Enjoying Bobby Barnes on Netflix’s “GLOW,” Kevin Cahoon delivered unforgettable impressions of Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand and different Hollywood icons in full drag. His newest position, nonetheless, finds him channeling one other legendary diva — albeit in a much less apparent method.
The actor at present seems in Fox’s musical drama “Monarch.” The ensemble collection, which premiered final month, is centered on Albie (performed by Hint Adkins) and Dottie Roman (Susan Sarandon), who’ve been on the prime of the nation music trade for many years. The way forward for their Texas-based dynasty, nonetheless, is thrown into query after Dottie’s terminal most cancers analysis is publicly revealed in an ignominious style.
Cahoon performs a private stylist for Dottie named Earl Clark — a job that offers him the prospect to stay out his “Dolly Parton goals,” he advised HuffPost. Famous for his eccentric style and rockabilly pompadour, the character is loosely primarily based on real-life hairstylist Earl Cox, who has coiffed the likes of Religion Hill and Trisha Yearwood, amongst different singers.
“Homosexual males have historically discovered solace in highly effective girls, so I really like how the present explores Earl’s place as a homosexual man. He likes to assume he’s in ‘Metal Magnolias’ 24 hours a day,” the actor advised HuffPost, referring to the 1989 movie that stars Parton and is ready at a Louisiana magnificence parlor.
“He at all times had a dream to be in present enterprise, and he loves that he’s the major-domo or gatekeeper, if you’ll, to the internal sanctum of the Roman household. He’ll go to any lengths to guard his place in that household.”
Viewers quickly study, nonetheless, that the Roman clan — which incorporates Gigi (Beth Ditto), Nicky (Anna Friel) and Luke (Joshua Sasse), the grownup kids of Albie and Dottie — are hiding a mess of secrets and techniques, in addition to a physique rely, beneath their glitzy facade. Equally, Earl’s much less savory ambitions, in addition to his penchant for manipulating his cohorts, are revealed because the present’s first season progresses.
Although Cahoon prefers to “take each scenario as it’s” in his off-screen life, he nonetheless felt instantly comfortable along with his character.
“I grew up in a rodeo household in Texas, so I’ve had a pair of cowboy boots and a cowboy hat on my whole life. I knew that world,” he mentioned. As for working with Sarandon, he added: “We linked on the primary day. I’m in love along with her — she is aware of this, this isn’t a secret — and blown away by her craftsmanship.”
Along with Ditto, Cahoon offers some welcome LGBTQ illustration throughout the fictional nation scene of “Monarch.” In actual life, nonetheless, issues have been extra gradual going. Final yr, Nashville musician T.J. Osborne ― one half of the Brothers Osborne duo ― grew to become the primary overtly homosexual artist to signal with a significant nation music label, Tennessee’s EMI Information Nashville.
Although nation remains to be considered as socially conservative compared to pop and rock, Cahoon believes LGBTQ persons are “the engine of the pickup truck” throughout the style.
“They’re writing songs. They’re producing songs. They’re creating the seems to be, they usually’re creating the world,” he mentioned. “So to have this present rejoice that could be a sensible concept.”
Previous to his tv acclaim, Cahoon was greatest recognized to New York theater audiences, with a résumé that features plum roles in “The Lion King” and “Hedwig and the Offended Inch,” amongst different beloved musicals. He additionally spent years because the lead singer of a glam rock band referred to as Kevin Cahoon and Ghetto Cowboy, which counted CNN anchor Anderson Cooper amongst its followers.
Very similar to “Monarch,” the actor’s subsequent position can be deeply ensconced in nation music. This month, he returns to the stage within the musical “Shucked,” which is ready to have its world premiere at Salt Lake Metropolis’s Pioneer Theatre Firm. Written by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, “Shucked” boasts a starry solid that features John Behlmann, Alex Newell and Taylor Trensch. Producers are reportedly prepping the present for Broadway after its Utah engagement.
As Cahoon seems to be forward to his future on “Monarch” and past, he’s hopeful that he’ll proceed to supply a constructive illustration of the LGBTQ neighborhood by means of his performances.
“They are saying all nice nation songs are three chords and the reality, however with the Romans, it’s like 18 stanzas, 40 choruses and a bridge, and you continue to don’t know what the reality is,” he mentioned with fun. “Earl, I assure you, isn’t frightened of standing in his personal rhinestone boots. He’s standing in his reality and never afraid to be in that reality, although he’s surrounded by a world the place the reality is murky.”
“Monarch” airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EST on Fox.