"Hedwig" Choreographer Paul McGill On Leaving Performing, Making A Living On Broadway, And Rubbing Elbows With Darren Criss
Logo TV's "Chorus Boys" series continues today with the hunky Paul McGill, current associate choreographer for Hedwig and the Angry Inch on Broadway.
Paul has been an aspiring Broadway dancer since birth — he's been dancing with musical theater troupes since age 3 and, interestingly enough, began working professionally on Broadway while he was still in high school.
In the video below, Paul talks about the struggle he faced moving to New York City for the first time at age 17, when he was cast in his first Broadway show La Cage aux Folles. Paul also scored a role in his next musical, A Chorus Line, before graduating. "My first rehearsal was two days after prom," he said.
Right now in his career, Paul faces his next greatest struggle in transitioning out of performing and into choreographing.
"I remember contributing to the choreography and giving suggestions, and that gave me a boost of confidence, that maybe I could do this," he remembered of his time working as a swing on Spider-Man. It was then he realized what his next steps would be.
"I went through this struggle of, 'I really want to choreograph and contribute in that way, but I'm stuck doing this thing that I only know how to do.' I had to feed this side of me that wanted to emerge, which meant letting go of performing," he said.
Right after that, he got a call from Hedwig's lead choreographer Spencer Liff, to help choreograph the show's triumphant return to Broadway. He talks about the process of transitioning each of the current run's famous Hedwig actors into their roles, including the incomparable John Cameron Mitchell and the show's current lead, Darren Criss.
Occasionally, he gets to revisit his first love of performing and step into the role himself.
"One of the unique things about Hedwig is that there's no understudy, so we have understudy rehearsal, I have to play Hedwig. It's this weird thing where I'm still getting my performing kicks — I'm still being satisfied in a way — but I don't have to do it in front of thousands of people every night. I get to do it for me."
On his current day-to-day hustle, Paul said, "It doesn't feel like work to me, it just feels like part of my life. And it inspires me."
Check him out below.
