By Amelia Chan
Published: Monday, January 31, 2005
According to Jeremy Kushnier, one of Broadway's lead actors, life on Broadway is like life as a kid in elementary school again.
Those students who always caused trouble for the teachers and kept you amused during Social Studies back in fifth grade are the same capricious group of people, better known as the cast of the hit musical, Rent.
"What's it like backstage? We just goof around, play video games, listen to music-Maroon Five's a big hit in the dressing room. It's kind of like going to school again," said Kushnier, who currently plays Roger in Rent.
"The managers are like the principals and the teachers, and then there's all of us who are like the class clowns. Imagine a school where everyone's a class clown!" he said.
With his blond hair tousled in the familiar I-just-rolled-out-of-bed look worn by many a teenage boy, the mellow and laid back Kushnier does look a bit young to be in his thirties.
"I think you have to be a little bit of a child to perform on Broadway every night. In this business, you've gotta stay young," said the actor matter-of-factly, leaning back into one of the cushioned orchestra seats of the Nederlander Theater.
Kushnier performs a show every night of the week, and usually doesn't get to bed until 2 or 3 in the morning. "When the show comes down, I'm too wired to just come home," he explained with a shrug.
Despite such hints of a regression to adolescence, Kushnier is indeed a professional artist. He has just finished recording his first individual CD titled In Time, in which he describes himself as "sort of like a male Sheryl Crow." He has also been playing Roger in Broadway's Rent for about a year.
Kushnier discovered his passion for the arts at a young age. When he was about eight years old, he joined the Royal Ballet Academy in his hometown of Winnipeg, Canada. In grade school, he was a member of the school band and chorus, and also participated in community and regional theatre.
Kushnier's two younger brothers are also in the show business. One is a musician, and the other is currently performing on Broadway in the show, Hairspray. He and his brothers were encouraged to pursue their passions in the arts by their parents, whom Kushnier lovingly described as "still together" and "really supportive of anything that we [he and his brothers] do."
When Kushnier turned 18, he moved from Winnepeg to Toronto. "[It's] Canada's New York, as far as theatre goes," he explained.
In Toronto, he performed in the first Canadian production of The Who's Tommy and in Rent. He was then summoned to Broadway when his agent got a call from a few producers looking for a fresh face at the auditions for a new show called Footloose.
"I was about 21, and had been out of work for a while, when my agent called and said that if I could be in New York by tomorrow, I could audition for Footloose. So I scrounged up as much money as I could, got on a bus, and went on a 12-hour ride to New York," said Kushnier.
"I left that night, arrived in New York at 11 in the morning, went in, auditioned, ended up getting the part, went home the same night, packed my stuff up, and then moved to New York to do the workshop for Footloose," he said. "After the workshop, I went back to Toronto. Then I got a call saying that Footloose was going to go on Broadway. I came back to New York, and that's when I moved here officially."
Originating the role of Footloose's main character, Ren, was one of the artist's most memorable experiences.
"Getting a chance to originate a role is one of the most exciting things. I felt like I worked a lot harder on that show than I did on any other show...but it was also lots of fun. While we [the cast] were doing the workshop, the designers came and hung out a lot. They looked at us and put some of the clothes that we would wear to rehearsal into their design of the costumes, which was pretty cool," he said.
Kushnier's debut on Broadway in Footloose sparked a flurry of good reviews and praise. People were impressed with this unknown youngster with so much talent. After his Broadway debut, he went on the road with the North American tours of Aida (as Radames) and Rent (as Roger) for two years. When the Broadway company of Rent needed a new Roger, it asked Kushnier to take on the role.
As Roger, Kushnier sings heart-wrenching tearjerkers to Mimi, Roger's love-interest, but also sticks in his own little flare of comic relief throughout the show.
"The tough thing about this character is that he's got a lot of strikes against him. The thing about him is to find his humor, and sort of why he's still around, why he hasn't killed himself already. Finding what makes him continue. It's his friends, and also his spirit," said Kushnier.
"The role of Roger seems pretty natural to me-he's a musician, I'm a musician. There are a lot of similarities between us. The key to just getting into any role is finding out, discovering what the character's about, but at the same time, finding what you can bring to the character," he said.
Despite having been in three Rent companies, Kushnier's not bored after being with the same show for so long.
"Rent is one of my favorite shows. It's a great show to be in. It reminds me to remember its message every day. Like if you're whining about how you can't pay your rent," said Kushnier, gesturing at the stage in front of him and cracking a smile. "Or if you've lost your favorite pair of shoes or something stupid like that, and then you come and do the show, you just step back, and realize what's really important."
In the grand scheme of things, the most important thing in Kushnier's life is staying sane and staying happy.
"Just making sure that you keep what's important, and that you don't sweat the small stuff," he said.
"As long as I'm being true to myself, to what I believe in and what I feel, whether it comes to my music or a show that I'm doing on stage, and as long as I'm being honest about what I'm doing, basically that's what I want," said Kushnier, quite confidently.