Roger Bart knows a little something about being animated. He won a Tony Award in 1999 playing Snoopy in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, two years after providing vocals for the title role in Disney’s 1997 animated film Hercules. And that same quality abounds in his current role, starring as the wild-haired and arm-flailing Doc Brown in Broadway’s new hit musical Back to the Future at the Winter Garden Theatre.
“These parts that are animated and yet rooted in reality are good fits for me, particularly ones that allow me the opportunity to be smart and zany,” Bart told Playbill recently over the phone.
Bart’s had his fair share of zany. Aside from Snoopy, Bart has played Carmen Ghia, eccentric “live-in assistant” to director Roger De Bris in The Producers; and Dr. Frederick Frankenstein in Young Frankenstein. Together with his Back to the Future role, you could also say he’s got a knack for bringing iconic screen performances to the stage.
“I’m not an impersonator,” Bart says. Some of his characters are so beloved that their screen versions are imprinted on the brains of fans, but Bart says trying to recreate that same magic is a fool’s errand. By way of example, he recalls how years ago, as he was preparing to go on tour with a revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, he went to see the same production on Broadway, which then featured Brooks Ashmanskas in the role Bart was to play on the road...READ MORE