Show People with Paul Wontorek: Matt Bomer of THE BOYS IN THE BAND

Get Tickets to THE BOYS IN THE BAND: www.broadway.com/shows/boys-b...
Screen star Matt Bomer discusses making his Broadway debut in THE BOYS IN THE BAND, his directorial debut and what the first workshop for SPRING AWAKENING was like.
Here are some of the must-read highlights:
ON DIRECTING DARREN CRISS IN VERSACE
“Ryan Murphy turned to me one day with my dog-eared, well-worn script and was like, ‘You should be a director.’ Then he called and offered me the opportunity on VERSACE. It was just a really profound gift. I’ve never met an actor I didn’t like-even the prickly ones I love. It was a great opportunity to work with people like Darren Criss and Edgar Ramirez and all this great theater talent. Thank God you have someone like Ryan who is willing to look at someone like Jon Jon Briones and see the talent in him and give him a huge opportunity. It was a great, great first directing gig. I have a few directing offers for the fall. I’m not sure how it’s all going to go, but I know I will be directing for Ryan in the fall."
ON THE FIRST SPRING AWAKENING WORKSHOP
“Before I graduated from Carnegie Mellon, I was fortunate enough to get into the Sundance Theatre Lab in the summer of 2000. I did the very first workshop of SPRING AWAKENING, which Michael Mayer and Steven Sater hired me for. It was a real first workshop. That forum is the best entry point for anyone into this industry because you’re with the greatest creative minds in the theater world in this safe haven up in the mountains in Utah. You’re breaking bread together. You’re working together all day in this really constructive way, but there’s not too much pressure on it. I love that. I played Hanschen. There were amazing songs that didn’t even end up in the show. One of my favorite songs with the most beautiful, poignant lyrics didn’t even end up in the show.”
ON HIS SINGING HABIT
"I sing CONSTANTLY-anything that floats into my head. Ask Jim Parsons. He’ll kvetch about it to no end. I’m always associating words with songs. If you say a phrase or a turn of phrase that reminds me of a song, then that song will get stuck in my head. Yeah, I sing constantly.”
ON MAKING HIS BROADWAY DEBUT IN THE BOYS IN THE BAND
“I honestly only ever thought I was going to do theater. My career just took me other places. Joe Mantello is the best director working today. The cutting he was able to put together of the piece really moves it along. There is no intermission. You’re in there as the room’s getting hotter, as the stakes are increasing. We were able to do a reading and a workshop before so we had a sense of what it felt like in the room. I can’t imagine a wider safety net than Joe Mantello and these actors I’m sharing the stage with.”
ON SIX DEGREES OF MATT BOMER
“I went to school with Zachary Quinto. I’ve known Michael Benjamin Washington since I got out of school. I’ve known Andrew Rannells for years. We went to different high schools, but Jim Parsons lived just up the street from me. Lee Pace went to my high school. We did THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK together, WILD HONEY, CRAZY FOR YOU and we did SOUTH PACIFIC.”
ON THAT SHOWER SCENE
“The shower is in the script. It’s a very brief shower. The first time I actually had to be naked in rehearsal, I completely went up on my lines. I had to get comfortable.”
ON RYAN MURPHY
“He’s so magnanimous and so generous of spirit and so loyal to his troupe of actors. It really does feel like you’re part of a rep company, which I love.”
ON THAT MAGIC MIKE MUSICAL
“Channing Tatum is such a brilliant businessman. I had said to him early on, ‘You know you have to make a Broadway musical.’ I’m not taking credit for the idea. I’m sure they were already well into it at that point. I think it’s a great idea, and it’s such an interesting and rich world to explore. We do seem to be in this place in society now where we’re not casting so many aspersions on that lifestyle.”
ON FLIRTING WITH BROADWAY
“Sutton Foster and I were originally cast as the understudies at La Jolla for THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE. I was the cover for Gavin Creel and Marc Kudisch. September 11 happened, and so no one was coming to New York. The show got delayed, and they had to wait on the house they wanted. Thankfully I was able to get a soap opera. I did the workshop of Grey Gardens at Playwrights Horizons. I was in rehearsals for the Playwrights Horizons production, and I got a movie. I prefer doing plays, and the musicals I’ve been attracted to like SPRING AWAKENING are very actor-centric. The music is truly just an elevation of the scene work you’re doing. I see myself doing a Broadway musical. It would just have to be the right one.”

[@beignet2012]

Yes, Bomer is hot, but he also has a really good vocabulary. I love actors that actually sound intelligent.

[@JoshAragon]

Mr Bomer always sounds intelligent and humble - he deserves his success

[@samuelbrown112]

Matt seems like such a nice guy. A little self conscious too which is really refreshing and endearing. Also Paul is such a brilliant interviewer

[@blanchefan]

Just saw the show last week; it was indeed terrific! And I got to greet Matt after the show, which was a thrill; I told him how wonderful he was in The Normal Heart; and I could tell in a moment how very much that film (on HBO) meant to him. And, needless to say, he is a total charmer. All best wishes to you, Matt, in the unlikely event you ever read this! :)

[@jaysimmons82]

He is a true talent,along with having a beautiful brave boy next door quality.I was so busy but a freind of mine was able to get me to go see this amazing revival! He had those eyes and personality you instantly fall in love with. It was a great show and amazing evening

[@dianamaioru497]

Excited to see Matt in more movies and series! Such a talented, underrated guy.

[@mrseddiediaz]

He's so beautiful! I can't even!

[@Amtran727]

I saw The Boys In The Band on Memorial Day weekend and loved it. Long time Matt Bomer fan here.

[@miaslote1649]

He’s so passionate abt theatre I love it lol

[@mattyjocelyn9125]

I think I am not the only one who always stares at his leg.😂So cute, love him for a thousand years.

[@jacintoramos8306]

Matt's flawless what can i say

[@dmc8092]

Love him!

[@kaitlyncarroll3314]

I love him

[@RoyalNightmare]

Wonderful interview!, thank you.

[@KRITTIKAAURORA]

One of "The Best"!

[@Texaslawhorn]

Looking forward to watching "Boys in the Band" on Netflix at the end of the month. I enjoyed seeing Matt and the others on Broadway a few years ago.

[@polonia48]

Matt Bomer ❤❤❤. 🇦🇷🇲🇽

[@ChineseAmerican50]

Too bad didn’t seeing him in the series shows anymore. Love his white collar character.

[@teeniebeenie8774]

when in houston at UH i often went to the alley theatre, wish u had been there then....ur so kool...

[@deadfish776]

Love you

[@deadfish776]

And second

[@healthyholemealbread]

I always say reach for the coffee when it goes to the break and most times Paul does hehe

[@tobsyerto34]

Oh my, oh my..

[@vino140]

Damn good interview. It's time now for Matt's agent to put him in a "non-gay" role, otherwise we'll think Hollyla execs wont cast "out" gay actors in anything but gay. C'mon CAA !!

[@vino140]

He needs a neat dramatic role w his clothes on !! Or romcom...

[@amytucker1902]

Are you ignoring the 6 seasons he did of White Collar?

[@itsgrawkneeah]

There was White Collar and Traveler and i think some of his early soaps

[@aifulin8581]

@@vino140 Agree. Imo his best performance was Felix in The Normal Heart, which just proves that he actually should do drama

[@user-qo5uo6zj5d]

Крута

[@zhengzhichen1316]

Is the interviewer low-key hitting on Matt?

[@roonil3931]

everyone hits on matt

[@broadwaynerd341]

First view and comment

[@deadfish776]

Broadway Nerd noice

[@jaker3778]

He look a little lost weight

[@JanetCoop]

Not really, He simply uses different exercises in his gym workout, depending on what the role calls for...He's simply pulled his muscles in so that he's more compact than he is in a more physical role...He's closer to what he was in "White Collar" here, as opposed to what he was in "Magic Mike," for instance...Where you can really see the changes are in Season 4 of "WC," where he's preparing for "Magic Mike," (see the episode where he's flirting with Sara in the white shirt & vest; his shoulders are enormous) & then at the end of Season 5, when he's losing the weight required for the 2nd half of "The Normal Heart," when he's playing his character's decline as AIDS begins to ravish his body...

[@CashelOConnolly]

Donald is the dullest character in the play

[@roonil3931]

but he makes it interesting

[@Texaslawhorn]

Donald is one of the characters I relate to the most. As boring as he might be I think a good amount of people are more like him than some of the other more flashy characters in the story.

[@JanetCoop]

Not really...Donald just isn't as "In yer face" as Michael or Larry are...Donald's sharp mind and even sharper tongue are every bit a match for Michael's...He also has a great sense of fun, largely based on Matt's own...Watch how Donald laughs when Emory gets wild when they're dancing to "Heat Wave," waving the fan at Donald's crotch when he mouths "I start burnin'..." Donald has a goodness that keeps him from lashing back at Michael when he begins "spiraling into the dark place"...This is because the one person in the room who honestly LOVES Michael, even with all of his flaws, is Donald...Even when Michael turns his vitriol on HIM, suddenly yanking the truth about Donald & Larry's one-night-stand in the shower out of the closet & into the light, Donald looks shocked and then extremely hurt, but he never loses control, never raises his voice, never trashes Michael in return (Maybe because he knows that it's the liquor doing the talking??)...And after the party ends, and Michael has his remorseful panic attack, it's Donald who remains at his side, giving him the Valium and holding him in his steady, strong arms until Michael comes back to himself...And I believe that it's knowing that Donald waits there that makes Michael run all the way home at the very end, home to Donald and his strong arms and his true heart...

[@onkelgreifenklau]

I disagree - The character of Donald is the calming counterpoint. It would not have served the play to have yet another character mainly driven by emotions and delivering one outbreak after the other. To me this contrast is not at all dull, but rather a clever move of the author, apart from the fact that Mat Bomer’s subtle portrayal of Donald is no less than brilliant.

[@JanetCoop]

@@onkelgreifenklau Matt himself compares Donald to Horatio, Hamlet's best friend in Shakespeare's "Hamlet"...Horatio is the one who says (after Hamlet is killed), "Good night, sweet Prince...May choirs of angels sing thee to thy rest..." Donald doesn't just sit there, he responds to the others, whether laughing when Emory waves his fan at his crotch during the "Heat Wave" dance, or jumping up to grab Michael's arms and hold him down when he insults Bernard with a cruel, racist "joke"...When Emory pretends to be a straight tough guy and growls out, "Think the Mets'll win the pennant this year?" Donald answers, "Fuckin' A, man!" Then it's Donald's turn to be stunned when Michael "outs" his one-nighter with Larry in front of Hank (and the rest of the guys)...But because he genuinely loves Michael, he forgives him and is the one who holds him when he finally realizes what a horrific shit he's been and melts down...Matt's eyes are incredible in this scene... Everything he feels is there in his eyes (as always)...I think at the very end, after he goes to Mass, Michael runs home because he knows that Donald's loving arms are waiting for him there...