FEATURE THEATRE INTERVIEW:
Jeremy Kushnier returns to T.O. in Next To Normal
20 JUL/11

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency

TORONTO - Like many of Canada's talented actors, Jeremy Kushnier discovered that, career-wise, all roads seemed to lead to New York. So after stints in Toronto productions of Tommy and Rent, that's precisely where he headed. And in the decade or so intervening, he's discovered that while all roads may indeed lead to the Big Apple, a lot of them run through Toronto.


First, he was back in Aida, followed by a return engagement in the touring production of Jersey Boys — which proved so successful it morphed into a resident production, with Kushnier staying on in the role of the troubled Tommy De Vito. He left Jersey Boys and Toronto two years ago to return to New York with new wife Jenny Lee Stern in time for the birth of their first child. Two daughters later, he's Toronto-bound once more, heading for the Four Seasons Centre where he's double cast as Dr. Madden and Dr. Fine in the touring production of the Tony Award-winning Next to Normal, opening Wednesday under Dancap's imprimatur.


"I've never worked so much in Toronto as I have since I moved to New York," Kushnier concedes with a laugh, somewhere on the road back to Toronto.
It's been a busy two years. Not only is he now proud papa to two daughters ("We're two and done," he confides. "We actually wanted them close together so they would have a friend to turn to"), but Kushnier's been busy professionally as well. He spent last summer, for instance, in Virginia, working on a new production of Chess.


"I played one of the bad boys," he says. "It was a dream come true. I just stopped and thought: 'That's a huge check-off on my bucket list.' " He also found time to return to his hometown Winnipeg to direct Rent for Rainbow Stage and in the process, discovered a new passion in directing.


"That's definitely a direction I want to see myself going in," he admits, adding that in theatre, he's discovered that "My favourite part is the creation process." And then there is Next to Normal — a musical about mental illness that's won a Pulitzer Prize to go along with a brace of Tonys. But Kushnier insists that if it were simply a musical about mental illness, it wouldn't have enjoyed the success it has.

"When our writers started out with this piece," he explains, "It was all about mental illness, and I think when they got (director) Michael Greif on board, they said: "This isn't a piece about mental illness. It's a piece about family,' and that's how it's become widely seen. Whether it is broken or not broken, we all come from some sort of family. We weren't magicked into life. It's not about curing anything. It's about how we get to the end."


Speaking of ends, when the curtain falls on Next to Normal in Toronto, it's also the end of the tour. And while Kushnier has no idea what's next, his first priority will be reuniting with Stern (who's currently playing in Xanadu in Maine) and his daughters. "I'm going straight to Maine and spending a week there with them, then we'll drive to New York," he says.


Work-wise, however, it's anybody's guess. Although he'd love to direct more, he insists he isn't finished with acting. And while he doesn't have much time for his music, he's got a project on the back burner, he says. "I absolutely would love to do TV and film, for sure," he adds. "At this point, I'm considering anything. I've got a lot of mouths to feed right now."


Not that he's complaining. "I have an amazing family and I've had the chance to do amazing things," he reflects. "This business is hard, but no one got into theatre or acting because it was easy." For Kushnier, what's next, it seems, is normal.