PEACH WEEKENDER | THEATER

Genoa native at home on and off Broadway

Bill Nolte, a Genoa native and graduate of Genoa High School, has been appearing in professional theater, on Broadway and Off Broadway, on national tours, and in theaters across the United States, including 12 Broadway shows.

Bill Nolte portrays Old Joe, the curmudgeonly diner owner, in 'Waitress' on Broadway.

After 38 years of living in New York, he remains a Broadway actor today. He has played Old Joe, the curmudgeonly owner of a diner who is something of a father figure for the waitress, Jenna, in the hit musical Waitress since mid-June. His biography cites countless Off-Broadway and regional shows.

He started his theater career in the summer of 1976 at the Starlight Musicals in Indianapolis, appearing in Showboat with Shirley Jones and Gayle Gordon.

“I’m pretty lucky and very blessed, but it’s also been pretty hard work because I’ve had some lean times as well,” said Nolte, who studied textile design in New York and won a prestigious award. At one point, when theater work was slow, he considered leaving the business and becoming a textile designer, or teaching his craft at the college level.

He credits his staying power to a positive attitude, perseverance, and continuing to study in coaching and classes that allow him to grow as an artist.

Working in musical theater has changed quite a bit since he got his start, Nolte said. “Today, with musicals such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Aladdin, there is a different kind of singing, a different sound. I was trained as a classical singer in the big classical musicals like My Fair Lady and Oklahoma, the type of singing I do best, but luckily I also sing pop and other styles.”

Audiences also have changed, with Broadway catering to the tourist trade right now, he added.

He started college at Bowling Green State University, as an art major. “Then I learned I could sing, and started doing some projects with the opera and musical theater departments there while still an art major. Then, I decided to attend the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati with a major in music.” He graduated in 1976, and headed for New York and a career in theater.

In New York, he also studied textile design and won a prestigious award; for a little while, when theater work was slow, he got out of the business and became a textile designer. He designed during the day and took acting and voice lessons at night. He made his Broadway debut in Cats in 1985.

“It’s harder now to have an extended Broadway career than it was in my day — not that it was easy in my day — but there are so many young people wanting to work in musical theater, and so many degrees in musical theater being offered.”

More students want to work on Broadway, he said, “and if they’re lucky enough to meet the right people or have the right auditions, and be talented enough to work right away, sometimes that can translate into a long career, and sometimes it can translate into one show and then frustration and getting out of the business.

“It’s been a blind kind of luck and naivete that steered me to New York City and kept me going,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot since then, and I urge kids now, when we have talkbacks at the theater, to go to college first. Don’t come straight to New York because it’s a lot to deal with, it’s very expensive and very crowded, and it’s hard to get on your feet unless you know people.”

Nolte came to the city with a class of musical theater performers and people he met at summer stock. All of them are still working in theater in different capacities; one is a set designer, one is a musical director, and another is a writer and director on Broadway. “I think I’m the only one of that group who’s still singing and performing,” he said.

His most cherished role — the one “that let me know that I had sort of arrived” — was Franz Liebkind in The Producers on Broadway, a role he portrayed for a year and nine months beginning in 2005 “I had worked on Broadway many times before that, but that role kind of fit me like a glove, and the producers were very supportive. I worked in that job for five years, in many different companies and in the movie, in the Las Vegas company, the first national tours, and the Broadway company for the last year and nine months, and I cherished that role because I felt like an artist and I felt respected, and that’s rare these days.”

Nolte will continue portraying Joe on broadway in Waitress through Oct. 4; Al Roker steps into the role starting Oct. 5; Nolte will portray Joe in the Saturday and Sunday matinees in Waitress until Roker’s assignment ends Nov. 11.

Nolte is also an artist; his work, his career, and his singing can be explored on his website, billnolte.com.

Contact Sue Brickey at: sbrickey@theblade.com