On Broadway, Conservatory Alums Take Center Stage Musical theater grads make an impact on Tony-nominated productions and share advice for current students.
By
Sarah Godcher Murphy
May 11, 2023
The Broadway play Goodnight, Oscar features musical theater alum March nt Davis (left) as Alvin Tunney and Sean Hayes as Oscar Levant.
Joan Marcus
Boston Conservatory's musical theater alums are no strangers to Broadway. Year after year, the school consistently makes Playbill's Big 10 list of the colleges most represented in Broadway productions. That said, the spring 2023 season has been a particularly exciting one for Conservatory grads. Three alums currently have roles in brand new productions-and all three of the shows in which they're featured recently received Tony Award nominations.
In her Broadway debut, Sonya Venugopal (M.F.A. 17, musical theater) plays Rani in Life of Pi, which received five Tony nominations. Andrew Durand (B.F.A. 08, musical theater) is starring as Beau in Shucked, an original comedy that earned nine nominations, including Best Musical and Best Book. And, March nt Davis (B.F.A. 13, musical theater) portrays Alvin Finney in the play Goodnight, Oscar, which scored three nominations. Davis also appeared in last year's critically acclaimed comedy Ain't No Mo', which just received a Tony nomination for Best Play.
Variety magazine has called Shucked the surprise delight of the Broadway season, and the New Yorker has praised its funky, rootsy score with memorable melodies and clever lyrics by Nashville hit-makers Brandi Clark and Shane McAnally. Beyond these obvious strengths, Durand attributes the show's early success, in part, to its unique story.
There have not been many musicals in the last decade that aren't based on this movie or this interesting catalog of music or have this movie star in it so they can sell tickets, he says. People are really excited about something truly original.
Musical theater alum Andrew Durand (right) plays Beau in the new Tony-nominated musical Shucked, with Kevin Cahoon (center) and Caroline Innerbichler (left).
Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
It also helps that the book (by Robert Horn) has audience members constantly laughing. The show could be three hours long if we held for all the laughs, Durand says. We just have to keep going.
After 12 years of development and pandemic-related delays, Shucked is poised for a long Broadway run, bolstered by its Tony recognitions. Those are sort of badges of honor, I guess, Durand says, but I think the real magic seems to be already happening-which is, the people who come to see it leave the theater and they tell their friends, You have to go see this show.'
Fresh on the heels of his performance in Ain't No Mo' last December, March nt Davis returned to the Belasco Theater this April, for the Broadway debut of Goodnight, Oscar, written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife) and directed by Lisa Peterson. Davis plays a medical orderly, Alvin Finney, who's been assigned to look after the pianist Oscar Levant during a four-hour furlough from a mental institution. Unbeknownst to his doctors, Levant (played by Sean Hayes) intends to make a live appearance on The Tonight Show with Jack Parr.
Goodnight, Oscar examines the interplay of entertainment and exploitation in ways that are both funny and heartbreaking. Alvin's character is the accountability partner to Oscar Levant's recklessness, Davis says. In layman's terms we can say he is the straight man, but I think when you see the show, you'll see he throws out quips just as much as Oscar does.
Davis has made a home for himself on Broadway this past year, but also has found success in a range of other projects. His children's book, A Boy and His Mirror, was published by Penguin Random House in January. Later this month, his new film Reality (about the FBI investigation of whistleblower Reality Winner) will premiere on HBO Max. Davis also is participating in a directing fellowship at the Mercury Store in Brooklyn, and plans to pursue more directing opportunities when Goodnight, Oscar completes its run.
New creative challenges keep Davis thriving. Once you get to the top of one mountain, you realize it's like the beginning of the next, he says. It doesn't stop, you know?
Making her Broadway debut in Life of Pi, Sonya Venugopal is enjoying the view from her own mountaintop. After a wildly successful run in London's West End (and five Olivier Awards), the play made its North American premiere last December at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts-with Venugopal joining the cast as Rani. The production transitioned to Broadway just a few months later.
Honestly, I couldn't have asked for a better production and group of people, she says. We also have quite a majority of South Asian actors, so the representation aspect has been just beyond anything I could have asked for.
Venugopal says it's been a welcome surprise to make her Broadway debut in a role that feels relevant to her both personally and culturally. It's been such a blessing to be able to tell stories authentically that actually resonate with me. I don't think that happens very often.
If I Knew Then What I Know Now: Advice for Conservatory Students Davis, Durand, and Venugopal share their advice with current Conservatory students.
Things that are meant for you won't pass you by. You get wrapped up in school and you feel stressed out and you think, Is any of this even going to help? and all of that. But I think, wrapped up in that, is you learning that you're a human being-a holistic person who'll contribute to the world in the way that you're meant to. If I could have said, Leave all that stress behi
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
13/05/2026
New Adobe Premiere Color Grading Mode Accelerated on NVIDIA GPUs
Joel Pennington May 13, 2026
0 Comments
New NVIDIA RTX-accelerated features streamlin...
13/05/2026
Grass Valley announced that dB Broadcast has delivered new IP-based outside broadcast (OB) trucks for Cloudbass, featuring Grass Valley LDX 100 Series cameras a...
13/05/2026
Ikegami will exhibit the latest additions to its wide range of broadcast production cameras, control units, viewfinders and monitors on stand 5D3-1 at Broadcast...
13/05/2026
FISE, working with the founding members of the XR Sports Alliance (XRSA), Accedo, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and HBS, have collaborated to develop an immersive...
13/05/2026
Canon Unveils New EOS R6 V Full-Frame EOS Camera and RF20-50mm F4 L IS USM PZ Bu...
13/05/2026
Boston Conservatory at Berklee Honors Beth Morrison and Moses Pendleton at Comme...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Creative software developer Foundry today announced the latest developments on Nuke Stage. A purpose-built application for end-to-end virtual production and in-...
13/05/2026
A definitive portrait of one of Ireland's most influential musicians
New TV documentary airs Monday 18 May on RT One and RT Player at 9.35pm
Watch the...
13/05/2026
Agentic AI is changing the way users get work done. Following the success of OpenClaw, the community is embracing new open source agentic frameworks. The latest...
13/05/2026
Reinforcement-learning agents - AI systems that learn by trial and error - can c...
12/05/2026
Beyond the Hype: A Strategic Post-Hoc Analysis of NAB 2026 If NAB Show 2026 had an underlying theme, it was a quiet, industry-wide pivot from the high-energy sp...
12/05/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D), a Panoptec Technologies Group company, and CT Square, led by Chandresh Shah, have announced a joint venture to distribute G&D and V...
12/05/2026
With 30 days until the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026, Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the tournament in the United States, has announced th...
12/05/2026
The NHL has announced the return of Stanley Pup for its third consecutive year, a 90-minute special featuring adoptable rescue dogs competing on a miniature rin...
12/05/2026
NBCUniversal presented its 2026 Upfront to advertisers at Radio City Music Hall, detailing upcoming programming across NBC, Peacock, Bravo, and Versant properti...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced funding for the Fandom and Social Connection Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Publ...
12/05/2026
TNDV and Live Media, both divisions of Live Media Group, supported live broadcast coverage around NCAA Final Four weekend in Indianapolis, including the March M...
12/05/2026
The European Football Alliance (EFA) has announced a content distribution agreement with Fubo Sports Network, the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel ...
12/05/2026
For the first time, Spanish-speaking fans in the U.S. will have two separate tel...
12/05/2026
CP Communications led a comprehensive spectrum management initiative on behalf of Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby week, coordinating RF assets across the ...
12/05/2026
LiveU has announced a strategic partnership with DRONERESPONDERS, a 501(c)3 non-...
12/05/2026
Open Broadcast Systems has announced that BMC TV, a specialist in IP transport of broadcast content, has selected the Open Broadcast Systems 5G Flyaway solution...
12/05/2026
NEP Europe, part of NEP Group, has announced it will deliver broadcast solutions...
12/05/2026
Grass Valley has announced continued collaboration with Ravensbourne University ...
12/05/2026
Stats Perform has announced the launch of Opta Pulse, an AI-assisted video creation and distribution platform for leagues, rights holders, and broadcasters. The...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced a collaboration with Sesame Workshop to integrate Sesame Street characters into FOX Sports' FIFA World Cup 2026 programming. Conten...
12/05/2026
To date, NHL Productions has produced 19 broadcasts with commentary in American Sign Language
NHL in ASL (American Sign Language) may be just one show, but the...
12/05/2026
Google's Brian Albert: creators, athletes, highlights, nostalgia, second-scr...
12/05/2026
A still from Past Lives by Celine Song, an official selection of the Premieres program at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of Sundance Institute | p...
12/05/2026
Spotify is where fans and artists come together, turning discovery into somethin...
12/05/2026
Features patented Marco-MMC clocking technology
Black Lion Audio's latest release combines the company's expertise in clocking with their renowned p...
12/05/2026
New Track Panel, sequencer upgrades & more
Following their recent public beta release, Reason Studios have announced the full release of Reason 14. With the...
12/05/2026
One month to go! SBS reveals expansive FIFA World Cup 2026 lineup beyond the pi...
12/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz presents its advanced solutions for power electronics testing at...
12/05/2026
aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, has developed a modified fund raising p...
12/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/05/2026
Tyrell Corporation, specialists in high-end live sports and entertainment broadcasts, was tasked with delivering compelling broadcast coverage of premier equest...
12/05/2026
Registration is now open for IBC2026 as the global media, entertainment and technology community prepares to converge on the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September ...
12/05/2026
Ross Video, a global leader in live video production technology, will present its latest innovations and integrated production workflows at BroadcastAsia 2026, ...
12/05/2026
500 selected leaders from around the world across start-ups, corporates, and venture capital. Over 50bn in assets under management among attending investors, a...
On Broadway, Conservatory Alums Take Center Stage Musical theater grads make an impact on Tony-nominated productions and share advice for current students. 
