When you see a guy reach for stars in the sky— you can bet that he’s doin’ it for some doll! Call it hell, call it heaven, it’s a probable twelve-to-seven that this interview series is featurin’ some Guys & Dolls! We’ve got the horse right here…several of them in fact! And we’ll bet you a thousand big ones that you ain’t heard some of the fun things coming out of these Tidewater Players’ actors’ mouths before! In a hot four-part series, we’ve got some gambling guys, some hot box dolls, and even a mission doll looped up in there for some talking all about their Guys & Dolls experience with Tidewater Players. And who better to kick things off with than Harry the Horse and that outtatown hot-shot Big Jule?

Thank you both for sitting with me this evening! Let’s start with who you are and who you’re playing!

Chris Zaczek: Hi, my name is Chris Zaczek and I’m playing Harry the Horse.

Michael Pardo: I’m Mike Pardo. I’m playing Big Jule.

Very good! What was the draw to want to come out and be a part of Guys & Dolls? Have you ever done Guys & Dolls before, have you worked at Tidewater Players before? Tell us a little bit about the experience of getting to where you are now.

Chris: Guys & Dolls was the first show I ever saw on Broadway back in 1992 when they did the revival. It was also the show that kind of inspired me to become an actor. What was very cool was when I saw that particular production, one of the actors was a guy by the name of Adam Grupper and he was playing Benny Southstreet. Flash forward about five years and I ended up working in the Bay Street Theater Festival in Sag Harbor in New York and he was one of the people in the cast of the first show that I worked on. He and I ended up becoming kind of buddy-buddies, and I got to say thank you for starting me on the path to becoming an actor. I’ve always wanted to do this show because of this, so this is kind of fulfilling a 30-year-old dream.

That is so awesome! Have you ever worked with Tidewater Players before?

Chris: No this is my first time.

Very cool and welcome to Tidewater. What about you, Mike?

Michael: I’m a recent resident to Havre de Grace, I moved here last May. Prior to that I lived I Reading, Pennsylvania and was doing community theatre there for about 30 years. The first show I did was with my family, the Reading Jewish Community Center did a production of Fiddler on the Roof. So me, my wife, and my two children— my nine-year-old daughter, my six-year-old son— all participated in that and that kind of got me into the community theatre habit. I always wanted to do it as a high school and college kid but just never had the nerve. Once a became a middle-aged man of 40, I figured, “okay I’ve nothing left to be embarrassed about, let’s do it!” and I’ve been hooked ever since. Like I said, I moved here last year, and this is my first show in Havre de Grace and my first show with Tidewater Players. I’m very much looking forward to it. I’ve never done Guys & Dolls before. It’ll be a nice new experience. I’m kind of cast against type as Big Jule, I guess usually Big Jule is a more physically imposing character. I’m going to have to make it up with my voice or something.

That’s really exciting and also, welcome! Now, Chris, what is it like getting to play Harry the Horse? How are you bringing yourself to the character, what’s he teaching you about yourself?

Chris: Well, my mom is originally from Brooklyn— Bay Ridge— so this is kind of taking some of her accent and putting it into the mix. I had an opportunity to do some acting throughout New York when I was much, much, much younger. Basically being able to play a kind of weaselly, loud, brash character, unfortunately I tend to do that quite a bit, but it’s a lot of fun.

Awesome. And what are you finding its like to play Big Jule? How are you bringing yourself to him and what’s he teaching you?

Michael: I like to do shows that my grandkids can appreciate. Being the tough-gangster type I’m sure will amuse them quite a bit. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to participate in this show. Some of the shows get to be a little too-adult in theme and stuff. I’ve done children shows like Annie I played FDR in that and I was the wizard in The Wizard of Oz. So I look for shows that my daughter can take her kids to.

That’s so lovely? How old are the littles?

Michael: My grandson is actually going to celebrate his 8^th birthday this week and my granddaughter will be 11 at the end of June.

That’s really lovely that you get to bring your grandkids out to see you!

Michael: Since I’ve moved here I’ve taken them to all the local shows. We just saw Secret Garden, we took them to see Oliver! last year.

Aha! You might recognize your Benny Southstreet (Ryan Geiger) in this production. He played Bill Sykes in that show.

Michael: Yeah, I didn’t realize that at first. When I joined the cast I had told him we’d seen the show, and he said “oh yeah I was in that I played Bill Sikes.” And I said, “Oh I saw that show— you were really good!” And of course we just took the kids to see Oklahoma, and I’m looking forward to taking them to see Gypsy.

I love that you’re getting your grandkids exposed to theatre. No greater gift in my opinion. Now, I hate to use the word favorite, but what is the musical number that you hear and you just know “Yep, that’s Guys & Dolls.”

Chris: “Guys & Dolls.” With a sound like that? You hear that number and it basically says “Guys & Dolls” to me. I mean it is the title of the show but it’s also just the signature piece of the show. I mean there’s a reason why they repeat it twice.

Michael: I have to agree with Chris. That’s the song that I identify first. Then “Fugue for Tinhorns” and “Sit Down, You’re Rocking The Boat!” but “Guys & Dolls” I mean that’s why it’s the title song!

Absolutely! What would you say has been your biggest challenge so far?

Chris: Dancing! I haven’t done any real formal dancing in a show since probably 2017/2018. So trying to master some of the moves…fortunately, we got very lucky in the dance-lite area of doing this show. But for me, I would say dancing is the trickiest part for me.

Michael: Well, aside from the dancing, which is a big concern, it’s probably putting on the voice of Big Jule. I want to do a low, gravelly voice and it really hurts my vocal cords. So I have to try and come up with a voice that isn’t going to kill me during the performance. I don’t know if I’ve reached that point yet, I’m still experimenting with different types of voices. You read about those voice actors who used to do the Popeye cartoons, they had the same troubles. That low, gravelly voice, you can do it for a few minutes but then you can’t talk anymore! I don’t want to ruin my voice before the show.

Big question here. Definitively— are you team Hot Box? Or team Mission Doll?

Chris: Team Hot Box all the way! Team Mission Doll? And Krysta (playing Sarah Brown, Krysta Stefanosky) will probably kill me when she hears this, but I would definitely say “come on, Team Hot Box, they just have more fun.” And that’s the honest truth!

Michael: That’s kinda like the question, are you a Ginger* or a Mary Ann* type of person? I’m more of a Mary Ann type of person, so along those same lines, I’d be more of a Mission Doll type of person. I like the understated sexuality of Sarah in her role.

What’s your favorite gambling game?

Chris: I don’t gamble.

Not at all?

Chris: Not really, no. I stay away from the stock market. I like my money where it is. In my pocket.

You know what? That’s okay too. What about you, Michael? Favorite gambling game?

Michael: I don’t gamble, like Chris said, but I do enjoy Rummikub. As long as we’re not playing for money.

If you had to wager…I say to the two who don’t gamble… if you thought Mindy sold more cheesecake or more strudel… what’s your money going on?

Chris: I would have to say probably more strudel than cheesecake. Mostly because I walk in right before that line happens!

Michael: Prior to the development of this show, I would have imagined that Mindy sold more cheesecake than strudel but apparently that’s not always the case.

Why do you want people to come out and see Guys & Dolls here at Tidewater Players?

Chris: Because it’s probably one of the funniest productions you’re going to see this year, honestly, in this area. You have a massively talented cast in all of the mains and all of the supporting characters, you have everybody who is really giving their all for making people laugh, making people enjoy the time that they spend in the theatre. If you want to laugh and if you want to have a pleasant afternoon watching pretty much the premiere musical, this is the show to come see.

I love that! Michael?

Michael: I think the comedy is a big selling point in this show. It is extremely funny. There is a lot of dancing. A lot of musicals have a lot of singing and not a lot of dancing but here you get the best of both. You get a lot of dancing, particularly with the Hot Box numbers and then a lot of singing, like the “Luck Be a Lady” scene. Just the characters too. They’re just so well-defined; they’re interesting. It’s interesting to see how they develop over the course of the play and how things eventually resolve.

What is Harry The Horse’s drink of choice?

Chris: Drink of choice would definitely be a rum and coke.

And is that different from Chris’ personal drink of choice?

Chris: Nope. Shockingly I’m going for honest experience. So it’s rum and coke.

And Big Jule’s drink of choice?

Michael: Probably whiskey or rye I would guess? I’m not a drinker so I’m just speculating.

Do you have a comfort beverage? It doesn’t have to be alcoholic.

Michael: I like Ginger Ale. A nice cold glass of Ginger Ale.

If you could write your own ticket, regardless of age, gender, vocal capability, etc. to play anyone in this show, who would you want to play?

Chris: Probably Nathan. I have always loved that role. It’s a fun, plumb role to play, so probably Nathan.

Michael: If I was 40 years younger, I might have wanted to play Nathan. My son Dan played Nathan in a high school production. I would think that’s probably the character that fits me best personality-wise, but obviously I’ve aged out of that role.

I don’t think that’s true. I actually think Nathan is supposed to be older. He’s been leading Adelaide on for at least 12 years, plus he runs the oldest established permanent floating crap-game in New York. I think there’s something to be said for both an older Nathan and an older Sky, as they are these king-pin top-tier gambling folks, so there’s nothing in the books according to Hoyle that says they can’t (and shouldn’t be) older.

Michael: It’s funny that you mention that because I just got an email from a friend of mine back in Reading who I did a lot of theatre with, and he wanted to catch up, he wanted to know how Guys & Dolls’ rehearsals were going, and he said that one of his bucket-list roles was always Nathan except he just turned 50, so he’s thinking he’s already too old. 50 I think is fine…but 72? I don’t know…

Well you don’t look 72.

Michael: I am and thank you.

This has been fun. What is it that you two are walking out of here at the end of rehearsal every night thinking? Are you thinking it’s fun, are thinking ‘what’s for dinner?’ what’s on your minds when you leave?

Chris: I’m just glad to be doing theatre again. I was on a two-year hiatus. I lived for about 20 years in Seoul, South Korea. For the last ten years that I was over there, I was doing a lot of theatre with a lot of different groups. When I came home, I was on an almost two-year hiatus. So it was just nice to be able to come back and be a part of this again; it’s been really great.

Michael: I’m thinking just how lucky I am to be back in theatre. I took about a year off during the move. It was hard to reconnect, I was getting the apartment set up and whatnot. And it was a little intimidating. You work with the same group of people for 30 years and even though there were several groups in Reading, everybody kind of goes from one group to another, so everybody knows everybody in all of the groups. It was a very small and close-knit community. I was hoping to develop something like that here. And the folks at Tidewater have been very welcoming and I’m very thankful for that. Everyone has been very friendly. In fact, Chris and I, and another fella in the cast carpool, we all live in Bulle Rock.

That’s wonderful and it’s environmental! Now, final question, if you had to sum up your experience, returning to the theatre after your respective hiatus-times, working at Tidewater Players on Guys & Dolls using just one word, which word would you choose?

Chris: Satisfying.

Michael: Enjoyable.  

Guys & Dolls will play May 9^th through May 18^th 2025 with Tidewater Players in residence at the Cultural Center at The Havre de Grace Opera House— 121 N. Union Street in historic downtown Havre de Grace, MD. For tickets call the box office at 667-225-8433 or purchase them online.

*For those not old enough to remember, Ginger and Mary Ann were fictional sitcom characters from Gilligan’s Island.