Why did John Lloyd Young '98, whose lead in the current Broadway production "Jersey Boys" has garnered much Tony nomination buzz, choose to attend Brown rather than a conservatory to further his theater career? According to Young, Brown's liberal philosophy allows "you (to) become the best version of yourself that you can be."
Young plays the role of Frankie Valli, the lead singer of the Four Seasons, in the rock-musical "Jersey Boys." The production covers Valli's life from age 16 to 60 in the span of two hours, a challenge Young said he found "irresistible."
For this musical, Young has received praise not only for his acting ability but also for his singing voice, which has brought him offers in the music industry. Although Young said he is "taking it as flattery that the music industry is interested" in him, he maintains that just "because I'm an actor playing a rock star doesn't mean that I want to be one."
For "Jersey Boys," Young was interested in portraying the unique character of Valli, who he described as a "fighter" who is "constantly dissatisfied." Young's short stature and Italian-American heritage made him a good physical match for the role.
Young's career began long before this lead role in a Broadway production. He attributes his initial attraction to the theater simply to "the chance to get out in front of people and entertain them." At age six, still short for his age, Young played a munchkin and a shrunken version of the wicked witch in a local college's production of "The Wizard of Oz."
Before coming to Brown, Young had already established a semi-professional theater career. Still, "Brown was the only place I wanted to go," he said, esteeming Brown's liberal curriculum, which allowed him to spend his entire junior year in Spain and study subjects other than theater, such as art history and poetry.
Young's experiences abroad contributed to his growth as an actor. He explained that by studying overseas, he saw that the European perspective on Americans "is completely different from our perspectives on ourselves" and vice-versa.
An awareness of this "duality" of perceptions, he said, parallels the situation of an actor, who must represent the views that a character has of himself and also those that others have of the character.
Theater consumed most of Young's years at Brown. "Doing theater at Brown is as intense as being on a sport's team," he said, citing "Falsettos" and "Sweeney Todd" as some of his most memorable productions.
