Places, Please!: Becoming a Jersey Boy (9 page)

No calls come today. I guess I have one more night to dream.

PREPARING TO LEAVE

TO-DO LISTS, DRAMATURGICAL LECTURES, & DANGEROUS BUTTERFLIES

April 27, 2009

The phone rings this morning at 9:40 a.m. It’s Meg; I answer it as calmly as I can manage. Cara just about jumps out of her pants when the phone rings; and it is hard to focus when your hot wife is jumping out of her pants. But Meg just wants to check in and see how the audition went. I tell her it went well enough, and leave the details for her to read about if this book ever gets published.

At 10:30 a.m., the phone rings again. I sit down on the couch before answering, knowing this has to be news—good or bad. Before even saying hello, Meg whispers, “Dan, you got it.”

I got it.

I actually got it.

Cara crawls onto the couch next to me and is hardly controlling herself. I say, “Oh. My. God.” Cara jumps up with a squeal, and I start thinking of all the million-and-a-half things I now need to do. Why can’t I just live in the moment like our therapist (yes, our therapist) says I should?

The first thing Meg tells me is that I should send Merri Sugarman a nice bouquet of flowers. I am thinking, “And one for you, too, I believe.” But the truth is I had already planned to send Merri some kind of thank you today anyway; this thank you will just be a bit more lavish.

Meg has no details for me yet, but my mind is revving with a to-do list. I actually start writing these chores down while I am still on the phone with her because there is much to be done and I only have a half-hour before I have to leave for a meeting at the Roundabout.

In the next blur of thirty minutes, I assign Cara the task of picking out the perfect flowers to send to Merri and Meg. (She has a much better eye than I for these things, and confirming this, Merri later calls me a “class act” for sending such a nice ensemble. Well done, Cara!) I call my mother, who has to bottle her excitement because she is among patients at work. I send a text to my brother, and he replies that I am “gonna b famous.” (I text back that I am “scared shtlss.”) I email my stepfather at work, but my mother called him already during the two minutes I spent texting. I call my producing friend at Theatre-By-The-Sea and he knows instantly what I am going to say. My agent will make an official call to him soon, but I wanted to reach him first. And I call John Cariani to bow out of his production of
Almost
,
Maine
. This one’s tricky. I am very afraid of burning bridges, and I really want to maintain a friendship with this well-known guy. He takes the news well enough, and asks for recommendations for someone who can take my place.

Then I have to run to my meeting! Boy, there is never time to just sit down and appreciate things, is there? Toward the end of the meeting I begin helping with the daunting task of re-assigning all of the workshops, classes, and lectures I was to give over the next few months. The projects I work on with Roundabout are many and varied, but today my job is to quit all of the following:

• Twenty classroom workshops at Manhattan Bridges High School centering on lyric writing for musical theatre.
  
• Ten classroom workshops at IS 237 Middle School in Queens using Set Design to teach Math skills.
  
• Many hours of work as the project coordinator for the Roundabout’s partnership with the Brooklyn School for Music and Theater.
  
• Ten classroom workshops at IS 237 Middle School using tableaus and storytelling to expand ESL skills.
  
• Fifteen private Professional Development workshops dealing with arts integration with a new English teacher at the Brooklyn School for Music and Theater.
  
• An entire, three-month series of dramaturgical lectures at the Roundabout’s new production of
  Waiting for Godot
  .
  
• Ten workshops for high school students and their teachers to introduce them to the themes addressed in
  Waiting for Godot
  .
  

After many hours of re-organizing these projects, I return home and, as is the modern thing to do, update my Facebook status with my news and a comment that “dreams really do come true.” Truer words have never been spoken. With this job, I feel like my oldest dream is
almost
coming true. Almost. My dream has always been to star in a Broadway show. Now I will be starring in a Broadway show…in Canada. Ok. It’s close. And can I even dare to dream that it will be a gigantic stepping-stone to actually starring on Broadway? Yup. I will dare to dream that.

My Facebook status inspires about sixty people to write their congratulations, and about twenty people to call me. My phone rings so much I can’t keep up. I am exhausted with thoughts and plans, and I don’t even know when I’ll be starting rehearsal yet. I have no details and no idea when the details will be revealed. My agent says they are talking about sending me to rehearse with the National Tour of the show, or maybe with the Chicago Company. And Cara and I have to figure out whether we will all be able to spend the summer together in Toronto (we have to, we just have to) and to get plane tickets to…where?

Today is the glamour part of getting the job: the excitement, the phone calls, the spreading of good news. Tomorrow will bring the work: the planning, the schedules, the memorizing. I have a feeling I’m going to be exhausted for weeks to come.

And did I mention that, as I write this, I am starting to get pretty nervous? How am I going to pull off this cocky character? How am I going to learn all that choreography? I suck at choreography. Kick, ball-change.

April 28th, 2009

Meg said she would call as soon as she knew some dates, and today passes without a call coming in. As silly as it is, I start fearing something happened to the guy I am supposed to replace and he’s decided to stay on in the show. That guy is Jeremy Kushnier, by the way. He is a stellar performer who originated the lead role of Ren in the Broadway production of
Footloose
. I saw him many times in that one. I also saw him in the Broadway production of
Rent
and a Kansas City production of
Jesus Christ Superstar
. I think he totally rocks and I will never, ever be able to compare. To top it all off, he’s been doing
Jersey Boys
for two years now in various companies, so he’s leaving gargantuan shoes for me to fill.

Why is he leaving anyway? My bet at this point is that he has been cast in either a Canadian television show or a new Broadway musical. Those would be good reasons to leave. Whatever the reason, I will be sloppy seconds to Jeremy Kushnier any day.

I spend all day doing more of the transition work involved in leaving the Roundabout. I meet with the different Teaching Artists who will be replacing me, go over notes and plans, and lead a few final workshops myself. This has all been surprisingly emotional for me. While I am realistic enough to know that I will probably be back teaching for them again next year, I find myself hoping that I will not be, and that makes leaving difficult. I love the people there. They are incredible artists.

I am kind of freakin’ out! I am stressed because I want to organize the next year of our life, but I don’t have enough information to do that yet. And my wife wants to go out to dinner. She is waiting for me in the other room right now. But I am incredibly tired. And I have to learn lines. I am thinking of buying this big
Jersey Boys
coffee table book from Barnes & Noble just so I have something I can start learning lines from. Isn’t that crazy? I should just get an official script before I start rehearsal, but I am too embarrassed to ask for one.

And Cara wants to leave. Like, now. “Hon, what are you doing?” she asks from behind the door.

“I am pouring my angst-ridden thoughts into a journal.”

“Can we go eat?” she wonders, with no impatience in her voice. Yet.

“Yeah. Let me just write down what you’re saying right now.”

“You’re writing down what I’m saying right now? Why?”

“To inspire others to follow their dreams, regardless of the obstacles set before them.”

“Am I an obstacle?” she asks.

“Well, right now you are. But only a little.”

“How am I an obstacle?”

“Because I can’t go out to dinner until I finish writing today’s entry, and I can’t finish writing today’s entry until this conversation is over.”

She is silent. I guess this conversation is over.

I get a little snarky when I’m stressed out. Sarcasm helps me lighten the burden. Good luck dealing with me tonight, my darling.

April 29th, 2009

Here we go. Meg calls today at 5:00 p.m. saying that I will start rehearsing this coming Tuesday. That is six days from now. Six days! Now I’m really freaking out.

My rehearsal/travel schedule will be a bit insane. Apparently, I will rehearse in New York for three days, fly to Toronto for a day to see the show, fly to Orlando to rehearse with the National Tour for two weeks, fly back to New York for a week of fittings, and then fly up to Toronto for two weeks before opening on June 16th. At least that is what they say now. Everything is subject to change, and I have many nervous butterflies in my stomach. Big butterflies. With razor-sharp wings.

I decide today that I need to have the script as soon as possible, so I go to Barnes & Noble to buy the coffee table book. The first two stores I try don’t have it in stock, so by the time I reach the third store I have walked exactly fifty blocks, listening to the
Jersey Boys
cast recording the entire way. As if the album isn’t thrilling enough, now I am picturing myself singing the songs and I get rammed full of excitement.

I pay a whopping $45 for the book—all because I am too timid to ask for a script in advance. So now I will be learning lines for my blockbuster musical debut out of a giant picture book.

I later learn that Jeremy Kushnier is leaving the Toronto cast because his wife (who also used to be in the show) is pregnant and they want to have the baby back in New York. So it’s not a new Broadway musical or some television show causing him to leave
Jersey Boys
, it’s just life. His wife is fierce, and he is a rock star. I have a feeling that baby will be fronting a band by the age of seven.

April 30th, 2009

Ready and rocking! I say my goodbyes at the Roundabout office, and compose an email to send to the various Teaching Artists I worked with there, all of whom are scattered around the city in their own pursuits. (No more than two of us ever seem to be in the same place at the same time.) The email kind of sums up my thoughts about the teaching portion of my life, so I’ll reproduce it here:

Dear Roundabout Colleagues
,

It is with sadness and excitement
,
and more sadness and more excitement
,
that I must bid you all a temporary goodbye
.
I will be moving to Toronto
,
Canada in just a few days to join the cast of
Jersey Boys
as Tommy DeVito
.
While I am sure I will be back at Roundabout eventually
,
I fear that I would regret not saying a few words of
“
see you later
”
if I do not say them now
.

Without a doubt
,
Roundabout has been my artistic home for years now
.
How many people in this world are blessed to work at something they love
(
teaching artistry
),
and be encouraged there to pursue something else they love
(
acting
)?
It is no exaggeration to say that my work at Roundabout has enabled me to pursue my childhood dream of performing in large
-
scale jukebox musicals
…

Ok
,
maybe my childhood dream was not as specific as that
,
but you get the point
.

I have found more talented
,
dream
-
supporting people at Roundabout than anywhere else in the world
.
I have loved my time here
.
I am always wowed by our core group of Teaching Artists
,
and I am always envious of the creative brain
-
power of our leaders
.
I will miss seeing you all on those rare and wonderful times when we get to come together
.
And I will probably feel dumb for writing all this if the show closes and I am back here in September
.
If you're ever in Canada
,
drop by and let me take you out to dinner
.
I'll be up there living a dream
…
and probably giving dramaturgical talks in the lobby
.

–
Dan Sullivan

Though, I still have two more workshops to teach tomorrow, and a few months of paperwork that will be coming, the bulk of my work at this place is now complete.

I receive my official offer from the Canadian producers, and lots of detailed information along with it. For rehearsals in Orlando, I am given the choice of two hotels: one across from Walt Disney World, and the other ten miles away from it. I think I should go with the one ten miles away, just so that I am not tempted with distractions! I will have to be quite focused, I’m sure.

I email two people today for advice: Buck, my audition buddy and current
Jersey Boys
National Tour cast member, and Dean, my accountant. Buck speaks highly of the family atmosphere
Jersey Boys
has created, and congratulates me on finally getting in. Dean tells me some steps to take to let certain expenses be regarded as out-of-town travel business deductions.

Working in another country will be a bit tricky to keep track of, business-wise. For one, Canada regards actors as self-employed business entities, unlike the United States where actors are usually regular employees. And being a non-resident, there will be some tax withheld from my paycheck, but not the full amount I will actually owe; so I will need to make sure to set money aside for April 15th. My paycheck will be in Canadian dollars, so that leaves a whole other layer of confusion with our very specific budget.