Interview: Donnie Kehr Gets Ready to Blend Theatre with Rock for ROCKERS ON BROADWAY

By: Oct. 24, 2015
Get Access To Every Broadway Story

Unlock access to every one of the hundreds of articles published daily on BroadwayWorld by logging in with one click.




Existing user? Just click login.

The Path Fund's 22nd annual Rockers on Broadway 80's Rewind benefit concert will honor 80's Pop Princess, Debbie Gibson with the Rockers Lifetime Achievement Award on Monday, November 9, 2015 at Le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleeker Street) at 7:30 p.m. Rockers on Broadway is a fun and unique charity concert that will feature Broadway's best rockers performing the biggest hits in 80's Rock n' Roll. Proceeds from the evening will benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BCEFA) and non-profit performing arts education programs.

Donnie Kehr, founder and director of Rockers on Broadway, spoke with Broadwayworld about the incredible organization, and how awesome it is to let Broadway stars live out their "rock star dreams."

How did Rockers on Broadway originate and how did you become involved?

I was doing the show The Who's Tommy on Broadway in 1993, and Pete Townshend came up to me during rehearsal and said, "Let's put together a band and perform a few shows in New York with our cast, and I'll perform with them so that Broadway folk can understand what if feels like to be rock and roll. We can project that energy in our show." So we did 2 or 3 gigs and then what happened was I just kept it going. I turned it into a benefit that can help kids learn the arts. It became a big learning lesson for me because it's one thing singing "Pinball Wizard" with an orchestra, but when you sing it with the guy who wrote it, it's a whole different thing. He taught me a lot and gave me a chance to live out my rock star dreams. That's what I'm doing for Broadway folks.

What are the biggest differences between when you started doing the show and now? What has changed?

What happens is I get all of these Tony winners and the best Broadway people to come do it, and it's really fun because we get to live out our rockstar dreams. Every year is a different concept, so you never know what you're going to get. I think since then, we're a little bit more organized. I started a 501 C3 company called the PATH fund, and now we make sure the money goes to where it needs to go to.

How do you guys go about choosing a new theme each year?

We like to be different every year. We don't like to do the same thing- that would be boring. What we did this year was, I sent out an email to a bunch of our fans and board of directors and gave them like 6 different options. Which one appeals to you the most? And this year they picked the 80s. I've tried to open the door to getting the most input I can from our fans.

How did you guys decide to honor Debbie Gibson this year?

Debbie has done Rockers for us like two or three times. We decided to do 80s this year first, and then I thought who did great in the 80s? If you look at any top 100 80s star, Debbie Gibson is everywhere. I know Debbie, and she's done Broadway as Belle in Beauty and the Beast. She's done a couple of Broadway shows, and she's a really great girl. She's very supportive of our concept and purpose, so I decided Debbie deserves it. She's been around awhile, she works hard, she's kind and supportive to the kids we work with. She's been a real champion for us, so it was time to honor her.

What is the getting ready process like for each year's event?

We have to put the band together. We have to figure out what songs we're going to use. I try to use various songs that are not typical. This year, the 80s, I didn't want to do what Rock of Ages did already. I wanted to do something different, so I'm doing more of the cool 80s. The tagline for our show is "Totally Electric Celebration" because it's stuff like Duran Duran, Robert Palmer, Katrina and the Waves, a little Whitney Houston, and David Bowie. Not the hard rock 80s: the pop influence. That's why Debbie fit perfectly with what we were doing this year. We're also giving May Pang an Ambassador of Rock Award. Every year we give someone who supports rock and roll and our benefit and award. May Pang has been coming to Rockers for the past 7 years, and she's so supportive. She was John Lennon's girlfriend for a while; she's been around. Now she's a radio host. She's doing good and I thought, well May has been great and supportive. She's a bit of an icon herself so I thought let's give her the Ambassador of Rock Award.

You have an amazing line-up of Broadway stars this year. How do you go about choosing who is going to be in each year's concert?

I call and talk to people I know and people I don't know. There are a few people this year that have not done it, but I have a few people who are coming back. We have Tony nominees Jarrod Spector and Nick Cordero. What I do is I come up with song lists, and then I speak with each artist about it. I get their take on it because I want to make them feel comfortable. Since we're living out our rock star dreams, I want the person who is going to be singing it to feel comfortable with it. I usually throw a couple of different options out, then they pick one, and I'm good with that. No matter what, Broadway performers are great at what they do in theatre. In rock and roll it's a different thing. It's a different feel, a different vibe. It's a chance for that Broadway person to kind of shed their skin of Broadway and throw themselves into this other world for a night. It's so much fun. You see them differently. It's not like they're sitting there doing their [typical Broadway singing], they're out there screaming it. It's rockin'. It's a lot of fun. I give any guest I have two or three options to pick from, and once they do, we put a set list together.

Ben Cameron is our host. He has been doing it for 8 years now. We did Aida together on Broadway and became friends. He's a great host, and we get together and put together a show that is not like last year. Every year is different. We have some funny moments and some serious, theatrical moments. It's just a fun kind of balls to the walls thing.

This event crosses over the two very different genres of rock and musical theatre. Why do you think the event has been so successful over the years?

I don't really know, except for the fact that why I do this, it's my 22nd year and I didn't think I'd be doing it this long, but giving back to kids [through the event] means a lot to me. These kids have these dreams of wanting to sing with their favorite Broadway star or to learn as much as they can, as I did when I was a kid. I will tell you this, out of the 40 kids that I've scholarshiped through Broadway dreams, 12 of them are on Broadway now. It's pretty amazing what we've been able to achieve in inspiring and supporting these kids' Broadway dreams. It's pretty great. What we do is support arts education programs that give kids the chance to really learn from the best of Broadway. We have teachers like Tituss Burgess, Tony Vincent, Norm Lewis, or myself; we get the best teachers in there and teach classes and teach these kids what it's really going to be like. They come to the table because they're inspired, and that is why I do this. I'm able to give kids a chance to find their dream and to express themselves as themselves without having to be something they're not. That's important to me; everybody is different, and every child learns differently. Giving them a chance to learn and be in the room with someone like a Tony winner or someone very successful, it allows them to have a one-up on everything and they know what they're getting into. I tell all these kids, "No matter what, if you're going to be in the theatre, you better love it." It's a big commitment, and you have to devote your life to making it as good as it possibly can be. It doesn't always work out, but when it does, it's a beautiful thing.

What are you most excited about for this year's event?

I don't know how to answer that! I'm excited every year! But I'll tell you what, in the 80s, believe it or not, I was in a band called Urgent, and I was 21 years old. I lived out my rock star dream; we had a hit; we sold half a million records; we did okay. The 80s were my jam! I grew up in the 80s, so that's something I'm very excited about. I get to relive...well I can't relive it or else I'd probably be dead! But it's a chance to go back in time and enjoy that era. The music from the 80s was the beginning of electronic music. You had bands, musicians, and songwriters trying all types of things electronically and creating new melodies that brought us to another level of listening to music. You think about digital downloads now and this was the beginning of that. It was a different sort of experience to be able to create stuff without having a live drummer and all that stuff. The 80s opened up technology in music. It was the electronic age, and it opened up a lot of our minds to create differently.

Donnie Kehr is a veteran Broadway rocker whose credits include the original Broadway cast and film of Jersey Boys, The Who's Tommy, Billy Elliot, and many others. Also an accomplished musician and singer, Donnie has played dueling piano's across the country including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and New York. He also performs with Almost Elton John (Craig A. Meyer) as his alter ego, Billy Joel. Donnie is the creator and founder of the annual charity concert, Rockers on Broadway, produced his 501c3 The PATH Fund (www.rockersonbroadway.com).

The 1980's were the jam! From the totally tubular neon clothes and teased hair to the outrageous politics, giant computers, boom boxes and, of course...the unforgettable music! ROCKERS ON BROADWAY "80's Rewind" will jolt you back to the decade of revolutionary changes. We got our MTV and the compact disc so we could listen to the totally diverse music of the time, including pop, new wave, heavy metal, rap, techno pop, and charity rock. Let us take you back in time to celebrate the music.

Tickets are now on sale at the Le Poisson Rouge box office, online at www.lepoissonrouge.com, or by emailing rockersonbroadway@gmail.com. General admission tickets are $88, standing room tickets are $28, VIP single tickets are $250, VIP table for 2 tickets are $625, and a VIP table for 8 is $2,500. VIP tickets include front row seating, early admission, access to the step and repeat preshow, admission to the exclusive after party, and signed Rockers on Broadway memorabilia. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for VIP guests and 7:00 p.m. for general admission and standing room.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos



Videos