Meet Kyle Thulien - Billy Crocker in Anything Goes!

What is your role in this Production? I play Billy Crocker.  He's a suave, man about town who is living the true New Yorkers dream: wealth, power and ladies.  Women want him and men want to be him.  Coming from nothing, he is now making a splash in the Wall Street world; that is until he meets some damned dame. His pursuit of a famous debutante lands him in some hot water, and is completely worth the jail time. But how will his story end when he becomes embroiled in a hotty love square?!?

What brought you out for this production? I always look for opportunities to work with great directors, and Barb Mah is one of the best. The show, too, must speak to me. I look for shows that make me laugh, or cry, or cry laughing. Anything Goes is definitely the latter with 'delightful' jokes, 'delicious' situations and 'de-lovely' characters. I also look for shows that I know Edmontonians want to and need to see, and this show has it all in spades: dancing, singing, laughing, crying, soft melodic solos, huge, splashy group numbers - and mostly JAZZ HANDS!  I also need a production company that knows the craft of theatre and there is none in the amateur theatre scene that compares with Walterdale.

What is your background in theatre? Well, I haven't quit my day job (because, you know, I like to eat) so theatre is truly something I do because I love it and choose to spend my free time doing it. As a singer and musician musical theatre is really the only theatre I do and I was involved in a number of productions through grade school. I didn't pick it back up until I had finished all my post-secondary and graduate schooling, learning the everything from working with great people. This is my first production with the Walterdale.

Biggest Challenge? I LOVE being over the top and stealing scenes but the central character of Billy requires a modicum of relatable humanity, a pillar of normality around which the caricatures play, if you will. Trying not to be silly is A LOT of work. Fortunately there are some great moments for Billy to really let loose.

In the Spirit of Anything Goes how true is that about you? Completely and utterly false!!! I am a trained scientist and currently working in the field of human cancer drug trials - truth is indeed not relative. And I hope everyone appreciates, too, that anything DOES NOT go in the world of human experimentation :)