The big turning point in Chips career was when he auditioned to play Marvin in In Trousers at Playwrights Horizons. He sang Jackie from Jacques Brel, and Bill Finn (who wrote In Trousers and was directing it at that point) told him that a) he hated that song and b) if he insisted on singing it, he should put his hands in his pockets and stand on the piano... which Chip did. Suffice it to say, Chip thought that Bill was the oddest person he had ever met, but got the gig and they became great friends. In Trousers turned into a cult hit and next came March of the Falsettos. Michael Rupert came took over the role of Marvin and Chip became Mendel, his psychiatrist, which he considered a demotion. He says he remembered that there were a lot of lunches where he was explaining his issues to William Finn, and at one of them he offered to write his own song for Mendel. The offer was not accepted. READ THE FULL STORY IN MY BOOK: goo.gl/mRElNV
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 00:11:08 +0000