Harvey Guillén is heading to the 79th annual Tony Awards this weekend as part of the ensemble cast of Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show, which earned nine nominations including Best Revival of a Musical. For Guillén, starring in one of the most beloved cult hits of all time at Studio 54 alongside Luke Evans, Juliette Lewis, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Rachel Dratch, and Stephanie Hsu has been a dream made real, though it comes with its own physical demands.
The Grind Behind the Glamour
"No one works harder than Broadway actors," Guillén tells us. "This is eight shows a week." The logistics alone are intense: his dressing room sits five floors up in a walk-up building, meaning he climbs and descends that staircase ten times per show, and on Wednesdays and Saturdays when the theatre runs two performances, that adds up to 20 flights of stairs. "People tell me that my backside is what keeps them coming back for more," he laughs, suggesting his nightly workout has at least one appreciative side effect.
A Message That Endures
What makes the grueling schedule worthwhile, Guillén emphasizes, is being part of something woven into the fabric of LGBTQ+ history. "It's been 53 years since Rocky Horror premiered, and yet the words are still so relevant," he says. "The message is still so powerful when you are made to feel like an outsider and you feel like you don't belong, remember there might be a planet full of people who are just like you... aliens, even. So don't be anyone else but yourself." He credits the show's core philosophy, "don't dream it, be it," with the potential to save lives across generations. "This show has, is, and will save lives in many different ways." Beyond his performance, Guillén has also selected cultural touchstones for our ongoing Queer Time Capsule project, picking everything from The Rocky Horror Picture Show documentary to the groundbreaking Paris Is Burning, emphasizing works he believes future queer audiences must understand.
Source: Queerty
Cover photo: John Manard, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
