Meet Todd Buonopane

“I love you.” Three little words, eight little letters — and we all want to hear them. But, for Todd Buonopane, the nine words made from the 33 letters that followed were ones he didn’t want to hear: “But you’re not going to work for 10 years.”

That’s what one of his favorite teachers told Todd when he was about to graduate from the University of Michigan in 2000. Todd is a short beefy guy with a moonface who might, indeed, be cast as Moonface Martin in high school or even college; but, in the real world, guys who are Moonie’s actual age — in their 30s or older — get the part. Nevertheless, I’ve seen Todd twice on stage in the last few months, first in Lady, Be Good at Musicals Tonight! and then in Once Upon a Time in New Jersey, under Patricia Birch’s direction. I was very impressed by his exuberance at performing, so next I’ll see him as Willie in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn at the Goodspeed Opera House. And only three years have passed since his graduation.

None of the above was Todd’s first real job after he finished at Michigan. First came a 10-month tour of Godspell in which he sang “The Light of the World.” Explains Todd with his big, broad smile, “I was later told that the producers who were watching the auditions said ‘We need a fun guy’ just before I walked in. I got the part that night. It was eight hard rock singers and me, doing everything from one night in Macon, Georgia to three weeks at the Shubert in Boston.”

That last-named gig was particularly sweet, for Todd is from the Boston area — a town called Andover — “so my parents rented a bus on opening night for 51 of their friends and relatives to see me. My folks were going to make T-shirts with my face on them for everybody, but I talked them out of that.”

Nice turnaround, for there was a time when Todd’s parents had their doubts about his success. Like so many fathers, Todd’s wanted him to play baseball and even coached a team, but Todd preferred producing shows for the family at Christmastime. When he did play ball, he was a perpetual right-fielder — the sport’s least demanding position. He did think about playing the infield until one of the other coaches told him, “That’s for the good players.” (Todd didn’t fare much better at football, either. As he recalls, “I’d knock a kid down, immediately say, ‘I’m sorry!’ and go to pick him up. I was told you’re not supposed to do that.”)

By the time Todd reached the fifth grade, his mother saw the theatrical handwriting on the wall. When she read in the paper that a local kids’ show was casting, she asked her son if he wanted to audition. Todd gave an enthusiastic response and off they went. “As soon as we arrived and she saw how accomplished the other kids were,” he recalls, “she tried to make me leave. But I wouldn’t.” Not only did he audition well enough to land a lead but the director suggested that he try out for The Confetti Kids, a troupe that performed at the Elks’ Club and local amusement parks. He got that gig, too. And although his father would have preferred a crackerjack centerfielder to a Confetti Kid, he didn’t stand in his son’s way.

Once thrust into this environment, Todd discovered show music. At 11, he got a cassette of Into the Woods and sat dutifully by the stereo, writing down the lyrics — “because,” he explains, “the tape didn’t come with the libretto and I didn’t know such things existed. I was thinking, ‘Somebody really ought to be taking this down,’ and I took on the job.” He eventually caught on and became an avid collector of CDs with lyric-laden booklets. “I usually buy original cast CDs before I buy clothes,” he admits.

Todd learned even more that same year when he discovered Stage Door Manor, which he would attend for seven consecutive summers. This, of course, is the camp on which the movie Camp is based. “I was too old to be in the movie,” he says with regret in his voice. “I liked the film, but the girls were not allowed in the boys’ room and I don’t know where that lake was.” Because money wasn’t plentiful in the Buonopane household, Todd could only attend the last of the three three-week sessions but, after three years, he was awarded a scholarship.

At camp, he played Pseudolus, Nicely-Nicely, King Sextimus, Buzz in Applause, the father in Rags, and Preysing in Grand Hotel — all the roles that older actors get in real life but ones that kids who are built like bulldogs get in situations such as these. Todd is still mourning the fact that the camp’s production of Follies didn’t happen while he was there, “especially because they did it with three generations: Phyllis, Young Phyllis, and Younger Phyllis.” He stops and smiles: “They have a lot of girls at Stage Door Manor!”

Once summers were over, Todd became a vital force in the Andover High School Drama Club, even landing a couple of roles for which he was the right age: Eugene in Brighton Beach Memoirs and Roger in Grease. Of course, there was that time when the school held a talent show and Todd, sandwiched between two grunge rock bands, sang “Sorry/Grateful.” Afterwards, during the loud chorus of boos, he thought: “Gee, I guess I should have done ‘Corner of the Sky.’ Okay, that’s what I’ll do next year.”

He was accepted into Emerson in Boston, where his folks really wanted him to go — not only because they preferred having him close by but also because the school offered him a scholarship. But Todd had his heart set on the much more prestigious Michigan and he did get in there, albeit without a scholarship. But his Stage Door Manor history repeated itself here, for he was awarded a scholarship in his junior year.

At Michigan — where he quickly got a reputation as the guy who knew that “Happily Ever After” was the original 11 o’clock number in Company — he was cast in adult roles once again: the ensemble of Sweeney Todd, Officer Krupke in West Side Story, and Elisha Whitney in Anything Goes. During summers, there was the usual stock job in New Hampshire where he made $40 a week for acting and building sets, not to mention sewing costumes and playing propsmaster. He was really looking forward to returning to Michigan for senior year, figuring that he could finally land a great part.

Then the school decided to do A Little Night Music. Todd was devastated for there was no logical part for him. “I could play Henrik, I guess,” he says, in a voice that shows he’s unconvinced himself. “I’m a teno, but a character man tenor, not an operatic tenor.” Still, where there’s a Todd, there’s a way. He decided to audition for Madame Armfeldt.

He shrugs. “All the girls said they didn’t want to play it because — can you believe this? — they thought the song was boring! I’d scream to them, ‘What are you talking about? It’s a great song!’ So I went into the audition and said ‘I want this part and I’m not treating it as a joke.’ They called me back eight times, and all the while the director kept summoning people in from different departments, saying ‘Listen to this, watch this, and tell me I’m not insane for considering it.’ A lot of people were worried because Paul Gemignani — the show’s original conductor — was coming to see the show and teach a master class, and maybe he’d be offended. But I was the one who could do it in Hermoine Gingold’s key,” he says, with a little pride coming through, “so they gave it to me.” He stops to smile. “It’s a good conversation piece on my résumé.”

Todd got his Equity card by landing the role of a waiter in The Butter and Egg Man at the Atlantic Theatre Company, and while he admits that he has worked as an actual waiter from time-to-time, he’s had more professional jobs on stage than many guys his age. After talking with him and with many other talented young actors who’ve just got out of school, I know why he’s succeeding and they’re not. They don’t seem to have Todd’s quiet confidence that he’s worthy of getting hired. Too many actors have stopped going to auditions because they regard them as mere cattle calls, which suggests that they don’t believe they have the stuff to make casting folks go, “Wow!” Todd isn’t arrogant, mind you — not remotely — but he does have an assurance that if he goes in for an audition, he’s going to make the director and/or casting agents take him seriously.

“After what that teacher told me,” he says, “I did suspect that I wouldn’t work. Who knew that my agent, Nancy Carson, would want me to go out for 16-year old roles? It didn’t occur to me that I have a baby face.” What’s more, Todd is glad that his father is proud of him: “Now he’s overly supportive. My mother tells me he meets people in restaurants and tells them about his actor-son in New York, to the point where she gets embarrassed.”

By the way, Todd’s last name is pronounced “Bwah-noh-PAH-nay” and means “good bread.” Speaking of that: Wouldn’t Todd be good as Aimable in The Baker’s Wife? Granted, he’s got years before he’ll really be the right age to play it, but imagine how much experience he’ll have by then!

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[To contact Peter Filichia directly, e-mail him at pfilichia@aol.com]