The name Ken Ard probably does not ring a bell with the Dutch public, but his career spans over 20 years on Broadway. He started out at the tender age of 17 and has worked with the best on stage, film and in music. To name just a few: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Anthony Quinn, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Patti Labelle, Gladys Knight and Gregory Hines. Over coffee Ken and I talked about his upcoming show in Amsterdam and his distinguished career.
In the beginning…
Ken’s love of musicals started around the age of five when he saw The Wizard of Oz on TV. The next day his porch was a stage as he sang all the songs from the movie. In school he even had passionate discussions about it with kids he calls ‘the future gay kids.’ From that point on he was hooked and knew he was going to be involved with musicals in some way or other.
The first big break arose while studying with the San Francisco Ballet. He was cast in a show called Evolution of the Blues, which was written by John Hendricks and dealt with the history of American jazz. The show ran for 5 years and 17 year old Ken was the youngest by far in a cast of show biz veterans. These included the legendary Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers. These old timers took Ken under their wings and he gained a lot of experience. He still has fond memories of a tap dancer named Eddie, who was always drunk, except (it seemed) while performing. Then he was electric and tapped his heart out. To this day it is the clearest tap he has ever heard.
While studying with Alvin Ailey in New York Ken went to an open union Broadway audition, with a fake union card. He was hired and never went back to class. The musical was called Marlowe and the premise of the story centered on the speculation that Christopher Marlowe wrote many of Shakespeare’s plays.
The first Broadway musical Ken was in became one of the more celebrated flops in Broadway history. Frank Rich wrote in the NY Times: ‘..a wholly ridiculous show that is much more fun to sit through than many merely mediocre musicals.’ Ken has mostly fond memories of Marlowe. He said, ‘It was tacky, but wonderful. He recalls that the producers of Marlowe were genuine mafia. As an opening night present the cast received a hard book cover, inside of which was a knife with $50 attached to it.
Andrew Lloyd Webber
During the 80s Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals reigned on Broadway and Ken was part of the original cast of Cats, Song & Dance and Starlight Express. What Ken likes about Lloyd Webber is the incredible fantasy aspects of his musicals. It is the thing that drew him to musicals in the first place.
Song & Dance was the one Lloyd Webber musical, which according to Ken, lacked fantasy. It did not work for him because the leading man (Christopher d’Amboise) was miscast. Despite this Bernadette Peters saved the day with her incredible talent and charisma. Ken loved working with her and finds her to be totally down to earth.
Ken: ‘Performing a Lloyd Webber show requires a lot of the vocal chords. The music is so high, off the scale. Singers get worn out.’ This is exactly what happened to him during tryouts for Starlight Express, in which he played Electra. He had to continue performing with an understudy singing his parts in the pit and as a result was out after the premiere. This was really frustrating because on Broadway you do not only get reviewed on opening night, but also the initial weeks after.
As Electra in Starlight Express
Jelly’s Last Jam
One of the most important Broadway musicals of the 80s was Jelly’s Last Jam, which dealt with the life of jazz innovator Jelly Roll Morton. On that show Ken worked with two giants: the late great Tony winner Gregory Hines, who starred as Jelly, and Tony winning director/playwright George C. Wolfe.
Ken on Hines: ‘He was an incredible person: a star with a chorus mentality, talented beyond belief and who could scat incredibly well. If he had lived in the era of Sammy Davis Jr. he would have been an even greater star.’
Ken on Wolfe: ‘He opened my eyes to being directed as a person, instead of as a black person. White directors often tell you to act more black and they miss all the nuances.’
When the cast was rehearsing a pivotal scene Ken broke down into tears, because Wolfe had directed them so brilliantly. In the scene people from Jelly’s past revisit him and Wolfe had directed the cast to move like floating ghosts. ‘I felt like I was looking at a genius.’
As Chimney Man in Jelly’s Last Jam
Dangerous Games
Dangerous Games is the favorite show Ken has worked on. It was created by the director/choreographer Graciela Daniele, who is originally from Argentina, and dealt with the disappeared in her mother country. Ken: ‘It was the most incredible, intense, creative process. The show dealt with torture and rape and had very visual and passionate choreography. The out of town reviews were raves, but the show got killed in New York because of its darkness.’ Ken played a dictator who sang a song called ‘Joys of Torture,’ which elicited some strong reactions from the audience.
The state of Broadway
I asked Ken if the Broadway musical is still the great American art form. Ken: ‘Yes. It will always be done the best there [on Broadway, ed.]. Creatively it is too old though. It is not growing. There is only nostalgia and therefore young audiences are not introduced to the art form. There should be r&b, rap & pop musicals. When you ask white people why Broadway is called the great white way they will tell you its because of the lights, but black people know what it really means. Black writers are not encouraged to write for Broadway and often as a black performer you�re the only one in the cast.’
Quality of Broadway performers
When in New York I always marvel at the high standard of musical performers. Generally speaking Dutch and even London performers do not achieve those highs in my opinion. Ken: ‘New York is the musical capital of the world. Performers from all over the globe try to make it there. The competition level is so high. There is an audition for something every day. There is money. Gillian Lynne (choreographer) was so excited when she was casting Cats in New York, because she had so many extremely talented people to choose from compared to London.’
Ken describes his impression of the Dutch performance level as the ‘height of mediocrity.’ Ken: ‘The Dutch audience accepts less, so the performers do not have to work as hard. There is talent, but they can get away with less. I have 20 years of experience, but still have to work just as hard for every show. There is no friendship or loyalty when it comes to business on Broadway. After having worked with Trevor Nunn on Cats I still had to audition for Starlight Express.’
Razzle Dazzle ‘em on film
Still relationships on Broadway sometimes do have their dividends. Ken got the Chicago movie gig because he knew director/choreographer Rob Marshall back in the days when they were both in the ensemble of Dangerous Games. Ken: ‘Rob never stood out, but there were always these inner workings going on in his brain’. Years later Ken received a call if he wanted to be in the ensemble of the Chicago movie. The offer came as a blessing. His apartment, which was just across the street from the World Trace Center, was completely destroyed on 9/11 and as a result of that disaster his opportunity to direct a tour of Smokey Joe’s Cafe (in which he had starred on Broadway) fell through. Because of his relationship with Marshall he did not have to audition and spent the next 5 months in Toronto filming 2 numbers. Ken: ‘I’ve always worked with the best and the Chicago ensemble were world class performers. Some of them are Tony winners. I was hired last and had a great time.’
On Catherine Zeta-Jones: ‘Like Gregory Hines she has a chorus girl mentality and she worked her ass off. She was also very smart to compete in the supporting actress category for the Oscars. The Oscars are a popularity contest and that year Nicole Kidman was the favorite to win for Best Actress.’
With Catherine Zeta-Jones on the set of Chicago
Go forth Ken Ard
Ken would love to evolve as an incredible cabaret artist (not the same as Dutch cabaret). Like Sammy Davis Jr. he would like to be able to master the seamlessness with which he created his shows and obtain the comfort level he had with an audience. Ken: ‘I’d like to take his DNA and morph it into me.’’
On October 2 Ken will make his cabaret debut at Cristofori in Amsterdam. It is his first time as himself on the stage, which he finds a bit daunting. The music will be mostly from the American songbook, but filled with a lot of obscure and overlooked songs. Songs from the 60s and 70s that made him feel good, originally performed by artists like Sammy Davis, Mark Murphy, Frank Sinatra. He will be accompanied by a jazz trio: piano (Rob van Kreeveld), drums (Erik Kooger) and contrabass (Ren� van Beeck )
Ken enthralled me during the interview with his storytelling ability, so if this is anything to go by Ken’s cabaret debut will be awesome. For more information and to reserve tickets visit www.cristofori.nl/content/concerten_agenda.php?cid=355 or call 020-7700660. Also visit Ken’s own site: www.kennethard.com.