Reeve Carney, the actor and musician, has been in and out of hell for nearly three years. In 2017, he joined a workshop of the Tony-winning musical “Hadestown,” following the show to Edmonton and London before arriving on Broadway. Carney, who previously starred in “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” and “Penny Dreadful,” plays Orpheus, a young man who believes he can change the world — and the underworld — with a song.
Offstage, Carney’s cultural diet includes plenty of songs, plus television thrillers and the occasional cat video. He also tries to find time to work on his own music, or at least rewire the effects pedals on his electric guitar. During a typical four-show weekend (one on Friday night, two on Saturday and one on Sunday afternoon), Carney, 36, tracked what he watched, heard and read. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
Friday
I go to bed very late. We finish the stage door at midnight and it’s kind of hard to unwind, so I’m not usually up before 11 a.m. First thing in the morning, I open my phone and take a look at Apple News and see what’s interesting. That Peloton ad was one of the things recommended to me. I’d never even heard of Peloton. I took one Soul Cycle class and almost threw up, so I don’t think it’s for me.
I watched the trailer for the second season of “You.” I like things with a bit of suspense to them. Then I was on Instagram, and I found a video of a someone teaching their cat to say “Hi” in a Southern accent. That was pretty funny. I’m not a pet person. I’m from New York, and I’ve never really lived in a place big enough for a pet. I’m also allergic to cats.
I had a voice lesson over FaceTime. I don’t really work on songs, it’s more about mechanics and technique. It’s like going to the chiropractor, being realigned. Then I went out to 30th Street Guitars. I’ve been there a lot this week because they were helping me eliminate some noise from my pedal board.
I had a couple hours before the show, and I had to put together a set list for a holiday concert I’m performing with my family on the 22nd. I put together a list of potential songs by searching through Spotify for different Christmas classics. The Bing Crosby Christmas album is a pretty incredible album. So there’s definitely a few from that that I thought would be cool. And I’m a huge Nat King Cole fan. There was a Peter, Paul and Mary song on there that I actually sang with them when I was a kid, a song called “Light One Candle.” I want to try and do a few songs from other faiths.
I went to the theater. My voice teacher, Valerie Morehouse, sent me about an article from the Guardian on vocal health. It talked about Adele’s vocal surgery, juxtaposed with certain voice teachers’ opinions about the human voice, which led me to Beniamino Gigli, one of the greats in the early area era of recorded music. I have to listen to his “Nessun Dorma” again. He projects without any sort of tension.
At intermission, I watched a tutorial for the Chase Bliss Gravitas guitar effects pedal. I have no idea how to how to use all the hidden features. Whenever I’m onstage, it’s important for me to be as deep into the character as I can get. But if I’m not onstage, using technology is not a detriment. I can comfortably be on the phone five minutes before I go onstage.
After the show, I did the stage door and signed for everybody. People seemed almost frozen, but they were happy to see us and I was happy to see them. At home, I ordered from Uber Eats and while I was waiting for the delivery I updated my audio sample library and searched for a few guitar effects pedals on Reverb, it’s like an eBay for musical instruments. I found some interesting fuzz pedals. I’m interested in all kinds of pedals. My cabaret shows are like a one-man band sort of situation. So the more interesting sounds I can create for myself, the more interesting it is for the audience.
I finished eating, and I watched an episode of “Bates Motel.” I’ve actually seen the whole series before, but it’s been a few years so I wanted to check it out again.
Saturday
From my bed, I read an article about the impeachment proceedings. And then I quickly got up because we had a matinee. From my dressing room, prior to the first show of the day, I watched a Spitfire Audio tutorial. At intermission, I watched a video of Jimi Hendrix on “The Dick Cavett Show” and George Harrison on the same show. It was recommended to me on YouTube. I do watch a lot of YouTube.
In between shows I went home, and I obsessively worked on trying to implement the things I learned from that effects pedal tutorial. I spent about two hours trying to come up with a couple of sounds that I thought would be interesting live.
During intermission for the second show, I watched the Aviation Gin spoof of the Peloton ad. That definitely made me laugh. “Hadestown” is an emotional roller coaster for both the audience and the performers, and I think watching videos is a way to decompress in between acts. I enjoy Instagram and YouTube for that. You can temporarily detach yourself. I don’t like to do that for long, because I really like to enjoy my life in the physical realm. But it’s nice to have.
Saturday’s audiences were pretty wild. People seemed very excited. Over Thanksgiving, people were a little bit turkeyed out, more reserved. One of my friends is in town, Dawan. We’ve been friends since 9th grade. He really likes Planet Hollywood. So I took him to Planet Hollywood with a group of friends and got home around 1:15 A.M. I worked a little more on the pedal board and then we watched “The Twilight Zone.”
Sunday
I woke up around 10:30 a.m. and took my time to get out of bed. I watched a video of someone mixing Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” on an SSL console. The Nicholas Brothers popped into my mind, and I wanted to see that amazing video of them dancing with Cab Calloway.
I got up and made breakfast for my friend. During that time, I was listening to a few songs on my 1953 Seeburg jukebox. I pressed some random buttons — Dawan is staying on an air mattress in my living room and I kind of had to reach around him. It played the Everly Brothers’s “Let It Be Me.” The second song was one of mine, which was funny and cool, “Father’s House.” Then Little Eva doing “The Locomotion.” In terms of era, I tend to be inspired by and listen to things that were created prior to 1978.
I got to the theater about an hour before showtime. I watched a Les Paul and Mary Ford thing, a YouTube suggestion, and a Leonard Bernstein thing, “The Greatest Five Minutes in Musical Education,” which was very cool, another YouTube suggestion. Then I was ready to do the show.
