You wouldn’t know it from talking to him but actor Danny Becker, who was born in Great Britain and is making his American principal debut in the Rubic0n Theatre Company’s production of Ragtime has a lot more in common with his character, the Latvian Jew Tateh, than you might expect. Becker just completed a year-long run in London’s West End as Hester Leggatt in the Tony Award-winning musical Operation Mincemeat, following successful appearances in shows like Frozen, Aladdin, and If/Then. Becker delivered an impressive performances in the show, which is running through November 15 at the Rubicon Theatre Company in Ventura. We spoke to him prior to opening night.
VCOS: I’ve seen Ragtime a number of times but this is the first time I’ve seen it played by someone from England. Can you talk about your initial impressions of Ragtime as an actor who’s spent much of his time in England?
DANNY: Of course. I was lucky enough to actually go and see a production in London at a place called Regents Park Open Air Theatre, which is a big theater in the UK. It has a lovely summer season, and my parents took me to go see it. When I was sixteen I went to my first drama school called the BRIT School. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it. It’s in Croydon, England and they had a library there and I heard Ragtime, so this musical has been in my life since the age of fifteen and sixteen. I listened to the cast recording and absolutely adored it, but specifically how it affected me as a British actor. I think of it more as a Jewish actor, to be honest, because there are so many massive correlations with my personal history and my ancestors, who immigrated from Eastern Europe to find a better life in another country. So I relate to it deeply on that level.
VCOS: Where did you come from originally?
DANNY: I was born and raised in London but my grandparents and other ancestors came from Eastern Europe, similar to Tateh.
VCOS: So you did have some kind of a background to draw from.
DANNY: Oh, completely. I mean, it’s the immigrant’s story. It’s the story of my grandparents, the Jewish experience. It feels very, very relatable, and even more so with the fact that – I don’t know if you know – but I am actually starting a new chapter of my career here. I came over on a Disney cruise ship, obviously much more glamorous than Tateh did, going with all the other immigrantsm but it was quite serendipitous, coming across on a boat from the UK to America to tell a story about a Jewish man coming to achieve the American dream. So that’s kind of crazy.
VCOS: Do you find your approach to playing Tateh as seeing him as a symbol rather than a real person?
DANNY: Oh, that’s a great question. I think I see him…actually that’s a really great question. I guess the answer is both. For me, I see him as this person that symbolizes hope, coming to a place and having the chutzpah and the drive and wanting a better life for him and his family and just doing everything he can to make that happen. But the way I play him, I want to ground it in humanity and make it feel real and visceral as possible.
VCOS: Of course, the story gives him a larger, contextual role as it is implied that he has invented the motion picture industry, which reflects early Jewish film moguls like Samuel Goldwyn, Carl Laemmle, and Adolph Zukor, among others. When the show flashes forward and we see a later incarnation of him, is it difficult communicating that this is the same man?
DANNY: Oh, completely. I think that’s the joy of playing him. I was out with Jeremy, our director, last night and he was telling me how incredible this part is for me because I feel like I get to explore so much in this part. I get to play the serious, hopeful scenes with the little girl and sing the emotional ballads like “Gliding” in Act I as he is trying to get a better life after being abused on the streets. Then you see him in Act 2 and it’s almost like it’s a different person, this elevated, heightened version where’s he’s now this millionaire and I get to sing the brilliant patter song, “Buffalo Nickel Photoplay Inc.” Musically, this reflects the difference in him as well. In Act I, his songs are more ballad based and then I do this patter song. So it’s an absolute gift to be able to do this part and explore all of that.
VCOS: Did you ever do Gilbert and Sullivan operettas in England?
DANNY: I did! (laughs) Are you asking me because I’m British?
VCOS: Yes, because not only are you British, but your performance would certainly be enhanced by someone with experience in comic operas like the ones they did.
DANNY: Thank you, I never really put those two things together but yeah, I was lucky enough to play Ralph Rackstraw in HMS Pinafore in London.
VCOS: So you never thought about how that might have helped you?
DANNY: I actually haven’t, so thank you!
VCOS: Maybe that’s why it was so much easier for you.
DANNY: Well, you say that but once you start moving with the patter, because we have the most phenomenal choreographer, Natalie Iscovich…
VCOS: I know Natalie. A couple of years ago, I was on a group tour of Eastern Europe and she was on that trip with her mother. Make sure you ask her about the time we went to Racovnik in Czechia. There’s a great story about that.
DANNY: Oh, I will! Absolutely. I’m obsessed with her, she’s fantastic. She’s given me these energetic movements to do as Tateh and it took me a few days to catch my breath because it’s hard to move and do those patter songs at the same time.
VCOS: What about Tateh’s dialect? Did you have to study for that?
DANNY: Luckily I had that in hand already because of my Eastern European roots. My grandparents are Hungarian and I know it’s not the same as Latvia but it’s similar. I’ve played Jewish roles before and was lucky enough to play a Hungarian role many years ago when I was in drama school so that experience is somewhere there and I’m doing a combination of that now.
VCOS: Have you ever played in Fiddler on the Roof?
DANNY: Not yet, but I’m hoping one day that people will get to see my Tevye, that is, when I’m old enough. That’s the dream. Oddly enough, being a Jewish musical theater actor, you would have that I would have done Fiddler by now, but that hasn’t come across me yet. I think there’s a reason for that.
VCOS: Well, have heart. Topol was 30 when he first played Tevye and he was 35 when he was in the movie version.
DANNY: He was thirty? Wow, I think that’s quite young!
VCOS: So don’t rule it out, I think you can do it!
DANNY: Oh, not, I’m not ruling it out yet. I’m trying to think what else I’ve done. I played Jamie in The Last Five Years and I was also in the original cast in The Prince of Egypt in the West End, with Jeremy directing; that’s how we met. That was obviously a Jewish story. And then I was in a workshop production in 2022 of The Band’s Visit in London at the Donmar Warehouse. That was an amazing show, I played Itzik.
VCOS: Well, best of luck in the future.
DANNY: Thank you. I hope you enjoy the show.
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Ragtime plays through November 15 at the Rubicon Theatre Company in Ventura. For tickets, visit RubiconTheatre.org
