For 'Movin' Out' cast, it's all about the story

For 'Movin' Out' cast, it's all about the story

Salt Lake Tribune - United States

Like his counterparts in America, Irish-born Darren Holden grew up listening to Billy Joel songs on the radio, iconic hits such as "Just the Way You Are" and ...

Like his counterparts in America, Irish-born Darren Holden grew up listening to Billy Joel songs on the radio, iconic hits such as "Just the Way You Are" and "Only the Good Die Young."

As a lad, the County Kilkenny native was always playing piano and writing songs before he formed his first country-rock band, Wanted, at 16. Later, when Holden developed a solo piano act, he mostly played Joel and Elton John covers.

Fast-forward about 15 years to 2003, when Holden landed the starring role as narrator of Joel and Twyla Tharp's Broadway show "Movin' Out," a song-and-dance story about lifelong friends who come of age during the turbulence and fallout of the Vietnam era. Just before the curtain for Holden's third performance in the role, Joel came backstage and said he'd be watching the show.

Afterward, Joel offered Holden some valuable advice: "Most of the songs are stories. Be direct enough to sing to every person in the auditorium, if you can manage it. Don't impersonate me, be yourself. Because when you leave this show, you're not going to be Billy Joel. I am."

Followed by this: "I hear your 'r's creeping into the music, and I hear your brogue. The show's about a Long Island guy."

The next day, Holden received a package from the Piano Man himself, a DVD from the first season of "The Sopranos," with a note: "Just listen to Tony."

Holden laughs in a phone interview as he tells the story, and about what followed next - how he became so addicted to the HBO series that his wife had to remind him when he was offstage that it wasn't necessary to impersonate a New Yorker.

Holden brings three years of experience in "Movin' Out" - "one song after another," he says, "and you don't get a chance to catch your breath" - to Salt Lake City as the Broadway tour comes to the Capitol Theatre, opening on Tuesday and playing through Sunday.

One notable in the cast is Troy Edwards Bowles, who plays James in the show. Bowles grew up milking cows and winning a state gymnastics title in Preston, Idaho - "Napoleon Dynamite town," he writes on his Friendster profile page - before studying ballet from 1995 to 1997 at the University of Utah.

Another notable is Elizabeth Parkinson, who received a Tony Award nomination for creating the role of Brenda in the Broadway show. Parkinson was one of the original five dancers who worked with Tharp as she developed the show's innovative choreography.

Parkinson says audiences should watch for Tharp's distinctive mash-up of dance styles. "She's famous for mixing all different kinds of dance genres, from ballet to jazz to hip-hop," says Parkinson, who began her career dancing classical works with the Joffrey Ballet. "She can somehow pull it all together and make it blend in one distinctive style, which is her style."

For the dancer, the show's narrative storytelling presents the interesting challenge of performing as a character. "In classical ballet, you're always presenting an idealized form, not only physically, but also as a character where you're a queen or a fairy," Parkinson says in a phone interview from Denver during a seven-week stint back on the tour. "In 'Movin' Out,' all of the characters are flawed human beings who are trying to find their way. In the end, we're all redeemed."

Her character, Brenda, serves as a sponge for all the cultural changes affecting the country; she is a woman always looking for love in the wrong places. What's interesting about the choreography of "Movin' Out" is how the characters change over the course of the two-hour show. "When we start the show, we're youngsters, in our late teens and early 20s, and the way we move is how young people move," she says. "As we get older, not only do we mature, but the way we dance matures. The steps are more classical, less childish and more adult."

As standout numbers, she lists "Goodnight Saigon," which marks a turning point in the characters' lives, and "Shameless," a powerful pas de deux for her character that includes what Tharp has termed some of the most beautiful choreography she ever created.

Holden describes the 24-song show as "a very fast emotional roller coaster."

"A typical high school rock 'n' roll musical takes a very sharp detour to Vietnam," he says, "and all of a sudden the war becomes reality, a reminder that this is part of American history."

Equally real is the more recent suffering caused by Hurricane Katrina. Holden has donated the proceeds of a new song, "Hell and High Water," to storm victims. It's the first single of his fourth album, "Roadworks," which was recorded in hotel rooms while on the tour. The song, which has been available for a few weeks on the singer's Web site (http://www.darrenholden.com), has raised $9,000 for hurricane victims.

And every night he watches audience members, who hear their own stories in "Goodnight Saigon" and other songs. "You see couples crying, and you think 'They've got a son or daughter in the war, this one or the last one,' and you think it's amazing to be a part of this," Holden says. "I don't know what other show is out there that would make you feel that right now. In a nutshell, it's relevant."

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Contact Ellen Fagg at ellenf@sltrib.com or 801-257-8621. Send comments about this story to livingeditor@ sltrib.com.

It's still rock 'n' roll

* "Movin' Out" opens Tuesday and runs through Sunday at Capitol Theatre, 50 W. 200 South, Salt Lake City. Curtain is at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 7 p.m. Sunday; 2 p.m. matinees on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets, which range from $30 to $72.50, are available by calling 801-355-ARTS.