What is Rocktopia? It all started with an idea from actor, producer, vocalist Rob Evan. What if we fused some of the most world-renowed classical compositions with legendary classic rock? Not to ignore the visual senses make it a multimedia experience like no other. This was Rob’s idea that has become a reality known as Rocktopia. Backed by a full symphony orchestra, choir and rock band; five world-class vocalist will intertwine the anthems of Journey, Queen, Led Zeppelin and others to create a one-of-a-kind experience never heard before. Now this experience is set to take over Broadway for six weeks starting March 20th. RockRevolt Magazine had the opportunity to talk with Rob prior to their takeover of NYC’s cultural arts scene to discuss how Rocktopia came to be.
Let’s start off by talking a little bit about your background. You have quite the extensive, impressive resume. From seven leading roles in New York Theater, over 40 symphony orchestra performances, as well as working with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra to name a few things, I don’t even know where to begin. I guess a good place to start would be with your first audition for the theater, a part in Les Misérables and how you thought you got the golden ticket by landing the part.
It’s funny; it’s like an analogy from “American Idol.” This is like in 1990 or ’91, I can’t remember. I was a senior in college. I played football for the University of Georgia, even though growing up I sang all the time. I was exposed to a lot of different musical genres. I had this voice like an opera singer, like a Placido Domingo or Luciano Pavarotti, but all I wanted to be was Robert Plant or Steve Perry. I just wasn’t built that way, didn’t sound that way, but those were my influences in high school, from listening to rock bands and being in rock bands. So I kind of abandoned it all to get a business degree, and I was going to go to law school.
I ended up taking a date, on Valentine’s Day, to this French restaurant, and this French musical called Les Misérables, not knowing what it was, in Atlanta. At that point, I was like, that’s what I want to do (laughing); this is what I have to do. I started sort of daydreaming about being on the stage and singing for a living. There was an open call in Nashville, and I drove there and waited nine hours to sing a half a song. That’s when they were like, “we like you,” and that’s what I kind of called my golden ticket. You know now they call it that ticket to Hollywood or whatever on “American Idol.”
They flew me to New York and auditioned me again. Then I moved to New York with my girl at the time I had met on a cruise ship, singing on a cruise ship, trying to work as a singer. I met this beautiful Norwegian stewardess, and we just celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. So, we moved to New York together; she left her country. Then they put me in Les Miserables. I never looked back; it was, “OK I guess I’m doing this now.”
Then ten years later, after seven leading roles, I met Paul O’Neil of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Jim Steinman, who created Bat Out Of Hell. It’s funny, I kind of did it backwards. I would have thought as a young man I would have been in the rock world and maybe a little bit older on Broadway, but I did it completely backwards. Then I got into the rock world and started working with all the guys from TSO (Trans-Siberian Orchestra) which is really Savatage, the metal band. I was thinking, oh my god I’m a fish out of water here and realizing, dude you’re a rock star, and l’m thinking OK I guess I’ll be a rock star now (laughing). It was funny then, realizing as a mature professional, I’ll be 50 in June, going I guess I don’t have to choose I can do both and combine.
There’s really a commonality with these things. It’s just great music and great hooks. Time is the only thing that has separated these two worlds. That’s when I came up with the idea for Rocktopia. Trying to create a project for me, a concert project, even though I was a Broadway star selling millions of records in a rock band nobody knew who the heck I was. So, it couldn’t be Rob Evan in concert it had to be something that was a hook, a name and that I could sing Puccini’s opera at the same time I did Kashmir (Led Zeppelin).
That’s when I met the co-creator of Rocktopia, Randy Fleischer. He’s an amazing, accomplished maestro around the world. He also had the same vision; he’s deeply routed in the classical world but had this love for rock. We were like, alright let’s create this thing; then we realized the idea was bigger than either one of us. That’s when I realized I’m not the frontman of this band; we’ve got to have many different singers and different types of singers to serve this material and this fusion. It’s really not a tribute band.
I know there’s a lot of those out there, and they’re great, but the way I approach these songs is the way I would organically as an artist approach these. I wanted the other singers and musicians to do the same thing. That’s when we thought, this is cool. Then the audiences started buying in. It’s not a cheap show to produce; we can’t just do clubs. We have to have a symphony orchestra and a choir and a rock band and singers to serve this concept. It’s something that has been in the works, at least the actual production, for eight years.
What goes into a production of this magnitude?
When we did it in Budapest, we were trying to find a way to tell the world what we’re doing. And that’s hard because it’s a hard thing to explain. I can talk about it more comfortably now, years later, then when I was originally pitching a few investors and promoters. I feel we’ve done it many times and know what the narrative is. But originally we were like, OK this is what we are going to do, and they’re like, I have no clue. I don’t understand; we have to see it (laughing). You can’t tell people I need two million dollars; you’ve got to see it first.
PBS and my producing partner, Bill Franzblau – he’s amazing – he’s produced Broadway shows and been in the rock world managing major acts at his own record label; he got it. He and I have kind of been the force to go tell the world about this. We got PBS on board a few years ago, and we did the show in June of 2016 in Budapest because we felt like this is something that makes it feel like it’s a world project not just a U.S. project. And those opera houses around Europe are beautiful and have a lot of history. So, we put it in the Hungarian Opera House with their full harmonic, which is 75 musicians plus a choir, their opera chorus which is another 40 plus, another show choir which is 30, a rock band which is 7, and 6 singers. So, we had like 150 people on stage and that was a big stage.
It’s really expensive, and you can’t do that night after night. And what we learned when we had to deliver the tour in the spring of 2017 was that we can change the sizes a bit, and it still works. The audience still reacts because the music and the heart of what we are doing hasn’t changed. So, we went to 14 orchestra players and 6 backup singers, then our rock band, and our singers to the full Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, which is 65, and the Georgia Tech choir, which was another 60, and we still got the same response from the audience. That was very encouraging.
So, the idea of Broadway was another platform of telling the world of what we are doing and to perpetuate our touring project, so it’s really just a tour stop for us. Our residency on Broadway, hopefully, will come around every year and do a different version of Rocktopia every year with this idea. On Broadway, we are going to have 20 in the orchestra, about 40 in the choir, a big light and video show, 6 in our rock band, 5 singers, plus Pat Monahan of Train for the first three weeks.
It’s going to feel big on stage. You rarely, on Broadway, have that many people on stage.
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What separates Rocktopia from the Broadway show, Rock of Ages?
We are very different from Rock of Ages. I think the only thing we have in common with Rock of Ages is the word “rock.” I love Rock of Ages. Our pianist was the musical director of Rock of Ages on Broadway. Rock of Ages approached this whole genre in this fun, campy way. The way we are treating the classical music is the way the original composer would. Then we, hopefully, seamlessly transition into an iconic classic rock song. Then find ways to weave in the classical music as the rock song is being played. I would say Rock of Ages is a musical with a storyline; we’re a concert.
We do have a conceptual idea of the way the songs are woven together, which is what I call the human condition. I was looking for an idea that if you go see a concert, and you find a personal connection to a song or something, then you don’t forget that. And I was looking for ideas for what would connect audience goers, whatever their age is, their gender, their ethnicity, or their religion. Trying to find something we all have in common, and that’s just we are all humans. We all go through birth and adolescence, some sort of experimentation or rebellion, to different versions of love and lust, and then some sort of loss or death, and some sort of cathartic rebirth. That’s the way the show is art, and the songs are art.
I won’t tell you that because I think your imagination is better than me telling you what the story is going to be. We have video content also that kind of hints to that stuff, but my hope is that I don’t care what kind of music you like or how old you are or where you’re from. You can come into it and connect. Most of the classical music that we chose was stuff that will be familiar, whether you’re a classical fan or you’re a rock fan. You might hear (hums a tune) and be on United Airlines and go, oh that’s United Airlines theme, but it’s Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” So, it’s completely accessible; we’re not trying to be snobs in any form. We found that these two genres really do have a lot in common.
The entire show you are covering music, is that correct? Or do you have any original pieces?
We are covering everything, but the one kind of out of the classical rock box we did, just because Pat (Monahan) is great, we kind of created a Rocktopia treatment on his song “Drops of Jupiter” which is going to happen as the first encore. There was a composer, Gustav Holst, that wrote an amazing symphonic work called “The Planets” around the early 1900’s. When you listen to it, you can completely tell that he inspired John Williams to write Star Wars or Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones or E.T. He was that kind of amazing celestial type, symphonic composer.
His work “Jupiter” we fused with Pat’s “Drops of Jupiter” which Pat wrote about his mom passing. It’s a wonderful rebirth element and for us to kind of tip the hat to Pat as an encore. During the show he sings “Stairway to Heaven” mixed with Beethoven’s “7th” and “Kashmir” mixed with Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma” and “Dream On” mixed with Berlioz “Sumphonie Fantastique” so he’s being completely a Rocktopian throughout that but we wanted to give him a little tip of the hat.
You mentioned a couple of the performers, who are the primary performers? Anyone else we might know?
You know it’s funny because everybody is at the top of their game and level, but they are also people that can walk around the street and not get mobbed by paparazzi, which I love. I mean Pat was even telling me that, too. As many records as he’s sold, he was afraid people wouldn’t know who he was. You’ve got me who’s done a lot in the biz; you’ve researched that.
You’ve got a guy named Tony Vincent who’s been a big Broadway star; he was the star of Jesus Christ Superstar. He was in American Idiot when they brought that to Broadway; he was the lead in that. He also was on The Voice. Again, someone that is just a great artist. Chloe Lowery of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Alyson Cambridge, our Opera singer, who is fresh off of the Metropolitan Opera stage. Kimberly Nichole also of The Voice.
So, we’re all kind of working artists, but I love the idea that we are all serving the concept and not our own brand as much which lets people buy into it more then I think having a marquee name. They’re all amazing talents. Mairead Nesbitt is our violinist. You’ve probably heard Celtic Women. She was the violinist from that from the beginning. She came over because she loved what we were doing.
How did the audition process go? Was there anyone we might know that auditioned that didn’t get a part?
It’s funny you call it an audition process. I never like to tell people I bring in. I call it a work session. I think that level, and what we are looking for are not people that are auditioning. They are people we’ve had our eyes on for a long time. It’s a very select few that we’ve worked with. There are a lot of other people that are reaching out, that are saying, “I love what you’re doing,” that are icons, great artists. That’s also our hope for Broadway; it’s another platform to tell the world what we are doing and more people will buy in. Then we can keep having a good time, creating this great music.
We’ve received so many affirmations from great artists. Take Patti Smith, who co-wrote “Because the Night” with Bruce Springsteen. We were at SIR which is the rehearsal studio in New York for rock bands. I was rehearsing Rocktopia at one point and heard somebody do “Every Breath You Take,” and I was like, that’s a great Sting cover band. Well, next Sting walks out of the room, and I’m like okay (laughing), that’s probably why; that’s the room everyone rehearses in. We were rehearsing “Because the Night” mixed with Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo & Juliet” with Kimberly Nichole who just knocks it out of the park. It’s a closed rehearsal room, the door opens, and I’m watching Kimberly sing. I turn around and see this woman in a Northface parka jacket, and she’s got amazing silver hair.I don’t know who that is. I look at the manager, and she’s like, should I kick her out and I’m like who is that? Then I turn around and look her in the eyes, and it’s fucking Patti Smith.
She happened to be in the place walking by, her son who I guess is her manager said, “Mom, they’re doing your song in there.” So, she just comes in the room. Then it was like, holy shit. I tell Kimberly as she was singing what was happening. I’m like (whispers), “That’s Patti Smith,” and she freaks out. It stops the whole rehearsal process, and Patti is saying this is the best fucking version of the song I ever heard, and you can quote me on that. To get those affirmations is pretty amazing.
Any thought of special guest while doing the Broadway run?
Yeah we are working on it. You know it’s funny working with people at that level; it’s all about schedules. What we are excited about is people are like, we would love to do that, but I can’t because I’m touring, or I’ve got this, or I’m doing that. We’ve got some more surprises up our sleeves. Again, with Pat I never wanted it to be a gimmick, and with Pat it’s not. We’re not rolling out any dinosaurs in a way that wouldn’t serve the concept. I’m excited about people that are excited about the concept.
Now you’ve performed for world leaders including Presidents Bush and Clinton as well as Mikhail Gorbachev; what were those experiences like?
It’s exciting. I played a role called Jekyll and Hyde on Broadway and was known for that probably more than anything on Broadway, and there was a song called “This is the Moment,” that works for a lot of different political or sports things. One of my favorite things was doing that for the Yankees back in the late 90’s when they kept winning the World Series.
They have this parade through Wall Street, I think they call it the Cannon of Champions, and during that they had me at City Hall singing, “This is the Moment.” And, Tony Bennett is right next to me, and he sings “America the Beautiful,” I did that like three years in a row. To sing for Presidents and world leaders, it’s surreal, and it’s a wonderful thing to brag about, and I get to pretend like I’m a rock star to my kids (laughing). But I’m just a guy trying to feed his family.
Tell us about some of the other projects you have going on. Are you currently doing anything with your band, Menrva Realm?
Menrva Realm was a progressive rock band that I had worked on and something that is on the shelf right now. It’s hard in the business, you’ve got to find ways that will actually sell tickets right now. Menrva Realm is something that I’m very proud of, and we made a great record and something I hope that I can do later. My whole goal is to make sure Rocktopia is where it needs to be and maybe take myself out of that vocally and put somebody that’s probably better than me (laughing) in my place and then go do other things just for enjoyment of music.
Menrva Realm is one of them. I’m also working as a producer and creator on a residency for NBC’s The Voice in Las Vegas, which will happen in September. We’ve taking former winners of the project and created this concert property that will happen in a new building that they are building at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas. It will perpetuate their next steps as artists. Most of what I’m all about is music and creating fresh new takes on existing songs and genres and things like that. I think that that’s going to be something that’s pretty cool.
Finishing up, tell us about your experience playing football at the University of Georgia, you were a punter and kicker correct?
Yeah I did a little bit of both for JV. I was a kicker and punter for Varsity.
That must have been a cool experience.
It was very cool. Somebody was like, how do you go from football to showbiz? I’m like, it’s the same thing. When you’re in front of a hundred thousand people, it’s the same thing. It’s show biz.
Who’s your NFL team?
I’ve been a Giants fan for a long time. I was disappointed on how Eli was treated. And of course the hometown boys, (Atlanta) Falcons. But, yeah, I’m a Giants fan.
Oh man, I’m a Pats fan, and the team that always has our number, the Giants.
I was pulling for Brady, I like Brady; he’s a rock star. I hate all the haters. Whenever they are there, they are there because they deserve to be there. He will go down in the books. He’s so perfect people hate him (laughing). His looks, his technique, his history, the guy is perfect so don’t hate somebody like that. Embrace him and be glad he’s playing the game.
Any final words on Rocktopia, and anything else you’d like to add?
Send everybody to www.Rocktopia.com, it’s that easy. You can buy tickets there. We just want to spread the word, that’s the big thing.
It starts March 20th correct?
Yes first performance is March 20th and we are gone after April 29. That’s our last performance. And that is it; we really are a limited run, and that’s all we are going to be there for.
Well I plan on attending, Rob, and encourage others as well. It looks and sounds like an amazing production. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us, and best of luck with the show.
Thanks Brett, appreciate it.
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Interview by photo journalist Brett Tully
