Riverview native's Broadway debut in School of Rock 'scary and fun'
It's been a long but steady way to the top for Justin Collette.
The Riverview native made his Broadway debut this week in School of Rock, a take on the film of the same name, with music by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Collette, who plays four different characters and is an understudy for the lead role, said his first night was tiring and frightening but fun.
"I was just basically just trying to stay out of everyone's way and not mess the show up," he said in an interview on Shift New Brunswick.
"So, the first night was just stressful, trying to get the job done, but [the next night] was very fun. It's just going to get more fun from now."
The 29-year-old Collette grew up in in Riverview and attended Riverview High School, where his interest in music and theatre grew. Since then, he's acted in major commercials, had roles in Toronto plays and improv shows and even made an appearance on the CBC's Murdoch Mysteries.
Broadway was a big step, and while it's chaotic, Collette said, it's difficult not to have fun while doing it.
"Everybody here is amazing and really, really talented," he said. "And everybody works really hard, which is really nice."
'It's just fun'
Collette, who was living in Toronto when he got the part, said he never imagined he would make it to Broadway.
He discovered his interest in theatre when he was a child, attending drama camps and participating in plays in elementary school.
His love of performing got stronger as he got older. He started getting more serious about acting in high school, and he was also in a band.
"It was just a great Venn diagram of this company needing somebody who was those two things."
As part of the adult ensemble cast, Collette said it's amazing to watch the young actors.
"It's unfair how good they are," he said. "They're incredible, they're so cool, they're so talented."
The Broadway production, which started in the fall of 2015, has more than one person taking on the role of Dewey Finn to preserve the actors' voices and energy.
Collette will take the stage as the lead for the first time Saturday and again next week.
"It's just fun, it's super fun to play," he said.
"I'd like to say that I'm really acting when I'm playing a late-20s, early 30-something-year-old guy who has too big dreams, but I don't know how hard I'm stretching when I do that."
