How to Succeed...'s Michael Urie On Landing His Dream Role

"It's like 16-year-old me is jumping up and down on his bed," actor Michael Urie tells PAPERMAG when asked what it was like to make his Broadway debut last week as Bud Frump in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Known primarily for his work as Marc St. James on Ugly Betty, Urie has kept busy since the series' end taking on some of his dream theater roles including Bud Frump and Prior Walter in the New York revival of Angels in America. In between shows, Urie told us about what it's like to work alongside co-star Nick Jonas, why he figured he'd end up directing high school students in How to Succeed... rather than star in the Broadway musical and what it's been like to get mobbed by teenybopper JoBros fans now that he's "in the club."

So this is your first Broadway show as well as your first musical?

That's right.  Broadway debut and musical debut. I did musicals in high school and community college and they were great but this is much different, more strenuous, more people in the audience, the stakes are higher. There are a few times where my heart goes into my throat every night but I'm getting through it and it's working.

Do you have any special tricks to get your voice ready before the show?

I have some great vocal warm-ups that I got from my voice teacher. You know, you gotta stay away from dairy. 

Do you drink shots of olive oil or anything like that? I remember all the American Idol contestants used to do that.

Oh, you know what? I've never done that. I've never done olive oil shots but I have heard about that.  I'll have to remember that if I ever wake up hoarse again. But orange juice is great.

The pulp doesn't get caught in your throat?

Well I wouldn't drink it right before a show. I would only drink water right before.  Hot tea with lemon is always good. And the hard thing is dairy because I love dairy but dairy is just a mess on your throat. Even one Hershey's kiss will mess you up.

Since this is your first musical role, how did the part come up?

Well I was in the reading of it two years ago because I weasled my way into it.  This was one of the very first musicals I ever really, really fell in love with, mostly because I knew it was the kind of musical that I could be in. So when I saw it when I was 16 in Dallas, Texas -- the touring production with Ralph Macchio -- I was like, "I gotta do this show someday!" I always remembered the show and loved it. I had the Matthew Broderick recording and listened to it all the time and it was one of those musicals that I always had in my back pocket. And, in fact, I met the producers in L.A. and I brought the show up to them. I was like, "You guys should do this. This should happen.  And I should play Bud Frump!  Do it on TV!"  And so then two years later, I start hearing that they put together this reading of the show with Daniel Radcliffe and I told my reps "I hope they remember me and I hope they remember how much I like the show and see if I can get into this!" And so I got to do the reading and for whatever reason it didn't work out for me to be in the company when it started but when the show was such a hit and they decided to keep it running after Dan left, then they came back to me and they said, "Come do it."  And I said, "Okay, great, let's do it!"

Does it feel a little weird, after all this time, to finally be in the show?

It's like an old friend, kinda. It's weird. I sometimes have to pinch myself but over the last couple of years, I've had so many dreams come true. I got to do Angels in America last year, which was another show that I first fell in love with.  It's like 16-year-old me is jumping up and down on his bed, screaming and yelling, "I did it, I did it, I did it!"  In a way it's sort of surreal.  I never imagined I would get to do these.

Talking about your 16-year-old self, one of the things about your character Bud is that he's often tagged as a "brown noser." Were you ever like that in school?

I wasn't a brown noser but I was the kind of kid who made friends with the teachers more than the students. It wasn't because I was sucking up, it was because I just liked them better [laughs]. There was a period of time when I was in high school [and I thought] the only way to be a professional in the theater was to teach drama because that was all I knew. The real world--the real world of show business -- was so impossible, intangible to me so I looked to my drama teachers as the future. "This is something I could do. That's how I'm going to do How to Succeed, I'm going to direct it when I teach high school" or something like that.  So I'm not sure I was a brown noser but I was definitely friends with the teachers.  I've kept in touch with them.

Have any of your former teachers seen you perform in New York?

Yes, some of them have but they haven't seen this one yet [How to Succeed...].

Will they?

Yeah, I think they will. Hopefully this will have a nice, long run and they'll get to see it. Of course they were also happy about Ugly Betty and things like that get back to Texas but I think this is one of them they'll definitely have to come see.

Since you mentioned Ugly Betty, do you prefer comedic roles like your parts in Ugly Betty or How to Succeed or dramatic ones like in Angels in America?

I think I would never be interested in a part that didn't have any humor. It'd have to have something. I gotta know that the audience is with me and while you can certainly feel them in a drama, there aren't those benchmarks to know that they're really paying attention and listening even if it's not a big crowd. 

Tell me a little bit about how it is working with Nick [Jonas]?

I love working with Nick! We got to rehearse together, which was such a luxury. The idea of going into a Broadway musical alone is terrifying to me. That I got to have a "boot camp buddy" was such a relief. Now we have our own vocabulary for our work together.  He's such a pro and musical theater stuff comes so naturally to him and he's been singing forever and he's a terrific dancer and the kid can play scenes. He's very creative and very clever and knows how to "find funny." That's right up my alley. I can't wait to see where the show goes and how it grows and changes over the next few months. 

Are there hordes of tween girls outside the stage door every night?

Oh yeah. They're there all day. They found out where we were rehearsing and they would crowd the rehearsal rooms. They're everywhere.

Are there any specific examples you could share?  Have there been any crazy fans that have tried to sneak in your dressing rooms?

No one tried to sneak in but the stage door is not far from the stage and so sometimes during the show, the stage door will be open and I will walk by and hear someone scream my name from outside, [laughs] which is really funny. My dressing room is right above the stage door and the first night I heard them out there singing Jonas Brothers songs. Even last night, they're so loyal. What's funny is that these fans are loyal not only to Nick but to all of us.  It's sort of like we're in the club now. [The other] night, when I left, there were hundreds of people outside the stage door and I ended up leaving after Nick and I'd just assumed they'd all be gone and it was raining! And a lot of them were [gone] but there were still people there waiting for me to sign their soggy programs. And it was really sweet. It was very, very nice that they were willing to wait for me in the rain after Nick had left.

Well you have your own fanbase too!

That never happened with Angels in America!  Maybe a few people but never a crowd in the rain.

Never a bunch of screaming, 14-year-old girls.

Yeah, I know! They're so sweet. It's a little bit of a different crowd [than Angels in America] but it is fun. I get the sense that people think I've just been doing nothing since Ugly Betty so [with] this crowd, it's nice that they're happy to see me again and that I'm doing something G-rated that they can check out.  It's very nice to see those faces again. 

Photo by Chris Callis