Pippin Star Matthew James Thomas Declares His 'Heart Full of Love' For Les Miz

Valentine’s Day is a yearly celebration of love—so what better way to mark the holiday than by asking stage stars to reminisce about the first musical that sparked their love of theater? Read on on for a treasure trove of musical memories and inspirational stories from your favorite Broadway actors. 

MATTHEW JAMES THOMAS (Pippin in the forthcoming Broadway revival of Pippin)

The musical that sparked my love of theater:
Les Misérables.

The most memorable production I’ve seen of the musical is:
To this day, when I hear or see the show I get taken back to listening to John Owen Jones singing “Bring Him Home” so beautifully. I never got the chance to see it in the U.S., but I saw the London production many times. Each and every time, I loved it.

The closest I came to performing in this musical was:
I auditioned for it once. I was 17—a little young for Marius, they said. So I threw cabbages at the casting department...no I didn't...I threw carrots...next time I'll take cabbages just in case.

The last time I listened to the cast recording was:
I listened to “Bring Him Home” recently. I was annoying my singing teacher Jack Abrahams whilst warming up for an afternoon show at Spider-Man. He kept telling me to focus and I just kept turning it up and up and up until he HAD to listen to it. And afterwards he was like “OK, OK. I agree it is amazing, now stop messing around.” And then the people that live below me were banging on the ceiling.

The most romantic song from the show is:
Typically I guess my answer should be “A Heart Full of Love”—and it is a beautiful song. But I would say “Stars.”

Click here for other theater stars' Showmance stories.