Who would have thought that about-to-turn-50 Pearce Bunting, who made an enduring name for himself in Philadelphia as an intensely edgy character actor, would be singing and dancing as the sexy Australian "dad" in Mamma Mia!? And in spandex, yet?
But there he was one January night not long ago, on the stage of Manhattan's Winter Garden Theater, doing the big Broadway thing, charming the ruffled socks off the little girls in the audience - not to mention their moms.
Theatre Exile's production of Blackbird (in previews, opening Wednesday at Plays & Players Theatre) is the occasion of Bunting's six-week return to Philadelphia - a brief break from years in Mamma Mia! - and a new, fierce challenge. The David Harrower play, a recent smash in New York and before that in London (where it won the Olivier Award for best new play), is about the blood-chilling reunion of lovers who haven't seen each other in 15 years - when he was about 43 and she was 12.
Bunting was last on stage locally in the title role in the 2008 Live Arts Festival production of Oedipus at FDR, a remarkable performance in classical style (never mind that the Chorus was on skateboards). In 2006, he was the slob dad in Theatre Exile's Killer Joe - TV-addicted, unable to complete a thought or sentence, a grubby, beer-bellied oaf in his underwear.
Before that, local audiences saw him as Hamm in Endgame, as Macbeth in rock-star black leather, as a death-row murderer in Coyote on a Fence, and as a deranged homeless man in Road. He has done the usual TV stints (Law & Order: SVU, As the World Turns) and spent two years roaming the world as the host of Travelers on the Discovery Channel. In fact, that's how he met his wife, TV producer Stephanie Halleen: They sat next to each other for 18 hours on a flight to the Philippines. Their son, Milo, is 4, and Joe Canuso, artistic director of Theatre Exile and director of Blackbird, is his godfather. Canuso and Bunting have been close friends for 15 years.
The range of Bunting's talent and his willingness to fling himself into a role are the reasons Canuso likes directing him: "Pearce is very hungry - it's such a joy to work with an actor who can dig deep. In MM, he embraces the need to be that big and glorious."
