James Marsters ita-fan-english

Here There is a long and interesting interview of James about:
Buffy, Smallville,Without a trace, James's career in theater, music and his new album.

Couch Baron: You grew up in Modesto, a small inland town in Northern California.

James Marsters: Yeah. Good place to grow up. A lot of orchards and dirt roads.

CB: Nice. I see that you wanted to be an actor from a pretty young age.

JM: Yeah. From sixth grade.

CB: Did you eventually get a case of the small-town blues there? Were you dying to get out and pursue your dream?

JM: Uh…yeah! My father lived near San Francisco, and when I first saw San Francisco, I was like, I want to live in the city. I just liked that rhythm.

CB: Did you go to theater down there?

JM: Yeah, I went to ACT, which is a really good theater on Geary Street. Byron Jennings was sort of there, Michael Winters was there -- that was a great, great company. In fact, they were so good that when I went to Broadway, I was like, "You know what, this is okay." Not that great, actually.

CB: Really! San Francisco was better.

JM: Yeah! I saw two complete seasons on Broadway, and I was like, I'm not seeing it. And I finally kind of came to the conclusion that Broadway was a for-profit market, and therefore the direction had to be a little simpler. I would see plays where I'd seen them in a not-for-profit theater, and they were more complex -- the same plays, same scripts. Good actors, on Broadway, but it just was simplified because it was a different market -- they're not trying to make art. They're trying to make money, and they want to widen the audience, I guess. more...