Versatile is the perfect word to describe Reynel Reynaldo.
Local theatergoers may recognize Reynaldo in the national touring company of “The Book of Mormon,” which is playing at Fort Lauderdale’s Broward Center for the Performing Arts through Sunday.
But the Homestead resident has also appeared in multiple Slow Burn Theatre Co. productions, including “One On This Island,” “Matilda: The Musical” and “Head Over Heels,” and worked as assistant stage manager for its “Kinky Boots” show. (One of his favorite local roles, he says, was as Donkey in the Slow Burn’s “Shrek: The Musical.”)
Reynaldo credits Fort Lauderdale-based Slow Burn with taking him to the next professional level, but he points to Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre in Coral Gables as the place where he got his start after graduating from Miami’s Arthur and Polly Mays Conservatory of the Arts.
“Earl (Maulding, director of theater for young audiences) put me in my first show, which was ‘Schoolhouse Rock.’ Then the next year, I was on the main stage in ‘Mamma Mia,’ ” he recalls. “I’ll always make sure I give thanks to Earl and (artistic director) David Arisco for giving me those kinds of opportunities.”
After all, he says, performing with Actors’ Playhouse was a “full-circle moment” for him.
“I was in the ninth or tenth grade and I went to see ‘West Side Story’ at the Miracle Theatre, and I said to myself, ‘I have to do this.’” he says.
Julieta Cervantes/Courtesy
The company of the Broadway national tour of “Book of Mormon.” (Julieta Cervantes/Courtesy)
Reynaldo went on to attend Miami-Dade College for two years, then got a bachelor degree in musical theater from Southeast Missouri State University. There, he says he started a group for BIPOC members (Black, indigenous and people of color) that did theater presentations and dance classes.
“When I first got there, people of color representation was lacking,” he recalls.
Now, after turning 25 on Thanksgiving Day, he says he’s having the time of his life as a swing in “The Book of Mormon.”
As an understudy for several ensemble roles, called “tracks,” he never knows when he’s going on. “I cover five male tracks and two female tracks when needed,” he says.
And when he isn’t called in to cover a role, he aims to watch the show “as much as I possibly can,” he adds. “I want to make sure I’m up to date with everything. Things change every night.”
Being part of an ensemble suits him perfectly well, he says.
“The leads are the icing on the cake, but we’re the base, you know, we hold them up so that they’re able to do their job,” Reynaldo says. “I think it’s important for people to know that the ensemble is so important. We don’t get our just due. We don’t do it for recognition, but we enjoy what we do and we want people to know that we are here and we matter as well.”
IF YOU GO
WHAT: “The Book of Mormon”
WHEN: Through Sunday, Dec. 17
WHERE: Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale
COST: $44-$150+
INFORMATION: 954-468-0222; BrowardCenter.org or Ticketmaster.com
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