DATELINE NEW YORK: Ukrainian stars on Broadway (08/15/99)

DATELINE NEW YORK: Ukrainian stars on Broadway

by Helen Smindak

At 23, Jeremy Kushnier is Broadway's youngest leading man. His work in the musical "Footloose" has brought him nominations for two awards: the Helen Hayes Award and the Theater World Award. He is described by reviewers as "a high-spirited hero, coming across as a sweet guy with just enough edge to be interesting" (Michael Sommers, The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J.) and "hugely appealing" (David Patrick Stearns, USA Today).

When "Footloose" premiered last October, Casper Citron of WOR-Radio declared: "Jeremy Kushnier bursts onto Broadway with the kind of fresh exuberance that strives to please everyone in the audience no matter what their age." Roma Torres of NY1 News, who liked his "James Dean good looks," said he is "a terrible threat: he acts, dances and sings like a seasoned pro."

Syndicated columnist Liz Smith called him "the dancin' boy who comes to town from wicked Chicago and shakes things up" and gushed: "Talk about charisma - this kid's going places. Hollywood will knock any minute."

The commendations don't appear to have turned this young Canadian head. When we met in the midtown office of the musical's press representatives, just after a Wednesday matinee performance, Mr. Kushnier was poised but unpretentious. Dressed in T-shirt and jeans, a backpack slung over one shoulder, he apologized for keeping me waiting, though he was only a few minutes late. Fielding questions, talking enthusiastically about his first Broadway role and his plans for the future, he radiated a dynamic personality, a charm heightened by large expressive eyes set in a handsome face.

Mr. Kushnier has an extremely busy schedule these days, one that keeps his 5-foot 10-inch frame at a lean and slim 145 pounds no matter how much he eats. He appears eight times a week in a high-energy musical with a contemporary pop-rock score, playing Ren McCormack, the high-school kid who moves from Chicago to stodgy Bomont (somewhere in the heartland of America) and sets the whole town "footloose" to discover the joy of music and dancing.

The action unfolds through sensational, show-stopping numbers, including a schoolgym scene, a number at the Burger Blast Restaurant featuring fun on rollerblades, a Wild West scenario and a knockout musical scene - "Let's Hear It for the Boy" - that brings the house down.

Standing in contrast to all the high-flying youths tumbling, leaping, trampolining, rope-climbing and flipping about are subdued tableaux centered around the town's apprehensive preacher and his sympathetic wife (Stephen Lee Anderson and Dee Hoty) and a romantic interlude between Ren and the preacher's daughter (Jennifer Laura Thompson).

"I couldn't ask for a better vehicle to show people what I'm capable of. I get to sing, I get to dance and to act. I'm extremely thankful every day for this opportunity and this experience, because it's been amazing," Mr. Kushnier admits.

"I get a little bit of celebrity, I get a little bit of financial stability, and at the same time I get to do what I love, so I'm truly excited about it," he sums up.

Things are buzzing for him offstage as well. Mr. Kushnier says he has "a million things going on" - he's doing some pre-production work on "a little independent movie that I might be doing later on" and he's working on a reading of a new musical. There are press interviews and numerous public appearances at malls, schools and parks, including a performance at Macy's July 4th fireworks display seen live by spectators and viewed by many more on TV.

The Winnipeg native has been dancing since the age of 3, when his parents, Craig and Gail Kushnier, enrolled him in sadochok (pre-school). He went on to dance for several years with the Rozmai and Rusalka ensembles in Winnipeg, and he recalls learning about Sviatyi Mykolai and Ukrainian holiday customs during Sunday School classes at church.

"I'm a pure-bred Ukrainian," he says proudly, "except for a little bit of Polish on my great-grandfather's side, which he never admitted to." His Ukrainian lineage comes from grandparents Anne and Nicholas Kushnier and Anne and Henry Mycan.

Artistic talent seems to run in the Kushnier family: brother Serge, 17, is a dancer who was recently accepted to the Canadian national tap team, while his brother Bryce, a 19-year-old university student, leads a rock band. Mr. Kushnier's comment on this topic: "I think there's a natural tendency in our family to perform. My mother has always loved theater, and we (kids) grew up watching musicals and Tony awards on TV. One of my grandfathers says he used to tap."

Staging "little shows around the house and imitating Michael Jackson" for his parents led to enrollment in a musical theater class for young people offered by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. After five or six years of jazz, tap and ballet classes, he moved on to the Winnipeg School of Performing Arts to study musical theater and dance for a couple of years. He also trained with private voice teachers for two or three years, but vocal studies were not a high priority, he says, since "I'm a person who learns by doing rather than schooling."

Knowing from age 10 that he wanted to be in theater work, he was ready to attempt professional stage work after completing high school, but attended the University of Winnipeg for a year for his parents' sake. "They've always been supportive in what I've done, and they wanted to make sure I didn't close off any doors," he explains.

Truly convinced that his future lay in the theater, he headed for Toronto, auditioned for several shows and was hired for "The Who's Tommy" and then the Canadian tour of "Tommy." He remembers the years in Toronto as a happy time when "I was very content to be doing good work that didn't necessarily run forever but that I enjoyed."

There was a "hard, devastating eight months" when he wasn't doing anything. That slow period ended abruptly when his agent informed him about an audition for a "Footloose" tryout being held the next day in New York. Scrounging together some money, he boarded a bus at 7 p.m. and arrived in Manhattan the following morning, in time for the audition. A follow-up audition a day later turned the trick - he was engaged to perform in "Footloose" and participated in a five-week workshop.

During the year between the workshop and the beginning of rehearsals for the Broadway run of "Footloose," Mr. Kushnier returned to Toronto to perform in the original Canadian company of "Rent." In October 1998 "Footloose" premiered at the Richard Rodgers Theater in New York, and Jeremy Kushnier became an overnight sensation.

He sees "Footloose" as an important benefit for the theater community, drawing young people to the theater and giving them an opportunity to "see something that doesn't talk down to them, doesn't belittle them or make fun of them, that isn't so high and mighty that it goes over their heads." He hopes these young people will be the next generation to support live theater, which he feels is necessary for theater to be sustained.

Where does he go from here? His answer: "I'd like to do a film, even though I love theater - and I really like New York, I feel at home here."

"I hope this show will run for a long, long time, and I'm going to stick with it for a while because I really enjoy doing it," the star enthuses. "But my heart is really in acting."

We parted on that note, and he was off for "a quick bite to eat and a quick nap" to re-energize him for the evening performance before another packed house.

| Home Page |