On the “wounded” side of Freddie, “Pity the Child” is an incredibly vocally challenging and emotional number. When you’re performing it, are you thinking technically, or are you fully in the moment?

Aaron: That’s a great question. I think it depends on the day. My hope is, especially with singing, that I’ve done enough work prior to the rehearsal process. I try to do a lot of the technical singing navigation before I even step into the room. Sometimes, if you’re worried about the singing, you can’t focus on the scene work as much — so I try to do all that beforehand.

That being said, it’s not a perfect world. We do eight shows a week, and it’s really hard. There are definitely nights, like this past weekend, when it got warm, and everything bloomed, and my allergies were just insane. You’re trying to figure out how to navigate all of that, and that’s what happens when you’re doing a long run of the show. 

So there are shows like that where you’re definitely thinking, “Okay, where am I placing this? How am I going to sing this?” There’s almost a “split-brain” thing that happens. Part of your brain is thinking technically, while another part is focused on the scene. 

With “Pity the Child” in particular, I knew the song and had been familiar with it, but I didn’t fully understand what it was about until working on this production. It’s really Freddie being forced to look inside himself for the first time.

It’s a very fascinating thing to be discovering all of that with the audience in that moment. It’s an amazing thing in the theater when you get to be alone on stage with the audience. I try to make eye contact with people during that number, and it feels like I’m really speaking to them. 

It’s the hardest song I’ve ever sung, but also one of the most fun things I’ve ever gotten to do.