From Broadway...
Stuart Zagnit '74
By Bill Valladares

On the eve of his college career, a nervous freshman needed to unwind after unpacking in the room he rented in an Upper Mountain Avenue house. So he crossed the tracks and drifted through campus until he got to Life Hall. He wandered inside, saw some students building a set and asked if he could help. They told him to grab a hammer. From that night, Stuart Zagnit became a fixture in Memorial Auditorium.

Thirty-one years later, Zagnit is still a fixture, but he's moved over to Broadway. And the echo of a hammer pounding nails when he's on stage has been replaced by audience applause.

A quintessential character actor with a broad range, Zagnit can go from playing the role of the baker in a national tour of "Into the Woods," to the mayor of Whoville in Broadway's "Seussical the Musical," and most recently portraying both Dick Cheney and Barbara Bush in an off-Broadway production of "Mr. President."

Actor Stuart Zagnit graciously shares the spotlight with Charlie, his West Highland Terrier, who insisted on being included in the photo.

Ironically, one of Zagnit's first stops as a professional actor was at Montclair State. "I was traveling with a company called TheatreWorks," he recalled. "The stage manager at the time told me it was great to see me on the MSU stage again. My response was, it's great to be on an MSU stage earning a salary."

Zagnit returned to Montclair State again in 1996 to play Seymour in the TheatreFest production of "Little Shop of Horrors," the same role he played off-Broadway at the Orpheum Theatre. "It was not the same Montclair State I remembered," said Zagnit. "Just some vestiges of what I recalled from the '70s." In 1999 he appeared in TheatreFest again as Stan in "Kiss the Bride," by alumnus John Wooten '90, artistic director of TheatreFest.

Zagnit was back on campus in November, but not to work. He was here to celebrate the renaming of Studio Theatre as the L. Howard Fox Studio Theatre. "I was thrilled that they renamed the theater after Howard," said Zagnit. "He was a man who loved his family and loved the theater, and I was touched by it."

When Zagnit learned of the University's plans to build a new 500-seat theater, he said, "I'm glad to see that the University's interest in the arts remains strong. This is an exciting prospect because it's great for the students and for the town as well."

Zagnit's acting career, like any worthwhile plot, has not been without conflict and adversity. During his time at Montclair State, the faculty -- which served as directors and technical advisers to Players, the student theater organization -- created their own entity, the Theatre Series.

"A lot of people thought that was the end of Players," said Zagnit, who served as vice president. "It was unsettling at first, but the students and faculty co-existed, working separately but together. I looked at it as an opportunity to perform in two companies."

It wasn't just in college where Zagnit overcame obstacles. He recalled 1984. "I was seriously unemployed and seriously considered leaving the business," he said. Then the actor, who also sings baritone, landed the title role in "Kuni-Leml" at a Jewish repertory theater on 14th Street in Manhattan. He described the show as a Gilbert and Sullivanesque Yiddish comedy. "My character was like a Jewish elephant man. It was an exhausting show because of the physical demands, but I got to work on my stutter."

After the show moved to off-Broadway at the Audrey Wood Theater that year, Zagnit was both shocked and thrilled to open the Sunday New York Times one day in December to find that renowned caricaturist Al Hirschfeld had drawn him as the title character. Today Zagnit proudly displays in his living room that testament to his success as an actor.

He credits that success to a simple philosophy: "The show is only 2 1/2 hours out of your day. If you can't give it your all you're in the wrong business. I have to give that first-time audience my first-time performance, not my 150th performance.
"As an actor I like to be able to not lose sight of people's hearts," he added. "Comedy comes from pain. It's challenging to make people cry. ‘Little Shop' is a great lesson in right and wrong. It's ‘Faust' on acid, but there's a huge moral heart. Hopefully something resonated deeper in the audience when they went home."

Zagnit, who is currently waiting for his next role, said actors are prepared for employment gaps. In the meantime he does voice-overs, commercials, guest television appearances and industrial projects.

For the moment he is enjoying his favorite role, being a more hands-on dad to his 5-year-old son, Sam. "I cherish the opportunity," said Zagnit, who owns a Brooklyn brownstone with wife Carolyn Sloan, a composer who teaches piano and voice. He boasts that her book, Finding Your Voice: A Practical and Spiritual Guide to Singing and Living, is in its third printing by Hyperion.

"A satisfying career is crucial to your happiness in life, but you can't get total fulfillment from work," said Zagnit. "One day it's there and the next day it's not. Family, however, is always there through all the highs and the lows. When I'm in rehearsal from 10 a.m. to midnight I hop a train to Brooklyn just to spend 45 minutes eating dinner with my family, so the time I'm spending with my son right now is precious. Suddenly the little things become bigger."

...to Rockefeller Center
Bruce Michael Kalnitsky '69
By Perry Jones '00

On Sept. 7, 1954, a young boy entered Radio City Music Hall for the first time. His parents had brought him there to celebrate his seventh birthday and see the featured movie, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers." It was at that moment Bruce Michael Kalnitsky knew in his heart that Radio City Music Hall would be a special place in his life.

When he was old enough to return on his own, he did, time and time again. "As a kid I would go almost every change of show," he recalled. "Every time the movie changed, I went."

From 1932 to 1978, Radio City presented a movie and stage show. The audience would see a performance by the orchestra, the Wurlitzer organ, a 30-minute stage spectacular and a premier film.

Kalnitsky's passion for Radio City grew stronger and visits to the Avenue of the Americas became a regular occurrence.

"When I was a student at Montclair State that's how I spent a lot of my free time," he said. "I would go every four or five weeks when the movie changed. Radio City was the world's greatest movie presentation house. I wanted very much to be a part of that whole thing."

Today, as creative producer for the world-famous Rockettes, Kalnitsky has realized a dream. He collaborates with a choreographer to create many of the Rockettes' routines and musical creations. "I learned the craft of Radio City as an audience member, sitting in the front watching where the lights came from, watching how it was done," he said.

Off stage, Kalnitsky is the linchpin responsible for bringing together the various elements of a production, from hiring and finances to production and legal issues.

"I deal with the artists, with the performers, with the financial people, with the legal people, and the overall corporate staff at Radio City, marketing and public relations," he said. "Everything I do impacts all those areas."

In the fall, one of Kalnitsky's activities is to prepare for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. This year he collaborated with Musical Director Grant Sturiale and Choreographer John Dietrich on a new routine televised at the parade. He also was involved with the costumes and the orchestral score.

It's not long after Kalnitsky has taken his last sip of eggnog that it's time to finalize plans for the Christmas Spectacular. Between Nov. 2 and Dec. 30, more than 200 shows are performed in front of as many as 35,000 spectators per day.
"The Christmas Show is expensive to produce, and everything we do has got to be the right choice," he said.

Not always content with sticking with the tried and true, Kalnitsky also has created new production ideas such as "The Great Radio City Spectacular," which toured across the country playing in huge venues including a spot in Las Vegas where it stayed for five years. A new show in the making, "Radio City Rockettes Out of Line," has the company exploring new directions by taking the women out of the traditional chorus line, showing off their individual talents. In a work by Mercedes Ellington, the women are paired with men for the first time, dancing as couples.

Kalnitsky's career was shaped by enthusiastic and encouraging professors, including the late L. Howard Fox, for whom Montclair State's Studio Theatre recently was named."He was a tremendous influence," Kalnitsky said. "When I told him about my dream to work at Radio City as a producer he thought it was wonderful, and encouraged me to go for it."

There's no doubt Fox would be proud of his former student. And to Kalnitsky's parents who brought him to Radio City for the first time 47 years ago...good choice for a birthday present!

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