Jordan Beall always knew that he would be on the stage performing.
His dream of being in a Broadway production is about to come true.
The Odessa native will make his Broadway debut in February in the upcoming production of “The Music Man.”
The production, which officially opens on Feb. 10 at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City, will consist of a star-studded cast including Tony Award winners Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster as Harold Hill and Marian Paroo.
In addition to Jackman and Foster, the production will also star Tony winners Shuler Hensley as Marcellus Washburn, Jefferson Mays as Mayor Shinn and Jayne Houdyshell as Mrs. Shinn and Marie Mullen as Mrs. Paroo just to name a few.
Beall will be in the ensemble.
“It’s unreal,” Beall said via phone interview. “It’s just a dream come true. It was a little intimidating the first day of rehearsal just because this is my Broadway debut and there are a lot of veterans in the show. Also, there are a lot of big names in the show whether they’re on stage, in the cast or in the production teams.”
Beall graduated from Permian in 2012 and attended college at Oklahoma City University where he graduated in 2016 with a bachelor’s in dance with a minor in business.
It was when he was 7 years old while playing baseball when Beall decided that he wanted to do something different.
“I was in the outfield and I was literally picking grass,” Beall said. “I was bored. I told my parents as we were leaving that this was boring.”
It wasn’t long after when Beall noticed a flyer on his desk in the third grade for a spring break theater camp that would be going on at the Permian Playhouse.
It was at that camp where he grabbed the attention of his soon-to-be-mentors Amy Mufley and Amanda Lopez.
“My parents sent me there for the week to have fun and the choreographers Amy Mufley and Amanda Lopez were like ‘You’re good, come dance at the studio with us.’”
He said another person of influence from Odessa was Kathy Lollar, a longtime Odessa music teacher.
Beall would fall in love with dancing.
He soon started doing community theater at the Permian Playhouse, Midland Community Theatre, as well as the Globe Theatre.
“I was told that I had a knack for it,” Beall said.
The rest would become history.
“I’m super proud,” Muffley said of Beall. “I know the show and I was so excited because he’s worked so hard for it. To finally get that as a dancer, it’s a big break. Not everybody gets that. It’s a tough business to be in and for him to finally be there, I’m so proud of him.”
In the meantime, he also continued training at Dance Elite until he graduated from high school.
“To be successful on Broadway, you have to be a triple threat and Jordan’s always been that way,” Muffley said. “He started out in theater. He took dance and vocal lessons so he’s got all three. He’s got the acting and the dancing and the singing and that’s always been his thing.”
He focused on musical theater with the goal of being on Broadway.
After graduating from Oklahoma City University, Beall’s journey led him to the Big Apple where he would live but also travel to perform in different shows across the country.
“I got hooked up with my agent and worked regionally across the country on the regional circuit at different regional theaters,” Beall said. “There were so many different theaters that it really kept me busy so I didn’t spend too much time in the city, thankfully. I was constantly working on contracts, which is a beautiful thing as a performer.”
However, there comes a time when one has to sit down and re-evaluate their careers and Beall ended up having that discussion with his agent and talked about focusing on staying in New York City.
“They ended up sending me to maybe only national tours or different theaters in the city because it was time to focus on that next step,” Beall said.
That next step would be “The Music Man.”
It was 2019 when Beall went in to audition numerous times for “The Music Man.” He would go back in for multiple rounds of call backs and described the auditioning role as a “marathon.”
“It’s not like we go in and dance and you get the job,” Beall said. “I got the call in 2019 and was so fortunate to get that call from my agent and I’ve been having the time of my life performing with this show, this cast and everything.”
It wasn’t long before he would be named to the cast of the show.
Unfortunately, the pandemic shut everything down, including Broadway shows.
“The Music Man” was put on hold during 2020 putting everything into uncertainty.
With nothing going on during that time, Beall returned to West Texas for a short time.
“COVID took me back home to Odessa for about 15 months where I was living with my parents,” Beall said. “It wasn’t a weird thing at the time because I knew a lot of friends who also moved back home with their parents or maybe got an apartment, but for me it just made sense to save money and live with them and let my lease lapse here in New York City and put my stuff in storage for the time being.”
During that time, Beall said he got his personal training certification.
However, the uncertainty made things stressful for Beall and his fellow cast members.
“It was tough at first because you didn’t know what was happening in the industry and whether or not the industry would thrive afterwards. It was extremely scary with all the shows closing. We started thinking ‘What am I going to do? Can I still pursue this?’”
Thankfully, the show will still go on as Beall eventually returned to New York City.
Rehearsals for “The Music Man” began this past October and previews started in December.
Getting to perform on the same stage as Jackman and Foster and other big-name cast members has been a dream come true for Beall.
“It’s unreal,” Beall said.
He’s described Jackman and Foster as some of the kindest people he’s met.
“I mean that with my entire heart,” Beall said. “Every Saturday, he will always go around to the entire cast, entire production team and hand out scratch off lottery tickets. Just so fun and uplifting and him and Sutton together have done so many wonderful things for the cast. Just both truly genuinely, good hearted golden people. They know everyone by first name. You can approach them and say, ‘Hey Hugh! How’s your day?’ You don’t feel inferior. They’re just beautiful people and they make us feel special to share the stage with them every night.”
On the rare days that he gets a day off, Beall allows himself to sleep in as well as go to the gym and do a light lifting session with some cardio in addition to catching up on chores.
“I’ll do laundry and dishes and grocery shopping,” Beall said. “It’s a sacred day. It’s a day to let your mind and body recover.”
As Beall reflects on his time in New York City and prepares for his debut, he’ll never forget where he came from in West Texas. He added that making the transition from the Lone Star State to New York wasn’t that big of an adjustment.
“I love Odessa,” Beall said. “I’m so proud to call it home and I hope I’m able to bring some pride to Odessa with the success, but I would say that this is my life being in New York. It’s the city that never sleeps and that is me. I love the fast-paced lifestyle, going 24/7 and just going and going. It’s who I am and how I’m wired. … I adjusted very well and was so focused on my career and going to auditions. I didn’t really have time to stop and think. I had to hit the ground running.”
