Notes

Next to Normal's Noah Mazzeo on Family Connection and ASL Mess-ups
by Matt Wolf

25 year old Noah Mazzeo got his start on Broadway when he was twenty as an ensemble member in Wicked. Now he has the spotlight full time in the stunning revival of Next to Normal by Deaf West Theatre at the Neil Simon on Broadway. Noah talked to us about his favorite show memories, themes in this show, and his personal experiences with learning sign language and familiarizing himself with the Deaf community.

Q: First of all, how was your opening night?

A: Amazing! Best feeling in the world. It was so beautiful, because a lot of our cast members are making their Broadway debuts. I think only me, Patina [Miller] and Gavin [Creel] have previous Broadway credits, and even then, they're miles ahead of me. It's so cool to watch people experience that. Plus, this show is great, also, so it was something I'm so proud of.

Q: I'm glad to hear that. How did you get involved in this project?

A: Michael Arden had seen Wicked while I was in it, coincidentally one of the days that our Fiyero, Jason Hughes, was out, and I was the standby. So the day I was in, one of my only days in, Michael was there, and after I had left Wicked, I got a call about wanting to do a Deaf West workshop. I said, I don't know, but I'd really like to be apart of that. But I ended up caving and going to LA. I sang a few songs for Michael and Andy [Mientus], who was helping on the creative team, and then they called me after about three weeks and said, "You got it."

Q: How was doing the show in LA different than in New York?

A: Maybe some other cast members would disagree, especially Lauren [Bell], because she's very conscious of it all, but we were at the Mark Taper Forum, which is a beautiful 700 seat house. So that's pretty big, not too far off. But it was a much more intimate experience, where I could almost get up in people's faces if they were sitting in the front. I can't really do that anymore, and LA is a whole different thing too.

Q: As many people probably know, Gabe Goodman is a role that requires a lot of quality acting, but also signing. How was it, learning ASL and adjusting to signing and speaking or singing at the same time?

A: Definitely the most challenging experience I've ever had as an actor. Signing was very hard for me, but Lauren, who is a licensed sign interpreter would help me on behalf of the Deaf actors. I would sign songs for Gabie [Girard], Shoshannah [Stern] and Chris [Sikorski] who would give me honest notes, and Lauren would translate them into English for me. I'm very thankful that they were willing to do that. There were also times that I would be taught a phrase to sign, and I learned what it meant, I'd sing the signed words instead of the actual words, which Gavin did at one point too. It was a great challenge though, and I feel a lot better about my signing skills now. I can actually hold a conversation. I just wanted to be able to talk to my cast members and have fun.

Q: Do you have a favorite story from this show?

A: Back when we were in LA, we had a woman in the audience who was very drunk. And it was hilarious. Some of our deaf cast members, like Gabie and Ben wear hearing aids when they perform to make things a little easier, so they heard it, and it was really hard to pull it together. But we were halfway through the show, during this song called "I'm Alive", it's me singing, with bits of dialogue in between. So there's a section where Dan (Gavin Creel) and Natalie (Gabie Girard, Lauren Bell) are arguing, and she yells "AS ALWAYS!" and storms off, and this lady goes, "DAMN GIRL! YOU TELL HIM!" and we were all struggling to hold it together. Then, during "I Am the One (Reprise)" it's me again, and Dan, and it's kind of me getting up close and real with Gavin. The woman goes "OH F*CK NO BABY." Poor Gavin had to stay on stage, but I ran off stage and burst into hysterical laughs. Will Martenis and Ben Wild were so confused.