Award-winning theatre star Adam Garcia says The Bodyguard musical allows audiences to step into its world and reveals why he prefers to play the “truth of the scene” rather than perform directly to the crowd.
Best known for his role in Coyote Ugly and his acclaimed stage career, Garcia takes on the role of Frank Farmer in the musical, which arrives at Dublin’s Bord Gáis Energy next month.
The former Secret Service agent is hired to protect superstar Rachel Marron, played by Sidonie Smith, with Mireia Mambo performing the role at selected tour dates, from an unknown stalker. But what begins as a professional relationship develops into an unexpected romance between two people who are both used to being in control.
Based on the hit film starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner, The Bodyguard combines romance, suspense and some of the most iconic songs in pop music history.
Speaking to RTÉ Entertainment ahead of the Dublin run, Garcia said Irish audiences bring a unique energy to performances, but the focus must always remain on telling the story.
“You have to let the audience have their moments to get their energy out and then refocus, because ultimately they are there to see the story and we don’t want them missing anything,” he explains.
“You can’t stop the songs, but luckily people can sing along in the right parts – in the concert parts – maybe not the really intimate parts where people are pouring their hearts out,” he laughs.
For Garcia, the key is not performing for the audience, but creating a world they can enter.
“I don’t like to play to an audience, I play the truth of the scene, which I think is more interesting for an audience anyway. Then they are the voyeurs. They are the people behind that invisible fourth wall who get to look in on the world.”
He adds that The Bodyguard is not a show that feels overly staged or predictable.
“This isn’t played out at all. They are peeping in on a world and what they find funny they find funny, but you do have to give them a moment to find that before you move on.”
Discussing the challenge of playing Frank Farmer, Garcia says the key is understanding what lies beneath the character’s guarded exterior without overplaying it.
“The challenge is finding what is underneath and not playing it,” he explains. “You just have to know what he’s going through and what his fears are. He’s emotionally guarded, he’s incredibly protective because he has an incredible sense of duty, and I think that is masking the idea that emotional intimacy is dangerous for him.”
For a man whose job is to protect others from danger, Garcia believes Frank’s way of keeping himself safe is by keeping people at a distance.
“His way of making himself feel safe is to not have people near him because whenever that happens they tend to die. So there are legitimate fears around that, and he becomes quite lonely by his own subconscious, conscious choice.”
When Frank meets Rachel Marron, Garcia sees two people who appear to live completely different lives but are connected by a shared sense of isolation.
“She has this entourage and this life, but she’s also a really lonely person because there aren’t that many people she can rely on or trust. There’s her son, her sister who she has a fraught relationship with, but everyone is around her because she’s a superstar and she’s rich.”
“She’s in a lonely place and he’s in a lonely place, so when they meet it’s – to borrow from a Dolly Parton song – ‘islands in the stream’.”
On how The Bodyguard musical remains faithful to the original film while bringing something new to the stage, Garcia says the production stays very close to the source material while expanding its emotional storytelling.
“It adheres to the story of the film very, very closely. All the components that people find intriguing about the film – the danger aspects, the risk, the thriller element, and the idea of hidden love or love that’s trying to deny itself – that’s all there. There’s the concert element, which the film has, with her singing these big songs because she’s a superstar.”
Adam Garcia (C) shares a joke with supermodel Tyra Banks (R) and Polish actress Izabella Miko (L) at a photo session during a press conference in Tokyo 2000 to promote their movie Coyote Ugly
The stage production, however, allows the music to become part of the characters’ emotional journeys.
“The musical does all that and then adds the elements that ballads can be sung by characters too, like in the traditional musical sense, to form an emotional narrative. Whitney has so many amazing songs, some of which aren’t used in the film, but the musical makes use of them in order to progress the characters’ stories in that sense.”
For Garcia, that combination makes The Bodyguard a unique theatrical experience.
“It’s four types of shows in one – a thriller, a romance, a concert and a musical.”
Adam Garcia has also appeared in films including Bootmen, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, and Murder on the Orient Express
Reflecting on a career that has taken him from the West End to Hollywood, Garcia says he feels incredibly fortunate to have worked with so many talented people and performed in some unforgettable places.
“I’ve been very, very lucky to work with incredible people and in beautiful places. There are some moments that I didn’t appreciate at the time,” he says.
He recalls arriving in the UK in 1994 with Hot Shoe Shuffle and finding himself performing at the Olivier Awards – an experience whose significance only became clear years later.
“I remember arriving in 1994 with a show called Hot Shoe Shuffle and we were invited to the Olivier Awards to perform. I had no idea what the Olivier Awards were. I was from Australia and we were opening relatively soon, so we were more focused on tech and getting the show up.”
“Looking back now, the people in the audience watching our performance were knights and dames of the London theatre world, people from the theatre community that I would later really want to be a part of, and that’s why I stayed.”
For Garcia, the enduring appeal of theatre comes from the sense of community surrounding it.
“It’s always thrilling to be a part of this community and people really love theatre. It’s nice to have people appreciate that.”
The Bodyguard runs at Dublin’s Bord Gáis Energy Theatre from 4 to 8 August.