Balancing acting and dad work

Glen Ridge resident Nick Gaswirth will be performing at the Paper Mill Playhouse, Feb. 4 to March 1, in the musical “Come From Away.”

The story is about the emergency detours, to Newfoundland, of 7,000 airline passengers originally headed for various American airports on Sept. 11, 2001, the day the World Trade Center was attacked. The 100-minute production is without intermission.

Gaswirth grew up in Los Angeles and attended the University of Michigan for musical theater. In middle school he had been cast in “The Boyfriend,” liked it and began to daydream, wondering if he could be a performer.

“I grew up seeing theater,” he said recently. “I was 12 or 13 when I saw ‘Ragtime’ and it blew my mind. It was the first time I saw something that made me think. I can pinpoint that night going from, ‘Oh, that’s something I’d like to do,’ to getting serious about it.”

That’s when Gaswirth started taking singing lessons outside of school. He had been in the high school orchestra and switched to choir. He asked his teachers how he could perform for a living.

“I started talking to people,” he said, “and doing things outside of school when I got to college. We were encouraged to put ourselves out in front of people.

And that door started to slowly open.”

After graduating, Gaswirth appeared in “The Full Monty,” in the Westchester Broadway Theater.

“It was my first professional job a handful of months out of college,” he said.

He has appeared mostly in musicals. However, a few years ago he was in a straight play, “Moriarty,” a comedy by Ken Ludwig, at the Cleveland Playhouse. But just before being cast in “Come From Away,” he came full circle and understudied in “Ragtime,” at Lincoln Center.

In the Paper Mill show, Gaswirth plays Oz and several smaller roles.

“Oz is one of two police officers in Gander, Newfoundland, where the story takes place,” he said. “It’s a small, remote town and 38 planes were forced to land here. That’s pretty much the beginning of the show. The people didn’t know why they were there. And the score is amazing. It’s in a style of music you’d find in Newfoundland.”

The book, music and lyrics for “Come From Away” are by Canadians Irene Sankoff and David Hein. It opened on Broadway, March 12, 2017, and closed after 1,669 regular performances. It played 1,048 performances in the West End, London, and was nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and won for Best Musical Direction.

Gaswirth started performing professionally before he married, but now he is married with a child.

“I told my wife I couldn’t be doing this 15 years ago,” he said. “There’s no better teaching than the doing. That was a tough thing to learn. I’m aging into my characters. I’m almost totally bald and have a beard. Basically, I’ve been waiting to play the dads and uncles.”

If anyone wants to break into the business, he said, they should just remember that the more you say “yes,” the better off you will be.

“I spent a lot of time walking on eggshells in this business.” he said, “But no, no, ask for what you need and get yourself into a room and do it.”

Since becoming a parent, Gaswirth said he has become more selective with the roles he will play and tries not to go out of town. Being with his family has a lot to say about what he will accept. He asks himself that if he goes out of town, for how long will it be and how will it benefit his family.

“It’s a difficult business with a family, for sure,” he said.

He has two children and has been thinking about bringing the older child to see her father at work for the first time in “Come From Away.” Gaswirth, a borough resident for three years, always heard about the Paper Mill Playhouse and it has been on his bucket list for some time.

The part he always wanted to play in “Ragtime,” the show that altered his life, was Ta Ta. At Lincoln Center, he understudied for this part and will be returning to “Ragtime” once he finishes his Paper Mill gig. But right now, the role of Oz is foremost.

“I try to treat any role I have as the only one to think about,” he said. “That’s the nature of the theater. It’s ephemeral. The role that I’m performing is always my favorite.”