The Lyons Star Michael Esper Admits His Obsessions with Record Stores, Wizards & Hologram Tupac

Broadway stars know what’s hot in entertainment, fashion and pop culture, so Broadway.com decided it was high time to tap in to the after-hours obsessions of our favorite stage actors. Hip stage star Michael Esper, who is currently giving an acclaimed performance as Linda Lavin and Dick Latessa's troubled son, Curtis, in The Lyons, took time out to tell us about his obsessions.

TV SHOW: The West Wing
“I love all of [Aaron] Sorkin's writing so much, but I'm completely obsessed with that show. I just watch it over and over. Sometimes it's just to spend time with those characters in that world. And the entire cast is so incredible. So excited for The Newsroom, I can't even talk about it. I may or may not have an MLB 2k11 baseball player named Toby Ziegler.

MOVIE: The 400 Blows
“It's my favorite. Every time I see it, my relationship to the world and to myself, my younger self in particular, changes somehow—in a good way. There's something about that movie that's unbelievably loving. Also Repo Man.”

STAGE SHOW (OTHER THAN MY OWN): Uncle Vanya 
“I haven't really been able to see much lately, but there's so much incredible stuff right now. Like Clybourne Park, 4000 Miles and Death of a Salesman, I mean, my God. Really really excited for Annie Baker's adaptation of Uncle Vanya at Soho Rep. That's gonna be amazing. ”

SONG OR SINGER: The Echo-Friendly
“My sister sings in this band and she's amazing so I'd be obsessed no matter what, but it's not just that. They're unbelievable! Just the best and bravest songwriting around. Painfully confessional and beautifully built songs, totally disarming in their intimacy and honesty, and ultimately uplifting without compromising at all. Just an insanely great band.” 

BOOK: Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke
“Rilke I guess. I also really love James Wright, especially Shall We Gather at the River.”

ATHLETE: R. Kelly
“He's got his own cruise now, the R. Kelly cruise. So, you know, get on that.”

  VACATION SPOT: Permanent Records in Greenpoint, Brooklyn
“The best record store I've ever been to, and the nicest people.”

APP: Ravenmark
“Every time Kate Jennings Grant sees me on my iPad she says, 'What's the matter? Are the wizards and elves fighting?' But, you know, in a really nice way. Because yes, they are always fighting on my iPad because I play the dorkiest games that are available to me on the app store as much as I possibly can. They have names like Ravenmark, War Grimoire and Galaxy on Fire 2. I know."

RANDOM OBSESSION: Videogum
“I'm on Videogum.com like every single day. The chats between Gabe and Kelly are my favorite thing. Like, a good 45% of what I talk about comes from them. The rest is mostly nonsense words.”

CELEBRITY: Hologram Tupac
[no explanation provided]