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ONSTAGE & BACKSTAGE: Matt, Mary and a Brady
By Seth Rudetsky
17 Dec 2007
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Matthew Morrison
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| photo by Aubrey Reuben | I just spent my first week post-Ritz. I was prepared to be completely devastated, but I haven't been. I think it's because I've been super busy since the show closed… or because I've pushed down all my feelings and will have a complete breakdown 30 years from now, "Prince of Tides"-style.
OK, so here's all the fun things I did this week to escape my feelings. Monday night I played piano for the amazing Andréa Burns at the GLBT Center in the Village. It was a part of an evening where they thanked all the Center's major donors. PS, I love the Center. They have great programs for parents/kids, great lectures, help for teens grappling with their sexuality and a variety of fun clubs. Although, I'll never forget the time I decided to join a book club at the Center many years ago. I got to the meeting early and noticed there were already some people there, but I was too shy to speak. I walked around the room, gazing at some of the photos on the wall while everyone was catching up with each other. Obviously, everyone in this book club knew each other well because they were talking about some personal stuff. Finally, I meandered over to the group and sat down because it was around two minutes before the book club was about to begin. Suddenly, I felt someone grabbing my right hand…then my left. What the-?
"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change…" That's right! I got to the book club so early, I had actually crashed an Alanon meeting! I was mortified that people thought I would show up for the last seven minutes of a 12-step meeting and that I spent it walking around the room, casually looking at pictures while people were sharing their innermost feelings.
Tuesday I interviewed the cute Matthew Morrison
for Sirius. He told me that when he was a teen, he spent a few years in a gang. I was horrified/about to call for security until he told me some more details like (a) he's from Orange County and (b) they spent their time spraying graffiti and break dancing. Gang? They sound about as scary as the kids in Big, the musical.
He went to NYU for a while and while he was there, got cast in a fake boy band that was featured on Letterman. Their name was Fresh Step (as in the kitty litter), and they supposedly sang the theme song to the movie "Talk to the Hand." The sad part is, people thought they were real. Although, is O-town much different? The choreographer was A.C. Ciulla, who was doing Footloose. Matt auditioned and got his first Broadway show. He then got cast in the ensemble of Hairspray as an understudy for the role of Link. James Carpinello was playing the role but wound up getting a film job so Matt was offered the part for the Seattle tryout. They told him that there was no guarantee he would do it on Broadway. I asked him if knowing that he was being evaluated the whole time he was in Seattle stressed him out, and he told me that it actually gave him incentive to work super-hard. He did a great job in Seattle and, combined with Marissa Jaret Winokur pushing for him to continue to play opposite her, he got the gig on Broadway… and an Outer Critics nomination!
The next Broadway show he was asked to audition for was The Light in the Piazza and he said a resounding…no. He heard that score and decided that it was way too operatic for him…plus the role was for an Italian, and he has blond hair! They kept coming back to him asking him to audition, and he kept telling them to "peace out." Finally, he decided to give it a try. I asked what the audition was like, and he said he had to sing in Italian, and he also remembers Bart Sher , the director, asking him to run around the room like a young guy in love. Thank goodness I've never had an audition like that. It would consist of me muttering that my doctor told me not to run because of my knees and then awkwardly taking the orthodics out of my shoes. Of course, he got the role of Fabrizio but told me that he wasn't expecting a Tony nomination. He only wound up getting the Outer Critics nomination during Hairspray, so he didn't want to get his hopes up again. On the morning of the Tony Award nomination announcement, he woke up to watch NY-1, trying not to expect anything, and heard Spamalot's Michael McGrath's name. He knew the nominations were in alphabetical order and told his roommate that he didn't get nominated. Then he realized that McGrath is not after Morrison (it's hard to think alphabetically at 8:20 AM) and decided to rewind the TV. Sure enough, he got nominated! He happened to be talking to his roommate right when his name was called. Attention upcoming nominees. The rule is: when watching to see if you're nominated for a Tony, keep your trap shut 'til your category is completely over. Or else you'll have to ride the roller coaster of depression to elation mixed with humiliation for not knowing the alphabet.
After Piazza, Matt went out to L.A. In the summer Lincoln Center called and asked if Matt was interested in playing Cable in the upcoming revival of South Pacific, but he told them that he wanted to focus on TV/film work (he was recently in "Dan in Real Life"). Months passed and Lincoln Center called again to gauge his interest and Matt was still in LA… but the writers' strike was happening. AKA, get me my old dressing room at the Vivian Beaumont ASAP… I'm in!
I know that Matt did a lot of dancing in Footloose and Hairspray, and I asked him if he missed it…and turns out, he does! He said he's dying to do a role where he can sing, act and dance! I was so happy to hear that. Whenever I talk to people that started as dancers, they're always like Catherine Zeta-Jones ("I've hung up my dancing shoes"). Hmm…maybe Matt can end "Younger Than Springtime" in a full split. Continued...
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