#53 - Ben Fankhauser: It Always Works Out

What’s it like to open the first new musical post Broadway shut
down? Ben Fankhauser and Alex Wyse have come together to create A
Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet, a new musical playing
Off-Broadway at the DR2 Theatre in NYC.  “The amount of time
that you have is the correct amount of time,” Fankhauser says.
“That idea that like, ‘Ugh -- if I only had another week’ it’s like
that took me a long amount of time to grow out of that idea because
you have exactly the amount of time that you need.” This is the
mentality that helped Frankhauser and Wyse open up a new, in
person, musical Off Broadway. In this episode, we go on the journey
of Ben discovering his multi-hyphenate identity, and like so many
of us -- we are all multi-hyphenates… we may just call it something
different.  “It took me a while to realize what I was all
about, however looking back I think I was always a multi-hyphenate.
I was always a musician, an actor, a wannabe writer, a storyteller,
a producer. But I never really had considered… it was more an
innate knowledge of the kind of things I want to do with my life.
Frankly, it wasn’t until I heard of your program years ago when I
was like, “Oh that’s a genius name for it.” There’s a crossover --
for me the crossover always existed, it just hadn’t really
registered that it was a thing or that you could be a person who
didn’t crossover. To me, we all crossover whether you want to or
not.”  Waiting is the most exhausting part of being an actor
-- and after a phone call between Wyse and Fankhauser, they decided
they don’t need to wait for permission. They didn’t know what their
journey would be but they went on it. Finding success in this
industry is attributed to what makes one happy -- so how does one
find happiness? It’s about sharing a specific story. Everyone has
one and there’s room for everybody.  “We are the first new,
original musical that is opening up post pandemic. A lot of the
things we’re seeing open have been open pre-pandemic. We are a
brand spankin’ new original musical and it is the best feeling to
offer up something that no one has ever seen before. It’s not based
on anything. It’s our creative brainchild and we hope it gives
people the chance to come in and laugh and experience some joy and
experience some music they’ve never heard before and all those
things that we go to the theatre for -- we go to see musicals for
-- it just feels a little sparklier and more special.”  In
this episode Ben and Michael discuss comparing themselves in their
journey, what makes someone write a new musical, building the ideal
version of one’s career, tips to staying healthy while working on a
musical during the pandemic, how to successfully multitask or
switch between hyphens when writing and starring in a new musical,
and the flexibility with change.  The hysterical and zany A
Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet is running from September 27th
through November 14th at DR2 Theater in Union Square, New York
City. For tickets, visit www.reginacomet.com Ben Fankhauser is best
known for playing Davey in Newsies (Original Broadway Cast &
Movie). Other New York: Mack & Mabel (Encores!), Saturday Night
and Bar-mitzvah Boy (York Theatre). First national tours:
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, and Spring Awakening.
Regionally Ben has been seen in Flamingo Kid (Hartford Stage),
American In Paris (MTW) Big River (Sacramento Music Circus), I Hate
Hamlet (Bucks County Playhouse) Next To Normal (North Carolina
Theatre), Television: The Deuce, Indoor Boys, Tony Awards. Ben is a
frequent guest performer at many cabaret venues in New York City
including Feinsteins/54 Below where his solo concert Ben’s Fank’d
Up Broadway had a sold out run. Hear more on Spotify/Itunes/Youtube
BFA: Ithaca College. Cleveland Native. Learn more about your ad
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