Michael Lomenda Shares Some Great Stories with EUJacksonville!
March 12th, 2012Michael Lomenda, Joseph Leo Bwarie, Preston Truman Boyd and John Gardiner (left to right) in Jersey Boys at the National Theatre. Photograph by Joan Marcus
Michael gave reporter Kellie Abrahamson a peek into the auditioning process, shared his favorite Jersey Boys moment and some insight on playing the strong silent type:
EU: Do you have a favorite Jersey Boys moment?
ML: After we closed in Toronto, after around two years, we had a final performance that was kind of electric. Obviously it’s the end of a chapter up there and that was something else to experience for us, after you put two years of your life into a show and then we closed up there. The house was full, it was packed, and we did our final bow and left the stage and all of us guys are pretty emotional. You’re kind of saying goodbye to a family that you’ve spent a lot of time with for a really long time and then we kinda realized, we looked at each other after we’re taking our ties off and walking back into our dressing rooms and the audience was still cheering. So we looked at each other and we’re like “Should we go back out?†“I don’t know, should we go back out?â€and we went back out and it was like the roof blew off the theater. It was one of those rare experiences where you stand there on a stage in front of a packed house of people and you realize that this show really, really affects people and really has created this incredible following of folks around the world who really love Jersey Boys, not only because of the music and the nostalgia of that time but because there’s an incredible story there that is pertinent to different people; a wide variety of people from young folks to your grandparents. And that’s what’s really cool about this particular show, when that kinda hits home for you as an actor you realize that you’re part of this incredible experience and I just feel really grateful and thankful that I get to somehow tell this story every night.
Visit EUJacksonville.com to read the entire interview with Michael!