Broadway newcomer Nolan Gerard Funk imbues the role of Conrad Birdie with a lot more than just swivels and snarls.

From the feature pages of teen mags like Tiger Beat, Popstar, and Astro Girl to the Broadway stage: it’s not a typical career path. But Nolan Funk isn’t a typical young leading man. Only 22 years old, Funk makes his Broadway debut this fall as Conrad Birdie in the Roundabout’s revival of Bye Bye Birdie, directed and choreographed by Robert Longbottom, at the freshly restored Henry Miller’s Theatre. Funk arrives with little theatre training but a wealth of television experience. Most notably, he starred as rebellious Nikko Alexander in Spectacular!, Nickelodeon’s recent TV movie in the High School Musical mold. Spectacular!, in fact, inspired considerable speculation on Funk’s being “the next Zac Efron.” The Canadian-born performer is amused by such industry hype and, as he revealed in a phone interview with Front & Center prior to rehearsals, too busy coming up with a flesh-and-blood Birdie to be seriously distracted by it.

FRONT & CENTER: You’re a lucky young man: You get to
make your Broadway debut in Bye Bye Birdie, a show everybody likes, playing a part that should be a lot of fun. What is your take so far on the character of Birdie?

NOLAN FUNK: He’s someone who has been given a gift, and he’s come from somewhat of a shady past. But through talent and appeal, he’s been able to surpass the circumstances he was born into and now he’s become this great star. Obviously there’s a lot of humor to it, but I want him to be a real human being. Also, the challenge is that you want to retain his likeability. The role really teeters on the brink of unlikeability, and it’s a hard balance to play.

You want audiences to see where he came from… which is not something I think of when I think of past interpretations of Birdie.

Definitely not. I don’t want to lose the element of fun or get too heavy about it, but I want him to be a whole person. Like some of the rockabilly artists this role was inspired by, I think, Birdie initially started out his career with the attitude: “Well, I don’t have that much to lose, because I don’t have that much anyway.” It’s even referenced in the play—they found him in reform school. Then, Rosie calls him a car thief. That’s why he was able to swivel his hips more than the other guys on television and maybe scream a little harder. He has no social etiquette. So there is a kind of freedom to playing him. It’s certainly relatable to me in terms of my life, being highly unaware of certain social practices.

You mean, you share some of that?

Yes, definitely. I took this role not knowing the musical. I just read the script like I was auditioning for anything else. And I based my own interpretation of who he was on that.

I thought everybody knew this show, or at least did it in high school. Did you look at the movie, or do any research on it?

I did a lot of research on the period. I watched some parts of the movie and some clips, but I saw what the original guy had done and it didn’t feel like what I wanted to do with it. I just had a different take.

There’s this brief video interview with director Robert (Bobby) Longbottom and he says something like, “We’re reexamining this role for a new generation.” What do you suppose he means by that?

What he means is, for one, that in the original cast of the Broadway production as well as in the movie, the actor playing Birdie was a lot older than me—I’m 22. One thing I love about Bobby’s approach is that everything with him musically comes from an acting standpoint. I can’t tell you how creatively fulfilling and gratifying it’s already been.

So you’ve discussed your conception of the role?

Yes, we’ve had some conversations. I do know that there is sincerity to the way I want to play Birdie. Even though there’s part of him that’s really pissed off, there is still that love of music. When Birdie gets up there and sings, it’s coming from his gut. Every molecule in his body has got to be in it. For him to appeal to the audience as he does, it’s got to be more than just having a catchy song and being attractive. I want to make “Honestly Sincere” have so much pent-up feeling that we can understand why it would have been the No. 1 song in America for six months. I want to play Birdie with a much more raw quality than has been done before.

In previous productions, the joke of “Honestly Sincere” was that he isn’t sincere. But you’re saying you do have to see how committed he is to performing.

It’s totally a different take on it. I know that the way I’m choosing to take on this role is risky. But I’m all about taking on a challenge. It’s maybe because I read the script the way that I did, not bringing any preconceptions to it. I can only speak as the type of artist I am, but personally, I keep coming back to: This is a living, breathing, emotional human being. The only way to do that is exploring Birdie’s backstory, so that I’m not out there saying empty lines.

   I want to know everything about him. I don’t know what kind of choices ultimately will be made and what they’re going to let me get away with, but there are really some key things that he says. Obviously he is someone who is singing about sizzling steaks and shiny Cadillacs, things that he didn’t really know, and now he’s gotten to a place where he can afford them, He’s been so busy and wrapped up in touring and the life of being a star that he’s trying to escape and finally enjoy those things. Birdie’s not really being given an opportunity to do that. Ultimately, I think Birdie is a mask, but he’s a talented mask.

You’ve got a background in gymnastics—do you get to use any of that in the part?

You know, we talked about it, and in Spectacular! I did a flip and things like that. But I’m kind of steering away from that, because I don’t think it makes sense for him.

I saw some YouTube and other internet clips from Spectacular!
or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et1RPvirXPc> and was impressed by your dancing ability. Where did you learn to dance?

My father actually dances the tango, and I grew up always loving to dance. But doing a movie like Spectacular! was an education. I don’t have a lot of formal dance training.

   Again, it’s the character—I don’t want Birdie to move like he’s been on Broadway all his life. He has this innate feeling, this spark inside of him that gets him to move. I don’t want him to seem slick and sleazy. I don’t want him to feel polished. I want him to seem raw and genuine and greatly flawed.

I’m impressed with all the backstory you’re mining. I look at your resume and, without putting too fine a point on it, you have not had a whole lot of stage experience. How do you feel about being on Broadway eight times a week with a bunch of people who have?

I’ve been on a mission to do a Broadway show. I want to do something live. As grateful as I am to have played as many roles as I have in film and television, I’ve been coming to New York for a while and trying to get on Broadway. My only job is to get the character, but it’s exciting—it’s something I love. Since I was a kid, I remember thinking, “I really want to do this.” I grew up in Canada, but Les Miserables came to town, Phantom of the Opera, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. One of the first things I ever watched on television, if not the first thing, was a video recording we had of Into the Woods with Bernadette Peters. And I loved mythology and fairy tales growing up.

   I love going into something that I’m not an expert in. My only job is to get the character, but it’s definitely exciting—obviously it’s something I love.

Well, you don’t sound intimidated.

Should I be? You know, I understand that there’s a Broadway community, an audience that will be looking at me with a more critical eye than most performers have to deal with. I’m very aware that I’m coming from Nickelodeon. They may not realize that I’ve done a lot of other work. Maybe they’re going to see me as this Nickelodeon kid who got the role because the producers thought some teenage girls will want to come and see him. That’s Birdie’s audience. But it’s a limited run, it’s the Roundabout Theatre Company, one of the most prolific theatre companies with one of the highest subscription rates, and they don’t need me to sell tickets. But you know what? If I’m Birdie, and if they think I’m white trash—well, so what? That wouldn’t stop him!

In some of the press stuff I’ve seen on you, they’re always calling you “the next Zac Efron.” Is that flattering or annoying or both?

It really doesn’t bother me at all. Obviously I’m my own type of artist, and I’m quite particular and independent in my thinking, and I’m not trying to brand myself as Zac per se. But it’s fun. Why wouldn’t I want to be compared to such a popular actor? I was not the popular kid in high school, so if you want to compare me to the popular people, go ahead.


Marc Miller is a copy chief at Business Week and writes frequently about the theatre.

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