the craptacular

It’s tough to be a new musical in the fall. First, you have to make it through the slow months of September and October for any chance of holiday season success. Then, if you want a box-office bump from award nominations, you have to get through the slow winter months. Oh, and also the spring, when a crop of new shows are opening. And if you close before awards season, you might not be remembered at all.

Enter Chaplin.

Previews for Chaplin started on August 21. During the three weeks of previews, the show grossed $356,882, $390,616, and $488,740, only earning between 36.93% and 50.57% of its potential gross. Capacity was 71.7%, 75,3%, and 94.1%, but that last week of previews included press performances, during which capacity tends to be high. The musical opened on September 10 to mostly negative reviews. Ben Brantley wrote in his review, “It’s hard not to sympathize with the character who tells him, ‘I miss the days when you didn’t speak.’” Ouch.

In its first post-opening week, Chaplin grossed $460,925 (47.7% of its potential) and filled 87.2% of its 1,058 seats. For a show like Chaplin — unlike say, Wicked — reviews matter. There are no stars in its cast and the score is by Christopher Curtis, also an unknown. People are familiar with Charlie Chaplin and that could prove to be a draw, but he hasn’t had the cultural staying power of, say, Marilyn Monroe (quick: how many celebrities are posing in magazines dressed up like Chaplin?). Rave reviews could have led to an increase in sales, but now we’re not sure how motivated audiences will be to see it.

A closing announcement wouldn’t surprise us, but we’re guessing the producers will stick it out for a bit, although we’re not sure it’ll make it to awards season. Chaplin’s best bets for Tony nominations are probably lead actor Rob McClure and costume design — but that might be too little, to late.

Grosses are provided courtesy of The Broadway League. Click here to read this week’s complete list of grosses.

More from NineDaves and LovelyLinda can be found on their respective blogs.

Cheyenne Jackson is back on Broadway this fall, playing a porn star named Mandrew in David West Read’s new romantic comedy, The Performers. And while I’m not quick to judge a show based solely on its promo pictures, was I the only one like, totally disappointed by the official promo picture of Jackson (above)? I mean, he’s wearing a gladiator uniform, and his arm muscles and chest are certainly on display. But didn’t you expect more?

I did. And so, here are 22 pictures of Cheyenne Jackson that are hotter than his Performers promo pic. You’re welcome.

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Cheyenne was the cover boy on the July 2012 issue of Attitude, and one of the inside photographs of him included this gem of Cheyenne all wet wearing the hottest pair of tangerine board shorts ever. [Source]

Also from his Attitude shoot. Might this be the best GPOY of all time? [Source]

Another Attitude pic. Do you think he’s thinking about me? [Source]

He doesn’t always have to be half neeked. Celeb photographer Mike Ruiz shot Cheyenne for a 2010 cover of Fab magazine. Sorry I got your shirt all dirty, Cheyenne, when we were rolling around in the dirt, making out. [Source]

Also from his Fab shoot. I have a feeling the Empire State building isn’t the tall unit you’re looking at. [Source]

That ass… [Source]

He can pull my rope anytime. [Source]

Cheyenne Jackson with a dog people. I repeat – Cheyenne Jackson with a dog! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! [Source]

The best part of waking up is Cheyenne Jackson with a coffee cup. [Source]

Sorry, I take that back. The best part of waking up is Cheyenne Jackson lying in your bed wearing only white boxer shorts. [Source]

Remember when Cheyenne was in Xanadu and performed “Don’t Walk Away” on the Tonys and his voice was perfect and he hugged that roller skate and you could see every muscle in those perfect arms of his and OMG THOSE CUTOFF SHORTS? [Source]

Or when he was in Rocky Horror and he wore those gold hot pants the whole show? [Source]

Cheyenne was also a 2010 cover boy for Out magazine. But one of the inside shots was this black & white beauty. Those eyes peer into my soul. [Source]

Here’s Cheyenne at the 2011 amfAR New York Inspiration Gala Kick-Off Party. Has anyone ever worn a scarf so perfectly? [Source]

On his back, just where I like him. [Source]

“Hi. I’m Cheyenne Jackson, and I wear a tuxedo better than anyone in the entire world.” [Source]

“See?” [Source]

“I also look flawless in just a T-shirt.” [Source]

This shot of Cheyenne at a 2005 Broadway Bares event makes me think that Cheyenne should star in that Magic Mike sequel/musical. [Source]

We just need a breeze and then this picture will be perfect. [Source]

Finally, this is the most romantic photo of Cheyenne I have ever seen in my life. He looks amazing and beautiful and he’s sitting on the beach and the sunshine is setting behind him and I want to cry. [Source]

Adam Chanler-Berat has been a pretty busy dude the past few years. After starring as Henry for the full Broadway run of Next to Normal he moved to a little off-Broadway play called Peter and The Starcatcher, then into some show you may have heard of calledRent, and then back to Starcatcher, this time on the Broadway where the play scooped up a passel of Tony Awards. Needless to say we feel pretty lucky to have snagged  a few minutes of in-demand-Adam’s time just before curtain so we could ask about the show, what it’s like to play such iconic characters, and most importantly, his favorite breakfast cereal. Read on below…

The Mick: You’re in a show right now that won about a zillion Tony Awards, but you joined the cast when it was in this tiny little off-Broadway house, so, looking back, did you see this coming?

Adam: I didn’t. My honest answer is whenever you get a job, of course, you always hope and imagine a long life for it. I sort of hoped and dreamed that I would be in this show for a while. Mostly because I think the longer shows run, the more mature they get, and the better, more precise and clear the storytelling gets. I also think it works better now than it ever worked at the [New York Theater] Workshop. I don’t know whether it’s the midtown address that just makes it what it is, or whether the style of the show fits in a bigger house better. I think comedy always works better in a large environment where people can feed off each other’s laughs.

M: Do you have a favorite scene in the show?

A: That sort of thing always changes for me, but I think right now it’s the trunk scene that I have with Celia in Act II where I find out that she may have wanted to kiss me, where you see them get the closest you ever see them to being together. I’m so inspired by [Celia] and I’m so in awe of her talent, and she’s so fun to play off of, and she’s got so much depth as a person and as an actor. It’s one of those rare moments in our show where there’s nothing else going on other than two people talking to each other. Those moments are cherished in the show and I get to just revel in that.

M: As you just mentioned, there’s a lot going on in this show and in particular, there’s some very finely tuned rope work that you guys do as a company. Have you had any spectacular mishaps on stage?

A: Craptacular mishaps?

M: Craptacular mishaps, yes.

A: Every now and then your mind miscalculates and there’s a swing and a miss, you just totally blow it. That sort of stuff happens all the time. I mean, we’re human, so when humans are doing very precise things there has to be a margin of error and that plays itself out eight times a week. From time to time — and I don’t know whether it’s because we’re all so conscious that we’re playing younger, or we’re having such a good time doing this — but every now and then you can work yourself up into a giggle frenzy. It’s such a hysterically funny group of people and the show is so funny.

M: What is the best note that you ever got back from Alex Timbers?

A: [Laughs] Hold the rope two inches higher on your right side? I don’t know.

M:  So right now you’re a playing Peter Pan who is a pretty iconic character, and just before this you played Mark Cohen in Rent, who is also super-iconic. Did you feel any pressure because of that? How did you handle it?

A: Well, I feel like they’re two different kinds of legacies we’re dealing with. Like, I really do think that the legacy of Mark is Anthony Rapp, and for a very good reason. I think that he was so integral in the creation of that person in that project, and I know he was very close to Jonathan. And then I think with Peter you’re dealing more with the legacy of the collective imagination of Peter Pan. It’s less about a person and the way that they are, and more about some part of every human being that is just really attracted to this idea. So I don’t feel like with our show in particular — since I’m a man and most of the people who have played Peter before are women — I don’t feel in any way that I’m dealing with one particular performance or managing that. But I definitely felt that sort of pressure with Rent. The truth of the matter is that I could never be Anthony. And, you know, the text from RENT stands on its own. As important as all those original players were, it’s a piece of art and that sort of thing is bigger than just one person and one version of that person, you know? It’s why that show lasted ten years on Broadway. That’s why it was made into a movie, because the themes of the show, the people that we fall in love with on stage, are greater than just the initial people who made it. So I kept having to tell that to myself.  With Peter I really didn’t think about it all that much. I read the young adult novel that [the play] was based off of, I read the original Peter Pan novel, the Peter Pan musical, the Peter Pan short story, all of those things. I read a little bit about J.M. Barrie and the biographical elements that played into the story. But after I did all of that, I really just handled it like I would handle any other part. You just deal with the circumstances of your character and the text of the show. I think that you get into trouble if you try to make it something more important or grander than what it is.

M: Where did you grow up?

A: I grew up in Rockland County, New York, which is upstate, and on the other side of the Hudson from here. I grew up in a little town called West Nyack. Well, I really grew up in Bardonia, but that’s a tiny little hamlet, so West Nyack is what I tell people.

M: Did you like it there?

A: Yeah, I have a really great, open-minded, supportive family. I grew up like a middle class suburban kid. Of course, I had my troubles, but everyone does, so, I feel like I had a really good, calm, safe upbringing.

M: Did you have a favorite stuffed animal as a kid?

A: Oh my god, weird question! I did. Remember that department store A&S? My grandpa used to work for them, he was an artist back in the days when the catalogues were hand-drawn, and he got me this Abraham and Strauss [set], I think Abraham was a Teddy Bear and Strauss was a mouse. It was like, a holiday thing, and I loved it very much.

M: Favorite mid-to-late-90s pop song.

A: Oh my god, [laughs] we were just singing [sings] “Come to my window…”

M: Yes! Melissa Ethridge.

A: Yeah, we were just singing that in the other room seconds ago, so I have to say that.

M: Perfect. Alright, what’s your favorite book of all time?

A: I have to say it’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.

M: Some words you use too often.

A: “Uhm!” Uhm… what do I… I drop the F-Bomb? I dunno. Uh—“I dunno?”

M: Words you don’t use often enough.

A: Craptacular.

M: I mean, that’s my favorite answer we’ve ever gotten. What’s your favorite breakfast cereal?

A: Lucky Charms.

M: On average, how often do people misspell your name?

A: Daily.

M: Okay. You’re 15-years-old and it’s a Saturday afternoon. Where are we most likely to find you?

A: Fifteen. What grade is that?

M: Like… Ninth or Tenth Grade.

A: In the music hallway at my high school, in a private rehearsal room memorizing a monologue from this play that I did, The Curious Savage.

M: Do you have a dream role in a play or musical?

A: I want to be George in Sunday in the Park.

Credit: Linda Lenzi

Let me just begin by saying this: I love Ramin Karimloo. Nobody these days rocks a belty, sustained high note like he does, or burns up the stage with so much confidence. He gave Jean Valjean — musical theater’s hoary granddad — some real passion and humanity, and kept the Phantom on the distinctly fuckable side of psychotic.

So it’s kind of crazy that his New York City stage debut came not in the original Broadway cast of some big musical, but at B.B. King’s on 42nd Street. He’s got a rock album to promote, you see. And while the casting gods get their shit together concerning his Broadway debut — we hope we don’t have to wait decades for it, a la Anthony Warlow — this was an OK way to fill the time.

It was also kind of nuts. Because Ramin’s album, as it turns out, is a rock album that also happens to contain some showtunes. And Ramin’s current live show is a rock show that also contains some showtunes. Which leaves us, the audience, in the semi-insane place of having to process folksy bluegrass numbers alongside songs from Ragtime. Not that we don’t love both bluegrass and Ragtime, it’s just that these are parts of our music collection that usually never stand side-by-side. Well, unless the sorting feature on iTunes is being kind of broken. To be clear: this wasn’t bad. It was just… worth mentioning.

Because nothing wherein Ramin Karimloo stands on a stage and sings, and talks in his good-humored, broadly-Canadian-accented way, wearing a t-shirt that seems to be gripping his body with vortex-like force can ever be bad. It just can’t. It’s kind of surreal, and a glass of wine or two will help you through, but it’s not bad.

Here’s an example. (And this wasn’t a hallucination, unless the staff snuck something into the calamari we all shared.) At some point, there was definitely a rock version of “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’” that casually segued into an acoustic ballad version of “Bring Him Home.” Because if you’re the best looking Phantom who ever lived, if you’re the hottest West End star to happen in a while, and if you look better in a clingy t-shirt and a vest than Steve Kazee, why would you NOT do a rock version of “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin” that casually segues into an acoustic ballad version of “Bring Him Home”? Right? I mean, sure, this was literally a dream medley in that it’s something that would only happen in your dreams. And not your daydreams, but your like… post-pepperoni-pizza-at-midnight dreams. But now we want Ramin to play Curly — a dreamcasting choice so obvious and yet so simultaneously obscure that we’re mad he thought of it before we did. So, that worked out.

It should be noted that the two showtune offerings on Ramin’s album are “The Music of the Night” and “Til I Hear You Sing,” the double-headed hydra of oldschool and newschool Andrew Lloyd Webber powerballadry — and he wouldn’t sing the latter. Curious? We thought so. We hope this has something to do with his imminent casting in the Broadway version of Love Never Dies, aka the best/worst musical of all time. Or maybe we secretly hope that he’s just sick of the damn Phantom and wants to just play bluegrass songs. We wouldn’t blame the guy. We feel the same way about the Phantom, sometimes. And by that, I mean that bluegrass just sometimes seems like a better idea than the Phantom. Even without that song, though, it was a good solid night of handsomeness and singing and thinking we were losing our damn minds. A typical night at the theater, folks.

Epic cell phone photo courtesy of The Mick.

If Broadway fangirls (including us) seem a little down these days, it could be because Jeremy Jordan played his last performance as Jack Kelly in Newsies on September 4. To rub salt in the wound, he wed his girlfriend Ashley Spencer on Saturday the 8th. Congrats, you two. We’re happy for you, really.

The good news for Fansies is there’s a new King of New York in town. His name is Corey Cott and he’s pretty cute. While we haven’t seen him in the show yet, we’re impressed that this 22-year-old recent graduate from Carnegie Mellon University is already starring on Broadway. We’re less impressed that he’s also engaged, but whatever, he’s probs too young for us anyway.

Now that Cott’s carrying the banner full time, we thought we’d check in on how the show is doing.

During Jordan’s last full week of performances, ending September 2, Newsies grossed of $964,326 and was at 101.1% capacity. That’s slightly less than the weekly $1 million it was taking in over the summer, but with school starting again, a slight drop is to be expected. Last week, the show grossed $808,755 and had a capacity of 95.6%. It did include Jordan’s last performance, but Cott went on for most of the performances that week. This is the lowest capacity for the show so far and the lowest gross since opening week. But we can’t blame it all on Cott. With summer vacation ending, grosses were bound to drop, and they’ll likely pick up again around the holidays. We don’t think Jordan’s leaving will hurt the show too much in the long term. Most people are going to see Newsies, not Jordan. It’s a family-friendly, crowd-pleasing Disney musical and we’re guessing it will be around for years, despite that “limited run” crap they tried to pull on us this spring.

So best of luck to you and your strong jaw, Corey Cott. And Jeremy Jordan, we can’t wait to see you every week on our TV screens on Smash. Is it January yet?

When the curtain rises on Chaplin, the new musical which opened last night at the Barrymore Theater, we see Charlie Chaplin balancing precariously on a high wire. From the angle where I was seated, I couldn’t see the wire that must surely have been securing actor Rob McClure in case of disaster, and thus the effect was pretty impressive. Fortunately for Charlie—and Rob, too, we suppose—he never did fall. Unfortunately for the rest of us, that would be the most high-stakes moment of the evening, come and gone in the opening scene.

There’s no two ways about it, Chaplin is not good. Overburdened with a book which has bit off more story than it can chew, a slow first act which repeats the same images and scenes over and over—occasionally verbatim—a second act that attempts to cover too much ground, a complete lack of dramatic tension and not nearly enough good songs, this show is a clunker, plain and simple.

It’s unfortunate, too, because the production itself is quite visually appealing and in the title role, Rob McClure is giving a remarkably strong performance. The black and white costumes, by Amy Clark and Martin Pakledinaz—oh my god some of those jazz age dresses!!—and the white-out makeup designed by Angelina Avallone translate the aesthetic of black and white film to the stage beautifully. Meanwhile, McClure is translating Charlie Chaplin more than beautifully, giving a fully realized performance that is neither caricature nor impersonation. Instead, McClure completely inhabits the silent film star, top to toe, and his 11 o’clock number is one of the few moments in the entire show that possesses any true emotional impact.

But McClure is saddled with a book, by Christopher Curtis and Thomas Meehan, that can’t get itself together. The first act sets up a structure—we’re watching the creation of a film about Chaplin’s life—that the second act abandons altogether. As an audience member I could actually feel the show grasping for of powerful images, both written and staged, that would echo the indelible mark Chaplin’s career has left in our collective cultural consciousness. That grasping lead to so much repetition in places that I’m relatively certain the first act is actually just the same twenty minutes played in a loop 3.5 times. Meanwhile, the second act is left to cover so much ground—nearly 50 years—in so little time that none of the drama of the political hunt for Chaplin even registers as dangerous and none of the failings in his personal life seem truly destructive. Everything here felt so low stakes that I actually found myself bored, despite all the action taking place on stage.

Then there’s Curtis’ score, on which I can’t say much mostly because… I can’t remember much, either. The only snippet of music from the night I’m able to recall is “come see Charlie Chaplin,” a theme repeated to the point of hilarity. Or irony, I suppose, since that’s actually the exact opposite of what I would suggest you do.

Broadway on Broadway is a fun little kickoff party for the new Broadway season, right? Given the festive atmosphere — and the bloody amazing weather — we were inspired to ask the performers one question: What was the first Broadway show they ever saw?

Their answers were so great — and so firmly anchored each of them as a part of a particular moment in Broadway’s history. (Of course, Anthony Warlow is Australian, so we had to work at little harder for that answer…) Here’s what they told us…

Chita Rivera: The Vamp. I was in ballet school and I wanted to join the New York City Ballet. I went, “This is it?”

Nick Wyman: It was I Never Sang for My Father with Hal Holbrook. I was with a high school group that came in from New Jersey and we sat way up in the nosebleed seats. I was agog.

Steve Kazee: My first Broadway show was the original company of Rent of ’96 or ’97. I fell in love immediately. I was so head-over-heels for the show. I didn’t realize that that was what Broadway could be, you know? It was amazing to me, and opened up a whole new world for me. I waited for Adam and Anthony after the show to stage door.

L: What did you say to them?

Steve Kazee: I don’t even remember, but I was so excited to meet them and get them to sign autographs for me. I still have those.

L: Have you spent a lot of time in New York, and have you seen a lot of Broadway shows?

Anthony Warlow: I’ve visited the city about five times in my life, not for very long each time. And it was mainly to see shows, and to see what we could promote back in Australia. My good friend John Frost is a producer and we’d tend to come over here and look for a vehicle for me to do, and to look for what John could bring to Australia. And he’s given us things like Wicked and Phantom.

What’s the first show you ever saw that made the biggest impact on you?

Anthony Warlow: Golly, you know. It’s hard to know, and I’ll tell you why it’s hard to know. I’ve been very blessed in my country, and I’ve been working constantly. So it’s only Monday nights when you don’t have a show. But I saw Michael Blakemore’s production of Kiss Me Kate a number of years ago, which I thought was fantastic. And I saw the most recent Follies. In fact, I was asked to do that production with Bernadette Peters. I was asked to play Ben, but I was doing Dr. Zhivago and couldn’t get away.

Reeve Carney: Cats! Right over here at the Winter Garden. I saw it four times, between the ages of four and eight. It’s still a big inspiration and influence on my life.

Tommy Bracco: It was Beauty and the Beast. Apparently I couldn’t stay in the seat because I was so excited. I must have been about four or five. My parents were so embarrassed, they tell me.

Ryan Steele: Movin’ Out. I was like, 12. And I grew up only dancing, so that was like heaven for me. Elizabeth Parkinson… John Selya… It was insane.

Corey Cott: Wicked!

Ryan Breslin: Wicked. But we only saw half of it. We were flying in from Georgia, and our flight was delayed for like eight hours. So we missed all the way up to “Popular.” But everybody loved it. People were crying by the end of the first act. When you’re in high school and Wicked opens on Broadway, even half of it is amazing. The first whole musical I saw was Movin’ Out.

Remember that time in High School when your boyfriend wrote you a song inspired by a snap you took for your fourth period photography class?

Yeah, well, 35MM: The Musical Exhibition is nothing like that.

Sure, back in 2009, composer Ryan Scott Oliver was inspired by his boyfriend, photographer Matthew Murphy’s work. But instead of writing some sappy drivel about ‘love’ from ‘above,’ Oliver put together an ambitious song-cycle that might as well be sixteen miniature musicals. Back in the day, Oliver thought he’d have a cast album and vocal selections from the show lined up neatly on his bookshelves within a year. Tomorrow, nearly three years later, the original cast recording of 35MM will be released on Ghostlight Records. Needless to say, it’s taken a bit longer than planned for that vision to become a reality, but after chatting with Oliver, it doesn’t sound like he’s too upset about that.

Today, Oliver sees 35MM as much more than just an album that’s finally sitting on his bookshelf— it’s the ultimate collaboration. “You can marry somebody in so many different ways and I think that this is one of the ways in which we’ve committed ourselves to each other,” he said.

The result of that commitment puts a fresh spin on a format many young composers pursue early in their careers. Each of the sixteen central songs in 35MM is either inspired by, or the inspiration for, one (or more) of Murphy’s photographs. For Oliver, those exposures opened “doorways into another world,” and in 35MM he illuminates those worlds by creating “very small narrative[s] through song.” There are stories about happy couples and unhappy couples, about love and loss, about the tension between the creation and consumption of art. There are even stories about abused southern housewives and murderous wannabe prom queens. It’s quite the collection.

The album itself—recorded over two days in March and featuring up-and-coming stars Alex Brightman, Ben Crawford, Jay A Johnson, Lindsay Mendez and Betsy Wolfe—showcases that collection beautifully. To Oliver, after a sold-out three show run at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, the recording process “felt like the icing on the cake,” particularly because he trusted the creative team, actors, and musicians implicitly. “That is thrilling,” he said, “when you can just go: Anything that they do with what I’ve written is going to be as good, or better, more likely, that what’s in my head.”

When asked about some of his album highlights, Oliver mentioned “Leave, Luanne,” about that southern housewife, and “The Ballad of Sara Berry,” about our favorite dreadfully unhinged potential prom queen. Still, it seems there’s another song that’s become a particular favorite for the composer since hearing it recorded: “Why Must We Tell Them Why.” According to Oliver, “Dean Sharenow absolutely killed ‘Why Must We Tell Them Why’ in the best possible way. When I first got that recording I was like: Fuck, this is much better than I ever imagined it.”

As a listener, it’s songs like “Leave, Luanne,” “The Ballad of Sara Berry” and “Cut You a Piece,” with undercurrents of true darkness and deep sadness, where Oliver’s storytelling and music are most affecting. Of course, fantastic performances by Jay A Johnson, Lindsay Mendez and Alex Brightman, respectively, don’t exactly hurt. Everyone is singing their damn faces off on this album—Crawford and Wolfe included—which seems to be exactly what Oliver was going for with his “glorified talent show.”

Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re off to listen to Jay A Johnson howl the closing lines to “Leave, Luanne” for the six thousandth time. No big deal.

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Want to win a copy of 35MM? The producers have generously provided us with a couple copies of the cast recording, plus some other goodies, to give away to our readers. Want to be in the running for one of our great prizes? Of course you do. Entering the giveaway is easy as pie, all you have to do is follow @thecraptacular on Twitter and tweet or retweet the following:

I’m done HEMMING & HAWING and it’d MAKE ME HAPPY to win a copy of #35MMMusical from @thecraptacular. RT & follow to win.

Credit: Matthew Murphy

You know what’s slightly weird to us? That every single article about Rob McClure, the star of Chaplin on Broadway, gets really into the fact that he’s a relative unknown. It’s like we’ve all slid down a bizarro universe wormhole where no one realizes that this is Broadway, and in some neighborhoods of America and planet Earth, little girls don’t exactly have posters of Cheyenne Jackson pinned next to those dweebs from One Direction. Besides, even here in New York, the importance of being known is sort of relative. Until he pole danced atop a riser in New Balance sneakers, you looked at headshots of Aaron Tveit and thought, “Who the hell is that guy and why is he not Gavin Creel?”

Bottom line: Now we’re going to tell you some stuff about brown-eyed, Jersey-born, cute-as-a-button Rob McClure, so we can all move on. Maybe then we’ll all be forced to learn some even more important things about him – like his favorite color, and his favorite mid-to-late-nineties pop song — which we will definitely ask him about if we ever get the chance.

• He lives in Philly, not NYC, where he and his wife own — and are currently renovating — a house.
• He was in Avenue Q on tour and on Broadway, but he got his first glowing New York City reviews in a 2011 Encores! staging of a Frank Loesser obscurity called Where’s Charley? Charles Isherwood swooned his face off.
• He’s from New Milford, New Jersey
• He’s 5’7″.
• He’s mostly untrained.
• He played the lead in Chaplin at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2010, when the show was called Limelight.
• He had six callbacks for the role.
• He’s married to actress Maggie Lakis, who was also in the touring company of Avenue Q. As an aside, we sort of love the description of her audition for Stephen Oremus, which was captured in the New York Times in 2007.
• Even though he and Maggie were in Avenue Q together, they actually met in a regional production of Grease in 2005. She played Frenchie and he played Doody. (Aaw!) He proposed on stage after a tour performance of Avenue Q where she went on as Kate Monster.
• He has two sisters. His dad is a stock trader and his mom is a recruiter in the medical industry.
• In high school, he considered playing professional golf as a career.
• He’s 30.
• When he was in high school, he wrote a musical called The Bagel Factory about his job, which was working in a place called The Bagel Factory.
• As a senior in high school, he won the Paper Mill Playhouse’s Rising Star award, which he once described as winning, “a high school Tony Award.”
• He used to audition for shows with “This Is the Moment” from Jekyll & Hyde. As one does.
• He was the last actor to play Princeton in Avenue Q on Broadway. Before he was cast in that show, he had no previous professional experience as a puppeteer.
• You can follow him on the Twitter.