FEATURE INTERVIEW: 'Rock Of Ages' star embraces rock 'n' roll
10 May'10

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency

TORONTO - If you’ve been following David Keeley’s career for the past few years — and a lot of us have — then you’ve no doubt concluded that he is either a very happy man or a very frustrated one.

A regular on Canada’s classical stages and our musical ones as well, Keeley is one of those actors who not only always seems to be working, but for the most part, working very well. And while people who love quality theatre treasure him on home stages, he periodically does something so good — like his Broadway turn in MAMMA MIA! or his celluloid villainy in the remake of THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE — that one just assumes he’s about to outgrow the local scene. Next thing you know, he pops up in something like Factory Theatre’s production of Brad Fraser’s TRUE LOVE LIES or the forthcoming Toronto production of ROCK OF AGES, opening May 11 at the Royal Alexandra Theatre.

Add it all up and logic suggests he’s either become incredibly frustrated at fame’s fickle and elusive nature — or he’s learned to live in the moment, leave fame to fate and follow his muse.

It’s Monday, and Keeley arrives for a lunchtime interview relaxed and affable, back from a weekend in Stratford where he and his wife make their home, having raised two children there. He admits he’s a little surprised to find himself in ROCK OF AGES — a flat-out rock ’n’ roll extravaganza about as far removed from the spiritual baggage of its title as it is possible to be. “I didn’t think it was something for me,” he admits of a show described as “Mamma Mia! for dudes” and comprised of rock anthems of the ’70s. “I thought it was a metal show — and I’m not a metal singer.”

In fact, he was surprised when it was suggested he audition. “I started looking at the songs they wanted me to sing and I thought, ‘Oh, Styx! I can do that.’ ”

That won’t be news to anyone who remembers Keeley’s musical collaboration with longtime friend Paul Gross — a collaboration that yielded two successful albums and a bouquet of singles a decade ago That experience taught Keeley a lot about the world of rock and gave him some early lessons on fame and fans in a pop culture world — lessons still serving him well today Of course, they toured, and though they were drawing houses, “they weren’t there for the music,” Keeley says. “They were there for Due South (Gross’s breakout television success). It was enough to make them both back off a bit in the fame game — if Gross, who remains a good friend, had wanted to be famous, he would have stayed in L.A., Keeley points out.

As for Keeley, he came home to Canada and went back to work — and that’s what he’s been doing ever since. And as for chasing fame, “I’m not interested in that,” he insists. “I’ve had glimmers of that, and it’s not why I’m in the business.”

And his brushes with it have taught him a few more lessons “If I try to make something of it, it backfires, so I leave it alone,” he says. “If it happens, it happens, but I really don’t want to have that baggage. I really don’t want to be Brad Pitt. Rather than pursue fame, “I pursue people who are passionate about what they do,” he says, adding that, all in all, he’s content with where that has taken him.

“I’d like to do more Shakespeare,” he admits. “But I love the diversity. I love jumping back and forth. I’d like to do more classical work — but that’s really dependent on who’s directing. I’m not really interested in concept theatre. The story is already there.”

Classical, contemporary drama, rock musical or simply the rock band he’s part of in Stratford — it’s all part of doing what he loves, and it’s all collaborative. “At first I think: ‘What can I bring to it,’” he says. “But then, when you’re in the room, it’s about everybody stepping up and bringing their game. I love that company feeling of coming together to create something.

“It’s a team sport,” he says with a gold medal smile, “And it’s the closest thing to being an athlete.”