Age & Hometown: 20; Newark, NJ
Current Role: An off-Broadway debut as Angel, the endearing drag performer and emotional cornerstone of Rent.
Born to Sing: Though his first public performance was in first grade (a solo of “Auld Lang Syne”), Rodriguez found his voice long before that. “It all started when I was 11 months old, singing a song by Jodeci in the back seat of the car,” he says, laughing over the now-defunct boy band. “My mother turned around and said, ‘Who is that?’ When she saw it was me, she said, ‘I think we have a singer on our hands.’” By age 11, Rodriguez found an artistic home at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, which led to a summer program at Berklee College of Music in Boston. “I knew this was the place I wanted to be,” he recalls, and enrolled for two semesters before getting his off-Broadway break.
Just Call Me Angel: Rodriguez first encountered Angel Schunard when he and his father saw the 2005 movie version of Rent, which re-created Wilson Jermaine Heredia’s Tony-winning performance. “I turned to my father and said, ‘I want to play Angel.’ And he said, ‘In due time, son.’” Five ...
Thursday, September 1, 2011
MJ Rodriguez on His Heavenly Off-Broadway Debut as Angel in Rent
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