Tom Pecinka is a 2024 Tony Award nominee for his efficiency in “Stereophonic,” now taking part in in New York. by means of Related Press
Because the ruthlessly formidable Peter in Broadway’s “Stereophonic,” Tom Pecinka will get to are living out a Nineteen Seventies rock celebrity fable — replete with the intercourse, medication and unfashionable model — onstage.
Although the actor describes his Tony-nominated efficiency as a full-throttle, emotional purge, he’s thankful to depart that have in the back of after curtain name.
“There are issues I am getting to do as Peter that I don’t get to do in my lifestyles,” Pecinka, who’s making his Broadway debut, informed HuffPost. “Peter lets in himself to explode, and I’d be mendacity if I stated attending to scream at any person wasn’t cathartic. However I love to stay him on the theater. I do a ritual each and every night time the place I take off the necklace I put on and say good-bye to him, as a result of he’s now not essentially the most a laugh particular person to are living with.”
Now taking part in at New York’s Golden Theatre, “Stereophonic” has been nominated for 13 Tony Awards — essentially the most ever for a Broadway play. On Tuesday, the display’s run was once prolonged via Jan. 5 after initially being slated to near subsequent month.
Written via David Adjmi and directed via Daniel Aukin, the drama follows a Laurel Canyon-era rock band within the throes of recording an album. Peter is the band’s hot-headed guitarist and is interested in a tempestuous, on-and-off dating with singer-songwriter Diana (Sarah Pidgeon).
Tom Pecinka, Will Brill and Sarah Pidgeon in “Stereophonic.” Julieta Cervantes
Peter and Diana’s bandmates are 3 Brits: bassist Reg (Will Brill) and keyboardist Holly (Juliana Canfield), who’re a married couple, and drummer Simon (Chris Stack). They’re joined of their Sausalito, California, studio via a couple of hapless engineers, Grover (Eli Gelb) and Charlie (Andrew R. Butler).
The band’s recording periods are, after all, a fiery conflict of egos. Over the route of 3 hours, the characters expose their interior turmoil in between laying down tune, which incorporates appearing authentic songs via musician Will Butler, previously of the band Arcade Fireplace.
“Artists come to the display, they usually pass: ‘Oh, I do know the ache and the enjoyment of that procedure,’” Pecinka stated. “However any person who’s achieved a bunch venture in basic college the place they had been paired with any person they hate, or possibly they needed to do all the paintings as a result of no person else did … too can relate.”
Watch the video for “Masquerade” from Broadway’s “Stereophonic” forged recording underneath.
A lot of the excitement on “Stereophonic” has emphasised the fictitious band’s many parallels to Fleetwood Mac, whose masterpiece 1977 album “Rumours” was once recorded as individuals Christine McVie and John McVie had been getting ready to divorce, whilst Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks had often known as it quits on their dating.
Pecinka spent months in guitar courses in preparation for his position, sending movies to the display’s ingenious staff to stay them abreast of his weekly development. Although he appeared to Buckingham early on, his interpretation of Peter additionally winks at Mick Jagger, Robert Plant and James Taylor, amongst different ’70s tune icons.
“I by no means felt find it irresistible was once the Fleetwood Mac tale, as a result of those characters are so fleshed out, they felt like their very own other folks,” he stated. Vocally, he added, “my touchstone was once Nineteen Seventies Billy Joel, as a result of that was once the tune I grew up with from that duration. So it was once already form of in me.”
A Wantagh, New York, local, Pecinka auditioned for “Stereophonic” in 2020, mere days earlier than COVID-19 shuttered theaters national. The play won its premiere off-Broadway staging in fall of 2023, and the actor stated the danger to paintings with a modern author was once definitely worth the wait.
“Till then, my occupation had most commonly been Shakespeare and Chekhov and Ibsen — useless other folks,” he quipped.
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“I by no means felt find it irresistible was once the Fleetwood Mac tale, as a result of those characters are so absolutely fleshed out, they felt like their very own other folks,” stated Pecinka (on left, with Pidgeon). Julieta Cervantes
Although “Stereophonic” is billed as a “play with tune” reasonably than a musical, Pecinka and his forged friends had been in a position to report the display’s songs for posterity on a brand new forged album.
It’s an fulfillment the actor, who was once informed via casting brokers that his rock tilt was once ill-suited for standard musical theater, is particularly happy with: “It at all times brought about me disgrace and disappointment that I wasn’t in a position to do the ones issues, however now I’m making a song in the best way I need to sing on Broadway.”
Maximum of Pecinka’s off-stage time this present day is spent making ready for the June 16 Tony Awards, the place he’s nominated for Absolute best Efficiency via a Featured Actor in a Play along Brill and Gelb.
Having a look past “Stereophonic,” he’s desperate to parlay his newfound acclaim into tv and picture paintings in addition to theater. As for long run roles, he believes they’ll haven’t begun to be written.
“I was extra like Peter when I used to be more youthful ― an individual who’s chasing good fortune and dealing in reality exhausting,” he stated. ”[But] the object Peter has taught me is that my dream position would possibly not even exist but. I don’t really feel like I’ve been pigeonholed. If I will take care of that, I’ll be a more than happy clam.”
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“I love taking part in any person who could be very sophisticated, and there are issues I am getting to do as Peter that I don’t get to do in my lifestyles,” Pecinka stated. Valerie Terranova by means of Getty Pictures
