Getting my Equity card was the equivalent of finding a unicorn – I booked a Broadway show. I was finishing my freshman year of college at Manhattan School of Music in 1995 when I heard they were auditioning for the new revival of The King & I.
I skipped class to attend an EPA since I heard that sometimes they saw Non-Equity people if they had time. Around lunchtime, they called someone's name (Robert... somebody) and he wasn't there. I raised my hand and walked in. Jay Binder's associate was the only person in the room with the accompanist. Somehow I was able to sing "I Have Dreamed" without him turning the resume over to see that it wasn't me. After he said I would be getting a callback, I started to sweat and almost cry, thinking I would be arrested for impersonating an Equity member. (I was only 18 at the time!) Once I revealed who I was, he simply smiled and asked for my real resume, which basically had my name on it and my pager number.
After a long summer of callbacks I booked the show and made my Broadway debut as Lun Tha, the young lover, in the 1996 revival starring Donna Murphy and Lou Diamond Phillips. To this day, I've never looked up who Robert was to thank him for not showing up to his appointment.
