Stereophonic's Record-Breaking Broadway Stars Drive Toward Tony Night

Stereophonic, David Adjmi's painstakingly constructed musical play about the inner workings of a band on the rise, made Tony history this year with 13 nominations—the most ever received by a play. Directed by Daniel Aukin and punctuated by the music of Arcade Fire's Will Butler, the production stews inside the pressure cooker of a music studio where a group of emotionally and creatively enmeshed bandmates (Will Brill, Juliana Canfield, Tom Pecinka, Sarah Pidgeon and Chris Stack) and engineers (Andrew R. Butler and Eli Gelb) live and breathe the unglamorous work of making art. Time passes without meaning, the outside world ceases to exist and sleep is exchanged for a supersized bag of cocaine. 

Fortunately for the seven members of this Broadway ensemble—which first came together for an unassuming fall run off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons—the art of making art has been bolstered by joyful camaraderie rather than of toxic, drug-fueled strife. With the help of The Broadway Show and a vintage convertible fit for rock stars, the actors-turned-band-turned-family are riding into Tony weekend as a history-making group with nothing but love for this artistically fulfilling chapter and the sounds of their new album blasting from the stereo.

“IF THEY CAN PULL IT OFF…”
Andrew R. Butler: I first read it in 2016, and it was a very different play then. It was still coming together, but even the way that it was laid out and the core concept, I was like, "Wow, this is an incredible idea for a play. Is it even going to be possible to make something like this?"

Eli Gelb: I first auditioned for this play the day before the pandemic shut down in 2020. I had a day to read it so I just had to skim it and then do the audition. It wasn't until after the shutdown, I was like, "I think I loved that play. Let me look at it again." I reread it at the height of the pandemic: Themes of isolation, togetherness, needing each other, tearing each other apart. I just became obsessed with it. I immediately wrote to Daniel Aukin, who I'd worked with before. I was like, "Man, I don't know what's what with this, but there's nothing that I would love more right now than to be doing this play with you."

Sarah Pidgeon: I read it and just felt like, “I wonder how they're going to do this. I want to see how this gets made.” It was one of the last auditions I got before COVID shut the world down. Last May, I was invited to audition and I remembered the script. It stayed with me for a long time. I looked back at my audition and I'm just glad I got a chance to do it again and bring the person that I was three years later to it.

Chris Stack: The first time I read it for a workshop in 2019, I was on page 12 and I just got this hum in my body for the play—for the character. There's so many elements of it from the music, to the era, to the issues that the characters were struggling with that just resonated incredibly deeply with me. It’s a 220-page script that I finished in one sitting without a break. I was riveted.

Tom Pecinka: Because of the pandemic, I was doing a lot of film and TV. But theater has been my home base and it's all I did for the first five years of my career. I was kind of over it and didn't know if I wanted to come back and this play brought me back.

Juliana Canfield: I'd been hearing about it for a while. There was a big workshop that was done of it in 2019, and it had this sort of mythical reputation that had been building over the years. There was a kind of unicorn feeling about the project, so there was something about that that shrouded it in this big cloak of glittery mystery. The first time I heard it out loud, I was like, "Whoa, whatever cast ends up doing this show, if they can pull it off, this will be really incredible."

“AS GOOD AS WE THOUGHT”
Will Brill: I always believed in this play. Ever since we first started rehearsals, I was like, "This is going to work. I'm not worried about this play. I know that people are going to love it." I had no idea it was going to work at this level.

Eli: I was freaked until two days before our first audience. I was like, "I haven't quite got my handle on this yet. Is this going to work?" And then when we finally did have our first preview, it was like, "That seems to all have landed pretty nicely."

Sarah: I didn't have a lot of friends come to the first previews because I still wanted to figure it out. But then, when they started coming, they just were so genuinely affected by the show. Once we got comfortable with doing it for an audience, I think we could really feel the energy of the thing exist inside of us. The play became our lives and our lives became the play. It was show after show of hearing the audience say how affected they were by it. It wasn't a fluke anymore.

Juliana: There was a moment when Tom and Sarah and I were singing harmony, the first time it really locked in. I was like, "Ooh, we have something vocally quite special going on." During previews at Playwrights, an actor whom I really admire came to the show and they said, "Oh, well, I'm going to come back." I've never been in a play where people who weren't related to me wanted to come back and see it again, and then actually did. So in those early weeks when I saw audience members return, I thought, "Oh, I think that we've kind of hit a note that rings true."

Chris: We had done it for so long amongst ourselves, and we really got a kick out of ourselves. We enjoyed it and we knew it was something, and we weren't nervous to show it to people. And when they began to react, we knew, "Okay, this is as good as we thought it was."

“IT’S TONY HISTORY”
Chris: I don't know if I can really articulate the significance of this in my career—in my life. I just really feel like I've hit the jackpot. The play is incredible. The company's incredible. It’s Tony history. It's just ringing all the bells.

Andrew: The experience of doing the play has taught me a lot about working together with a group of people and how you can move in solidarity to make an experience that could be really stressful really solid. It's like a wild dream. We were just in the fall at Playwrights Horizons. We started rehearsals in August and we didn't know what was going to happen, and now here we are at the other end. It's been a whirlwind, but we've had each other through it all.

Eli: David Adjmi wrote a total masterpiece. To be able to see it through with people who feel the same way about it that I do, is a dream. The amount of respect and curiosity and enthusiasm we all have about each other's work is really amazing. It's been just thrilling to get to know each other better as we go along and really feel like we have each other's back. It's tough material. It demands a lot of precision and we're all human, so it's good to know that we have each other if something goes awry.

Juliana: I think one thing the play taught me is that success is meaningless if you don't love what you do and you don't love the people you're doing it with. I couldn't do it without them and I wouldn't do it without them. The play really demands that we operate like a single organism and I just feel that we're so attuned to each other. We read each other like the weather. If someone's having a cloudy day, we all feel it. And I feel all of us reaching out with little emotional umbrellas. I do feel that David wove a spell into this project. The story of the play reached out of the pages and sprung into real life. Fortunately, so far at least, only the good things that happen in the play have burst into reality and all of the drama and addictions and heartbreaks and ego clashes have remained within the fictional realm.

Sarah: They're the people that I'm closest to right now in my life. They know me so well. They know when I'm sick, or cranky, or in a good mood, or haven't eaten, and everything that's going on in my life and likewise with them. They're the biggest consistency and we get to make this thing together every night. The Tonys feels like the cherry on top of this huge sundae that I've been eating since Playwrights. It's important, I think, for hard work to be recognized and celebrated, and these are the only people that I want to celebrate it with.

Will: Every time we get together on stage, you can feel everyone dumping love into the thing, just dumping so much of themselves into it. And that makes the whole thing feel very safe. To see the whole thing get a lot of success is really heartwarming.

Tom: I've never been as close with a cast because we're also a band. I think because we spend so much time making the music together, composing the music together and listening to each other in a different way, when we do the scene work, it's just that much more tight. I think it's rare that you're part of something that is as good as the hype and is as good as the nominations it's been given—and hopefully the awards it will be given.

The Broadway Show Credits: Directed by Zack R. Smith | Producers: Paul Wontorek and Beth Stevens | Senior Producers: Caitlin Moynihan and Lindsey Sullivan | Videographers: Nick Shakra and Ryan Windess Photo Credits: Photography by Emilio Madrid | Photo Assistants: Alan Padilla and Cooper Hammel | Location: Corner Studio Styling Credits: Clothing: Rachel Antonoff | Styling: Douglas Wright | Hair and Make-up: Madison McLain, Tameeka Lee Walker, and Angella Valentine. 

Wardrobe Credits: 
Will Brill: Rachel Antonoff Top | BLK Denim Jeans | Swarovski Necklace Celine Loafers.
Eli Gelb: Rachel Antonoff Shirt | Corridor Navy Embroidered Trousers | Florsheim Loafers Ring Miansai.
Sarah Pidgeon: Rachel Antonoff Jumpsuit and Coat | Alexandre Birman Shoes | Swarovski Earrings 7 Bracelets | Heili Rocks Ring.
Chris Stack: Billy Reid Suit | Rachel Antonoff Shirt | BLK Denim Boots | Miansai Ring.
Tom Pecinka: Rachel Antonoff Cardigan | BLK DNM T Shirt | Corridor Pants | Florsheim Loafers | Miansai Necklace | Bracelet.
Andrew Butler: Rachel Antonoff Shirt | BLK DNM Jeans | Celine Loafers | Miansai Bracelets.
Juliana Canfield: Rachel Antonoff Cardigan, Top &  Skirt | Alexandre Birman Shoes | Heili Rocks Ring.