Mmmm ...: Shakespeare

Jul. 19--Among superstitious thespians, it's bad luck to say the name of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" out loud. They prefer "the Scottish play."

For actor Rick Miller, it's just "MacHomer."

His one-man adaptation of the Bard's tragedy -- told in 50-plus voices from "The Simpsons" -- isn't susceptible to the play's curse.

Or is it?

A few years ago, Miller accidentally shattered his two front teeth with a microphone stand in midperformance.

"I think even chips of my teeth made their way into the two front rows," Miller said recently over breakfast at West Egg Cafe in Streeterville.

"It was awful and odd. People thought it was part of the show. People applauded. They just weren't sure what to do. There was this big, gaping hole in my teeth."

With the help of a dental assistant in the audience and a couple of Advil, Miller finished the show. But the run hasn't been all bad. He met his wife after the very first show, and this year "MacHomer" celebrates 10 years of "Mmmmm, beer" and "d'oh!" -- but no donuts.

For Miller, donuts are props, not food. (The actor with his washboard-abs has a difficult time sticking out his tummy during Homer's dialogue).

"I don't eat donuts because donuts really are a bunch of fat dipped in lard, covered in sugar. There's nothing good about them," he says in his soft Canadian accent. "Being 36 now, I find that my body isn't quite bouncing back the way it used to, especially with this show. I probably lose 5 pounds a show."

Modest, clean-cut and exceedingly polite (i.e. Canadian), Miller doesn't resemble the frenzied figure he projects onstage. The show takes a lot of energy, he says, so he's fairly low-key on his off hours.

"MacHomer" isn't just a physical workout but a vocal one too. Miller taught himself the voices using a homemade audiocassette of "Simpsons" episodes that he listened to over and over in his car. Today, the 50-plus "MacHomer" voices include those of everyone from George W. Bush to Kermit the Frog, with Lisa and Bart relegated to short cameos.

There's a reason for that. Women voice both of those characters, and mimicking their higher register is tough on Miller's vocal cords

"It's always a delicate process where I just pray that my voice is in a particular shape that night where I can just reach it for two or three lines, then drop back down to a range that I'm comfortable with. It's my biggest anxiety," he says.

Yet, despite the anxiety and broken teeth, Miller has performed "MacHomer" -- along with runs as Jesus in "Jesus Christ Superstar" and other Canadian productions -- for a decade.

Miller also plays the Messiah in his one-man, multimedia play "Bigger Than Jesus." He recently retired "Into the Ring," an ode to J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" and its fans, created and performed with Dawson Nichols.

What do Jesus, hobbits and Homer have in common?

"I'm interested in the clash. That's where a lot of art is found," Miller says as he dissects an omelet. "I'm interested in the forces that shape society, and pop culture is one of them. Religion is another. I'm thrusting the Simpsons and Shakespeare into this unholy union, and it works."

"MacHomer" started as a fluke, a parlor trick polished while bit-player Miller waited for his entrances as Murderer No. 2 in a Montreal production of "Macbeth." After his rollicking parody of "the Scottish play" at the cast party, Miller's fellow actors encouraged him to develop it.

Eventually, Miller honed Shakespeare's bloody, dark tragedy into bloody, light-hearted comedy.

"This performance is rowdy, somewhat messy," Miller says of the 75-minute play. "I think Shakespeare would have quite enjoyed the spirit of 'MacHomer' because people get excited and yell out, which was what it was like when he performed."

In contrast, Miller was first exposed to Shakespeare in a sterile classroom, then in soft-seated theaters where he sat in quiet confusion.

"Shakespeare would have been more distressed at that than he would have at 'MacHomer,'" Miller says.

Like the "The Simpsons" today, Shakespeare's plays were the equivalent of pop culture, meant to be enjoyed by everyone, the actor says. And for him, it's a natural pairing.

"My goal is not to dumb Shakespeare down . . . but to have it appear through voices people think they own," he says. "To have those same words come through these peoples' voices . . . you end up caring for the Simpsons characters in a way that you would never care for the 'South Park' characters. And I think that's the beauty of the Simpsons -- they can actually touch your heart."

But unlike "Into the Ring," which enjoyed a license from Tolkien Enterprises, "MacHomer" isn't an officially condoned 20th Century Fox spin-off. At the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2000, however, "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening did give Miller his blessing.

"I met the entire cast, and they passed me around like a party trick -- 'Do my voices! Do my voices!'" Miller said.

Miller remembers Groening saying: "I hear your show is really good. Send me a couple tapes, and I'll see what I can do to help you keep doing it."

Despite a couple of attempts to make the show "official," 20th Century Fox has declined to endorse "MacHomer." But the company hasn't shut it down either.

"They've decided to let the show live and die a natural death," Miller says.

But what exactly will be a natural death for "MacHomer" remains to be seen.

"I've been pretty lucky," Miller says. "I've been lucky that the Simpsons have been on the air for 17 years. The curse has not affected me much, and to be honest, 'MacHomer' helps fund the riskier projects I do."

But he knows one thing for sure.

"I'm not going to become a nostalgia Vegas act," he says. "I'll keep doing it for as long as I find it stimulating and the Simpsons are on people's minds."

relder@tribune.com

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