Skid Row to Superstar

Friday, Nov. 22, 2002 | 9:40 a.m.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Nov. 30, and 2 p.m. Dec. 1.

Where: Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts.

Tickets: $25, $35, $55 and $75.

Information: 785-5000.

From a room at the Holiday Inn Select in La Mirada, Calif., Sebastian Bach was fielding a surge of phone calls from reporters.

Some were asking Bach about his 1999 solo CD, "Bring 'em Bach Alive," recently released in Europe.

Others wanted to hear about his latest endeavor: his role as the Messiah in the touring production of the 1971 rock musical "Jesus Christ Superstar."

"It's just been unbelievable," Bach said enthusiastically after making himself a cup of coffee. "Ticket sales are rocking. It rocks. It's just a lot of fun."

That the bad-boy former frontman for the hair band Skid Row is playing the "Prince of Peace," is probably to some, even more unbelievable.

To counter that, Bach, who was let go from Skid Row in 1996, says, "That's jus semantics. I've always been known as a wild man and I just have to laugh at that."

It's likely the 34-year-old will be laughing all the way to theaters throughou the country. Some say the role is a match made in heaven.

Bach's performance, played with passion and tenderness, has drawn favorable reviews.

The musical opened Nov. 1 in La Mirada Theater for the Performing Arts an arrives at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts Tuesday for a seven-show run. The tour is scheduled to end next fall.

Bach (whose real name is Sebastian Bierk) plays opposite Carl Anderson, wh became legendary among "JCS" fans for his impassioned performance as Judas onstage and in the 1973 film version of the musical.

Except for a few costume changes and stock market activity taking place in the Temple scene, the storyline is the same.

Despite its controversy when opening casting Judas as a black man and offending some Christians by not using literal Biblical translation the musical was nominated for five Tonys in 1972.

It was mostly well received by audiences and has since been presented on professional stages, in churches and in community theater throughout the country.

The latest buzz is Bach's role as Jesus in the production presented by Andrew Lloyd Webber's international entertainment company, the London-based Really Useful Group, which Bach couldn't be more excited about.

"This is the biggest tour I've ever got," Bach said exuberantly, regarding both the large-scale production and number of shows.

"I'm ecstatic. When you get kicked out of the band, you wonder if you can have a solo career. So far, I've really had an incredible career after Skid Row.

"I did my first club show in 1983. That's 20 years, man. I've seen trends come and go. Silly old Sebastian Bach is still rocking, still doin' it."

Bach's musical theater career began in the summer of 2000 when he performed the dual role on Broadway in the musical "Jekyll & Hyde."

It's an experience he's still proud of. But it's the loosely told story of the last seven days of Christ through the eyes of Judas that has Bach so titillated. He was reluctant at first.

"When they asked me to do this, I said, 'No,' " Bach said. "Who wants to be compared to the greatest man that ever lived? As an actor it's very intimidating when someone says to you, 'OK, you're Jesus.'

"The way I got my head around it was, Jesus didn't know he was Jesus at the time. To me his message was of kindness. He was very loving ... As he dies at the end of the play that is the beginning of Jesus."

With a laugh, Bach added, "That's basically how I play it eight times a week."

The story of Jesus is nothing new to Bach, who said as a boy he sang lead soprano in his choir at All Saints' Anglican Church in Peterborough, Ontario in Canada.

"That's where I first fell in love with singing was at the church," Bach said. "Music and spirituality have always been connected to me. Even when singing rock 'n' roll, there's a lot of that church boy choir in me."

Bach was only 19 when he joined Skid Row in 1987. The New Jersey band was formed by bassist Rachel Bolan and Dave Sabo. It was among the last hit-making hair bands popular in the 1980s.

Its first self-titled CD was released in 1989. The multiplatinum CD featured the hits "18 and Life" and "I Remember You." Two more Skid Row CDs followed.

By the time the time Bach and Skid Row separated in 1996, the singer's powerful voice, good looks and wild behavior (hitting someone in the head when he chucked a bottle into an audience in 1989 and wearing a T-shirt reading "AIDS Kills Fags Dead"), had already carved a name for Bach in the rock world.

Earlier this year, Bach was in the news for a reported scuffle with a bartender in New Jersey and possession of marijuana. Charges were reportedly dismissed on the grounds that Bach stayed out of trouble for the next year.

Despite all this, Bach said his presence in musical theater has been accepted by his stage mates and theater-goers.

The T-shirt incident, he said, was 13 years ago and people fail to mention that in 2000 he gave $12,000 to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids organization.

Onstage, Bach said, "I get their respect. You have to respect someone who can sing this eight times a week. They just want me to do my job.

"It's like a team, if you do something wrong, you're going to mess up the other actors. It's important to them that I give everything I got."

Broadway bound

It was while Bach was on his U.S. tour promoting "Bring 'em Bach Alive" that he was asked to play Jekyll and Hyde on Broadway.

Representatives for Atlantic Records were looking for a rock singer to perform the lead roles in "Jekyll & Hyde." (Atlantic Records produced the soundtrack for the musical by composer Frank Wildhorn, and will soon issue Wildhorn's "Dracula," the musical).

"They were looking for a guy who can sing every day," Bach said. "Right there that eliminates every other guy in rock 'n' roll. The schedule is brutal. Not every guy can do it."

Bach was suggested for the role by Jason Flom from Atlantic Records, who signed Bach when he was a teenager.

After seeing the production, which had been running on Broadway for three years, Bach said, "I held my head in my hands. I couldn't believe anyone would give me the opportunity to do something so excellent."

After singing, "This is the Moment" for his audition, Bach said they handed him the role, then asked, "But can he act?"

"I was in movies, nothing I care to mention," Bach said. "That's a different calibre. Theatre -- you just don't mess up."

To prepare Bach for the role, he was put in the hands of director Robin Phillips.

"He's ruthless," Bach said. "He's totally intense. Basically they stuck me in a room with him for a month. He pulled out all the stops and turned me into Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

"We kicked ass at the box office. When I came in, it was a kick in the butt.

"Broadway," Bach said, "has the best stage, the best singing, the best effects. I got to shoot fire from my hands. Make out with girls, murder people. It was really fun for me."

Bach later played the character Riff Raff in Broadway's "The Rocky Horror Show."

Bach hasn't totally given up the rock 'n' roll lifestyle. Two nights before "Jesus Christ Superstar" opened, he said he was performing with Ronnie Wood and former members of the Guns N' Roses at the Ivar Theater in Hollywood.

Regarding, "Jesus Christ Superstar," which has drawn his rocker friends to the show, Bach said, "We've got some really nice, nice, cool reviews. I couldn't ask for more.

"I'm learning so much from these people. Carl opens a can of whoop-ass. He's just got so much soul. And Natalie Toro, I can't say enough about Natalie.

"Sunday afternoon Korn came to see the show," he said. "On Sunday night Guns N' Roses came, Slash and Duff. Duff came twice.

"I enjoy being given the opportunity to challenge myself to do this. I get to use every facet of my being." Music and spirituality have always been connected to me. Even when singing rock 'n' roll, there's a lot of that church boy choir in me."

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