News

Soaps.com Talks to Guiding Light's Robert Newman. Wednesday, March 25 2009

This was the first time I ever met Robert Newman (Josh Lewis) in person. I was a bit nervous. We sat in the shadows cast by the Jaws ride at Universal Studios. Sensing my nervousness, he did his best to help me out. We talked a bit about architecture and a lot about our backgrounds working in theater. He quickly put me at ease with his calm demeanor and his warm smile. His eyes lit up as he discussed the joys of being able to work outdoors. He chuckled as he spoke of how he and Grant Aleksander (Phillip Spaulding) got so cold one day that their jaws could barely move. But that sort of environment only serves to give the scenes more energy and make the job of acting so much easier and more rewarding than it ever was in the studio. To illustrate the contrast, he told me about doing a scene with Reva (Kim Zimmer) in the studio. It was supposed to be snowing and little flakes of fake plastic snow were tumbling down on them and then floating in the water nearby. He couldn't get over how awful, and distracting, it was.

The new direction the show has taken has meant other changes for the highly disciplined actor. In the old days, there would be rehearsals, followed by dress rehearsals, followed by notes, followed by shooting, but now things are looser and more improvisational. Even so, he is still adamant about rehearsal and rigorously prepares every scene he is in. He likes to know a scene inside out before he plays it and feels the need to explore all of the possibilities it holds. Nonetheless, he explained that he and Kim only figure out their scenes about 75 percent so they can leave room for surprise.

I imagined that working for Daytime must be very different than on the stage but he didn't think the contrast was so great, at least in terms of the hectic scheduling. In most of the productions he's done over the past few years he's only had about a week of rehearsal time before going on live. He did a lot of musicals in his college days but then stopped, for no particular reason, around 1984. Several years ago, the urge to sing came back and he began quietly rebuilding his voice. Five years ago, he was asked to play Guido in "Nine" and jumped at the chance. Since then he's been trying to do a production every year. This has included a run as a stripped in "Full Monty," the final fifteen minutes of which, "were probably the most fun I ever had on stage." More recently he was in "Shenandoah," playing Charlie Anderson, a role that Ron Raines (Alan Spaulding) encouraged him to leap at. It ended up being extremely rewarding with fantastic rehearsals and a 'phenomenal experience' all around.

Since he does a lot of directing for the stage, I asked if he would ever be interested in taking on that role for Daytime. He conceded that it 'would be an interesting exercise,' but it really didn't appeal to him. The joy of creation comes through rehearsals and building things up with the actors, something which generally seems lost in TV production. He did add that, somewhere down the road, he might like to get into producing or editing.

I asked him, several times, what was next for his character on Guiding Light. "I'm sorry. I've got nothing for you," he insisted. He explained that he gets his scripts on the Saturday before he shoots them and, beyond that, he has no idea what's going on with his character and his future. At the moment, he seems perfectly happy to just be drifting around. It gives him plenty of opportunities to interact with different actors and that's always a pleasure. In particular, he's really enjoyed his scenes with Jeff Branson (Shayne Lewis) and the two have continued to develop a genuine on-screen rapport. It's been awhile since he got to play the father and he's in no rush to see the character leap into another relationship until things really come together to make it feel right and natural. He's also having fun with Bradley Cole (Jeffrey O'Neill). On the set he jokingly calls their characters 'the ambiguously gay duo' and they have a great time playing the quiet and calm around the perpetual storm of Reva. Something audiences can look forward to will be his upcoming scenes with Edmund. Newman described them as 'intense' and praised David Andrew MacDonald (Edmund Winslow): "David's one of my favorite people to work with. He's just so big and out there and funny."

At that point, I started to wonder if he ever wished he could play someone with a nastier edge than Josh. "That's kind of what I do in theater," he explained. "In 'A Little Night Music' I chose Carl-Magnus, as opposed to Frederik, because I like that big bad guy thing and I don't get to do it much as Josh... but on soap operas, I played a bad guy in 'Santa Barbara' for awhile and that was fun. And I played a bad guy on General Hospital for awhile and that was not fun. I think it depends more on the storyline you're involved with and the people you're involved with than if you're playing a good guy. If it's well-written, it's fun. If it's not, it isn't. But Josh has been a pretty fulfilling character over the years." A big part of the fun has also been the many wonderful leading ladies he's had the luck of working with. "I've been really blessed," he said with a grin.

- Matt Purvis