At This Performance
of
Sunset Boulevard - The role of Joe Gillis will be played by
Diego Rodriguez
This time seeing Sunset Boulevard we knew ahead of time that we'd be seeing an understudy in the role of Joe Gillis, usually played by Tom Francis. Having seen the announcement of social media that he would be on vacation, we weren't taken by surprise when we found this white slip of paper in our Playbill:
Ever since he announced that he would be on, I was excited to see Diego Rodriguez in the male lead of one of my favorite shows. He was a true stand out as Artie the first time I saw the revival. At the time, I wrote of his performance: "Artie Green (the dashing Diego Andres Rodriguez, who delivers by far the most interesting version of the otherwise forgettable character I've seen) is seen crying when he realizes the betrayal of his fiance and of his best friend." Could he be just as amazing as Artie's best friend?
Within seconds of his first entrance (spoiler alert: he emerges center stage from a body bag) I had my answer. Yes. Here was a new, vibrant take on a role that until I saw Mr. Francis I felt lacked much depth. In Mr. Rodriguez's more than capable hands, Joe Gillis maintained that depth, and also found new intriguing facets.
Immediately, it is clear that he reads much younger than Francis, which at first allows his Joe to be youthfully cocky and arrogant as only a 20-something can be. From his dealings with his studio friends to the way he outruns the re-po men, he is both reckless and blasè. And yet, he endears. This perfectly sets up a new dynamic between Joe, Norma (Nicole Scherzinger) and Max (David Thaxton).
This Joe is not intimidated, Norma smells fresh meat easy to bend to her will, and Max sees someone that will be the next in a long line of husbands. With this much younger take, both Norma and Max underestimate Joe's skill at manipulation. Of course, the story doesn't change - Joe still gets sucked into Norma's drama, Max still runs interference. But there seems to be slightly more sexual tension and a sharper sense of desperation all around.
As the power in these relationships shifts, Rodriguez's performance evolves in wonderful ways. Even the way he sings evolves, with a more mature sound as the boy matures. In act two, it is immediately obvious that his Joe has grown up with his bold take on the title number. Later, his duet with Betty (the lovely Grace Hodgett-Young) works in ways that it never has for me before - it still is a problem for me in terms of tone and style - but here we see a young man growing up enough to be worthy of a contemporary. In turn, all of this heightens the stakes for how it all fleshes out.
Whether intentional or not, watching him during the Act Two overture sequence, we see Diego, relishing his time in the lead. Yes, he goes through all the same moments as Tom, but I got the sense that there is a bigger difference between each of them and their respective Joes, and so he endears in a nice way - his smile (the only time we get to see it) is the wattage of the entirety of Times Square. But watching him snap into character the second the music starts for "Sunset Boulevard." What an exciting thing to witness.
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| He's a University of Michigan grad with a BFA in Musical Theater and an award-winning playwright |
During his post-curtain BCEFA speech, David Thaxton referred to Mr. Rodriguez as "Broadway's hottest young corpse." He was joking, of course, but he wasn't wrong. As this is his professional debut, one hopes that this is the start of a long, successful career. What an absolute thrill to have been here for the beginning of it all.
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