The Fortress of Solitude's Adam Chanler-Berat & Kyle Beltran on Getting Close, Nerding Out & Beyonce

Up, up and away! In the musical adaptation of Jonathan Lethem’s novel The Fortress of Solitude, best friends Dylan and Mingus create a superhero fantasy world to escape the harsh realities of growing up in 1970s Brooklyn. Just like their onstage counterparts, Adam Chanler-Berat (Next to Normal) and Kyle Beltran (In the Heights), who originated the roles of the nerdy besties in early readings, have become close while working on the new tuner by Michael Friedman and Itamar Moses at the Public Theater. Broadway.com spent the afternoon hanging out with the dynamic duo to find out why Fortress could bring the power of musical theater to a whole new generation and what these stars geek out about when the curtain goes down.

Q: Do you remember the day you guys first met?

KYLE BELTRAN: I remember so well. I had just graduated from Carnegie Mellon and when I got cast in the reading of The Fortress of Solitude, my mind was so blown because all these Broadway people were in it. Adam was doing Next to Normal, so I actually went to see him and scope him out before we did the reading.

Q: Adam, did you know he did that?

ADAM CHANLER-BERAT: I don’t think so!

BELTRAN: We met maybe a week later at the first read-through, and I remember we had such an instant, really intense connection, and had our first lunch break just the two of us at Cosi on 48th Street.

CHANLER-BERAT: I was really intimidated by you after the first read-through.

BELTRAN: That’s so weird!

Q: Why were you intimidated?

CHANLER-BERAT: We had this instant palpable chemistry that’s already intimidating, and he’s a talent that I’ve never really seen before. He can do everything and do it all better than anyone I know.

BELTRAN: That’s really sweet, thank you. [Pretends to throw up.]

CHANLER-BERAT: I know, it’s sort of annoying. But I really respect and admire you.

BELTRAN: We have such a mutual respect for one another.

CHANLER-BERAT: Ugh, this interview is just gonna be us kissing each other’s asses!

Q: OK, we get it, you love each other, next question! What’s the coolest thing about this new musical?

CHANLER-BERAT: It’s full of huge musical moments, and then it has this way of suddenly stripping everything away and having a long scene. As a musical theater actor, you get a really satisfying musical...

BELTRAN: And also the elements of a play.

CHANLER-BERAT: Yeah, it satisfies you in both ways, which is everything you want and work for as a musical theater performer.

BELTRAN: And because it spans a huge period of time, it acts like a history of music. You have all of these different musical influences, like the birth of hip-hop, doo wop, Motown sound, David Byrne... This mash-up of all of these amazing musical influences that make you feel like you’re living 20 years with these characters in a really exciting way.

Q: The characters you play are nerds and they love comics. What do you guys nerd out over?

BELTRAN: What don’t we nerd out over?

CHANLER-BERAT: Like, a lot. [Laughs.] I love cooking, I love food.

BELTRAN: He’s a big-time foodie.

CHANLER-BERAT: I love podcasts.

BELTRAN: We both love podcasts. I’m really into this new thing that This American Life is starting, Serial podcasts, a long story told an hour a week.

CHANLER-BERAT: It’s unbelievable, it’s so good.

BELTRAN: And we tend to influence each other. Very much like the characters, we've started to copy each other in real life. The things that I’m into, Adam starts to do and vice versa.

Q: What else, besides podcasts?

BELTRAN: I’m a big-time music junkie, so I’m always playing Adam new stuff.

CHANLER-BERAT: We just watched that Beyonce and Jay-Z concert on HBO together!

Q: What do you hope audiences will love about The Fortress of Solitude?

BELTRAN: The best thing about this show is I can’t compare it to anything else. It’s such a singular experience. It operates on such a tiny personal level and then on a huge socioeconomic American political level, and it’s full of unbelievable music. It’s so rich and so personal and it’s ambitious in a way that I really think all musical theater has to be to survive into the next generation.

CHANLER-BERAT: Yep, you said it perfectly.

See The Fortress of Solitude at the Public Theater through November 2.