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Broadway Buzz | Broadway.com: Current Role: Jauntily navigating the dual puppeteering roles of wide-eyed college grad Princeton and uptight and closeted Rod in the off-Broadway transfer of the Tony-winning musical Avenue Q.
I relate to Darren Bluestone in a number of ways. At first, I also had academically minded parents who wanted me to pursue a more secure career in college: law. However, my passion for theatre was too strong to pursue something my heart did not want. It is great to know that Carnegie Mellon prepared Bluestone for the world that I will be entering in less than five years. He's employed, he's prepared, and most of all, he seems happy.
This is a good story to learn from in two ways. One following you heart, Darren did what he wanted when it came to school and not what his parents thought best. This is not saying a child should not listen to his parents but it does say that you should follow your dreams and not the plans someone else may have for you. The second lesson here is networking, Darren was putting himself out there and made a new connection. The downside was he lost touch with his connection but years later his connection remembered him and that helped him with his career.
Yay Darren! It's so nice to see alums I knew (he was a senior when we were freshmen) make it. It makes our chances of success seem more real to me when it's my friends making it and proving what they can do. My sophomore year I lived with two seniors, and one of them is now in the art department on Glee. And both in his and Darren's case, it's clear that networking and putting yourself out there does make a huge difference. yes, the Carnegie Mellon name helps a lot, but it's also up to you to pursue what you want, so you can celebrate when you get there!
I had the privilege of seeing Darren in "Avenue Q" while I was in New York City for Showcase in March. He was also a "Big Brother" to one of our graduating seniors, and it was great to see him be able to pay it forward and share his experience and advice with a student who was about to go through the big transition that he describes in this article. The story about the YouTube video is pretty crazy...apparently it was fate for Darren to make his big break in NYC in this show. I'm sure it's better that things played out this way, but I wonder what would have happened if Darren hadn't lost contact with Jeff Marx after a few years. The whole thing just goes to show that you should be mindful of what you post on YouTube. The site can be a networking tool that can get you noticed, but it can also work against you if you're not careful about what you post, or what gets posted of you.
This is a great story! (And it's true which makes it even more exciting!) I always love to hear when people choose to follow their heart and do what they are passionate about! Going into the arts is definitely a hard decision to make. It's so relatable, do you choose the career where you are guaranteed a job or the career you love that can lead to a much harder lifestyle. I always find it admirable to choose the latter. I never like it when people say 'I wanted to do art, but my parents want me to do pre-med so here I am' because I don't think parents should decide their children's fate. I understand that listening to our parents is important and obeying their wishes is important but why can't we obey them and still do what we love? Or just do what we want... that works too! There are even studies showing how art helps in the medical world! There are so many ways we can incorporate what we love with a stable job choice!
Anyway, I'm going off topic. It's great to hear about Darren Bluestone because it also shows how important networking is and how starting early is extremely important!
Everyone should follow their dreams because when we do, we tend to be happier. And being happy feels amazing.
It's always great to read success stories. I love his Youtube story -- how crazy is that? What goes around comes around and sometimes things are definitely meant to be. We have so much access these days to getting our work out there and noticed. It's more difficult just in the sheer volume of people on Youtube, online, on whatever other cites you are using to showcase yourself. It's a little daunting. But every now and then something gets noticed and something amazing happens. I love it! We definitely have to remember that we live in a digital world and that everything put on the internet stays on the internet. Make sure what you post is something you don't mind being seen by EVERYONE! (as Shannon also mentioned earlier). I know I'm preaching to the choir. Anyway I love the positivity and I really do think if you try hard, go out there with positive energy, something good will come your way, even if it sometimes takes a while!
I think it's pretty wonderful that we can hear stories like this from people we go/ could have gone/ went to the same school as us. Stories like this are always so reassuring because big broadway dreams don't come true for everyone... but they seem to come true for a lot of CMU students... Like many people have pointed out it's really incredible that his start was a video he posted on youtube when he was in high school. I think it's really amazing how much we can accomplish by posting a video like that. I guess you never know who might see it.
I really like reading about CMU students who show us the kinds of things that we can one day do. This article was really cool to me because I saw this show years ago when it was still on broadway, which was two years before I even considered going to a school for theatre. It's really funny when I find out that a person who I saw and turns out to be a CMU student, it really makes me feel like I made the right choice in schools. Also, I found the fact that Bluestone's parents wanted him to be a doctor because both of my parents are doctors and my two older siblings are pre-med, and here I am in theatre school. Bluestone definitely made the right choice though.
I always find it fun to read interview articles like these. In some ways I find them humorous because they talk about how as a child they always dreamed of being on Broadway, and are now living the dream. However, then I start to think about how it must feel to actually be living the dream. Could there be a better feeling than doing exactly what you wanted to do with your life? In the end, I am proud because they have followed their dream, and have become and inspiration for future performers.
9 comments:
I relate to Darren Bluestone in a number of ways. At first, I also had academically minded parents who wanted me to pursue a more secure career in college: law. However, my passion for theatre was too strong to pursue something my heart did not want. It is great to know that Carnegie Mellon prepared Bluestone for the world that I will be entering in less than five years. He's employed, he's prepared, and most of all, he seems happy.
This is a good story to learn from in two ways. One following you heart, Darren did what he wanted when it came to school and not what his parents thought best. This is not saying a child should not listen to his parents but it does say that you should follow your dreams and not the plans someone else may have for you. The second lesson here is networking, Darren was putting himself out there and made a new connection. The downside was he lost touch with his connection but years later his connection remembered him and that helped him with his career.
Yay Darren! It's so nice to see alums I knew (he was a senior when we were freshmen) make it. It makes our chances of success seem more real to me when it's my friends making it and proving what they can do. My sophomore year I lived with two seniors, and one of them is now in the art department on Glee. And both in his and Darren's case, it's clear that networking and putting yourself out there does make a huge difference. yes, the Carnegie Mellon name helps a lot, but it's also up to you to pursue what you want, so you can celebrate when you get there!
I had the privilege of seeing Darren in "Avenue Q" while I was in New York City for Showcase in March. He was also a "Big Brother" to one of our graduating seniors, and it was great to see him be able to pay it forward and share his experience and advice with a student who was about to go through the big transition that he describes in this article. The story about the YouTube video is pretty crazy...apparently it was fate for Darren to make his big break in NYC in this show. I'm sure it's better that things played out this way, but I wonder what would have happened if Darren hadn't lost contact with Jeff Marx after a few years. The whole thing just goes to show that you should be mindful of what you post on YouTube. The site can be a networking tool that can get you noticed, but it can also work against you if you're not careful about what you post, or what gets posted of you.
This is a great story! (And it's true which makes it even more exciting!) I always love to hear when people choose to follow their heart and do what they are passionate about! Going into the arts is definitely a hard decision to make. It's so relatable, do you choose the career where you are guaranteed a job or the career you love that can lead to a much harder lifestyle. I always find it admirable to choose the latter. I never like it when people say 'I wanted to do art, but my parents want me to do pre-med so here I am' because I don't think parents should decide their children's fate. I understand that listening to our parents is important and obeying their wishes is important but why can't we obey them and still do what we love? Or just do what we want... that works too! There are even studies showing how art helps in the medical world! There are so many ways we can incorporate what we love with a stable job choice!
Anyway, I'm going off topic. It's great to hear about Darren Bluestone because it also shows how important networking is and how starting early is extremely important!
Everyone should follow their dreams because when we do, we tend to be happier. And being happy feels amazing.
It's always great to read success stories. I love his Youtube story -- how crazy is that? What goes around comes around and sometimes things are definitely meant to be. We have so much access these days to getting our work out there and noticed. It's more difficult just in the sheer volume of people on Youtube, online, on whatever other cites you are using to showcase yourself. It's a little daunting. But every now and then something gets noticed and something amazing happens. I love it! We definitely have to remember that we live in a digital world and that everything put on the internet stays on the internet. Make sure what you post is something you don't mind being seen by EVERYONE! (as Shannon also mentioned earlier). I know I'm preaching to the choir. Anyway I love the positivity and I really do think if you try hard, go out there with positive energy, something good will come your way, even if it sometimes takes a while!
I think it's pretty wonderful that we can hear stories like this from people we go/ could have gone/ went to the same school as us. Stories like this are always so reassuring because big broadway dreams don't come true for everyone... but they seem to come true for a lot of CMU students...
Like many people have pointed out it's really incredible that his start was a video he posted on youtube when he was in high school. I think it's really amazing how much we can accomplish by posting a video like that. I guess you never know who might see it.
I really like reading about CMU students who show us the kinds of things that we can one day do. This article was really cool to me because I saw this show years ago when it was still on broadway, which was two years before I even considered going to a school for theatre. It's really funny when I find out that a person who I saw and turns out to be a CMU student, it really makes me feel like I made the right choice in schools. Also, I found the fact that Bluestone's parents wanted him to be a doctor because both of my parents are doctors and my two older siblings are pre-med, and here I am in theatre school. Bluestone definitely made the right choice though.
I always find it fun to read interview articles like these. In some ways I find them humorous because they talk about how as a child they always dreamed of being on Broadway, and are now living the dream. However, then I start to think about how it must feel to actually be living the dream. Could there be a better feeling than doing exactly what you wanted to do with your life? In the end, I am proud because they have followed their dream, and have become and inspiration for future performers.
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