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Marian Horosko (l) with Elvire Braunscheig
Tony Yazbeck - The Gypsy Dancer Returns to "Gypsy"
Tony Yazbeck started his professional career at age 11 as one of Mama Rose's newsboys in "Bypsy.". Last July, in the summer Encores production of "Gypsy," he played Tulsa, the newsboy all grown up and ready to leave Mama Rose to start his own career. Art parallels life. Yazbeck is also all grown up and feeling the confidence that will propel him right to the top along the song and dance road he has always wanted to travel.
"I don't remember when I didn't dream of being a song and dance man," the 28-year-old, darkly handsome dancer said, looking back on his childhood in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. "I remember always going to dance classes, just me, one other guy, and lots of girls. I didn't care. I just wanted to dance." On a suggestion from a friend, he went to his first audition that happened to be for the Broadway revival of "Gypsy" starring Tyne Daly. "My mother drove me in. Little did we know this would be the first of a year's worth of trips from Pennsylvania to Broadway. After the audition the casting director, Stuart Howard, took me aside and whispered, 'Don't tell anybody, but you start on Tuesday.'"
This was a fairly painless entrance into show business, but along the way there were plenty of bumps in the road beginning, with the two trips a day to the theatre then home to Pennsylvania so that Yazbeck could attend school. "My mom did this for me because she believed I should have the opportunity to do what I loved," he said. "And I was earning money so she did see some reality to my dream. But as always, a show closes, and you are left with the big question of what's next. For me, I wanted to go back to school."
Soon after Yazbeck returned to Pennsylvania the family moved to the Poconos where Yazbeck and his younger sisters attended Pleasant Valley High School. Through some urging on his part the school put on their first musical, "Godspell," and Yazbeck played Jesus. "I felt starting out on Broadway the way I did was a dream," he said, "but now I needed some reality. I had to grow up, learn my craft, and have some life experiences."
After high school, Yazbeck attended Point Park University in Pittsburgh and majored in musical theatre. He had to work hard earning some scholarship assistance then transferred to Cincinnati Conservatory where he matriculated as a major in musical theatre. "I was poor, tired, and miserable," Yazbeck recalled. "Eating food out of my friend's refrigerator was not pleasant. I went to New York with my last hundred dollars and continued being poor, tired and miserable for a little while."
Bunking on a friend of a friend's couch (who turned out to be an agent), he was steered toward the "Annie Get Your Gun" revival and landed an ensemble role, plus understudy to Tom Wopat, the leading man who played Frank Butler. "Yeah, I was his understudy, but never went on for him. In fact, he called to wish me happy new year and added, with a laugh, 'By the way, you will never go on.' How right he was. The man never missed a performance. There went my chance to be Frank Butler. He was a consummate professional and a nice guy, and I learned a lot from him."
"My next job was a real eye-opener," Yazbeck said. "I was hired as a swing for 'Oklahoma,' the Susan Stroman revival and was in a continual state of suspended animation with 11 tracks to cover. I never knew which dancer would be out on any given night. Everyone said, 'wow, what a great learning experience!' I said, 'this is really tough.'"
"Never Gonna Dance" on Broadway followed and as dance captain Yazbeck had only six tracks to learn. This seemed like a breeze for him. At this point he allowed himself to have some fun, to relax, and most importantly to realize that he must make a strong commitment never to do an ensemble role again. From that point on, even if he had to serve up lattés at Starbucks, he promised himself he would only take on roles no matter how small or insignificant. In less than two weeks he received a call to come in for the ensemble in "Chicago," the one show he would have loved to do. "And I was broke, and was tempted because that show has great ensemble work," he recalled, "and the chance to learn the great Fosse choreography, but I stuck to my guns and turned it down. My integrity was at stake."
The "Dr. Doolittle" tour, at Trinity Rep in Providence starring Tom Hewitt, hired Yazbeck to play Matthew Mugg, Doolittle's friend and one of the leads. It would be a stretch for this hunky black-haired dancer to play an Irish man, yet he pulled it off and held his own with some more established actors. Now he felt he had proven to himself that he could cross the line from ensemble to featured role and was ready to take on more challenging material. When the current revival of "A Chorus Line" was casting, Yazbeck was given his place on the line as Al, the young husband who sings well at the audition and attempts to cover up the fact that his wife can't sing at all. "This show meant so much to me, and to all the dancers in the cast," he declared. "It was all about how I was raised, what my parents went through to get me to where I was, why I am still here and why I do what I do."
Yazbeck's strong features light up as he talks about how he has become devoted to the classics of musical theatrr. "I guess I am just not a pop or contemporary music guy," he reflected. "'Hairspray' and 'Rent' are all great shows, and I loved seeing them. Maybe I was born in the wrong era and should have been on stage in the '30s or '40s," he mused, as if he had just awakened to his true identity as a performer. Yazbeck has already sung Tony in a regional production of "West Side Story." Rumor has it that a revival of the show is in the offering, perhaps next year and will be directed by the 90-year-old Arthur Laurents. Clearly it is Yazbeck's dream to perform the role again. "It is a little harder to find the perfect role for a legit singing voice," he said. "Hey, maybe someone will do a musical theatre version of 'American In Paris' someday, and I will wait for that Gene Kelly role."
Each night of last summer's run of "Gypsy" the crowd gathered at the City Center stage entrance after the performance waiting for Patti LuPone to exit the theatre. But wait. There was also a crowd of young people waving pencils. When Yazbeck came out, a loud roar went up. He broke into a great smile realizing he, too, had been an integral part of the success of that revival. A part of the stage door gang was waiting for him.