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Fully Rested

I had a wonderful vacation and visited LA and my old hometown in northern California. It was really great to have some time to myself and rest my body up. Oddly enough, after a year and 8 months I had never taken a vacation...just left for a few days at a time to do work related things. So it was really great to clear my head a bit.

I'm thrilled to return to the show this week. I had a chance to talk to my old high school's drama program about my experience over the past couple of years and it was really nice to reflect on it all myself. It put a really great perspective on things and I'm so excited to get back to work.

About to jump on the plane with sand in my shoes and a couple of wine bottles from Napa. Almost too relaxed to swing back into the pace of New York City, but I'm sure I will manage ;)

Upcoming Work and Such!

Just a brief update on my upcoming work.

I will be playing the all-singing role of young Nonno in the upcoming film "Once More With Feeling," Directed by Jeff Lipsky. The film stars Emmy Award Winning, Drea de Matteo, and Academy Award Nominee, Chazz Palminteri. The role is small but it was a blast to play. I appear in a couple scenes as the younger version of one of the main players in his Jazz singing days. I was thrilled to see that the fantastic Karen Ziemba also makes an appearance in the film as well.

And as Broadway.com reported, it's true that I will also be making a small appearance on the CW Hit, "Gossip Girl" next month. Don't blink :)! I am a huge fan of the show and it was a thrill to spend some time on the set.

One more thing! I will be out of the show on vacation September 22nd through the 28th. Zach Reiner-Harris and Jesse Swenson will be filling in for the role of Hanschen while I am gone.


I should have a new website up within the next month! Yes...finally.

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More Reviews!

New York Times

Associated Press

Re-reviews!

And they're all good or great! I'm so thrilled for the new cast.

New York Post

Daily News

TheatreMania

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It's a sad day...Laugh!

End of an era...

Today Broadway says goodbye to an incredible show.

'Rent' inspires. There really isn't anything I can say about this show that hasn't been said on a thousand blogs and the very few broadway sites that are out there. No matter how you feel about this show, you cannot deny just how much it changed Broadway.

'Rent' was the first show I ever saw. In my younger years I did the "Renthead" thing like many (MANY) others. When I grew up and the early-teen obsession died away, I was able to take away all of the best things from the show. Hell, half of my vocal training was from screaming to the soundtrack in my bedroom. The first time I ever said to myself "Wow...I really want to do THAT!" was sitting in the Nederlander theatre watching 'Rent.' A couple months later I auditioned for my first community theatre show.

This past month, after 4 or 5 years of not seeing the show, I brought myself back to the Nederlander to see it for the very last time. This time I went in a very different way by going with some cast members from Spring Awakening, knowing some of the people in the closing company. I was so moved watching the show and was suddenly thrown back into my pre-teen days, completely obsessed again. I left the theatre beaming. In some way...that certain-special-rock-musical motivated me to find my way into another certain-special-rock-musical on Broadway today. I couldn't wait to get back into the Eugene O'Neill the next night and perform.

Watching 'Rent' for my last time, I was reminded of the importance of performing in a show like that. I was surrounded by other screaming fans that night. Some of them didn't look very much older than I was when I first saw the show and some of them much older than I am now. It's incredible to see what a show like 'Rent' can do for people. That show certainly added a lot of things to my life and I know that 'Spring Awakening' has also inspired a lot of people in the same way. I feel honored to be a part of this community. Whatever the show is, I know that Broadway will continue to inspire.

So...since this is the last time that I can be painfully cliche and a total geek...

Thank you, Rent. You rocked.