Jeffrey Kuhn
Currently: Playing Giuseppe Zangara, the Italian immigrant who tried to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 and ended up killing the Mayor of Chicago instead, in the Tony-winning Stephen Sondheim/John Weidman musical Assassins at Studio 54.
Hometown: St. Clements, Ontario, Canada. "I decided that I wanted to be an actor in the sixth grade," Kuhn shares. "I played Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz at school and that was the pivotal moment. The decision was made." Kuhn says that his family, although initially nervous about his chances of making a living as an actor, were really supportive of his choice to go to drama school. "But I am the only person in my family to go on to post-secondary education, so I think they were delighted I wanted to study anything!"
Amazing Journey: Kuhn got recruited to participate in the prestigious Stratford Festival during his time at the Ryerson Theatre School in Toronto. It was after a few years at the theater he landed his first big national tour, The Who's Tommy. "The music director had seen me in something and called and said, 'Come do the final callbacks for Cousin Kevin,'" the actor explains. "It was good because if I had to do the regular audition route where I had to go in and sing rock 'n roll songs I guarantee you I wouldn't have had any success with the show. I hadn't really sung much and I had no idea what The Who was, at all. I wouldn't have known Pete Townsend if he had run over me with his car!"
Getting to Know You: In 1998, Kuhn made his Broadway debut in the ensemble of Ragtime also covering the role of Younger Brother. His only other pre-Assassins New York theatrical credit was the Playwrights Horizons concert presentation of Floyd Collins in January of 2003. So Kuhn is definitely the least known of an Assassins cast that includes Neil Patrick Harris, James Barbour, Michael Cerveris, Marc Kudisch and Denis O'Hare. He also didn't have the relationship with his co-stars that many of them had with each other. "In the beginning, there was a little for me to get over--there was already a cohesive group that I needed to feel comfortable working in," the actors says. "But they're such great people and so open and welcoming and supportive that it wasn't ever really much of an issue."
Worthy of Your Love: Kuhn's character Zangara comes off as a pretty unpleasant guy in Assassins--not only is he a killer, he spends most of his stage time cursing society and his stomach pains. His portrayer kind of respects him though. "I like all of the assassins on some level," Kuhn says. "Zangara had a tortured childhood and came to America to try to better his whole life and better the lives of his relatives back in Italy by sending money back. That's not an easy rode to travel, so I admire anyone like that, anyone that tries to improve the lot they've been dealt."
Strapped: Kuhn's big scene finds him ties down to Zangara's "execution chair" while singing a very complicated Sondheim song, "How I Saved Roosevelt." "It's interesting because it's the theater people that have the most respect for what I am doing. It's the actors or musicians who say: 'What a devilishly difficult piece of music.' and 'How in the world do you do it in the extremes of your vocal range strapped down with no access to deep breaths or support?!?!' I am getting lots of sympathy."
Living the Dream: "What feels especially sweet about being in this show is there is something so hard fought and hard won. It's an American dream about walking into an audition and not having any sort of concrete in or tie to anyone and being invited to the party. It's a sweet and unusual feeling. I am really grateful for it and savoring that experience as much as everything. And I am grateful for anything that allows people to see some of my work. That's 99% of the battle of coming to New York City. Oftentimes people are very receptive of what you have to offer, but until they get the chance to experience what you are capable of, it can sometimes be a lot of knocking on doors. So maybe some of them will be budged open a little bit now."