*Actor Jelani Alladin recently made his Broadway debut as Kristoff in Disney’s Theatrical Production of “Frozen: The Broadway Musical,” which opened March 22 at the St. James Theatre. The musical is directed by Michael Grandage, with a book by Jennifer Lee, an Academy Award winner for Best Animated Feature film, and music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez.
Nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical, Alladin was overwhelmed when he heard about his nomination. “I was doing an interview the morning the nominations were announced. I received a text from Disney’s PR person that I had been nominated, and I started crying. I couldn’t hold back the tears. I said to the interviewer: ‘I’m sorry. I have to take a moment and let these emotions out because I was nominated for an award in the same category with the man [Joshua Henry in ‘Carousel’] that I have looked up to for many years, and he has inspired me so much.’ I am grateful that the Drama Desk committee recognized my work,” he explains.
The 25-year old performing artist, born to West Indian parents from Guyana, South America, said the American Dream is real for him. “I hope that my casting in ‘Frozen’ inspires more directors, producers, and writers to see their stories done with more diverse people,” says Alladin, who was raised in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York. “I hope that they can trust that when they write a character, that the soul of the character will not be different if the actor who brings the character to life is Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern, African American or Hispanic. We all are living the same life. Human beings all go through the same core emotions, so why not take the chance and take the opportunity to bring more people from different walks of life? Isn’t that what art is? Shouldn’t it reflect the way that our world is?”
Gwendolyn Quinn: Tell me about your experience growing up in Brownsville.
Jelani Alladin: My mom [Paulette Bazil] bought a house in Brownsville [Brooklyn] in 1994. Growing up in Brownsville was no smooth sailing. We were a lower-middle-class family struggling to make ends meet, but we did our best to get by.
I went to a Christian private school [Peoples Elementary] for about three years. Later, I attended public school at PS 235 Lenox School and IS 383 Philippa Schuyler Middle School [for the Gifted and Talented] in Brooklyn.
I saw a lot growing up in Brownsville. In the ‘90s, there was a lot of gun violence in the neighborhood. Sometimes, I heard gunshots, and then I would go to the corner and see the street marked off because somebody was killed. Sometimes I would hear that a young kid was in trouble and went to jail because he was in a fight and had a gun.
That’s the environment that I was exposed to, but there were two sides to it in my community. There was a church that was a burst of light in my life, and then there was the community. I lived two blocks from government housing, where all kinds of people resided and were trying to make ends meet as best they could.
I grew up in a house full of women; my mom, sister [Jelissa Alladin], aunt [Sharon Daniels], and grandmother [Olive Hermanstein], and we all stuck together. My other aunt [Jacqueline Christie] lived nearby. Every Sunday, family, and friends would gather and, we would have dinner and chat.
My sister and I loved the church around the corner from our house [United Faith Evangelistic Ministries]. Later, my mom became a pastor of that church.
The church was pivotal in my life because it gave me a sense of community. There were ten of us [children] that were all around the same age. In fact, I was the youngest in the group, and I was in elementary school [ten years old]. At church, we participated in youth group activities on Fridays and Bible study on Wednesdays. We had a step team and a student choir. The elders of the church encouraged the young people to sing, and that’s where I first started singing in the church.
At United Faith, I learned principles and ways to get through life and how to love and accept things and struggles that come into your life. I also learned the power of encouragement and empowerment. All those experiences came out of that small church that my sister and I loved. Before United Faith, we attended a big Catholic church that my grandmother went to, and we were bored. We like the Pentecostal, evangelistic church; there were drums, and there was contemporary music.
GQ: Tell me about A Better Chance Program.
JA: I thank God that my family had wisdom. My aunt [Jacqueline Christie], and her daughter Ayana [Christie] applied to A Better Chance while we were in middle school [IS 383 Philippa Schuyler Middle School for the Gifted and Talented]. Ayana was seeking out a high school to attend. I wanted to follow in her footsteps. Eventually, Ayana enrolled in Northfield Mount Hermon, a private boarding school [in Mount Hermon, Massachusetts]. I also applied to that school, and I did get in, but I didn’t want to spend money going to high school.
In a weird happenstance of events, my mom got sick and was in the hospital when I had to turn in my application. I filled out the paperwork, and once I received my letter from New York City public schools, I was only accepted in the high school in my school zone. I said, “I’m not getting stuck in Brownsville for another four years.”
And then the [school personnel from] A Better Chance Program called the house and said that they had received my application and asked if I would be able to come in for an interview.
I went for an interview at New Canaan High School in Connecticut, which is the complete antithesis of Brownsville, and I loved it. I was housed with two boys in each grade from the high school, and they were all inner-city boys that were accepted into the program. There was also a residence director; usually, it was a family member who lived in the house to watch over us. New Canaan provided us with tutors to do our homework. As a requirement, we had to participate in an after-school activity, and the school provided us with a chef in the house. New Canaan also provided us with school supplies and clothing; it was an inclusive program.
I initially enrolled in sports for my after-school activity. During my sophomore year, I no longer wanted to play football, and my friends encouraged me to audition for the school’s musical.
I was one of six black students in the school. It was a culture shock the first year. I dressed different from everybody else, and all I wanted to do was to fit in.
GQ: When did you fall in love with the craft of acting and musical theater?
JA: I didn’t know acting was a career that people were paid to do. I’ve seen movies and television shows, but I didn’t fully understand that people study to become actors. It wasn’t until I did my first show at New Canaan and I auditioned for “Seussical the Musical.” I landed the lead role in the “Cat in the Hat.” I didn’t know what I was doing, and somehow I did it. I was going to quit after the first show, I said, “That’s way too much work.” Then my friend’s mom [Roberta Stigman] encouraged me to stick with it. She said, “You’ve got something.” I trusted and believed her.
I continued to listen to different cast albums, and I went on school trips to various Broadway shows. It wasn’t until my host family [of New Canaan], the Grandins, who took me to see “In the Heights” [starring Lin-Manuel Miranda] on Broadway that I began to see the future. I saw myself on stage. The cast looked and danced like me.
I took a summer program, CAP21 NYU [Collaborative Arts Program 21] at New York University, and that’s where I had my first acting class. From there, I had found my passion. There was something about that class. I worked on a play that changed the course of my life. I said, “I have to study and become the best at this.”
GQ: Would you say you had a natural gift for singing?
JA: I was always insecure about singing. When I was younger, I was forced to sing, because I could. My mom would be like, “Go sing, you can sing.” I never loved it and never owned it. In middle school, I dabbled in the choir because it was the cool thing to do. I performed solos. In high school, I started with the Madrigal Choir, which is classical music.
GQ: What about dance?
JA: I come from a West Indian family, and we always dance at weddings and parties. Groove and rhythm were always a part of my DNA. I never took a formal dance class until that program at CAP21. That summer I had my first ballet class. I learned, and when I went to NYU for college, the dance department was strong, and the head of the department said, “You look the way you look, so people are going to expect you to dance, so you have to get this.”
I worked my butt off and learned everything I could. I learned tap, jazz, ballet, hip-hop and contemporary dance.
GQ: Let’s talk about the Broadway version of “Frozen.”
JA: “Frozen” is the story of two sisters, Elsa, who was born with magical powers of ice, and then Anna, who was born with an uninhibited free spirit. The two of them are robbed of each other’s love at a young age, due to a lack of knowledge from their parents’ understanding of how to use their powers. After a near fatal-accident with the sisters, the two were separated. The story is about them finding each other again in their adult age. Once the queen comes of age, and the sisters have a chance to be together, fear reacts, which causes Elsa to reveal who she is, and she flees, and Anna goes on this epic journey to find her. On the journey of finding friends and danger, Anna constantly redefines herself and what true love is. Then at the end, the sisters find that the true love that they’ve always wanted is there between them.
GQ: Let’s talk about your role in “Frozen.”
JA: I play Kristoff, who is the complete opposite of the princesses. Anna, who is in this fairy-tale world, and Kristoff is part of the lower class. He’s an ice seller and an orphan. He bumps into Anna, and she needs his help to get up the mountain and to get to her sister [Elsa]. During the journey that’s full of danger and excitement, he begins to nurture and care for Anna and ends up falling in love with her.
GQ: How did you land the role of Kristoff in “Frozen?”
JA: I had been performing in regional theater productions for two years. I was doing plays; though I studied musical theater in college, I didn’t see many places for me at that time. One day my manager said to me, “You should come back to New York and audition for some musicals and see what happens.” I came back, and went to a principal Equity audition, which was an open call for “Frozen.”
After the audition, the director said, “Who are you? Why have I never met you?” I explained that I was back in New York, and I wanted to work. A week later, I was brought in for a pre-screen for the role of Kristoff. The next morning, I went in to read for the entire team. I met Michael Grandage, Anne Quart, and Stephen Oremus. Then they asked me to keep my availability open, and they would see me at final callbacks.
I took another job, “The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical,” in between, and I had to leave because I found out that I had secured the role of Kristoff.
GQ: How does the story of “Frozen” resonate with you?
JA: The story is about connection. It’s about every character in the play who is searching for someone to connect to; Anna and Elsa are looking for each other. Kristoff is looking for a way to connect; he’s over humans, and then Anna comes along, and he finds a way to connect with her. Everyone along the journey is trying to connect with someone or something that they have lost a connection with or to.
When people leave the theater, I hope that they reach out and reconnect with their friends and loved ones.
GQ: Let’s talk about the music in the show and the recording process.
JA: It was my first time recording an album in the studio. I have recorded singles previously. It was a great experience, knowing the music that I was recording had been tailored to my voice. I lead three songs, but I’m featured in several other songs too.
The music in the show has so many styles; it goes from funky to pop to traditional Scandinavian to rich, lush music, like “Kristoff Lullaby,” which is one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard.
GQ: What is your favorite song in the show and the forthcoming album?
JA: My favorite song is “Dangerous to Dream,” which is also Elsa’s internal moment, but my favorite song to sing is “Kristoff Lullaby.”
GQ: Do you have any plans to record a solo album of popular music?
JA: If somebody wants to produce an album, I would love that. I’m eclectic; I like all kinds of music. I lean towards John Legend. He is my inspiration for everything. And growing up it was all Usher and Boyz II Men. I believe the future holds many beautiful things and that could be one of them.
GQ: How does it feel to be a leading man on Broadway?
JA: Most of my career, I have been the leading, so playing the role of a leading man is not new to me, it is something that I’ve embraced. There’s a quality in me that people see that reflects those kinds of characters. Being a leading man on Broadway though is different because you are leading a company of actors at their highest point, in the highest form of the craft. So, I have to rise to meet them at all times. It feels like I am in the place that I am meant to be at this moment in time.
As a leading man, I not only lead onstage but offstage too. That means making sure the morale of the company is always boosted and that people are always coming to work feeling a sense of community and joy.
GQ: What are some of your most challenging aspects of being on Broadway?
JA: I’ve learned that you must take physical and mental care of yourself. When you’re performing eight shows a week, you always have to be prepared to sing, act, and dance, and sometimes there are days where your spirit is heavy. I’ve learned to leave whatever I’m feeling at the door and come in and do my job as best I can.
GQ: What is your pre-performance regimen before going onstage?
JA: In the work I did at NYU, I got attached to doing Chakra work, which is the seven Chakras on your body spiritual energy. Before every show, I go down to the stage and do my Chakra warm-up, which goes from my first Chakra all the way through my seventh. The little kids always make fun of me, because they see me do it as they’re prepping to start the show.
I stretch; I warm up vocally, and then I also sit and watch the opening in the stage manager’s office every day. It’s interesting, being a part of a musical where you’re not in the first fifteen minutes because that is a pivotal time of any show. It’s how you learn your audience and how they are reacting. What are they feeling? Are they tired? Are they asleep? What is the energy they’re bringing to the theater?
For me, it’s important to sit and watch that opening and to hear their responses. Some nights, when I don’t hear the audience laugh at a joke, I say, “Well, when I come out, my energy needs to be more assertive.” Some nights the audience is into it from the first downbeat, and I can trust that they’re into it and I can ease up.
GQ: What keeps you spiritually centered and grounded?
JA: My family and friends keep me spiritually centered and grounded. We are in a state of crisis, and hopefully, I’m helping to change lives, but I’m not curing cancer. I’m not out here protecting people from gun violence. Those are the real issues and problems. I’m trying to make people feel a little more lifted once they leave the theater.
The real world keeps me grounded. It’s my duty as a black artist, and as a black man, to come on stage and give everything that I can every single time because some little black boy or black girl is out there seeing me and saying, “I can do this, because of him.” That happened to me, and I know the feeling of sitting out there and seeing it, so now I get the chance to come full circle and give back.
GQ: What were the most important and profound lessons you learned from your mother?
JA: My mother has a generosity, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. As a kid, I didn’t understand it; I was jealous that she would go out of her way to help someone who didn’t have a computer to do their homework. She would find a way to save her money from her paycheck and buy that computer for that kid or spend time with that person from church who needed tutoring.
Every time she cooks on Sundays, until this day, she packs up food for the three neighbors down the block who have become close to us. She always says this person has to get fed and that person has to get fed. That’s the kind of woman she is, and watching that, as a child, I was baffled, because I was like, “What about you? Why aren’t you spending time caring about you?” I was so young and naïve not to know that; it’s not about her. It was never about her. She is selfless.
As an adult, that is what I try to be in my life. I try to make sure that the relationships I have with people, in my life, that I’m giving something to them, and that it’s a relationship built on selfless love.
GQ: Tell us about your relationship with your father.
JA: I feel like my dad [Paul Alladin] has been kept out of the narrative because he didn’t live with us. My mom and dad were never married, but I do have a strong relationship with my father. My father has been a pillar in my life, of resource, of strength, of love. Too often in the black communities black fathers get overshadowed by the fact that the mother takes in the kid, but he was always a father to me. My father always stressed the power of education, and how important it was to get a good education. I’m thankful for having my dad in my life.
GQ: What inspires you?
JA: I’m inspired by the potential of what life can be. I was never told you couldn’t do that or that was out of the realm of possibility. My parents always taught us [Jelani and Jelissa] that we must be above and beyond. The constant striving to reach higher and higher inspires me every day.
GQ: As a millennial, what do you think some of the biggest challenges or issues facing your generation?
JA: The issues facing my generation are the issues that this country was birthed on and it hasn’t changed [institutional racism]. It’s in the DNA of this country, and it was built on the back of slaves. This country was built on the mentality that my skin [black skin] is less worthy. I feel like my generation is going through the same thing. Also, with social media and technology, there’s a lack of motivation [to succeed and be successful], especially in the inner-city communities.
How can you justify to young people that they can go after their dreams when people are being shot down in the street for no reason? When people are being choked, held by their necks and pushed to the ground for standing and looking the way they look. How do you say, “It is possible, that you have to work three times as hard to be on the same level when you turn in your resume with a Caucasian person?”
GQ: What are some of your pop culture must-haves in music, film, and television?
JA: My must-have is everything Shondaland; that’s the kind of TV that my generation grew up with: “Scandal,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” and “How to Get Away with Murder.” I also like “This Is Us” and “Atlanta.” Beyoncé is a must-have. She has redefined herself so many times in her career; and for me, that is true artistry. John Legend and Nicki Minaj are my two favorite music artists.
GQ: What’s next for you?
JA: I’m grateful for this moment with “Frozen,” and because of “Frozen,” so many people know who I am. After “Frozen,” I will continue to look [for work] that challenges me and expand my artistry.
GQ: Would you like to say anything else in closing?
JA: I hope that we continue to push forward. As the ceiling gets higher and the floor gets lower, we have to continue to lift those people at the bottom to the top, and the only way we can do that is with each other, with the help of each other, that’s the only way.
Gwendolyn Quinn is an award-winning media strategist and consultant with a career spanning more than 25 years. She covers entertainment, travel, and lifestyle news. Quinn is a voting member of the Drama Desk. She is a contributor to NBCNews.com/NBCBLK.com, BlackEnterprise.com, HuffPost, and Medium.com, among others.
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