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Actor goes from soaps to ShakespeareCAREER: He says he ■night be persuaded to play Hamlet - if someone would offer him the part.' MAS LINE AIG• Associated Pren '•on *onl. N_Y.By*The.he only regret soap star Dennis Parlatoappears to have about eelT --M- start in his acting career is that lie’s never done Hamlet.To play or not to play Shakespeare’s tragic hero. On one hand, he thinks he probably wouldn't be cast as the young Danish prince. On the other, lie might be persuaded to try it.I haven't done enough Shakespeare professionally.’says the fortysomething, but youngish-looking, Parlato. I. bestknown as the villain Clay Aldcn in the ABC soap opera Lov-Ic’s remedying that this olayinisummer by playing Prospcro in a production of The Tempest at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, about SO miles north of New York City.Getting ihe lead role was aplum — even more of a surpri.to read forthan being allowed the part in the first i play director Tom NahrvA lot of directors would have looked at my resume and wouldn't have trusted me to do Shakespeare, Parlato says. But Tom said, ’Come in and audition ’ And I did.There’s only one other Shakespearean role 011 Parlato's resume, that of Orlando, a supporting part in As You LikeAnd there’s no classy actor’s training tliat would inspire a director to hire a soap star to play a complex ShakespeareanWhat there is is talent and hard work, with a vast array of roles, ranging from the soaps — Parlato lias been In three — to Broadway as Zach in A Chorus Line and CIA agent Walter Anderson in Chess to ‘regional theater, including a st«it as Cyrano in Cyrano de Bergerac” at the American Stage Festival in Milford, N.H.Not bad for a guy who started out as a high school English teacher because he was too self-conscious, too shy to go on stage.In many ways Parlato is still self-conscious and shy, somewhat surprised that he's being interviewed.An article in Soap Opera Update declared him the bestkisser on “Loving. a title he finds flattering but is hesitant to believeIt could be a short-lived honor, anyway, since ABC has announced plans to revamp the soap in an effort to boost ratings. Some characters, possibly Parlato’s, are to become victims of a serial killer in ihe fictional town of Corinth. Pa.Which is OK with Parlato. who says he told the producers in April that he planned to leave. But he does admit to being a bit disappointed that they didn’t press him to stay.He said the show's executive producer, Jeannie Burke, told him later that had the network not been changing the scries, she would have begged him to stay.Parlato says he docs soaps — his earlier parts were on All My Children” and One Life to Live — because tlie money is soiyou’ve struggled in theater, it's great to make ends meet, he says, delighting in a hilltop home in New York’s suburban Putnam County he was able to buy four years ago.While he loves working in the soaps, he tries to make them short-term romances because, be says, soaps are considered minor leagues In the acting world.Film and theater are larger than life, he says, while the TVscreen is by its nature very diminishing. And even in the business. they (soaps) come second to prime time. There’s a pecking order of importance, if youCHANGING ROLES: Dennis Parlato, at his Kent. N.Y, home, is best known as the villain Oay Alden in 'Loving,' whoie role in the ABC show may be cut short by a wap opera serial killer.He’s aho playing the lead role of Prospero this summer in a i of • Tempest' at the rtjdson Valley. ii. iproduction ■ Ihe Tempewant to have some sort of notoriety. and soaps arc at the bottom.”Soap actors aren’t taken all that seriously when being considered for other roles, he says, as he recalled that when he was looking for an agent a few years back no one had heard of his One Life lo Live character, Michael Grande, whose murder had the soap opera world astir.That’s why Parlato is often working two jobs: saaps during the day and off-Broadway or regional tbeater at night, always looking for a great role while paying the bills.He also works to make up for the time he thinks he lost by getting into acting at what he considers the late age of 30.A native of Los Angeles, Parlato taught In San Francisco high schools for a few years before falling in love with classical dance.I started a classical dancing career in my 20s, which is late, unless you’re a Nureycv. he says. Always athletic, be figured he would dance until he was too old to continue.But when he was 30, his then-fiancee and dancing partnerwon a scholarship to the New York City Ballet. They came to New York and lie realized he had to audition for everything and anything to earn money.His dancing and singing, not to mention his rugged good looks, stood him in good slead in seeking theatrical roles. Acting, which he said he did on raw instinct since he had no training, triumphed over dancing.Twice-married and the father of a son in the Navy, Pariato is now single again, and while he might not be entirely happy in being so, it frees him to take good roles wherever In the world they may be.He’s only half-joking when he says he wouldn’t mind being rich and famous — like Harrison Ford — and have parts offered to him ratber than having to spend his days off and free time auditioning for roles he hopes will raise his clout” andvisibility.He’d like to dolt;s by Arthur Miller, David Mamet, David Hare, Tony Kushner, George Bernard Shaw and, of course, more Shakespeare. Maybe even Hamlet.
Newspaper Details
Santa Ana Orange County Register
Santa Ana, California, US
Sun, Aug 06, 1995
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