"I Hope I Get It!"

If today were the day you had to stop dancing, how would you feel?" - A Chorus Line.  How would I feel? This sensation of performing and entertaining has been my center piece on the table since the age of nine when I decided that being a pilot was just too dangerous. Only to find out that the life of musical theater is equally dangerous, if not more. There sits a stage where you stand vulnerable and exposed and  are expected to deliver. But oddly enough that isn't the scariest aspect of theater. For me, it's the journey, the scrutiny and the uncertainty of the whole thing. Our passion begins when we are young and we are applauded and recognized for our talent. Being dispersed in the world, we grow in our separate areas to become the "Leading Man" or the "Diva" of our high school or community theater. We cling to this attention and desire it to continue. It becomes adrenaline, an addiction and strangely enough a comfort to us. So naturally we want to pursue that feeling further and incorporate it into our everyday lives. And to get paid? SIGN ME UP! Our family, friends and teachers, even though supportive and celebratory, warn us of the low probability factor of succeeding in such a subjective field, but we rebuttal with a big bright smile and say, "I know, but I have to try." And even at that adolescent age, with puberty and nativity at full force, we couldn't have been more right.

Photography by Sam Kahn

I'm Michael-Anthony. I write to you to express my feelings and outlook on my personal journey to a career in musical theater. I don't know where I'm headed or what the future beholds but I'm ready for an adventure and I'm taking you along. Since graduating college last year I've had the pleasure of working with Kevin Spacey in London on a showcase at the Old Vic Theater. After that short endeavor I was offered an 8-month performing contract with Royal Caribbean Cruises as a lead vocalist. I returned to New York last month and just finished a reading of the musical Go West, about the Village People, wherein I portrayed the Indian. It has its sights on Broadway. fingers crossed. I'm currently enrolled in the CAP 21's  professional practicum program which concludes with a showcase for the industry in the fall.


The Collaborative Arts Project 21 (CAP 21) is a conservatory that annually trains 400 performers in acting, vocal performance, dance and more. Once affiliated with the prestigious NYU, it has become a world renown program. I am proud to be a graduate and join the many others, notably some being; Matthew Morrison, Natalie Cortez, Jenn Gambatese, Nikki James, Kristen Bell, Anne Hathaway, and of course I must mention, Lady Gaga. The Practicum is unique and unlike any other in the country and that is a fact. In this program we learn how to understand and market ourselves to get cast professionally. For three months we train in audition technique, business etiquette, networking, voice, acting, dance and on-camera work. All the while meeting and conversing with directors, producers, agents and other industry professionals to not only learn from them, but to also begin and build a relationship with them. These Broadway professionals are essentially here to help us and guide us through this treacherous industry of money, beauty and vanity to come through, successfully, on the other end and still be an unique, grounded and confident individual. My personal goal is to get through this with a full head of hair.

But why do we do this? Why do we put our selves through such ridicule and hardship in hopes that on the other end there is acceptance and reward? Well, it isn't a hard question to answer folks. Everyone, on some sort of scale, endures hardship in hopes of salvation. It is the human condition. Our passion for musical theater or performance is no different than our longing for a companion. We search and we date and we evaluate and get heart broken and cheated on and confused, all in hopes that one day we might find the one that we can spend the rest of our lives with.  And unfortunately, with the statistics in this day in age, finding and securing that sacred bond is also on the low end of the probability scale. Yet we still pursue it. No matter how torturous and how cruel the audition room or the non-eq call may be, we stick it out because we long for that connection that we have with theater. That connection is what the musical A Chorus Line is all about. Nineteen dancers open up about their lives and what led them to dance. Dance is healing and serves as a companion to them in times of need.  Performing isn't just a job or a career, it's a relationship. But even once on the stage that relationship is still a struggle. There is a struggle to stay in the lime light. A struggle to remain true to your craft and quite frankly a struggle to remain the best possible version of yourself, both skillfully and morally.  In relationships, we fight and we argue and we strike hard times but, if that love is real and true then we'll work it out.  Diana responds, "But I can't regret what I did for love." At the end of the day we are pursing this monster of a dream because we love it and no one said love was easy. I only hope, for all of us, that we keep that initial feeling that we had at our innocent youthful age of discovery. The butterflies in our stomach, the hope in our hearts and the sparkle in our eyes as we declared proudly, "I want to be an actor."

    "The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it." - Moliere 


~ Michael-Anthony 



P.S. We have to try.