Pianist Fortenberry moves to center stage with cabaret show

Michael Douglas could study Liberace’s mannerisms and body language all day. He could talk like him, walk like him, “ostentate” like him. But he and everyone else involved with “Behind the Candelabra,” the HBO film about Liberace and his former lover, knew he could never play the piano like him.

That’s where Philip Fortenberry stepped in. After four auditions and a trip to Los Angeles to meet director Steven Soderbergh, Fortenberry got the gig as Douglas’ pianist double. And for good reason.

Fortenberry’s resume as a pianist is as long as it is accomplished as it is diverse. His next project brings him to the Caberet Jazz at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts on June 23, and again July 21, to perform “The Man at the Piano,” a 75-minute cabaret-style concert.

“In the new show I’ll be talking about the movie and showing my own story,” Fortenberry says.

His own story begins in Columbia, Miss., where he began playing the piano at age 4. Three years later, he became the accompanist for his church.

Fortenberry found his way back to playing church music after moving to Las Vegas in 2004. After a long hiatus, he became the organist for a church in Las Vegas, which inspired him to release “Beautiful Saviour,” a collection of hymn arrangements.

He grew up in a Southern Baptist church. The church he plays at is Community Lutheran Church.

“I can’t say (the religion) matters a whole lot,” he says. “As long as people are doing a spiritual practice of some kind.”

For him, it’s about providing the music that heightens that spiritual practice.

When he’s not doing that, Fortenberry is at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, working toward a doctorate in musical arts . Education is just one more facet of music he was introduced to early on, and has returned to recently. He has a master’s in music from New Jersey City University and studied as a private student of Myoko Lotta at The Juilliard School in New York .

He didn’t go back to hone his skills or amp up his next paycheck. Fortenberry has played for nine Broadway productions including “Cats,” “Ragtime” and “The Lion King.” He’s performed at Carnegie Hall with Eartha Kitt and later with The Three Irish Tenors. He’s entertained presidents and leaders of other countries.

Rather, he went back to school with something else in mind.

“In the back of my mind, I thought at some point I might want to teach,” he says. “And this would give me the license to do that.”

Fortenberry left the world of Broadway for Southern Nevada when a respected colleague told him about “We Will Rock You,” the rock music production that played at Paris Las Vegas. He remembers meeting with producers and leaving the hotel, staring at the Bellagio fountains.

“I felt in my soul, in my gut that this was the right thing for me,” he says. “After 9/11, New York City changed for everybody. On some level, I needed a change.”

He went on, after acting as the conductor and music director for “We Will Rock You,” to work on “Hairspray” at Luxor, “Mamma Mia!” at Mandalay Bay, and he works as associate conductor for the hit show “Jersey Boys” at Paris Las Vegas.

In between those gigs, from 2008- 10, Fortenberry was the artist-in-residence at the Liberace Museum, where he performed “Liberace and Me,” a one-man show.

His involvement in the recent movie not only made sense for that reason, he also has a close physical build to Douglas. The costumes were so elaborate and expensive to reproduce that producers needed some of the pieces to be shared by Douglas and Fortenberry, who developed an even deeper appreciation for Liberace’s piano-playing during production.

He realized the difficulty of playing piano with all those rings on his fingers. It was so challenging, in fact, Fortenberry had the props specialists glue the jewelry to his hands.

He’ll share similar stories during “The Man at the Piano,” but the running theme of the show is “Cats.” He opens with a dance piece and also performs several classical pieces, including a difficult one from a Russian composer he’s never performed.

“That,” he says, “is because I need to challenge myself.”

Contact Xazmin Garza at xgarza@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0477. Follow her on Twitter @startswithanx.