Interview: Meet the New Herbert West - 'Re-Animator: The Musical' Star Graham Skipper
It's not easy to follow one of the most iconic portrayals in screen horror. But actor Graham Skipper seems to be keeping his cool about it, if such a thing can be said regarding as frenzied and manic a character as Re-Animator's Herbert West. Skipper portrays the brilliant and mildly unhinged medical student in director Stuart Gordon's new stage musical adaptaion of the '80s film classic (running through May 29 at LA's Steve Allen Theater). And he somehow pulls off the impossibe -- redefining a character that, for twenty-five years, has been owned by Jeffrey Combs. I caught up with Skipper after a recent performance, and he talked a little about giving a singing voice to Lovecraft's hapless antihero. Check out our conversation after the jump.
You've been presented with a pretty big challenge in that you're the first person who's been cast as Herbert West after Jeffrey Combs. Yet you've made the role your own in Re-Animator: The Musical.
I've been a fan of the movie forever. And I'm a huge fan of Jeffrey Combs, so when I got this role, I was thinking, "What the hell am I gonna do?" But that was the goal – to pay homage, to give the film its due, because it deserves it and it's really strong source material; but also to make it my own and turn it into something new. Because I'm finding out that a lot of people that are coming to the show haven't seen the film, which is great. Now they're going to go back and watch it. It's like two separate beasts that are kind of riding together.
Can you see yourself doing a musical based on one of the Re-Animator sequels?
[Laughs.] We were talking about that last night. A flying head with bat wings singing a song [laughs], or something like From Beyond: The Musical. Hopefully I'd have a little singing antenna.
The zombie penis in Bride of Re-Animator would make for an interesting number… Speaking of which, do you have a favorite song in this musical?
Oh, how can you beat getting to sing your farewell and spray the audience with intestine blood. [Laughs.] It's so much fun feeding off of this audience, because the fans that come to this show are so giving, you know? And so you really feed off of that. And of course the more you scream and splash things on them… the more they squeal. [Laughs.]
For more, check out the official Re-Animator: The Musical website.
