Out actors Peter DiCesare and Sean Burroughs create their own fairy tale endings
SO, HO | Peter DiCesare, right, and Sean Burroughs, center, put a gay twist on Cinderella with ‘Soho CInders,’ a North American premiere presented by Uptown Players, directed and choreographed by John de los Santos, left. (Photo courtesy Mike Morgan)
ARNOLD WAYNE JONES | Executive Editor
For actors Peter DiCesare and Sean Burroughs, the Dallas theater experience had been like a fairy tale.
In less than two years, DiCesare has had acclaimed featured roles in The Producers (as Carmen Ghia), Sweeney Todd (as Pirrelli) and Pageant (Miss Deep South), all for Uptown Players. That’s an impressive resume for anyone who’s been working here for a long time, not to say a Houstonian and recent TCU grad.
For Burroughs, the rise has been even more meteoric. The same week he was graduated from the theater department at Oklahoma City University, he began rehearsals for his Dallas theatrical debut, and with it and an upcoming role in The Boy from Oz, he’s already earned his Actors Equity card; by the end of summer, he plans to move to New York City to pursue an acting career. DiCesare plans to make the move within the next year, as well. Those are what you call real Cinderella stories.
It is appropriate, then, that the two actors’ next show together will be Soho Cinders, the North American debut of a hit in London two years ago, which puts a gay twist on a familiar story.
Set in modern-day England, DiCesare plays Robbie, a scrappy entrepreneur trying to make a go of his laundromat while his stepsisters stand in the way. In order to help finance his dream, he occupies himself as a part-time escort. That’s something that his boyfriend, James Prince (Burroughs) doesn’t know. But James, a hot young politician, has his own issues. He’s deeply in the closet, and hasn’t informed Robbie that he plans to marry his favorite hag in order to keep up appearances while rising up the ranks.
“It’s sort of the Ted Haggard story,” offers director/choreographer John de los Santos with a sarcastic wink. (De los Santos, for the record, made the leap to New York City last year.)
Maybe not exactly Haggard’s life story, but if the plot sounds familiar — and especially the reference to a handsome Prince — well, it’s meant to.
UGLY STEPSISTERS | ‘Soho Cinders’ taps into Cinderella with the inclusion of two trashy stepsisters who make things difficult for the lovers. (Photo courtesy Mike Morgan)
“It’s a gay twist on Cinderella,” says DiCesare. “There are little echoes of Cinderella — there’s no wicked stepmother and no actual fairy godmothers,” but there are a few ugly sisters and the few thoughtful mentors along the way.
“[Theatre Britain founder] Sue Birch notes that this is a British panto,” De los Santos says. “There’s no drag, but it is filled with characters who are over-the-top — broad stereotypes.”
“[My character] is fairly wishy-washy — he’s pushed in so many directions,” Burroughs says. “He has a fiancée and she knows he’s been attracted to men in the past, but she agrees to marry him anyway. But [ultimately there’s a message] about being true to yourself and [not] putting on facades.”
“It’s a romp!” De los Santos adds. “It’s family-friendly — there’s no cursing, and no one takes his shirt off! It may be my first nipple-free show.”
But what appeals most to all the principals is “the score, which is absolutely infectious and tuneful and hummable,” De los Santos says.
“It’s really neat to create something fresh with this piece itself,” says DiCesare, who’s vocal register includes an impressive falsetto. “It has some touching moments, but it’s new, and has such light touches. My solo is called ‘They Don’t Make Glass Slippers,’ and I love it.”
Burroughs’ own preference is one he doesn’t even sing.
“’Let Him Go’ is my favorite song,” he says. That leads to a discussion of all the good numbers on the show, which debuted in London in 2012 with legendary actor Stephen Fry as the narrator.
DiCesare and Burroughs are so new to the scene, Burroughs especially, that they’ve only known each other since call-back auditions … and yet they have to play men deeply in love for months and do justice to the Cinderella myth. But that’s the fun of acting, they say.
“I get to live vicariously through the character I’m portraying and dive into my imagination,” DiCesare says. “I get to do things I want to do that I never would in real life.”
Such as meeting his own Prince Charming? Well, neither man has given up on that possibility (though Burroughs admits he burns a candle for Matt Bomer). And when they get to New York and try to make it big … well, that’s the fairy tale can really begin.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition June 13, 2014.