A TOWERING FEELING
Ashburnham native performing in ‘My Fair Lady in national tour
Seasoned theater actor and Ashburnham native Sam Simahk has returned to the stage following a long hiatus due to the pandemic as a member of the touring cast of “My Fair Lady,” with performances coming up May 11 through May 15 at the Providence Performing Arts Center.
“To perform for live audiences again is truly thrilling, and more so than before the pandemic,” Simahk said. “Every night I try to remind myself that it wasn’t long ago that I was alone in my apartment for months on end, depressed and unemployed and not knowing if I’d ever be able to perform again. Now, here I am, performing for hundreds, if not thousands, of people at a time, and I get to share a part of myself with them, and they applaud. Not many people get applauded at the end of their workday.”
The North American leg of the national tour of Lincoln Center Theater’s award-winning critically acclaimed production of Lerner & Loewe’s well known and beloved musical with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Frederick Loewe, and directed by Bartlett Sher is part of the Taco/the White Family Foundation Broadway Series.
Leading the cast are Shereen Ahmed as Eliza Doolittle, Laird Mackintosh as Professor Henry Higgins, Leslie Alexander as Mrs. Higgins, Martin Fisher as Alfred P. Doolittle, Kevin Pariseau (from East Providence, R.I.) as Colonel Pickering, Gayton Scott as Mrs. Pearce, Simahk as Freddy Eynsford-hill, and Lee Zarrett as Professor Zoltan Karpathy.
“I’ve really loved playing Freddy Eynsford-hill for many reasons,” Simahk said. “First, Freddy’s sort of a dream role for most young men in musical theatre. He sings ‘On the Street Where You Live,’ which is one of the most gorgeous songs in the entire musical theatre library, and getting to sing that song every night, sometimes twice a day, is an honor and a privilege that I don’t take lightly.
“What’s more, I never thought that I’d play the role,” he said. “I’m Asian American — my father’s an immigrant from Thailand — and when I graduated from college, I was only ever considered for Asian roles, and it was very rare for actors of color to play roles that were traditionally played by white actors. So that makes it so much more of an honor to
‘ Being from rural Central Mass, I didn’t have a model for how to go into this career’ ... (You have to) learn about the schools you want to go to ... and ask for advice or assistance wherever you can get it.’
— Sam Simahk
play this role. I don’t take that lightly.”
Simahk was born at Burbank Hospital in Fitchburg and raised in Ashburnham. His mother was a teacher and administrator for Fitchburg Public Schools for 40 years until she retired, and as such Simahk said he “spent a lot of time in and around Fitchburg throughout my childhood and adolescence.” These days he calls New York City home, where he moved in 2011 shortly after graduating from Emerson College, and has racked up an impressive acting resume including roles in regional and national productions of “The King and I,” “Miss Saigon,” “Oklahoma,” “West Side story,” and many more.
“Being from rural Central Mass, I didn’t have a model for how to go into this career,” Simahk said. “My guidance counselors had never helped a kid get into school for musical theatre and the internet wasn’t what it is now, so I didn’t have as much access to college research that kids do today. I’m very lucky to have gotten into performing arts school at all, considering how little I knew about audition prep and the theatre industry in general.”
Simahk said if you’re a young person looking into getting into acting professionally, “do your research.”
“Kids going into these college auditions today have a lot more competition,” he said. “Learn about the schools you want to go to, get in touch with anyone you know who’s gone through a similar experience, and ask for advice or assistance wherever you can get it. Look into grants and scholarships. And learn, learn, learn. Never stop learning.
“If you can afford it, take dance classes and voice lessons and acting coaching. If you can’t afford that, get on Youtube and watch seminars and master classes, watch movies and musicals and take notes on what the pros do technically that makes their work so compelling, sing along to cast recordings and mimic the greats. You can learn a lot from mimicry before branching out and discovering your own voice. Never stop learning.”
This is the first show Simahk has been in since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We were originally told that we’d be back to work in two weeks, maybe four,” Simahk recalled. “A year and a half later, we were back in rehearsals, getting ready to get back on the road.”
They have been out of rehearsals now for several months and are touring, performing for audiences all around the country.
“Performances have been going very well and it’s been such a joy to share this show with our audiences, who have been incredibly enthusiastic and responsive,” Simahk said. “I don’t take it for granted, any of it. Being able to do what I love for a living is such a gift, and I feel very lucky not only to have had the opportunity to do it for as long as I have, but to have made through to the other side of an event that was devastating for the entire theatre industry.”
Simahk is working alongside a large and talented cast and crew that are all happy to be back doing what they love in a show that has been not only well received by audiences but critically acclaimed as well. The Lincoln Center’s production is the winner of five Outer Critics Circle Awards including Best Revival of a Musical and was nominated for 10 Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival, five Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical Revival and three Drama League Awards including Best Musical Revival.
Adapted from George Bernard Shaw’s play and Gabriel Pascal’s motion picture “Pygmalion,” “My Fair Lady premiered on Broadway on March 15, 1956. The legendary original production won six Tony Awards including Best Musical and ran for 2,717 performances making it, at the time, the longest-running musical in Broadway history. Boasting a score that contains such now- classic songs as “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly,” and “The Rain in Spain” among others, the Lincoln Center’s production has received rave reviews.
“There’s something that I find very spiritual about being on stage,” Simahk said. “Sharing a moment with a scene partner, feeding off the energy of each other and the audience, and knowing that we’re all in this together. While there’s a clear separation of the actors and the audience, what’s known as the ‘ fourth wall,’ we’re all in the same room, breathing the same air and hopefully experiencing similar emotions. ”
Tickets for “My Fair Lady,” which range in price from $20 to $89, are on sale now at the PPAC box office window located at 220 Weybosset St. downtown Providence, online at http://ppacri.org, and by phone at 401- 421-2787.