July 24, 2013

On the Road Again with Jersey Boys Natl Tour’s Nicolas Dromard; Check Out His BWW Blogs!

July 24th, 2013

Nicolas Dromard

Since beginning in June playing Tommy DeVito on the JERSEY BOYS second national Tour, Nicolas Dromard has been blogging for BWW! Check out his stories from the road! Below are some sneak peeks from the last several weeks:

On the Road Again: Here I am in Salt Lake City, the day before my first show in front of an audience, after a travel day that had us go from Albuquerque, connecting in Phoenix to arrive in Salt Lake City, I’m unpacked and blogging, while I should be reviewing my notes and making sure I’m fully prepared for when I go on tomorrow.

I couldn’t be more excited and I can’t wait to have an audience! But I should really get to bed now. Tomorrow’s schedule: Gym, lunch, sound check, dinner and then my Tommy DeVito début!!

Opening Night: So, my first show as a Jersey Boy came and went on Tuesday night and let me tell you what an amazing experience it was. I’ve performed in many shows, on Broadway and on tour, and this show is like no other. The fact that you are singing these incredible iconic songs is just amazing. Add the precise and awesome choreography by Sergio Trujilo, the perfect direction by Des McAnuff, the incredible book by Rick Elice and Marshall Brickman… I feel so blessed and honored to be performing this show.

So my opening night was so much fun, the adrenaline was pumping, the crowd was loud, the band was grooving. I felt great and aside from a few little tiny mistakes, I did a pretty good job.

First Week on Tour: I got 8 shows under my belt!! After a full week, I needed a day off! This show goes through such an emotional journey for Tommy, and it’s so vocally taxing, I definitely felt a vocal chord exercise on two show days. Our tour schedule is usually one show Tuesday through Friday and two shows on Saturday and Sunday, so by Sunday night your voice is pretty tired. It’s like using a muscle over and over. The show is so vocally taxing that all productions have two actors who alternate the role of Frankie Valli. One actor is hired to perform the role six times a week and another actor does 2, to give enough rest so that nobody ruins their voices (and careers!). Nick Cosgrove and Hayden Milanes are our Frankies, and what’s really great for the cast is that every actor is able to bring themselves to the role, so there are differences that make every performance different. Nothing major like different lines, but it’s always exciting to have different people on stage. John Rochette is an understudy for Nick Massi and he went on tonight. Not his first time, but it was my first time with him in that role and it’s so fun discovering some moments with a new actor on stage. It’s live theatre. And it’s amazing!

Travel Day: It’s Monday! Which means it’s either a day off or a travel day, and since we had been lucky to be in Salt Lake City for a couple of weeks, today is a travel day to Little Rock, Arkansas.

Since the distance between Salt Lake and Little Rock is pretty far, we had a Friday matinee in Salt Lake and no Sunday night show (the usual tour schedule is evening shows Tuesday through Friday with 2 shows Saturday and Sunday) so that the tour could load out right after the 1 p.m. matinee and get in the trucks and make its way to Little Rock, Arkansas.

Busy Tour Life: My apologies for this tardy blog… This has been a very busy week for the Jersey Boys tour. Between traveling on Monday, doing early press on Tuesday morning, then Wednesday sound check at 3:30, then show at night, 2 shows on Thursday, I finally had today to breathe and go and see the sights in Little Rock! I had a nice hike on Pinnacle Mountain, enjoyed some delicious restaurants and now and about to fall asleep to do two shows on Saturday and two shows on Sunday! What a week!

Home Sweet Home: I was born and raised in Ottawa, spent the first 18 years of my life here with my parents, training in every discipline, dancing, singing and acting throughout high school. I started dancing at the age of 6 years old, so for those counting, it has now been 26 years!

This is a huge deal for me, not only because this is my home town, but because it is also the first time I perform here in Ottawa in my professional career. I’ve been on Broadway, in Toronto, on 4 national tours and I finally am back at home performing at the gorgeous National Arts Center. The last time I was backstage at that theatre was when I danced to the music of Oscar Peterson, when he was being honored with a Governor General’s Award in 1996. 17 years later, I’m back and I can’t tell you how incredible this feeling is. I had tears in my eyes when I took my bow the first night we had a show here on Wednesday. This means so much to me.

1 Comment »

  1. Sir:

    What will the tour be doing after Des Moines, Iowa and
    before Fayetteville, AR? Are there any plans to come back to Des Moines, Iowa?

    Ted

    Comment by Ted — August 5, 2013 @ 6:20 am

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