Oakland University is chock-full of amazing professors, each bringing a bit of their experiences into the way they teach. For Assistant Professors of Musical Theatre, Jacob Widmar and Danny Gurwin, their experiences as Broadway actors directly give the students of Oakland University unique insight for what to expect when they make their own big break.
Widmar grew up in California, falling in love with show tunes and musicals. Going to Brigham Young University, Widmar studied musical theatre and eventually moved to New York to start auditioning.
“It’s a numbers game and it’s a time game, and I was very fortunate to be at the right place, right time, and that’s what led me to Broadway,” Widmar said. “It was always what I wanted to do ever since I was little, ever since I saw my sister’s high school production of ‘Hello, Dolly!’ in 1984, I was hooked.”
While Widmar grew up in California, Gurwin was raised right here in Southfield, Michigan. After spending 12 years at the University of Arizona, Gurwin and his family are thrilled to be a stone’s throw away from Southfield again.
“I used to see tours come through, and my mom used to take me to the theater when I was little,” Gurwin said. “I remember the first national tour I saw was ‘42nd Street’ and then I saw the national tour of ‘Cats.’ Both of those shows were at the Fisher Theatre and I remember thinking, ‘This is amazing. This is what I want to do.’”
Gurwin thinks fondly about his first Broadway performance as a defining moment in his experience.
“I was lucky enough to book my first play Off Broadway, which led to an off-Broadway musical at Lincoln Center called ‘A New Brain.’ And then after ‘A New Brain’, I booked ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel,’ and that was my Broadway debut. And I was overjoyed. I remember every second of that performance. I remember telling myself, remember every moment of this.”
Going from Broadway actors to professors, the lessons both professors teach are practical for their students, and take reference from their real-life experiences.
“We know what the experience is like,” Gurwin said. “We know what a rehearsal process is like the audition process, and so it’s just a matter of expressing those things and being really honest with the students about how all of that stuff works.”
“It’s also really fun too,” Widmar said. “We have all the professional and practical experience, and I always tell them, because I’m very direct when I teach, I say, ‘I’m not saying this because I did everything right, I’m telling you this because I’ve done everything wrong.’”
Using their experiences to help shape their students, both professors are optimistic for the future of OU’s theatre department.
“I think together, we’re helping shape Oakland’s future and really making it a destination for students around the country,” Gurwin said. “It’s something that we’re very proud of, and we’re hopeful for the future of Oakland’s musical theatre program.”
For more information about OU’s School of Music, Theatre and Dance, visit their OU webpage.
