STAGE VIEWS: Ragtime Tony Nominee and Yank! Star Bobby Steggert

By Andrew Gans
December 1, 2011

Playbill.com launches a new series featuring brief chats with Broadway actors commenting on their recent theatre-going experiences, what productions they are looking forward to and more. Here, we speak with Ragtime Tony nominee Bobby Steggert.

What show recently impressed you?
I was blown away by Bart Sher's crystal-clear storytelling in Blood and Gifts at LCT. The complexities of several governments vying for control in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan became personal, visceral, and immediate, and the cast is wonderfully cohesive, a truly effortless and generous ensemble. And, having spent much time in the Mitzi Newhouse [Steggert starred there in A Minister's Wife, a new musical version of George Bernard Shaw's Candida], when our goal was to make the space feel as intimate as possible, it was very impressive to see the theatre transformed into such a surprisingly vast canvas.

What production are you most excited to see?
I can't wait to see Audra [McDonald] in Porgy and Bess. No one in the musical theatre can match her seamlessness, and with a piece like this, I think she'll continue to surprise.

What are your current/upcoming projects?
I just finished a very intensive four-week workshop of Yank, in which David Cromer's vision for the physical production began to take shape. We were all very excited by the result and hope to bring it to larger audiences soon. And, this month, I will be part of the first workshop of Josh Schmidt's [Adding Machine, A Minster's Wife] newest piece, Saturday Night at the Estate, commissioned by Playwrights Horizons.  

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Bobby Steggert received 2010 Tony Award and Drama Desk Award nominations for his work in the revival of Ragtime; he was also Drama Desk-nominated that same year for his performance Off-Broadway in Yank! Steggert has also been seen on Broadway in 110 in the Shade (Outer Critics Circle nomination) and "MASTER HAROLD"...and the boys. His other theatrical credits include A Minister's Wife (Lincoln Center Theater), The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island (Vineyard Theatre, Drama Desk nomination), columbinus (NYTW), The Music Teacher (New Group) and Camelot (NY Philharmonic). Check out his credits on the newly launched PlaybillVault.com, the largest Broadway database on the internet.