arts&life

theater

Rent

A Metro Detroit-bred actor

brings an iconic role home.

ERIN BEN-MOCHE SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

I

n 1996, Jonathan Larson created Rent,
one of the most iconic and critically
acclaimed rock musicals of all time.
Based on Puccini’s La Boheme, Rent was
produced by Oak Park native Jeffrey Seller
(who most recently swept last summer’s
Tonys as the producer of Hamilton). The
story follows the lives of a group of impov-
erished young artists struggling to survive
New York City during the 1980s under the
HIV/AIDS epidemic. Larson, 35, died of an
aortic aneurism the night before the Off-
Broadway premiere.
The show went on to receive a Pulitzer
Prize and won the Tony Award for Best
Musical. After a 12-year run, the show
closed in 2008 but remains a musical the-
ater classic, called the Hair of the ’90s.
Twenty years later, Rent: The 20th
Anniversary tour is preaching the same
themes of love, friendship and acceptance
all around the world. And this tour has
its own connection to the Metro Detroit
Jewish community: The actor starring
in the lead role of Mark Cohen is played
by West Bloomfield native Danny Harris
Kornfeld.
Kornfeld also happened to be a student
at West Bloomfield High School when this
writer was in middle school. When I got to

TOP: Danny Harris
Kornfeld.
INSET: Caleb Wells
(right) and Kornfeld
in Rent.

high school, where his mom, Pam, was pro-
ducer of our school plays, Kornfeld would
stop by to see his mom and talk to us. Even
then, he was a rock star to me and my the-
ater friends.
Kornfeld, 25, started performing at JCC
summer camps and was active at Temple
Shir Shalom. Since then, he has originated
the role of Mutto in Wringler, performed in
multiple shows in New York and is now trav-
eling on his first tour. Kornfeld took a break
to chat with the JN about his newest role.

Jewish News: This has been a whirlwind
experience for you. How have you been
taking it in?
Danny Harris Kornfeld: It’s been surreal.
Rent was the first show I’d ever seen on
Broadway and the first soundtrack I ever
memorized. I never thought I’d be the
next Mark. Getting to play this part during
this time was truly a dream come true.

JN: What were you doing when you found
out you would be cast in Rent?
DHK: [laughs] I was in my final audi-
tion that day. I think it was my seventh
time going in for it. I was seeing Bright
Star [Tony Award win for Best Musical in
2016] that night and checked my phone at
intermission and saw that someone from
the casting director’s office called me. I
called him back, in the 10 minutes I had
for intermission time, and he told me I got
the part. I don’t remember what happened
the entire second act of the show because
I was containing my excitement. After
the show let out, I called my parents and I
called my sister. It was all so exciting.

JN: How did your theater career start? Do
you remember your first role?
DHK: I remember seeing Peter Pan with
my cousins in Pennsylvania. Seeing him
fly sparked my interest — I always wanted
to do that. I was the baby bird in the Beth
Hayeled [Congregation Shaarey Zedek’s
former preschool] production of Are You
My Mother? I did classes with the JCC and
its summer theater camps and continued
theater throughout middle and high school,
then Syracuse University. Syracuse was nice
because the last semester we lived in New
York City so the transition wasn’t hard.

JN: Was there a defining moment for you
that made you want to pursue acting?
DHK: I remember one of the most exciting
times of getting a part. In fifth grade, West
Bloomfield High School did Ragtime. When
I got the part of Edgar, it was the first time
I felt I achieved something that was out of
range for me. Knowing I got it propelled me
to make a career out of it.

JN: Who inspired you in the theater
world, professionally or academically?

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March 9 • 2017

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