Photo provided Broadway star Max Von Essen will take audience members back to the golden age of Broadway in the next Cabaret at the Commons on Thursday.
The bright lights shining down, the smiles and cheers just visible enough from the audience ahead. Being on stage is where where Broadway actor Max von Essen feels most comfortable.
That feeling, of course, extends to The Commons stage where this Thursday, von Essen will take audience members back to the golden age of Broadway in the next Cabaret at the Commons.
The show begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at thecip.org.
His career has included portraying Gleb Vaganov in “Anastasia,” Agustin Magaldi in “Evita” and Billy Flynn in “Chicago,” the latter of which he just completed a two-year run. He also starred as Henri Baurel, a French man whose dream was to perform in New York, in “An American in Paris,” a role that earned him a Tony nomination and one he described as a dream.
“For me, I’m a very different person, a very different time in history, but I had those same struggles and I was like, ‘do I do something that’s a little bit more expected of me as far as jobs’ and ‘can I really go for it and perform? Is it realistic that I could actually be a Broadway performer?,’” von Essen said. “…I just deeply connected to the character.”
Those connections, he felt, made that character one of his strongest. Combined with the show taking inspiration from movie musicals and utilizing Gershwin music, two things he’s loved since childhood, he said “An American in Paris” was a dream-fulfilling experience.
“I’ve done some other cool shows obviously and I expect to do some other really great shows in the future, but once in a while something just hits in a way that it’s a little more magical than other moments,” von Essen said.
Though he has never performed in Columbus before, von Essen did perform with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in a 2014 a production of “Anything Goes.” Getting to see new locations both nationally and abroad is one of the great things about being a performer, he said.
“It’s a great opportunity, I don’t know necessarily what would have brought me there in my own personal life and that’s the way I get to see so many places, and countries to be honest, is because of performances have brought me there,” von Essen said. “National tours, European tours, concerts and it’s a real nice sort of perk of performance, you get to experience different parts of the country.”
When first putting together his own solo show, von Essen said he knew he couldn’t pull from current Broadway shows where his voice doesn’t fit as well. If he was going to do a solo show, he said it had to be music he was comfortable with, that music being selections from the Great American Songbook and the golden age of Broadway.
“I connect with things that are from another time,” von Essen said. “I always felt like I’m a bit of a throwback, like I belong more in the era of Frank Sinatra and Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly than I do the pop artists today.”
Audience members can look forward to an evening filled with these classic Broadway tunes as well as songs from his Broadway career. Joining von Essen on stage will be his music director Billy Stritch on piano, who von Essen described as an unbelievable jazz pianist. With the two on stage together, von Essen said audience members are getting a two-for-one deal.
“… he is so incredible in his own right that it would be a total waste for me to not show off his talents, to not have him join me vocally on a couple of numbers, to not give him many solos in the middle of songs to show off just his unbelievable skill on the piano,” von Essen said. “So it’s really a thrill performing with him and an honor, and I think audiences will be pretty thrilled too.”
von Essen will also share a few highlights from his career, his influences and showbiz stories during his show. Though he’s there to bring great music, he believes a couple stories and moments of personal connection are just as important, and he looks forward to connecting with the audience in this show.
“I think it’s just nice to let people get to know you,” von Essen said. ”I feel like if a concert flies by and it was just music, it can be wonderful of course hearing so many incredible performers out there, but I like to get to know people and so I like to do the same when I’m on stage.”
