Sunday, August 07, 2011

Nick Jonas: Marius vs. Link

I used to make fun of my sister for liking the Jonas Brothers, but some time ago, I started to actually like them, mostly Nick. From interviews I've read, he seems like a smart guy and a dedicated musician. I knew he couldn't really act because I've seen episodes of Jonas and Jonas LA. The 25th anniversary concert of Les Miserables, in which he played Marius, confirmed this, but it also proved that he can actually sing better than his work with the Jonas Brothers would indicate. This weekend, he played Link Larkin in Hairspray at the Hollywood Bowl. I'm in New York, so I didn't see it, but my sister did and she thought he was much more successful as Link than as Marius.

"Nick Jonas does fairly well with characters who aren't too complicated. Link is actually a kind of dumb character to begin with, so it worked out," she told me. "He was a little stiff at the beginning, but later on he got really into it." When he was Marius, he had the same look of concern on his face the whole time he was onstage, but she said he actually did vary his facial expressions somewhat as Link: "While he was dancing he was smiling, but I don't think he can act and smile at the same time."

The highlight of that conversation, courtesy of my sister: "The moral of the story: We need to always give Nick Jonas characters that aren't complex or dramatic, or any character in which he would have to do his 'I'm concerned about the situation right now' constipation face."

Photo credit: Craig T. Mathew/Mathew Imaging

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I understand he's going to be replacing Daniel Radcliffe in How to Succeed. Of all the Broadway Shows I've seen this season, it was one of the better ones.
I found some discount tickets for How to Succeed in Business and it was a rollicking good time!