KEVIN RAWLINGS, THE METROPOLITAN OPERA supersized roleasa captivating musicaltheaterandinternational operaperformer. Record holderJohnEasterlintransforminghis wayintoanother Guinness World multi-Grammy-and-Emmy-winning, Is itabird?plane?No,it’s Comprimario The By Julia D. Berg D. Julia By of Bebreda of El Mundo in a review of Easterlin’s performance as The Shabby Peasant in Shostakovich’s hile meeting with char- Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at Teatro acter tenor John Easterlin, B.M. ’84, Real in Madrid. at a café near Lincoln Center in New When Easterlin was cast as The York on a rare day off, the mild- Magician in a Glimmerglass produc- mannered Miami native seems a far tion of Menotti’s The Consul, he cry from his larger-than-life roles took character preparation to a new as the arrogant Adolfo Pirelli in level. He learned and incorporated Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, the lustful 54 David Copperfield-level magic Monostatos in Mozart’s The Magic tricks, garnered a Guinness World Flute, and the colorful Andy Warhol Record for the most magic in an in Philip Glass’s The Perfect American, opera production, and was inducted John Easterlin made a role he premiered to critical acclaim into the professional magicians’ his Houston Grand at English National Opera. Circle of Magic. Opera debut this Hailed for his work in “com- Anthony Tommasini of The New year as Goro in primario,” or supporting roles, the York Times said, “John Easterlin as Madame Butterfly amiable Easterlin traces much of his The Magician delivered a show- and returns to singing success to the early 1980s stopping performance. A gleaming San Francisco with the UM Chamber Singers tenor voice, which never varied as in fall 2015 for under the direction of late music he performed an unending array an appearance professor Lee “Doc” Kjelson. of world class tricks and illusions, in Sweeney Todd. “Vocal versatility was manda- Easterlin should be the go-to person Last season he tory,” Easterlin recalls. “Doc insisted for this role.” performed as his students adopt the motto ‘We Larry King in the do it all, we do it well.’ We had to UNDER THE U.S. premiere of learn how to produce completely FINGERNAILS OF Anna Nicole for different sounds with our voices. A CHARACTER New York City We performed every style from John Easterlin’s interest in the Opera, and as madrigal to pop, rock to jazz. We theatrical world started at age 5, Andres in Wozzeck not only performed, but we did all when Met opera star Joy Clements, at Covent Garden of the marketing, publicity, set de- ’56, took the young boy to a Greater in London. sign, scenery, load in and load out. Miami Opera dress We produced the show.” rehearsal of Hansel and In the process, Easterlin dis- Gretel. (Clements had covered he had a knack for selling studied voice at UM, advertising to local businesses, which where she was a best helped pay for the group’s choral friend of Easterlin’s tours. He adds, “Doc always said, mother, Virginia.) ‘We’re in the business of music, and “In the second act, our focus is to entertain. It’s called she took me backstage show business, not show play.’ ” to see the stagecraft, Today Easterlin traverses the and how the witch world performing in major venues flew,” says Easterlin, and productions. “It’s like watch- who now regularly ing a great film actor who is also a plays the witch as a world class opera singer,” said Marco character tenor role. Spring 2015 SCORE MAGAZINE { 29 } The Easterlin fam- Fox-TV, then at A&E. He enjoyed ily, which also included it but sometimes wondered, “What a younger sibling Janet, would happen if I moved to New moved to Richmond, York and tried a career in theater?” Mississippi when father Six years later he was asked one Merrill Easterlin, a Sunday to sub as a soloist at church. commercial realtor, “Out came a voice way beyond “had a mid-life calling college!” He subsequently sang for to the ministry” and friends at a dinner party where became a preacher in Robert Wright and George Forrest, PANY a nearby church. John composers of “Stranger in Paradise” M O C A Easterlin took elocu- were in attendance. They strongly R PE O tion lessons with a local encouraged him to consider turning ANADIAN teacher, Lola Barrett, pro. Easterlin called a Chamber C , R who discovered he had Singers chum, Steve Mitchell, B.M. OOPE C the ability to pick up ’85, now a church music director in MICHAEL dialects easily. Hartford, Connecticut, for advice. By age seven, puppetry had “She introduced me to a book, “What’s holding you back?” asked become his passion. “It was my very Life Studies by Tom Powers, which his friend. “What’s the worst thing first creative outlet. My parents contained published radio mono- that could happen? Once you know bought me an FAO Schwartz pup- logues depicting various regional the answer, you’ll be ready to go.” pet stage with eight hand puppets: a dialects of the United States,” recalls Easterlin realized his worst fear hillbilly, old maid, princess, alligator, Easterlin, who entered and won a was that nothing would happen, and dog, clown, and so on. After two local, regional, then national talent decided he had nothing to lose. “I months of doing shows in my garage, show as one of the Tom Powers bought a one-way airline ticket on I started charging admission.” characters. “It was Mrs. Barrett’s love Delta that departed at 10:10 a.m. on When he was 10, he presented of language, her love of a character, Saturday, September 15, 1990.” a series of puppet shows for the that helped me ‘get under the fin- While he was making the audi- children’s ward at Baptist Hospital. gernails’ of a character.” Because for tion rounds in New York, he discov- His kindness came to the attention radio monologues, the vocal has to ered he had a countertenor exten- of Miami Herald writer and senior evoke an entire character, you can’t sion, meaning he could sing higher editor Jean Wardlow, who featured see the character.” than most tenors. He landed a part him in a front-page story titled “The The family returned to Miami as radio gossip columnist Mary Spirit of Christmas” on Christmas during Easterlin’s high school years. Sunshine in the musical Chicago. It Day. He eventually amassed 400 When he completed his studies at earned Easterlin rave reviews and a puppets and a large stage, which he UM Frost, Easterlin recalls several quick succession of bookings. now keeps in cold storage and visits joyful months singing and touring His debut at The Metropoli- from time to time. “They’re doing with the professional choral ensem- tan Opera came 14 years later, in fine,” he reassures. ble Fred Waring and The Pennsyl- a production of Richard Strauss’s “My parents supported my cre- vanians, who were “huge, huge, huge Salome. He’s also appeared on PBS’s ativity. I tried many different things. in their day.” Unexpectedly Waring Great Performances and Live from If something didn’t work out, they passed away that late July. Needing Lincoln Center, as well as a telecast, would never make me feel like a fail- a way to support himself quickly, CD and DVD of Los Angeles Op- ure or stupid, they’d just ask, ‘What Easterlin moved back to Miami and era’s acclaimed production of Kurt else do you want to try?’ ” landed a job as an advertising exec at Weill’s The Rise and Fall of the City { 30 } SCORE MAGAZINE Spring 2015 “ We’re in the business of music, and our focus is to entertain. It’s called show business, not show play.” John Easterlin, center, as Andy Warhol in A the opera The Perfect R PE O American by Philip Glass. IONAL T A N NGLISH E H, T I SM D R RICHA Spring 2015 SCORE MAGAZINE { 31 } of Mahagonny, for which he received viewed Warhol’s brother and friends, television special…I have the original 2008 Emmy and Peabody Awards, and studied hundreds of still photos orchestration, and every single time I and two 2009 Grammy Awards for and video of the enigmatic man. sing it, audiences are on their feet and Opera Recording of the Year and “I painstakingly stood in front of in tears when I’m done. It taps into Classical Album of the Year. a mirror to figure out his gestures, something core, the song transports from his pinky to his neck,” Easterlin me, lifts me out of myself.” PEOPLE PERSON says. “The wan look. I dialed it all Easterlin ends the interview ADAPTS TO THE ROAD down to the bare essence.” saying, “The School of Music is a big As much as Easterlin is drawn to the During the show’s run Easter- part of who I am. I want to pass it smell of the greasepaint and the roar lin went to the gym every day, “to forward. I’d like to come back and of the crowd, he quietly shares that exercise, sit in the steam room and talk practically to singers, and to the hardest part of life on the road sauna to sweat and drain every drop perform on the Gusman stage again.” is “the loneliness factor.” Staging and of water weight from my body” in He’s getting his wish at Festival blocking a new opera production can order to fit into a body suit that was Miami 2015, accompanied by take three or four weeks, and singers part of the costuming.