Ethan: I'd learned it in the USA, but it was not because I planned to come over here, there was another reason. When I was 18, I went to university and my voice teacher recommended that I should learn German. He already planned to send me to Germany and Austria where I could complete my education in opera singing and begin a career as an opera singer. So I started to take German lessons, at 8 in the moring I went to an intensive German course for the next 5 semesters. We had a good teacher, a woman from Berlin who taught us the basics of the German language. But after living in Vienna for so many years, I've learned to speak more fluently, with a more slang-like vocabulary. It was important for my voice teacher, he always said: "You can learn Italian at any other time, itīs easy !" Well, I took his advice, but in the end it turned out totally different, because I never went into the opera business.

Interviewer: Unfortunately many of your colleagues arenīt able to speak German, except the lyrics of their role.

Ethan: Sometimes it's very impressive. I just heard Drew Sarich as "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in Berlin. He can't speak any German, so he had to learn the whole part with a phonetic teacher. And he's not only amazingly easy to understand, he's even able to give a great interpretation of the character on stage. I guess it's because he has a talent for languages.

Interviewer: But isn't it more difficult to rehearse with colleagues who still have to think about the translation to know what they are singing ?

Ethan: Those are my colleagues' worries, not mine. I expect my colleagues to be professional, so they will work on the language as far as they have to. And most of the times we have no trouble with that. For example, Lyn Liechty can't speak German, but she was always prepared and she also knew what she wanted to say. If there's a little accent left, it doesn't matter. She speaks out her lyrics and she understands them. And most of my colleages get better after a while, but there are also some who have worked here for years now but they still sing with a very strong accent. They'll never be able to lose it because they are too used to it. I was fortunate enough that I sound very neutral, because my mother came from England, so I never got a really strong New York accent.

Interviewer: But you also lived in Vienna for a long time, and that's a town with its own, nice accent.

Ethan: I was confronted with everything - also with a wonderful, strong Vienna accent. Yeah, it took me a little while to understand the people in Vienna right.

Interviewer: From Vienna you moved to Bremen - are you already used to living in such a small town ?

Ethan: Absolutely. Bremen is a wonderful place to live in. Though it is small, which scared me a little after living in New York, London and Vienna, it's great to be here, especially because of my job as Jekyll & Hyde. I guess if I had to do the role 6 times a week in a big city with more duties to appear in the society, where I would have to go out to do publicity and to represent myself, that would simply be too much for me. But here in Bremen, I can enjoy a nice, quiet life - that's exactly what I need right now. And the "Steintorviertel" is also very nice, the people there have a wonderful way of life. There are even a lot of guys going around with long hair, or ponytails, those guys who look like Edward Hyde a little - so I don't have to feel like an outsider with my hair. There are a lot of nice restaurants where you can also get good food late at night without getting into a "high society bar" where you would feel like being back on stage again. But in that case Vienna isn't that bad, either. The "Steintorviertel" is simple an enchanting neighbourhood, exactly what I need beside my work as Jekyll & Hyde.

Interviewer: But there's still Jekyll & Hyde, so life won't be too boring for you - besides the 6 shows, there are also promotional appearances and lately there were rehearsals for the shorter version, where they cut 15 minutes.

Ethan: ...yes ! But fortunatlyy I was on vacation for two of three rehearsal days, so I never really rehearsed those scenes at all. But, actually, it was nice to work with Hilsdorf again - it was a very refreshing experience. It was good for all of us to go back to the basics of the direction, to rebuild the suspense, because in every show there is a little loss of excitement after a few months. The last time I saw Hilsdorf was before the opening night, so I enjoyed doing one more show for him and he was very pleased with it. It was a pleasure to remember the time when the show was created - that's impossible in "cloned" shows. We worked together well, Hilsdorf and me. We think we constructed some good things. That day wasn't stressful for me. It was more difficult for the others, those who were busy with cutting the show before, but finally nobody is convinced that the shorter version has any advantage beside the fact that it's just simply shorter now.

Interviewer: If Bremen can offer you so much free time and rest next to Jekyll & Hyde, can we hope for you to create another one man show ?

Ethan: Mentally, for sure - there are already some new ideas on my mind. But I have to admit, especially in this role, you really have to take care of your voice. It's too soon to think about something special. I think now, after 7, 8 months, I'm finally familar with all difficulties in singing this part. I've noticed improvment month by month - at the premiere I wasn't as good as I wanted to be but finally I'm about to reach my goal. But still, this show is a real challenge - we all discovered that. If Darius does the role 5 or 6 times a week during my vacation he also says "Oh well, it's not that easy to do it so many times in a row". If you play it that intensive when you do it more often then usual, you also have to figure out new ways to sing it to get the power to do it well. Now I'm 1000 times more powerful than a few months ago - it's because you also can rest to get highly focused on the role. When the springtime comes around, maybe I'll be ready to think about new, special projects that I could do. But when I tried to do a concert night of classical songs beside my job at "Beauty and the Beast" I learned that this is impossible because the voice is used to an other kind of music. So it would be senseless to sing classical songs beside Jekyll & Hyde. Anyway when you're with J&H you don't only have to care about your voice - there are also a lot of other things on your mind which you have to deal with. It a role of that kind, that you can hardly get bored with.

Interviewer: In Henry's Bar at the theatre the ensemble does some after-show shows . Would it be possible to see you performing there some day?

Ethan: Not yet - I'm still waiting to see if there's a good chance to do a performance. I never thought about what kind of stuff I could perform there. But if I do it someday, it will happen before a long period of shows off. But as for now I'm not sure if it's healthy to sing in a crowded pub right after doing Jekyll & Hyde.

Interviewer: Speaking of the health of your voice: aren't you afraid to hurt your voice if you do the role any longer ?

Ethan: No, not as scared as I was while I was doing Lucheni - that was just yelling and rock and roll. But with this role, it looks like I'm on a good vocal level I think. If you take your vacations at the right times, every 4 or 5 weeks, or if you take a show off every 6th week, it's very good for the health of the voice. But no, I think I'm vocally on the right track. I haven't recognized any signs that my voice might be exhausted. But maybe after a while - I don't know. Leslie Bricusse said: "After 6 months you'll hit a wall and then you'll break down totally, vocally and physically, completely." It hasn't happened so far. I'm even getting more powerful. But maybe this wall will come after a year. But maybe I already left all the walls behind me at the beginning, so the real hard times are already over. Physically I feel in shape as well.

Interviewer: ...physical wellness is very important for your role too - what is it like when you are flying in the lab?

Ethan: It's not that difficult. It's more a question of your fitness. As you need a well trained voice, you also need a well trained body for the role. I think right now, by body is already used to the moves I have to do and so you can keep your energy. That is very important for the role. It becomes a healthy "all-round-body-workout Jekyll & Hyde". But it's not a full vertical stage, so you're always in danger of getting injured - just like in any other sport. The more you train, the more power you'll get.

Interviewer: One of the most impressive scenes you have to play is "The confrontation" where you constantly change from Jekyll to Hyde...

Ethan: It's strange, but this scene is the most fun for me, because actually this is the moment of the show where the most difficult songs are already behind me. So you can have fun and you can really freak out to give as much energy as possible into the fight of these two personalities - it's really fun. Sure, physically it's the most difficult part, but it gives you the feeling that you are right in the centre of the story. It's simply great fun. The problem of turning from Jekyll to Hyde is nothing compared to the emotions you can have during that scene.

Interviewer: This moment is more a acting part - but is there also a certain song that you are looking forward to each night ?

Ethan: Actually I separate the whole show into scenes, but I think "The way back" is a fantastic song. It's hard to describe why, but somehow everything is so intensive. But of course, especially for me, "This is the moment" is the song in which I can lose the most - that's the biggest turning point for me during the show. If you've done it great, the feelings you can feel are unbelievable, but if you failed a little bit, there is fortunately the first transformation right after it. If you are down, because you couldn't sing "This is the moment" as you woul have liked to sing it, you find youself right back in another powerful scene where you can forget what happened before. That song makes you nervous, because it's the main song and everybody is expecting something special. If you've done it great it's like a dream, but if you failed it's a nightmare. If the tempo and the sound is ok, "Alive" is also a great scene to play. In this song, you learn over the months to trust in yourself, to give more and more, to let out the beast in you.

Interviewer: So it was surely a difficult task for you, to sing "This is the moment" for the cast recording...

Ethan: ...but it's a pity and I think I speak for all of us. When we were at the recording studio, it sounded pretty cool. But something happend when they mixed it that doesn't really please us. Lyn Liechty was ill, Susanne Dengler was ill - but we were all satisfied with our vocal work at the studio. We could talk about it all we want, of course, but I really hope that they'll release a complete recording in the end, which will be a little bit remastered. Hopefully the CD will become what it really should be. And hopefully "Alive" will be included on this CD - it was such a pity that it was not on the highlights recording.