breath Away.' Other albums included 'Rex,' 'Where Do We Go From Here,' 'Sooner Or Later,' 'Forever,' 'Camouflage,' and most recently, 'Simply...Rex.'

Turning to Broadway at the height of his popularity, Rex made his Broadway debut as Danny Zuko in the original production of 'Grease.' He captivated both critics and audiences, and received the Theater World Award for his memorable portrayal of Frederick in 'The Pirates of Penzance' on Broadway. Other starring roles on Broadway include "Grand Hotel", 'Sunset Boulevard,' 'The Scarlet Pimpernel,' 'Annie Get Your Gun,' and 'Kiss Me Kate.'

Rex is an enthusiastic entertainer who never lacks for energy. In between Broadway shows, he expanded his career to encompass TV shows and feature films. Rex hosted 'Solid Gold,' starred in the series 'Street Hawk,' and became a household name on the popular CBS daytime drama 'As The World Turns.' Rex has guest starred on numerous prime time television and movies including 'Daredevil,' 'JAG,' 'Baywatch,' and 'Caroline In The City' just to name a few.

I actually met and worked with Rex Smith ten years ago in Dallas, Texas when he was touring with 'Annie Get Your Gun.' He was the second celebrity I ever photographed. When I ran into him again a few weeks ago we decided we had to have another photo session and here are the results. Rex is one of the nicest guys in the business, not to mention most talented. Eric Venturo was in charge of the lighting for this session. We also got to take photos of Rex and his new bride Tracy.

AM: You're one of a handful of entertainers who have done everything.

RS: That's true. I don't want to brag but I started out in Rock n' Roll touring with Ted Nugent and managed by Aerosmith's management.

AM: Your first two albums reflect this.

RS: My first two albums are very hard Rock n' Roll. Then to make that sudden transition of becoming a teen idol because of, almost on a lark, do a movie that takes me around the world. Then Broadway and let's throw in 'As The World Turns' in daytime as well as primetime shows with 'Street Hawk' and 'Solid Gold.'

AM: It all adds up to a lot!

RS: When I hosted 'Solid Gold' I was like Ryan Seacrest except I sang the Top Ten Hit every week too. I have some motion picture work too. I have worn many hats. I had a debut at Lincoln Center so I have done "legit" stage work too.

AM: It must amaze you that you've really done all this.

RS: I had dinner last night with Patrick Cassidy who is one of my dearest friends. He replaced me in 'Pirates of Penzance' in 1980. Here we are having dinner last night and having the best time. Just the wonderful golden era of being able to enjoy Broadway and Hollywood as well. This was an era when an agent was an agent and there were exciting opportunities.

AM: It's so different today. Do you miss that era?

RS: I don't look back in anger or regret. I'm proud of the journey. Also I have been able to maneuver the personal disasters and potholes that bring a lot of people in the entertainment business down too young too early. There's no school to go to that trains you from suddenly going from trying to make payments on a motorcycle to a couple of Porsche's and a house on both coasts. That's a mind blower.

AM: It's so extreme.

RS: You just can't imagine what people like Michael Jackson or even Tiger Woods have gone through. Any of us would have our minds blown to be under that pressure for one day let alone a life time. I've seen one drop of it compared to this. I have been in that rarified air. At the height of my most outrageous popularity were easily some of the most lonely times in my life.

AM: Really!?!

RS: I always had plenty of friends but on a personal level when all the doors are closed in my own space it was lonely. Anyone I met looked at me in a different way. I didn't look at the world any differently, but everyone I knew or was going to meet was looking at me through rose colored glasses.

AM: Growing up in Florida did you want to be a Rock n' Roll singer?

RS: That's it. I'm a singer. That's what I am. That has been my life.

AM: What do you like about performing on Broadway?

RS: The wonderful thing about Broadway is the swell of a 26 piece orchestra. There is a responsibility of a hundred people cast and crew coming together at 8:00 eight times a week. It's like 'Das Boat.' Take 'Sunset Boulevard' where you have an eight thousand pound set that rises 46 feet into the air effortlessly and hangs an inch above the stage. It never touched the stage because no stage can take the weight. When I put my jacket over my shoulder, that was the cue. I had to step off as the set swept away from me. That responsibility is almost like being a quarterback. It takes a discipline that is unequaled.

AM: Is Theatre your favorite?

RS: For me it's the best. To have the dramatic arch and responsibility to carry an audience for three hours and not drop the ball, for an ADD guy like me, it's the perfect fit. Used properly ADD is a great tool. The medicine I needed was eight shows a week in a sixteen million dollar show.

AM: Considering your first two albums are such hard rock, how did it feel to do a third album of softer material?

RS: A singer takes the words and music and is a communicator for so many reasons to different people. It's not like a UN translator, but it's no different for me to sing 'You Take My Breath Away' or "Where Do We Go From Here.' They are both interpretation and an art form bringing them both to life.

AM: Can you tell us about your biggest hit, 'You Take My Breath Away' which is still played all over the world?

RS: As far as 'You Take My Breath Away' goes, it was part of a TV movie (Sooner or Later) and the first day of filming I went to the studio with Charlie Calello who produced that album. He did all the arrangements for the Four Seasons. You can see it in 'Jersey Boys.' This man had an unbelievable career working with Frank Sinatra and Engelbert Humperdink and others.

AM: You're in good company there!

RS: He had the songs ready and I went into the studio after the first day of filming. I did it in two takes. The first take was to get the sound levels right. In those days it wasn't digital so you had tapes to rewind. As the tape is rewinding he comes up to the cue and told me he wanted to show me something. He said, "I didn't know what you were going to be like in the studio." He played the tape with background vocals in case I was a dud he could cover me up. He said, "We don't need that!"

AM: That must have felt good.

RS: As I was listening to the song, about half way through, I excused myself to go to the bathroom where I locked the door. I started crying because I knew that was a hit. That's what the moment is like. I didn't know it would pick me up and carry me around the world like it did.

AM: What a great memory that is.

RS: There are moments from my past that play back now and they are just wonderful. I look at them in a wonderful way.

AM: Can you give me an example?

RS: I was in a jeep in the mountains of Hawaii and the song came on the radio, I was so excited I just pulled the brake and I am spinning that jeep around 360 degrees. At that time there were only three channels, the radio and newspapers so the impact of that hit was so much more. Now things are splintered. Even 'American Idol' doesn't have the same impact today. The personal attention was explosive.

AM: I can see why it stands out so strong for you.

RS: We are talking about past events but that movie was a pivotal point in my life. They did a screening of it in New York in a thousand seat theater. I'll never forget I went in with a bunch of other people and the place was full. My life was completely different when the lights came up. 999 people who had just sat down to watch a movie focused and stared at me.

AM: Why do you think it was a hit?

RS: There was a truth in the music and the movie. Bruce Hart who wrote it also wrote the Theme from Sesame Street. He was able to take the human experience of love and bring it down to one line 'You Take My Breath Away.' It's amazing to have an event like that in one's life. You know I got that movie because I played the last Lynard Skynard concert at Madison Square Garden.

AM: What I think is interesting is you seem to be authentic with all these styles of music. You don't come off as an actor being told what to sing.

RS: Experimenting with so many different styles makes me like the man in the iron mask. I am the guy who has done so many things it's kind of hard to peg who he really is. You don't do Broadway for 25 years and not learn some skills along the way.

AM: Most people don't get all you got.

RS: The other thing was I always felt like the teen idol thing was not a great fit. I always felt I was more on the company of people like Elvis and Frank Sinatra. I've always been working creatively.

AM: What would you like to do now?

RS: I'd love a little seven table restaurant. I'm not really sure. Getting back to the quarterback thing, for so long I've been so accustomed to walking into a rehearsal space with a director and five weeks of rehearsal and you are opening for the New York Times.

AM: Do you prefer that to straight dramatic acting?

RS: That's how I've been engineered so I kind of bounce around with ideas. I enjoy coming up with five different ways to make an entrance and having the director tell me you found the right way and that's the one we're going to use. I never really fit into the life of an actor who hangs around the craft services table and waits around to film a two second shot. I just wasn't built for that. The theater thing is more me. You know you're going to do something great every day. It's the only business that everybody on every level tries to do a better job today than they did yesterday.

AM: Would you go to New York now if you got a call?

RS: Yes, but I am not enamored to do a juke box show. I don't look at it piously, it's a competitive market and everyone is doing what they feel they need to do to succeed. I do think and hope there will be artists who create something new so that an audience can walk in and go on a fresh journey instead of just a rehash of what's been around.

AM: Your personal life has been fortunate as well right?

RS: I am still here. I'm having a nice afternoon with you. A lot of artists live to work. I always worked to live. The life experience of following my heart spiritually was always more important. When doing the final act of any show and the curtain came down, I was done. I never did it for another curtain call. I didn't live for that. I don't have that 'Norma Desmond' type of personality. I don't pine for the adoration of the applause. I earned it at each show but I could have just as easily gone out the stage door and be done when the curtain came down. That has been a great thing in my life, that I don't long for that kind of spotlight. I enjoyed, and I am proud of, being on a stage.

AM: Would you like to direct a show?

RS: Sure I enjoy working with performers of all kinds. I have directed a version of 'Pirates of Penzance.' I worked with all local actors. After a performance once an actor came up and said, "This is the most wonderful night." I asked him why and he said, "Nobody ever asked me to think before. I was always just told what to do."
I told them all to think about what they would do. If you're a pirate there is a whole range of things you can be, like a drunk. Take your pick of any kind of erratic personality you may want to play and add that into the mix. I felt happy that I was able to allow somebody to discover something for themselves. I found out a stage is a stage no matter where you are. It's all relative.

To learn more about Rex Smith visit his web site http://www.rexsmith.com/