Todd Levin '05 from NBC's The Sing Off

Q&A with Todd G. Levin by Zoe Marshall '11

Todd G. Levin ’05, a former member of Greenhill’s all-star cast and crew, Singers, and the Improv troupe, will be starring on NBC’s The Sing Off, which premiered Monday, December 6 at 8/7c. The Sing Off is a five-episode holiday event on NBC, featuring a total of ten a cappella groups, competing for a grand prize of $100,000 and a recording contract with Sony Music Group. Todd is a part of The Backbeats, an a cappella group founded in southern California. Judges vote the first four episodes and the general public judges the finale. Though Todd can’t reveal who’s on the finale, he strongly encourages everyone to watch the show. The Evergreen sat down with Todd to get his word on the parts of the show that can be revealed, and how his time in Greenhill Fine Arts is still affecting him today. When did you start performing?
I always liked goofing off with friends, but in terms of singing, I don’t think I ever really did until high school. I’d like to think I was a jolly little kid bouncing around singing for my parents and stuff, but I don’t think that was the case. I remember my sister brought [my singing ability] to my attention while driving to school one day. I’ve always liked music, but I never made it, really. One day in the car she asked why I never sang. So I tried it out. Not bad. After a few more words of encouraged from other people, I went out for the musical my 10th grade year, and got the lead in South Pacific at Greenhill. How did you get on The Sing Off?
I was in an a cappella group at The University of Southern California (USC) called The Trojan Men. There are a handful of groups there. I was sort of in the music scene, but didn’t really know anyone outside my own group. One day, a year after graduation, I was assisting a director on a film set when I got a blind call from a guy named Kenton from another group at USC called The SoCal Vocals. A few of them were on the show last year and they were trying to put together another group and were short a bassist, so they called me. We did three rounds of auditions, and after a ton of lineup changes we ended up finding the best combination of people. It’s weird because it wasn’t something I sought out, it just kind of fell in my lap, but I’m so happy it did. It’s not something I’d really actively pursue, but I’m so glad now that I’m open to interesting opportunities! What will you do with the prize if your group wins?
The $100,000 would be split up between everyone in the group, unless we put it directly into the group itself. I don’t exactly know what I’d do with it. I’d never really thought about it until now [*laughs*]. I just want to see where this goes. We’re a very marketable group of people: we’re a young group of kids with a lot of talent. I guess it could become a career, that is; we would become a professional group, whatever that means. I don’t know how it would sell, but a cappella is getting strangely popular nowadays. I don’t know why. Geek-dome has sort of become the mainstream mentality. I mean, Glee, Harry Potter, comic book movies… It’ll be interesting to see where this style goes. People could potentially buy it [our CD], and really dig it.
I remember you at Greenhill as an actor and improv troupe member. Do you want to be an actor, or would you rather pursue music?
I remember being in Mr. Dobb’s tech shop classes in fifth grade, sneaking into the Upper School improv shows, thinking they were gods. Some of my fondest memories were my days in theatre and improv. But I really want to be a filmmaker. Writing, directing, the works. In the real world it’s hard to pursue the things you really like to do. Those things kind of have to become hobbies. That is, until things like this reality show come along and you have a chance for this to become your job, a career. In terms of acting, I’d love to do that at some point. It’s been a back and forth for me. Should I peddle for auditions? Should I just make a lot of short indie film type things and play the festival circuit? Should I lock myself in a room and come out three years later with schizophrenia and a stack of great scripts? It’s all about getting your foot in a door, and to me it doesn’t matter which door that is. If I had the benefit of choice, well I’d want to do all of 'em. All at once. As for music, it’s something I always appreciated but never created. But ever since high school, singing and jamming on the harmonica with friends at college, being exposed to more and more of it, music has become one of the most important things in my life. Something I’d love to make permanent. What was your favorite part of the process?
Family. My favorite part of the show was the “family”. Let me explain: I didn’t know any of The Backbeats before the show, except for my good friend Eitan from The Trojan Men. When we heard from NBC, we knew before the show started we all needed to get to know each other. So we found a house in a middle-of-nowhere town California, and lived there together for two weeks. At that point, the bonds were very loose, but they were forming. Then, only 2 weeks later, we were shoved into a hotel with a bunch of other groups and had to get to know them too. Over the course of our time together, our bonds grew stronger and we became incredibly close. Right of the bat, everyone [on the show], was so wonderful to each other and just so happy to be there. We worked so very hard, and it made it all the better to work alongside 100 new friends. We created this big family, and even the crew got in on it. We all just hung out. It was like summer camp. The only difference being that every week, the camp got a little smaller. Even after the show, we’ve kept up with each other, constant communication. Everyone wants to keep this feeling alive. I asked the crew if this was normal for other shows, and apparently it’s not. So, family…It was great. Do you watch any shows like America’s Got Talent, American Idol, or Glee?
No. I mostly just watch comedy shows. I don’t watch too much TV. The reality show concept, well, I mean, I know what they are, I’ve seen a few before, but I don’t really like it all that much. I do like competition-based reality shows, though. I’ve watched Top Chef, Project Runway [etc.]. I really like when you’re watching people with real talent do something incredible. It’s not always that way, but when you catch that glimpse, it’s totally worth watching. And that was all over this show [The Sing-Off]. Not every performance can be brilliant, but consistently, throughout the whole show, everyone had his or her time to shine. There wasn’t a weak link in the bunch. What’s a typical filming like? (How long does it take, how long do you all get to prepare each song?)
This is how the week happens: you’re given a selection of songs, choose from what’s been given to you, and then work out the arrangement, designate solos, and start putting it together that same night. Then, you just work as much as you can at it before shoot days. Overall, you get about four days to prepare everything. That includes music rehearsal and choreography. The kicker is that along with perfecting your one or two songs plus choreography, you also have to learn an opening number for each episode, which all of the groups rehearse and perform at the same time. And that can be hard, since it’s a lot like wrangling cattle… then making cows dance. You then have about two days of camera rehearsal and make changes to accommodate camera. You practice all night, get up early the next day to warm up and do it all over again. “Show-days” are a whole other beast. You get up super early to get “camera-ready,” head to the studios, and then wait. There’s lot of this thing called “holding,” which is basically a term for where they put you when you’re not needed. It’s a lot like a holding pen for cattle. Finally you leave holding and head to a series of sound checks and final camera rehearsals. They don’t get to filming until around noon or so, and tapings last until midnight. They run the opening number a few times for camera, then again when the audience gets there. Nick [Lachey, the host] does his opening monologues, and then each group does their thing until the elimination rounds. It’s a really long day of filming. What is your favorite kind of music?
The Blues. However, I lot of different musical styles taste pretty good. I’m a child of rock-n-roll and soul music (or as I like to call it, rock-n-soul music), but I’m a huge fan of funk, jazz, folk, some southern stuff, and a lot of world music. I grew up on my parent’s records and radio stations, so I primarily listen to the old stuff. But thanks to some friends with impeccable taste, I’m beginning to come out of my shell a little bit. Just recently I went to a concert by The Frames… blew my mind. But you can always make the case that a lot of it can be traced all the way back to the blues, and that’s where I find myself headed to more often than not, back to those roots.