Zmed sees big future for 'Moll Flanders': Actor driven to create five different characters in play's debut

By: JAMES CURRAN - Staff Writer | Wednesday, May 31, 2006 1:43 PM PDT ∞

At what many would consider the height of his career, actor Adrian Zmed knew he was in a creative abyss. He said he even went so far as to pull his manager aside and ask him why he'd helped Zmed land jobs hosting a disco show, starring in made-for-TV movies and portraying a police officer on television's "T.J. Hooker."

"He told me 'I'm doing this so that you can eventually do the roles you want,' and he was right," Zmed said.

During the 1980s when his career was red-hot, Zmed socked away enough money so that today he can focus on projects that satisfy his creative drive. If being known as rookie cop Vince Romano on "T.J. Hooker" seemed a little one-dimensional, Zmed will create five different characters when "Moll Flanders" has its world premiere June 3 at the Old Town Temecula Community Theater.

"That's why I'm doing it," Zmed said. "I've done everything from television to film to Broadway. The thing that excites me most as an actor is being onstage.

"This is an interesting project. It's a phenomenal book, but to reduce 200 characters to 10, and for me to play five of them, is an interesting challenge."

"Moll," with book, score and lyrics by Richard Stover, is the musical re-telling of the 1722 book "The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders" by Daniel Defoe. It chronicles the life of a prisoner's daughter ---- played by Cindy Robinson ---- who struggles to make a life for herself and, in a desperate search for stability, marries five times. Zmed said this re-telling has a chance for eventually getting to Broadway.

Zmed spoke energetically recently about creating the roles of Moll's five lovers. He said he has four of the five down.

"What I'm doing is letting the music actually guide me," he said. "Each character has a song. For me, that's the way of discovering who the character is.

"The first husband ... is pretty much a mama's boy. The range of the song was written way too low for him. I asked to sing it an octave higher, and I suddenly found out who the character was, a much more boyish quality."

Zmed said, as of last week, he hasn't tapped into what makes another of Moll's husbands ---- a businessman ---- tick. It won't be impossible to nail that down before opening night. Before he became a recognizable face on television, Zmed had launched his stage career as Danny in the Broadway production of "Grease." He also teaches advanced acting in the Los Angeles area.

Zmed said he tells students there is no set way to decipher a character. However, musicals do help him immensely.

"Many times, you have to start with the basics and get those questions answered," he said. "In a musical, you have something that's a wonderful thing, music and song. Is it serious or lighthearted?

"The one I'm having trouble with, I don't want to make him hokey, but his song, he's just giddy and bubbling with excitement."

He also said he identifies with the men on some level, even the playboy who shamelessly wastes all of his money before dumping Moll. Zmed won't have long to dwell on their failures, though.

"My characters, interestingly, are one-act men," he said. "I create him. He's gone. I create him. He's gone."

However, the challenge to pull off "Moll" goes far beyond the dexterity of one actor. When he's offstage, a swarm of costumers and makeup artists will be getting him ready to play another character.

"There's a time when I'm singing backstage as one of the husbands while getting changed," he said. "I'm still getting the guys mixed up. One is from West Virginia with an American accent. Another has an Irish brogue."

However, no glitches backstage would push Zmed out of theater. He said he returned to New York about a decade "to do some theater and I never left. I have a production company where I develop projects for television and film, but when it comes to acting ... I will always want to act, sing and dance. I'll always do Broadway," he said.

Zmed said the attraction of Hollywood wore off pretty quickly in the 1980s after he arrived from Broadway.

"I was the poor man's John Travolta," he said. "I was an Italian guy who could dance, so I got all the disco parts on TV. I wanted to be challenged as an actor, but I was being treated as a piece of meat. I was the poster boy for that.

"I guess I was pulled in the beginning of my career into a person who was not respected as an actor."

Zmed said what energizes him about "Moll" goes beyond personal gratification. He is bullish on its prospects beyond the initial performances in Temecula.

"You have to start projects like this at the ground level," Zmed said. "I've been around the Broadway community for a long time. This one can go to the next level."

"Moll Flanders:

When: 2 and 8 p.m. June 3; 2 p.m. June 4

Where: Old Town Temecula Community Theater, 42051 Main St., Temecula

Tickets: $34

Info: (866) 653-8696

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