Ryan Fitzgerald’s obsession with the performing arts beamed him from Longmont to Europe and now, into a giant corn field.
“I saw an opera version of ‘Pirates of Penzance’ at Denver Center for the Performing Arts in the late ’90s and was thinking the whole time, ‘This is incredible!’ But also, ‘That guy’s saying a ton of words!’ ” said the actor, dancer and singer, whose touring life brings him to Denver with the Tony Award-winning musical “Shucked,” Oct. 7-19 at the Buell Theatre.
This will be his first time performing on its stage — despite having leaned forward in a seat there many times before.
” ‘Pirates’ is probably where I got the bug, and I’ve never really stopped trying to absorb and learn and grow,” said Fitzgerald, who grew up in Longmont. He’s already performed more than 300 shows in the first national tour of “Shucked,” a pun-filled musical comedy being hailed as a casserole of “The Music Man” and “Hee-Haw,” with bushels of ear-tickling one-liners.
The acclaimed show finished its Broadway run in New York last year and has been on the road since then, having fulfilled its potential as a “Hee Haw”-inspired, Off Broadway parody from a decade ago. Tony winner Robert Horn (“Tootsie,” “Designing Women”), who wrote the book, introduced Fitzgerald to the show less than two years ago while Fitzgerald was playing in Disney’s “Hercules.”
Fitzgerald, in his charming persistence, made sure Horn gave him an audition. As a singer and dancer in the ensemble and understudy for a pair of leading roles, Fitzgerald’s now belting out songs by Grammy winners Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally (Kacey Musgraves’ “Follow Your Arrow”) under the direction of Tony winner Jack O’Brien (“Hairspray”).
The silly-yet-demanding “Shucked” is an ideal project for Fitzgerald’s strengths, said Shawn Hann, director of theater at Denver School of the Arts. She helped develop his comedic chops and performance precision, and has been delighted to stay in touch with him ever since.
“Ryan always was a natural-born comedian, with this elastic face kind of like Jim Carrey from ‘The Mask,’ ” said Hann, who has run DSA’s theater program for 25 years. “He’s a chameleon and can drop into these wacky, weird, crazy characters easily. When he went off to college, he got into ballet, and that just took him to the next level.”
Now based in New York City, Fitzgerald recalls commuting from Longmont to DSA an hour or more each day to rehearse lines and moves for shows such as “Amadeus.” After winning a scholarship to the University of Oklahoma, he dove into the world of auditions and summer stock, including “The Sound of Music” at Boulder Dinner Theatre one summer — following daytime lessons with Boulder’s renowned Lemon Sponge Cake Contemporary Ballet.
“After I graduated, I did (acting work on) Disney Cruise Lines for a year and then moved to New York,” Fitzgerald said. “But I was only there for two months before I booked an international tour of ‘West Side Story,’ which was my bread and butter for a long time.”
By “long time,” Fitzgerald means six full tours of the show in the early 2010s, spiriting him across Europe and polishing his work ethic through exhausting choreography and singing. Since then, he’s stepped out in “Shrek” and “Matilda” (St. Louis Municipal Opera Theater); “My Fair Lady” (Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, N.Y.); “The Producers” (Mt. Washington Valley Theatre in North Conway, N.H.); and Disney’s “Hercules” (Paper Mill Playhouse, in Millburn, N.J.).
And, as it turns out, a pair of recent shows at the Arvada Center: “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” (he played Neil Sedaka and performed in the ensemble) and “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella.”
That’s the working actor’s life, he said — staying hungry and fit as opportunities pop up across a variety of formats. His work in “West Side Story” nabbed a Helen Hayes Awards nomination (named after the first lady of American theater), and he’s got a pair of upcoming projects he can’t discuss yet, but that will continue his upward growth after “Shucked.”
“I definitely can’t do anything other than put my entire self into it,” Fitzgerald said. “How can you not be overjoyed? Theater is an ancient artistic tradition and it’s a privilege and honor to call myself one of those people who gets to do it for a living.”
Especially in a corn-fed, prize-winning show like “Shucked.”
“I don’t want to ruin any jokes,” he added, “but I just passed a huge squirrel. Which is funny, because I don’t remember eating one.”
If You Go
“Shucked.” Tony award-winning touring Broadway musical comedy, presented by Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Various shows Tuesday, Oct. 7-Friday, Oct. 17, at the Buell Theatre at Denver Performing Arts Complex, 1350 Curtis St. in Denver. Tickets: $47.20-$147.50 via denvercenter.org/tickets-events/shucked. Call the box office at 303-893-4100 for more information.