The musical version of the 1973 Newman/Redford film will have its world premiere at Paper Mill Playhouse April 8 and run though April 29. A move to Broadway is in the works.
Stage shows can be taxing, calling on performers to give their all eight times a week.
Harry Connick Jr. looks forward to the challenge — and he’d better be ready. He’s leading the cast of “The Sting” in the musical’s world premiere at Millburn’s Paper Mill Playhouse.
“(T)his is something that you have to be born to do, you have to have it in your blood,” Connick says in an interview with NJ Advance Media. “I’ve done it in two other shows, and as a performer for years and years, and in films and everything — and there’s never been a day when I’ve said, ‘Oh my gosh, this is a grind.’ “
It’s fortunate that he likes being busy.
Through April 29, Connick plays con man Henry Gondorff — portrayed by Paul Newman in the 1973 film that also starred Robert Redford — on the Paper Mill stage.
Afterward, though he’s hoping the show will make the jump to Broadway (no decision has been made), Connick can fill his time hosting “Harry,” his daytime talk show that will wrap in September after two seasons.
He’ll also be writing music and performing with his band; and keeping an eye out for more acting opportunities. He’s been in projects that range from blockbuster movies (“Independence Day”) to television comedy (“Will & Grace”) and drama (“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”).
“My personality is such that I like to do a lot of different things,” Connick says.
He compares his versatility to a chef who specializes in regional cuisine, but studies in Paris and adds French dishes to his repertoire: “It’s not like you like any one of them better, but when you’re doing them, it’s the greatest thing in the world.”
As a musician, Connick has sold an estimated 28 million albums worldwide and won three Grammy Awards. His television work has garnered three Emmy Awards, two for outstanding musical direction and one for performance.
He also was nominated for Tony Awards twice — in 2001, for best original score for “Thou Shalt Not,” and in 2006, for best actor in a musical when he made his Broadway debut in “The Pajama Game.”
Connick’s outgoing personality is also a big part of his appeal. On his talk show, he comes across as friendly and warm, someone willing to make himself look silly for a laugh. (“Harry” has its own signature song and dance, “Back It Up.”)
That attitude also worked for him when he served as an “American Idol” judge for two seasons. The New Orleans native talks happily and often about his 27-year marriage to model Jill Goodacre and their three daughters. In one “Harry” episode, he performs a song he wrote for his wife and then reveals she’s in the audience.
BUILDING THE MUSICAL
And now, there is “The Sting.”
The musical has been in development since 2014. Like the film, the stage show is set in 1930s Chicago and centers on a small-time grifter named Johnny Hooker — played in the film by Redford and here by “Kinky Boots” star J. Harrison Ghee — who partners with Connick’s more skilled Gondorff to fleece a major city crime boss.
The list of Tony Award winners involved in the production is long: The book is by Bob Martin, who won a 2006 Tony for “The Drowsy Chaperone.” Music and lyrics are by the 2002 Tony Award-winning team of Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis (best score for “Urinetown”), with Connick. John Rando — another 2002 Tony winner for “Urinetown” — directs. Set designer Beowulf Boritt won for his work on “Act One” in 2014.
“It’s a great group and I’m honored to be on stage with them,” Connick says.
As in the movie, the musical includes ragtime piano by Scott Joplin, including the iconic “The Entertainer.”
But the stage show goes deeper, giving Connick’s Gondorff a history that not only makes the character more relatable, but also explains why Joplin’s music features so prominently in a production set decades after its peak: Gondorff started his career 25 years earlier as a piano player, when Joplin’s tunes were popular, and he and his partner use the music to distract people as they work their cons.
“Since we’re telling the story on a stage, we have the opportunity to dig a little bit deeper and show some of the things the movie wasn’t able to show,” Connick says. “The movie can do things that we can’t, with cuts and set changes that are immediate . . . We can’t do any of that stuff, so we depend very strongly on the characters to tell the story.
“The more you know about them, the easier it is,” he says.
Among the songs that Connick has written for the production is “Tough Guy,” which he hopes can provide insight into his character.
“In the movie, you don’t see any vulnerability with this guy’s character … He’s confident, tough. But when you really look at what he’s attempting to do, it’s really daunting,” Connick says. “This song shows a side of him at the eleventh hour, ‘Oh man, I’m in pretty deep and I hope I have what it takes.’ “
Then, there’s always the chance that Connick’s next challenge will be a return to the Great White Way.
“I’ve put a lot of time and effort into figuring out this character, and being part of the collaborative process and the story,” he says. “The intent (is) to go to Broadway and I would love to end up there, if we’re so lucky.”
THE STING
Paper Mill Playhouse
22 Brookside Dr., Millburn
Tickets: Starting at $ 34, available online at https://papermill.org. April 8 – April 29.
Natalie Pompilio is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. She can be reached at nataliepompilio@yahoo.com. Find her on Twitter @nataliepompilio. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.