Scott Bakula (Captain Archer) chatted with fans and audiences for his musical Shenandoah yesterday, saying that he would like to star in Sweeney Todd and "Bakula as Dracula" and adding that he hoped more young people would go to the theatre to see live shows.

In the live chat at WashingtonPost.com, Bakula spoke of the rewards and difficulties of playing Charlie Anderson, the father of the large family in Shenandoah trying to keep his children safe from the Civil War. "Obviously, most of the roles that I'm known for have been men who don't have families or children, so it's a much different kind of part to play," Bakula explained. He admitted that among his television roles, his favourite was Quantum Leap, "because of the wide variety of issues and situations we were able to examine and the constant variety week to week that everyone was thrown into."

Asked about the premature ending of Enterprise and how he would have ended the series, Bakula reiterated that he thought "almost all the people at Paramount who were fans of Star Trek and the franchise were either fired or let go in a big changeover", and said he had no desire to rewrite the final episode; instead, "We'd still be on the air and still out there performing our mission. In my mind the show ended prematurely." He also explained that Quantum Leap's finale was deliberately left open-ended in case the producers decided to make a film later on.

Bakula said that his oldest child has seen Shenandoah and he believes it is a very relevant show right now, given the situation in the world. "It's a very thought-provoking night and hopefully will inspire a few good discussions," he added, encouraging people to bring teenagers to the musical. When asked whether he wanted to be a role model, he said, "I think it's important for everyone to feel a responsibility to the younger people on the planet and I set out to lead by example and not by any grand design."

The actor said that he would like to do more theatre projects, preferably in New York. He would like to play the title role in Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, to revisit Man of La Mancha which he performed in 30 years ago, and he said he has a fantasy "to see a marquee that has Bakula as Dracula. Ironically, I just met a week ago the quintessential Dracula, Frank Langella [Minister Jaro], who came to see the show here in D.C."

Though he has been invited to the Star Trek 40th anniversary convention in Las Vegas, Bakula said he was uncertain whether his schedule would allow him to attend. "Anytime you do a musical your days revolve around the status of your voice and your health...the focus of energy for that time you are on stage and getting ready to go on stage typically far outweighs your day on a TV or movie set," he noted. He also said that he would be willing to appear in a Quantum Leap TV movie if one went into production, but he knew of no firm plans for one.

Asked what Sam Beckett, Captain Archer and Charlie Anderson all have in common, he replied, "I would say passion and intelligence and a great love of life." The original chat is here.

In addition, several new reviews of Shenandoah have been published. Here is one from Metro Weekly, another from CurtainUp and a third from AllArtsReview4U that calls Bakula "a marvel in the lead." Thanks to Miri and Donna for the links.

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