NYCeattleite: Louis Hobson, Starring in His First Broadway Show

On how he got the role in Next to Normal...

Interestingly, I was involved with one of the very first readings of the show in Seattle in 2002-ish, 2003. And I was actually playing the husband. We worked on it for two weeks, and then I didn't hear anything about it after that. And I moved out here in September. I moved here on a Friday, and auditioned for this on a Monday. My agents submitted me for it and I was like "I know this show." And I walked in and I knew everybody in the room. I actually auditioned for (the character) Gabe first, and they called me back for the understudies for the two younger characters, and then they sort of switched, and they called me back for the doctor and I didn't here anything for a month.

I knew what a big deal it was. I talked to my agents and they said, "Short of a Broadway show, this is the best thing you could be doing as your first thing here." That was so exciting because I didn't know it was coming, I just got an email from agent saying, "Hey, you're going to get an offer on Next to Normal." I was sitting on my couch in Tacoma, and I looked at my wife and said "I did it! I got a job (in New York). "

On the pressure on Broadway compared to Seattle...

You know, it's a whole other level of stress opening a new show on Broadway. I wasn't quite prepared for that. You know in Seattle, you have your press weekend, and you maybe have a couple of papers coming to review the show and really The Seattle Times is the only one that really means--Misha (Berson's) review means the most to me because she really, really knows what she's talking about.

Here you have The Washington Post, The New York Post, The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Chicago Tribune, for an entire week-and-a-half reviewing the show. So every night has to be your opening night, almost.

And you don't know when people are coming, and you could have an off show, and that could be the review. So there's just so much pressure to have the perfect show--or at least I felt that--to have the perfect show ten opening nights. And then opening night--that was a fantastic show, it was so fun--but then you're wondering what the reviews are going to be like. It was amazing--the party, and then all the reviews come out and we're reading them on our iPhones.

On what he says when people ask what the show's about...

I think that there's as many ways to explain the show and what it means as there are people who see it. It's a piece about grief and loss, but everybody can identify with one of the characters. Because everybody's lost something in their life--or someone. It's been interesting to see peoples' reactions out in the lobby, or at the stage door after the show peoples' reactions are just vastly different. A lot of people come up to me and say, "My daughter or my husband or my sister has bipolar disorder and this is a great opportunity to give a voice to people who maybe don't have a voice in popular culture." Then other people say, "That's my mom," or "That was me," whatever character they identify with.

Molly Smith, who was the artistic director when we were at the Arena Stage before this, said something that was really poignant to me, which was that there's lots of shows about unrequited love, but this is one of the few shows that has to do with unrequited grief. Grief that isn't returned. And for Diana it's a search for closure...I think a lot of people can identify with that. Grief isn't something that was accepted in an open way, like maybe it is more now than it was then. The idea of going to a shrink and all that kind of stuff is more acceptable now than it was 15, 20 years ago even.

On how starting his career in Seattle prepared him for New York...

Seattle is definitely a breeding ground for talent, and a great little sandbox for people here to go out and work and develop their pieces, and I feel lucky to have spent time out there.

It's quite interesting there are quite a few of us here (in New York) from Seattle. Ben Schrader is understudying at Avenue Q just down the street. And Steven Taylor, who is Mufasa in Lion King, I did a lot of shows out in Seattle with him. Obviously Brian Yorkey (the Village Theater director who wrote the lyrics for Next to Normal) and that whole Seattle connection. A friend of mine Kelly Dwight (now Kelly Sullivan) who I went to high school with, she played the lead in Young Frankenstein--she was the Teri Garr character.

I've been blessed to have been able to work with some of the best theater talent in the country out there. And really prepared me for this, I felt really comfortable walking into this.

Next to Normal is on an open-ended Broadway run at the Booth Theater. Cast Twitter Feed. Official site. Cast recording. Tickets.