When we last caught up with the inspired young theater company Les Freres Corbusier, they were recreating an unforgettable Bible Belt "Hell House" for Halloween at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn. The immersive spectacle, which the audience walked through in small groups guided by the devil, was hilarious and terrifying for all the right reasons. Expect more of their not excessively ironic good humor in their latest big project, an emo rock musical exploration of the life of President Andrew Jackson, called Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. The show, a historical blend of fact and fiction, got great reviews when it was staged in a more modest form as part of The Public Theater's LAB season last spring. Written by Les Freres Corbusier Artistic Director Alex Timbers, with music by Michael Friedman, the production runs through April 25th. (If you're interested, be advised that last year's run quickly sold out.) Last week we had a pleasant chat with Benjamin Walker, who stars in the title role.

So what's Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson about? Well, it's a rock musical about the 7th president of the United States of America. And it's a stylized piece, in terms of, if you imagine the United States is in its infancy when George Washington is president, then by the time Jackson rolls around it's a very adolescent, aggressive country.

How much did you know about Andrew Jackson before you started working on this? Well, actually a lot. I read a couple books, my father is a real American history buff, so I'd actually been to Hermitage estate, Jackson's estate. So I actually knew quite a bit about Andrew Jackson.

Was there anything that surprised you as you were preparing for the role, that you weren't really aware of? Probably the cutting. It was pretty common place at the time to use the medical procedure of blood-letting, but I didn't realize how prevalent it was in Jackson's life and in his marriage to Rachel. They were both cutters; they both did it for medicinal purposes, and I imagine for pleasure. Which also kind of plays into this emo-theme that's very common among the Goth culture and emo culture, to cut yourself, for the pleasure and pain, I hear is very common. That was something that surprised me. You think about the founding fathers in terms of powdered wigs and slaves, you don't think of someone who is kind of a wild and crazy guy, Jackson was a wild and crazy guy for sure.

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Joan Marcus

Has your impression of Jackson changed since you've done the play? Well, at first glance Jackson can very easily be vilified, and I don't in any way support his behavior and the genocide of a people. But I would have to say it was a very complicated time in America, so my impression of the time has changed as far as what frontier life might have been like, how aggressive the American people were. It's very easy to say, "He shouldn't have done that," or "He should have done this," but one thing I like about the play and the more we do it, is how you have to appreciate how complicated that time in America was, for him and for the American people and for the Native Americans. So the more I do it, the more fascinating it is.

How historically accurate is the play? That's one great thing about the play. We've taken some freedom to move some aspects of history around, so you're not sitting for a four hour play. But a lot of the play is historically accurate. The election, his marriage with Rachel, the accusations of bigamy, and Rachel's death, the big aspects of Jackson's life are in the play. But of course we cartoonize, if that can be a word, his life, or make it palatable so it's not like watching a documentary or reading a history book, it's palatable and exciting, which American history can be, but set it to rock music and it gets a lot easier to enjoy.

Have any school groups come to see the show? Yeah, in Los Angeles they came in for a 10:30 show in the morning, kind of the least conducive time to do musical theater. But they ate it up; it was so gratifying, because it's their kind of music, it's their sentiments and their sense of humor, and also it's gratifying to see the spark of their interest in politics, to see them become interested in politics because of the show, or to see their opinions become fervent because they're seeing this pagaent that we've put on.

Beyond creating the role, did you have any other collaborative participation? Or is the script just performed as originally written? Well, that's the great thing about our writer/director Alex Timbers, and our composer Michael Friedman; the show is definitely been developed as we went along. They started with a strong structure, strong perspective, and then as we've delved deeper into who Jackson was, and who we were as the performers and as an ensemble, the piece kind of blossomed on its own. So I think it's been a happy marriage of the two, of seeing what it's like when we do it, and also what they brought to the table. But every performer now is bringing something new to the table, and what's great about this team is everybody's open to everyone else's interpretation and strength.

Has the show changed much since it was at Public Theater last year? It hasn't changed an exorbitant amount since last year. We're fine-tuning the third section, and they're tweaking small things here and there, but I think we have a strong show at this point, now it's time just get people in to see it.

Did I hear you say it's four hours long? No no no no no. You asked me if it was historically accurate, and if it were to be historically accurate, it would be four hours long. So thank god it's not four hours long!

How long is it approximately? It's a tight 90 minutes, maybe two hours tops, if I really milk it.

In the Times review, Ben Brantley called you "lean and mean." Is that something people often describe you as, or is that the character coming through? He called me "lean and mean"?

He did. I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not. Maybe he's saying I need to eat something and be nicer? I think Jackson, we can make sense because Jackson was very direct, he didn't beat around the bush about his feelings and about what he thought should be done, and he's aggressive. So "lean and mean" definitely applies to Andrew Jackson. How it applies to me as a performer, I haven't the slightest idea if that's a compliment or not, but I'll take it as such.

Yeah, I think it was meant as a compliment, because further down in the review he says some very complimentary things which I wont burden you with. Compliments are such a burden.