Jonathan chats with Richard Ridge about his current off-Broadway play, “The Submission”, BFF Lea Michele, Glee, Spring Awakening and more!

Full 26 minute interview with Richard and Jonathan: Watch Full Interview Here

You’ve seen Richard chat with Spidey lovebirds Reeve Carney and Jennifer Damiano, and visit with UK’s First Lady of musical Theatre, Elaine Paige. Today, Richard takes you downtown to the beloved West Village staple, the smokey Lucille Lortel Theatre, where he met up with everyone’s favorite leading man, Jonathan Groff. Currently starring in MCC’s THE SUBMISSION, Groff opens up about his BFF Lea Michele, getting comfortable in his role as working actor and “pseudo” celebrity, playing a jerk, and why you REALLY should go see THE SUBMISSION.

Groff began his career in the limelight as Melchior Gabor in the Tony Award-winning musical, Spring Awakening, for which he earned his 2007 Theatre World Award, in addition to Tony, Drama Desk, and Drama League Award nominations. Groff created the role Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theatre Company, prior to reprising the role on Broadway at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre. Following his lauded run in Spring Awakening, Groff transitioned into the famed role of Claude in The Public Theater’s heralded revival of Hair, the seminal rock musical of the 1960′s, as part of The Public Theater’s “Shakespeare in the Park” series at the Delacorte Theatre. Groff most recently made his West End debut in the acclaimed revival of Ira Levin’s Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre in London. The production was directed by Tony Award-winner Matthew Warchus (Art, God of Carnage, Boeing, Boeing) and co-starred legendary stage actor Simon Russell Beale. On stage, Jonathan also starred as Dionysus, the God of wine, in the Public Theater’s summer staging of Euripides’ The Bacchae, Prelude to a Kiss, Longtime Companion (for which he was the recipient of a Village Voice Obie Award for Outstanding Performance), Prayer for My Enemy and The Singing Forest, In My Life (Broadway), and the regional tours of The Sound of Music, Fame, Bat Boy, and Honk!

Groff joined the cast of the critically-praised hit Fox series GLEE during its first season as the lead vocalist of the rival glee club, Vocal Adrenaline, and the love interest of Lea Michele’s character, Rachel Berry. Jonathan made his big screen debut in Ang Lee’s acclaimed film, Taking Woodstock. The movie, adapted by James Schamus from the autobiography Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life by Eliot Tibor and Tom Monte, told the true story of a young man working at his parents’ motel in the Catskills who inadvertently set in motion the generation-defining concert in the summer of 1969. In the film, Groff played Michael Lang, the legendary concert promoter and co-creator of the famed Woodstock Music and Art Festival. Groff was most recently seen in the films The Conspirator and Twelve Thirty.

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Check out Vogue’s interview with Jonathan about The Submission:

When I meet Jonathan Groff in front of the Starbucks on Sheridan Square, he is nursing a chai latte in a paper cup on which someone has scrawled “Happy Man.” It turns out that the barista at Starbucks had written it to identify Groff, and the phrase seems to accurately capture the boyishly handsome, 26-year-old actor’s current mood. He’s getting set to open at the Lucille Lortel Theatre a few blocks away in the new ensemble comic drama The Submission and, as he tells me, “I’m always at my happiest when I’m doing a play in New York.” Groff first caught New York’s attention as a soulful, angst-ridden, and hormonally super-charged teenager in the 2006 rock musical Spring Awakening and a soulful, angst-ridden, and hormonally super-charged hippie in the hit revival of Hair. Since then, among other things, he’s appeared with his Spring Awakening cast-mate Lea Michele for a season and a half on Glee and acted opposite Simon Russell Beale in a London revival of Deathtrap.

In The Submission, the playwrighting debut of the actor Jeff Talbott, Groff plays Danny, a white playwright who submits his gritty drama about an African-American family to a theater festival under the female pen name Shaleeha G’ntamobi. When the play is accepted, he hires Emilie, an out-of-work African-American actress (Rutina Wesley), to pass herself off as the author, wreaking havoc on Danny’s relationships with his live-in boyfriend, Pete (Eddie Kaye Thomas), and his best friend, Trevor (Will Rogers). Danny and Emilie find themselves at odds with each other—hidden prejudices are exposed, and questions about race, sexuality, and artistic ownership are raised. Sitting on a bench in Sheridan Square Park next to a pair of George Segal sculptures of same-sex couples, Groff and I discuss the play, which, under the customarily precise direction of Walter Bobbie, opens tonight.

There’s a lot going on in The Submission. What was it that attracted you?
I was sent the play in June, and it was the first time I’d ever been offered a part without having to audition first, so right away I was like, “Wow, this is pretty cool and wouldn’t it be great if I loved it.” And I did love it. It’s such an intense piece of work, filled with so many controversial ideas, and I was really conflicted about whether or not I liked the character that I would be playing—and all of that really attracted me. I was surprised that they offered it to me, though, because it gets pretty dark and nasty, and that’s something I’ve never gotten to play onstage before. Right after I said yes, the playwright emailed me and said that he’d written it with me in mind.

You seem like such a likeable guy, but your character isn’t always, as you said, that easy to like. As an actor, that dichotomy must be very appealing.
I’d just seen Good People, which I loved, and during all the scenes between Frances McDormand and Tate Donovan, I really felt torn, like, “Oh, I’m on her side. No, now I’m on his side. Wait, I think I’m actually on her side.” And it made me so excited—I was on the edge of my seat—and I thought, God, I would really love to do a play where I get to experience that as an actor and feel what it’s like to walk the tightrope between likeable and unlikeable. It’s been really interesting in previews. Some nights, an off-color thing I say will get a huge laugh; some nights, it’ll get some nervous titters; and some nights . . . (Groff makes a “wind blowing through the open prairie” sound and laughs). It really feels like I’m walking the line between “am I taking it too far?” and “am I not pushing it far enough?” and it’s a really exhilarating experience.
(more…)

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MCC Theater talks to cast members Jonathan and Rutina as well as playwright Jeff Talbott and director Walter Bobbie about “The Submission”. Officially opening Tuesday September 27.

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In Patina’s latest interview with Broadway.com, she talks about her friendship with Jonathan and going to see him in his new play “The Submission”.

You may have been lonesome in London, but I love that you and Jonathan Groff always seem to be in the same place at the same time.
I know! He’s one of my best friends. We really just get each other. Ever since Hair, we’ve been so close. We were on the West End for six months and then he moved to L.A., but now he’s back doing [off-Broadway’s The Submission] so we’re together again. It’s great.

Will you get a chance to see him in The Submission?
I get to go on opening night because it’s our night off from Sister Act! I will be there supporting him.

Did he come to visit Sister Act when Lea Michele and the Glee cast showed up this spring?
He sure did! Amber Riley actually tweeted that Sister Act is her favorite musical. How cool is that?

She’s got good taste. Who’s been your favorite guest at the Broadway Theatre?
I think [the Glee] guys were really cool. Having Obama at our show was pretty amazing, but crazy. Everybody was on edge. Joan Rivers came to see the show too. She loved it and had nothing but nice things to say.

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Jonathan talks about working out and staying in shape for his new show!

Jonathan Groff Talks About Staying in Shape for Off-Broadway’s The Submission (Video)

Tony Award nominee Jonathan Groff will make his way back to the New York stage when Jeff Talbott’s The Submission debuts in its world-premiere production Off-Broadway, beginning Sept. 8.

In The Submission, Groff plays Danny Larsen, a playwright who writes a play under the female pen name Shaleeha G’ntamobi. When his drama about an African-American family is accepted into the nation’s preeminent theatre festival, he is faced with a multitude of difficult decisions.

Here, the show’s star talks about the need to stay in shape when having to perform eight shows a week, as well as his encounter with P90X. Also, in preparation for The Submission, which officially opens at the Lucille Lortel Theatre Sept. 27, Groff told Playbill.com that he rides his bike to rehearsal. In Playbill’s Brief Encounter with Groff, he said, “I rode my bike here today to rehearsal. I just love the city. I love the theatre community here. I love the Off-Broadway community here, and I am so pumped to be doing this play.”

To watch the interview with Groff, look below:

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Jonathan Groff, a recurring guest star on TV’s “Glee” and a Tony nominee for Spring Awakening, returns to the stage in The Submission, an edgy new Off-Broadway comedy.

Just when you thought the busy and popular twentysomething stage actor Jonathan Groff might be pulled permanently to the West Coast — where he’s known for appearances in the films “Taking Woodstock” and “The Conspirator,” and has starred as Jesse St. James on the hit TV series “Glee” — he’s back in New York City this summer to rehearse and star in the world-premiere Off-Broadway play, The Submission, by Jeff Talbott. Walter Bobbie directs MCC Theater’s limited run Sept. 8-Oct. 23.

The Tony Award-nominated actor who created radical teenager Melchior Gabor in Off-Broadway and Broadway’s Spring Awakening now splits his time between Los Angeles and New York City, following his six-month 2010 stint in the London revival of Ira Levin’s Deathtrap. The Submission, a racially-charged work in which he plays a cocky young playwright, represents a return to Off-Broadway following Obie Award-winning appearances in Prayer for My Enemy and The Singing Forest, proving that he’s interested in an eclectic career — stage, TV, films. We got a few minutes with him on his first day of rehearsal for The Submission, in which he appears with Will Rogers, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Rutina Wesley.

Can you tell me a little bit about your character in The Submission?
Jonathan Groff: I play Danny…a playwright who writes a play about the African American community, and writes it under the ghost name of an African American woman. [His play] gets produced — and drama ensues. The play is really intense. It’s really surprising. It deals a lot with race and gender and racism [issues] — I think it’s a conversation-starter, this play.
This role, an undercover playwright, is something different for you, yes? Danny is very unlike recent roles you’ve played — such as Jesse St. James on “Glee” or Melchior in Spring Awakening.
JG: I was so excited to play this role for so many reasons, the first of which, is that this character is really flawed, and, I think, sort of walks a tightrope of making good decisions and bad decisions. The idea of going on that journey and justifying his choices that he makes in his life — good and bad — was really exciting for me, and, as an actor, it’s always great to play someone who is passionate and…complicated. On the first read of the play, I was on his side, [and then] I was not on his side. And throughout the whole course of reading it, I thought, “Wow. That is something that I can really sink my teeth into, really get invested in and get really excited about.”
(more…)

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Check out Jonathan talking about The Submission:

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Here are two recent audio interviews of Jonathan talking about Glee finale and more:

Lea & Jonathan Media: Kiss 98.5 interview
Lea & Jonathan Media: Broadway Radio InterviewTweet

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It’s really just more from the interview linked here on Broadwayworld.com and they ask more questions about Jonathan’s previous work as well as his plans for future projects.

PC: You played a lead role on Ryan Murphy’s pilot, PRETTY/HANDSOME, involving a transsexual, a few years ago. What was the show about?

JG: It was a pilot for FX starring Joe Fiennes. He played a doctor who secretly wanted to have a sex change. In the pilot, you sort of got to know that, and he dressed up as a woman and whatever. It was really, really interesting.

PC: Who did you play?

JG: I played his son, who, you know, was like a senior in high school and had gotten his girlfriend pregnant. It was really… (Laughs.) intense. It was a really good show, though.

PC: What a cast! You, Blythe Danner, Joseph Fiennes…

JG: I know! And Carrie Anne-Moss played his wife and Robert Wagner played his father. It was awesome.

PC: What a shame it didn’t get picked up.

JG: Yeah. Totally.

PC: Have you worked on any other projects that didn’t get picked up or didn’t continue on? You’ve done a lot of work.

JG: Hmm. Let me think. (Pause.) Other than PRETTY/HANDSOME – which was really fun, but never happened, obviously – I have never done another pilot.

PC: What about workshops of musicals?

JG: I have done a bunch of those. A countless number.

PC: What was the most interesting?

JG: Well, I did a really crazy workshop of the sequel to FAME.

PC: What was that about?

JG: David Da Silva, who is the guy that created FAME: THE MUSICAL, he wrote a sequel to FAME called FAME: FOREVER. We did it a couple of years ago. I can’t remember much about it right now. But, I got my Equity card doing FAME at the North Shore Music Theater in Massachusetts and so they asked me to come in, then, to do that. That was one workshop that didn’t happen.

PC: So, from FAME to GLEE – how fascinating! Weird, no?

JG: (Laughs.) Yeah! Totally weird.

Read the full interview here.
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Lea & Jonathan Media: Glee 2×22 “New York” 10 on Top interview
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