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“For some reason, I’m drawn to internal conflict. I’m not sure why.
I feel that really palpably with Clarence”
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It was a film that did it, but Michael Moss can’t remember the title. Or who was in it. Or what, exactly, it was about.
All Michael remembers was the blooper reel. That was what set him on the path to become an actor.
“I was about 10 or 11, and I was sitting in a movie theater watching a movie,” Michael recalled. “At the end there was a blooper reel. Everybody was laughing. It seemed to be really appealing.”
Michael’s talent has been more than appealing to audiences who see him perform. He played the part of Clarence for “Scenes and Songs from Fannie Lou: At Carnegie Hall” in October 2014. The character is complicated, having to wrestle with his conscience when ordered to perform a rather unappealing act. It’s a role that fits in well with the kind Michael seeks.
“For some reason, I’m drawn to internal conflict. I’m not sure why. I feel that really palpably with Clarence,” said Michael, who also played Clarence in the 2012 world premiere of Fannie Lou. For the Carnegie Hall concert production he also played the role of Rev. Hill, a local voting rights leader. The two characters are polar opposites, but the personality of each is also intricately nuanced. It is a testament to Michael’s enormous talent that he’s able to perform both parts not only convincingly, but captivatingly.
“The audience is going to be absolutely blown away when they see Michael perform, especially when he plays Clarence,” said composer/lyricist Felicia Hunter prior to the Carnegie Hall event. “It’s a very, very difficult role. At one point, Clarence is on the stage all by himself acting out a scene. He has to bring the audience into what he’s doing, he has to open the door to his inner turmoil. He must do this, or else the scene doesn’t work. It’s a very, very dramatic peak within the musical. Michael performs the scene beautifully. He did from the very beginning, even at auditions. He’s just perfect in the part.”
A native of St. Louis, Michael is a graduate of Harvard University. He didn’t major in drama, though.
“They don’t have a dramatic program,” noted Michael. Instead, Michael majored in Social Studies, a concentration born out of the Fannie Lou Hamer-era civil unrest the country found itself in 50 years ago. The interdisciplinary major focuses on theory and research that address social, economic and political issues.
“I considered law briefly,” said Michael about career options he contemplated. “Then I kind of decided I want to be a lawyer on TV.”
So, drama it was.
“I was just drawn to the field. I enjoy it probably more than anything else,” said Michael, whose childhood artistic ventures include the piano, which he began playing at age 6, and participation in various choirs.
Michael appeared in well over a dozen extra-curricular productions while at Harvard. He explained that the multifacetedness of his chosen profession is what helped solidify his career choice. He said he enjoys every feature of the acting process, from reading a play to creating a character.
“I like the literary aspect of it. I like the research aspect of it, discovering different people, finding character voices. I like the technical aspect of it, breaking down a piece of writing piece by piece,” he said. “I just enjoy performing, basically. Anything and everything, all these different aspects of performing.”
