BWW Exclusive: NTI Faculty Spotlight - Alexander Gemignani

For 45 years, the National Theater Institute has offered young theater artists a springboard to the professional world at the two-time Tony Award-winning Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. With a singular schedule and an unmatched breadth of training, NTI's credit-earning, semester-long programs are taught by industry professionals and master teachers like Alexander Gemignani.

Alex is currently performing the lead role of Billy Flynn in CHICAGO on Broadway. His other Broadway credits include starring roles in: VIOLET, LES MISERABLES, SWEENEY TODD, ASSASSINS, THE PEOPLE IN THE PICTURE, and SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE.

He teaches Acting into Song and Musical Scene Study for the National Music Theater Institute, is currently developing four new musicals, and recently composed the incidental music for the plays Cadence: Home, swingset/moon, and Katzenjammer.

In an exclusive Q&A for RISK AGAIN!, Alexander Gemignani shares why he loves to teach at NTI, his biggest artistic inspirations, his advice for young artists, and more!

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Why did you choose a career in the arts?

I wouldn't say I chose it. While it may be a tad clichéd, I think the arts pick you. That's really true of anything a person is passionate about. Having been in the business now for 15 years, I think what turns me on the most is the collaborative process. I don't know that I would have been able to articulate that when I started out, but something about a group of people using their individual gifts as one to achieve the same idea is immensely appealing to me. It was true as an instrumentalist (I started out as a trumpet player) and it's REALLY true of making theater.

Is that what makes the National Theater Institute a unique place to teach?

Yes, the students are truly unique in their artistic hunger and their intelligence. I love the opportunity to really cater their education towards their interests and challenge them based on the pace at which they are working. Very few places offer that for faculty or students.

If you could give four pieces of advice to your 20-year-old self, what would they be?

- Always be listening.

- Always be fearless.

- Stay flexible.

- Never apologize.

You first headlined the Broadway company of CHICAGO in 2013 and now you're wrapping up another run. What is it like returning to a role?

It was wonderful to be asked back. I love it there! The first time I was in for 11 weeks and this time has been for 7 ½ and I hope they ask me back again. I feel lucky to get to keep working on the role. It is really a unique piece in that it's no frills. It is just about the material, the musicians, and the actors. It's rare you come across a piece like that these days that isn't overblown. It's a testament to the Weislers, Walter Bobbie, and the folks who maintain it daily, not to mention Bob Fosse!

Before revisiting Billy Flynn, you were last seen on Broadway in VIOLET, a show -- first developed at the O'Neill's National Music Theater Conference in 1994 (in the very Barn where you now teach classes) -- that enjoyed an off-Broadway production, cast album, and regional theater life before finally coming to Broadway in 2014. What was it like working on a piece with such a long production history?

VIOLET was extremely rewarding experience for me. To be able to explore such a rich piece with the writers in the room with you nearly every day is a gift for an actor. The fact that I got to be a cog in the wheel of the production history of VIOLET is something I'm very grateful for.

How do you approach new work verses established plays and musicals?

As an actor it has to be always new, whether it's OKLAHOMA! or something written by your cousin Larry. The benefit of doing a new work is that often the creators are in the room or at the very least, alive and available for questions if you have them. But even if you've played Harold Hill six times, it will have to be new the seventh time, because of all of the different elements and where you are in your life.

What is something you do every day that you think makes you a better performer?

Remind myself to be grateful for the opportunity to perform. Auditioning is the job. Performing is the gift.

What are the biggest challenges facing working artists today, and how do you deal with them?

I think it's hard, particularly for young people, to find a balance of auditioning and finding a job that doesn't suck their soul. It's more competitive and harder than ever out there. I think if a person can do something just for themselves every day, every few days, every week, they can maintain a sense of self as they spend their days catering and waiting to be seen at open calls where they might feel disconnected from their little voice of truth.

Who has had the biggest impact on your life as an artist?

I'd like to answer with a list of a few people who I consider artistic idols as well as those who inspire me artistically on a daily basis: Paul Gemignani (my Dad), Stephen Sondheim, Michael Starobin, John Doyle, Kurt Elling, David Shire, Tedd Firth, Kate Baldwin, Joe Mantello, Elizabeth Stanley, Andy Blankenbuehler, Matt Aronoff, Keith Reddin, Mary Beth Peil, and my brilliant wife, Erin Ortman.

Speaking of your family, how do you manage to find a balance between work and personal life?

Your priorities shift as you get older. For instance, I am married and expecting a baby (yahoo!) in May. My priorities are vastly different from when I first moved to NYC. Regardless, show business can't be all things and everything. You have to maintain a personal life -- friends, family, socializing -- it will help with the all-important sense of gratefulness you should carry with you.

And lastly, what is the biggest RISK you've taken?

Every time you share a part of your artistic self, you are risking something. Every audition, every performance, every class you teach. Risk is the name of the game. If you haven't left a little blood, sweat and tears and the floor, you haven't truly done your job.

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Alexander Gemignani's Broadway credits include starring roles in Chicago (Billy), Violet (Father), LES MISERABLES (Valjean, Drama League nomination), Sweeney Todd (Beadle, Drama Desk nomination), Assassins (Hinckley, Theatre World Award), The People In The Picture (Moishe), Sunday in the Park With George (Boatman/Dennis). Off-Broadway: Road Show at the Public (Addison Mizner, Drama League nomination), Headstrong at EST (Nick), and Avenue Q at the Vineyard Theatre (Brian). Favorite Regional: The Three Sisters (Andrei) at Cincinnati Playhouse, The Boys From Syracuse(Sergeant) at The Shakespeare Theatre of D.C. and the title character in the world premiere musical Saint-Ex at The Weston Playhouse. Concerts: Sondheim! The Birthday Concert with The N.Y. Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, The N.Y. Pops at Carnegie Hall, and The L.A. Philharmonic at The Hollywood Bowl as well several appearances as performer and director in the Broadway By The Year series at The Town Hall. His solo show, All at Once, premiered at the Kennedy Center in 2011.TV/Film: Homeland, The Good Wife, Empire State (pilot), Passion (Live From Lincoln Center), South Pacific (Great Performances) and the film The Producers. As a composer/lyricist, he is currently developing four new musicals and recently composed the incidental music for the plays Cadence: Home, swingset/moon and, currently, Katzenjammer. He also recently served as co-music director and conductor for the University Of Michigan's production of Sunday In The Park With George and created a new orchestration and musically directed Ragtime for Tisch School Of The Arts at NYU. He is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and a graduate of the University of Michigan.

Learn more about NTI's acclaimed semester-long, credit-earning training intensives by visiting www.NationalTheaterInstitute.org and Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube (@NTIRiskFailRisk). The application deadline for summer and fall programs is March 20.