Broadway.com #LiveatFive is a daily Facebook Live news in which Broadway.com editors discuss what's going on in the theater community and chat with stage stars about their current and upcoming projects. With all that we learn about our guests each week, we round up the most surprising, funny and heartwarming lessons.
1. Ryan Spahn Still Wants to Get Married
Ryan Spahn is currently starring in Daniel's Husband off-Broadway at the Westside Theatre as Daniel, a man who has different opinions on marriage than his partner of seven years. Although Spahn has been playing the character on and off for three and a half years and his viewpoints on marriage have changed, he does still want to get married one day. "I do [want to get married]," Spahn said. "The legality of it is hard to not recognize and my parents got divorced and I had a complicated experience with marriage and witnessing marriages rise and fall, so that aspect I’m not sold on." Spahn's partner, Michael Urie, can currently be seen starring in Torch Song on Broadway.
2. The Rockettes Are Athletes in Diamonds
It's no secret that the Rockettes are some of the most strong stage performers, but when tenured Rockettes Brittany Werthmann and Joanna Richardson visited #LiveAtFive on December 12 they put into words how hard they work. "There'll be up to six shows a day at Radio City seven days a week," Richardson said. "We do over three hundred eye-high kicks per show." Werthmann went on to explain that "a lot of blood, sweat and tears" go into creating the iconic Christmas Spectacular Starring The Radio City Rockettes. When asked about being used to wearing glitter all the time, they had a perfect response: "We're athletes in diamonds!"
3. Nobody Famous Comes to Nancy Opel's Dressing Room
Tony nominee Nancy Opel knows what it's like to be in the spotlight and that meeting celebrities is a perk of the job. Now appearing in Wicked as Madame Morrible, Opel reflected on once meeting both Oprah and Joe Biden during her time in Memphis and mentioned that just as many famous folk flock to Oz. "There's somebody famous in somebody's dressing room all the time," Opel said. "They’re not in my dressing room, though! There's somebody famous in one of the dressing rooms almost every night!" If you need us, we'll be hanging out at the Gershwin Theatre.
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4. Alex Boniello Is Afraid of Spelling
Alex Boniello is currently playing misunderstood Connor Murphy in the Tony-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen. While talking about his role in the hit show, Boniello shared one of his greatest onstage fears. When asked if he has ever spelled "Connor" incorrectly on Evan Hansen's iconic cast, he replied saying, "Nope, and I'm scared of it every day." Writing Connor's name on Evan's cast plays an integral part in the show's plot, which is why it's so nerve-wracking. "It's not that I'm afraid of spelling it wrong, because I know how to spell it—but there's like eleven ways to spell that name," Boniello said. "It's the fact that the way I write it, I'm afraid I'm writing in the wrong direction and that when he reveals it, it will say C-O-Z-Z-O-R. I get a little afraid of it."
Be sure to join us every weekday at 5:00pm for #LiveatFive!