Andrew C. Call's Lucky 'Days'

Imagine that you are a successful young actor with a much coveted Broadway credit on your resume, High Fidelity,  who has only been living in New York for two years, and then continue to imagine this scenario as you suddenly add two more of those much desired resume treasures in the course of a month. Still following? Hope so, because it only gets better as you'll soon learn.

Andrew C. Call is currently playing the enticing tough guy Andy, in the inaugural Broadway cast of fresh talents Nick Blaemire and James Gardiner's new musical Glory Days. Andrew perfected his character as the intolerable and sexually powered second-rate jock in the original world premiere production at the Signature Theater in Arlington, Virginia, a non-paying role he won on reputation alone. Call prowls the stage as the athletic Andy, nearly never staying still until the play and it's story and characters force him to face a painful truth that demands them all to examine not only their friendship, but themselves as well.

Andrew went from the well received Signature production of Glory Days, to hard driving chorus of John Water's Cry-Baby, only to jump back in Glory Days as it made it's thrillingly quick journey to the Broadway stage. Just as his agent called to tell him he'd booked the Cry-Baby gig, Glory Days director Eric Shaffer gave him a hint of what might lay ahead by toasting his cast on the show Signature closing night by saying "we might just be going to Broadway"!  So with that possibility somewhere in the back of his mind he began Cry-Baby rehearsals like any good actor would, because in the theater business there is no "sure thing".  Fate had other ideas and now after stepping out of one Broadway show, he has just opened into another. He's also happily reunited with his Signature Theater costars, who joined him on the transfer from Virginia to New York City. Andrew, Steven Booth, Adam Halpin and Jesse JP Johnson bring the passionate musical story of four young men who fight to keep the power of friendship alive. Andrew gave us a call a few days before the show had it's opening night to give BroadwayWorld.com the inside story of how talent, passion and luck can make you think deep and dream big.

BroadwayWorld.com: Hey Andrew, thanks for coming up for air and spending a few moments with us, let's start at this exact moment. How are you feeling and dealing with it all!

Andrew C Call: Thanks so much for asking, it's literally been like three weeks, within the month of April I booked two Broadway shows, I'm in a whirlwind right now! I'm just trying to stay focused on the work, you know, so I don't get a big head or anything (laughs), no, you know it's about focusing on the work, because that's what its about ultimately to me, the work.

BW: And here you are getting to bring a new work to the Broadway stage.

ACC: It's just incredible, doing the work and working with such young and talented writers like Nick and James, it's an amazing opportunity for them, not only me, it's you know, creating an original something on Broadway!

BW: You've been really lucky in that respect, starting the shows you've done from the beginning…the very first creative steps.

ACC: That's right! This is my third time creating something original, because I've been lucky enough to only be in original companies of shows, Thank God! I don't want to do anything else, I just want to keep making steps forward and keep creating and working with the best of the best, and it's really kind of dumbfounding right now at how ridiculously fortunate I've been lately. I was able to get Glory Days on reputation alone which is something ,you know it's kind of a fluke thing, because some people work fifteen years in before they can build a reputation like that, I'm just again so fortunate to have gained that reputation in just two years in…

BW: You really have been in the city for a short time…but have such inspired luck.

ACC: I've just been in New York City for two years. It's really great though. You mentioned luck, and that's something that is so important to understand, you know? An old teacher of mine said something that's stuck with me ever since, "the term luck, well, luck is found at the crossroads of opportunity and preparedness"

BW: Luck is often being ready...

ACC: If you are ready at the right time, then that's luck for you.  

BW: Tell us how your "lucky" journey with Glory Days began.

ACC: Well at my start with it at Signature, it came off so fast, though we knew we had something special, you could feel it the room that first day of rehearsal. I wasn't actually in the first reading or the workshop, but one of the guys had a chance to do South Pacific, so he left because he had that chance to join a Broadway show, and u know rightly so, because at that point who knew the future with Glory Days, I was doing Alter Boys, I had rejoined it, and they guys asked if I was bored and I said yeah (Laughs). So they asked if I wanted to come down and work on something new, and I said "of I do!" I turned in my notice to Altar Boys and jumped in!

BW: Right the start you felt you made the right choice didn't you.

ACC: The first time we opened the script, the first day of reading through the script we were like, this is something so special! Everybody was looking around at each other and going, this is kind of amazing what is going on right now, and we just kept working and working and our director, Signature Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer, was just letting us be ourselves. As we worked, anything we adding in, or adlibbed or thrown into the script, or where we moved or the, blocking, it became very free form. This in sort of a new form of theater that is coming around, you know, it's not blocked within an inch of its life. It almost feels like reality television on stage, but it's an amazing thing Eric Shaffer has been able to do, and he allows us to something new every night, you know if you want to come off a different way, or have a different impulse, just we can, because we play off each other so well. That is the reason we are allow to do these things.

BW: Because of the work you all did and the trust that is there between the four of you on that stage.

ACC: That's so, so true, we all had a battle with the flu when we first started, but everybody stepped up t plate , you know, there is your buddy, help him out, pull a little weight, and that's' what we know we have to do to make this show ebb and flow. It is just so wonderful working with everyone, it's just so fresh and so new, nobody is a diva, nobody has an ego, we all just trust each other, I mean we are best friends outside of the theater, and that translates to the stage.

BW: It's that special alchemy of what makes certain performers or performances special. Did you know any of the guys before you started rehearsals?

ACC: I sort of knew, Jesse JP Johnson, he played the role I played in Altar Boys, Luke on the national tour, so I had met him once before, but I had never even heard of anybody else before but then I stepped into the room it just felt right and it clicked and we all looked at each other and I said, "I think we're a team"! We all did. And then we worked together and then started hanging out and we ended up having this amazing connection that I think, I hope comes across to the audience.

BW: Glory Days certainly lends itself to bringing the ideals of trust and friendship to the stage.

 

ACC: Exactly, the greatest part about being in something original is that you bring these things to the process, the connection you have while building the performances. It' not just what is on the page, but it's what is happening as you are creating, because we are coming up with news things.

BW: While we are on the subject of bringing yourself to the art of creating, tell us about Andy, how have you created him during the rehearsal process?

ACC: Andy in his life, he was supposed to be a great football player, he's got a great physique and he should be athletic, but he's just not as athletic as he should, or could be, but he just doesn't think things through, but he's a very passionate individual, as am I, I'm a very passionate individual, and you sometimes your mouth gets in the way of your head, or your head gets in the way of your mouth (Laughs).

The funny little things you love about your friends, that's what Andy loves, he's so passionate about these friends of his, because that's all he has, these four people, he might of found some fake frat boy friends at school or whatever, but what I've built in the subtext for myself is that he doesn't trust anybody else, and he doesn't want to be lied to, he is very simple in that regard. I trust you because I love you, you're my friend because I'm giving you secrets, I'm giving you me, so in show when things flip upside down, and somebody has kept something from him, he just shuts down and starts putting up walls, as anybody would.

BW: Which is also very much at the core of the show, how do you hold on to something that has to move on to grow.

ACC: Yeah, you know then events and emotions of the story continue to escalate, but for Andy it's very simple and honest, so the events are at the core for him is that he was lied to, that his trust was broken. I want people to see this quintessential jock guy, but this guy has so many other layers. And you know in the end, you feel, the audience feels, why didn't they just let him say his peace, why didn't they just let him talk? Why didn't you just let him speak in the beginning of the night? Maybe if they did, the night wouldn't have transpired the way it does.

Everybody can relate to this show, because everybody has been in that situation where you have to apologize to a friend. Its simple real life stuff, in this show we open a window for 85 minutes and then close it at the end, and the hope is during that time you spend with these characters, you think that maybe you can change. I mean go call your best friend after and say "I'm sorry", you know, just hash it out.

BW: That in many ways is what you hope theater can do, to move you, or change you or inspire you.

ACC: If it can make you think about something, it can make you think about a subject, that's why I do theater, anything that makes you think outside the box. And you realize, "Oh I never thought about it that way", and then the night goes on and you have dinner or a glass of wine or whatever and you are still talking and thinking about it. That's so incredible. This has been an amazing piece to do that with.

BW: The fact that all of you, the young cast, and the young writers are bringing these fresh and new voices to the stage is something that can't help but inspire, to open some eyes of other young creative people to take that step. Like the one you took as a young guy growing up in KansasArkansas, to go from the football field to the footlights.

ACC: What's so exciting about this is show is we are showing a different world, where it's just about honesty, and today, what about today? Let's talk about right now, and it's coming to fruition with younger writing talent creating these stories for the stage, let's not talk about what the futures is gonna be, lets SEE what it's become!

Glory Days is the story of four best friends who reunite a year after high school graduation, only to find how much they have grown apart.As they attempt to understand each other's differences, they soon realize that nothing can compare to the Glory Days of high school when life was simpler.Set to a vibrant score, Glory Days is a witty, unflinching look at four guys who refuse to be defined by generational stereotypes as they struggle to find their place in the world.

At 23 years old, Nick Blaemire (Music and Lyrics) is making his Broadway debut this season both as a songwriter with Glory Days and as a performer in the ensemble of Cry-Baby.James Gardiner (Book), is also 23 years old, and is making his debut as a book writer with James Gardiner.

Led by director Eric Schaeffer, the creative team also includes James Kronzer (scenic design), Sasha Ludwig-Siegel (costume design), Mark Lanks (lighting design) and Peter Hylenski (sound design).Vocal arrangements are by Nick Blaemire and Jesse Vargas. Arrangements and orchestrations are by Jesse Vargas.

Glory Days is produced by John O'Boyle, Ricky Stevens, Richard E. Leopold and Lizzie Leopold, and Max Productions in association with Signature Theatre.

Tickets are $97.50 (includes $1.50 facilities fee) and are available from Telecharge at 212-239-6200, online at www.telecharge.com, or in-person at the Circle in the Square Theatre box office (235 West 50th Street, between Broadway & 8th Avenues, NYC).