The Colony Hotel’s Royal Room has presented some enchanted evenings in its ten years as a cabaret venue, but probably never more so than with its current showcase of Paulo Szot, the Tony Award-winning star of the 2008 revival of South Pacific.
An opera singer by training and profession, Szot long harbored a desire to appear in a Broadway musical. “I never tried, but it was a secret dream of mine,” he says. “I always loved musicals, much before I became an opera singer.”
The role of island plantation owner Emile DeBecque was originally written for an opera singer — Ezio Pinza — so when Lincoln Center began planning for the first Broadway revival of South Pacific, the call went out to opera singers who might be able to cross over to musicals.
“I was in Boston at the time doing ‘Marriage of Figaro,’” recalls Szot, 42. “My agent called me, I took the train to New York, I auditioned and on my way back to Boston I got another call that they wanted to see me again. It took maybe three or four meetings for them to decide finally that they would invest in me.”
In addition to his velvety baritone voice and matinee idol looks, Brazilian-born, schooled-in-Poland Szot was acclaimed in South Pacific for his acting chops — a rarity among opera singers.
“Well, as opera singers, we always think we can act. Usually it’s not true. What comes first in opera is the singing,” he explains. “You are an instrument and you have to express yourself through your voice. You have to give all the emotions, all the colors, what you are feeling, through your voice. Not exactly through the acting.
“But, yeah, we try, although we have no lessons or coaching of acting, so it is all connected to the music. And the music leads you everywhere. That is different in ‘South Pacific.’ When the music stops, you have to act, to create your own music through talking. So it is a challenge.”
The Broadway show opened many professional doors for Szot, including invitations by prestige cabaret venues such as the Café Carlyle.
“So I did the first show, then again that same season, and I was back with a new show the next year. But I don’t consider myself a true cabaret artist at all,” he says. “My show is a music show, so I sing songs and I talk a little bit, but I don’t tell jokes. What I can offer is the best music I can make, and people seem to like it.”
Cabaret is dependent on the performer expressing his personality, which does not come naturally to the private Szot. “I’m not the kind of person that would tell many things about my life,” he concedes. “In part it’s the language, English is still not so easy for me. When I want to express things, sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s not. So I try to express everything through the songs that I choose.”
As much as a third of Szot’s Royal Room act, which opens tonight, will be devoted to the music of Burton Lane (Finian’s Rainbow, Royal Wedding), in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the songwriter’s birth.
He was familiar with Lane’s output, sort of. “You know sometimes you don’t know all the songs by their titles, but when you hear it you go, ‘Of course I know that song.’ Of course I would know ‘Old Devil Moon’ or ‘Too Late Now.’ I think it’s part of everyone’s life, because he wrote so much for the movies, so people all over the world know them, even if they don’t remember his name.”
Creating a cabaret act is difficult for Szot, who wants to include all his favorite numbers. “It’s so hard to build a show, because there are so many good songs, so many songs that you want to sing. But you have to select. Otherwise the show would be like five hours long.”
The litmus test for him is whether a song has a personal connection for him. “I think it has to have something that relates to you, something that you want to say. There’s no reason for me to sing songs without a meaning, without having anything to add to the song,” says Szot. “There’s no reason to sing a song just because it is pretty.”
Following the Royal Room, Szot returns to New York to appear in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Manon in late March. He would love to return to Broadway, but his opera schedule does not make it easy.
“They asked me to do ‘La Cage aux Folles’ two years ago. They asked me to play Peron in ‘Evita’ with Ricky Martin, but I couldn’t because everything was booked in advance,” he sighs. “To do ‘South Pacific,’ I had to cancel a few things, but that was something I really wanted to do. But it’s not easy, because there are consequences.”
Asked if he has his eye on any particular musical roles, Szot says, “I sing ‘Camelot’ in my show a lot. I sing the great Robert Goulet song, ‘If Ever I Would Leave You.’ People say it fits me great. They come after the show and say, ‘You have to do this.’ Of course, for that song alone, it would be great.”
But for the moment, he is actually starting to relax and enjoy cabaret work, patter and all. “I think I can present many kinds of music all together. I think people can hear the old Broadway classical songs with a full voice, with a song I’ve been working through ‘South Pacific’ to present,” says Szot.
“And besides that I always present my Brazilian music in the original language, the original bossa nova. I always say the best I can offer to people is the music I know, the music I offer with all my heart, giving everything I have, not saving anything. That gives me satisfaction, too.”
PAULO SZOT, Colony Hotel Royal Room, 155 Hammon Ave., Palm Beach. Feb. 7-11 and 14-18. Prices: Dinner and show: $100-$145. Show only: $55-$100. Call: (561) 659-8100.