Though best known for his role as Long Duk Dong in Sixteen Candles, Gedde Watanabe is an accomplished stage actor. Lesser-known is actor Adam Kaokept who has made himself known for his theater work (Broadway’s Miss Saigon and Aladdin). What they both have in common is they have appeared in the musicals of Stephen Sondheim.
Watanabe originated several roles in the original production of Pacific Overtures. In addition to appearing in a regional production of Pacific Overtures, Kaokept has also played the role of Toby in Sweeney Todd (also a regional production). Watanabe and Kaokept now find themselves onstage together in the East West Players production of Assassins. Kaokept plays the dual role of The Balladeer and Lee Harvey Oswald. Watanabe plays Charles Guiteau (the man who killed President Garfield).
Both were getting ready to open Assassins when the pandemic forced everything to be closed. Both actors waited patiently and hoped, dreamed perhaps, that this opportunity to appear in the musical would return. We spoke with both actors just before everything shut down in 2020 and again recently just before previews began. What follows are excerpts from those conversations that have been edited for length and clarity.
What made Assassins and this production of it so appealing to you?
Kaokept: A friend who had worked at East West [Players] before told me about it. We started daydreaming about playing the Booth/Oswald scene together. It just got in my head and I hadn’t been excited about a piece in quite a while. I started listening to the cast recordings and imagining what it would be like to play this part. Being Asian American and getting to play these characters that are not Asian American is a rare opportunity.
Watanabe: I really love it, but it’s tough. It’s a pretty odd harmonies and stuff like that, but there’s always a reason for it. We are having fun and really excited about it. It is so interesting in this day and age to see where this fits in. I’ll be interested to see how people feel about this.
Assassins was a failure when it first opened. Time, however, has allowed a reassessment of what Sondheim and his collaborator John Weidman were doing. Has time allowed people to catch up with the show?
Watanabe: Well why did it take so much time to catch up to Pacific Overtures? I think Mr. Sondheim probably is way ahead of his time. Most of the theater you love and adore and find intelligent is way ahead of its time. The grace of it is people catch up to it. There is something very valuable to that. It’s probably a negative on the box office, but on the artist it’s a different experience.
Kaokept: It’s not a family production. You don’t bring your children to see this show and have a great time at the theater. It’s a piece that makes you think and challenges you. I just feel like socially we’ve grown and expanded in a way that we are more understanding and open to different kinds of people and different ways of thinking.
It seems like many of themes in Assassins will resonate more now today than they did when the show debuted in 1990.
Kaokept: I feel the show very much applies to what’s happening now. People are still wanting to be famous. Think about what’s been happening in the past couple decades with these mass shootings. It’s a reality and really sad. Maybe we’ve shifted from assassinating a president, but it’s people wanting more attention. They are disillusioned by what their life has become. People want to be seen and people just want to feel like they have some worth. I think that’s a completely human need for everyone. I think people need connection. We need a way to be heard and ultimately in the show it is people who feel they aren’t heard.
Watanabe: That’s what’s so radical about Assassins right now. During rehearsals when we were doing the read-through I said, “You know, probably all of our characters would have been there on January 6th.” I think all of these characters were probably part of that. You know, the insurgents and everything like that. I think they would have been totally misled people.
Gedde you had a front row seat watching a new Sondheim show come into existence. What stood out to you most about him and the way he worked?
Watanabe: God I was so young. I was nervous, but he seemed always calm to me. Or he was tired, I can’t figure it out. But he was just always calm and completely different energy than Hal Prince had. They both kind of took on the role of father figure. “Someone in a Tree” was beguiling to me. I’m having a flashbacks doing the work on Pacific Overtures. I’m having flashbacks because of the rhythms and the notes; they weren’t easy. I was surprised I could do it. They are scary. They are good and they are also very nostalgic for me.
We are living in angrier times. The assassins in this musical make the argument that “Everybody’s got the right to be happy.” Do they?
Kaokept: Absolutely. I feel very in tune with the Balladeer. It’s just idealism and hope and having that. I’ve had some hardships in my life, really really tough times. Like anything in life it is how you respond. The one thing you have control of is how you decide to deal with the ups and downs of your life. For me, I have chosen to take it and learn from it and keep going. I believe that this life is beautiful and we all deserve to be living great lives. If I can have any say in not just my own life, but those I meet and help them find their way, then I’ve found my purpose.
You are now performing Assassins after Sondheim’s death. What impact has that had on you as an artist?
Kaokept: I probably had at least three days where I was playing [his music] nonstop in my car and singing the songs. Here is a genius who created some of the most incredible works that I’ve been able to be part of. Honestly it’s his work that really excites me and keeps me with that one foot in this career because any opportunity to read this material is just a gift. If there’s any opportunity to do a Sondheim show I will definitely be there.
Watanabe: Maybe it was Elaine Stritch that said when you do a Sondheim show there’s nothing like it. You can’t do anything else. You know, his shows are just so resonant. Sometimes I’ll be walking down the street and I’ll be thinking of one of his lyrics. It’s like a bible of wisdom and insight. So we’re definitely going to miss him.
Assassins will be playing at East West Players through March 20th. For tickets and more information, please go here.
Main Photo: Kym Miller, Gedde Watanabe, Adam Kaokept and Joan Amedilla in Assassins (Photo by Steven Lam/Courtesy East West Players)