Photo Credit: Bjoern Kommerell

This week on General Hospital, Valentin Cassadine (James Patrick Stuart) is back in Port Charles much to the surprise of Nina (Michelle Stafford), Anna (Finola Hughes), Dante and Lulu Falconeri (Dominic Zamprona and Emme Rylan) and Laura (Genie Francis).

According to Valentine’s explanation of the turn of events from thinking he was toast, thanks to the WSB and his involvement with the chimera debacle, he was now able to return home to the woman and daughter he loves, because the charges against him were dropped. Why, you may ask?  Well, in the twist in the story the agency wanted to avoid unwanted attention, and to top it off Alex Devane, twin sis of Anna’s, provided no testimony so everything against him was deemed “circumstantial.” Now a free man, Valentin wants to win back everything he has may have lost including with Nina, whom when he returned revealed that they are divorced.  In the months to come, how will Valentin out maneuver those he wants in his life, and those he wants shut out of it?

On-Air On-Soaps chatted with James Patrick Stuart who has been delivering top-notch performances as the complex Cassadine that have made the audience, who once may have viewed the character as another possible one note soapy villain, to a fascinating man full of love, insecurity, and revenge.  Only in the hands of a major talent like James, could a part like this be fully realized. Let’s face it, daytime fans knew Mr. Stuart had the chops way back when on All My Children, whereas Will Cortlandt he terrorized the town of Pine Valley. That role has left its indelible mark in daytime drama history, as we feel certain that so too will his portrayal of Valentin Cassadine.

From that emotional and electrifying musical performance at the Nurses’ Ball, to those heartbreaking goodbye scenes with his on-screen daughter Charlotte (Scarlett Fernandez), to taking the stage with some of the greatest women in soaps of all-time, Stafford, Hughes and Francis and more, James Patrick Stuart fills us on what went down behind the scenes during some of his most memorable work on GH thus far, as he celebrates his one-year anniversary with the ABC daytime drama series, and more.  Candid, funny-as- all-get-out, charming and intelligent are just some of the words we would use to describe JPS from our interview, and we think you will feel the same.  Here’s what he shared.

Let’s go back to that unforgettable performance of yours at the Nurses’ Ball.  How did this all go down?  How did you end up singing Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes”?  It was the perfect song for the moment between Valentin and Nina.  Did you even know what the Nurses’ Ball was at the point?  (Laughs) 

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JAMES:  I did.  I heard there was some ass shaking at the Nurses’ Ball, and much more than that.  (Laughs)  I got that call that usually means you’re fired and it said, “James can you come to Frank’s (Valentini) office?”  So, I walk in there and there’s Frank with our musical director, Paul Glass, and he says, “You’re going to do the Nurses Ball, OK?”  He goes, “Well, you’re going to sing a song.  Will you sing one of your dad’s songs (Chad Stuart of Chad and Jeremy fame)?”  I said, “My dad’s songs are pretty expensive, but, I will do it, and you caught me at an interesting time where I am trying to say ‘yes’ to the universe.”  And he goes, “Jesus!  Don’t go all Oprah on me!” (Laughs)   I said, “Let me think.”  Then he goes, “What about something Eric Clapton? You Look Wonderful Tonight … that would be good, because you are trying to win Nina back!”  Then, I remember I was driving home on the freeway, and I remember I had learned a Billy Joel tune years ago.  I thought, “Well, that’s perfect!”  It has to be a piano song.  It has to be a song that is absolutely saying “being vulnerable in front of you is the hardest thing in the world, because you mean more to me than anything ever has.” I thought that’s man, that’s woman, and certainly Valentin and Nina.  So, I went to Frank and said, “I’m really scared, because I really think this will be unbelievably expensive to clear, and to get the rights to do it.”   He goes, “You’re worth it.”  I figured at that point he was letting me know he’s got my back, and so I took a big step and said let’s see what happens.  I thought the payoff of it was great.  Larry Carpenter, our director, did such a great job at setting the scene up so beautifully, visually.

Did everyone in the cast realize that you sang?

Photo Credit: Bjoern Kommerell

JAMES:  I think Frank had a suspicion I could sing, and with auto tune these days anyone can sing, but that’s not my world.  I come from a musical background.  Frank said, “Wow!  You can really do his!”  So, my performance was not auto-tuned, in fact it was live.  I had recorded a version that I was fully prepared to lip-sync to.  But Paul Glass was really insistent and he said, “Great, but I am going to record you, anyway.”  So, the recording that actually made air was our live performance of the song.  That was a nice little reward, and I certainly was not expecting that.

Michelle Stafford wrote on a post that I put up on social media praising your performance, that she would have run up on stage because you were that good, if she could have been her in the scene and not Nina.  That is how much respect she had for your work, and that emotional performance.   And, she was so terrific too in those scenes!

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JAMES:  She is so dear.  I remember watching tennis growing up and wishing I would have a doubles partner, which I still don’t, but I do have Michelle Stafford.  That is what it’s like to have someone in the foxhole with you that totally has your back.  We have very similar sensibilities; both comedically and dramatically. We anticipate each other a lot.  When I showed up and sang and played, I did not know what she was going to do, but I should have known right away that she was going to match it.  It was going to be still … and it was going to be heart-wrenching.  And of course, when I saw it back I was going, “Michelle matched me note for note.”   Maybe nobody will have picked up on it, but on some level they did, and I just loved Michelle for it.

When were you in the loop as James that it wasn’t Anna, but her twin Alex, who he had been involved with and been duped by?

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JAMES:  I did not know as early as Finola did.  The way things work behind the scenes; there are meetings that one can have with the top, and where you are sworn to secrecy.  I remember there was a day when Finola comes into Wyndemere.  I am just not bright enough to realize that she is wearing a color Anna would never wear, and I am not bright enough to go beyond “Whoa!  Finola! You look really hot!” (Laughs)  Weeks later she said to me, “Well, I was being Alex and I just was not allowed to tell you.”  So, I was sort of in the dark too at that moment, which is fine, because Valentin did not need to know that.  I remember the day when we all found out in the episode, and it all came crashing down at one time.  Valentin had to learn it, and buy it, in all of one or two scenes, instead of assuming Anna is just lying to get out of some trouble.  He had to absolutely believe it.  I remember Finola helped me out here, because she said, “There’s times when you really have to break the glass and just go full soap.  You just have to commit to it, and get into it, and stop questioning it and just go, ‘OK, this may be the soapiest thing yet, but let’s just buy it, let’s just go 100 percent with it, and don’t question it, and don’t undermine it.’   Frankly, I thought those scenes were great … the scenes where Finola is explaining that the Alex character had pulled the wool over Valentin’s eyes the whole time.

I thought those scenes were great, too!

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JAMES:  I am so grateful that Finola was there, because otherwise I could see myself going, “Frank! Can we change this?  Is there a way we can do this or this?” (Laughs) Instead, she just told me that it’s time to break the glass and go ‘full soap’! (Laughs)

You kind of, in this wonderful way, lucked out when you landed at GH.  You got put into story with Finola Hughes and Michelle Stafford  … you couldn’t ask for better scene partners. 

JAMES:  I mean ‘lucked out” is right, but I won the lottery!  I mean one of them alone would be amazing, but the two of them together is just crazy and wonderful.

How does Valentin feel now about Anna? 

JAMES:  That’s a valid question.  There is a line in the song called “The Book of Life” where it says, “There’s a chapter on love where the inks never dry.”  So, I think whatever he has with Anna is sort of in limbo, and in check, because his survival, his freedom, and his relationship with Nina is the greatest he has ever known, but again if he were to look at Anna too much, or for too long, then those feelings come rushing back again.  He can’t un-feel that.  She’s there, she was the first, and those wires are always going to have a current running through them.  So, at the moment he is just trying to avoid her so he can put a good life together with Nina, who is the woman he truly loves, and that he knows he can make something work with, and that he can make a family with. 

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What does Valentin think of Alexandra Devane now that all is said and done … or is it really said and done?  (Laughs)

JAMES:  That is the thing, isn’t it?   The last time we saw them together he despises her.  Valentin absolutely hates the fact that that she manipulated and trashed his life, and then the last thing she says is, “Don’t forget.  It was never Anna, it was always me.”  Then she leaves, and I think that was a great bit of dialogue, and a nice tidbit to leave one thinking about.  He is satisfied that she is the enemy in the story, but Alex knows she is the one that can sort of push the button.

We saw Valentin make a heartfelt call to Nina when he was thinking it was the end of the line for him.  What was going on at that point in his mind? 

JAMES:  I think he was genuinely convinced that the WSB wanted to make this all go away so they don’t have to have a trial, or the publicity that can come out of it, and the fact that the chimera existed can actually be swept under the rug, but the only way is if he is out of the United States and to make him disappear.  He was also frightened enough to believe that they were going to take him out for a meeting somewhere, and he was never going to come back.  He probably shouldn’t have made that phone call, but he wanted to hear Nina’s voice one more time, and then he’s convinced he had made peace with his maker and he was going to be killed.  

He was in actuality just trying to say his goodbyes to Nina.

JAMES:  It probably would have been more human to not make the phone call at all, but he was sort of at one of the most vulnerable times in his adult life.  He didn’t expect to care that much about Nina.  He really just wanted to hear her voice one more time.

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This character of Valentin is so brilliant: he is tragic, and mean, and has numerous shades and characteristics to him.  I was struck by that at the beginning of his time on the show that in the flashbacks he was disfigured, or as I like to call it, had the “Elephant Man syndrome.”   Was that difficult for you as an actor to try and figure out how you were going to make that work on-screen? 

JAMES:  I think that it all kind of evolved to a point where everybody was trying to explain as to why he had created this persona for himself.  He can wow a room, he can play music, and he can quote Shakespeare, and do all of this stuff.  The truth of the matter is that it is all built on the foundation of a broken child, and what I love about it is that he can’t ever truly shake that deep inside him.  He is still envious of people who have a stronger foundation, and who have had the real childhood, and who know what it’s like to have a first love of a mom and a dad.  Valentin didn’t have any of that stuff, and he has never really made peace with that.  He still has a chip on his shoulder.  He is still ticked-off.  That is one of the reasons he wanted to take everything as revenge of what Nikolas had.  He wanted it all.  He wanted to make him pay.  I think what is great about the character is that even little Spencer Cassadine (Nicolas Bechtel) can trip over a wire, and activate something that isn’t finished in Valentin, and viewers are going to be like, “Oh, my God!  But, he’s a kid!” Valentin has some issues that he really hasn’t put to bed yet! (Laughs)  I think what’s so great is that the writers get that.

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When Valentin looks at himself in the mirror, and when he sees the reflection back, does he still see this mangled man … or does he see this good-looking dude?  Many of us when we look in the mirror see our old selves instead of what is currently in front of us, and carry that emotional baggage with us throughout our lives.

JAMES:  I think that’s a savvy question.  I think he does appreciate how he has been able to make himself over, as well as the people who helped him do it.  He calls them “geniuses”.  I think in the wrong moment when things don’t go right, he is no stranger to falling back to “I am not the person you see before you”, which in turn makes him insecure, which is why he is the bastard in the first place.  I think that is the motivation of the bastard, in that he doesn’t feel like it went right for him, and so everything is tenuous at best.

What mother do you think should actually raise Charlotte from this point out?

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JAMES:  There is no question that Nina would be the right mother, and she and Valentin and Charlotte would make this family. Lulu (Emme Rylan) is a nice enough person, and everything, but she doesn’t make life easy! (Laughs)  Isn’t Emme great!  I am so happy she just had her baby, but isn’t it funny how they tried to hide her belly for so long, and then out of nowhere they just stopped!  (Laughs)  When we were in the cabin scenes, and she comes running in and sees Charlotte.  She could barely move, and she is wearing four-inch heels, and it was all I could do to stop from rolling on the floor! (Laughs) 

It must have been awful for Valentin to leave Charlotte behind when he had to go on the run.

JAMES:  Those scenes were wonderful for me to play as a performer, but devastating for Valentin.  Charlotte was the whole motivation, and whole reason he came to town, and then to have to say goodbye and sort of face the idea that she would never be seen again by him, and that she would be raised by people without his influence, it was devastating.  What was awesome, because he loves her so much, is that he wasn’t going to show that to her. That was what was so tragic about it, in that he loves her so much that he is not going to show how much this hurts him. 

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Valentin shot Nikolas!  Let’s not forget!   How can he ever come back from that?  I loved the scene when you first came on to the canvas, after Valentin killed Nikolas on Cassadine Island, and Genie Francis as Laura rails at Valentin for murdering her son!  She was so phenomenal spewing venom … and Valentin just had to stand there and take it. What was that like on the other side of it as Genie was delivering that masterful performance? 

JAMES:  First of all, I am stoked that you remembered that.  I remember that vividly.   I will never forget that scene.  I have known Genie along time and I definitely consider her a friend.  Genie lent total authenticity to it, and sold it 100%, and I told her that afterwards.  I mean, I let her calm down first (laughs), but I said, “I get it, because what you have done is taken a situation that doesn’t exist, but if it did, this is what it would look like.”  So yes, when I am standing there and she is doing her part, I was no longer Valentin.  I was an audience.  I was with you watching Laura, and I was just floored by it.

You get to play a character that is a catalyst for things to happen, and they needed that on GH.   Did you think this run on GH would have lasted as long as it has? 

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JAMES:  No, I didn’t.  I must say, the longer I am here the more respect I have for Frank.  I know it sounds like you are kissing your boss’ ass, but the fact is he thought of me for this, because I would have never thought of me for this.  But then in the back of my brain, I always wanted to go back and patch up the way I left it.  What I mean by that is; when I left All My Children it was sort of this big send-off, and Felicia Behr (Ex-EP, AMC) and Agnes Nixon (Creator, AMC) didn’t just can me, they gave me a great storyline, which was actually very, very flattering to me.  As I left, Agnes said to me, “Thank you very much.  You gave us one of the greatest storylines we have had this year, and we are very, very grateful to you.”  So, it was nice.  But I hadn’t really put certain issues to bed for me.  I had been so selfish.  I had been caught up in thinking, “I’m better than this.  I need a primetime show, and I need a movie career.”  I love that I have been able to come back, and now say “I’m really satisfied being part of a team trying to make something work for this team,” and that is where I am getting my satisfaction.  Right now, this is where I am in this chapter of my life.  Frank told me, “I remember when they wrote you off of All My Children.  I was floored and I was working over at One Life to Live.”  He goes, “You had built this incredible character, and they just kicked him to the curb.”   So then years later, Frank is thinking along the lines of, “I know! Let’s see if James is available and if he will come over to GH and see if he is willing to play Valentin!”  I thought when I came on to GH it was just going to be a summer fling, but I just celebrated my one-year anniversary with the show.  I think you’re right, Valentin is a catalyst.  I think Frank realizes that at this point of my life I want to be here.  I try to bring donuts in to work in the morning.  I’m at a point in my life where I think he likes having me around.  I know it’s not forever.  One day, my ticket will be up.  We all don’t get to be Luke (Anthony Geary) and Laura, but for right now I am where I want to be, and everybody seems to be happy having me there, which is so nice. 

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What can you tease for Valentin in the future?

JAMES:  He is luckier than he deserves.  He makes his own luck.  He is also very tenacious; I truly believe Nina will get to the point where it might be tough for her, where she can’t run away, because he is not going to stop chasing her.  She is firmly in his sights, and that is what he wants.  I think that they are good together. I think that Michelle and James are good together, and I think that comes across on-stage, and I think they will write for that.

If Nikolas would come back, and be revealed to be alive, what would Valentin do then?

JAMES:  Oh, my God!  Such a great question!  I really do look forward to answering that question.  I really hope it happens!  Wouldn’t it be great?  I think it would be so great.

What have you thought of James in the role of Valentin Cassadine? What has been your favorite scenes featuring him?  Do you hope Nina and Valentin, and Charlotte become one big happy family?  Do you think Anna and Valentin might still become a romantic duo? Share your thoughts on the interview in the comment section below.