Broadway veteran Craig Rubano made his Broadway debut as Marius Pontmercy in Les Misérables, performing the role over 700 times. He was also an original Broadway cast member of Frank Wildhorn’s Tony and Grammy Award-nominated The Scarlet Pimpernel and Pimpernel II, among other credits. Rubano’s concert experiences began at Yale with The Whiffenpoofs; he also performed with the Philip Glass Ensemble and soloed in the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s tribute to Step
hen Sondheim. Rubano has won Back Stage Bistro, Palm Springs Desert Star and four MAC Awards, among many others.
Taking a turn in another career direction, Rubano attended Princeton Theological Seminary, receiving Master of Divinity and Master of Theology degrees, as well as achieving a Ph.D. in Pastoral Theology. He is ordained in the Unitarian Universalist faith movement, as the settled minister of the UU Congregation of Monmouth County in Lincroft, NJ.
Rubano returns to cabaret with Take the Moment at The Laurie Beechman Theatre for three performances on Friday, March 15 at 7:00 PM, with additional performances on Saturday, April 13 at 7:00 PM and Sunday, May 19 at 2:00 PM. Tickets are available here.
NiteLife Exchange (NLE) asks Craig Rubano (CR) Six Questions:
NLE: You’re a summa cum laude graduate of Yale in literature and philosophy, not the usual training for an actor. What was you motivation to take this particular educational route?
CR: You’re certainly right about my “not the usual” actor training, but, then again, I wasn’t looking for actor training when I went to Yale. I didn’t know you could actually be an actor as a real job (actually, the jury is still out about that!). My first love is reading, and I went to Yale to get the best liberal arts education in the world, specializing in literature and philosophy—two fields that, at their heart, are about telling one’s story and finding meaning in one’s life. In those senses, my Yale education prepared me well for a life in the theater and in cabaret performance, which are all about telling stories and making meaning.
NLE: What was the driving force behind your desire to take the stage and make acting your focus?
CR: There were trusted people in my life, when I got to Columbia (pursuing a Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature), who told me there was something distinctive about my singing voice and that, if I really worked hard, they thought I could be a singing actor. After getting a Master’s degree, I took a leave of absence to see if they were right. I figured, if I was going to roll the dice on a theater career I might as well do it while I was still young! I threw myself fully into my new goal: doing demo recordings, 
workshops, and small local productions, until my career began to get some traction. The first role I had with some meat on it was when composer Charles Strouse cast me as Wilbur in the NYC premiere of his Charlotte’s Web: The Musical. So, I guess you say, I jbegan my theater career as a pig!
NLE: You’ve had a successful and meaningful career as a Broadway star and beyond. What informed that success beyond sheer talent? Was this path a fulfilling one?
CR: The theater (and Broadway in particular, given the possibility of a longer run than a regional gig) is very physically and mentally demanding work, and the conditions in which one works can be quite daunting. Have you ever been backstage at a Broadway show? That song from Applause, “Welcome to the Theater,” is only marginally hyperbolic (“welcome to the dirty concrete hallways, welcome to the friendly roaches too…”). I would say that the success aspect is more about staying power than talent, although of course talent helps you to land the job. Acting is a marathon, not a sprint, and you have to train that way: you have to be in peak health as well as at the top of your game. The most fulfilling thing about my 
performing years has been the wondrous people I have met along the way. It is true that “there’s no people like show people.”
NLE: Lauded for your rich baritone, you’ve also released three albums over the years. Can you rate the importance of singing to you personally, as part of your career and apart from yourself as a performer? And now you’re about to appear at the Laurie Beechman with a new show. Why now?
CR: In many ways, my life has followed the communicative power of words, especially delivered by the human voice, and set to music. I consider the Great American Popular Songbook to be literature, so there’s a direct link to my first academic degrees. And when I sing, I feel like I am reaching people in a visceral, deep way. Everyone’s voice is their own, unique: singing is one of my ways of telling my story, and of connecting with yours. I started thinking about all the moments that led me to where I am, that led to my being who I am. And, post-pandemic, I was ready to reconnect with my NYC friends. This new show, Take the Moment, is a celebration of the moments that have mattered in my life. That I can be on the same Laurie Beechman Theatre stage where I made my cabaret debut is especially meaningful to me.
NLE: There came a time when you decided to take a turn in your career and pursue a spiritual career; you have a doctorate in pastoral divinity and are pastor of a church. When did this desire take root? What was it like to immerse in this very different world?
CR: I had segued from theater to cabaret, I was doing a lot of traveling, and it was exciting work. But, after 9/11, I started to wonder about how I could more deeply be a part of conversations across faith tradition lines. And, of course, ministry is all about communication, just as are acting and singing. Reading, writing, speaking, and singing are my basics—they are my passions. And I get to do all four as my job as a minister and preparing a show for the cabaret stage. Additionally, when I sing, I sense something larger than myself at work, which is mysterious and powerful—spiritual, if you will. I will say it was super hard going back to school for the first time since I left Columbia’s Ph.D. program, but it was time to finish the job! Instead of literature, I landed in Pastoral Theology, a field examining practices that bring meaning and healing to people’s lives. In the process, I hit the reset button on my own life, moving to the countryside, owning a car, living near my family, and being a part of my nieces’ lives as they grew up. And, who ever thought I would have goats?!
NLE: How do Pastor Rubano and performer Rubano n
ow integrate? Where do you see your career/life paths taking you into the future?
CR: At first, I thought they were more distinct than they ended up being, as I didn’t want to come off too performatively in my ministerial work. There is, of course, a level of performance at work in being a congregational minister—you have to get up in front of people every week—but there is also a line, and figuring out where that line is and how to balance on that line is ongoing work. Last week, we performed Take the Moment at my congregation. We did it exactly as we will do it at the Beechman, and it was the first time my congregation saw the full performer side of me. And, this week, New York audiences will experience, for the first time, the parts of my story that involve the ministry.
I’m telling my whole story in this concert for the first time. I hesitate to predict where life will take me, since my life has been so varied. I think having grown up in South America—my parents gifted my sister and me with a childhood of adventure—has prepared me to be comfortable almost anywhere. Surely, Take the Moment will open up new opportunities for me, and I look forward to taking those moments. At the very least, the show will bring me into relationship with people and, in the end, those are the moments that truly matter.
