Jonah Platt dazzles as Wicked's new Fiyero!

Photo credit: www.jonahplatt.com

​The incredibly talented Jonah Platt spoke with The Pickwyck about how he originally got into acting, putting on improvised musicals and his role of Fiyero in the Broadway hit musical Wicked! Take a look at the interview and make sure to buy your tickets to see Jonah 'dance through life' on the stage of the Gershwin!

To start off, could you tell us a little bit about your background? When did you first want to become an actor?

• "There's two answers to that question! The first is: I've been doing musical theatre since I was eight years old, I was raised on it and started doing this after school drama program. Between the ages of eight and eighteen years old, I had done twenty musicals, in school and after school. I've always loved doing it, it was my passion. I didn't go to school for it, and sort of lost a little bit of faith in myself  that this was something I could pursue as a career. I sort of got away from it for a bit and didn't really take it seriously until after college when I was pursuing a job more on the writing side, I was working in the television world in Los Angeles. I was just missing it so I got set up to take over the lead of this very small version of the musical Bare - not the full revival I did in 2013, but one I had done in 2009. Through a random friend of a friend, I heard that their Jason had failed and they needed someone at the last second. I went in and did the audition at the director's house and that was great. So that's sort of got me back on the path, little by little, I started doing a little bit more until the last two years I've been going from show to show to show, that I had almost dropped the TV writing thing completely."
  
  

Where did you go to college to study writing?

• "University of Pennsylvania. I'm still acting and writing, it's nice to have acting in the lead position right now. When I'm not acting, I'm working on my writing projects!"

What was one show that changed how you viewed theatre?

• "Well...there's so many different answers popping into my brain. First, something that ended up being important for me was at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival when I was in high school. Actually, while I was at the festival, I saw like forty shows in two weeks, seven shows a day - I was in heaven! Big shows, little shows, puppet shows, dance shows - anything you could possibly think of, I saw. Just that whole festival opened my eyes to the fact that theatre was more than just Oklahoma! or Sound of Music; it could be so many different things, in so many shapes and sizes, and it gives you this respect for the artists who create these pieces and perform in them because you see how many people have this drive and this passion to create! That's answer number one part a. There was a group at the festival called 'Baby Want Candy' which was a improvised musical group out of Chicago. They created hour long improvised musicals and I thought that was pretty cool. That was around 2004 and in 2010, around that time, I created my own group! We went back to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, actually, and performed hour long improvised musicals there. We did that there twice, in Los Angeles. Since I didn't go to school for theatre, that's really where I got my training; by creating these musicals off the cuff literally every single night for a month. I learned so much about structure and about character and about narrative, that's been a huge part of my experience as both an actor and creator."

That is amazing! Did you have any moments where you just froze on stage?

• "Oh, never! No, you can't! It's the most alive I've ever felt because there's no net, you can't stop. The best part is that once you realize there's no wrong answer, you have to know that deep in your gut that whatever you say, as long as you justify it after the fact, you can say whatever you want! Better to say complete gibberish and then say why the gibberish came out of your mouth, than to stand there and say nothing at all. I learned a lot about working with scene partners with that experience as well. You really have to get on the same page and really be in that little canoe together, because you have to lock it in and tune into each other. That really served me well, because in 'As Long As You're Mine,' Rachel Tucker and I, it always feels like we're in that little canoe together. We totally lock into each other in that moment and it's definitely a familiar feeling."

Since you brought up Wicked, let's chat about that a little bit! How does it feel being in this iconic show?

• "Oh, it's awesome! It's awesome to be on Broadway no matter what, especially when you're a part of a show you can really stand behind. I know that it's a smart and sophisticated and amazing show, and then to see the audience's response - it's great to see how much they love it and how it moves them and how devoted they are to it. It's awesome. They treat us well and it's cool to be a production of that size. It's really just a terrific experience from top to bottom."

What is your favorite sequence in the show?

• "I'm biased now because I am in it, ha! I'll have to say the 'As Long As You're Mine scene, especially for the reason I had mentioned before. The Fiyero track, I don't get a ton of very real, human moments; just bare-boned acting, except 'As Long As You're Mine.' That scene is very intimate, very real. It's a beautiful song and I love doing it with Rachel."

What do you want the audience to feel when they leave the Gershwin? What's a main message you feel that they should have gotten while watching the show?

• "Something that I love about Wicked is that there's so much to relate to. Sort of true, but little bit of a cop out answer is I want people to take away from it what means the most to them. Some girls are Glindas, some girls are Elphabas; not everybody's going to walk around saying, 'I'm the green girl who everybody sneers at.' But a lot of them are! They see this amazing heroine figure. Some people may relate more to Glinda and think, 'Maybe I judge too quickly and there's something I could learn from that.' I had spoken to someone who had seen it and he said what he had taken away from it was that it's all of our responsibilities to change people for good as we go through this world. Everyone that we come in contact with should be better off than they were before they met us."

That's a great answer, I love that. Now, I know when we talked about flubbing on stage before, you couldn't really do that with the improv group. But, have there been any times during Wicked where you almost messed up, but saved it at the very last second?

• "Absolutely! There's teeny tiny micro-mistakes every single night. One time, when I swung in off of the rope, I landed a little weird and I smacked myself in the face with my own gun. I don't think the audience noticed at all, or even the people on stage with me noticed, but I definitely noticed hitting myself in the face with my own gun! I've messed up a word here or there, like instead of saying 'You don't have to do that,' I've said, "You don't need to do that.' It's weird because you do it so many times, the show, that it's very much in your body, and if you try to think about it, you're going to mess yourself up. It's better to not think. There was one time during 'Dancing Through Life' when I started thinking to myself, 'Oh gosh....do I even know what the words are?' And then I messed them up! I was supposed to say, 'Life's more painless for the brainless,' but I sort of didn't decide if I was going to say fraught less or brainless and it came out as 'frainnned...les'."

It did kind of work for the character though, in the moment! Now, I know when people are on Broadway, they don't often get to see a lot of the other shows that are currently running. What are some shows you'd like to see, or have seen?

• "I was able to see The Color Purple! The lead actress in the show, Cynthia Erivo,  her performance was unbelievable. She is a force to be reckoned with. I'd love to catch Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, before it closes!"

One last question. What is a piece of advice for people who are pursuing theatre as a career?

• "To understand that talent is one piece of a much bigger puzzle that will lead to your success. The other pieces of the puzzle that are equally as important are relationships, dedication slash hard work. It just takes so much effort and so much constant work on yourself and on what you're doing. The networking and working with people and getting yourself out there, it's never ever enough just to be good at singing. And I'll tell you this. There's only one or two leads in every Broadway musical, and everyone else up on that stage are Broadway actors and I guarantee you not everyone as the best voice in the world, but they exhibit professionalism and they work really hard and they have proven themselves time and again and have gotten keys to the kingdom. And they deserve it."
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