In the following interview with Kristopher McDowell, the paragraphs in quotation marks contain the thoughts and reflections Kristopher shared with me recently at the wonderful Café Europa across from Carnegie Hall. The other paragraphs summarize my questions and reflections that initiated the interview.
If you want to see Kristopher McDowell perform in the near future you will have to wait a while. From now until the beginning of March he is doing what every successful performer should do periodically: taking a rest from performing.
  
"I need time to reflect on all that has happened to me in the last few months: the successful show at The Laurie Beechman Theatre which was extended; my CD "Faces of Love" continues to sell well and I need to begin thinking about a second recording; and I want to continue to learn, take voice lessons and some dance and movement classes. I want some time to just rest."
‘Success' is the word to describe Kristopher McDowell. He just turned 22 and he has catapulted into the cabaret, recording, and performance limelight. This is wonderful news for a young man who, since he was seven, knew he wanted a career in musical theatre. But simply knowing what one wants to be is not enough.
"I was listening to Kevin Spacey talk about success the other day and what he said was important to how one goes about building a career. He said that the actor not only has to have a clear vision of where he or she wants to be; the actor has to get involved in the vision and do things that will result in the success. Sort of Meisner meets Method."
In the next few months Kristopher McDowell will be doing the things he needs to do to continue his successful career and to keep focused and centered as a person. He has started working with a new voice instructor. His former instructor died during the recording of "Faces of Love." His new teacher Bill Schuman has worked with Michael Bolton and travels to Italy to work with Placido Domingo.
Kristopher will also take dance classes with one of Manhattan's best teachers. He is serious about being the best he can be.
He will also be traveling to Tuscany in late July, early August to participate in a ten-day workshop with internationally known instructors in voice, movement, and acting. He is one of only ten males chosen to participate in this intensive workshop, five from the United States and five from outside the States. There will also be ten female participants.
This commitment to excellence is paying off for Kristopher McDowell. When his mother named him after Kris Kristofferson (who was working with Barbara Streisand when Kristopher was born) she knew that a star had been born. True star quality is about doing the things one needs to do to live and work the craft of acting. That means not just taking a voice lesson here and there. It means, as it does for Kristopher McDowell working with the best and working the hardest.
"I haven't been working with Bill Schuman very long. But he already has me singing a D above high C! When I started with him I was comfortable with the A above middle C."
All this hard work will continue to be important in the coming months. Kristopher has two Off Broadway roles up in the air either of which will put him on stage sometime in the Spring of 2001. He is making plans for his second CD. This new recording will be quite different from "Faces of Love" and will most likely be a dance album.
Before the end of the interview, I asked Kristopher to tell me three things about himself that he would like me know about him, things about which I had not thought to ask. He volunteered the following, indicating that as far as he knew no one else knew any of this about him either. Consider this a first!
"I would really like to work with Lenny Kravitz on a dance CD. Second, I have just finished the application process for a not-for-profit charity (501-c3) that will benefit parents and families expecting a Down Syndrome (Trisomy 21) baby. A portion of profits from the sale of Jerome Records will establish the corpus for this Foundation."
I asked why Down Syndrome.
"In a speech recently, a high-profile pro-life leader gave three exceptions to his strong prohibition against abortion; namely, if the mother was raped, if the mother was a victim of incest, or if the mother was expecting a Down Syndrome child. I believe this sends the wrong message to parents, to health care workers, and to insurance companies. Down Syndrome children and their parents lead lives with bright futures. The Foundation will support parents in their search for the resources they need to prepare to welcome a Down Syndrome child into their families."
At that moment, I became fully aware I was having lunch with one gutsy young man! I then reminded Kristopher of the third thing he needed to tell me.
"I want to help bridge the gap which seems to exist between Cabaret and Broadway. I really see performance to be performance no matter what the venue."
There are three words that describe Kristopher McDowell: courage, courage, and courage. From the time spent with him it is clear that he has the courage to take the time he needs to rest, to center and to focus, to process all that has happened in his career up to the present. He has the courage to get to know the business of performing and to become part of the process of becoming known in that business. And he has the courage to stretch, to grow, to experiment.
We will hear more about and from this gifted singer, actor, and dancer. The sooner the better!
Interviewed on Wednesday February 7, 2001
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