(While Marc and I were talking, there was a TV on in the background. Just at this point, Marc's Toyota commercial came on.)

NR: Look, there you are.

MK: Yeah.

NR: (laughs) Do you get abuse for that commercial? It's such a strange effect.

MK: Well, they stretch my face, which I love. I love the fact that I'm not all that recognizable. It's a great character. It's a lot of fun to do these things.

NR: Does that take a lot of time?

MK: Yes, and no.

NR: There's a lot of them.

MK: There's 35 of them. Then there's all the radio work too which is GREAT. It's the greatest job in the world. They can work around my schedule. We can shoot it anywhere. The voiceover stuff we can basically do anytime so we can work around rehearsals. It's the greatest job in the world for a theater performer. All of the Toyota radio commercials are me - all the TV voiceovers. Anything with a voice is me. Once or twice a week I go into the studio and every month when the numbers change I've got to do them. It's a job. I'm on a year contract with them and I'm renewing for a year. Next year I'm working with them again. It's a great campaign and it affords me flexibility in the theater. I can do anything I want - Thank You, God!

NR: How did you and Kristin (Chenoweth) meet?

MK: Blind date.

NR: Wow. Was it awhile ago?

MK: Yeah. Five and a half years. We were setup on a blind date.

NR: Does it make it harder or easier that you're both actors?

MK: I don't know. I think in the end it's easier because we're both performers so we both understand the kind of business that we're in. I've found it difficult in the past to date outside the business because it's a whole different mentality. It just is. The way that we look at things, our perception of things, the things that we find valuable are different. Performers can understand performers.

NR: Is it hard if one of you has a job and the other's looking?

MK: No. I don't think so. No. We both have our careers. She's obviously doing brilliantly, but there was a time when I was on Broadway, I was in a big show, I was doing really well and she was trying to get in. But that was because she was newer to town and she's so unique, and so uniquely talented. She wasn't going to just fit a slot. I always said to her, "Babe, you're just so unique, you're going to stick out wherever you are, and you're not going to just fill a slot. They're going to need to write for you." There's nothing better than that in the world and that's exactly what happened. All of a sudden people are saying, "Isn't this exciting? Isn't this exciting?" and it's something I've always known. Of course it's exciting but I always knew this. It took them long enough to figure it out.

NR: You've worked together a little bit here and there, right?

MK: We've worked together. Early on in our relationship we were cast together at North Shore Music Theater doing Phantom. We did Musicals in Mufti for the York Theater Company. We did Billion Dollar Baby for them. That was fun. That was the first time Billion Dollar Baby was done since its original inception on a New York stage, something like 53 years later. There's a recording coming out soon and it's the first time the show's ever been recorded. It's a good show. We did that together, Millie together. So we've done a couple of things together. I'd like to do more. She's good. It's very easy to work with her on a stage. She's one of those naturally funny, instinctively talented people, so it lets you be your best. You're out there with somebody that's completely there and is taking whatever energy you've got and giving it back to you. You can be very spontaneous.

NR: What do you wish you had more time for in your life?

MK: I wish I had more time for the two of us to just have time. That's all. I wish I had more time for weekend vacations. I wish I had the time so we could go and get married.

NR: Is there a date at some point?

MK: We're looking at May, June...we say that. I don't know if it's going to happen. I'm in a new show and she's working a pilot. I just wish there was more time.

NR: She's working a pilot? Can you tell me more about it?

MK: Paramount. She has a development deal with Paramount. She's got a pilot. Who knows? Maybe that time will come up.

NR: Well if that works and she's in California and you're here, what happens next?

MK: We'll be bi-coastal. I don't like L.A. She likes L.A. but she's only been out there when she's been working on great jobs. I was actually out there for a year working, but to live there and to be out there for a month are two different ball games. I'm not an L.A. fan. I don't like the west coast mentality at all. I would love to get on a series that films in New York and be doing the stage at the same time. Wouldn't that be the sweet thing? I'm not worried about that though. Obviously if she has a series and she's in California she can certainly afford to fly whenever she wants. Either of us can fly when we want to. My hope is we'll see what happens with The Wild Party. We'll see what happens with this when we close. Maybe we'll get a little bit of time so we can go and do something stupid.

NR: Do you have any dream roles you'd like to play?

MK: Yeah - it's not been written yet but it's my dream to do the musical version of The Count of Monte Cristo. I really want to play that. I would like to be on the creative end of that too. I just think it's a great story that has yet to be musicalized. It's intense.

NR: Maybe you should talk to Frank (Wildhorn).

MK: You know, Frank is the right kind of person to write it. It's such a wonderful story. Once again, it's about people in given situations. It's a much darker story. How awesome is it that there's a guy who's put in jail for fourteen years? Fourteen years! Wrongly put into prison - an absolutely innocent man, who goes from being this warm, wonderful sweet guy over the course of fourteen years to a hardened, ambitious, driven person who wants to just wreak revenge. He learns and studies and educates himself to the point that he has all the tools that he can have for when he gets out. It's the greatest prison escape ever written. He's thrown out, he becomes a pirate, finds the world's greatest treasure on the Isle of Monte Cristo. You would think anybody would live "happily ever after" after that, and all he can do when he looks at all this gold and treasure that would last him for the rest of his life is think about, "How can I use this to hurt and destroy everyone?" That's really what it is.

NR: I can see why an actor would want to do that.

MK: The theater is about people, relationships, situations, and it's about heightened emotion. In the end it's a happy story. It's a wonderful journey. The arc is huge. It's the course of thirty years in everybody's lives. It's epic proportions of real people, given some fantastical situations, but I think it has all the best qualities of shows.

NR: I hope you get to do it.

Marc's sorry that The Scarlet Pimpernel is closing in January, but it seems that he's about to move on to many more chapters in his life immediately afterwards. His Chauvelin is very different from any others that I've seen and it's an awesome interpretation. Now that I know how much thought is behind it, I understand why.

Questions suggested by:

Andrew Reith, Wendy Gibb, Bev, Jessica Parker, Sarap, Catherine, Dyann, Tripp Jackson, karen k. Norma Bucknor, Renee Girard, Chris Miller, Jan Combopiano, CJL, Kiersten Scarpati, Bec Finkelstein, Ken Miller, Stephanie Henkin, Amy Lovett

Interview conducted and photographs by Nancy Rosati.