Volunteer Spotlight: Christopher Sieber

He should know better by now, but for almost 20 years Christopher Sieber has been BC/EFA’s answer to Ado Annie, the boy who can’t say ‘no.’

From performing in and leading “The Rotation” at the end of BROADWAY BARES to emceeing at The FLEA MARKET to the innumerable small events that receive less publicity, the down-to-earth star is never too busy to give his time, talent and seemingly boundless energy to BC/EFA.

“I don't know what we'd do at Broadway Cares without Christopher Sieber,” stresses BC/EFA’s Associate Director of Development Frank Conway. “From The Target Festival of Books to Hershey Store openings, BROADWAY BARES and even the first Broadway Musical in a Bathroom for Charmin (yes, the bathroom tissue), he never says ‘no’ to us. Thank God!” (below: Cheyenne Jackson, Tim Curry and Sieber at BROADWAY BARES)

This small-town boy (Wyoming, Minnesota, pop. 642) brings a positive, game-for-anything attitude to volunteering. “One thing the Broadway community has figured out is how to take care of our own,” he says.

“Everyone gets tired, but performing at an event only takes up a little bit of time. Ten or twenty minutes out of a performer’s life can mean a new van or refrigerator for an organization that’s feeding people in need.”

Working It
The two-time Tony Award nominee – for Spamalot and Shrek The Musical – has been on a tear this year.  After Shrek finished its run in January, Sieber filmed a pilot with Cheyenne Jackson and Leah Remini, and then played sex advice columnist Dan Savage in a musical based on his autobiographical book “The Kid.” (Sieber and Savage are pictured at right)

And while he gets recognized for Spamalot or for playing the Olsen twins’ father in the sitcom “Two of a Kind,” Sieber says he’s never received more intense or positive feedback than from fans of this Off-Broadway production about a gay couple adopting a baby.

Right now, the 6’ 2” actor is playing Edna Turnblad in a summer stock production of Hairspray on Cape Cod. “I’ve only done the drag thing one other time in my life, in the musical Sugar (based on Some Like It Hot). I basically played Tony Curtis. I was an ugly woman and about seven feet tall. At least with Edna she’s not supposed to be beautiful,” Sieber laughs.

Fork in the Road (to Happiness)
“I’ve found my guy; I’m done,” says Sieber about Kevin Burrows (The Full Monty), his partner of nine years. “He’s my best friend. It’s just terrific and I can’t imagine my life without him.”

They “met cute” while playing in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. “I joined the cast as ‘Gaston.’ Kevin was playing ‘The Fork,’ but was on vacation when I started,” Sieber remembers. “Everyone kept saying, ‘The Fork’s really cute. I think you’re really gonna like ‘The Fork.”’

The mystery man turned out to be “an aloof guy from my gym” that he’d been admiring for a few years. Things progressed slowly, but when they finally kissed, on Christopher’s birthday, “It was like Marcia Brady with fireworks.” (At left, the happy couple).

More the Manilow
Now that he’s been lauded for delivering multiple A-flats as Shrek’s Lord Farquaad, Sieber’s willing to come clean about how he sharpened his vocal instrument.

“Training? I only really began formal vocal training after I moved to New York,” he admits. “As a kid in Minnesota, I taught myself to sing listening to my Barry Manilow Live LP on enormous 70s headphones,” says Sieber, adding that years later he had the chance to work with Manilow and get his album signed.

Christopher’s gotten to meet and work with a lot of his favorite performers, but one unexpected treat was a series of intense make-out sessions with Laugh-In’s Joanne Worley during the curtain call for an Actors Fund Benefit of On The Twentieth Century.  

“I’m glad it looked unexpected, but she did warn me. During rehearsal, Joanne said ‘I’m gonna mouth rape ya!” Sieber says. “And she did.”

(At right, in costume as Shrek's Lord Farquaad, Sieber poses with his lookalike teddy bear before this year's Broadway Bears Auction.)