Acorn

Issue date: 2/22/08 Section: Arts and Leisure

Media Credit: Photo by Christa Van Eerde and Graphic by Jennifer Richter

To many of his fans, he's Jean-Francois Millet, Freddy Benson, Jamie Wellerstein, Prince Fiyero, the Emcee and Roger Davis. To the rest of the world, he's an accomplished Tony Award-winning actor of stage and screen. But to the 14 students enrolled in this semester's Actor's Lab: Monologues II class, he's just Norbert.

At a Theatre Arts majors' meeting last semester, Drew University students were stunned when Theatre Arts Department Chair Jim Bazewicz formally announced that Broadway star Norbert Leo Butz, of "Rent," "Wicked" and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" fame would be in class to greet them upon their return from winter break.

Butz connected with Drew thanks to his neighbor, Director of the Master of Arts in Teaching Program and Associate Professor of Education Linda Swerdlow. "I told her I do some adjunct teaching and she said Drew would love to have me. She called the department, and two days later I found out there was a class they wanted me to teach," Butz said. "I'm impressed because I told them the first day that I don't really care if they are great actors, I just wanted people to be adventurous and be open to different things and everybody's been really courageous."

"It was really a thing of sheer luck," Bazewicz said. "When I announced it at the majors meeting, they didn't believe it. Then their jaws just hit the floor. That was really a fun moment."

Little did Butz know he would be walking into a Black Box full of some of his most devoted fans.

"I was a big fan," Kristin Ciccone ('08) said. "He's constantly coming on my iPod. I saw him live in 'Wicked' a few years ago and he really blew me away. I've always been a fan of his for his voice, but I think one of the reasons he is so successful in musical theater is the fact that he can put so much emotion into the songs he sings."

"He is such a well-respected member of the Broadway community," Becca Schlossberg ('09) added. "He really is a polished performer, but apart from that he really is an amazing teacher. For many, it's incredibly hard to do both, but…he really knows how to push an actor to get them where their scene needs to be. He creates this wonderful atmosphere of comfort and you come into class just waiting to play."

Butz has taught acting classes at Florida State University, Auburn University and Kean University. "I find it actually keeps me on my toes as an actor. It gets me back to the basics, and if I'm able to communicate to students what I think makes a good scene or a good monologue, it re-reminds me of what my own job is as a working actor," he said. "In a university setting, people are apt to take more risks than they would in a professional environment."

Continued...

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