Blue blooded 
American Theatre; New York; Nov 1998; Lynn Slotkin; 

Volume:  15 
Issue:  9 
Start Page:  9 
ISSN:  87503255 
Subject Terms:  Actors
Personal profiles
Theater
 

"I try to do things by instinct and intuition," says Brent Carver. But doing the unexpected is the norm for this white-hot Canadian actor, opening this month in Hal Prince's Lincoln Center Theater/livent musical production of Parade. 

In a stellar career spanning more than two decades, Carver is rightfully considered Canadian theatre royalty. From his much-hailed spins as Cyrano and Richard III to his recent involvement with Soulpepper, the respected new Toronto-based classical theatre company, for whom he played the lead role in Frederich Schiller's rarely performed Don Carlos last summer, he is a thespian anomaly: He's equally at home belting out a brash showtune or wrapping his tongue around a difficult classic text. "On the stage you can find yourself enveloped, not so much losing yourself, but gaining more of yourself," he says. 

Carver's controversial Parade appearance (the edgy musical centers on the true story of a 1913 murder in the South) promises to solidify his grip on U.S. audiences, whom he previously floored on Broadway in 1993 with his Tony-winning spin as Molina in Kiss of the Spiderwoman. Parade also serves as a reunion for Carver and Prince, who was his Spiderwoman director. "Few actors appear on the scene whose charisma equals their talent," Prince waxes. "That kind of talent usually comes with volatility. Brent is an exception." -Lynn Slotkin