Interview: Quinn VanAntwerp of SHUCKED! at Orpheum

Quinn Van Antwerp currently stars as Gordy in this hilarious, but corny, Tony Award-winning musical “SHUCKED” hitting the Orpheum stage January 13-18. Quinn is a veteran of stage and screen, having performed in productions such as THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG and more than 3,000 shows of JERSEY BOYS as Bob Gaudio. He has appeared in several popular television shows including “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Good Wife.”

Do you have a preference between stage and screen.

They’re very different. The best thing about Broadway is the instant gratification. You get to be in a room with a couple thousand people. You get to know exactly how well you did in that moment; whether people are connecting to it and laughing. That reaction comes quickly, whereas in TV and film you create that spark by yourself. Then you wait sometimes six months to a  year to see if it’s any good. So, there’s something really nice about that communal experience. SHUCKED is about community, about loving each other. It’s really exciting to be able to share in laughter and great music every night with a couple thousand people. When do you get to do that?

Did you study musical theatre? Were you in drama in high school? What is your background?

I grew up in a very musical and performing arts family in California. I’m kinda the opposite of everybody else. I have one brother who is an accountant. He’s the Black Sheep of the family (laughs.) I’m joking! I’m very lucky. We don’t all do musical theatre. Everybody does something different. Broadway is my corner of the industry in my family. I went to college at UC Irvine and very soon after that, I moved to New York. I booked JERSEY BOYS and performed in that for almost a decade. That was my biggest education before moving onto other projects.

When you left California and went out to New York, what was that like for you to just go out there and take a shot at it?

It was scary. I remember my father gave me some really great advice: You are about to walk through a door. On the other side of that door there are going to be thousands of people who also left their small towns and walked through that same door. We won’t ever understand what that is like, but all of them will.

That is one of my favorite parts of New York. You meet so many people who have also left their homes to pursue their dreams. There’s something very special about that community.

I read some reviews online that compared the show to the television show “Hee-Haw.” I’m guessing you are too young to remember that, but if you do, what do you think?

I do know the show. The comparisons are kinda true. There was a version that was based on it. A lot of the humor is in that same vein. They abandoned that idea and decided that it was better to go in a different direction. It still has that old time classic almost standup Catskills type of humor. There are just so many jokes. Everybody gets to laugh.

Do you think there is a message in SHUCKED or is it simply all fun?

Like many people my perspective was that they were making a musical about corn. What could they possibly do with that? But, it’s really a story about a town that’s in crisis. The hero leaves town and finds me, a down on his luck podiatrist. I’m kind of the Music Man. Through that tension and conflict, it’s a story about how do we save ourselves from disagreements. How do we love each other through hard times. I found myself tearing up and crying in this corn show. There’s something about laughing together, great music, and if we do our jobs right, it’s pretty powerful.

I see you are a family man. Does that make it more difficult for you? How do you handle that?

My goodness! We have a little circus act here. My wife was also in the show for awhile. We had our first baby while in workshop on Broadway. So our baby became our little SHUCKED mascot. We set out as a little trio on tour. We thought this was our last chance to go see the country before she goes to school or is on a schedule. Then we decided to have a second child. My wife and two kids are usually on tour with me, but they aren’t here right now. They’re on and off the tour. It’s much more difficult with two. It’s been fun. We are the only family out here. Our kids have 25-35 year old best friends. They get to see the country. The 2 1/2 year old loves it.

By the way…are you a funny guy off stage?

I try to be! There’s something about doing a show like this that makes it important to try to make each other laugh off stage. We do have a really good time. It’s a fun group of people; very funny off stage as well. A lot of the jokes in the show were created when we were creating the show, coming in with things every day trying to make each other laugh. I think that’s what makes SHUCKED so infectious. Robert Horn wrote over 200 jokes for the show, but every day when we were creating it, we would come in with different bits. There is so much invitation for collaboration from this team. That was something I’d never experienced before, getting to create something from the ground up. It enhanced the spirit of the show.

How do you think Omaha audiences will react to this show?