popular thinking

GUESS WHO'S COMING TO TOWN? INTERVIEWS, INTERVIEWS

Sinbad
Sinbad is calling from the mountains outside of Pasadena, Calif., on his way to a voice lesson.
Is the 48-year-old comedian and actor going Broadway on us? Well, sort of. He performs Thursday at The Opera House as part of the Broadway Across America series.
“I’m the next hot r & b pop star,” he jokes.
Sinbad certainly doesn’t regret missing Boston’s “American Idol” auditions last week. “What, so they can find 10 more kids who can’t sing?”
And yet, it’s consistently the nation’s most popular TV show.
“We like the star thing. We like to see people become stars,” Sinbad says.
He knows that firsthand, getting his big break in the 1980s as stand-up comic on “Star Search.” That was different, he maintains, because he and the other comedians had to pay their dues. “You know, we put time in, 40 weeks a year working it as a comic. ‘Star Search’ was that little extra push that you needed,” he says.
“Idol” contestants talk about pleasing their fans? “Your fans? You’ve only been singing two months!” he says.
Sinbad has done TV sitcoms (“A Different World”), late-night talk shows and movies (“Houseguest”), but his most enduring work seems to be the 1996 film “Jingle All The Way,” which has become a holiday staple for airlines’ in-flight movies.
“I think it’s because of Arnold (Schwarzenegger),” Sinbad says. “Anything he touches turns to gold.”
Plus, people can relate to the idea of parents frantic over finding the “hot” Christmas gift for their children. “Every father has been through that one time. For me, it was a white Power Ranger. I stalked a supply truck,” he says.
Sinbad continues to tour, performing in theaters while plotting his next career move.
“I’ve got an idea for a sitcom, some movies. I’m a one-man industry,” he says.
But he has a clear preference.
“I love movies,” he says. “TV is what it is. It’s hard for me to work in that medium. There’s certain things that work better for me, and movies do that. Maybe it’s the size of the screen. I look good big.”
Sinbad, at The Opera House, 539 Washington St., Boston. Thursday at 8 p.m. Tickets: $32.50-$42.50. Call 617-259-3400.
(although it should be noted that in today's papers, ads offer $15 discounts on all tickets -- not a good sign)

Amy Adams
Amy Adams had pink-streaked hair when she burst onto TV screens last year as a finalist in the third season of Fox’s “American Idol.”
Alas, her hair color hasn’t been dyed to match the rainbow pattern in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” Adams, 26, plays the narrator in the touring production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical that begins a two-week run Tuesday at Boston’s Colonial Theatre.
“My hair is fire-engine red and black,” she said during a telephone interview from Kalamazoo, Mich., the most recent stop on the tour. “They wanted it a little downplayed.”
She said she almost ended up with “more old-lady hair,” visiting three hairstylists before getting her current spiky do.
Adams still has great things to say about her “Idol” experience and judges Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell, who were in Boston last week evaluating wannabes.
“They were really, really nice,” she said. “Paula and Randy both helped me promote my country singing career.”
As for Cowell, Adams said one of his friends passed her name along to the “Dreamcoat” producers.
Her role as narrator requires her in every scene during the 90-minute musical montage. She provides vocals in 16 of the 20 songs.
“So it’s a really hefty role. You have to maintain the energy of the show,” she said.
“I didn’t want to do musical theater until I was about 35,” she acknowledged, but she wasn’t about to let this opportunity pass her by. “This role,” she said, “is what a female lead aspires to be. On ‘Idol,’ I didn’t stay enough to sing like that.”
Audiences, for the most part, have been accepting, even if some have preconceived notions of her from “Idol.”
“Everyone has an opinion, like either she wasn’t that good, or she got robbed,” Adams said of herself.
The cast and crew arrive in Boston tomorrow, just in time for Adams to celebrate her first Halloween with her 7-month-old son, Harrison.
“I have a little Halloween travel outfit. It says ‘Mommy’s Little Pumpkin.’ He has a little hat and a little baby bib,” she said.
That’s a stark change from last year’s Halloween, in which she traded places with her husband, a retired ultimate fighter.
“He had the pink hair and the microphone,” she said. “I was six months pregnant and I was in one of his fight uniforms with a black eye. He kept singing, ‘I’m Your Lady.’ It was so funny.”
“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” Tuesday through Nov. 13, The Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston St., Boston. Tickets $32.50-$87.50. Call 617-931-2787.

For more on either show, go to Broadway in Boston.