MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Every week, a guest draws a card from NPR's Wild Card deck and answers a big question about their life. Orville Peck is a country music singer who is known for keeping some secrets. Orville Peck is actually a stage name, and he has always performed in a mask. That is until now when he's bearing his face for the first time as the Emcee in "Cabaret" on Broadway.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
ORVILLE PECK: I've actually been able to accomplish a lot of my dreams, which is incredible to say. But this one, in particular, playing the Emcee in "Cabaret" on Broadway, that exact specific scenario has been a lifelong dream.
KELLY: On this week's Wild Card, Orville Peck let the mask down a little more with host Rachel Martin. He talked about hitting pause on his career to get sober.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
RACHEL MARTIN: What do you feel like you're constantly chasing?
PECK: I think I was chasing acceptance my whole life. But I have really worked on not needing to chase that any longer.
MARTIN: Yeah.
PECK: And I think that comes with probably age. You know, I think it comes with the fact that I've pretty successfully killed all my impostor syndrome at this point (laughter).
MARTIN: Whoa, man...
PECK: I think Broadway was, like...
MARTIN: ...Bottle up that solution and sell it.
PECK: ...The last stab.
(LAUGHTER)
PECK: And also, you know, like...
MARTIN: You've made it, Orville Peck.
PECK: No, literally.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
PECK: But also, you know, like, I got sober a couple of years ago. There's, like, a lot of things in my life that I have worked on over the last two or three years where I'm just really - I'm just really happy with myself.
MARTIN: Yeah. Congratulations on your sobriety.
PECK: Thank you. Thank you.
MARTIN: Can you tell me how you came to that realization that you just - it's hard after a lifetime of a habit...
PECK: Oh, yeah.
MARTIN: ...To say, I'm going to do something different today.
PECK: No, absolutely. You know, it was - just being in the industry I'm in, obviously, drinking is - and drugs and things are just - it's very normalized.
MARTIN: Yeah.
PECK: And it's a part of nightlife. It's a part of - you know, like, I don't think I ever played a show in my life without at least a sip of beer or whatever, you know?
MARTIN: Yeah.
PECK: Like, and so it's just part of it. So there was that normalization. And then, you know, the big moments for me sort of were over a few years. I was in a really terrible relationship that was, you know, pretty abusive and very difficult. And that is when I really ramped up my drinking to cope with that. Pandemic hit...
MARTIN: Yeah.
PECK: ...Kind of amplified that situation and amplified my drinking. And then, cut to a couple years go by and then, you know, I had, like, a pretty definitive moment where I had to basically lose my career for a moment while I went and got help and sober. And it was just a very defining moment where I was like, man, like, this is taking everything I love away from my life.
MARTIN: Yeah.
PECK: And so for me, I never feel tempted to drink or to relapse personally because I'm so grateful for the things I have in my life, and I know that, for me, drinking takes that away from me.
KELLY: You can watch that full conversation by following Wild Card with Rachel Martin on YouTube. You can see Orville Peck on Broadway now as the Emcee in "Cabaret."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ROSES ARE FALLING")
PECK: (Singing) Back on the run, back to the blue. Winning is fun, losing is too. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.