There’s a new kid on the block—the block of 181st Street where In the Heights takes place. Shaun Taylor-Corbett has joined the Broadway cast as Sonny, Usnavi’s scampish cousin who’s out to raise the consciousness of everyone in Washington Heights. Taylor-Corbett is actually rejoining the Broadway company, since he was in the original cast as an ensemble member and understudy for Sonny, Usnavi and Piragua Guy. He’s come back to New York after playing Sonny on the national tour for nine months.
Taylor-Corbett was with In the Heights during its off-Broadway run in 2007, understudying Usnavi and Sonny (he still covers Usnavi). The prior year, he performed in another off-Broadway hit, Altar Boyz. He’s also done some classical theater, including Romeo and Juliet at Princeton’s McCarter Theater and Ubu Roi with the Southern California company A Noise Within. On television, Taylor-Corbett was a costar of the Discovery Kids series Hi-5, which featured five young performers teaching children academic and life lessons through musical, colorful skits.
A second-generation Broadway artist, Shaun is the son of Lynne Taylor-Corbett, who choreographed Titanic and Swing! on Broadway (she also directed Swing!) as well as such films as Footloose, Bewitched and My Blue Heaven. He sat down to chat with BWW in midtown Manhattan’s Sony Plaza Public Arcade the week of his return to Broadway’s Heights.
In the Heights is a very New York show, between its uptown setting and its Latino cast of characters. How’d it go over elsewhere in the country when you were on the tour?
There was such a wide variety of reactions. I’d say the majority of the time it was huge roars of applause and laughter, but there were definitely some cities where the reaction was kind of a letdown. In St. Louis, there’s a 4,000-seat theater, the Fox. They’re probably used to more traditional musicals, so when Usnavi comes out and starts rapping… Then it’s like: [sings last words of opening number] “…in Washington Heights!” and 4,000 people go [he claps calmly and slowly]. By the end they were with us, but I like to think of it more as an education. We brought the message of In the Heights, of Latin culture and pride, something new to them. But then we’d go to Minneapolis, which I thought, They’re not going to like it here, and they loved it. Zero Latinos in the audience, and they went crazy. Minneapolis was probably one of our best cities on the tour. We went to Orlando and, omigod, I think there was like 90 percent Puerto Ricans in the audience. Just freaking out, loving every minute of it. That was probably the biggest reaction we got on the whole tour, Orlando. And then we’d go to retirement communities in Florida and it was…an appreciation. I don’t think they got Sonny. They were looking at Abuela and the parents.
What characteristics do you have to bring out in Sonny but suppress when playing Usnavi, and vice versa?
As Usnavi, I have to bring the groundedness of being a man, taking on the weight of the world, and dealing with financial issues, with being in love and trying to balance work and love, trying to take care of the young people in your family and give them a good example, and at the same time trying not to lose it. With Sonny, I’ve got to feel like I have the world in my hand and I can do anything, and the sky’s the limit—there’s no limitations. I’m the truth teller; I’m bouncy, I’m just jumpin’ around.
Do you speak Spanish?
I do. It’s my second language. I studied it in school, then I lived in Spain after high school for six months. My mom sent me. I lived with some friends in Madrid. Then I lived in Colombia for a month during college, during winter session. I like to say I’m Latino at heart. Like in the show: an honorary Latino. That’s what they call Benny, and that’s what I am. The Latin culture is a part of who I am. My last two roles have been Latino roles. [The previous one was Juan in ‘Altar Boyz’.]
