Jeffrey T. Kelly relishes role of 'Rooster' in national tour of Annie at Proctors

Q: What was your reaction to being cast in the role of Rooster?

A: I didn't think I'd love “Annie” nearly as much as I do. I remember when I got the call for it. I was like, “OK, 'Annie,' that's cute. I'll have some fun with it.” Then I got in, really saw the show, and I just kind of fell in love with the material. It's a fun national tour to be on.

Q: How were you cast in your role?

A: Someone in the cast who knew me prior, knew they were looking for a Rooster. They reached out to our agent, and the creative team and said to take a look at this guy. I was always in the running for Rooster, I never was even in the running for ensemble or anything else in the show.

There's something really fun about playing the bad guy. I was in “Million Dollar Quartet” right before this and in “Jersey Boys” playing Tommy DeVito. They're not the same by a mile, but at the same time, there's something about playing that bad guy that is a really fun thing to do. When I saw that I was getting called in for that, I was really gung-ho about it and had a lot of fun with the audition process.”

Q: You call yourself a ‘non-theater’ kid, and now you are on a national tour. How did that happen?

A: I did a very brief stint of theater in middle school, but I wasn't into it. I just kind of did it because it was something to do, I had a friend who was in it, and I think I had a crush on a girl when I was in middle school. When I was about to turn 24, I found theater, and then I started doing musical theater.

Q: How did you hone your craft?

A: I had been doing a bunch of stuff in the community theater scene, and during the summers I would do regional houses. I ended up getting cast in the same show with a friend, and when I saw him in rehearsals for “Hair” in Provincetown [,Massachusetts]. He had just grown tremendously as a performer, and I picked his brain about it.

He said he went to AMDA [American Musical and Dramatic Academy]. He told me that AMDA is a great way to get some well-rounded training. I was going to New York, I would audition and get the callback, but then I wouldn't be able to get through the dance calls.

Q: Looking at your resume — it worked out. With roles in “Hair,” “Million Dollar Quartet,” “Jersey Boys,” “Next to Normal,” “A Few Good Men” and now the national tour of “Annie.”

A: I did write in my New Year's resolutions that I wanted to book a [national] tour. So much of this stuff is right time, right place, who you know, on pretty much every level.

You could be in the worst regional house and just sing the right song in the right room, and one person really likes it. It's always like the stars align, that type of thing. I'm fortunate to be here.

Q: You are cast with Samantha Stevens, who plays Lily, Rooster’s girlfriend. Good chemistry is required for a top performance, how has that occurred as you both start your first national tours?

A: The characters are written particularly in this version of the script. I think there are a lot of scripts out there that are more caricature — even more — than what we're doing up on stage. We could kind of hop in and play in this grounded way to figure out the chemistry of the two characters.

Q: In your first national tour, were you intimidated by stage veterans Christopher Swan as Daddy Warbucks, Mark Woodard's FDR and Stefanie Londino's Miss Hannigan?

A: I was really intimidated by all the vets that were here. We had all of these people who were well-established principal characters, and specifically Chris, who is a touring veteran. He's done so many different tours, and he's been doing it for years and years and years. There is an element of like, “Oh, I'm in the presence of greatness.”

We signed up for sharing a car, so right off the bat, when were in Fort Lauderdale, I think, getting to know him and Mark — because we're both in the car together on that level — really helps me sort of get a feel for what this side of the job — the touring, and the national tour side, learning about long runs of a show.

Q: You have had some interesting roles to date — including the role of Lt. Dan Kaffe in “A Few Good Men.” What was that like?

A: I hadn't actually seen the full film, but I knew that it was a political drama. I was at the audition with another man that I had worked together with in “Next to Normal.” He ended up playing Colonel Jessup and I really wanted to do this show with him.

It was heavy material — a lot of material, but it was a really fun show. Dan is in every single scene, and I remember not being intimidated by the amount of dialogue. Early in the process, I got off book [without script] as fast as I could so that I could just kind of enjoy it.

I remember it being a ton and it was very dense. It was a good experience because of that intensity. I think it got me to realize that if you just kind of tackle something ahead of time, it makes it a lot easier to do roles like that.

Q: You then follow up that with three different roles in “Friends: The Musical Parody” Off-Broadway. What was that experience like?

A: I wasn't even a “Friends” fan when I booked that. I just saw that it was an off-Broadway show, and said I'm going to go for it. The Gunther [role] was actually more of an ASM [assistant stage manager] track than a performance track because you were doing a lot of prop handling backstage. Then I was also swinging [understudy] for Joey and Ross, and at one point, had performed for both of those roles. It was funny, a funny time.

Q: With eight performances in six days at Proctors, is there a more anticipated performance for you?

A: The matinees hit a lot harder, it’s the middle of the day, and the audience has got a lot of energy so — as a performer — we do feed off that energy.

Saturday matinees tend to be really good, that's when parents are more apt to bring their kids. When the kids are in the audience, the parents are having fun, because the kids love the dog [Sandy].

Q: You are active on TikTok (@keffjellysingsnstuff) and in one post you post in character.

A: There is a trend where people talk about their own real-world experiences with some crazy stories out there, some ridiculous stuff.

A lot of my following are theater kids who all know the story of Annie and her relationship with Rooster and Hannigan. I decided I was going to do the trend, be in character and it was just fun for the theater kids that follow me. That's the sort of energy I think that I like to have on stage with it, too.

Q; What’s next for Jeffrey T. Kelly?

A: I'm looking for future work in the summer and if they do this tour next year, hopefully, I get invited back. I want to stay on the road. I want to do some summer stock this summer and help my parents for a little bit. If I could get a month's break, that'd be neat. I'm just happy to be here, happy to be plugging away, and want to keep doing that.

Tickets are available through Proctors.