BWW Blog: FIDDLER ON THE ROOF's Ben Rappaport- For The Ages

In between takes of a scene on "The Good Wife" a few years ago, I was commiserating with veteran actor Zach Grenier-'Why is it that I'm completely relaxed in every shot EXCEPT my close up?' His response? 'Because this is for the ages. This will exist long after you and I are gone.' That's the weight you carry on your back in TV, film, and in the recording studio that you don't have in the theatre. In a play, there's always tomorrow night.

That weight was weighing heavily on me as I walked into MSR studios on West 48th Street last month to record the new Broadway cast recording of "Fiddler On The Roof". Broadway cast recordings, whether a revival or new musical, are milestones in our culture. I have very vivid memories of playing Frank Butler in 'Annie Get Your Gun' in high school, listening to the new cast recording with Bernadette Peters and Tom Wopat. At such a young and impressionable age, I couldn't help but idolize and imitate the inflections and nuances captured on the album. I was lucky enough to have seen that production a few years prior, but for a vast majority of theater kids around the country, a cast album was their only exposure to a Broadway production. A plane ticket, hotel room, and ticket to a show are quite expensive. And keep in mind, this was right before YouTube existed, so it was the album, the Tony Awards performance on TV and that was IT!

My song, 'Now I Have Everything', was second up the morning of the recording. As I stepped into the closet sized booth to lay down the track, I couldn't help but go through a myriad of emotions and thoughts in that short slot of time. 'How am I going to capture the breadth of my performance in a space this small?', 'Are they going to be able to digitally extract the morning phlegm from my voice?'. In all of my television and film work, I've grown accustomed to extremely technical and unnatural work environments, but there was something holy and sacred about this.

Our album is officially released to the world this Friday, March 18th, but became available for purchase in our lobby at the Broadway Theatre last Thursday. Before fight call that night, I ran out and purchased a copy. I may have been the first person to physically purchase the CD, and I'm more than OK with that. I ran up to my dressing room, popped it into my laptop, and listened-first, 'Now I Have Everything' (of course), then 'Tradition', then the rest of the album chronologically. Not only did it sound fantastic, but what I took away from it most was the fact that this, potentially, could be the new standard for kids doing Fiddler around the globe. Somewhere, somebody playing Perchik will hear this recording and (as our Lazar Wolf, Adam Dannheisser so aptly pointed out) use it as a standard that will influence their performance. That responsibility is not lost on me, and I'm incredibly proud to join the ranks of those who've come before me.

Check back next Wednesday for more from BroadwayWorld's latest blogger, Ben Rappaport. Ben can currently be seen as 'Perchik' in Fiddler on the Roof, playing at the Broadway Theatre. Every week, he will answer questions from fans, so be sure to comment below, or tweet him directly at @Ben_Rappaport.

Ben was last seen on Broadway in Picnic with Ellen Burstyn, directed by Sam Gold. His Off-Broadway credits include: Sex Lives Of Our Parents (Second Stage),The Gingerbread House(Rattlestick/stageFARM). Regional: Alex Timbers' original production of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Williamstown Theatre Festival). On TV, Ben is best known as the star of the NBC series "Outsourced". He currently appears as Carey Zepps on "The Good Wife"(CBS) and Ollie Parker on "Mr. Robot"(USA). He has also appeared on "Elementary"(CBS). Film credits include: Hope Springs opposite Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, and Steve Carell. The Brass Teapot, Stereotypically You (upcoming), and lead of the upcoming film Landing Up. Ben trained at Juilliard, where he received the Michel and Suria Saint-Denis Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Drama.