Do you remember which play or musical made you fall in love with theatre? Yesterday, Jonathan Mandell attended the Drama Desk Awards reception and asked this year’s nominees – most of whom have also been nominated for Tony Awards – which show made them realize they wanted to be a performer.
Jane Krakowski, the 30 Rock TV star and Broadway veteran currently in She Loves Me, explains she fell for Bob Fosse musicals like Chicago and Dancin’, “where all the leading ladies were sexy, strong, quirky women.” For Danielle Brooks, best known as Tasha “Taystee” Jefferson in the Netflix series Orange Is The New Black, it was the original production of The Color Purple eleven years ago, “the first show that I ever saw. Seeing people who looked like me—same skin tone, seeing people who were so professional, using their voices…touching my life, made me want to do the same thing.” She is now making her Broadway debut in The Color Purple.
Benjamin Walker, the swoon-worthy star of American Psycho, himself swooned at a community theater production of Our Town when he was six years old.
Michael Urie, who will be hosting the 61st Drama Desk Awards on June 5th, Frank Langella (with a slew of awards and nominations for his role in The Father), Michael Shannon, Saycon Sengbloh, Christopher Fitzgerald and Jayne Houdyshell along with the entire cast of The Humans are among the Broadway stars featured below.
Which show turned you into a theatre lover?
The first show I remember seeing was “The Taming of the Shrew,” when I was about four years old. Don’t judge my folks — our neighbor was Petruchio. I remember being impressed that his voice sounded so loud, the miracle of miking. The experience did not, however, make me want to become an actor.
The first show I ever saw was the tryout for Noel Coward’s musical Sail Away starring Elaine Stritch. Sometime in the second act, I decided to become a theatre producer.