Aug. 7, 2002
	Movin' Out
All publications Front Page Nightspots Blacklines En La Vida Out! Resource Guide Current WCT Issue	By Gregg Shapiro   Dancer Keith Roberts is something of an anomaly. As Tony, one of the three primary male dancers in the Broadway-bound world-premiere production of the Billy Joel/Twyla Tharp musical Movin' Out, Roberts is the only one who is gay. Not to stereotype, but it must feel strange to be in the minority in that setting. Roberts, who has been dancing for Twyla Tharp for almost 15 years, is the Tony from Mr. Joel's song "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)." We follow Tony, the "Beatles fan," from his days stocking shelves in the grocery store during the mid-1960s, through his romantic entanglements, his tour of duty in Vietnam, and his attempt to regain control of his life after the war. Through movement and dance, Roberts transforms Tony from an innocent skirt-chasing kid to a young man on the move to a man trying to keep his balance while the world moves around him. Gregg Shapiro: With your background in dance, how familiar were you with Billy Joel's music before becoming involved in the production of Movin' Out? Keith Roberts: I grew up with his music. He's not been around forever, but certainly (a part of) my generation. Who doesn't know "Piano Man" or "Big Shot"? There are some songs that we use that I didn't know. I had never heard of "2000 Years" before. GS: And the show also utilizes some of his classical compositions. KR: Yeah, there's a lot of classical (music) that came out within the last year. It was a whole new learning experience, as well as knowing "Uptown Girl," and all that. ... I have my favorite numbers within the show. I love doing "Shameless." I love going through the whole journey and getting to that point. Being able to go out on-stage and have such redemption. Also, it's a great song. I think it was Billy's homage to James Brown. GS: Are there other scenes or songs that you especially like? KR: In the first act, when the act turns over, and all of a sudden we're at war. Then (the song) "She's Got A Way" comes up. That's such a heartrending song unto itself. The way that she (Tharp) devised that song, with having two bars, across the world from each other, and the connection between Tony and Brenda still there in his imagination. It's a beautiful scene...so simple, so touching. It shows different sides of human nature on both sides of the world. There's this dichotomy where you have something so beautiful being sung when something so terrible is going on. Seeing the dark human nature on stage. GS: How does it feel to have the responsibility of being the performer to originate Tony? KR: Twyla made it very easy for me. She believes in everybody that she works with so much, and she has such trust in the people that she's working with. Before we even started on any of the movement, there was a lot of research that went into (the creation of the characters). Go look at this, go study this person, go read this, see that movie. There were a lot of character qualities that I started looking at, of all these different people. Then I let that go and we walked into the studio and started doing movement to different songs and slowly, over time, Tony started coming. Even now, I go on stage and I think that what I'm doing now is so different from rehearsing it a few months ago in New York. GS: Are there specific people that the character of Tony is based upon? KR: There are a lot of people that I looked at and studied...certain qualities, how they acted. I didn't want to copy them and I didn't memorize them. I would look at them once and I would write, in my own notes, what I liked about them. I never had a direct picture of them, but I had the kind of subtleties that they provided. Then I let them go and started bringing my notes into what Tony is. My father was in the military. I'm an army brat. I grew up around that. There are certain qualities of my father's that are part of Tony. There are a lot of people...it's a melting pot. GS: What does it mean to you to be involved in a world-premiere production of this magnitude? KR: I've never done anything like this. The other Broadway shows I've done, I've always filled other people's shoes. I've come in once they were set up and I learned it, worked on it, and then I did it. When I was with American Ballet Theater, I did a lot of new productions, new works by many different choreographers, but nothing ever on the scale of this. The first day I walked into the theater, I was so overwhelmed. Never in my wildest dreams did I think it was going to be this big. We've been working on this since October of 2000, so it's completely overwhelming and a great challenge. Of course, you always have your self-doubts. GS: Am I worthy? KR: Do I have the qualifications to pull this off? My background is as a dancer, and all of a sudden I'm being told that I'm creating a character. It's not just about the steps. It's how you wear your hair, how you walk, how you talk, even though there's no dialogue. The kind of accent that you're speaking with ... . It's been quite a challenge to dive into it and learn as I go. GS: What does it mean to you to be doing some of Twyla Tharp's trademark moves in the setting of Movin' Out? KR: I've worked with Twyla since 1988 in ballet theater. When we get into a studio, we work so well together. A lot of times we don't speak. I copy her. She does something and I do it and take it further. Either she likes it or she hates it. There's such an amazing energy between us when we're in the studio. To take her movement into the world of theater is amazing and I think it's challenged her. She has been on so many different levels before...television, film. GS: The movie Hair. KR: Yeah. It's interesting for me to work with her in a different medium. ... There's always that security of I know how she works and she knows how I work. GS: How do you like being in Chicago? KR: Chicago's a great town. I'm glad that we got to open the show in a big city. A city that has its culture and its education. It's not in the middle of nowhere, where nobody's ever seen dance before. You look around and you see everything else that's going on and all the theater that comes into Chicago. It's a great place to be. GS: Where do you call home? KR: New York. GS: What do you miss the most about home when you are on the road? KR: The comforts of your home. The familiarity of your own bed. Waking up and it's your own coffee machine. All the little personal things. Whenever I leave New York, it's one of the oddest things, but what I always miss about it is that there's a trash can on every corner. I know that's weird to say, but I travel so much, and you're walking around and you're always trying to throw something away. New York is truly one of the best cities because it has such diversity and culture and education. It has everything. It has such an amazing energy and that energy feeds the people that live there and it pushes them. I always realize that when I get off the plane in New York, I'm like "OK, I've got to go and rush and get my luggage and on and on." ... You're challenged. You always want to do something. GS: Your batteries are charged. KR: Exactly. You get off the plane in L.A., and you're like, "Oh, the sun's nice. My luggage, it'll be here in a minute. It can wait." I love New York. I love being there. I've lived there for 15 or 16 years. It's the place that I always want to have some connection to, some part of my life there.   Movin' Out is at the Shubert Theatre, (312) 902-1400.	Keith Roberts and Elizabeth Parkinson in Movin' Out.
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