Character Breakdown: HARMONY Cast Unpacks Their Roles

This, the role is actually quite grueling. I mean I get to play a lot of, the harmonists

met everybody and they performed with everybody and I get to reenact a bunch of those people

which is really fun although it does involve some really rapid costume changes that sometimes

downtown we didn't always make. So we ended up saying things like I'll be right there

But not only do I have the fun of playing different people, we saw one of them here

Rickard Strauss. The emotional range of what I'm doing is huge and it's an actor's

every actor hopes he can get something like that, to get a part like that. So that arc

that I get, the journey that I get to take in the show is heart-wrenching and I feel

so honored to be able to bring that story to the audiences

Well I love that Mary is, she was a real person. She was real, real people and I love that

I'm getting to tell her story and be the vessel for her to come to life on the stage and how

brave she is. I mean women during that time in Berlin in the 20s, in the 30s it's like

and also she was not Jewish, she converts to be with her the love of her life. But what

that entails and how brave you have to be to say okay and I love you and I am doing

this and then we are in this together and I am with you for this whole journey and what

that entails and to be courageous together and to help bring my husband along and the

boys, I call them boys because they're boys in the show but they're not, they're amazing

men but that what it is for us to all be together and to just bear witness to, she bears witness

to their rise to fame and then ultimately we have to run

So I play the character of Ruth who is an amalgamation of a few people who lived. There

was the woman who was married to Chopin, the character Chopin, she was a Jewish woman

they were in interfaith marriage. Her name was Ursula and she moved to the United States

after the Nazis came to power and I was able to track down her daughter and interview her

about her mother and she sent me all these photos of her at this age and at her wedding

but she was not a political activist and my character is Bolshevik, she's a socialist

she's fighting for justice and equality for the little guy, she's like the AOC of the

time and so then I did a lot of research on those women and I think there was a major

movement especially including and led by Jewish women who were a part of this and a part of

the Nazi resistance and so I was trying to invite all of that research with me into the

room and then ultimately you have to let it go and hope it just infuses as you play with

the words that you have and with the people in front of you, the brilliant actors in front

of you but I feel very inspired by the character of Ruth, I think there's not been somebody

like her in a Broadway musical before and I feel she's the only person in the show who's

brave enough to look into a Nazi's face and tell him off and tell him the truth and not

back down and so I find her to be a very inspiring character, she inspires me to be braver

You know, Josephine Baker is the muse, I feel like she's my muse, she's a pioneer of all

black entertainers, black women entertainers, black queer women entertainers as well and

she, yeah, she's the first and so I'm actually extremely humbled to play her

Eric is a fascinating character to me, at the beginning of the play he doesn't really

seem very fully comfortable with himself and by the end of the show you get to see him

go through, you get to see him go through a metamorphosis and really become comfortable

with who he is and what he loves to do which is a treat to play every night

Lesh is the embodiment of excitement, of love, of joy and it is so fun to step into those

shoes every night because what better thing is there to do than to be joyous every night

Harry is the founder of Comedian Harmonists and to get to tell his story and something

for me that has been most meaningful is the arc of his character where he starts out at

the beginning of the show with the youthful excitement to then what happens as the story

goes on and the disbandment of the group and losing everything, that arc has been so meaningful

to get to explore every night. Rabbi Joseph Roman Cykowski is who I play and he is our story's narrator

Chip Zion plays the older version of myself so one, to have my spirit so closely in line

with Chip is one of the greatest honors and also to play a Jew on stage is just such a

gift and I feel so proud to be doing that, especially right now

Chopin is the arranger and pianist of the group, or arranger including Harry

He fancies himself a rebel without a cause to a large degree and I think one of the

I've just had such a blast playing opposite Julie and kind of delving into our characters

relationships throughout the show I think Chopin really comes around to recognizing

his own ignorance toward other people's struggles and being able to navigate that journey is

really great, really great. And I play Robert Beberti, also known as Bobby

He's the base of the group and I love playing Bobby because he's multifaceted, he's a bit

of a grump, he's a bit of an antagonist but he's also kind of silly and a jokester on

stage, he's very funny, very dry, which I cannot relate to at all

And yeah, I've grown to really love Bobby