Will Brill reflects on Tony-winning role in 'Stereophonic' on Broadway
NEW YORK (WABC) -- "Stereophonic" broke records as the most nominated play in Broadway history. The show gives a raw look at a fictitious rock band's yearlong process of recording an album while they are on the verge of mega stardom.
It all takes place in 1976 inside a California recording studio. Sitting in the audience, you almost forget you're watching a play.
Eight shows a week pouring his heart out on stage, that's where you'll find Broadway's Will Brill. He plays Reg, the chaotic, hilarious, often under the influence heart of "Stereophonic,"
Brill just took home the Tony for his performance -- and the parallels between his personal journey and his character's are striking.
"When I first started, I was drinking a lot, I wrote a letter to myself in my phone about drinking alone, and I was sort of like, maybe you need to stop doing this," Brill said. "Fast-forward eight years, and I'm sober and divorced. I don't know if I would've been able to do it without sobriety, without my therapist, without antidepressants."
It's a monster of a character in a monster of a show. The actors don't just play a band, they've become one.
"In 2012, I was doing a play, one of the best experiences of my life, and I was also sharing a mattress on the floor of my best friend's living room, sleeping nose to toes with another homey," Brill said, reflecting on how far he's come. "For five months I was doing that. And so now I'm very grateful to be where I am."
"When I'm on stage speaking lines through a character who I have invented, it is the most amazing feeling there is," he said.
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