'Les Mis' made me
The world is Ivan Rutherford's oyster after long Broadway run as Jean Valjean
A few weeks ago, before controversial New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez was booed on his return to Boston's Fenway Park, Ivan Rutherford stepped on the field to sing the American national anthem in front of 37,000 people.
Unlike Rodriguez, who later got drilled by a pitch, Rutherford received a standing ovation. "It was an honour for me," he says from his home in Irvine, California, in the lead-up to his appearance in Hong Kong next week. "I'm a Yankees fan and I was keeping that under my breath. I don't think anyone was expecting me to sing it that well."
In that role, I felt I owned the city. I didn't know anybody in a more popular show than we were
That performance is another achievement in a career that has seen Rutherford entertain everyone from Broadway theatregoers to US presidents, fellow actors and entertainers. His powerful vocals were honed in his long-running stint as the heroic French Revolution-era character Jean Valjean in on Broadway.
For more than a decade, he performed before sell-out crowds eight times a week in a role that he considered a dream to play. "To me, it was the absolute pinnacle of any theatre piece," he says. "The first night I went on, I remember mumbling to myself 'How invested will I get in this role? In six months how will I feel?' And six months turned into 14 years."
Rutherford was a fan of the musical before he was even a part of it. Hoping to become an actor after university, he discovered his voice in an effort to create more work for himself. After extensive classical training, he found himself in Tokyo for a couple of years performing in Japanese, before moving on to a regional production of in Boston.
Soon enough, Broadway beckoned. "It was a huge accomplishment for me to get to Broadway, considering where I started," he says. "In that role, I felt I owned the city. I didn't know anybody in a more popular show than we were."
He loved everything about it. There was the community of fellow actors, including a pre-fame Ricky Martin, which he found supportive and "tight". There were surprise appearances, like the night former US president Bill Clinton showed up. "Backstage he was telling me it was Chelsea's 16th birthday, and he was saying through teary eyes how much the last scene meant to him and how he wanted to let go," he says. "It was just he and I talking about kids."
