Last year he defended the role of Clopin in the Big Apple. And he will do it again in the next three weeks. But Mike Lee is just beginning to realize that he’s stepping in for a new round of Broadway gigs Notre Dame de Paris at the Lincoln Theater in New York.
“Last year everything happened so fast that I didn’t have time to think about it, to think about the stress that comes with being on Broadway; I was physically present on stage, but not necessarily mentally. But now I intend to make the best of it,” says Mike Lee.
It’s true that the year 2022 hasn’t been easy for the one we discovered ten years earlier at the Star Académie. Not only did he discover new audiences on American soil, but after months of rehearsals he donned Clopin’s clothes for the first time. As a deputy, Mike Lee interprets the character alternately with his main interpreter, the Frenchman Jay.
“I remember getting lost a couple of times last year! I learned a lot composing the character. I went on stage, but I didn’t necessarily realize I was in New York,” he explains.
Imposter Syndrome
But he has since taken the lead – and experience – as he defended that role as King of the Court of Miracles for the past 12 months in Quebec and Turkey. And through these performances, the impostor syndrome that plagued him gradually eased.
“Initially I relied heavily on Luck Mervil’s work [l’interprète original lors de la création en 1998, NDLR], both his voice and his walk, and I didn’t recognize myself in them at all. “It was so far from who I really am that I wondered why they chose me,” he says.
“But it clicked and I was able to tap into that needed rage and rage. My journey helped a lot in building the character; I’ve experienced racism, I’ve experienced injustice and pain. I had to review those events and fortunately it reassured me that I was content with everything I had already experienced. “These files are top secret,” he concludes.