Andrew Durand is Beloved by Broadway, but He’s Ready to Age Backwards at The Public in THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

There is nothing Andrew Durand cannot do. Whether it’s making us cackle as the Dentist in Little Shop of Horrors at the Westside Theatre, standing still for hours as the title character in Dead Outlaw, or cracking a corny (pun intended) joke in Shucked, New York City has been graced with his presence in a whole lot of ways. One thing he hasn’t done (yet): age backwards. 

Durand will take on the title role in the hit musical The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which will make its U.S. premiere after an acclaimed run in London at the Public Theatre this October. We caught up with Durand to talk about his run in Sam Pinkleton’s revival of The Rocky Horror Show at Studio 54, his audition process for Benjamin Button, and his connection to Cornwall and the musical stylings of Benjamin Button.  

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Andrew, huge two show day. I want to talk about Rocky Horror for a second before we get into Benjamin Button. I would love to hear, as you’re getting close to wrapping up. Any favorite memories? How has your experience been?  

Gosh, it's been wild. I mean, I've never I have never experienced and probably will never experience again a show where the audience screams things at you all throughout your performance. You know, that's a complicated thing to weave into your performance that you never really think about or have to deal with. But it's fun. I like that people come in and they start doing their callouts and then halfway through the show, they sort of stop doing them. And I think it's because we are trying to take you deeper into this story than you thought you could go, or make these characters more human than you thought maybe they were. So the audience starts to invest in the story and the call-outs sort of fall away. I think they forget because they're invested. Hopefully it's that and not because they're bored. 

‍I would think it’s because they’re invested based on what I saw when I was there. 

Oh good, you saw it, oh good. 

‍Huge fan, had the best time of my life, so much fun. 

Yeah, it was so fun. The development of it was really fun. I've never done a revival before, so there was something refreshing and different about the [fact that the] material is what it is. When you're making a new show, you toil over how you can rewrite things to make it work. But in this we were sort of like, “Well, how do we justify what's there already?” which was a really fun challenge. Sam Pinkleton was so amazing because he has such reverence for the material; he wanted to make everyone happy and proud and you know because so many people feel ownership over this piece. I think he did a really great job at doing that. 

‍100%. Do you have a favorite memory from doing this show this summer? 

It's a really fun cast. Harvey Guillen, this is his first time on Broadway and he loves to host and throw a party. And when he heard about SNOB, Saturday Night on Broadway, like two days later, he had ordered a giant neon sign and put it in his dressing room that says “Eddie on the rocks” with Rocky Horror lips on it. We’ve had some SNOBs in there, so that was really fun. I'm excited to be in this show that is the last show that will be in Studio 54 before it's renovated. That feels really cool. With this show, one of the things Sam Pinkleton said was that we wanted to feel like it's always been there and it will always be there, so it sort of reaches out into the house. That’s been an exciting thing to be a part of, that feels like it's such a part of the DNA of Studio 54. 

‍Looking ahead to the fall, you're about to jump into this project, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I’m curious how you became familiar with this in the first place and what drew you to the material. 

I got an audition for it, and I told some friends about it and everybody that I've talked to that saw it in London loved it. They were obsessed with it even, a lot of people saying things like, it's their favorite musical they've ever seen or favorite musical in the last 10 years, things like that. So I was like, “okay, wow, so this is really a thing.” Then I started to read it and listen to it and yeah, it's such a beautiful story and it's so complex. The way Jethro [Compton, book and lyrics writer] has written all these things that are the reflection of life as we all live it. And with how many coincidences there are and twists and turns that bring us back to the people that we're always supposed to be with. It's a grand adventure but it's also so small and granular at the same time. I think that's so powerful and it's so relevant to what life is. 

The aging [backwards] thing is very intimidating. I don't wanna say I was under prepared, but I felt like half prepared for the audition with the material. I went in and I was like, “well, I don't really know what's gonna happen.” I went into the room and Jethro was really cool. And we talked a lot because I worked with this British theatre company called Knee-High for four or five years back in the earlier 2000s. They’re from Cornwall, so it's very much this story. It's where Jethro’s from. All that to say that, in the room, everything sort of clicked. We had a really great conversation when I started to do the material, and I got it in that moment, you know? Like when I was preparing it, I was like, “I think I get it, but I'm not sure.” But then when I started doing it for them, the people who created it and the people who were invested in it, it all came together and felt really powerful, like it was meant to be. 

‍I love that. Tell me about that click moment in the room for you. What makes a moment where you're like, “oh, I get this now”? 

I think when you're not having to put something onto the material, you know? While I was doing it, I connected with my own humanity and my own journey and you know I wasn't having to act, per se, I was just sort of being the vessel for this material. And because it's so good and so well written and so relatable, I could just like find so much of myself in it. Auditioning is really hard and awkward, but when all that noise goes away because you click with the material, it's such a gift. I just feel like that's what happened. There's a lot in my life that sort of I can connect to the story, so it was sort of a cathartic experience. Theatre can be therapeutic. 

‍That's so well said. You mentioned lots of friends saying this is their favorite thing ever, best show of the last 10 years, etc. What are you most excited to dive into here, knowing that bringing this to the States has been so anticipated? 

I think it's so amazing that there are no offstage musicians. To me, that's really exciting. You get to see all of it. I mean so often you see a musical and the music is such a big part of it and you kind of forget that there's a band somewhere, so I love that the music is gonna be all there on stage and that the storytelling will be very actor driven, I think. I'm also excited about that challenge of the aging and not making a joke out of it. You don't wanna come out as an old man and people are laughing, or you don't want to come out as your version of a 70-year-old man, and there is a 70 year old man sitting in the audience and they're like, “well, I am not like that.” It's going to be a fine line. I just feel like that's going to be a constant challenge in a good way. 

‍Speaking of music, I feel that you've gotten to do a lot of different styles of music the past couple of years. I'm curious, when you get a new score, how do you approach it when it's a new style? 

When I worked with Knee-High Theatre Company for those several years, this was very much the style of music that they did. Almost like a sea shanty — you can see people getting in a circle with their instruments and sort of writing something on the cliffs of Cornwall by the ocean. It's very grounded, salt of the earth. It’s the kind of music that can almost have a call and response to it. You can very quickly pick up on what the melody is and you know, it's the kind of music that feels timeless, like it could be passed through generations. I grew up in Georgia in the South, going to church and things like that, so that kind of music is similar, I would say. So it's kind of been in my world for a while, but I'm always grateful to work on a musical that has songs that are different from what you would find in a usual musical. 

‍I feel like the second that this casting got announced, my entire feed was people just so excited to see you in this. I'm curious what that response felt like on your end when you saw it.

I'm happy that people like what I'm doing, and that people keep hiring me to do things. I don't feel like I do too much extra. I'm not that active on social media. I'm out doing concerts around town, things like that. I sort of just do the shows that I do, so I'm happy to know that that's enough for people to appreciate my work and what I put forward, and I'm happy to be supported. It's better than the alternatives. 

‍I'm curious, you've gotten to dive into lots of different kinds of roles the past couple of years. Dead Outlaw is very different from the dentist in Little Shop, very different from Brad in Rocky Horror, very different from this. What draws you to a role when you see it? 

It's always if I can sort of see their humanity and see things from their point of view and stand up for who they are. But also I'm really intrigued by characters that have a lot of learning to do and have to change. Brad, for example, I find him so intriguing because he starts the show really thinking he knows who he is and what he wants out of life. Then they go to this castle and he has all these experiences that challenge all of that and turn it all on his head. And at least in Rocky Horror by the end, there's no resolution for him. I think he goes on to eternity in confusion possibly, but I like those kind of characters that think they know one thing and that are really challenged on what they know and they have to grapple with that. 

‍As you look ahead to rehearsals fenjamin Button, what are you most looking forward to? 

I'm really looking forward to working at The Public. I did Shakespeare in the Park, but that was years ago. I did Loves, Labours, Lost, directed by Alex Timbers, music by Michael Friedman. I'm excited to be down at The Public in the building where all the great art happens. I'm really excited to work with a lot of active musicians. You end up with different people than you do when you're doing a musical where nobody has to play instruments, so I'm excited for that kind of different vibe. I’m excited that we have a lot of time to make our version of what this is. I got to talk to Jethro a little bit, and obviously they've done the show before so we have a great Blueprint in place, but I'm excited that he seems to feel like he wants to change some things. I am excited to just explore. 

‍I'm curious, this has been a crazy era for you, I'm sure. When you look back on this period of your life, five, 10, 20 years from now, what are you most hoping that you'll remember from this time? 

I just want to remember finding gratitude, because it has been amazing, but it has also been really hard. I've been very fortunate in my career, as you said, in the past year and a half. Most of my shows have gone back to the point that I'm rehearsing one during the day and doing the other one at night for up to a month at a time. But then what happens is you sort of lose touch with everything else in your life. I haven't had dinner with a friend in months, you know. Booked and blessed is the double-edged sword, so when I look back, I think I will remember finding the moments of gratitude and practicing finding the moment of stillness where I can sort of breathe and have a moment to stop and rest and be thankful for everything in my life, as well as the work. 

‍Is there anything this fall that you’re hoping to catch on a day off? 

I have some friends doing the show called Soon, an off-Broadway musical. One of my good friends is directing it, another good friend is writing it, I have another friend in it, so that would be really fun to go see. I don't know, can I say this? I'm always a little more intrigued to go see what's off-Broadway than on Broadway. I feel like you can find some gems out there and off-broadway can be refreshing because they don't necessarily have to focus on selling tickets. They are making art, and the people that are there doing the shows are there because they love it and they wanna do it and they're passionate about the work and the thing that they are creating. I'm excited to catch some, see what's up in the off Broadway scene.