0
0
Rory O’Malley is an American actor and singer who was interviewed on January 19th. He is best known for his work on Broadway in musical theater. O’Malley was a part of the original Broadway cast of The Book of Mormon and played the character Elder McKinley. Later in his Broadway career, he booked the role of King George from the musical Hamilton. When O’Malley was asked on the difference between creating a character from scratch opposed to stepping into the role of an existent character. He mentions that the rehearsing time for an original cast has much more preparation and has many more changes being made to the production.
Opening night of the Broadway musical production of ‘The Book of Mormon’ at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre – Curtain Call. New York City, USA – 24.03.11
On the other hand, he states that getting casted as a role in a recurring Broadway cast is like “stepping into a well-oiled machine”, meaning that all of the blocking, choreography, and any small details have already been arranged. Rory has been in theater since he was young. His skills have only grown over time. Over the course of his life he said that he has learned he is “resilient and can do difficult things”. O’Malley was asked to give people who have aspirations to pursue musical theater a piece of advice. His response was “To be open to where ever your passion for theater will take you”.
He says that “Having a desire to pursue musical theater can look like many things” and not just performing on Broadway. O’Malley expresses that “Having something you’re passionate about is such a gift”. Moreover, the stereotype of “fitting in” hasn’t always been easy for Rory, especially because theater isn’t “popular” in some people’s opinion. He was asked to give a response to this stereotype. He said “You can’t really focus on people who aren’t going to understand you because there are gonna be so many more people who do.” Rory has faced adversity in theater, especially in high school. He states, “I was involved in so many productions when I was younger and a lot of kids my age didn’t love anything as much as I loved theater.” Rory O’Malley’s confidence, work ethic, and determination to succeed has set a positive precedent for many theater kids worldwide.
