This morning Ryan woke me up to tell me: “I just looked at your RENT playbill and Bryce from the SoCal VoCals played Roger!!!!”
Bryce is a legend to the incarnation of DeCadence from the year before I joined. For their spring tour in 2001 (I joined in the fall of 2001), they went to LA and all of them fell in love with this skinny bouncy guy who wrote a song that went … ok I can’t remember how it went. But they demanded that we new DeCadence members watch the Bryce video, and the “We All Love Bryce” video (which was also the “Ha Ha Angela Lost Her Voice” video and “Ryan crawls out of his shell” video). Bryce was also known to make Suzanne talk about blue lagoons and mermaids and chocolate. And blow jobs. But again, I wasn’t actually there for this.
Anyway, Ryan was rather intrigued by this relevation. Ryan is also diligent: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=43030451
So although I’ve never met Bryce myself, I feel honored to have seen him in the flesh from W rows away as a good (if coltish-gangly) Roger, since he meant so much to Previous-DeCadence.
(I think when I saw rent in 2001 the cast included one of the twins who were in the Octet years previously? I want to say he was the “will i lose my dignity” guy but I really don’t know where I got that from; I’m probably wrong)
What a charmed life! I mean, anyone who gets to star in a national musical tour must lead a charmed life I guess, but I can marvel at this because since he was in a collegiate a cappella group that means once he led a life that was similar to mine in one way so extrapolating wildly from that it would be like me getting to play a lead in my first national tour. You know? He is lucky!
I believe it was former Octet member Jake Manabat who was in the Rent touring cast when you last saw it, and he was an understudy for Angel. Ask Paul Hogarth for more info.
If that was Bryce as Roger, that means a friend of mine has his autograph, since we were able to meet the cast at the backstage door afterwards on Sunday…
I think what this means is that being in an acapella group predetermines your future as a star performer. Hopefully the bonus goes beyond just roles in Rent!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU BRYCE!!!!!
man, i’d be happy with just roles in rent.
He sang a song that went “I’ve never been so alone… I’ve never been so alive” I think it was a song by a popular group but not a popular song, like Third Eye Blind or something. But wow. Just wow. Did he wear a beanie hat and wallet chain onstage?
It was Motorcycle Drive By by Third Eye Blind.
no hat, yes chain.
skinny skinny skinny skinny plaid pants. i like roger’s “2nd act” outfit better: black sleeveless tee (and pants that weren’t A) plaid or B) ridiculously skinny). and i like his hair.
I should contact him on myspace and send him our fan video. muahahahah.
O my god, Bryce does have hair under his beanie.