Post Gazette: "A bottle of champagne welcomed Kyle Beltran to 'In the Heights' and the role originated by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator and star of the Tony-winning musical.
It happened onstage, and it wasn't a gift during the encore.
Mr. Beltran, a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon, plays Usnavi in the company that comes to Pittsburgh Tuesday. The tour started in October in Tampa, and it was on the second night,"
11 comments:
It's the moments when an unforeseen occurrence happens onstage that I really respect actors for their ability to keep calm and shift gears in front of an audience. As a stage manager, it is your job to handle any unexpected issues backstage without losing your cool, and it's a good feeling to know that you have actors onstage who are able to do the same thing. I am glad that Kyle Beltran has the opportunity to be in this show, and I can't wait to see it.
It's so strange reading these articles about people you know. It's really wonderful when our alumni get roles, jobs, and attention like this. Between Hunter and Kyle, last year's class is doing really great, and I'm so excited to see what my class will be up to in a year.
I saw "In the Heights" with the original cast and fell in love with the show. Now, I'm really excited to see it again in Pittsburgh. I'm also looking forward to seeing a CMU grad on the professional stage. It’s cool to see the direct relation between what we learn here at school and how it translates into the professional world. Also the fact that Kyle has gotten to this point so shortly after graduating CMU, shows that this rigorous program is worth all the sleepless nights - and its encouraging to know that.
I think this is phenomenal. With such a difficult climate to be looking for work and hope within our industry, Kyle's success is really a fantastic story for current students to hear. We should all be lucky, or as talented as him. I know I'm not desperately a fan of musical theater, but I am quite interested in seeing the show to see Kyle holding his own on the Benedum stage.
After a long while left the Green Page, the first news I saw is about our alumni (my class) and is a good one. I feel very happy for Kyle who got his opportunity. Yes, Kyle has some qualities as the director said. But, there is one the director might not find out yet. Kyle could play young Obama if there is a script about the past of the President.
I'm always so astonished when actors encounter something completely unexpected onstage and they are able to incorporate it into the show so calmly. I guess that's why some of us work offstage.
I'm seeing this production on Sunday, and I'm very excited for it--not only because I love this show, but also because it will be pretty cool to see someone that you know from CMU productions in a professional production.
Like many who commented on this article, I am amazed and definitely impressed by the abilities of an actor to improv on stage, keeping in character and in the show all the while. I remember reading in some performance book that a mistake on stage is likely to be noticed (especially an exploding champagne bottle). It is better if the actors on stage refer to the incident and move on rather than ignoring what everybody in the house saw happen. Congrats to Kyle on his success and I can't wait to see the show this weekend.
It's great to see grads of of CMU doing well in various venues, and this is yet another example. As others have noted, the improv work that Kyle had to do when that champagne bottle went awry seems pretty impressive, and it's great to hear that his work at CMU seemed to prepare him well for roles out in the real world. Congrats to Kyle for his work, and I hope that the show goes wonderful for him
The moments of unknown make theatre what it is. If we wanted to see something that we know would be the same each time, we would watch a movie. Yes, just as furthering the story through dialogue is an important job of the actor, so to is reacting to the world around them (on-stage). It is the worst when a mistake happens (such as a prop is dropped) and it is ignored by the actors (“just go and pick up the prop”). Not everything happens the way it should in real life, so why should life on stage be different.
On another note, I saw this production in Chicago and had no idea that such recent alum had such a major role until the first words in the show made me recognize Kyle. It is so comforting to know that the economy is not tight enough that newcomers to the business are welcomed.
I was really happy to hear that Kyle was on this production. I grew up in Washington Heights, so it's really a wonderful surprise to have a CMU Alumnus play the main role. I do agree that sometimes things happen onstage, in any live performance situation, that you have to be prepared to react to. It's not often that things like this happen, but when they do they can be really great or catastrophic. When there are a lot of things involved in a show, it's important to be able to rely on management and the cast to react appropriately so that everyone is safe and things go on as they should.
I have heard that some of my senior classmates will be taking a master class from him when he gets into town. Since he is friends with most of the senior MT class, I wonder what kind of experience this will be for everyone. I can imagine that both parties might feel a little odd, but I would be interested in how the way he carries himself would change when acting as a teacher vs. facebook friends. Congrats to him!
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