Raye Birk Brings Years of Experience to Role in The Muny's 'Little Shop of Horrors'

Raye Birk, who plays Mr. Mushnik in this week’s Muny production of Little Shop of Horrors, has a long and impressive resume of stage, television and movie productions.

This very active actor, who hasn’t appeared on The Muny stage since playing Col. Pickering in the 1996 production of My Fair Lady, is back because he loves a challenge.

"I haven’t been in a musical with a singing part in a very long time," he said. "It scared me, so that’s why I took that challenge. I thought it would be good for me. Everybody’s been incredibly helpful and supportive, and I’m so glad I am doing it. There’s a great spirit among everybody, not only just the cast, but all the people who make the operation work, which is huge."

When Birk discussed Little Shop of Horrors, Singin’ in the Rain was still being performed each night, Little Shop was in the second week of rehearsal and Seven Brides For Seven Brothers had also started rehearsing. The Muny was juggling three shows – rehearsal time, performers’ schedules – and doing it seamlessly.

"It’s going terrifically," he said. "The process of doing shows at The Muny is unlike almost anywhere, and they have it down to a science."

Little Shop of Horrors is the story of Seymour Krelborn (Rob McClure), whose life and dreams of hooking up with the sweet, beautiful Audrey (Alli Mauzey) are going nowhere until a mysterious plant arrives in Mr. Mushnik’s flower shop. The plant, Audrey II (voiced by Muny veteran Ken Page), helps turn Seymour’s life around, but it comes with a price. Birk is thrilled to be involved.

"We also have an extraordinarily talented cast, and they knock me out," he said.

Part of the reason Birk is in this play is because of Muny executive producer Paul Blake, who is in his 21st and final season here.

"I’ve known him almost 40 years," Birk said. "We’ve known each other since San Francisco, when we were at ACT (American Conservatory Theater) together. It’s a pleasure to work for him. I’m so pleased to be here as part of his last season. ... Part of his operating aesthetic is there should be a sense of joy, camaraderie and fun among the people who are doing the shows. When that happens, the shows take off and are successful. Part of his style is to engender that."

The actor’s life wasn’t always the plan for Birk. He started college planning to be a physical education teacher, but about the time he decided that wasn’t a good fit, an opportunity came up to join a college stage production.

"I fell in love with it," he said. "Not just the acting part of it, but with making plays."

Birk went home to Flint, MI that summer, did a couple of college plays there, decided to change his major to theater and enrolled in Northwestern University in the fall of 1962.

"Literally, my life changed 180 degrees in the course of about three months," Birk said.

Birk joined Actor’s Equity Association in 1971, so this is his 40th year as a professional actor.

He did regional theater in San Francisco until 1983, when he moved to Los Angeles and started doing more television. Although Birk’s first TV gig was an appearance on "Hawaii Five-O" in 1976, he really began picking up plenty of roles after the move. His resume includes appearances on some of the best shows of the ‘80s and ‘90s, including "Hill Street Blues," "Home Improvement," "Seinfeld," "ER," "Newhart," "Cheers," "Murphy Brown," "Columbo" and "The X-Files," plus recurring roles on "The Wonder Years," "L.A. Law," "Coach" and "Silk Stalkings."

He lived in L.A. for 20 years, doing about 150 TV shows and a couple dozen movies.

"And I still managed to do one piece of theater each year, because that’s where I started from, and I didn’t like to leave that behind," he said.

One of Birk’s best performances was never seen by any public audience. It came during an audition for a pilot for a sitcom about a district attorney.

"The district attorney’s office had undercover people they used to build cases, and they wanted somebody who could do different kinds of characters," Birk said. "I’m very versatile that way – that’s one of the reasons they sent me over. They said, ‘You can come as a derelict or something like that. But they want to see you in costume, to see how you might transform.’ So I came as a black cleaning woman. I had a whole spiel worked out about how Raye Birk didn’t make it, but he asked me to explain why he couldn’t come to the audition. It was a whole thing I wrote. They were in stitches – they went crazy for it. ... But I didn’t get the part."

Many of his roles didn’t call for Birk to disappear into a character, so sometimes he would get recognized.

"I’d gone up to San Francisco to do a play – we were doing A Christmas Carol and I was playing Scrooge – and I was walking from my apartment to the theater and this cop came up and stopped me. He said, ‘Look, either you’re an actor or I’ve arrested you. Which is it?’ So there was this thing about familiarity."

When you’re a character actor, Birk said, people recognize your face without knowing your name.

"People would say in supermarkets – not in L.A. but in other places around the country – ‘Do I know you? Have I met you?’ I think that’s the way television works on people. Especially when it’s over time and they would maybe see you in three or four different shows, or recurring in a show but not every week. They can’t quite place it, but the face sticks in your mind."

In 2003, Birk and his wife moved to St. Paul, MN, where he has been active in theater and still picks up occasional movies roles, including appearances in A Serious Man, North Country and Sweet Land, all filmed in Minnesota. He has really enjoyed the opportunity to work in film, TV and theater.

"I like doing it all," he said. "Because I think the core of what the actor does is the same in all those mediums. But there are adjustments you have to learn about in terms of craft. I know I’m a better actor for having spent that time in Los Angeles and learned to work with camera."

The close-up acting called for in movies and TV equates with doing a stage performance that someone in the front row of the theater can appreciate, he said.

"Then you’ve got people 50 feet away, who aren’t going to be able to see the same nuance," he said. "They have a different experience, but it has to be as full and evocative for them as it is for the person down in the front row. And of course you come to The Muny, and the same thing holds true in a way. Because we’re so well miked that what we do vocally – it’s almost like a radio play in that sense. Obviously people a third of the way back in the house can’t really see your face very well. They might see eyebrows, they see what your body does. But mostly they rely on how the character sounds."

Birk makes a point of checking out the theater from the perspective of the audience.

"One of the things I always do when I’m working a new theater is I go and I sit as far away as you can get, just to get a sense of what that audience’s experience of the show might be," he said. "In (The Muny), it’s almost a football field to the last row – 300 feet, I think the lighting man said."

Getting to do it all has made for a great career.

"I’ve been a really fortunate actor," he said. "I’ve been able to make my living as an actor, got to work in all these mediums, have been able to have a family, which is an important part of my life, and I’ve been able to be in situations where I get to pass on the tradition, and that’s wound up being very important to me. I couldn’t ask for much more."

Birk has worked with some greats over the course of his career

Being a character actor capable of playing a wide range of roles has provided Birk with some fascinating experiences with some of Hollywood’s finest.

"I got to work with some really wonderful actors," he said. "Some of the best actors in the world, I think. Which was one of the pleasures and benefits of my time in LA."

Here are his memories about a few of those experiences:

• Peter Falk, "Columbo" – "He sat in on all the casting," Birk said. "He just made you feel so comfortable, just because he was in the room. He loved actors. I didn’t care whether I got the job, in a way, because I got to meet him, and he was so personable. That in itself was worth it. And then, to get the job – OK, that’s a bonus."
• Guest starring on "Seinfeld" – "I had auditioned three or four times for the ‘Seinfeld’ show, for different roles, and never got it," he said. "And you always wonder, ‘Wonder what that is?’ Though you dare not give it too much thought, because you’ll start second-guessing yourself. And then they called up and made an offer on something I hadn’t even auditioned for. The same thing happened on ‘X-Files,’ which I had auditioned a couple of times for and never got. Then they called up on an entirely different episode and offered the role. It’s actually a good thing for actors to remember, because even though you didn’t get that job, it doesn’t mean that they didn’t remember the audition and file it away somewhere."
• Leslie Nielsen and "The Naked Gun" and "Naked Gun 33 1/3" – "What a great spirit he had, and he was very funny on the set. He had the whoopee cushion. He was light-hearted, he kept things off-kilter with laughter a lot. And the Zucker brothers, who directed those films, liked to laugh a lot. You’d hear them as you were doing takes, actually. I’m surprised it didn’t pick up on the mike, but they’d be laughing at the jokes all the time. Obviously there was a great chemistry between (them) and Leslie, who was just a sweetheart, and a great guy, and a terrific comedian."
• Howard Keel – Birk’s last Muny appearance, in 1996's "My Fair Lady," was opposite the legendary film star. "I remember seeing him in the movies as a kid, seeing Seven Brides For Seven Brothers. So I was really kind of knocked out to be playing with him." Keel, silver-haired and 40 years past the heyday of the movie musicals, could still belt out a song. "He was an absolute sweetheart. I just loved working with him," Birk said. "He was either 74 or 76 when he did it, and it’s not an easy role. I thought he was great in the ballad at the end, and he could still do that. That beautiful baritone voice was still strong, and (he was) a great presence on the stage. I had a great time working with him."

"Little Shop of Horrors" runs at 8:15 p.m. daily through Sunday, July 31. Tickets range from $10 to $68 and are available at The Muny box office, online at www.metrotix.com and by calling MetroTix at 314-534-1111.

There are also about 1,500 free seats available at the back of the theater on a first-come, first-served basis.

Getting there from Wentzville

Take Highway 40 east to the Hampton Avenue exit into Forest Park. Go right at the first roundabout. At the second roundabout, follow the signs to Muny parking.