Tom Pecinka is a 2024 Tony Award nominee for his efficiency in “Stereophonic,” now enjoying 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 Seventies rock famous person fable — replete with the intercourse, medication and unfashionable type — onstage.
Although the actor describes his Tony-nominated efficiency as a full-throttle, emotional purge, he’s thankful to go away 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, advised HuffPost. “Peter lets in himself to explode, and I’d be mendacity if I mentioned attending to scream at any person wasn’t cathartic. However I love to stay him on the theater. I do a ritual each night time the place I take off the necklace I put on and say good-bye to him, as a result of he’s no longer probably the most amusing individual to are living with.”
Now enjoying at New York’s Golden Theatre, “Stereophonic” has been nominated for 13 Tony Awards — probably the most ever for a Broadway play. On Tuesday, the display’s run used to be prolonged thru Jan. 5 after at first 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 thinking about 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, in fact, a fiery conflict of egos. Over the route of 3 hours, the characters divulge their inside turmoil in between laying down track, which incorporates appearing authentic songs via musician Will Butler, previously of the band Arcade Hearth.
“Artists come to the display, and so they move: ‘Oh, I do know the ache and the enjoyment of that procedure,’” Pecinka mentioned. “However somebody who’s performed a gaggle undertaking in basic college the place they have been paired with any person they hate, or possibly they needed to do the entire paintings as a result of no person else did … too can relate.”
Watch the video for “Masquerade” from Broadway’s “Stereophonic” forged recording under.
A lot of the excitement on “Stereophonic” has emphasised the fictitious band’s many parallels to Fleetwood Mac, whose masterpiece 1977 album “Rumours” used to be recorded as participants Christine McVie and John McVie have been getting ready to divorce, whilst Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks had also known as it quits on their dating.
Pecinka spent months in guitar courses in preparation for his function, sending movies to the display’s ingenious workforce to stay them abreast of his weekly development. Although he regarded to Buckingham early on, his interpretation of Peter additionally winks at Mick Jagger, Robert Plant and James Taylor, amongst different ’70s track icons.
“I by no means felt find it irresistible used to be the Fleetwood Mac tale, as a result of those characters are so fleshed out, they felt like their very own folks,” he mentioned. Vocally, he added, “my touchstone used to be Seventies Billy Joel, as a result of that used to be the track I grew up with from that duration. So it used to be already kind of in me.”
A Wantagh, New York, local, Pecinka auditioned for “Stereophonic” in 2020, mere days ahead of COVID-19 shuttered theaters national. The play won its premiere off-Broadway staging in fall of 2023, and the actor mentioned the risk to paintings with a modern creator used to be definitely worth the wait.
“Till then, my profession had most commonly been Shakespeare and Chekhov and Ibsen — useless folks,” he quipped.
Julieta Cervantes” data-src=https://s.yimg.com/big apple/api/res/1.2/RAtcUCpJ6wFYGR4..9JrMw–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MA–/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_huffington_post_584/5329718519d917fc034135b0c3492bb0>
“I by no means felt find it irresistible used to be the Fleetwood Mac tale, as a result of those characters are so absolutely fleshed out, they felt like their very own folks,” mentioned Pecinka (on left, with Pidgeon). Julieta Cervantes
Although “Stereophonic” is billed as a “play with track” somewhat than a musical, Pecinka and his forged friends have been ready to file the display’s songs for posterity on a brand new forged album.
It’s an fulfillment the actor, who used to be advised via casting brokers that his rock tilt used to be ill-suited for standard musical theater, is particularly happy with: “It at all times brought about me disgrace and unhappiness that I wasn’t ready 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 at the present time is spent getting ready for the June 16 Tony Awards, the place he’s nominated for Perfect 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 point of fact exhausting,” he mentioned. ”[But] the object Peter has taught me is that my dream function won’t even exist but. I don’t really feel like I’ve been pigeonholed. If I will be able to handle that, I’ll be a more than pleased clam.”
Valerie Terranova by means of Getty Pictures” data-src=https://s.yimg.com/big apple/api/res/1.2/rhvjRyXCuKlGhEKwAMPV6A–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTE0NDM-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_huffington_post_584/9b2b92f9e407c6aed9cc39c7eb577950>
“I really like enjoying any person who may 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 mentioned. Valerie Terranova by means of Getty Pictures
