Michael Cerveris, a two-time Tony Award winner for Assassins and Fun Home, visited West Virginia University this past weekend and performed on Mountain Stage with his country band, Loose Cattle. This morning, Monday April 18, he had a talkback with the students and faculty of The School of Theatre & Dance.
Cerveris grew up in Huntington, West Virginia and lived in Morgantown for a few years. His father taught at Marshall University and served as the musical director, and his mother was a dancer. He explored his options as his father told him to do, but went on to attend Yale for theatre studies and voice.
“If I’m going to go into a career playing regular people, then I should go to school with regular people,” thought Cerveris. Upon graduation, he said he didn’t intend to do musicals, rather focus on Shakespeare, but he figured he would exercise his voice just in case.
When asked a question about his role of John Wilkes Booth in Assassins on Broadway, he
said he had to observe the character’s life and study past material. He finds things in history to connect with, but eventually “you have to start playing the events on stage,” said Cerveris.
He spoke a lot about the audition process for Broadway shows, and gave insight on a good audition and good material. “It’s a lot of sending in headshots and resumes,” he said.
Cerveris was one of the lucky ones to get an agent within his first couple of years in New York. His agent told him that he was not going to be one of those people who has to audition for everything. They wanted him to just meet people and get the role. “They pulled it off,” he said.
To get into a character fully, Cerveris said he watches films and listens to music related to shows to get a sense of real world issues and things. “I think I always try to take clues from the text. Everything begins with the writer; what they say, how they say it, and what they don’t say.”
When asked about his experiences moving to New York right out of college, he said his initial thoughts were, “What have I done?” “How am I going to eat?”
His current role in Fun Home was a big discussion. Working with three different ages of the same person has been a lot of fun for him. He said the children are treated like young professionals. Most people would think the chil
dren in the show would be affected in some way by the content, but he said it’s not as big of a deal. “Who you like is who you like,” said Cerveris.
Cerveris also discussed the differences between film and live theatre by saying it is a matter of scale. “I really think the work is the same,” said Cerveris.
Continuity is a huge technical aspect of film, because you have to hit the marks and workwith the way certain directors shoot. “I can focus on the character development rather than performance.”
Concentration is another big thing because even the slightest movements have meaning. Hesaid you are able to see what’s immediately around you instead of imagining the world on a stage. “You have to tune out machinery around you,” said Cerveris.
Overall, Michael Cerveris was an easy guy to talk with and the students within the Creative Arts Center loved the discussion. He provided a great deal of advice to the undergraduates and graduates about the industry, and explained how it’s not always easy from the start. He had friends who were the best in his graduating class who gave it up after a year because the life was just not for them.
Cerveris is traveling back to New York this week to continue his performance as Bruce Bechdel in Fun Home.
This past week, the 2016 Tony Award nominations were announced. No big surprises that Hamilton is nominated for 16 awards, but it is quite shocking that a show with such an ethnically diverse cast has been nominated for that many awards, considering the past controversies with the Academy Awards and other award shows.
Waitress The Musical. Shows are always cast based on looks, and the typical Broadway look is thin and tall. However, Waitress includes all shapes and sizes, which makes it stand out amongst the others.
Engaging Entertainment 