West End and film star Adam Garcia has revealed what really annoys him at the theatre – and it's not phones. The Australian star, 53, says crisp and sweet packets are far more distracting than audience members using their smartphones.
Speaking ahead of his upcoming tour of Emerald Sunshine, Garcia admitted he welcomes crowds to use their phones, but only at the end of the performance. However, the noise of snack packaging during a show is something he cannot ignore.
What distracts Adam Garcia most?
"Do you know what I find the most distracting? Crisp and sweet packets," Garcia told the Mirror. He added: "I know the theatres sell them because it's part of the concession. I stared at a person in the front row last night who was eating something for a full 20 minutes."
Garcia, currently touring in The Bodyguard, noted that during quiet moments, the sound of packets is unavoidable. "It's like a baby's cry, you can't not hear a crisp packet, but people are very oblivious to it. The theatres insist on selling them," he said.
He recounted a recent performance where a woman squeezed a plastic bottle for a drink but was so absorbed in the show she didn't realise how loud she was – or that people were looking at her.
Starring in his own production for the first time
Garcia originally produced Emerald Storm but has never starred in it – until now. When the original lead male took on another contract, Garcia leapt at the chance to take on five weeks as the star. "I'm really excited to get to dance something that I created," he said, adding: "I don't often get to publicly do my own stuff."
Fans will know Garcia as the mastermind choreographer behind Sky's Got To Dance. He hasn't tap danced since 2012, but he's been teaching younger cast members over the years. "It'll be interesting," he laughed, but he's excited to get back into tap dancing fully.
Garcia says performing gets easier as he's now "better" at preparing himself for the stage. Rather than taking on someone else's choreography, he's more comfortable dancing his own routines and feels "pleasure" immediately afterwards.
About The Bodyguard and his career
While touring with The Bodyguard, playing Frank Farmer, Garcia refused to watch the movie beforehand. "I have my own concept of what he [Kevin Costner] did, but essentially no memory of the exactness," he admitted. He's stepping into "big shoes", but the show is "different" in that he can put his own spin on the former U.S. Secret Service agent hired to protect Rachel Marron.
Speaking of theatre shows, Garcia says the production has to "answer questions and solve the problems", which The Bodyguard "does well". "I think it changes things up, making it its own theatrical experience," he added.
Having launched his career in 1997, Garcia's fondest memory is arriving in the UK from Australia and heading to the West End. He hadn't anticipated becoming a professional performer, but he was touring with Hot Shoe Shuffle and was invited to perform in London.
He commented: "I never really thought about the scale of London theatre, we did six months doing the show, and just walking around the West End and seeing the names on the on the on the billboards and going to the National and just the the incredible theatrical community that was enmeshed inside London's West End, I was like, 'If I ever get to be part of that community,' I've never had an ambition, but that's my ambition."
In 2000, Garcia was catapulted to global fame playing Kevin O'Donnell in Coyote Ugly. He could never have imagined the legacy it would have over a quarter of a century later. "Maybe Jerry Bruckheimer [producer], who's done a few of those, had an idea," he said, adding that the film still resonates with audiences, which is "quite rare".
"Everyone has their handful of films that they'll always watch, and for Coyote Ugly to be a significant number of people's sort of go-to thing is amazing," he said. At the time, Garcia and the likes of Piper Perabo had worked much. "We had a really great time filming, I'm still dear friends with a lot of the cast," he said.
Garcia added: "I'm not sure if that's the reason why it worked, because there was really good chemistry between people. But, you know, as I said, Jerry Bruckheimer has a pretty outstanding track record, and uh, and he wanted to make a Flashdance for that era, and he kind of, I think, even surpassed Flashdance."
Adam Garcia's Emerald Storm, starring Adam and Tom Ball, hits the road on August 30, and tickets are available now.
