NEW YORK — On May 6, Jesse Johnson reached the pinnacle of his profession: The Littleton native made his Broadway debut at the tender age of 22 in a little musical about four high-school friends reuniting after a year of college.
It was called “Glory Days” — though theater snarks are now referring to it as “Glory Day.”
Little did Johnson know that his opening night would also be his closing night.
His mother certainly didn’t know. Dawn Johnson was feeling ill, so she delayed her flight from Denver by a day, comforted that her family would be celebrating Mother’s Day weekend together in New York, taking in Jesse’s show several times.
His father certainly didn’t know. Tom Johnson chose to wait out the opening performance back at Jesse’s Bronx apartment, just so that he and his wife could see their son perform on Broadway for the first time together.
Neither would get a second chance.
Broadway isn’t scattered with broken dreams; it’s littered with their carcasses. Johnson’s cautionary tale is a lesson in the vagaries of the profession — one several young Colorado actors have learned of late.
Highlands Ranch native Mara Davi, Johnson’s childhood friend, had the starring role in “The Drowsy Chaperone” last fall. Then came a stagehands strike. When the shows returned, “Chaperone” did not.
Wheat Ridge native Annaleigh Ashford was playing Glinda in Broadway’s “Wicked” until last month, when she was traded to the Chicago company — then told the show there would be shuttering in six months.
But “Glory Days” is something else entirely. Plenty of shows never even make it out of their preview periods to opening night. They may be the lucky ones. Those that open and close on the same night land a special spot in Broadway lore among the ranks of the spectacular flops. It hadn’t happened to a musical in a quarter-century.
This might be a sad story had Johnson indulged in the inalienable right of the young to wallow in self-pity. But less than a week later, he was cheerfully zipping up Eighth Avenue on his Sector 9 skateboard between auditions for “Spring Awakening” and a Lifetime TV movie.
What (else) are you gonna do?
“It was heartbreaking, because we came here trying to revolutionize musical theater,” Johnson said at a midtown Starbucks while R.E.M’s “Everybody Hurts” played, as if on cue. “But none of us ever even expected to get to Broadway. That I was able to have this experience at all was like, once in a lifetime.”
The brutal reality is, he might be exactly right.
A shining opportunity
On his 22nd birthday, Johnson learned “Glory Days” would play on Broadway — and that it would open on brother Josiah’s 20th birthday. The stars seemed aligned. But ominous clouds quickly gathered.
Johnson has been performing since he joined the Younger Generation Players at age 3. He acted steadily as a teen with the Walden Family Playhouse and Country Dinner Playhouse until graduating in 2004 from the Denver School of the Arts. “He’s basically been supporting himself since he was 8,” mother Dawn said.
Taking a tip from a casting director, Johnson moved to the Big Apple the day he turned 18, quickly landing roles in touring productions of “Grease” and “Altar Boyz.”
“Altar Boyz” castmate Nick Blaemire, just 23, had co-written “Glory Days” in college, and recommended Johnson for the role of the kid who comes out to his pals as gay.
It was a landmark role for Johnson, by far the most substantive of his career. “I was able to bring everything I’ve ever wanted to bring to Broadway,” he said. “I got to play this normal kid who went down this path and discovered something different about himself.”
After receiving positive reviews in its initial staging in Virginia in December, “Glory Days” was fast-tracked for Broadway.
Johnson would say too fast. The opening was rushed so the show would qualify for Tony Awards consideration. The cast had only four rehearsals before preview performances began. There would be only 17 of those, and they played to just 22 percent of capacity. With no stars and no title recognition, the show had no momentum. It was an open — and then shut — case.
Fortunately, Johnson’s mother had steeled him to take a stage punch.
“If you’re in theater, you might do five auditions a week,” she said. “For us, that’s like having five interviews and never getting a job. How many people can handle that kind of rejection?
“But that’s the business, you know? If you’re not tough and you can’t take it, you need to get out.”
Blue skies turn gray
Opening night didn’t start with such harsh life lessons on the horizon. Jesse spent the day with Josiah, playing with the tiny Shih Tzu dog his parents had bought him as an opening-night gift. Josiah presented Jesse with a vinyl LP from his new favorite movie, “Once.”
Then a blur of texts from his mom in Denver and his dad, who was flying in that day from Phoenix after marking his own father’s 80th birthday there. Their message: “You might run this show forever, but enjoy tonight: This is the only first opening night of a Broadway show you’ll ever get.”
But the day was almost too hectic to enjoy — a fancy new silver suit from Bloomingdale’s, photo calls, interviews, directives from his agent. But having Josiah along was a bonus.
“The whole night, he was like, ‘Don’t tell anyone it’s my birthday. I don’t want tonight to be about me,’ ” Jesse said.
After the performance, seen by a celebrity-strewn crowd including Bernadette Peters, Kathie Lee Gifford and Denver’s Martin Moran, it was off to a red-carpet party at a trendy club called Moda, where the cast was mobbed by well-wishers.
There was widespread relief when the feared review from The New York Times arrived. Ben Brantley called the show fresh — and seriously stale at the same time. “It wasn’t what we wanted, but it wasn’t awful,” Johnson said.
Turns out, that was as nice as it would get. “Price of ‘Glory’: 1.5 Hours Lost,” screamed the New York Post. Variety called it “larva.” Time Out New York excoriated producers for “ripping the show from the womb of development.”
Johnson was oblivious to it all. He spent the next day enjoying New York with his dad. Then came the call summoning him for an emergency meeting. His father called his mother: “Better say a prayer,” he told her. “It doesn’t seem like this is a good thing.”
Jesse says a producer bluntly told them, “Well, we’re closing. Your opening night was your last night. Get your stuff.”
The greatest night of his stage life had given way to a public humiliation. But he had immediate support from his parents and friends like Davi.
“Jesse and I talked about the positive side of what happened,” Davi said. “He made his Broadway debut and originated a role at the same time — nothing bad there. And the cast didn’t get targeted in the reviews, so he comes out unscathed.”
You might think the downturn of events would have ruined Mother’s Day for the Johnsons. Not so, Dawn says. “No, because my Mother’s Day didn’t depend on Jesse being on Broadway,” she said. “It depended on my family being together. The show was just a bonus.”
Johnson was most upset because he didn’t get to share his Broadway experience with his parents, “because the only reason I am even here is because of their love and support,” he said. “I just really wanted them to see me in this role because it was the first time they would ever get to see me being honest onstage. I was able to be myself.
“But I made it a lot sooner than I ever thought I would, or than people told me I ever would. I got a taste, and I know that with the right attitude, and being at the right place at the right time, I will have this chance again . . . hopefully.”
Denver native John Carroll Lynch, a veteran of stage and nearly 100 films, said there’s reason for Johnson to be encouraged.
“If you’ve gotten the lead of a Broadway musical once, the chances of you getting another one are exponentially raised,” Lynch said. “The hardest one to get is that first lead — and he’s done that.”
If that happens or not, Johnson won’t waste a second licking his wounds.
“Whether I ever get another chance or not, I still made it,” he said. “I still had my dream happen. And nobody can take that away.
“Now it’s, like, ‘What’s next?’ ”
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
The veterans’ advice: “Look forward”
Broadway and film veterans offer advice to Littleton’s Jesse Johnson, 22, after his “Glory Days” closed on Broadway after one performance:
Christine Ebersole
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“I think it’s like an initiation rite. If you walk through the fires of something like that, and you still have the perseverance and you still have the belief in what you are doing, then you are going to survive it.” — Broadway vet Christine Ebersole, “Grey Gardens”
John Carroll Lynch
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“I would tell Jesse something that’s true about acting, and it’s both a good thing and a bad thing. The good news is, in acting, there is always another job. The bad news, in acting, there is always another job. No matter how much you love a job, it’s going to be over. And no matter how much you hate a job, it’s going to be over, too.” — John Carroll Lynch, Regis High School, “Zodiac”
Mara Davi
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“It’s such a bummer that he’s out of work, but this is only the beginning for Jesse. God is in control, and we both know he’ll be on to the next thing very soon.” — Highlands Ranch native Mara Davi, childhood friend and star of “The Drowsy Chaperone”
Andy Kelso
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“I loved working with that kid, and when I heard he was going to be doing ‘Glory Days,’ I was so blown away. In some ways, I think this might fuel him even more. He’s 22 and he’s got a Broadway credit on his resume — he’s going to be OK. And if he doesn’t know that, he should, because he’s good people.” — Andy Kelso, Sky in Broadway’s “Mamma Mia” and Johnson’s former castmate at Denver’s Walden Family Playhouse
Rachel deBenedet
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“Jesse, my heart is breaking for you. I understand that incredible pain. It’s so condescending for me to say this, but you’re so young. There is so much ahead of you. And you are so obviously so talented if you got this far, this fast.” — Rachel deBenedet, University of Northern Colorado, “Nine,” “Adrift in Macao”
Drama League Awards
Podcast and slide show from the annual Drama League Awards, with guests including Chazz Palminteri, Sierra Boggess, Kerry Butler, Christine Ebersol, Deanna Dunagan, Tobias Segal and Chad Goodridge. Photos by John Moore. and
Coloradans in New York
Podcast and slideshow: John Moore talks with to Colorado actors in New York, including Andy Kelso, John Carroll Lynch, Rachel deBenedet, Mike Hartman (with pal Rondi Reed); Peggy Pharr-Wilson, Patrick Ryan Sullivan, Liz Stanton, Shayna Ferm, Gary Culig, Richard Thieriot and Emily Van Fleet.
