Acts and Answered: Phil Rosenberg-Watt

September 26, 10:17 AMDenver Theater ExaminerDeb Flomberg

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Rehearsaing You're A Good Man Charlie Brown 

It is Friday, and it is time to decide what your plans are for the weekend. There are several great shows closing this weekend, and my suggestion is one of my all time favorite musicals You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, produced by MSI Theatre. MSI Theatre is a relatively new theatre company, but they are performing in a great space at Hampden Hall (Remember Cinderella City?) MSI also has a wonderful program of opening up their final dress rehearsal to students from the Colorado Center for the Blind. I don’t know about you, but I think that is something I would like to support.

This weekend they close You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. Playing Schroeder is Phil Rosenberg-Watt - an actor that has been seen on stages from Englewood to Evergreen and many stops in between. I’ve seen him on stage several times, (my personal favorite of his was I Hate Hamlet) and I’ve always enjoyed his work. So to give you even more reason to go see Charlie Brown this weekend, here is a bonus Acts and Answered for you!

Q: What type of shows do you enjoy watching?
A: I enjoy watching all types of shows, but I am partial to faster-paced comedies. I enjoy a good cry every now and then but I usually don't go to the theatre to be depressed. There's enough of that in real life, you know? I also thoroughly enjoy musicals as that is my specialty, but I'm a perfectionist and a bit of a harsh critic, especially for my own shows.

Phil Rosenberg-Watt

Q. What makes a “good” show?
A: It depends on which side of the proscenium I'm on. If I'm on stage then I would have to say that a good show was one that was a good experience for me, where I had fun and hopefully learned something in the process. If I'm in the audience then a good show will entertain me -- I want to be unaware of the passage of time during the performance. Now what makes a good show a great show is different: I want to see something that makes me think or touches or moves me on a deeper level, if even for a brief instant. And that's rare for me.

Q: What makes a “bad” show?
A: I think a bad show is when the production doesn't accomplish what the director intended to when the process began. Not every show can make a profound philosophical statement, and that's fine. There's nothing wrong with fluff every so often. It all depends on what the director wants to accomplish and whether he actually accomplished it. So in that sense, only those who are privy to that part of the production can really say whether it was a bad show.

Q: How can we get more people excited about live, local theatre?
A: There are a lot of ways to get people excited about live, local theatre. We can support and enhance it through our educational system, we can only do shows that people want to see, or we can come up with gimmicks. Seriously, though, that's a tough question and I don't have an easy answer. I do believe that you can't appeal to everyone all of the time, so smaller companies should do what they do best: keep their focus narrow and specific and try to avoid appealing to everybody because in the end they'll end up appealing to nobody at all. Infinite diversity in infinite combinations. Or something like that.

Q: What is your favorite play or musical?
A: I don't have a favorite because to me that would imply a degree of permanence in an ever-evolving theatrical universe. I can say I have a fondness for Chris Durang's work, as well as the classic musicals by Rodgers and Hammerstein and their ilk, but I also like newer, self-referential post-postmodernist stuff like Title of Show.

Phil in I Love You, You're Perfect...

Q: What does the average theatre patron not know about live theatre?
A: Is it okay if I rephrase the question to, "What would you like the average theatre patron to know about live theatre?" because honestly I have no idea what the average theatre patron knows or doesn't know about live theatre. There are little things like I'd like to relate such as, "Please do not talk during the performance," and, "this is not a movie theatre!" But I think I would really like him/her to understand how much training, effort, skill, luck, and just plain ol' hard work goes into every performer, performance, and production.

Q: What have been your favorite roles?
A: I liked playing Larry in Company at UNC -- I was also the music director. More recently, playing Mr. McQueen in Urinetown was a blast, although that was more about the cast and the whole experience of doing it in a maintenance garage. I enjoyed the challenge of playing "Man 2" in I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change and doing a zillion costume changes. I also love to direct and music direct, and would like to do more of that in the near future.

Q: Where can we see you next?
A: I'm playing Schroeder at the Englewood Cultural Arts Center the last two weekends of this month! Come on by.

Q. What’s one movie can you recite line for line?
A: Hmm. I think many people of my generation could recite The Princess Bride verbatim, so I won't do that one. I can't really think of any movies that I have completely memorized, but I do love the Star Wars trilogy and can probably recite most of the lines in those movies. "Do or do not. There is no try."