Brushes with fame

Tom Pinney

A few weeks ago, I briefly mentioned that I went to a very arts-centric high school. I wasn’t exaggerating, either; we were really, really good.

Alumni of the Gahanna-Lincoln High School theater and choir went on to top-notch fine arts programs. Two years in a row, a Lincoln graduate gained admission to Otterbein’s vaunted and highly exclusive musical theater program.

Other graduates went to BFA programs at the University of Michigan and the University of Cincinnati, both ranked in the top-10 programs in the nation.

But there was one who was different. One whose talent was clear the second he set foot on the stage.

A kid named Mike.

Mike was a sophomore when he tried out for Performance Studio, an audition-only group made up exclusively of seniors, in the spring of 2008. He planned on graduating in three years, so he was looking to bypass the age requirement. And for a reason only our teacher knows, he was rejected.

Coincidentally, it was the only time I beat him out for something related to acting.

We all thought it was because our teacher wanted to encourage him to stay for his fourth year to be a true senior like everyone else in PS. Maybe it was because she had a plan for him in the spring musical for 2010 and wanted to make sure he stayed so that he could be in PS and star in that musical.

Maybe he bombed his audition in an incredible fashion. Who knows. But he wasn’t in.

Mike auditioned for every open-casting show, and in the spring, he and I were both in the running for Danny Zuko in Grease.

It was my first callback for a musical, where Mike had held a named role the previous year in Jesus Christ Superstar after being called back for the roles of Jesus and Judas. I was nervous as all get-out, and it showed in the choices I made while reading for Danny.

Mike took the stage a bit later, reading for Danny in a scene where I was reading for Roger. He didn’t even try, and he was perfect for the role.

When the cast list went up and Mike was cast as Danny, no one was surprised. I didn’t even care that I didn’t have a named role, I was honored to share the boards with these actors.

It was also pretty cool to end up as one of the dance captains, which basically meant that I was in the front of the stage for the Hand Jive and that I came out and danced with the Burger Palace Boys at the beginning of “Greased Lightning” to even the numbers before we brought in all of the male chorus members for the sequence.

That was the other thing: we added around 64 measures to “Greased Lightning” and over 100 to the Hand Jive (with permission) because our choreographer wanted to give us more of a chance to dance a lot more. It was kind of awesome.

Anyway, the show was a ridiculous success. Tickets were sold out by tech week over a week before the show was to take the stage. And we killed it.

Mike ended up graduating with us, deciding to keep on his early graduation track because he wanted to be in New York and try his hand on Broadway.

He took a year at the Academy for Music and Dramatic Arts, then left. He and I also lost touch. We weren’t that close anyway, we really just shared the boards.

I say all this because last week, while listening to the soundtrack of the new Broadway show Dear Evan Hansen, I recognized one of the voices. I looked at the notes, and sure enough, there it was.

Mike Faist, playing the role of Connor Murphy on Broadway.

I did a bit of research and found out that he was also the first Morris Delancey in Newsies in Broadway. The kid was not only acting professionally in the top theaters in the nation, but he was playing roles no one else had played before.

He’s literally creating characters that high schoolers in 10-20 years are going to be imitating. And in high school, I was honored just to share the boards with him.

I knew that eventually I would know famous people, but it’s still pretty cool to see former friends and classmates doing cool things and thinking to myself, “I knew them when.”

For instance, I have friends who were on the speech and debate team at Ohio who are now locally famous. Devin is a local news anchor in Baltimore, her second on-camera position in her career after spending a few in Minnesota. Andrew is a meteorologist in northern Ohio, near his hometown.

Another Ohio speech alum from when I was there is working in the US State Department. Another Andrew, also from OU (but I knew him from Cru), now works as a videographer and producer at Insider.

I know so many cool people, all of them scattered throughout the nation. It’s pretty awesome to think about, that there are people that I know that have such a huge presence locally.

Everyone talks about how the next generation is the future, and I’m realizing that my generation is becoming the present. I have friends who are lawyers, friends finishing med school to become doctors, friends who are making it on their own doing something cool like music or acting, and lots of people know who they are.

Granted, I get recognized in Hy-Vee and Wal-Mart on occasion. Y’all know who I am.

But every week, I interview people who are considered to be heroes. I highlight high school seniors with big plans. I talk to people who are doing big things with their lives or who are very well on their way.

And really, I’m still honored just to share the boards with all of you.

Tom Pinney is a news reporter for the Maryville Daily Forum