Josh Groban Has Learned How to Eat a Late Post-Show Dinner and Still Sleep Well

Seven instances every week, Josh Groban picks up his trusty straight razor within the titular position within the acclaimed revival of Stephen Sondheim’s 1979 darkish operetta “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Avenue.” This implies performing barbershop shaves with hair-splitting precision and, for some unlucky souls, chopping throats—all whereas singing in his wealthy baritone for hours on finish.

Off-stage, the actor and vocalist is rather more mellow, ingesting a whiskey or two on his Friday evening (which is definitely Sunday) and doing loads of core work and yoga stretching to remain unfastened. By taking part in towards his good man sort because the bloodthirsty, unhinged barber, Groban earned a Tony Award nomination this yr for Finest Actor in a Musical — his second nomination after his Broadway debut in 2017 (that’s two for 2, not unhealthy).

When he’s not treading the boards, Groban is well-known as a record-selling phenomenon, with 9 studio albums below his belt, and a theater-filling live performance schedule and one of many few fashionable singers to bridge classical and in style music genres. We caught up with the honey-voiced actor to debate how he trains his physique to take all of it on, how he preps for a three-hour present the place he solely has about 15-minutes offstage (let’s simply say when to pee is commonly high of thoughts), how he mentally preps to be a killer barber every evening, and the way he kills instances between exhibits.

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GQ: You’ve been doing the present for months now—how does it really feel in your physique?

Josh Groban: It is humorous, as a result of it’s been about six years since my final time on Broadway and also you form of decide and select what you bear in mind about it. You are taking the actually arduous issues and you’re taking the actually nice issues, and also you form of depart behind the recollections of simply the odd grind. And so, with previews we’re approaching 100 exhibits and I am now feeling just like the present is now completely in my physique and in my voice.

Little little issues crept in early on, like, I did not notice that holding the razor all day would trigger a ache in my wrist. I’ve to swipe this manner or twirl with Annaleigh [Ashford], my costar, and it could simply tweak issues in little methods. It is simply your physique waking as much as new issues it has to do, after which it says, Okay, properly, now I do know I’ve to do this. After which it goes away. However we even have a tremendous PT that now we have every single day on the theater. And we have all undoubtedly made use of that.

You’re additionally energetic on the live performance circuit—how is that this totally different from that? They each appear taxing, simply in very other ways.

Throughout a live performance, I’m doing 19, 20 songs every evening, all on my own. Whereas with “Sweeney Todd” I am sharing the load with a unprecedented forged, all of us share that weight. However I do, you understand, 4 or 5 live shows in every week, versus seven exhibits—and by no means two [concerts] in in the future. It’s a distinct form of grind.