Up close – and I mean very close, like, if I coughed too hard we’d be touching – Steven Pasquale’s hair falls in waves that look so soft it’s near impossible to resist touching them. Just to know. To see if the reality matches the texture you’re imagining while he is thoughtfully answering the question you only just barely remember having asked him a moment ago. There is a hypnotic quality to that hair. You wonder how Kelli O’Hara stands it.
There is a melee happening around us. This is the nature of red carpets, of course. There’s never enough space for all of the press—the photographers and videographers and on camera talent and writers all crammed up against each other. Big outlets and small outlets fight each other for the actors’ attention, scrambling to ask a question or twelve before they’re too tired and overwhelmed, before they abandon the carpet entirely.
Steven does this – abandons the carpet quickly after he speaks with us, ducking between cameramen to escape and dodging half the print outlets. And it’s hard to blame him. Red carpets, like the kind in reality, that we’re standing on tonight, and not the kind you’ve imagine in your daydreams, are exhausting work on both sides of the line. Afterward I want nothing more than a huge margarita to recover. Or maybe a nap. And Steven? He has to go sing his face off. He’s got work yet to do.
But for the minute or so we talk, Steven blots out the world around him. It’s just he and I in a tunnel, alone, as his thoughtful answer fills the air around us with his minty breath and I struggle to focus on the important stuff.
But like. Let’s get real.
That is the important stuff on the red carpet.
Anway — back to the point at hand. We were asking Steven a question. It was the same thing we asked everyone we chatted with, in fact. Below, check out the big Q and all the big As we snagged at Miscast last night. Then, feel free to click through our pics, they’ll give you a taste of what the carpet really looks like. Plus, Jeremy Jordan and Billy Porter and Raúl Esparza are easily as hot as Steven Pasquale is, and we snagged some snaps of them, too.
The Craptacular: Okay, for a hot minute you get to play casting director – miscast yourself in a Broadway show for us right now.
Steven Pasquale: I would do Ophelia in Hamlet – that level of crazy would be pretty fun to try out every night.
Stephen Oremus: I would say, Eliza Doolittle. Just cuz.
Billy Porter: You know, I never really thought about that, but I would probably have to say… Fanny Brice.
Jeremy Jordan: Jeez, I’m trying to think of big roles, but they’re all too depressing. Oh, alright, I’m going to go for it and say Bess [from Porgy & Bess]. …I’d bring some fun to it!
Perez Hilton: For the next revival, I would KILL as Mimi in Rent. I would rock that hair, I would rock the Cat Scratch Club!
Raúl Esparza: [Without even blinking or breathing] I would like to play Mrs. Lovett.
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I would move mountains for a production of Sweeney Todd with Raul as Mrs. Lovett. Or as Sweeney. Or playing all the parts.
I’m also pretty into the idea of Billy as Fanny Brice.
I knew Raúl was going to say Mrs. Lovett. He sang “Worst Pies” at MISCAST years ago. It’s the only one he’s done that I didn’t attend and there’s no video evidence. Have to say, though, the best female role for Raúl is Diana in NEXT TO NORMAL.
I wish there had been more ladies in the concert. Would have been interested in their answers.