This October, Chicagoans are being treated to another pre-Broadway engagement—this time with a musical called Amazing Grace. It tells the story of John Newton, played by Josh Young, who is torn between becoming a slave trader or becoming more compassionate thanks to fellow costar Erin Mackey, who plays his childhood sweetheart. The classic title song "Amazing Grace" is born in the process.
Young originated the role of Che in the first national tour of Evita along with additional national tours of Les Miserables and West Side Story. He received a Tony Award nomination for playing Judas in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar.
Windy City Times met the talented performer for coffee one morning to discover more about this new fall world premiere.
Windy City Times: Hi, Josh. How was it performing in the Broadway in Chicago's preview in the Millennium Park?
Josh Young: It was an awesome thing that every city should do.
WCT: How did you start performing in the first place?
Josh Young: I started performing when I was 12. My parents put me into acting classes to keep me out of trouble. I was a really bad kid.
WCT: This was growing up where?
Josh Young: Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. I guess I always had a flair for the dramatic and getting attention so they thought that acting classes would be a good thing. I always sang as well. I was in a local theater company called Young People's Theatre Workshop, or YPTW for short. I still go back during the summers to teach classes for them. It is a really wonderful program. Some of them will be coming to opening night here, which I am really excited about.
From there I was just performing for fun. I didn't know it was something that I could do as a career. When I turned 17 and had to figure out what to do with my life. I got the sense that other people that I could do it for a living and I enjoy it. That's how I ended up doing it.
WCT: Was Evita your big break?
Josh Young: I guess so because there was a production of Evita in the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 2010. Without that I wouldn't have booked Jesus Christ Superstar, which was also at Stratford and transferred it to Broadway. I am not the typical choice for Judas. Since I had done well for them as Che I think they took a chance on me for Judas.
WCT: How was the experience of being nominated at the Tony Awards?
Josh Young: It should have been the best time in my life, but two weeks prior to the opening night for that I got bronchitis. I had tried to perform through it because I had been nominated and the voters were coming that month. They pushed me to go on and I got sicker and sicker. It was a really rough experience!
WCT: How did Amazing Grace come together for you?
Josh Young: Before I went and did Evita, I was going in for an audition for Rock of Ages. I had ripped jeans on and chains on my pants. My agent told me that before I go in for the audition that these other people want to see me for a new project. So they sent me new material and I had to sight read and sing it. I was so sorry to be dressed like that because obviously it was not right for that musical. It is a period pice. Sometimes that helps the creative team remember you because it is the guy with the ripped jeans in their minds. I got the lead from the first reading of it.
Since then, I have done four readings and have been with it since the beginning. I have done tons of readings in workshops for new musicals but this is the first time I have started with a show from its infancy. We are doing a full huge Broadway production here in Chicago. It has been very exciting for me.
WCT: Tell our readers about the story.
Josh Young: John Newton was bad for everything. Everything he touched turned to shit. That wasn't really his nature. He was a really good child and was a product of his environment. His mother died when he was very young of consumption and his father was always away at sea. As soon as his mother died his father remarried to another woman.
John was left to his own devices. I think because of that he went down a really bad path. He became the captain of slave ships. He was the bottom of the barrel. He called himself in the song a wretch. Through a series of events he found out there was hope for him. It is especially through the love of Mary Catlett, who is played by Erin Mackey in our show. He sees there is a better way and he starts the wind blowing for the emancipation of slavery in Europe and America.
I don't think our society would be what it is today without John Newton. I don't think many Americans know the story of John Newton. I think he should be on the syllabus for high schools because that is how important he is.
Kids may know who Kim Kardashian is dating but they don't know John or the people who ended slave trade are.
WCT: Is this show heavy, like 12 Years a Slave the Musical?
Josh Young: I don't think it's that heavy, although it is the story of the man who began the revolution to end slavery. It is about how a person can change. That is what I hope people get out of it.
WCT: Any gay angle in this musical?
Josh Young: Stanley Bahorek, who plays my close friend in the show, did a show with me in New York called See Rock City together. We played lovers in that show. Now we are playing friends.
WCT: Is Amazing Grace similar to Les Miz in some ways?
Josh Young: In the way that Les Miz is a story of redemption. Jean Valjean stole a loaf of bread for his family and was not really bad. He was imprisoned wrongly I would say.
John Newton was a bad guy. You get to see how he really redeems himself.
Amazing Grace graces our stage at Bank of America Theatre, 18 W. Monroe Oct. 19-Nov. 2. Tickets and showtimes can be found at www.BroadwayInChicago.com .
