Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/517095
BY ROBIN MINER-SWARTZ CMU alum tackles 'the Mount Everest of male roles' "He's brilliant, he's exceptionally talented, and he's one of the most disciplined people I know," Tucker says. Hackmann has to be to play Jean Valjean. He's onstage nearly every minute of the three-hour show. "One of the reasons the show is so demanding is because it's very rare we have everyone on from the original cast all at once," he says. "Someone is injured or sick or has vacation days, so we hardly ever do the same show twice, as far as the lineup is concerned." And after the final curtain, he gets to go home to his wife, Nicole Begue Hackmann, and their little boy, Alexander – something that's pretty rare for a musical theater performer. "This is the first time I've been in one place since I graduated," Hackmann says. > man struggling to lead a normal life after serving a lengthy prison sentence for stealing bread to feed his sister's starving children. "It's a three-hour show with nonstop singing, so learning to pace yourself is definitely a big challenge," Hackmann says. "But there isn't a more gratifying role either." Originally from Arizona, Hackmann was studying voice under Dr. Eric Tucker at Northern Arizona University when Tucker left to join the CMU School of Music faculty. Hackmann and three other students followed Tucker to Mount Pleasant. "There's a reason I followed him all the way to Michigan," Hackmann says. "He taught me about character. He showed me what it meant to be a hard worker. "There's no doubt that everything I am and everything I do is owed in some way to the things I learned from Eric Tucker." Tucker is equally complimentary about Hackmann. As musical theater jobs go, few are more unique and challenging than playing Jean Valjean, the protagonist in the Broadway smash "Les Miserables." "It's kind of the Mount Everest of male roles," says Nathaniel Hackmann, '04, M.A. '06 "It's got every challenge you can think of. You have to sing high and soft, you have to sing low and loud. You have to sing high and loud, you have to sing low and soft. And you have to be able to lift a cart and lift people over your head. It's incredibly physically demanding as well as vocally demanding." Hackmann has been with the show since it returned to Broadway in New York City in March 2014. His contract enables him to stay with "Les Mis" as long as it's open, unless he decides to leave. "It's just about the most secure job one can hope for in the Broadway world." Hackmann performs several roles in the production, including serving as the understudy for the iconic Jean Valjean, a Ramin Karimloo (left) and Nathaniel Hackmann rehearse a scene in "Les Miserables." Karimloo stars as Jean Valjean; CMU alum Hackmann is the understudy for the role on Broadway. PHOTO BY MAT THEW MURPHY In the spotlight