BWW TV: BACKSTAGE WITH RICHARD RIDGE - Jonathan Groff Downtown; Talks BFF Lea Michele, GLEE, THE SUBMISSION & More!

Welcome to BroadwayWorld's newest feature, and first-ever talk show, BACKSTAGE WITH RICHARD RIDGE. Follow Richard as he visits Broadway's best and brightest in their Broadway dressing rooms to talk about their lives, careers and all of the things you don't know, but want to know.

You've seen Richard chat with Spidey lovebirds Reeve Carney and Jennifer Damiano, and visit with UK's First Lady of musical Theatre, Elaine Paige.  Today, Richard takes you downtown to the beloved West Village staple, the smokey Lucille Lortel Theatre, where he met up with everyone's favorite leading man, Jonathan Groff.  Currently starring in MCC's THE SUBMISSION, Groff opens up about his BFF Lea Michele, getting comfortable in his role as working actor and "pseudo" celebrity, playing a jerk, and why you REALLY should go see THE SUBMISSION.

Groff began his career in the limelight as Melchior Gabor in the Tony Award-winning musical, Spring Awakening, for which he earned his 2007 Theatre World Award, in addition to Tony, Drama Desk, and Drama League Award nominations. Groff created the role Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theatre Company, prior to reprising the role on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. Following his lauded run in Spring Awakening, Groff transitioned into the famed role of Claude in The Public Theater's heralded revival of Hair, the seminal rock musical of the 1960's, as part of The Public Theater's "Shakespeare in the Park" series at the Delacorte Theatre. Groff most recently made his West End debut in the acclaimed revival of Ira Levin's Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre in London. The production was directed by Tony Award-winner Matthew Warchus (Art, God of Carnage, Boeing, Boeing) and co-starred legendary stage actor Simon Russell Beale. On stage, Jonathan also starred as Dionysus, the God of wine, in the Public Theater's summer staging of Euripides' The Bacchae, Prelude to a Kiss, Longtime Companion (for which he was the recipient of a Village Voice Obie Award for Outstanding Performance), Prayer for My Enemy and The Singing Forest, In My Life (Broadway), and the regional tours of The Sound of Music, Fame, Bat Boy, and Honk! 

Groff joined the cast of the critically-praised hit Fox series GLEE during its first season as the lead vocalist of the rival glee club, Vocal Adrenaline, and the love interest of Lea Michele's character, Rachel Berry. Jonathan made his big screen debut in Ang Lee's acclaimed film, Taking Woodstock. The movie, adapted by James Schamus from the autobiography Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life by Eliot Tibor and Tom Monte, told the true story of a young man working at his parents' motel in the Catskills who inadvertently set in motion the generation-defining concert in the summer of 1969. In the film, Groff played Michael Lang, the legendary concert promoter and co-creator of the famed Woodstock Music and Art Festival. Groff was most recently seen in the films The Conspirator and Twelve Thirty.   

To catch Groff onstage in THE SUBMISSION, visit www.mcctheater.org.

Richard Ridge fell in love with the theatre at the age of five when he went through his parents record cabinet and stumbled upon their original cast album collection and the rest is history.He has toured the world as a performer and for the past twenty years he has been the host of the television program Broadway Beat and now, BACKSTAGE WITH RICHARD RIDGE.

More Articles by This Author...