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HEMISPHERES:
So tell me about the play.
How
do
you succeed in business without
really trying?
JONAS:
The showwas wri en and
created back in the ’60s, so now it’s a
period piece. It looks at the corporate
world—how dysfunctional it can be at
times, but also how entertaining it can
be. My character, J. Pierrepont Finch,
finds a book that basically becomes his
navigation tool. The idea is that if you
have the knowledge of how ridiculous
the corporate world can be, and you
have the drive, you can rise to the top.
HEMISPHERES:
Did your experience inside
the music business inform your approach
to the role?
JONAS:
A li le. When we signed on with
Columbia, our manager said, “Congra-
tulations, you’re part of the biggest
machine in the world.” Then he said, “And
I’m sorry to inform you that you’re part
of the biggest machine in the world.”
Eventually we had to part ways with
them to go to Hollywood Records here
in L.A., but luckily enough, we did learn
in those early days a fewways we could
achieve some of the things we wanted to.
EARLIER THIS YEAR,
Nick Jonas, age 19,
headed to Broadway to take over the role
of corporate climber J. Pierrepont Finch
in the revival of the classic musical
How to
Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
.
More than a few tweens and teen girls have
bought, and will buy, tickets over his six-
month run, andmany of themwill undoubtedly leave the theater
vowing to marry Mr. Jonas. They may express this wish, in fact,
at the very top of their lungs. The smart parent will respond by
saying they could do a lot worse.
Yes, Jonas is cuter than a bug’s ear, but the New Jersey–raised
performer is also talented, humble and well mannered, with a
reputation for not havingmuch of a reputation—except, that is,
for selling records. Along with his two brothers, Joe and Kevin,
he’s made four albums that collectively have sold more than
8million copies. The band started as a solo project forNick, thena
Broadway child prodigywho had appeared in
AChristmas Carol
(as Tiny Tim),
Annie Get Your Gun
and
Beauty and the Beast
.
Eventually his siblings signed on, and in 2007 the Jonas Brothers
released a self-titled albumthat wouldmark the genesis of a pop
phenomenon; the next year, they had three songs in
Billboard
’s
top 10 simultaneously.
Through it all, Nick Jonas has kept up his other pursuits, star-
ring in
LesMisérables
inLondon’sWest End in 2010 and
Hairspray
in 2011, and logging guest appearances on TimAllen’s “Last Man
Standing” and “Smash,” NBC’s Broadway drama/procedural fea-
turingDebraMessing andAnjelicaHuston. In other words, as he
transitions from tween darling to adult star, Jonas runs toward
new opportunities as if he’s being chased. (Which he sometimes
is, when security isn’t what it should be. But more on that later.)
OH, BROTHER
From left, Nick Jonas
at a recent celebrity
softball game; mugging
for
How to Succeed in
Business Without Really
Trying
; and performing in
Hairspray
last year
CONTINUED ON PAGE 150
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