David Hasselhoff
by Melissa Rose Bernardo

There are a lot of roles David Hasselhoff is destined to play, but The Body may not be one of them. "Pierre Cossette called me--he's doing a musical on Jesse Ventura. I started laughing," he says. "I said, 'I'm skinny! You'll never see me in tights.' I had a hard enough time wearing a bathing suit."But right now he's got not one but two roles to content himself with: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the long-running Frank Wildhorn-Leslie Bricusse hit musical. Hasselhoff, best known as the brain behind Baywatch and the guy who talked to the car on Knight Rider, is making his Broadway debut. He's already a huge musical star in Europe (they adore him in Germany!), and he's been waiting a heck of a while to show American audiences his stuff. Pardon the pun, but this is his moment.

You're finally on Broadway. This has been a dream of yours for a long time, hasn't it?
Yeah. When I was eight years old, I starred in a play called Peter Pan. Immediately I told my parents, "This is what I want to do." And my mom looked at me and said, "You know what? You got it, kid."

How's that for supportive!
She gave me the belief in myself. I had this incredible tunnel vision of what I wanted to do from that age and never wavered. I got involved in community theater; there was a theater called the Valley Theater, which consisted only of children. We did non-equity plays and about 20 musicals. So before I was 13, I was destined for Broadway.

And you studied acting in college...
I auditioned for Juilliard and for California Institute of the arts. I ended up going to Cal, and it's taken me 30 years to get back to new York. But I'm here, and last October 17 when I stepped on stage for my first evening on Broadway, I just said, "Okay, here's your 40-year-old dream."

What was that first night like?
It was absolutely survival. I hadn't completed a full rehearsal yet. My goal was to survive, not to have a train wreck and to get through the show. It went incredibly well--my concentration was absolutely magnificent, my voice had the energy of thousands of people who believed in me. And I think God blessed me because I was singing notes I didn't even know I could hit.

And the audience was pretty supportive?
The audience was vocal coaches, managers, press agents, my wife, a lot of fans that had come in from around the world--especially from Europe--legions of Jekkie fans who wanted to see the new Jekkie. It was just a very, very special night. And I got a standing ovation.

How have the Jekkies been? Have they given you their blessing?
They were really highly complimentary of what I had done. One guy said, "Hey, man, I saw you on Tuesday and you were really good but now I saw you on Saturday and you were like the man." They were comparing me to the different guys, and it's fun. I'm trying to bring my own touch to the parts.

Had you seen the show before?
I had seen it with four different actors.

Whoa! You're practically a Jekkie!
I would have liked to have seen it with Bob Cuccioli--he was actually on Baywatch. I think my version's pretty close to his. My Hyde is pretty evil; he's not a monster. I tried to make Hyde really the evil side of a man. It's kind of overwhelming.... Now that I'm in it and I've had seven shows, I'm trying to work on getting my sea legs and concentrating on how to sing without just belting every night and losing my voice. So far I haven't lost it yet.

Are you glad you made the leap to Broadway?
When I was in rehearsals I would stop in the middle of New York and scream, "Why did I do this?" You could be on the beach making millions of dollars with your family! So I flew home and told my wife, "I don't know; I'm really having a hard time without the family." I called my mom and said, "I'm nervous!" She said, "You're never nervous! You can handle it! Get your butt back there!" So the family is all moving up here--the kids, the dogs, the wife. Got a fantastic apartment, spending every dollar I make on this show. My goal is to break even. If I can break even, I'll be a happy guy. I'm just taking this one step at a time. I didn't want to be good. I want to be fantastic. And I'm getting there.

Why Jekyll & Hyde, why now? I'd heard your name mentioned for so many other projects--Les Miz in London, a Rocky Horror tour, most recently Annie Get Your Gun on Broadway.
All those are true. I was always trying to get to Broadway. I wanted to do The Scarlet Pimpernel desperately. I thought in another life I was Cary Grant and Danny Kaye combined. I was all set to come up and audition for it, but I couldn't do it because of Baywatch. Even though I was the producer, at that point in time Baywatch was at the top of its game. They wanted a six-month commitment, and I was heartbroken. At one point, I had Rocky Horror; we were talking about bringing it to L.A. and it never came into fruition because I was always working on TV. I was liased with Cameron Mackintosh and his brother, Robert, who actually produced my rock-and-roll pop tour. Robert was the one who specifically recognized me as a talent and wanted me to do stuff in London. I could never get the timing.

But then you walked away from Baywatch.
I knew that Baywatch was going to Hawaii and was going to become something of a different show; I said this is my time to move. So I said I'm ready for whatever--and whatever means New York. I put out the feelers and the first thing that came back was Annie. Then Jekyll & Hyde came up. I was in Toronto, and I flew in, and on the airplane I heard "This Is the Moment" and I burst into tears. I saw the show, met Frank Wildhorn; he had heard my music, had spent the time to get my records from Germany. We hit it off great. I said it's the most overwhelming role I'd ever seen; let me think about it. But I said, "David, you've been talking a big game. You want the respect of the community; you've been talking about it for a long time." I talked to my wife and said, "Big changes, baby. I'm going to Broadway." She said, "I'm right there with you."

So Tuesday night, Halloween, the big gala opening...
Mom and Dad are coming; they're staying in the Marriott, in a room strategically designed to overlook my billboard. My daughter is coming--dressed as Jekyll and Hyde--to hand out candy. My wife is coming, and about 19,000 people I know from all over the world are coming. We're going to have a big party at the Russian Tea Room. It's going to be great.

It seems like everyone's rooting for you.
Say thanks to everybody in the Broadway community for welcoming the TV star. I didn't come here just to fill seats. I came here to make you proud.