Being that it is a show about, among many things, prejudice, hate crimes, and political turmoil, what impact do you think the show can have on the audience? I really wish that production could have a life beyond this past summer. This past summer you played Tateh in Ragtime at the Ogunquit Playhouse, which ran during the events in Charlottesville. It’s an amazing life story and it was an honor to be able to play John Newton. It wasn’t as successful as the story could have been if other factors had been considered. At the end of the day did we make an amazing musical? I don’t know. I do remember thinking that this story would make an amazing musical. Very surprised, I don’t even remember what I thought when I read John Newton’s story. Were you as surprised as the audience to learn about the genesis of the song? Josh Young in Amazing Grace (Photo by: Joan Marcus) Then you played John Newton in Amazing Grace, which is based on the backstory to the writing of that song. I almost didn’t go on opening night! I find that my best experiences have been doing work out of New York City because there is so much pressure to make people money in New York and you feel that all of the time. Another part of it might have been that opening night, I got really sick from about the second week of previews until two weeks after opening. This might have changed if we had run longer but I found it to be less about the art and enjoying the process and more about the commercial aspects. I had the time of my life doing it in Stratford and La Jolla but I really didn’t enjoy my Broadway experience. Somehow we ended up getting a Broadway theater. We got such praise that Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice came to see us. We started at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival with that production and then the La Jolla Playhouse but there was no thought of going to Broadway with it. Can you talk about what it was like to make your Broadway bow in that show? I had been playing the role for a year at that time. Josh Young as Judas in the Broadway run of Jesus Christ Superstar (Photo by: Joan Marcus) You made your Broadway debut in the 2012 revival of Jesus Christ Superstar as Judas. If you can train yourself to know that they need you to be good and are hoping that you’re the solution to their problem, that alleviates some of the nerves. But I think that the people behind the desk want you to be your best, they want you to be the answer to their prayers. Sometimes they give you a day to learn way too much material and I will just stay up all night learning it and will just have to go in nervous. I also don’t get nervous if I’m prepared for the audition. Do you get audition anxiety and if so, how do you manage it? I don’t get nervous once I have the part. I recently spoke with that actor, Josh Young, about performing for Andrew Lloyd Webber, the bold experiment of Amazing Grace and the power of shows like Ragtime to tell our story. I was moved by many of the performances, including the actor playing Tateh, who made him gentle yet fierce, humble yet proud, burdened by darkness yet drawn towards lightness. The first pensive notes of the piano played and the Ogunquit Playhouse production of Ragtime began to unfold. A statement released by the show’s press reps following Young’s absences said the singer “was saddened that this happened at such a crucial time and rendered him unable to perform,” and that he was “waiting for his doctor to clear him to rejoin the cast.”ĭirected by Des McAnuff, Jesus Christ Superstar also stars Paul Nolan in the title role and Chilina Kennedy as Mary Magdalene.This past summer I walked into a theater where the face of the Statue of Liberty floated on a bare stage. He has played Judas in this revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice rock opera since it began at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 2011. Jesus Christ Superstar marks Young’s Broadway debut. Young will now definitely be eligible for a Tony nomination, as the Awards' 2011-2012 rulebook states "in order to be eligible an actor or actress must perform in the role on the production’s opening night." Understudy Jeremy Kushnier took over the pivotal role in the show’s March 20 and 21 performances, when Young was sidelined by illness. After missing several critics’ performances of Jesus Christ Superstar, Josh Young will perform as Judas on the show’s March 22 opening night, his press representative confirms.
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