Matt de Rogatis and Christian Jules Le Blanc in ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.’ Photo Credit: Miles Skalli
Actors Matt de Rogatis and Christian Jules Le Blanc chatted about being a part of the upcoming Tennessee Williams Festival in New Orleans.
Le Blanc is a three-time Emmy award-winning actor on “The Young and The Restless,” and de Rogatis is an actor, Chairman, and Creative Director of Ruth Stage.
The actors will reprise their performances from their Off-Broadway revival of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” at the 2024 Tennessee Williams Festival in New Orleans for one night only on March 23. “We are not producing this play. The Tennessee Williams Festival will be producing it,” de Rogatis acknowledged.
“I am excited about this,” Le Blanc exclaimed. “I have worked there before, and it is an amazing festival. It will be fun to do this in my hometown, and I am getting Matt excited about it because he has never been to my town.”
“I am terrified because this is Tennessee Williams country, so there will be five Big Daddys standing there from different years on that stage,” Le Blanc said.
Performing Act II of ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’
The actors will perform Act II of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” as Brick (Matt de Rogatis) and Big Daddy (Christian Jules Le Blanc), respectively This forthcoming stage performance will be held at Hotel Monteleone Queen Anne Ballroom.
“That’s the best act in the play,” de Rogatis said. “It is certainly a standout,” Le Blanc added.
“When we did it Off-Broadway, it was really interesting to have a sexy Big Mama such as Alison Fraser,” Le Blanc said. “As Big Mama, Alison Fraser changed outfits every night,” de Rogatis said with a sweet laugh.
Getting to talk to students about the play
The performance will be followed by a talkback that is moderated by David Kaplan, the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival curator and co-founder. “We are looking forward to being a part of the Q & A session with the students. We love those,” they both concurred.
On stepping back into the role of Brick, after just doing “Lone Star” Off-Broadway, de Rogatis said, “All of these different characters live inside of me, so I can just access them at any point.”
“I could be Roy or Brick or anybody else I’ve played. Most of these characters are a hot mess. You put in so much work building these characters that they live inside of you. I really didn’t find it that difficult to switch back to Brick.”
“Overall, it is fun to be stepping back in the role of Brick again,” de Rogatis added.
Both actors previously starred in an 2022 Off-Broadway revival of the work at Theatre at St. Clement’s in Manhattan, which was directed by Joe Rosario.
Matt de Rogatis subsequently reprised his performance in a 2023 encore run of the production, produced by Ruth Stage, where Courtney Henggeler took over the role of Maggie the Cat.
The actors revealed that they have plans to do a West Coast run of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”
To learn more about the 2024 Tennessee Williams Festival, check out its official website.
For viewers and fans, de Rogatis remarked, “We want them to know that our production of ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ will never die.”
Le Blanc on ‘State of Mind’ podcast
Le Blanc also shared that he enjoyed being a part of Maurice Benard’s “State of Mind” podcast on mental health. “That was amazing,” Le Blanc exclaimed. “Maurice is so honest and so brave with those topics. Those stories are very intense but I appreciate the honesty and authenticity of that podcast.”
For more information on Matt de Rogatis, follow him on Instagram.
To learn more about Christian Le Blanc, follow him on Instagram.