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Hit pop-rock musical features evangelical boy band
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SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News

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J11

9/ 1
2005

so

ewish actor Chad Michael plays
a Latino, Juan, in the Detroit
company of Altar Boyz, the hit
spoof musical about a small-town
evangelical boy band on a mission to
save souls.
But Michael advises fellow cast
member Eric Schneider on the fine
points of portraying Abraham, a
Jewish character who joins the band
after he drops by church to drop off a
ghost-written term paper, falls in love
with the band's robes and joins up to
start writing the band's songs. He
accepts his own "fish-out-of-water"
status in a solo, "Everybody Fits."
The theater piece follows the five
small-town boys — the traditionally
named Matthew, Mark and Luke join
Juan and Abraham in the band — as
they end up in New York, facing a
crowd of screaming fans.
Altar Boyz, which recently won the
Outer Critics Circle Award for Best
Musical Off Broadway, runs Sept. 6-
Dec. 18 at the City Theatre, starting
its nationwide tour as its New York
company continues to sell out shows
Off Broadway.
"My character is like Ricky Martin
in a show that is constantly moving
with dancing, singing and acting,"
explains Michael, 21, whose dad
advised him to drop his surname,
Rosenthal, in the interest of having a
simplified stage name. "For the audi-
ence, it will be like going to a concert
and getting a theatrical experience."
Co-conceived by Marc Kessler and
Ken Davenport, the show features the
inventive lighting of Natasha Katz.
Also appearing in the show are
Corey Boardman as Matthew, Zack
Hanna as Mark and Andrew C. Call
as Luke.
"The writers have taken something
that could be very stereotypical and
made it much deeper," says Michael,
who got some performance experience
appearing with his temple's youth
choir before moving on to professional
productions on cruise ships and MTV
shows, such as Our Future Generation.

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"My character is suave, slick and
trendy and a bit of a Latin lover. He
can't stop looking at the women in the
audience. All the characters are differ-
ent, and I think each member of the
audience will connect with at least one
of them.
Michael, who was raised in New
York City and Boca Raton, Fla.,
recently completed filming two new
pilot shows for Sony Pictures. He
studied at a performing arts high
school, moved on to Florida State
University's Musical Theater
Conservatory and trained with
Broadway dancers Ann Reinking and
Gwen Verdon at their Broadway
Theater Project.

))

Chad Michael: "The writers have
taken something that could be very
stereotypical and made it much deepen"

As he makes his first visit to Detroit
on his first national tour, Michael also
can note an appearance in Spike Lee's
new film Inside Man. His stage credits
include regional theater productions of
A Chorus Line, Chicago and Camelot.
"I've always loved to entertain," the
dancer-singer-actor says. "I feel very
fortunate to have gotten this far."

Huntington Woods Connection

Michael, whose first entertainment
interest was dance, is taken with the
music in Altar Boyz, half written by
former Huntington Woods resident
Gary Adler. The composer, currently