Danny Kornfeld Makes His Broadway Debut in ‘Concord’

Within the week main as much as opening evening for the brand new musical manufacturing “Concord” on Broadway, star Danny Kornfeld was doing his finest to keep away from the outdated theater parable: “break a leg.”

“I’m simply immensely proud and relieved that the second is lastly right here,” Kornfeld says from his condominium in New York, a number of hours earlier than his name time on the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. “I hold having these moments once I’m strolling down the steps of the subway or crossing the road, being additional cautious of my footing, to guarantee that nothing will get in the way in which of me making my Broadway bow on Nov. 13 after we open,” he says. “I hold saying time and again to myself: ‘I can’t imagine it’s lastly occurring.’ That is the factor that I’ve labored towards since I used to be a bit of child. Going to theater camp on the JCC, doing group theater — what I got down to do in life is definitely occurring, and it’s among the finest emotions on this planet.”

The actor signed onto “Concord” three years in the past, however the present’s journey to the stage has been considerably longer. Penned by Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman, the musical has been within the works, trapped in manufacturing limbo, because the ’90s.

Directed by Warren Carlyle, “Concord” unfolds the true story of the Comic Harmonists, a musical efficiency ensemble from Germany within the late Twenties. The internationally in style six-man group was pressured to disband within the mid-Thirties as a result of rise of the Nazi regime. Kornfeld stars as “Younger Rabbi,” embodying one of many group’s members and serving because the youthful counterpart to the present’s narrator, portrayed by Broadway veteran Chip Zien. 

“I really like that it’s a real story, nevertheless it’s one which nobody’s ever heard about,” says Kornfeld, noting that the musical has been swimming upstream amongst acquainted reveals and diversifications of in style tales. “What’s actually drawn me to this specific story is, I imply, I’m a Jew, getting to inform an inherently Jewish story,” he says. “Particularly proper now, it’s unlucky how this present continues to stay so well timed. It’s some of the suave reveals on Broadway in a really very long time, which I’ve such respect for Bruce and Barry and Warren for creating, as a result of it’s fully authentic.”

The “timeliness” of the present has been a relentless description because the starting of its off-Broadway run, which coincided with the beginning of the battle in Ukraine. 

“Einstein comes [onstage] at one level and says his well-known quote of, ‘The world is not going to be destroyed by those that do evil. It will likely be destroyed by those that stand by and do nothing.’ And it acquired applause then, and it’s getting applause now as effectively,” says Kornfeld, noting that that line has been a part of the present since its earliest iterations within the ’90s. “It’s an excellent quote as a result of it’s relevant to so many issues however I believe audiences now are, in fact, decoding that in our new present local weather.” 

The actor calls out a very tense second within the musical, which locations the viewers straight inside the depicted on-stage motion. “There’s a second of a real antisemitic hate crime, and I’ve had individuals say to me, ‘We had been actually unsettled by this as a result of we weren’t positive if this was a part of the present or not at first,’” Kornfeld says. “So I believe everybody’s shoulders are just a bit bit extra raised proper now in life, particularly in terms of Jewish tales.”

Kornfeld additionally stars within the coming-of-age comedy movie “Tripped Up,” which premiered on the finish of October. The actor’s half was upgraded from a day position to that of the movie’s villain, after the unique actor who was booked examined optimistic for COVID-19.

“What was presupposed to be simply in the future ended up being my total summer season,” Kornfeld says. “You undergo your profession listening to tales like that from individuals being like, ‘Oh, this particular person acquired sick after which I needed to step in.’ After which I really turned the particular person,” he provides. “And now it’s given me this propensity for believing that as I proceed all through my profession, it’s true that something is feasible and something can occur.”

Quickly after wrapping “Tripped Up,” he booked a recurring position in “American Horror Story.” “I actually have such a way of peace with the trajectory of my profession to this point and with my life typically,” Kornfeld says. “If you look again and see all of the methods wherein totally different moments have led you to the place you’re, that’s the place I discover my sense of spirituality.”

Whereas he hopes to do extra display tasks after “Concord,” Kornfeld is savoring the current second: delivering his massive solo onstage, which he describes as “one of many biggest love ballad anthems written within the longest time for musical theater.”

“And I hope, I’ve a sense, many youngsters from schools in musical theater packages are going to be singing it after this,” he says.

“And that’s the place I get choked up fascinated about youthful variations of myself and even me now being like: you’re on a Broadway stage, middle stage, attending to sing out a wonderful excessive be aware. It’s the very best, strongest, related feeling on this planet.”