INTERVIEW: Jared Gertner returns home for NJ ‘Guys and Dolls’
Photo: Jared Gertner stars in a revival of Guys and Dolls at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal Park, New Jersey. Photo courtesy of the artist / Provided by the Axelrod with permission.
Guys and Dolls is one of the most beloved musicals of all time, and Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal Park, New Jersey, is putting on a good old-fashioned revival of the glitzy, glamorous show. Audiences can enjoy such classic tunes as “Luck Be a Lady,” “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat,” “I’ll Know” and “If I Were a Bell.” Performances continue through Sunday, Nov. 17.
The musical, directed and choreographed by Lisa Stevens, stars Jared Gertner as Nathan Detroit. Joining him are Stephen Mark Lukas (Broadway’s The Book of Mormon), Jenny Hill (Broadway’s Spamalot) and Evan Bertram.
Gertner is well-known to lovers of Broadway musicals, having appeared in The Book of Mormon and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. He also was the lead in the first national tour of The Book of Mormon and opened the show in London’s West End, taking home a Olivier nomination.
“The Axelrod has been around for a while,” Gertner said in a recent phone interview. “It’s only been a professional theater for the last few years, and the man who took over and kind of helped to turn it professional was Andrew DePrisco. And Andrew and I go back a really long way because I used to do shows for him in New Jersey when I was a kid for Cabaret for Life, which is a company that he runs, and we would do community theater shows together.”
When the Axelrod decided to stage Guys and Dolls, DePrisco reached out to Gertner to see if the actor was interested and available. The decision was an easy one, but a bit of a change given that Gertner now lives in Los Angeles with his family.
“I don’t get to travel for theater as much because I have a family in Los Angeles, but [DePrisco] said, ‘What would you think about coming back to New Jersey and doing this show,'” Gertner remembers. “And it happened to be my favorite show of all time and a role that I love, and he told me that he wanted to get Jenny Hill to play Adelaide, which is a character that’s opposite me. And Jenny Hill and I also used to do community theater together when we were kids, and we’ve both gone on to do Broadway shows and beyond. So the idea of coming back home and doing my favorite show with someone that I’ve known for so long, I couldn’t say no.”
The role of Nathan Detroit, for Gertner, is one that seems to fit like an old sweater. The comedy style is old-fashioned, almost vaudevillian, and the actor can play the character for big laughs.
“For some reason, growing up a Jew in the Northeast, all that kind of comedy really sits on me OK,” he said. “I did this show when I was a freshman in high school at Toms River North in New Jersey. I was 14, so it’s very fun to revisit it as a grownup. I have more of an understanding of it now, and I just did the show again this past June in St. Louis playing a different role. So this show, in one way or another, has really lived inside me for so long, so it’s an easy one to step into.”
Gertner called Guys and Dolls, with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, and a book by Abe Burrows and Joe Swerling, a perfect musical. The show tells the story of two couples, a craps game, a church mission and some shady business in a New York City dreamed up by Damon Runyon.
“It’s one of the few perfect musicals, and the songs are so iconic,” Gertner said. “Everybody knows them, so when you’re doing music that everybody knows, that lifts people’s spirits. It’s not as exhausting because you’re coasting on a high almost. As far as this role, Nathan actually doesn’t sing as much as a lot of roles I normally play. He sings a little of one song, and then he has another song in Act II. But he talks nonstop, so the character is always go-go-going. And the stakes are so high for me, so what I find exhausting is all of the scene work that I have to do as Nathan, more so than the songs.”
This is a homecoming for Gertner because he grew up in Toms River, which is near the theater, which is located in Deal Park. He actually attended summer camp in the same building that houses the Axelrod Performing Arts Center. His family, to this day, still lives within a few miles of this Jersey Shore destination.
“For me, it’s really a lovely homecoming,” he said. “I still do theater a few times a year because it’s my passion, and I need to scratch the itch. But I’m in Los Angeles doing a lot more film and television and voiceover and writing.”
Scratching that itch has paid off because Gertner has traveled the country (and the world) bringing to life a number of high-profile roles in winning musicals. One of his fondest memories is when he performed as the lead in The Book of Mormon.
“I’ve had a lot of really great experiences,” Gertner said. “I’ve been super-lucky, but The Book of Mormon was a show that came and changed my life. I was with it for 3-½ years. I got to be in the original Broadway company. I got to play the lead role on Broadway. I got to open the first national tour in the lead role. I got to open the London company in the lead role, so it gave me a whole new start in the industry. I had been around for a long time, but the doors that it opened for me were numerous. I started my family since then and moved to Los Angeles, and all of that was because the different ways Book of Mormon affected me.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Guys and Dolls, starring Jared Gertner, plays through Sunday, Nov. 17 at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal Park, New Jersey. Click here for more information and tickets.
