Jeff Brooks jokes that because his mother was a piano player and his high school’s music director, he had “no chance” – his eventual career in musical theater was practically inevitable. But despite his parentage and his more than 20-year career in musical theater, he’s got one confession to make.
“I’m a terrible theater-goer from an actor’s standpoint,” admits Brooks.
Before being cast as Larry Murphy in the North American tour of Dear Evan Hansen, which Theatre Under the Stars will bring to Houston this month, Brooks says his only experience with the show was through the original Broadway cast recording.
“I was on the road with Broadway national tours when it had its entire life on Broadway, so I never got an opportunity to see it,” explains Brooks.
Though Brooks may have missed the show’s critically acclaimed run on Broadway, which resulted in six Tony Awards (including Best Musical) in 2017, he says it did allow him to approach the project with “a fresh pair of eyes and a fresh pair of ears.”
“I had the benefit as an actor to really delve into the script and read what the playwright wanted the character to look and feel and sound like, and I was not drawing from previous experience of the show, which is always a perspective I like to have,” says Brooks.
In the musical, Brook’s character, Larry, crosses paths with the titular Evan, a lonely, bullied classmate of his children, following a tragedy that unexpectedly connects Evan to Larry’s family. Now that he’s rehearsing the show with his fellow castmates, he says that even under the fluorescent lights in a New York studio, it’s an “emotional roller coaster.”
“We’re all just weeping…I can’t even imagine once we get this piece on its feet with the full tech and all of the beautiful design,” says Brooks. “It just speaks volumes about the play itself. The words, not just the beautiful music that everybody knows, but the piece inside of all of that music is really a beautifully written story about connection and family and loss and coming back from the edge of grief, and it’s really powerful.”
Brooks’s character, Larry Murphy, is the father of two of Evan’s schoolmates, and he’s quick to point out that the story is told not just through the eyes of the younger characters in the show but through those of the parents as well.
“It’s nice to see the other side,” says Brooks, particularly considering that one of the musical’s central themes is the effects of social media. “A lot of people who are going to come see the show will relate to those older characters who are fiddling around on their phones or trying to figure out email and not really sure the impact that this kind of social interaction has on younger people because we didn’t have it in our hands when we were their age.”
For Larry specifically, Brooks describes him as a man with traditional values who approaches his family’s difficult issues in “a much more old-fashioned way.”
“It’s not about reaching out for help, but pulling away and pulling in, and trying to stand on his own two feet and sucking it up and trying to push through as opposed to look for help,” says Brooks.
Because he is not a parent, Brooks says tackling the role of Larry has been “an interesting journey.”
“I had to put myself in the mindset of what it means to prioritize someone else’s success and someone else’s well-being over your own. That is not something that I have had a lot of real-life experience with,” says Brooks. “I’m a performer. My successes and my failures, they belong to me and only me. I don’t have anyone else depending on me in that aspect.”
But putting your child’s needs over your own, Brooks speculates, can lead to tension, especially if things don’t go the way a parent hopes, as with Larry.
“I don’t want to give away the piece too much, but he does not have the relationship with his son that he thought he was going to have,” says Brooks. “A lot of younger viewers can look at it and be like, ‘Oh, his dad doesn’t understand him’ or ‘his dad doesn’t get it,’ and a lot of parents will watch it and be like, ‘Oh, I understand what this man is going through. He’s trying to reach his children the only way he knows how, and it’s not getting through.’”
Though onstage as Larry, Brooks struggles to connect with his family, offstage, Brooks says he’s found himself in the role of “cast dad,” and it’s not a role he shies away from.
“I think that probably comes with the territory a little bit, and I’m not going to shrug away from that. I’m definitely going to lean into it. But it comes with the idea that I want to take care of these people; I want to make sure that they’re enjoying their experience on stage and off as much as possible, but as a father, you’ve got to draw that line somewhere. You got to let them have their own experience.”
After 20 years on the road, Brooks says that it’s not only lovely watching his younger castmates’ excitement at experiencing a tour for the first time, it’s contagious.
“There’s something to be said about the experience of people who’ve been in the business for a little bit, and there’s also something to be said for the energy and fervor of a young actor who is just coming on the scene and getting into this industry for the first time,” says Brooks. “I find myself renewing my excitement as well.”
For those who have already experienced Dear Evan Hansen and will see it again when it comes to town, Brooks compares it “to going to see Titanic – you know the boat sinks.”
“You know what’s going to happen, and you’re going because it’s such a powerful story,” says Brooks. “We should put tissues in the seat in front of everyone. That’s what the people who have already experienced it are going for. They’re like, ‘Rip my heart out. Rip it out and then hand it back to me.’”
And for those who have yet to experience it?
“Hang on,” says Brooks. “Hang on for the ride.”
Performances are scheduled for September 10 through 22 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and September 15, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, 800 Bagby. For more information, call 713-558-8887 or visit tuts.com. $34.50-$143.50.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
