Q&A With Anything Goes Star Nick Poulios

As part of an ongoing series covering this year’s Repertory Theater production of Anything Goes, Patch sat down with senior, Nick Poulios stars as Billy Crocker, an up and coming New York businessman who falls hopelessly in love with the English debutante, Hope Harcourt.

Patch: As a senior, this is your fourth year in Rep Theater. What roles have you played in the past?

Poulios: I a drunk in Guys and Dolls, a featured member of the ensemble in Curtains, and Link Larkin in Hairspray. I was also the Student Music Director for Hairspray and Anything Goes and this year I am a Rep Officer.

Patch: What musical activities are you involved in at SPFHS and outside school?

Poulios: I play piano in Moonglowers, the school’s jazz band. I also sing and play piano in all of the choirs – this year I am Concert Choir President. Outside of school, I work part time as the music director and organist at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Berkeley Heights.

For the past three summers, I have attended the French Woods Performing Arts Camp.  Last year I was employed by the camp as a music director.  Last summer, we staged the first amateur production of Next to Normal.   

Patch: At 17, you already have so much experience in music. How long have you been studying piano?

Poulios: When I was in first grade, my grandmother sent all of us keyboards for Christmas. I remember listening to “Moonlight Sonata” and sounding out the notes on my own. My parents signed me up for piano lessons and I have been studying ever since. When I was 15, I asked my parents if I could audition for the Manhattan School of Music Precollege jazz program. I have been studying piano at the Precollege every Saturday for the past two years. I plan on studying music in college as well.

Patch: From musical theater, to jazz, you seem to dabble in a little bit of everything. Do you prefer one musical style over another?

Poulios: I am very influenced by jazz, but I see it as a vehicle to another sound. I like the vibes, sounds and grooves of all music. I love the experience of musical theater. Scoring a musical is something I want to continue to explore.

Patch: Tell me more about that.  Do you write music as well?

Poulios: I wrote my first song in the first grade. I can definitely see myself scoring films or musicals for a career. Writing musicals is a long, thorough, project, but I loved being a part of darker shows like Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins and Sweeney Todd. For my senior project, I want to score a musical adaption of the short story The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson.

Patch: You have become a familiar face in the SPFHS music department. What was the Anything Goes audition process like for you this time around?

Poulios:  I went in knowing I was going to bomb the tap dance audition, so I just performed everything big – even the mistakes. For the vocal audition, I sang the Frank Sinatra standard, “Summer Wind.” I wasn’t nervous to audition, or even to perform on opening night. I do get really nervous before quick changes!

Patch: What is it like to work with music director/producer Jan Allen, director, Matt Capodicasa and choreographer,  Gisa Dilrio?

 Poulios: Ms. Allen was my choir teacher when I was at Coles Elementary school; she has always been very supportive of me. I even played piano for some of her choir concerts at Coles before she started teaching at the high school. Matt is so incredible. After we had performed Hairspray last year, a few of us actually went up to Matt after the last show and asked him to come back and direct Rep again this year. I honestly don’t know how Gisa does it. At least 75 percent of the guys this year had never tapped before, but she makes us all look like pros.  

Patch: There’s no doubt that those who saw the first performance of this year’s production were in stitches for most of the show. What’s it like to work with this comedic cast?

Poulios: Matt Kempner (Moonface Martin) and I have been friends since middle school. He is ridiculously funny on stage. We have so much fun bouncing off each other and acting in the same scenes. The whole cast is hilarious. It’s almost impossible not to burst out laughing off stage when Connor Cheney (Sir Evelyn Oakleigh) is performing “Gypsy in Me.”

Patch: This weekend, the curtain will come down on the last Rep Theater performance of the year. What are some of your favorite memories of this year’s production?

Poulios:  In the past, I have loved being part of the ensemble because you get to spend so much time with so many different people. This year, I was constantly on stage rehearsing. I’ll never forget the scavenger hunt we [the Rep Theater Officers] organized. We split up into teams to accomplish different challenges, like teaching a stranger on a street to tap dance, or trying to pick up a girl using only dialogue from the show. Those are the times that make everything so worth it.