For a typical actor, it can take months of detailed preparation to create one role that audiences will find believable, relatable, and engaging enough to invoke their suspension of disbelief during a play or movie.
But in the Pacific Conservatory Theatre’s (PCPA) latest production, one actor takes on that challenge eightfold. Andrew Philpot plays eight different characters in PCPA’s A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, which debuts at the Marian Theatre on April 27.
The play is a unique take on the traditional comedy/murder mystery. In the production, a distant heir of a wealthy family decides that all he has to do to become rich is murder everyone who stands before him in the line of succession to the fortune. The play, a mix of the macabre and comedic brilliance, follows Monty Navorro’s exploits as he slowly tries to off his family, one-by-one.
“I think this play is dark and weird and subversive,” Philpot said. “But it’s done in a way that’s so … absurd and cheery, it really works.”
It was a massive hit on Broadway in 2014, winning 10 nominations, including Best Musical. To Philpot, the challenges of the multitasking roles are simply a convergence of everything he’s trained for as an actor.
“I started acting really young,” he said. “I went to a place called The Children’s Experimental Theatre in Carmel. My brother and I were both kind of shy and my parents thought this would open us up.”
Philpot wound up staying with the theater for 10 years, performing and working behind the scenes on numerous productions ranging in subjects from history to culture. The group toured schools putting on performances, and Philpot said the theater and creatives behind it embraced the more eccentric elements of theater and writing.
“It was this amazing experience for a child,” he said. “We learned mime and stage combat. We learned about Shakespeare and Molière. It was kind of crazy, but I guess I just ate it up.”
From there, Philpot said he was hooked on acting as a future career. He earned a degree in theater at UC Irvine and then at the Academy for Classical Acting at George Washington University.
He went to Los Angeles to try his hand at film and movie acting, landing parts on Frasier, The Practice, Empty Nest, Columbo, and more, working as a day player with week-long contracts at a time. Philpot said a television actor’s life could often be unstable, and he found himself wanting something more grounded.
In 2004, Philpot saw that PCPA was looking for a teacher and an actor (he had been part of PCPA in 1998). It seemed like a perfect opportunity to work with young students and perform himself.
“That’s what we do here,” he said. “We’re all teachers as well as actors. It’s this amazing gig where you teach the students in the daytime and then you’re acting alongside them at night.”
Phipot has been in numerous productions at PCPA, including recent roles as John Proctor in The Crucible and Malvolio in Twelfth Night. He has also directed Merchant of Venice, Gidion’s Knot, as well as And When Love Speaks.
All of that preparation has made him ready to tackle what could arguably be considered one of the most difficult roles in musical theater. As eight members of the D’Ysquith family, Philpot is tasked not just with learning lines, songs, blocking, and choreography, he also has to make quick physical changes behind the scenes and ensure that the audience believes each rendition is a distinct and separate character.
“It’s a dream come true,” Philpot said. “To actually play all of these parts and to try and make them different, that’s what I’m working on, to try and find those specifics.”
He said he started with the voice of each character, which is where he begins to find the people he’s trying to create onstage. Philpot said then it’s a matter of discovering the physicality of a character, finding their center and where they carry their energy (hips, shoulders, etc.). It’s a transition that must often be achieved within seconds.
“There are going to be moments when I’m offstage for less than a minute,” Philpot said. “I will have a costume thrown on to me and part of my work will be to simply switch … and find the character physically before I step out on stage.”
With some characters, he said, he focuses on creating the right face. Oftentimes, the key was finding a piece of the costume that helps complete the portrait of what he’s trying to create. He calls the process “outside in” acting, centered on putting the physicality first before the character’s internal motivations. It’s a very different process than what is emphasized to students at the conservatory, he said.
“In order to find the differences so physically and so quickly, I literally had to find the shape first,” Philpot said. “And then flesh the character out later.”
But even if you’re not wowed by the idea of one man taking on eight roles, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder is still an impressive and fun night of theater, Philpot said.
“This play will blow you away,” he said. “It’s just so much fun.”
Arts and Lifestyle Writer Rebecca Rose is actually eight different people. Contact her at rrose@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 18-25, 2019.