Get to know the creative team of TREVOR the musical each week through TREVOR Spotlight! Last but not least, Marc Bruni recalls his earliest experiences in theatre.

 

What was the first musical you ever participated in? How old were you?
If you can include the original holiday revue of Christmas standards that my sister and I created, directed, and choreographed every year starting at age 6, that was probably the first time. I guess you could say it was more of a tour since we would perform it at my Grandmother’s house on Christmas Eve and then again on Christmas Day back at our house for other relatives and friends.

What was your first professional job in theatre?
When I was about 10, I ‘whistled a happy tune’ playing Louis, Anna’s son, in The King and I at the Fiesta Banquet Hall in Wood Ridge, NJ. I believe we played mostly matinees and before the show, there was a pre-show accordion player who went table to table taking requests. “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” made the list every day.

In a four-word phrase, describe your job.
Storyteller and cat herder.

Is there someone you looked up to growing up? Who is your Diana Ross? Why?
I didn’t really have any one specific performer I idolized as a kid, however my Dad had a collection of records which I would listen to from time to time, and one I particularly loved was by a satirist named Tom Lehrer. He wrote several intricate patter songs that I thought were just the coolest thing at the time, so I spent many hours replaying the records and committing those songs to memory. The usefulness of knowing a lesson in New Math or the names of the chemical elements set to a Gilbert and Sullivan tune has not increased over time, but I remember both to this day.

What has participating in TREVOR reminded you about life in 1981?
I was only four in 1981, so my memory is a little foggy on the details, but researching the show has brought up such a stark contrast from today with the nation in 1981 having recently elected the oldest president in its history, a Republican primarily known as a celebrity and not a politician.

Boy, times have changed.