THE LEADING MEN: Merry Poppins!
By Wayman Wong
05 Dec 2006
20 VOCAL HEROES OF 2006
Taking a cue from Santa, December is the prime time for making lists. So even though we still have a few weeks left in 2006, we wanted to get a jump on the holidays. Here are our "Leading Men" highlights from Broadway, Off-Broadway and cabaret:
TERRIFIC TOUR DE FORCES
Michael Arden, The Times They Are A-Changin'
Jonathan Groff, Spring Awakening
Stephen Lynch, The Wedding Singer
AMAZING MUSICAL MOMENTS
Samuel Barnett, "Bewitched" (The History Boys)
David Burnham, "Moon River" (Birdland)
Harry Connick Jr., "Hernando's Hideaway" (The Pajama Game)
Raúl Esparza, "Being Alive" (Company)
Neil Patrick Harris, "Making the Leap" (Joe's Pub)
Marc McBarron Kessler, "Both Sides Now" (Rose's Turn)
Gavin Lee, "Step in Time" (Mary Poppins)
Norm Lewis, "Stars" (Les Misérables)
Hugh Panaro, "Right Before My Eyes" (Lestat)
Jason M. Snow, "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" (West Bank)
DYNAMIC DUETS & TRIOS
Tom Andersen, Scott Coulter and Tim Di Pasqua,
"Southern Comfort" (West Bank)
Matt Cavenaugh and Cheyenne Jackson,
"We Kiss in a Shadow" (Broadway Backwards)
Gideon Glick and Jonathan B. Wright,
"Word of Your Body" (Spring Awakening)
‘THE LEADING MEN II' CONCERT
Last year, we produced the first "Leading Men" benefit for Broadway Cares, and we had such a ball at Joe's Pub with Cheyenne Jackson, Matthew Morrison, Jai Rodriguez and other topnotch talents from Broadway and cabaret. So, we're gonna do it one more time: Monday, Feb. 5 at 7 PM at Birdland, 315 W. 44th St., New York City.
John Tartaglia, the Tony-nominated star of Avenue Q, will return to host. Now back on Broadway, he's lighting up the stage as Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, and next month he'll light up the Disney Channel with a new half-hour version of his hit musical kids' show, "Johnny and the Sprites." For his work on both these endeavors, Out magazine named the openly gay entertainer "one of 100 men and women who rocked 2006." Also returning to "The Leading Men" concert will be our director, Alan Muraoka, and our musical director Seth Rudetsky, who's acting the blazes out of Arnold in Torch Song Trilogy through Dec. 10 at the Gallery Players in Brooklyn. As for our lineup, it's so hard to feature only a handful of the 150 guys we've interviewed over the past four years, but here goes:
Tom Andersen (MAC Award winner)
Jim Caruso (Jim Caruso's Cast Party)
Matt Cavenaugh (Grey Gardens)
Tim Di Pasqua (Bistro Award winner)
Jonathan Groff (Spring Awakening)
David Gurland (Bistro Award winner)
Telly Leung (Rent)
Norm Lewis (Les Miserables)
Perry Ojeda (On the Town)
Daniel Reichard (Jersey Boys)
Christopher Sieber (Spamalot)
Ben Strothmann (Playbill Yearbook)
Jim Walton (Merrily We Roll Along)
John Lloyd Young (Jersey Boys)
Tickets are $50 for general admission and $75 for VIP seats (first two rows), and there's a $10 food-drink minimum. Thanks to Birdland owner John Valente for donating the door to Broadway Cares. Tickets are available only at www.instantseats.com. Last year's concert was sold out weeks before the show, so get your tickets now!
A FRESH FACE TO WATCH IN 2007
In the 1953 Broadway musical Wonderful Town, Ruth and Eileen are two sisters who wind up in New York and wail, "Why, oh why, oh why, oh … why did I ever leave Ohio?" Well, that's one lament you won't hear from Rob C. Mayes, a bright 22-year-old actor who just moved to the Big Apple from Cleveland. In less than a month, he has been signed by Stewart Talent, met with Warner's, Fox and ABC, and booked a gig on "Law & Order: SVU," in which he'll star as a prep-school kid. Earlier this fall, the six-foot personal trainer, model and former Naval midshipman from Annapolis got his first national TV exposure on "Inside Edition" as "one of Cleveland's hottest hunks." He grins, "I got tons of MySpace requests from girls from all over the country."
In October Mayes received raves in M4M, an all-male version of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, at the Cleveland Public Theatre. There, he tackled multiple roles, including Claudio and his own fiancée, Juliet. "Depending on who I was playing, I wore tight leather pants, leopard-skin shorts or a creamy white dress with a veil. I also got to sing and play the guitar. It was so amazing, and I'm hoping it gets done in New York." Another of his favorite roles was Robby, the Irish bus driver, in the Flaherty & Ahrens musical A Man of No Importance. "It's my goal to bring it back here." He recently turned down the part of Rocky in The Rocky Horror Show, which just opened in Cleveland, because Mayes hopes to strike while the iron is hot in Manhattan. "It's been nuts. I want to do TV, film and theatre, so this has been a dream."
SO LONG, FAREWELL, AUF WEIDERSEHN, GOODBYE …
As I said, I've been writing for Playbill.com for four years now, and all good things must come to an end, so I've decided this will mark my last "Leading Men" column. It's been tons of fun and lots of hard work, but I want to return to my playwriting. Years ago, I was fortunate enough to get a play, Whiskey Chicken, produced by the Asian American Theatre Company in San Francisco, where it won a Drama-League Award for Best Play, and I'd like to give that another shot. This summer, I skydived for the first time, and I figured it was time to take another leap into the unknown. As for the "Leading Men" column, Playbill program editor Tom Nondorf will continue it, and I wish him all the best.
Looking back, it's been a blast to chat with stellar celebs like Harry Connick Jr., Hugh Jackman and Brian Stokes Mitchell, but I'm especially proud that this column first spotlighted rising stars such as Michael Arden, Cheyenne Jackson and John Tartaglia before they made their big Broadway "Leading Men" debuts. The first guy we featured back in January 2003 was David Miller, from Baz Luhrmann's La Boheme, and he recently opened for Barbra Streisand as part of the acclaimed vocal quartet Il Divo.
It's been this column's mission to celebrate the diversity of "Leading Men" from Broadway, Off-Broadway and cabaret. So thanks to all the great guys who've shared their insights and stories, both onstage and off. Thanks to Philip S. Birsh, the president and publisher of Playbill, and Andrew Ku, the director of Playbill.com, for giving me a home on their wonderful website. Thanks to Andrew Gans, the sterling senior editor who asked me to start this column and edited each one with care. Thanks to Ben Strothmann, whose fantastic photos accompanied our profiles. And finally, thanks to you: the readers who made "The Leading Men" column one of the best-read features at Playbill.com. Your support and loyalty have meant so much to me. Happy holidays!
Got comments or questions? E-mail me at waymanwong@hotmail.com.
Wayman Wong edits entertainment for The New York Daily News. He has been a movie and theater critic for The San Francisco Examiner, a writer for The Sondheim Review and a Drama-Logue Award-winning playwright.
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John Tartaglia and his Sprites, Basil and Ginger; Rob C. Mayes
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| photo by Disney Channel and Ben Strothmann |
