Broadway Star Anthony Veneziale's Tony Awards Photo Diary - TownandCountrymag.com
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Courtesy Anthony Veneziale
Freestyle Love Supreme is a different type of musical comedy than Broadway audiences are used to, and that’s what makes it so exciting. The musical improv group, which got its start in the early 2000s and will be returning to Broadway beginning October 7 at the Booth Theatre, combines extemporaneous performance with audience participation, suspension of disbelief, and an incredible display of teamwork to create what the New York Times called an “exultant master course in the fine art of hip-hop.”
Last Sunday, Freestyle was honored with a special Tony Award and cast members treated audiences at the Winter Garden Theatre (and those watching from around the world) to an end-of-night performance. “To everybody in the room, it was just the medicine we needed,” says Freestyle founder and star Anthony Veneziale. “We all needed to be together, to say that theater is vibrant and matters and can make a difference. I’ve been doing improv for about 25 years and to see that it’s a part of the Broadway community now, that’s a big deal.”
What did it take to get there? Here, Veneziale opens his camera roll for T&C to share a behind-the-scenes look.
“This is me going into my first day of Tonys rehearsal. We did more practicing for this than for almost anything we’ve done before. We had four rehearsals, so we met twice during the week—just because we hadn’t seen each other, and this was a giant puzzle we had to solve together. We needed to figure out all the moving parts.”
“Krispy Kreme is right there at the corner of West 48th Street and Broadway, next to the studios where the rehearsal room was. It was just next door, and I knew it would be trouble. Everything there is amazing, but I’m a French cruller fan, so on the first day of rehearsal, I was like, what if I bring donuts? And then I had a second thought: That’s a terrible thing to do. So, I waited until after, and we enjoyed them street side.”
“Here we are the day before the Tonys. We’re not in Times Square that often anymore and this was a real moment when I thought, Broadway’s back! I remember doing some work at MTV in the early 2000s and looking out the window in winter wondering, what is this guy doing? I think it was his first year, and I thought there was no way he’d last. Now 21 years later, he’s still out there—he’s back after the pandemic pause. The Naked Cowboy felt right for that gorgeous moment of realization that we’re back.”
“This was around 7:45 a.m. on Sunday morning, at our blocking rehearsal. This group is Tardis Hardaway, Berger Time, Young Nees, Shockwave, me, and Arthur the Geniuses. We were all having a moment realizing we were all going to be dressed up tonight!”
“Luckily, a bunch of us started something called the Freestyle Love Supreme Academy during the pandemic, and we teach improv and help people find their authentic voice—and fail over and over again, because that’s what freestyling is. Very rarely are people exceptionally good when they first start. So, this is me catching [co-creator] Lin-Manuel Miranda doing this very silly, American Utopia-inspired dance. He was doing it for himself, not thinking anyone was looking, and I saw and had to take a picture. He caught me catching him, though. But that’s part of our show, connecting with one another’s humanness.”
“My partner, Caricia Catalani, and I got ready for the show around the corner, on West 43rd Street. This is Ali Taghavi, who created the clothes that we’re wearing, and John Tan, who styled us. This is the calm before the storm, about to get these clothes on and walk the red carpet—we had about 10 minutes before we needed to leave, and my pants had to be hemmed.”
“This is us being like, OK, let’s get one picture and then we have to get out of here.”
“It was deeply emotional to the be in the audience that night; there were a lot of tears. I didn’t know what to expect, the Tonys can be formal, but everyone needed to experience those moments that light us all up. You could feel that we all belonged in a room together; when Jennifer Holliday sang “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” from Dream Girls, that was a spine-tingling moment.”
“Jesse [Tyler Ferguson] and I both did shows very early in our careers at Ars Nova right around the same time. Jenny Steingart is one of the founders of Arts Nova and also a Freestyle producer. This is us backstage wondering, how did we all get here?”
“These are all my brothers, my kids, and my brothers’ kids, and our cat Clover who’s usually very shy but here is looking right down the barrel of the camera. In between the morning rehearsal on Sunday and going back for the awards, I invited my family up from Philly so we could have a lunch together. I was about to receive a special Tony on behalf of Freestyle Love Surpreme, so there’s a certain amount of obligation I have to represent the whole group. This was a moment for me to say to my family… I wrote something just for them about who I am and why it’s because of all of them. I picked up a bunch of food from Carmine’s and we celebrated. I carbo-loaded because I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat all night. The Tonys are like running a marathon.”
“This was right around rehearsal time. It was a moment I loved seeing because Freestyle is about the collective, not about one voice. These are some of the biggest names on Broadway, some of the most impressive performers out there, yet when we come together, you’re just another mic shaping who we are in that moment. All of our voices matter.”
“This is the end of the night, leaving the Tonys and heading home.”
Adam RatheSenior Editor, Arts and CultureAdam Rathe is a senior editor at Town & Country, covering arts and culture and a range of other subjects.
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