I  recently met with Mr. Lubin for an in-depth interview discussing such topics as his life, his interest in theater and his obsession with all things Apple.  In part one, we discussed his theater interest and his experiences.

Question: What got you interested in theatre?

“Well, when I was 9 years old, my grandma took me to see a production of Singing in the Rain down at the Pittsburgh and interestingly enough, there was a boy in the chorus of that show who would’ve been 8, and we actually met about 5 or 6 years later and became best friends. He’s currently touring the country right now in a Broadway musical called Finding Neverland.”

Question: What is your favorite musical?

“My favorite musical is called Merrily We Roll Along which is a show that not many people know of. It was a huge flop in the 1980’s and since then they have rewritten it, reworked it and it has become very popular later on. But, it still has the stigma of being a huge failure. There was a production I saw of it four years ago in London and randomly four years later they’re bringing that same production to America with two of the same leads and the same director and they’re playing it in Boston for six weeks. So, this weekend I am going to Boston to see Merrily We Roll Along with three of my best friends from college who I also saw it with in London.”

Question: Favorite Broadway song?

“My favorite Broadway song… oh my god, let’s see. That’s like almost impossible, wow that is tough. Well, anything written by Stephen Sondheim is my favorite-”

Question: Is that the man who wrote the music for Merrily We Roll Along?

“Yes, he wrote Merrily We Roll Along, he wrote Into the Woods, Follies, Sweeney Todd, Company, I mean, he’s written some of the biggest musicals of all time and I would say most of my favorite songs come from him. Some of those would include “Old Friends” and “Not A Day Goes By” from Merrily We Roll Along, “Children Will Listen” from Into The Woods, “Losing My Mind” from Follies and “Being Alive” from Company.”

Question: Which Broadway character do you have the most similarities with?

“Bobby from Company, he’s a character who is hitting thirty or thirty five, I don’t know, he’s in his thirties. The show focuses around his birthday and all of his friends are married and they’re trying to convince him to get married, they’re unhappy and he’s really happy but he also thinks maybe he’s unhappy because he doesn’t have anyone to share his life with. He sees all the people around him, his best friends who are married, divorcing and cheating and he doesn’t know if that’s what he wants but then he realizes that, you know, part of the human experience is finding love but I like the character Bobby just because he’s like that archetype of just, you’re still young but you’re old enough that you have responsibility and you have to figure out your way in the world cause that’s kind of where I’m at. Not really even about the relationship aspect, it’s just about being at this age. So, I like the character of Bobby, he’s a good character.

Question: If you could be a character in any play you have ever watched, who would you be?

“Oh! If I could be a character in any play, I would be… oh man, if I could be anybody. Well, you know what; I’m going to go a little rogue here. The female roles are the most extraordinary roles, they have all the fun. Which, I guess they kind of deserve because men steal everything else. But, there is one character that I would love to gender bend and that is Miss Meers from Thoroughly Modern Millie. She’s nuts, so if you think of me in the classroom, that’s Miss Meers. She’s like an American woman pretending to be Asian, kidnapping girls who don’t have families and shipping them off to like, South East Asia to sell them into slavery. But, it is very funny, it’s a dark topic but it’s a very funny thing and she’ll go from being this American sounding woman to all of the sudden putting on this horribly offensive Asian accent and that character is just hilarious to me. I like a comedic role, where it’s more of a cartoon than anything else and that is what she is.