2014: What a Year for Cheyenne Jackson

It's been a time of major change for Broadway heartthrob Cheyenne Jackson.

Over the past 18 months, the hunky 39-year-old actor/singer has become sober, divorced longtime partner/husband Monte Lapka and married new beau Jason Landau, and released his first solo CD, "I'm Blue, Skies." Now, to top it all off, his long-delayed film "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks," based on the Broadway play by Richard Alfieri, will finally get a theatrical release on December 12.

"I'm definitely happy to see how it will play in front of audiences," says Jackson. "We've done a few screenings, and I know it's something that older folks and women will definitely love, but I hope it finds a wider audience."

The movie casts Jackson as Michael Minetti, a somewhat embittered 30-year-old gay dance instructor in Florida who is hired to give private dance lessons to elderly widow Lily Harrison (played by Oscar nominee Gena Rowlands). Their relationship, both professional and personal, ends up full of rocky twists and turns before developing into a deep friendship.

"I think their relationship is one of the things that really drew me to the part," admits Jackson. "He thinks he'll be judged by her, because she's a white, older, Christian woman, and he's all set to have her reject him and so he puts his defenses up. But, initially, he does the same thing to her. And what surprised me is that the script ultimately becomes this great love story between this younger guy and this much older woman."

Jackson didn't have much time for preparation, as it happens. "I got a call less than a week before the production began asking if I wanted to star opposite Gena Rowlands and if I could be on a plane to Budapest," he notes. After jumping up and down like a crazy man for 45 seconds, I said yes."

Not surprisingly, Jackson fell in love (platonically, of course) with his celebrated co-star. "The best thing about doing the movie was getting to spend time with a legend like Gena Rowlands," he notes. "First, she is this woman who was in this forefront of independent filmmaking [with her late husband, John Cassavetes]. Second, I got to learn so much about acting and her technique. And I also got to talk to her about so many of her great co-stars like Rock Hudson."

Jackson equally enjoyed spending time off-camera with some of the film's other stars, including EGOT winner Rita Moreno and Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver. "I loved hanging out with Rita on the set; she is so much fun to be around," he notes. "And Jacki is this super-raunchy, really bawdy gal. I knew she had done theater, but I had no idea she was a big musical theater star back in Australia."

The actor is no slouch when it comes to musical theater, having headlined such Broadway musicals as "Xanadu," "Finian's Rainbow," and "All Shook Up," but admits he was a little nervous about the amount of dancing the role of Michael required. "I was definitely concerned. I have rhythm, but I am not someone who has experience with all kinds of dance," he notes. "But our choreographer, Kay Cole, was so patient and so great with me. What I loved is that our characters were learning all these different types of dances (including the tango and the fox trot), we were learning them as well. This film really not only makes me want to do another musical, it even made me want to learn to do a double pirouette. I can do one now. Well, ok, it's a bit wobbly."

Indeed, Jackson says he's keeping on an eye out for future musical theater productions. "I always want to keep my feet in that world, but it's a real time commitment and it would have to be something special to uproot my new family from L.A.," he admits.

However, New Yorkers needn't fear they won't get to see Jackson live and in person soon, since he's making his Caf� Carlyle debut on January 13 for a two-week engagement at the swanky uptown cabaret. "I've been touring a lot the last couple of years with the same show, but I am going to do a brand new one for the Carlyle," he says. "I really have grown to love the idea of doing these one-man shows, and everything that has happened lately -- getting sober, getting divorced and remarried -- will inform my song selections. Musically, you can expect a little bit of everything. I don't want to do one of those acts where it's just a list of songs I've done on stage. What's most important to me is that all the songs make sense in the context of the show."