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closeWednesday, Sep. 09, 2009
The actor: Brian Daniels knows the clock is ticking on musical-theater career
Brian Daniels
Brian Daniels wears a sideways ball cap, a tank top and a dimwitted sneer. His 5-foot-6-inch frame drops to the floor and he busts out a killer break-dancing solo.
As Luke, the moronic hip-hop wannabe in Uptown Players’ Dallas production of Altar Boyz, a satirical look at a Christian boy band, Daniels was so convincing that when you meet him for the first time, you half-expect him to be, well, kind of a boob.
Instead, you meet a genial, sharp and self-possessed 25-year-old actor-singer who exudes that "it" factor, but doesn’t seem to know it.
"[Brian’s] the one everyone wants to meet after the show," says John de los Santos, who choreographed Altar Boyz, and also directed Daniels in the Fort Worth Opera Chorus production of Carmen at Bass Hall. "Everyone thinks he’s so sexy and hot, tons of people come up and ask to meet him. Part of his appeal is that he’s very unassuming. I do know that people are asking: 'Who is this kid?’ "
But Daniels is pragmatic about his journey from opera student to Starbucks supervisor, musical-theater actor to break-dancing boy band phenom.
"I’m definitely not one of those people who’s going to pack up and move to New York City and think I’m gonna make it," Daniels says. "I know how much debt I have after grad school [at Indiana University]. I know that bills have to be paid, and I need to be making enough money to feed myself and make sure that I have a place to sleep."
So even if working at Starbucks is today’s clichéd equivalent of an actor working as a waiter, you can tell Daniels genuinely loves it. More so, he knows it’s necessary.
Since moving to Fort Worth two years ago (to be close to one of his brothers), he’s had roles in a few smaller community-theater productions: The Ark in Hurst, and Guys and Dolls at the Jewish Community Center of Dallas, and a small opera in Colleyville. His first paying gig was last year, with the Fort Worth Opera Chorus.
"I loved it," Daniels says, his eyes seeming to truly twinkle. "I called and told my parents that my 4-year private university education [at Butler] wasn’t worth nothing — it at least got me into a professional opera chorus."
He would ultimately love to sing with a symphony, or see where musical theater takes him. For that, though, he realizes that the musical-theater jobs — the paying ones, anyway — are mostly in Dallas.
"And it’s an exhausting drive," he says, adding that he now only takes Dallas jobs with paying theaters. "So if I’m driving, I’ll break even."
As he tries to make a name for himself in Dallas-Fort Worth, he realizes that he’s probably not going to be able to quit Starbucks anytime soon. "But more could come from Altar Boyz [which closed Sept. 6]," he says.
"He’s already gotten theater companies and directors who want to work with him," says de los Santos. "If he starts auditioning more, and getting out there, he could do really well."
Daniels has had callbacks for two Casa Mañana productions (The Jungle Book and Santa Claus Is Coming to Town), and he’s really hoping to score a role in Uptown’s 2010 production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
As optimistic and confident as he is, Daniels is formulating a backup plan (probably teaching), and he knows that the clock is ticking on his dream.
"At 25, there’s no shame in working at Starbucks and doing theater," Daniels says. "But I would hope that I’m not doing exactly this at 30."
Age: 25
Lives in: Fort Worth (originally from Fort Wayne, Ind.)
Chosen profession: singer/actor
Day job: supervisor at Starbucks at Hulen Street and Bellaire Drive South
Childhood hints of his chosen profession: When he was certain he was alone at home, he would belt The Star-Spangled Banner at the top of his lungs. Over and over again — in an operatic style, in a Justin Timberlake style and on and on.
Starving artist meal: "We almost always have a bin of leftover pastries from the day before, so I will scrounge through that for some breakfast. There may also be a day-old sandwich hanging around in the back fridge for lunch."
Pie in the sky projects: "I’d like to be Jack in Into the Woods. I would do that for free right now. And I would love, love, love to sing with symphonies. There’s just nothing more exhilarating than having a 50-plus person symphony behind you, a 200-person choir behind you, a thousand-person audience in front of you, and just you presenting what you’re able to do and what you love most."
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