Nick Jonas Flexed His Broadway Roots with a Passionate Les Miz Rendition 14 Years Ago
The former The Voice Coach has long had a passion for the stage.
Fourteen years ago, long before his stint as a Coach on The Voice, Nick Jonas starred in a special 25th anniversary West End production of Les Misérables in London. There, at the age of 17, Jonas tackled the challenging role of Marius, the romantic lead. Read all about it, below.
Nick Jonas as Marius in Les Misérables
The role came as a full circle moment for Jonas. Showing musical talent from a young age, one of Jonas' first roles was playing Gavroche in the original Broadway production of Les Miz at the age of 11. And according to The New York Times, the producer was so impressed by young Jonas' potential, that he told him he believed he would go on to play Marius one day.
“At the time I remember thinking that I hoped Les Miz would still be around by the time I was old enough for the role, which is kind of funny, because I now realize Les Miz will probably play forever,” Jonas told the outlet. “Broadway was where I first started finding my voice as an artist and finding my feet as an actor, and the idea of returning to Les Miz was about trying to develop more as an actor.”
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He also spoke about how he had to change his creative approach portraying the serious character.
“Most of the acting I’ve done so far has been comedy with my brothers on the Disney show, so I’ve really tried to focus on getting the shadings and tone right for each scene, and to hopefully show all that Marius feels in ‘Empty Chairs,’” he said.
Then, he discussed how he connects to Marius emotionally at such a young age. “I don’t know if I’ve had love at first sight like Marius has if you think of his experience as 100 percent, I’ve probably had 50 percent of that. The instant love, whole world stops thing, I don’t know that I’ve ever really had that moment, so I try to imagine what it would be, and I think my youthfulness might help in that. I think I’m pretty wide-eyed up there,” he said.
Overall, the experience was highly positive for Jonas. “If the right role comes along, I’d certainly return to doing a musical or even a play. I’m 17. I feel like I have a lot of music in me, and now I remember how much fun it is to tap into that music while being in a show.”
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