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Powerful art can move you centuries after it was created. Sculpture and songs from generations past can evoke enough emotion to instantly return you to the original destination. John C. Reilly plays the title character in Mister Romantic, a touring musical comedy the Oscar- and Grammy-nominated actor is bringing to Downtown’s Palace Theatre on Oct. 10.
Reilly’s character seems like he has been hiding in the wings of the ancient hall from time immemorial. Reilly materializes from some other dimension, a lovable imp searching for love. He wanders the theater, offering kindness and longing gazes while crooning a gorgeous repertoire of songs from out of time. The show’s soundtrack, titled What’s Not to Love? (also available as a limited-edition blue vinyl album pressed at Jack White’s record factory), includes hundred-year-old hits by Irving Berlin and Glenn Miller and newer songs by Tom Waits and Randy Newman. Mister Romantic makes them all feel profound and timeless.
“It’s a combination of my whole life that led me to do this show,” Reilly says. “The initial seed was musical theater as a kid and doing the movie Chicago. I started collecting songs, and it turns out they were all love songs —very sincere and very emotional songs. The mission of the show is to share this music and tell you a story live, in-person. Getting out in the audience and crawling through the seats trying to literally connect with as many in the audience as I can seemed radical and punk rock to me.”
Reilly assembled a band full of acclaimed musicians to accompany him. Davíd Garza, Charles De Castro, David Piltch and Gabe Witcher provide the richness and authenticity the moving show deserves. “This is not John C. Reilly, it’s Mister Romantic,” the actor says. “He doesn’t remember the past and he’s been alive for thousands of years. It allows the audience to escape the world and live in a perfect place where everyone cares about each other for 90 minutes.”
Reilly’s tousled hair, derby hat and floppy tie would have been perfectly at home in the Palace when it was a vaudeville house hosting acts like the Marx Brothers and Will Rogers. “What other performers are out there singing, dancing and making you laugh doing a show about love?” Reilly says. “I thought… ‘Well, nobody!’ I love a crazy scheme, so I’m taking the success and notoriety I have and paying it back to the audience by telling them I love them. That’s really fun and it has meaning for me.”
The post John C. Reilly Is in the Mood for Love appeared first on LAmag.
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Chris Nichols
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