\n<\/p>\n
The New York stage has some notable nostalgia this year: More than a half-dozen performers in significant roles made their Broadway debuts as children. Some were in hits and some were in flops; they experienced joy and (in one case) trauma. A few have appeared onstage with regularity, while others pursued music or film and are now returning. Here they reflect on those early experiences.<\/em><\/p>\n \u2606 \u2606 \u2606<\/p>\n Nick Jonas was just 8 when he landed a part as a Tiny Tim understudy in a 2000 production of \u201cA Christmas Carol<\/a>\u201d at Madison Square Garden (Frank Langella was Scrooge). A year later, at 9, he made his Broadway debut as Little Jake in a revival of \u201cAnnie Get Your Gun\u201d then starring Reba McEntire<\/a>.<\/p>\n He did two more Broadway shows in rapid succession: At 10 he played Chip, a teacup, in \u201cBeauty and the Beast,\u201d and at 11 he played Gavroche, a street child, in \u201cLes Mis\u00e9rables.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Though he became a successful pop star in the years that followed, the stage kept calling: At 19, he returned to Broadway in \u201cHow to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.\u201d And this spring, at 32, he is returning in the first Broadway production<\/a> of Jason Robert Brown\u2019s much-loved \u201cThe Last Five Years.\u201d<\/p>\n Like many of the actors interviewed here, Jonas said that in theater he found a group of peers who understood him in a way that classmates often did not. At school, Jonas said, \u201cI definitely felt like I was strange to them.\u201d But onstage, he said, \u201cI finally felt like I was around my people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Jonas, who was born in Texas and raised in New Jersey, said an adult who influenced him was the actor Rob McClure, who was an understudy in \u201cI\u2019m Not Rappaport\u201d in 2002 when Jonas was in \u201cBeauty and the Beast.\u201d McClure, who lived near the Jonas family, would drive Nick to the city when they both had shows, and they would talk about acting, do improv bits and listen to tenors.<\/p>\n They would also watch videos of Broadway bloopers \u2014 comforting, because Jonas has long clung to the memory of missing a cue while in \u201cAnnie Get Your Gun.\u201d \u201cI literally had to bolt down from my fourth-story dressing room down to the stage and left Reba McEntire and Brent Barrett waiting for little Jake to arrive, and he didn\u2019t,\u201d Jonas said. \u201cBut, in the theme of that show, the show must go on. We have to adapt.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Now, as he prepares for the intense theater schedule, he says he wants to reconnect with the \u201cjoy and freedom\u201d he felt as a child actor. \u201cBack then it was just fun \u2014 I just got to do a thing I loved,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that for me to do my best work and to have the best experience I need to be loose and as carefree as I was then.\u201d<\/p>\n Nick Jonas will star in \u201cThe Last Five Years<\/a>\u201d starting March 18 at the Hudson Theater.<\/p>\n \u2606 \u2606 \u2606<\/p>\n The 2012 Broadway revival of \u201cAnnie\u201d was underway when cast members started to get sick, and the production needed more understudies. That\u2019s how Sadie Sink, at 10, landed a gig as a standby on Broadway \u2014 she was a Texan, but she was in New York because her brother was performing in \u201cElf,\u201d and she knew \u201cAnnie\u201d because she had starred in a production in Houston at Theater Under the Stars.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember being at the Palace Theater, doing the same old \u2018Annie\u2019 songs I\u2019d been singing my whole life at that point, and they cast me just to join for a bit as a placeholder while they needed extra coverage, but that ended up extending, and then that turned into being Annie,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was a lot on my family, because moving from Texas to New York is not easy financially and logistically, but it just kind of happened, and I just remember it being this huge whirlwind of excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n For a while, she was home-schooled, but she made plenty of friends because the \u201cAnnie\u201d cast was filled with young girls who also loved theater. When she was 12 she took on another Broadway role, playing a young Elizabeth, the future queen of England, in \u201cThe Audience<\/a>,\u201d starring Helen Mirren.<\/p>\n Those early Broadway parts \u201creally set a good foundation for me, and a good level of discipline,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Sink went back to public school, and in ninth grade she was cast as Max Mayfield in Netflix\u2019s \u201cStranger Things.\u201d She skipped college to focus on that series, and this spring, at 22, she\u2019ll return to Broadway<\/a> in \u201cJohn Proctor Is the Villain,\u201d a comedy that interrogates \u201cThe Crucible\u201d through the eyes of high schoolers.<\/p>\n Sink says she is ready for it. \u201cThere are some nerves that come with it, too, just cause it\u2019s been a while, but it\u2019s going to be super-rewarding just to re-approach it as an adult now and make new memories,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s just what I\u2019m meant to do, and I feel very lucky that I somehow figured that out at a really young age.\u201d<\/p>\n Sadie Sink will star in \u201cJohn Proctor Is the Villain<\/a>\u201d starting March 20 at the Booth Theater.<\/p>\n At 10, Christian Slater hit the road. His father was an actor and his mother was a casting director, and Slater, growing up in New York City, was discovered when the director of a Broadway-bound production of \u201cThe Music Man\u201d noticed him on a cable access show on which his mother was being interviewed.<\/p>\n Looked after by guardians, Slater traveled the country for months playing Winthrop, the little brother of Marian the librarian. \u201cI was having the best time of my life,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n So in 1980, Slater made his Broadway debut in \u201cThe Music Man,\u201d and that was followed by roles in \u201cCopperfield,\u201d \u201cMacbeth\u201d and \u201cMerlin.\u201d He attended schools set up for child performers.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, I loved it \u2014 I\u2019ve always loved it,\u201d he said. \u201cOther than dealing with some crazy adults, for the most part it was a pretty smooth experience. I had guardians, I had tutors, I had other kids who were also in the shows who I could spend time with.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He became well known for films including \u201cHeathers\u201d and \u201cTrue Romance,\u201d but he also struggled with substance abuse during a tumultuous early adulthood.<\/p>\n \u201cI definitely felt the need to find ways to escape from my own head, and from some of the uncomfortable stuff, and unfortunately when you\u2019re looking to escape you find substances you do that with,\u201d he said. \u201cThey work in the beginning, and then they end up biting you in the ass somewhere else down the line, and hopefully you survive it and come out the other side a little bit wiser and a little bit clearer<\/a> about who you want to be in life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He has done a couple of Broadway shows as an adult \u2014 \u201cSide Man\u201d and \u201cThe Glass Menagerie\u201d \u2014 and now, at 55, he is starring Off Broadway in a New Group production of Sam Shepard\u2019s \u201cCurse of the Starving Class.\u201d His character is the family patriarch and an abusive alcoholic.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is funny to grow into older characters, and to be playing the dad,\u201d Slater said. \u201cI\u2019m certainly able to tap into aspects of my own life and my own path.\u201d<\/p>\n Christian Slater is currently starring in \u201cCurse of the Starving Class<\/a>\u201d at Pershing Square Signature Center.<\/p>\n \u2606 \u2606 \u2606<\/p>\n Before Alex Winter became one of filmdom\u2019s most famous slackers \u2014 starring opposite Keanu Reeves in the \u201cBill & Ted\u201d movies<\/a> \u2014 he was performing on Broadway. In 1978, when he was 13, he played Anna\u2019s son in a revival of \u201cThe King and I,\u201d and in 1979 he starred in \u201cPeter Pan\u201d as John Darling.<\/p>\n That period of his life was traumatic because, he said, he was being sexually abused by someone he has not named. \u201cDuring the \u2018King and I\u2019 era I ended up in a really bad, predatory situation that was prolonged, that took some work to get through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He still considers his early childhood career a positive. \u201cThese are societal, systemic issues,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re not showbiz issues. And in fact, I would argue that the show itself and the theater itself was a refuge for me \u2014 it was safe, it was lovely, it was magical.\u201d<\/p>\n Winter, whose parents were dancers, and who lived in Montclair, N.J., when working on Broadway, has spent a lot of time thinking about child performers; in fact, in 2020 he made an HBO documentary on the subject called \u201cShowbiz Kids<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWhat childhood is ever just idyllic?\u201d he said. \u201cI played. I ran. We would skateboard on the stage between shows. We would have baseball games. I had issues because I was exposed to stuff \u2014 you were in an adultified space, and so there are dangers there \u2014 there are stressors involved in being in entertainment that young.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he believes conditions have improved. \u201cThere is a lot more language and protection in place for children in the industry now than there was when I was in the industry, and a lot of it has to do with the #MeToo movement opening up dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A portion of his career has been focused on directing, but next fall he plans to return to Broadway to star alongside Reeves in a revival of \u201cWaiting for Godot.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cActing onstage is in my bones. I\u2019ve always been very comfortable doing it. I got onstage at 5 years old, and it\u2019s something I have good feelings for,\u201d said Winter, who is now 59. \u201cBut it will be a monumental thing for me emotionally.\u201d<\/p>\n Alex Winter will star in \u201cWaiting for Godot<\/a>\u201d on Broadway in the fall.<\/p>\n \u2606 \u2606 \u2606<\/p>\n Gracie Lawrence\u2019s first Broadway show was a famous flop \u2014 a revival of Neil Simon\u2019s \u201cBrighton Beach Memoirs\u201d that lasted just a week beyond opening night. But she was only 12, and, she said, \u201cIt all went a little over my head.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was having this euphoric moment, and then when it ended, everyone else was grappling with more adult realities than I was. I just had to go back to going through real puberty.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The 2009 play, which had 34 performances including previews, was formative. She remembers watching the older actors get into character just before the curtain went up. So she developed her own preparation strategy \u2014 she would roll her eyes just before the show began, to snap into character as the snarky girl she was playing. She remembers proudly sharing that discovery with Jessica Hecht, one of the show\u2019s performers.<\/p>\n Her artistic life then took a turn. She and one of her brothers formed a band, Lawrence, and for the past decade she has spent much of her time touring.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But Lawrence, who grew up in New York and whose father is a filmmaker, has continued to act, including with a role on the Max series \u201cThe Sex Lives of College Girls.\u201d And this spring she will return to Broadway to play the singer Connie Francis in \u201cJust in Time,\u201d a musical about another singer<\/a>, Bobby Darin.<\/p>\n \u201cSo much of my life has been around the question, \u2018Will I ever return to Broadway?’ because it was this wildly significant thing in my childhood,\u201d Lawrence, now 27, said. \u201cI\u2019m not chill about it at all. It\u2019s one of the craziest, coolest things that\u2019s ever happened to me \u2014 I\u2019m just having this wild experience that I didn\u2019t know if I\u2019d ever have again.\u201d<\/p>\n Gracie Lawrence will be featured in \u201cJust in Time<\/a>\u201d starting March 28 at Circle in the Square.<\/p>\n When he was 8, his mother jokes, Nicholas Barasch asked whether she had found him an agent. By 10, he had gotten his big break, playing a child who sang \u201cSomewhere\u201d in a 2009 Broadway revival of \u201cWest Side Story<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n It was fun and nerve-racking and sure, sometimes things went wrong. \u201cOne time I was having a full giggle fit backstage,\u201d he said, \u201cand we\u2019re getting closer and closer to my entrance, and I remember standing in the wings and telling myself, \u2018If you do not pull yourself together, your career is over.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Barasch, who grew up in Westchester County, N.Y., did pull himself together, and he has been performing ever since. At 14 he was in Broadway\u2019s \u201cThe Mystery of Edwin Drood<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was like being in master classes, and it was nice because when you\u2019re the kid everyone handles you a little more gently,\u201d he said. \u201cBut also, the paradox is, I was also expected to perform like a professional adult.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Barasch, whose great-grandmother performed in vaudeville and whose grandfather wrote two Broadway plays, was back on Broadway at 17, playing a delivery boy in a revival of \u201cShe Loves Me<\/a>.\u201d He has done some screen work (\u201cRiverdale\u201d) and toured (as Orpheus) with \u201cHadestown,\u201d and this spring, at 26, he has his biggest Broadway role yet, as Frederic in \u201cPirates! The Penzance Musical.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI sometimes long for the freedom and the innocence that came with being 10 and not knowing a single thing about the craft or the industry,\u201d he said. \u201cBut at the same time, I\u2019ve had to unlearn some of the hyperdiscipline that I had as a kid, and just relax more and trust myself.\u201d<\/p>\n Nicholas Barasch will be featured in \u201cPirates! The Penzance Musical<\/a>\u201d starting April 4 at the Todd Haimes Theater.<\/p>\n \u2606 \u2606 \u2606<\/p>\n As far back as Kevin Csolak can remember, he wanted to dance. He grew up in Flemington, N.J., where his mother runs a performing arts studio; at 5, he started entering dance competitions.<\/p>\n Shortly after turning 11, he landed a part dancing on Broadway in \u201cHow the Grinch Stole Christmas!\u201d (He was one of several \u201cLittle Whos\u201d in Whoville.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Performing was fun. School, not so much. \u201cIt was \u2018twinkletoes!\u2019 and \u2018Broadway Boy!\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He tried playing baseball, but was missing too many games. He stopped talking to classmates about his afternoons and evenings in the city.<\/p>\n \u201cIt felt like I was missing out \u2014 like I was inside a dance class while the kids were outside playing ball and running around,\u201d he said. \u201cBut at the same time, coming into the city and performing and auditioning and meeting people that were so like me \u2014 who had this unspeakable passion for this art form \u2014 that filled me up.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He remembers watching Patrick Page, who played the Grinch. \u201cIt was my first time experiencing an actor who was offstage so sweet and so nice, and then gets onstage \u2014 he transformed,\u201d Csolak said. \u201cThat\u2019s where I was like, \u2018Oh, wow.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In the years since, he has performed on television (\u201cBoardwalk Empire\u201d), film (\u201cWest Side Story\u201d) and stage (\u201cThe Outsiders\u201d), and now, at 29, is featured in the Broadway revival of \u201cGypsy.\u201d<\/a> Csolak plays Tulsa, a young man who yearns to dance. \u201cTulsa is definitely just a big old kid who gets to sing and dance and dream,\u201d Csolak said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I dedicate every night to, hopefully inspiring a kid out there who has some sort of dream.\u201d<\/p>\n Kevin Csolak is currently performing in \u201cGypsy<\/a>\u201d at the Majestic Theater.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nNick Jonas<\/h2>\n
\nSadie Sink<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nAlex Winter<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nGracie Lawrence<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nKevin Csolak<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n