Everybody needs a dream! For a great many of us, it was waking up to find that live theatre had returned after nearly two years in darkness, waiting and hoping and dreaming that we’d all be able to return to the stage with all the joy and wonder and feeling that entails. In a TheatreBloom exclusive interview, we’ve had a phone chat with Broadway veteran Kyle Taylor Parker about his current role in the National Touring production of Pretty Woman the musical.
Thank you so very much for giving us some of your time, Kyle, we really appreciate it! I know you’re playing Happy Man on the current National Tour of Pretty Woman. What is it about this show that made you excited and made you say you wanted to be a part of it?
Kyle Taylor Parker: I love the director, Jerry Mitchell. We’ve worked together for a really long time. He gave me my first Broadway show, Kinky Boots. And he gave me my first leading role on tour and in a Broadway show, which was playing Lola in Kinky Boots. So anything that he’s a part of I really trust and believe in and know will be a lot of fun. After a pandemic, I think a show like Pretty Woman is just a comfort food that is needed right now. So I said “Yes!” as quickly as possible.
I imagine that you have seen the movie. How would you say Happy Man in the stage show varies from— wait, he is a character in the movie, isn’t he?
Kyle: Yeah, he’s a smaller character in the movie. They’ve really created Happy Man to be this Fairy Godfather figure in the musical. In a way that really adds that Broadway-musical theatre element to the show. I get to interact with the audience, I become several other characters along the way, commenting on what’s happening. And I also get to play the beloved hotel manager who kind of gives Vivian class in the hotel. It’s a lot of fun!
What would you say is the most exciting thing about getting play Happy Man?
Kyle: I play about five different characters so I really try to make each and every one of those characters a different person. I think that’s the most fun I’m having on this project. During the pandemic, I hoped and prayed for one great role to come back to on stage. Instead I got five. So I’m just having a blast.
What is your defining moment in the show and is the defining moment for you as Kyle Taylor Parker different than the defining moment for Happy Man or one of the other characters that you play?
Kyle: I think my defining moment for the show that I am just so grateful for is the moment when we teach Vivian how to tango, you know, to get ready for her big date with Edward. And I get to dance with a boy on stage. Being a black, openly queer actor, I never thought in all my wildest dreams that I would be dancing with a boy center stage. His name is Trent Soyster, he’s an incredible dancer, and it’s great light fun. It’s fabulous. It’s a fabulous number and I’m honored to get to be a part of it. Then on a personal level, that’s what I’m doing. It’s just so fulfilling.
What would you say has been the biggest challenge for you in this production so far?
Kyle: Health is a big one. We’re being very careful; we’re staying healthy as we travel the different cities across America during what is still a pandemic. I think that really is the biggest challenge, just staying careful, staying healthy, and taking care of each other.
You mentioned that you do the tango. Do you consider yourself to be a dancer? How is the dancing in this show going for you?
Kyle: I love the dancing in the show. I took all the classes growing up, since I was five years old ‘til now, but this is the most I’ve danced in my career. If Jerry Mitchell thinks I can do it, then I can do it. So I just do it.
As Happy Man, do you get to wear a costume that you’re absolutely in love with?
Kyle: Yes. Happy Man has this coat. I call it the happy coat. It has a million different patches on it. The idea is that any person can walk up to me and they find something or someone they love on that coat. Gregg Barnes, he’s the costume designer and he also costume-designed Kinky Boots, he asked me who are people that I love, icons or things that would mean something to the Happy Man. Aretha Franklin is my favorite singer. So I have an Aretha Franklin patch on there, I have a Diana Ross patch— it is my favorite costume to wear!
That sounds amazing. It’s like Joseph and his coat of many colors, only it’s Happy Man and his coat of many happies and icons! What are you hoping that people are going to take away from seeing Pretty Woman? What are you hoping they’re going to walk out of the theatre talking about after they see the show?
Kyle: I hope that they’re just happy, happy, happy! And that they leave filled with joy and laughter. It’s a great date night. It’s so much fun. It’s nostalgic! I hope that they leave singing their favorite song, “Pretty Woman.”
You sound quite happy to be Happy Man, but if you could be anyone else in the show— no restrictions of any kind— who would you be?
Kyle: I think I would play Kit, the best friend. Kit’s great and Kit has two incredible numbers, “Rodeo Drive” and “Never Give Up On a Dream.”
And since we’re living in what I have affectionately dubbed the “Oprah Era of Musicals” where it’s “you get a musical! you get a musical! you get a musical! Everyone gets a musical!” If you had to pick your favorite movie to turn into a musical, what would you pick?
Kyle: Oooh! Coming To America! I just love the movie so much and I think it would be a really fun musical. And I want to play the Eddie Murphey part.
What has been your big, personal takeaway from this experience of Pretty Woman so far?
Kyle: My big takeaway has been, and this ties into the moment that we’re in— the pandemic, my takeaway is to realize what a gift it is to do what you love and share that with other people and to not take it for granted. After two years of not getting to be on stage and share and hear an audience laugh, I don’t take any single performance of any given day for granted. I’m just living directly in the moment and what a gift that is.
Do you have a song in the show is your favorite?
Kyle: I love “On a Night Like Tonight” and that’s a Happy Man number.
If you had to describe the experience of Pretty Woman the musical in just one word, what word would you use?
Kyle: Fabulous. It’s been fabulous! And it’s only going to get even better.
If you had to encourage people to come out and see Pretty Woman, what would you say?
Kyle: I would say that if you love the movie? You’ll love the musical. You get to watch two people fall in love right in front of your eyes. It has the feeling of the original movie and then some with a bit of Broadway magic.
Pretty Woman plays April 5th 2022 through April 10th 2022 at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre in the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center— 12 N. Eutaw Street in the Bromo Seltzer Arts District of Baltimore, MD. For tickets call the box office at (410) 752-7444 or purchase them purchase them online.
