BWW Exclusive: Diary of an Englishman in New York- Opening Night on Broadway

Academy Award winner Helen Mirren returns to Broadway as Elizabeth II in Peter Morgan's The Audience, which just opened at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. Playing one of Her Majesty's twelve Prime Ministers is Rufus Wright, who takes his audience with the Queen nightly as the UK's current PM, David Cameron.

Follow along as Wright takes us behind the scenes of The Audience's Broadway journey with 'Diary of an Englishman in New York'. Be sure to check back later this week for his latest installment!

Follow Rufus on Twitter (@rufusgwright) for even more updates!

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9 March 2015
Opening Night on Broadway

I'm told many rock stars try not to think too hard about playing an 80,000 seat stadium because it basically fries your brain to think of all those people looking at you and thinking 'Well THIS had better be good.'

But everything about an Opening Night is designed to fry your brain. It's Opening Night on Broadway, for heaven's sake. There are songs about it! Your Facebook page is full of good wishes from the guy you sat next to in Biology. You walk to work thinking, this is just another show- we've had 22 previews, for heaven's sake. I can do it. You arrive and 'Happy Opening!' trills the childrens' chaperone and the dog trainer. 'Happy Opening!' says the stage door man. You'd reach for a slice of cake in the Green Room but you half expect a girl to jump out of it. 'Happy Op-' All right! I'm nervous enough as it is...

On the way up the stairs are good luck messages from all the other shows on Broadway- signed by EVERYONE. Good luck wishes from rivals are usually about as sincere and warm as those handshakes boxers do at press conferences but these are great, and seem genuine. This doesn't happen in the West End and I like it.

And the dressing room is full of cards, flowers, baked goods and key rings referencing one liners in the play. Each chocolate cupcake is looking you in the eye and saying 'Sure, go ahead- take a bite. But fluff your lines tonight, fatty, and you're TOAST'.

The Audience opening night was pretty heavy on Queen postcards and memorabilia, predictably. I painted crowns and Prime Ministers on my cards to cast and crew. This was my attempt to prove to my American colleagues that I even though they may think I can't act I can draw, and to the Brits that I don't have any money. I'm told in the recent past, companies would hunker down in Sardi's, staring at the blinking light on a fax machine, praying that the review it spewed forth would be favourable. Nowadays it's more about tapping refresh on your cellphone. But the main thing is that it's over. You've opened on Broadway. You may close on Tuesday; but at least you got through Opening Night.

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Rufus trained at The Central School of Speech and Drama in London. He created the part of David Cameron in the West End production of The Audience and previously worked with Peter Morgan on the original Donmar Warehouse production of Frost/Nixon and in the filmThe Special Relationship. Other theatre credits include: The 39 Steps (Criterion), The One, The Backroom (Soho Theatre) The Empire (Royal Court), Serious Money, The Madness of George III (Birmingham Rep), Private Lives (Hampstead), Crown Matrimonial (Guildford and Tour), Mary Stuart (Donmar Warehouse and Apollo), Journey's End (Duke of York's), Trust Byron, Life With an Idiot and Franziska (The Gate), Single Spies (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Secret Garden (Salisbury Playhouse), and Richard II (London Pleasance)

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos