NY Times: Broadway Actors Who Are Bracing For The Final Curtain
NY Times: Broadway Actors Who Are Bracing For The Final Curtain
#1NY Times: Broadway Actors Who Are Bracing For The Final Curtain
Posted: 12/30/10 at 6:44am
There is an interesting article in the New York Times about actors who are dealing with the imminent closing of their shows. It was written by Erik Piepenburg. from RC in Austin, Texas
In the theater every closing night stirs up a bevy of feelings: sadness, elation, relief, anxiety. Those and many other emotions will be running high across Broadway soon, as 15 productions — almost half the shows currently playing — are scheduled to go dark by the end of January. (Reasons for the mass exodus vary; some shows are closing because of sagging ticket sales, others are finishing limited engagements.)
Jennifer S. Altman for The New York Times
Benjamin Walker at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater, where he is appearing in “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.”
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Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times
Jill Vallery on the set of “Fela!” at the Eugene O’Neill Theater.
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Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times
George Akram at the Palace Theater, where he is playing Bernardo in “West Side Story.”
For actors who have been with their shows for several years, from workshops to Broadway, closing-night tears often sting more sharply. Playing the same character eight shows a week will do that to a person. Five actors spoke about saying goodbye to their characters and what will happen after the curtains come down.
Benjamin Walker
‘Bloody ‘Bloody Andrew Jackson’
Opened on Broadway
Oct. 13, 2010
Closes Jan. 2, 2011
In Show Since 2007
The political has become personal for Benjamin Walker, who has played America’s seventh president since a 2007 workshop of “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” in New York. “Doing and learning about Andrew Jackson has forced me to look at politics a different way,” he said. “I have a sharper, if not more attentive civic ear.”
A positive byproduct of Mr. Walker’s physically demanding rock star role is that it’s given him a rock star body (although he said his voice has taken a beating). One thing he won’t miss is having to strut across what he called a “treacherous” set filled with flea-market furniture and a band.
“Everybody’s getting hurt on the set,” he said with a laugh. “It keeps it exciting.”
Mr. Walker turned down a substantial role in a forthcoming “X-Men” movie to appear on Broadway, a decision he said he would have regretted not making. He said he would like to return to the theater but had no specific projects in the works.
His predictions for closing night were sanguine. “I hope the sadness doesn’t color the satisfaction,” he said. “I actually anticipate a long celebration.”
Jill Vallery
‘Fela!’
Opened on Broadway
Nov. 23, 2009
Closes Jan. 2, 2011
In Show Since 2007
The first thing Jill Vallery is going to do when the curtain comes down on “Fela!” is sleep. “I told my boyfriend, ‘Don’t get mad if don’t leave the house,’ ” she said. “He said, ‘No problem.’ ”
Ms. Vallery auditioned for the show in 2006 and has been with the production, first as a dancer and now as the dance captain, since a workshop in 2007. Performing Bill T. Jones’s African-inspired choreography every night is physically taxing. But built into the moves is room for improvisation, which Ms. Vallery said keeps each performance fresh.
“There are areas where the dancer is able to express their own personal vibe, their own essence,” she explained. “It’s new to me every time.”
The farewell to “Fela!” won’t last long. Ms. Vallery is scheduled to join the show’s national tour when it begins next year.
Adam Chanler-Berat
‘Next to Normal’
Opened on Broadway
April 15, 2009
Closes Jan. 16, 2011
In Show Since 2007
Like the dysfunctional family in the musical “Next to Normal,” Adam Chanler-Berat is going through a grieving process.
“It’s like losing a friend, like breaking up with someone,” he said during an interview at the Booth Theater, where the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical will close in a few weeks, after a lengthy run that surprised many Broadway watchers, given the show’s difficult subject matter, mental illness.
Mr. Chanler-Berat first played Henry, the understanding stoner boyfriend of the show’s troubled teenage girl, Natalie, in a 2007 workshop Off Broadway at the Second Stage Theater; he reprised the role when the show opened there in 2008. He moved with it to Arena Stage in Washington later that year, and again to the Booth when it transferred to Broadway in 2009. He’s the only cast member in the Broadway production to have been with the show since the start.
He’s already considering how to ease the pain of closing night.
“I think about how drunk am I going to be,” he said. There won’t be much time for Mr. Chanler-Berat to rest, though. He begins rehearsals next month for the new show “Peter and the Starcatcher” at New York Theater Workshop.
George Akram
‘West Side Story’
Opened on Broadway
March 19, 2009
Closes Jan. 2, 2011
In Show Since 2008
“My body’s really happy it’s over,” said George Akram, who plays Bernardo, Maria’s protective brother, in the Broadway revival of “West Side Story.” “It’s such a physical show — the dancing, the fights. You risk getting hurt, but I was willing to do it because I love the show so much.”
Mr. Akram has been with the show since it opened at the National Theater in Washington in 2008. For closing night at the Palace Theater, where he made his Broadway debut, Mr. Akram has called in tissue-wielding reinforcements.
“My family is going to be here,” said Mr. Akram, who was born and raised in Venezuela. “They’re going to keep me so busy, I might not have time to be sad. If they weren’t here, I would be destroyed.”
Mr. Akram said he had “nothing concrete,” but projects pending. “I’m excited but anxious,” he said.
His relationship with Bernardo has a history that long predates this revival. “It’s an iconic show, but it’s also an iconic role for me,” he said. “When I saw the movie for the first time, I was 7, and I knew I wanted to play the role. I got to do it at my mom’s dance academy and then again in high school. To play it on Broadway in the big leagues means so much to me.”
Olga Merediz
‘In the Heights’
Opened on Broadway
March 9, 2008
Closes Jan. 9, 2011
In Show Since 2005
Olga Merediz, who was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance as Abuela Claudia in “In the Heights,” chokes up as she talks about closing night.
“I’m going to be a wreck,” she said during a tear-filled interview in her dressing room at the Richard Rodgers Theater. “It’s going to be very hard to get through it because we’re like a family here.”
Ms. Merediz has been with the show’s several incarnations, from a 2005 workshop to the 2007 Off Broadway run and the 2008 Broadway transfer. She said being with a production for so long has become a spiritual experience that will be hard to replace.
“I’m a typical New Yorker,” she said. “I’m doing a million projects. When I come to the theater, I have to slow down and become this elderly lady, and I can’t worry about the five million things I have going. I’m going to really have to go to a yoga class.”
Ms. Merediz’s next projects include an episode of the CBS show “Blue Bloods,” a Time Warner commercial and two new films: one starring Jim Carrey and another with John Leguizamo and Rosie Perez.
A version of this article appeared in print on December 30, 2010, on page C5 of the New York edition.
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Broadway Actors: Final Curtain
#2NY Times: Broadway Actors Who Are Bracing For The Final Curtain
Posted: 12/30/10 at 7:25am
I found it intriguing and yet disappointing that the article chose to focus on pretty much just younger people. How does an actor in his 50s and 60s feel when something like this closes? All of these folks will obviously move on to other projects, so I cant say I have a whole lot of sympathy for their plights. But at a time when the average age of a Broadway role is, like, twelve, it becomes harder and harder, I would imagine, to move on to something else.
That, to me, would have been a far more interesting story.
#2NY Times: Broadway Actors Who Are Bracing For The Final Curtain
Posted: 12/30/10 at 10:04amSean...Olga Merediz is 54. Whether a performer is in his 20's or much older, the loss of a role (and a job) is real. I wouldn't presume to diminish their loss....no matter their age. from RC in Austin, Texas
#3NY Times: Broadway Actors Who Are Bracing For The Final Curtain
Posted: 12/30/10 at 12:26pm
I dont worry for them: they now have serious Bway credits to their name, which will bump their possibilities in the future -- but that presumes there will be roles for them. It appears prime roles for no-longer-younger performers go more and more Hollywood stars doing a bit of slumming. 
Yes, I noted one of them was 54 -- an anolomy, if anything.
#4NY Times: Broadway Actors Who Are Bracing For The Final Curtain
Posted: 12/30/10 at 12:37pmWell, those shows have predominantly young cast members, so it would make sense that they focused on younger people.
tommyboy
Broadway Star Joined: 12/21/06
#5NY Times: Broadway Actors Who Are Bracing For The Final Curtain
Posted: 12/30/10 at 2:14pmI find closing a show is a sad time for me.
#6NY Times: Broadway Actors Who Are Bracing For The Final Curtain
Posted: 12/30/10 at 2:37pm
I'm not sure that there was ageism involved in the choices, although I agree that a wider range of perspectives would have been interesting. Fela is the only one where I think the writer had a wide range of options.
BBAJ - lead
In the Heights - remaining Tony-nommed performer
N2N - only remaining cast member from the Second Stage production
West Side Story - neither Tony-nommed performer is still with the show; I think George Akram has the biggest part of the performers still with the show who were also in the DC production
Fela - dance captain; neither Tony-nommed performer is still with the show
bwaylvsong
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/28/05
#7NY Times: Broadway Actors Who Are Bracing For The Final Curtain
Posted: 12/30/10 at 10:24pmI'm always sad even when my weekend-long running college shows close. I can't imagine what it must be like to close a show one's been with for years!!!!
#8NY Times: Broadway Actors Who Are Bracing For The Final Curtain
Posted: 1/1/11 at 10:37am
I received Time Out New York yesterday and was shocked at the huge laundry list of shows closing in the next two weeks. Does anyone know if this kind of large quantity of closings has a predecessor in recent theater history?
TD
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