Joshua Henry never dreamed of winning a Tony Award.
But when he took home the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his portrayal of Coalhouse Walker Jr. in the Broadway revival of "Ragtime," it was the perfect opportunity for him to give praise to those who helped him get to where he is now.
"That was the glory of that whole moment for me to be able to shout out my boys, my incredible wife and my teacher who gave me three lessons over 25 years ago [and] that got me on this journey," he said.
Henry is taking a night off of the Broadway stage to perform in concert with the Plano Symphony Orchestra conduced by Héctor Guzmán. The show is called "Get Up, Stand Up!," and Henry is asking audience members to do just that.
"I will literally invite the audience at some point to get up and stand up," he said. "I don't care if you've got a walker or a crutch, I would just encourage you to come with someone who can lift you up, because the music is really uplifting, hopeful, fun songs."
Henry will be performing music from many of the Broadway shows he's performed in, like Hamilton, Waitress, and Into the Woods. The difference for him with this concert compared to his shows on Broadway, is audience participation.
"Unlike when I'm doing Broadway, the audience is mostly quiet except for between numbers," he said. "In concert, it's literally just me. I'm not playing a character, and so I might invite the audience to clap along, to stomp their feet, to clap, to snap a little bit. Really get into the moment and in the present moment there."
Performing live is exciting for Henry, and the opportunity to make his family proud with everything he does is a feat he doesn't take lightly.
"That's literally how I refer to them," he said. "Samson the champion, Leo my hero, and Max the great. I specifically wanted my boys to understand that this is an amazing thing. It's like that can happen with some hard work, but I just don't want them to fall in love with everybody clapping and the lights shining down on them."
"It's really about what you do in the practice room. It's like I said, falling down and getting back up again - that's what greatness really is."
Tickets are on sale for Henry's performance Saturday, Aug. 15 at the Meyerson Symphony Center alongside the Plano Symphony Orchestra, and can be found here.
To hear the full conversation with Joshua Henry, click the 'listen' button above.
Miranda Suarez and Ron Corning are the hosts of KERA's NTX Now. Got a tip? Email Miranda at msuarez@kera.org or Ron at rcorning@kera.org.
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