This month, Wharton Center will welcome perennial favorite Broadway musical “Les Misérables” to the stage, with performances from November 12-17, 2019. Click here for show and ticket information.
Matt Shingledecker stars in this touring company of “Les Mis” as Enjolras, leader of the Friends of the ABC. Shingledecker has also tackled the roles of Fiyero in “Wicked” and Tony in “West Side Story” on Broadway, among others. I spoke with him about his experiences with the “Les Mis” tour, his must-have on the road, and how he casually just completed a marathon this fall.
STEFANIE POHL: I saw on your Instagram that you just recently completed a marathon. What was the experience like of training for that type of race while also touring and performing?
MATT SHINGLEDECKER: Oh man, a marathon question! That’s exciting! It was fun and very challenging. The thing about tour is that there’s no familiarity. You’re in a new place all of the time, so it’s very hard to get any sort of routine down. But running is an easy one to do. It’s a good chance to explore each city, and it gives me an anchor in a life adrift. I’ve really taken to it this year in particularly. I ran a surprise half-marathon that I didn’t know would be in the city we were in, but was there when we were in Chicago a couple of months before this marathon. All of the stars aligned with having days free to train and nights to do the show. It was a blast.
POHL: And this marathon was in Hawaii?
SHINGLEDECKER: Yeah, it was in Hawaii. We had a few weeks off from the show and I went to Hawaii to do it. It was very hilly and very hard. The fastest time was over three hours.
POHL: You’ve been in some of the most iconic musicals. What does it feel like to be a part of a beloved show like that, whether in the past or now in “Les Mis”?
SHINGLEDECKER: It feels great. They’re iconic for a reason, in that they’re all just so good. I count myself very fortunate. In terms of this particular show, it’s amazing to be doing this show while the Hong Kong protests are going on. Especially for me as the leader of this democratic revolution, that is particularly moving when I see crowds singing “Do You Hear the People Sing?”
POHL: What was your journey to joining the tour?
SHINGLEDECKER: I had wanted to do this role for a long time. I was most interested in this role even as a kid when I first was falling in love with musical theater. I think what draws me to the character still today is this sort of inhuman idealism and futurism, and that he’s so detached from the normal world. In the book, it describes that women would come up to him and have to look into the fathomless depths of his eyes to see that he wasn’t interested in anything worldly such as them. I’ve played a lot of lovers in past shows, so it’s cool to do something that’s so different from that.
POHL: In playing the character of Enjolras, are there things you’ve discovered about him or about the show itself that you hadn’t known before joining the cast?
SHINGLEDECKER: Yes! I think the coolest thing was going to the source material in the book for the role. I don’t think I ever really realized what they were fighting for other than simply democracy. What’s really fascinating and the writer’s idea for the show in the first place was all off of Gavroche and this idea of the disenfranchised poor youth of France. What my group is fighting for is the education of all children, no matter what class they were. The idea was that if they could think for themselves, and be educated, then they would have much more negotiating power with any government that they were dealing with. The complexities of it were really interesting to me, and that was my greatest gift in joining the show that I didn’t know before.
POHL: Do you have a favorite song or moment from the show?
SHINGLEDECKER: I love Valjean’s soliloquy in the beginning. It’s amazing. It sets the tone for the entire show, and Nick Cartell does it wonderfully. The audience in East Lansing is going to get a treat in him. I love “One Day More.” I think that’s probably my favorite. For my character, it’s the time in which they’re at their height. It seems like people are joining and this thing is really going to happen. It’s represented through a cacophony of sound of all of these different characters and their objectives. Being down center stage right before the blackout is pretty intoxicating.
POHL: You’ve played so many great roles in your career. Are there any dream roles or types of characters that you’d love the opportunity to play one day?
SHINGLEDECKER: Definitely something new would be enjoyable. It would be great to do something new and build it from the ground up. My mind is drifting now to something we were geeking out about. A lot of the actors in the show are fans of Steven Pasquale and we were listening to his “Carousel” soliloquy and “It All Fades Away” from “Bridges of Madison County” and those are two roles, both acting wise and vocally, that I would love to take on.
POHL: As you’re traveling on the road, do you have any must-haves?
SHINGLEDECKER: This is a good one and kind of weird, too. Diet Dr. Pepper, which I really love. But this is a thing from back in the day and weirdly Christopher Walken’s character does it in the movie “Blast from the Past,” but my dad taught me to heat up Dr. Pepper and put lemon juice in it. This was something that Dr. Pepper used to advertise back in the day as another way to drink their soda. I don’t do it all of the time, but sometimes it makes me think of my dad and home and comfort and being eccentric. It continues to pop because of the carbonation, but the lemon makes it taste more tea-like. It’s its own unique, beautiful monstrosity.
Don’t miss Matt Shingledecker and the rest of the cast of “Les Misérables” at Wharton Center, November 12-17. Click here for show and ticket information.