The State News: How has your experience with the show been so far?

James Ludwig: It’s been a blast. I don’t know the way that this sort of staging is realized, the animals are human beings dressed as dogs, and all the humans are wearing 15-foot painter stilts.

SN: How do the dog and human actors interact?

JL: The book is told in a dog’s point of view, and the musical is based on the book. The dogs think the humans are their pets and the humans are monstrous in size.

The perspective done in staging is entirely blown out, so it’s as if the dogs are really seeing humans. Just as in real life for dogs, which is why the human actors are on stilts.

SN: So is this more of a children’s show?

JL: It’s not a children’s show; it’s very much a family show. When I first read the script I thought, ‘Man, these jokes are aimed right at the parents, and there’s some really fun writing that’s not for kids at all,’ which is interesting for us to do and I think parents are taken aback.

SN: With your television (including All My Children, Chappelle’s Show and One Life To Live) and theater experience, which do you prefer?

JL: Being on screen allows you to work in a very different way than you can in theater. If I went on stage and whispered, nobody would listen and my performance wouldn’t get past second row.

But in television you can do that and it’s very powerful because there’s a microphone that allows you to work in a quieter way; but the downside is there’s no feedback and the camera isn’t responding. In terms of instant gratification, theater wins by far because you can feel the audience with you and on television your audience is crew members.

SN: How did you first get into theatre?

JL: I grew up in the (Upper Peninsula) in a town called Iron River, on the west side of the state. In my community, the arts programs were cut overnight, so through most of high school there was very little musical experience.

SN: Are you happy to be coming back to your home state?

JL: I’m thankful to be working and coming back to Michigan. I feel for Michigan, and it’s a state that could use some love right now, and even though I’ve lived in New York City for 18 years now, I will always consider myself a Michigander, and Yooper at that.