Fourteen years after retiring from football, former Dallas Cowboy Eddie George is again appearing in front of cheering crowds, only this time on an entirely different stage.
George, who played one season for Dallas at the end of a career that included a Heisman Trophy at Ohio State and a Super Bowl appearance with the Tennessee Titans, has become a theater star.
He's appearing as the fast-talking Billy Flynn in the national tour of Chicago, presented by AT&T Performing Arts Center, Dec. 18-23 at Winspear Opera House.He played the part on Broadway in 2016, inspiring new respect from those who didn't anticipate how well the 6-foot-3 athlete could handle a song-and-dance role in the long-running John Kander and Fred Ebb musical.
For George, however, the focus he brings to the stage is not that different from what he brought to the football field.
"I'm always relying on what I've done over my playing to career to what I do as an actor," he says on the phone from his home in Nashville. "You have to constantly stay engaged. The moment you are not present, you can get hurt or miss a play."
It wasn't until George retired from football that he began to think of acting as a new career. It was a time in his life when he didn't know what he wanted to do next, he says.
"It allowed me to take the frustration of being relatively young and having the rest of my life ahead of me, of wanting to be in a team-like atmosphere and be in the spotlight again. I wanted to be part of something that would take a lot of emotion and energy and focus. I put that into the character I played and I fell in love."
At first he was, by his own admission, "terrible." In fact, in his very first show, which was for a community theater in Nashville in 2006.
"I panicked and almost left the theater, I was so nervous," he says, noting that he forgot his lines and started making things up. "It was the worst performance I ever had. It felt like bungee-jumping."
But he stuck it out and resolved to get better. He took lessons. He studied. He practiced. He began putting in time on stage, performing in works by Lorraine Hansberry, Suzan-Lori Parks, Matthew Lopez and William Shakespeare. Then, the opportunity for Chicago came along on Broadway and now on tour.
While the characters in Chicago may get away with things because they're famous, George takes pride in having earned his place on the stage. He likens it to the work he had to put into becoming a successful athlete.
"You've got to spend time on the playbook. You've got to practice and practice and practice and, if something breaks down, you have to improvise."
At least one person in the Cowboys organization sees George's segue to the stage as a natural development: Jerry Jones, the team's owner.
"It comes as no surprise to me that Eddie has found success in his theatrical career after football," Jones writes in an email forwarded by the Cowboys' front office. "Although he was only with the Cowboys for a short time, we were always impressed with his presence as a player and a very impressive person with a variety of talents. He is ambitious, creative and has unique skills that would allow him to be a success in any pursuit that he would follow. I have no doubt he will be a great success on the stage."
As with football, acting has become "a calling" for him, George says. "I've learned to trust the words and the work, to find the character, to have him grow and tell a story."
When it all comes together, it brings back that rush of glory he remembers playing not only for the Cowboys, but for the Houston Oilers, which later became the Tennessee Titans, including scoring two touchdowns for the Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV.
"When we come out for the curtain call and have a standing ovation, that is a great feeling," he says. "It's like scoring a winning touchdown. It's like every night is the Super Bowl."
Details
Dec. 18-23. AT&T Performing Arts Center at Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora St. $-$. attpac.org
