SPEAKING WITH NICK COSGROVE
He may not have honed his singing skills under a corner streetlamp on the tough streets of New Jersey, but for actor Nick Cosgrove, who stars in “Jersey Boys” at the Bank of America Theatre through June 3, the living room lights of his suburban Chicago home were just as bright — and inspiring.
Born and raised in Park Ridge, Cosgrove graduated from Maine South High School and went on to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Penn., double-majoring in music and theater. After working in summer stock in St. Louis “every summer break from college,” Cosgrove says he eventually auditioned for the Tony Award-winning musical, landing the role of Frankie Valli, which he performs on Tuesday nights and at Wednesday matinees in the current national tour (his first Broadway musical).
The 24-year-old actor, with a four-octave vocal range, talked to the SunTimes about playing to the hometown crowd.
Question:
Nick Cosgrove: I sang before I could talk, and I didn’t talk until I was 3. But then I started watching “Sesame Street” and my mom got me these Disney DVDS and suddenly I was singing all over the house. Then I started singing in church at Our Lady of Ransom in Niles and cantoring when I was in second grade. I was so short I couldn’t even reach the podium. But I liked singing in front of people. The first time I officially performed in a play was at Maine South when they were having auditions at my grammar school for third-graders [to play the kids] for “The Will Rogers Follies.” I played they young- est one, Freddie Rogers. That led to a talent show at my grammar school where I dressed up in a pinstriped suit and sang Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York.”
Q.
NC: I grew up hearing Sinatra. My mom loved him. My Grandpa Cosgrove would listen to Sinatra and then hear me sing and he would call me The Voice. We’d listen to “Mob Hits,” Tony Bennett. I was listening to oldies and Etta James.
Q.
NC: [Laughing] Growing up I was a boy soprano. Then my voice changed, but it’s always been a very high tenor voice. I was trained classically as a singer and it’s been such a huge help with my vocals. In college I started singing more pop and getting my voice the kind of training that really helps in this show, but I wasn’t necessarily working on a falsetto. That was just ingrained in my voice since I was a kid, so it just comes naturally.
[Laughs] Actually, it was cool because I had so many different interests. I was president of student council, taught dance class, was a Phys Ed counselor. So in some ways I kinda made it cool to do theater and sing and be in musicals and be a physical education champ. I got picked on by some jocks,