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Douglas Sills tells tales from his ''Scarlet'' past

Posted by:	WaymanWong 11:38 pm EST 11/20/14

At today's ''Seth's Broadway Chatterbox'' at Don't Tell Mama, Douglas Sills stopped by to plug his upcoming musical revival, ''My Favorite Year,'' at the York Theatre (Dec. 5-7). But he also spilled the beans about: * His first role in musicals (as a kid in Detroit): Sammy Fong in ''Flower Drum Song.'' He also played Opryland. * Touring in ''The Secret Garden'' with James Barbour, Roger Bart and Audra McDonald. Asked if he knew they'd be stars, Sills says, ''No. We were all gawky and not going [anywhere].'' He joked that Audra was ''cray-cray.'' * Auditioning for Jack Gilford for a Sholom Aleichem piece: Though Sills is Jewish and could recite from his bar mitzvah, Gilford couldn't get past the actor's WASPy appearance. Gilford said, ''You look like Wonder Bread. Now get out!'' * Sills was about to get out of showbiz and took his GMAT and LSAT, and then got a call about a show. They called him back 6 times. The producers weren't sure to entrust an ''unknown'' with the lead. Kevin Kline turned it down, and John Barrowman flew in to be seen. But Sills got it: ''The Scarlet Pimpernel.'' What a ''Storybook'' ending.

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