A rock ‘n’ benefit for the Broadway Theatre Center
Tommy Hahn and Revolush will play a benefit for the Broadway Theatre Center Saturday.
Tommy Hahn, who is producing and appearing in a benefit concert for the Skylight’s Broadway Theatre Center, had some great roles with the Skylight Opera Theatre in the mid-1990s. Then he gave up the theater for life in a cubicle. In 2009, he cried for help, and the Skylight threw him a lifeline.
“Sitting in the cubicle, my thought was, ‘Well, I’m almost 40. In 25 years, I can retire. If I’m lucky, I’ll die sooner than that,'” Hahn said, in an interview Wednesday.
Then some friends urged him to audition at the Skylight for Rent. Hahn had a side job with a rock band, Revolush, so his singing chops were right the rock musical. But Hahn wasn’t so sure; he’d ballooned to 220 pounds, not the image for the starving artists of Rent.
But he auditioned anyway.
“[Director] Donna Drake saw something in me,” Hahn said. “She told me to lose some weight, and I could play Roger. I lost 60 pounds.”
Rent not only was a hit, but also something of a watershed moment for the company, which had never stage a rock piece before. It surely won’t be the last.
It also changed Hahn’s life. He quit the day job and is focusing on the band and on theater. Last year, he was a Skylight resident artist, and performed and worked in education projects for the company. In the 2011-12 season, the company has cast him in The Music Man and in Sunday in the Park with George.
“I owe the Skylight a lot,” Hahn said.
Tommy Hahn, with a little different look.
Side note: Hahn is a stage name. His given name is Tommy Haack, and he is the son of Don Haack, retired principal trombonist of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Hahn gives credit to his wife, graphic designer Jen Haack, for encouraging him to follow his theater star.
“Fortunately, I have a great wife,” Hahn said. “She wants me out singing. It’s going pretty well. It’s a little strain, financially, but the trade-off is worth it to both of us.”
The Saturday benefit came about after Jim Farrell, the Skylight’s development director, took in a Revolush show.
“I got a phone call from Jim and I thought: ‘Oh, please please say you want us to play in the Cabot Theatre,'” Hahn said. “And Jim says, ‘Would you guys play a benefit in the Cabot Theatre?'”
Hahn and his band mates won’t make a dime on the gig; all the proceeds will be applied to keeping the BTC, home of the Skylight and several tenant arts groups, in good shape. But Hahn figures the exposure could help the Revolush, too.
As an opening act, they settled on the obvious: Skylight performers in selections from rock musicals, with Revolush serving as the house band.
Hahn, who found himself suddenly thrown into a producer/director role, had no trouble rounding up performers will to help the Skylight and Broadway Theatre Center.
The benefit concert will begin at 8 p.m. Saturday, July 30, at the Cabot Theatre in the Broadway Theatre Center, 158 N. Broadway. Tickets are $10 live at the BTC box office, 414 291-7800, or a the Skylight Open House, to be held 5-9 p.m. Friday, July 29. Admission to the Friday open house is free.
The talent for the Saturday benefit: Revolush, comprising lead vocalist and bassist Tommy Hahn, guitarists Bill Reuter and Max Emmet, drummer Chris Kollman and keyboard player Jamie Johns; Robert Bortman, James Jones, Anna Herro, Allie Babich, Ericka Wade, Angela Iannone, Eric Nelson, Karen Estrada, Ryan Charles, Rana Roman, Alison Mary Forbes.
