The Gift of Song: An Interview with Dennis Johnson

Written By Deborah Kelley

His goal is to work professionally as a soloist and tonight is his local debut after a hiatus of several years due to family obligations and a move to Tampa in 2006. The candles flicker on the linen-covered tables. An occasional ice cube clinks in a glass. The audience waits silently for the first note. The pianist caresses the keys and the melody begins. Dennis Johnson shares his velvety and heartfelt gift of song with an audience eager to be captivated.

Johnson's love of musical performance began at an early age. “Somewhere between 2nd and 3rd grade, I knew I wanted to sing,” he recalls. “I started asking my music teacher for solos and was disappointed if there was a production where there were no solos available.” Growing up in suburban New Jersey he frequently attended Broadway musicals with his parents and came to realize he wasn't content remaining seated in the audience. “I would always sing to soothe or express myself. That was always my thing.”

His interest in music came to a crescendo during high school. “I found my niche in musical theatre and that was where I could shine and felt the most comfortable.” Johnson became involved in community theatre during his sophomore year. “I did a production of Godspell, which was one of my favorite performances. The theatre was a converted library. It was small and intimate, great for experimental theatre. You could feel the give and take between the stage and the audience.” As a junior, Dennis also joined a children’s theatre tour that put on productions specifically geared to the younger audience.

Johnson’s devotion to performance continued to develop through college where he graduated from Syracuse University with a BS in Drama and an English Minor. While enrolled, Johnson studied voice and participated in drama department main stage productions, Syracuse Stage cabaret performances and community theatre groups.

Since that time, he has sung in nearly a hundred musicals; performed in civic theatre, dinner theatre, off-Broadway, cabaret, clubs, actor’s equity productions, regional theatre and summer stock. Johnson added, “I even co-created a sketch comedy troupe in New York and have some recording experience… a rock opera.”

Some of his favorite musical performances include Brigadoon (Charlie), Hello Dolly (Barnaby), West Side Story (Baby John), This Magic Moment (Norman), Merrily We Roll Along (Charlie), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Joseph) and Kiss Me Kate (Fred/Petruchio).

“I’ve studied voice for close to seventeen years. I started practicing when I was 15 and have really never stopped,” Johnson reflected on his vocal experience to date. “I’ve had some amazing teachers and worked with some great directors, coaches and performers.”

He is an admirer of strong powerful voices, “belters” as he puts it, voices like the classic operatic tenor of the late Pavarotti and the more contemporary, Josh Groban. From his idol Stephen Sondheim’s lyrical musical style to R&B to ABBA, he isn’t readily pigeon-holed into appreciating one particular genre of music over another. “Fifties, sixties, seventies pop and Motown – Aretha Franklin, Al Green, or more rock-oriented, Queen – I love the performance aspect, the theatrical edge and soul of the singer.”

Unlike many getting into the entertainment business, his goal isn’t to be a superstar. “I simply want to be a consistently working performer. I see myself as a soloist. I want to have a network where I can go out and sing a few times a week. Really, I just want to perform again. There is no ego involved. I love the connection that I feel to an audience and to songs and music. I want to share that love with others.”

Johnson sings his rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colours” to his longtime love and the emotion in the room is palpable.