Falling in Love with John C. Reilly

Most people know John C. Reilly as an actor, with memorable roles in comedies such as Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Step Brothers or indie hits such as What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and Boogie Nights, but it was his Oscar-nominated role as Amos (Mister Cellophane) in the film version of the Broadway musical Chicago that most inspired his latest incarnation, Mister Romantic, a vaudeville show coming to the Lobero on Sunday, June 7. 

A critical darling — The New York Times called Mister Romantic, “wryly funny, sometimes tender and sad, but always sincere,” and Vanity Fair described it as “fiercely funny” and said, “John C. Reilly is one hell of a singer” — Reilly laughed when I asked him about the vaudevillian slant of the show. “When the going gets tough, the tough go to vaudeville.” 

He started doing musicals when he was 8 years old, but it was after playing Mister Cellophane that he thought, “Man, I really like to perform this way; this is something I’m really suited to, doing this kind of performance. It’s kind of clowning. It’s kind of a song and dance, and, for lack of a better word, it is vaudeville.”

He started collecting songs that he thought would be in the vein of that type of show for several years, and when his long-running HBO Max show Winning Time (about the Los Angeles Lakers) ended, the time was right. “I thought, ‘If there’s ever a moment, this is it’ … so I finished that job on Friday, and our first show was on Monday night. I really kind of improvised my way through it. At first, we had all the music, and I just rehearsed the music a lot with this great band that I have. And then as I discovered the show, as we did it, I realized this show is about love.”

The character grew from Mister Cellophane to Mister Romantic, a character Reilly said is “looking to connect with people, and so the show became this kind of mission of empathy, really. And, you know, it was born of despair and joy. Looking at what was going on in the world.”

In addition to the critical acclaim and touring multiple cities, Mister Romantic has also spawned an album called What’s Not to Love? — a collection of songs from the show with some cinematic audio weaved in, including well known standards such as “La Vie En Rose,” “You Don’t Know Me,” “Falling in Love Again,” “I’ll Be Seeing You,” and “What’ll I Do?” 

Reilly described the songs and the show itself: “They tell the story of an eternal optimist, Mister Romantic, as he looks for love. Each song moved me enough to want to share it with people and keep each one alive by passing it on like some of my favorite singers did in their time. The lyrics all have something deeply true about them. Someone once said, ‘It’s better to light one tiny candle than to curse the darkness.’ Well, this is our little candle in the darkness. We hope it reminds people that it’s good to love. I figured it was worth a try.” 

He sees his role in the world right now, and through the show, as a hopeful one. As he looked at what was going on, “I thought, ‘Well, what can I do,’ you know? And I thought, ‘Well, I can tell people I love them, and I can sing them a song, and I can make them laugh and maybe that’s what I can contribute right now. Maybe that will help the world be more like the kind of world I wish I was living in.’”

Reilly continued, “And also, I’m 60 years old. It’s gotten to a point in my career where I’m like, you know, I’ve worked with some amazing directors, made a bunch of money. I’ve gotten very well known. And I thought, ‘What is going to bring meaning to your own life?’ And this was the ticket.”

Along with his band, which currently includes multi-Grammy winners David Garza, Charles De Castro, David Piltch (a Santa Barbaran), and Gabe Witcher, Reilly has been performing Mister Romantic around the world for about four years. 

“It just hits every time. Audiences just really, really respond to it,” said Reilly. “And I realized, man, people are really starved for this kind of unapologetically sincere show about love, just creating a safe space in the theater every night where people can come and just let down their guard.”

Mister Romantic comes out in a steamer trunk, Reilly explained, and “all he knows is he has to put on the show, and he has to try to fall in love with someone tonight. So, people really find that really nourishing, for some reason, Soul wise, you know, young and old, and I have a lot of different fans from the different things I’ve done in my career, and this show just seemed like a great way to bring everyone together.”

He continued, “It’s a cool show to be getting out there right now. I don’t know any other actors in my position that are doing this.” 

When Will Ferrell, his buddy and a frequent collaborator, came to see the show, Reilly said, “I was a little nervous, like, what’s Will gonna think? I never know what people are into. This old American Songbook kind of songwriting. And he came to see it, and he was delighted. He came with his dad, and afterward, he said, ‘Johnny, no net, no net.’ And I was like, ‘That’s right, buddy. That’s right.’ And that’s why it’s so exciting to do.

“No night is ever the same.”

Asked what he’s learned about himself from doing the show, Reilly said, “That I am like Mister Romantic in that way, you know, I find people beautiful and fascinating.”

Anything special he wants to tell people in Santa Barbara? “Just come,” smiled Reilly. “I promise you safe harbor. I promise you some excellent music, and I promise you a smile by the end of the show. … It’s gonna be a really special show, and everyone who comes is gonna be really glad they did.”

See John C. Reilly as Mister Romantic at the Lobero Theatre (33 E. Canon Perdido St.) on Sunday, June 7, at 7 p.m. For more information and tickets, see lobero.org/events/john-c-reilly.