Nick Settimi: Winning and losing
Hamilton actor talks about trying to find acting work during a global pandemic
Nick Settimi thinks he’s in No Man’s Land. He’s too old to play kid’s parts and not old enough to be a father figure. “You could say I’m in-between. “
“And yes, I’ve auditioned for Stratford and Shaw. And no I didn’t get a part. Was I discouraged, I suppose so. But auditions are difficult things. Sometimes nerves get the best of you. It’s pretty much a one chance thing. You impress or you don’t.
“My audition for Shaw, for instance, was awful. I just wasn’t prepared. And at Stratford I wasn’t really right. I auditioned for the musical ‘Tommy’ which really isn’t me at all. I’m not a rock singer. My voice is just not a ‘Tommy’ voice.”
So where does all this leave the Hamilton-born singer-actor?
Settimi pauses a moment to think. “I don’t really know. I just want to work.”
Bad luck has dogged 33-yearold Settimi for a while. He had a great role in the proposed Theater Aquarius production of “Pollyanna.”
“It was meant to go on this past May, but it was cancelled last summer. That was way before the virus closed down productions. It was a brand new Canadian musical. I was in the Toronto workshop for the show and it was coming along fine. Then suddenly there were some contractual difficulties, so ‘Pollyanna’ was sidelined. Too bad. It would have been the show’s world première.”
Just a few weeks ago Settimi learned he’s been cancelled again.
“I was cast in ‘The Sound of Music,’” one of Boris Brott’s Summer Music Festival shows for this August. “Am I disappointed it’s not happening? Yes. And no I don’t have any stage work coming up. But then who has?
“I’m doing voice overs for cartoons and commercials. That’s something you can audition for on tape, without leaving your living-room.”
Nick Settimi grew up in Hamilton. He was 14 when he discovered Lou Zamprogna’s Theatre Aquarius Summer School Program. Like many other area youngsters he caught the theatre bug there.
“I think my mom thought it would keep me busy during the summer. And it was a great creative outlet. I just felt so comfortable going there. I was with other people who were like me. I realized I was not alone.”
Settimi’s first professional role was at Aquarius in Max Reimer’s production of “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
“I was in the chorus and I didn’t really do much. But I learned an awful lot. Chilina Kennedy, who now stars on Broadway, was in that chorus too. I watched her a lot.
“One thing I’m learning during this pandemic is theatre folk are adaptable. Shows closed on a Friday by order of the government and by the following Monday artists involved in them were already doing things on line. Performers are adaptable people. They learned before COVID-19 came along that they needed to be entrepreneurs, to create their own work. That’s why so many are surviving now.
“I don’t think theatre as we know it will be back for a bit. I don’t see people wanting to sit in an auditorium with 700 other people. And I don’t see them wanting to wear a mask all through a show either.”
If you saw Settimi in “Spamalot” at Aquarius a few years ago you know he’s an actor with a flair for comedy. He’s also charmed audiences in “Seussical-The Musical” and “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”
“Those shows were my favourite time in the theatre because I not only sang, I made people laugh. That felt good.”
Audiences who saw Settimi back then wouldn’t recognize him today. “Back then I was on my way to weighing 400 pounds. It was serious. I could feel my body revolting against me. My knees were hurting and I was out of breath just walking up a few stairs. I said look, enough is enough. Losing weight was a three-year process. It involved doctors and nutritionists. What I did was for health, not vanity. It involved an operation on my stomach. It also involved healthy eating.
“I don’t know how my weight escalated to such proportions. It just creeps up on you. After a show we’d all be together in some restaurant. I’d be ravenous. I’d eat way too much. And late night eating is not the best thing for you.”
These days Settimi weighs in at 195 pounds. He’s happier and healthier.
“The only problem was the cost of an entire new wardrobe. And I’m talking everything, right down to socks and underwear.”