Al Weisel
John Barrowman
By Al Weisel
US Magazine, April 1996, pp. 81-84
Recently, John Barrowman was on the British Airways Concorde sitting next to Luciano Pavarotti when a flight attendant came up to Barrowman and asked for his autograph, ignoring his rotund seatmate. "And who are you?" Pavarotti asked him, somewhat aghast. While Barrowman is not yet a household name in America, thanks to poor ratings for Central Park West, in which he plays John F. Kennedy Jr.-esque assistant district attorney Peter Fairchild, he can't go out in public in England without drawing notice. Until last year, the part-time resident of Britain was the star of two kiddie shows there, The Movie Game and Live and Kicking, and he has performed in just about every major West End musical of the past few years, including Anything Goes, Miss Saigon and Sunset Boulevard.
American audiences have yet to meet the real John Barrowman. Most folks stateside think he's just like the character he plays on television (assuming they've even seen the show), when in reality he's as different from that sickly sweet stuffed shirt as anyone could be. And few have gotten to see him do what he does best: musical theater. But all that's about to change. The producers of Central Park West hope that a recent revamping of the CBS series (one key change: Peter Fairchild is spiced up) will finally get people watching. And for one week this past February, New York audiences got to see Barrowman, 28, make his Broadway debut in Sunset Boulevard, reprising the role of Joe Gilles, Norma Desmond's doomed paramour.
Playing Broadway was just as much a dream for his parents as it was for Barrowman. Natives of Glasgow, Scotland, who settled in Aurora, Ill., when John was 8, his parents have been following his career ever since he was 4 and won first prize in the Fancy Dress Parade while they were sailing the Atlantic on the Queen Elizabeth 2. He wore a bikini and a sash that read MISS USA, camping it up while the band played striptease music. "That's when we knew he had talent," says his father, a retired executive for Caterpillar Inc.
Although his parents have frequently witnessed his stage talents ("We saw him 17 times in Sunset in London," says his proud pop), this performance was special. "My wee wain's starrin' on Broadway. I'm close to cryin'," said his mother in her thick Scottish burr on opening night. [For the Scottish-accent impaired, wee wain is little boy.] "We want him to be as big in the United States as he is in England so he'll stay here," said his mom.
Barrowman had only five days of rehearsal, but like everything else, it came easily to him. Maybe that's why audiences saw a different Joe Gillis from the usual cynical, world-weary
approach. As one jealous understudy sniped after Barrowman's first day on the job: "It's Joe Gillis as a brat." A brat, perhaps, but a charming one, nevertheless. Barrowman just can't seem to summon up world-weariness. He's having too much fun.
How is Peter Fairchild changing on the new 'Central Park West?
He gets in a lot of trouble. I'll just say Fatal Attraction is one way. The other is Hugh Grant. The scripts are getting better, though. People don't want to see real life. They want to see what they would love to do but can't.
What's one thing you would love to do but can't?
Run down the street naked. Actually, I have run down the street naked! About three months ago down Fifth Avenue on rollerblades. A friend of mine lifted her shirt up and dropped her trousers, and I did, too. It was about 1:30 in the morning, so there weren't that many people around, but we did get a few honks from taxi drivers. Actually, I do most of what I want to do.
You dated Cher.
I'm good friends with Cher. We went out to dinner. l took her out to her car and gave her a kiss, and the next day in the papers I'm sleeping with her. Nothing happened. But she's got very soft lips, and she's very attractive.
Why didn't anything happen?
Maybe I was a bit afraid of her because she was Cher.
What's your type?
I like older. You want to know my fantasy woman? Joan Collins. I think she's stunning. I had lunch with her before I came to film the Central Park West pilot.
Did she like you?
I don't know. I had to run off and catch a plane. But she was kind enough to have them hold the flight for me. [Imitating Collins on the phone] "Hello, dahling. It's Joan Collins here..."
Have you been romantically involved with any other older women?
I went out quite a few times with Angie Dickinson. Her legs look as good now as they did walking down that staircase in Police Woman. I spent Thanksgiving with her a few years ago. June Allyson was there and...what was his name? This is going to bother me. [He picks up his cellular phone and calls his mother He speaks to her in a perfect Scottish burr. She rings back later with the answer: Joseph Cotten.]
Were you just speaking with a Scottish accent?
I learned to speak with an American accent because kids used to make full of my Scottish accent. It's like a defense mechanism. I'm more comfortable speaking Scottish. When I speak with my family I speak Scottish. On television in England I speak American. It's like being bilingual. But there arc some words I have to think about before I pronounce them.
So , if you're in a relationship with someone, do you speak Scottish?
No. Only to turn them on. Or to pick them up. That's so cheap, but it does work.
What is the best pickup line ever used on you?
"I'm your racehorse. Come ride me." I was involved with that girl for a while.
What's the best line you've ever used?
"You look like you need a back rub." [Mimes rubbing a back and accidentally undoing a bra strap.] Oops. Ping!
Did it work?
No, it didn't. I didn't use my accent—that's why.
How old were you when you lost your virginity?
You won't laugh? I was 22. I wasn't ready. It's an experience you're going to remember for the rest of your life, and if it's a bad experience, you're going to hate that. It was in a very romantic setting with candles, and it was in a bedroom. It wasn't in the back of a car or anything. It was planned.
If your life was a subject on a TV talk show, what would it be?
Being an outcast, a foreigner. I was treated differently as a boy because of my accent and my physical build. This sounds bizarre, hut in Europe people are not circumcised. In America everyone is circumcised, and I had kids who used to ridicule me in the showers at school because of that.
Have you ever been to a nudist colony?
I've been to nudist beaches. When I'm in Europe, I sunbathe on nude beaches. I take all my clothes off. What's the big deal? We're all different shares and sizes. Some of us are just a little bigger than others.
Are you including yourself in the bigger-than-others category?
Put it this way—God, my mother is going to read this!—I'm not at the end of the line. I'm near the front. It will embarrass the hell out of me if you print that. Oh, what the hell.
Who would you like to do a nude scene with?
Demi Moore, because she seems so uninhibited. Now, if you're talking about who I would want to be on top of, Dolly Parton. She's so...big. I'd like to talk to her first.
What would surprise people about you?
I love to fart. There's s nothing better than sitting around with your friend and...pump!
Right. OK. Have you had any had weird tan weird fan encounters?
I had one mother in England send me pictures of her daughter in lingerie. The BBC doesn't let you see the bad mail. This is the reason why: There was a letter from a man in his 60s who would sit in front of the children's TV show I did and take care of himself. This was a live television show. I'm sitting on-camera, and I just thought of this person doing what he was doing and I froze.
Have you ever surfed the Internet?
l went into a chat room to find out about the Oklahoma bombing, to see what those militant groups were. l found it really frightening—they're vile. I went into a religious group by accident. I realized how much hatred there is in religion. They were talking about blacks and Jews and lesbians and homosexuals. I typed in: "You call yourself Christians, so why are you hating all these people. You should be loving them."
Tell me about something terribly outrageous you've done.
My girlfriend and I went to a Halloween parry dressed as Sonny and Cher. I was Cher and she was Sonny. This was before I knew Cher. I had on a gold-lamé dress and a wig with long hair.
Have you had other adventures in drag?
On the kids' show I made all the girls dress the boys up as Mrs. Doubtfire.
Sounds like a very English kids' show.
I was dressed as Mrs. Doubtfire, too. The kids loved it because they got messy. It's true the British love to see men in drag, but this wasn't really the premise of the show.
What do you have planned for the future?
I have a three-album contract with EMI. It's the largest deal that EMI has done with a solo artist since Cliff Richard. We have a song by David Bowie. There's a Carly Simon cover. I might be doing a duet with Cher. I'm show-bizzy, and I think a lot of what's lacking in music today is glamour and romance. I'm trying to bring them back in this album.
On the subject of romance, what do you look for in a mate?
A sense of humor. Of course it doesn't hurt if they're good looking. But physicality isn't that important to me. In high school I had a crush on a girl who was quite heavy. I don't think she ever knew it. 1 liked her because she was fun. That's what I'm looking for. She can't mind us lying in bed together and I'm blowing a fart and having the cover pulled over her head.■
Al Weisel is the co-author, with Larry Frascella, of Live Fast, Die Young: The Wild Ride of Making Rebel Without a Cause, being published in October 2005.