Summer in D.C. With Raúl

Wherever that usher is now, it's probably not as enviable a place as that occupied by Esparza, who is taking on starring roles in two challenging and contrasting musicals that are part of the Kennedy Center's Sondheim Celebration this summer: He's currently playing the two title characters in the Seurat-inspired Sunday in the Park with George and he has just begun rehearsals for the reverse-chronology musical Merrily We Roll Along, in which he will play Charley, a lyricist who becomes estranged from his longtime friend and songwriting partner. Not bad for someone whose first thought upon hearing of the four-month festival of Stephen Sondheim musicals was, "It would be great to get tickets."

Although Esparza's career has been flying faster than the Concorde since he made his Broadway (and New York) debut less than two years ago as Riff-Raff in The Rocky Horror Show, he sometimes thinks he's the last one to realize how far he's come. "Somebody told me the other day they were keeping a journal of everything that's going on this summer, and they wrote down that they got to meet me," says the 31-year-old actor. "It's very flattering but, at the same time you wonder if it's really happening." No doubt about it: Esparza is rapidly building a solid reputation as a musical theater star, something there are precious few of these days. He's a terrific leading man who can also play character parts with just as much expertise and vigor.

After Rocky Horror, Esparza landed the central role in the late Jonathan Larson's autobiographical Off-Broadway musical tick, tick...BOOM! His portrayal of an aspiring composer at a crossroads earned him an Obie Award and a Drama Desk nomination (as well as the chance to sing a spoof of the Sondheim song "Sunday," the original version of which he's currently crooning at the Kennedy Center). Esparza left that show to begin rehearsals for Assassins but the Roundabout Theatre revival was canceled after 9/11. Instead, he ended up in another Roundabout production, assuming the role of the Emcee in Cabaret. Now, the Miami native--the son of Cuban refugees--is situated for the summer in a D.C. apartment, from which he spoke with TheaterMania over breakfast as a Bill Evans jazz CD played in the background.

Esparza has had the chance to ask Sondheim, whose godlike presence occasionally materializes at rehearsals and performances, what the musical is about. Sondheim's response initially seemed rather skim. "He said it's about a creative artist, and I thought, 'That's useless,'" Esparza recalls. "But I realized, that is about as clear a definition of the play as you can come up with. It's about a person who creates out of nothing, invents an entirely new world. It's about how an artist sees and how that keeps him from engaging in life--or he may engage in life completely, like he does in Act II, but then not be able to create."

In between rehearsals and performances, Esparza's life over the last several weeks has revolved around befriending and supporting his coterie of colleagues. (Both Merrily and the Sondheim Celebration's production of Sweeney Todd are helmed by Esparza's Rocky Horror director, Christopher Ashley.) "A bunch of us who are here are like the Sondheim cheering squad," he says. "We watch people's techs and dress rehearsals and cheer each other on. We even have T-shirts that say 'Camp Sondheim.'"

But summer camp was never like this! Esparza has faced the task of recreating a role made famous by the indomitable Mandy Patinkin--something he did once before, when he played Ché in the 20th-anniversary tour of Evita. Although he realizes that comparisons are inevitable, he says that he focused on learning from Patinkin's performance rather than competing with him. "Obviously, I am not the [vocal] technician that he is," Esparza says. "There was a little bit of intimidation because his voice is so pure and his quality so unique, but I had to live up to it, so I didn't have time to think about whether or not I could be as good as he was. I simply knew that I had to get there."

Negotiations are currently underway for Esparza to resume his role in Cabaret on Broadway in September. Right now, though, he's thrilled to be in D.C., singing Sondheim with such esteemed colleagues. "It's really exciting," he enthuses, "to know that, when we finish this summer, we will all not just have had a wonderful experience--we will also be that much better performers. I love that kind of challenge, when you're not the smartest kid in the room anymore."

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