In May and June 2012, for the first time since I began my acting career, I got to work in my hometown of Rochester, New York, at the wonderful Geva Theatre Center. And I was “at home” in another way – the show I did was Stephen Sondheim’s Company, the show that brought me my Broadway debut five and a half years before. I had been wanting to come to Rochester and work at Geva ever since I started acting, and to be able to do that, in a show that means so much to me, was a real treat. And of course, Mom was thrilled (Hi Mom!)
This production was very different from our show in New York. Notably, the cast was not playing instruments in this one as we did in the John Doyle-directed Broadway revival – here we had an awesome nine piece band playing new orchestrations by our music director, Don Kot. We also had the unique vision of Geva’s Artistic Director Mark Cuddy who helmed this production.
The other big difference for me was that I got to play a different role! In New York, I played the patient Larry, husband to the acerbic Joanne. Here, I played affable (and on-the-wagon) Harry, husband to the competitive (and diet-challenged) Sarah, played by the wonderful Michele Ragusa (Young Frankenstein, Urinetown). The remarkable cast of Broadway vets also included Jim Poulos (Rent) as Bobby, Anne Allgood (Beauty and the Beast) as Joanne, Bobby Daye (The Book of Mormon, Shrek), Nicolette Hart (Million Dollar Quartet, Rent), Leslie Henstock (The Light in the Piazza and Les Miz tours), Jessie Hooker (Legally Blonde tour), Kristen Mengelkoch (Forbidden Broadway), Ben Roseberry (Lion King tour), Emily Stockdale (NY Philharmonic’s Company), Elisa Van Duyne (Finian’s Rainbow, 110 in the Shade), Kevin Vortmann (A Little Night Music) and Jeff Williams (The Pirate Queen).
