LOCAL RETURNS FOR A ‘ROTTEN’ PERFORMANCE
When pressed, Zachary Bigelow admits that he is not 100 percent sure that this is when he decided he wanted to go into musical theater.
But he knows it happened, and it’s as good as any other motivation he could come up with, so he will tell you the seeds of his stage career were planted that long-ago day outside the Festhaus at Busch Gardens.
“This was early on in my lifetime,” the 22-year-old Williamsburg native said, “and I remember they were doing a traditional German show. I was asked to get up and dance by a girl with dark brown hair, with braids on either side. ‘The Wizard of Oz’ was my favorite movie — Dorothy was my dream girl — and now this Dorothy-looking girl was asking me to dance with her. And that’s when I knew I wanted to be a performer.
“Or at least that’s what I’ve convinced myself.”
He was speaking by phone from a bus carrying the touring production of Broadway’s “Something Rotten,” in which he performs as part of the ensemble.
The tour will bring him back home this weekend for four performances at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk, the same venue where he saw his first professional production (“Cats” in 2008).
Just a few months ago he was a senior at the performing arts conservatory at Shenandoah University. At a campus showcase for graduating seniors, Steve Bebout — associate director of “Something Rotten” — saw something promising in Bigelow’s performance. Auditions were arranged in New York, and then callbacks, and then he hit the road with “Something Rotten,” a musical comedy that follows the exploits of two Elizabethan-era playwrights trying to contain their bitter jealousy over the popularity of one William Shakespeare. (Bigelow also serves as understudy for the Shakespeare role.)
Matthew Edwards, director of musical theater at Shenandoah, calls Bigelow a “triple-threat” talent who is a fine dancer, had a good tenor voice and is an accomplished actor.
“He also has the drive and the determination to be successful,” Edwards said. “Our program here is very competitive and focused. When we tell them to jump, they say ‘How high?’ The students are often in school from 8 a.m. to midnight five days a week. Zachary really pushed himself to take advantage of the opportunity presented to him here.”
While working in the ensemble doesn’t grab the spotlight like a lead role, Bigelow is thrilled to have the opportunity to learn from veteran performers in a touring Broadway production so soon after leaving college.
“Dancing as part of the ensemble is really more than I could ask for right now,” he said. “Dancing has grown so close to my heart, and I’ve trained hard. It’s exciting just to be part of the cast telling this story.”
He has been performing in community theater and other projects for as long as he can remember, starting with Backstage Productions. He missed his high school graduation because it conflicted with a Williamsburg Players matinee of “Into the Woods,” in which he was playing Jack.
Was there any discussion between Biglow and his parents about whether to attend graduation or perform on stage that afternoon?
“Absolutely not,” he said. “The cast and crew threw me a huge surprise graduation party in between shows, with a cookout outside the Williamsburg Players theater. That day has a special place in my heart, and will for a long time.”
The “Something Rotten!” tour runs through the end of next June — it ends with a series of shows in South Korea — so Bigelow has a lot of miles to go before he can rest.
After stepping out of college straight into a touring a Broadway production, what comes next? He’s not sure yet.
“I ask myself that: Where can I go up from here in my career?” Bigelow said. “It happened so much on a whim — I was in the right place at the right time. So I’ll have to see what the next right place and right time are. I have a lot of goals, but for right now I’m very happy where I am.”