(Left to right:) Billy Porter in 2023 and in the 1994 Broadway production of “Grease”.Photo:John Lamparski/Getty; Margaret Norton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
John Lamparski/Getty; Margaret Norton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Billy Porteris bringing his characteristic candor to his memories of starring inGrease.
The Tony-winningKinky Bootsstar earned his third Broadway credit in 1994 when he joined the revival of the iconic musical in the role of “Beauty School Dropout” singer Teen Angel. But, he now says, he “didn’t want to do that show to begin with.”
In aninterview withVulturepublished Monday, Porter, 54, said, “I don’t like that show. Never did.”
Frankie Avalon in 1978’s “Grease”.CBS via Getty
CBS via Getty
Looking back, Porter said, the Broadway revival instead “made me a clown!”
He continued: “During auditions, everybody else had a role to read for. They were just callingmein. They gave me carte blanche to do whatever I wanted with the song.”
The actor-writer arranged his own “Blackity-Black-Black” version of the “Beauty School Dropout” tune, he added. “I thought, They’re gonna hate this and I’m gonna be done with it. No. They loved it.”
Billy Porter and Jessica Stone on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” in 1994.Margaret Norton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Margaret Norton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Audiences seeing him as that production’s eccentrically orange character, Porter said, resulted in a career setback. “It took me 25 years to dig myself out of the hole of that visual,” he stated. “I’m already gay, I’m already Black, and now you’ve turned me into this magical fairy.
“I went to CMU to study drama, like everybody else that y’all love, theMeryl Streeps and theViola Davises. I went to school like that, and y’all turned me into a clown because it’s easy. ‘He sings real high, he’s a little sissy, so that’s it!’”
It wasn’t until he was cast in the more serious role of Belize, in Signature Theatre Company’s 20th anniversary production of Tony Kushner’sAngels in Americain 2010, that he was able to reassert himself as a serious actor, he added.
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Billy Porter in 2023.Tristan Fewings/Getty
Tristan Fewings/Getty
Porter, who needs only an Oscar to completeEGOT status, is set to star in a James Baldwinbiopicbased on a biography of the civil rights activist. This year he appeared on the big screen in80 for Bradyand stars in the upcoming filmOur Son, in theaters Dec. 8.
source: people.com
