10 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
JOHN
O’HURLEY:
STANDARDS
BEARER
TV and Broadway actor
performs one-man show,
‘A Man with Standards,’
Sept. 8 at Coaster Theatre
By ERICK BENGEL
COAST WEEKEND
J
ohn O’Hurley, the suave showman with the buoyant
baritone known for his work on “Seinfeld,” “Dancing
with the Stars” and the stage musical “Chicago,” is
taking a fresh-off-Broadway trip to the North Coast.
At Cannon Beach’s Coaster Theatre Playhouse on Satur-
day, Sept. 8, O’Hurley performs his one-man show, “A Man
with Standards,” a song-filled look at the wonderful, wacky,
singular moments from his life and career.
O’Hurley recalls his early years as an entertainer — he
once sang for Frank Sinatra at 2:30 in the morning at The
Chairman’s house — and his decades as a TV star. He is per-
haps best known for his role on “Seinfeld” as J. Peterman,
the grandiloquent, style-obsessed boss of Julia Louis-Drey-
fus’ Elaine Benes.
“Standards” carries multiple meanings here: O’Hurley’s
persona is one of an urbane man of fine taste who sets a
high bar for himself, and the songs featured in his show are
old standards from the Great American Songbook — the
soundtrack of his youth.
“I was also lucky enough to grow up around men who
had standards,” he said in an interview with Coast Weekend.
“I grew up in the age of gentlemen, and I like that — and I
try to hang close to the values that my father and his friends
and the men that I grew up around maintained.”
The lyric melodies of Sinatra, Henry Mancini, Anthony
Newley and other midcentury singers have remained with
O’Hurley, “in my head and in my heart,” he said.
RICHIE FAHEY PHOTO
John O’Hurley, star of stage and television.
IF YOU GO
JOHN O’HURLEY,
‘A MAN WITH STANDARDS’
When: 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 8
Where: Coaster Theatre Playhouse, 108 N.
Hemlock St., Cannon Beach
Tickets: Visit coastertheatre.com or call the
theater at 503-436-1242.