Jonathan Bennett Opens Up About Making His Broadway Debut in ‘Spamalot’: It’s a ‘Totally Different Ballgame’ (Exclusive)
Jonathan Bennett is set to make his Broadway debut in ‘Spamalot’ on January 23. The actor opens up about this ‘dream come true,’ how he jumped into rehearsals, and more.
Jonathan Bennett is stepping into the spotlight on Broadway for the first time. The Mean Girls alum is making his Broadway debut in Spamalot on January 23, and he’s more than ready for this exciting next chapter. Hollywood Life spoke exclusively about taking center stage in Camelot.
“I’ve wanted to be on Broadway since I was 5 years old, and the fact that I get to walk into the hottest musical comedy on Broadway right now and step into one of the most iconic roles by Monty Python and Eric Idle and that whole team, it’s just absolutely a dream come true,” Jonathan said. “I never in a million years thought I would actually get to be on Broadway, and now here I am getting to live out my dream. It’s absolutely the best thing that ever happened to me other than my husband.”
The 2023 revival premiered in fall 2023 with Michael Urie in the role of Sir Robin. Jonathan is taking on the role in the middle of its run. “When you step into a show like this where the musical is so big and it moves so fast, it’s like a rocket ship just barreling towards the sun,” Jonathan admitted. “They’re like, okay, you’re going to jump on and hold on tight as it comes by, so you just jump on and hold on for dear life. But the team that has been putting me through the rehearsal process, the creatives, are just the best of the best. I had to learn to just trust the process. They know what they’re doing. They know how to put you in a show. And by golly, they did it.”
He added, “I feel very confident starting the show. I’m excited, but I’m also nervous, but it’s a good nervous. It was a really crazy process when you don’t know what it’s going to be like. You step into something that you have no idea how the rehearsal process is going to be. You get there and you start working it and finding the character and learning all the blocking and the choreography and the songs… there’s so much to it that I can’t believe that these people do this 8 nights a week, and I’m about to be one of those people.”
Sir Robin is the “knight that is afraid to fight.” Jonathan told Hollywood Life that Sir Robin has been “such a fun character to play” so far. The character thinks that “being a knight just means dressing up and going to parties and dancing, so when he has to be put into the battlefield of Camelot, it throws him for a loop.”
Jonathan noted that it’s been “really fun to see Michael Urie who did a fantastic job of creating this character for this production. It’s been fun to play inside of Michael Urie’s scaffolding that he’s leaving and be able to create my own part and my own character, my own version of Sir Robin. I found some really fun differences and some things that are also the same. It’s kind of riding the line of you want to make sure you stay within the scaffolding that was created for this production but also throw your own twist. I think my Robin is a little more eager and a little less bright.”
Jonathan has spent years working in Hollywood in various films and television shows. The actor revealed that Broadway is a “totally different ballgame.” He continued, “I mean, TV and film is hard work, but it doesn’t even come close to what you have to do to do a show like Spamalot. It’s a completely different universe. It’s the most emotional, physical, and mentally challenging thing I’ve ever done in my entire life.”
The Halloween Wars and Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball Drop host pointed out that hosting has “prepared me for this role” because “you’re out there, you’re live, you have to think on your feet, and you have to be on the whole time. When you’re actually in a movie, you get breaks in between. You get to go to your trailer. With this, once the rocket ship takes off, you have to be on the rocket ship going in the same direction everyone else is. I think hosting has really helped me hone my ability to be able to step into this mega-musical and be on stage with these extremely talented people.”
Even before his Broadway debut, Jonathan knows this won’t be the last time he’s on the Broadway stage. “I’ve been bitten by the Broadway bug,” the actor declared. “I’ve been wanting to scratch this itch of wanting to be on Broadway my entire life. And now that I’m here, I’ve been bitten by the Broadway bug and I want to keep doing more. I mean, I would love to be in Chicago. I’d love to play Billy Flynn and Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors. I’d love to be Corny Collins in Hairspray. All those characters are the ones I gravitate towards the ones that are a little cheeky and a little extra.”