Season 5: Episode 11: Norm Lewis Interview: Ceremonies In Dark Old Men

This season on my podcast, Baring It All with Call Me Adam, I am spotlighting My Entertainment Idols.

Today I am speaking with Tony, Emmy & SAG Nominated Actor Norm Lewis whom I last interviewed in 2019 when he was getting ready to perform at 54 Below.

Now, Norm is once again lighting up the New York Stage, in the Off-Broadway production of Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, which has not had a NYC production in almost 40 years.

In this interview, Norm is Baring It All with Call Me Adam about:

• Why now is the right time to revive Ceremonies in Dark Old Men 
• The similarities between the play’s time period (1950’s) and today
• How Norm got his name
• Some jobs Norm had prior to making it as an actor
• Working with the legendary Vanessa Williams
• So much more

Originally scheduled to play through May 18, 2025, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men has been EXTENDED, due to popular demand, through June 29, 2025 at The Theatre at St. Clements in NYC! Click here for tickets!

In Ceremonies in Dark Old Men,  it’s New York in the 1950s. Russell Parker, a ne'er-do-well barber and the widowed father of three adult children, spends his days playing checkers and reminiscing about his life in vaudeville as a song and dance man. 

His two sons, Theo and Bobby, are dreamers of a different sort – a pair of petty criminals looking for a “score" in the form of ill-conceived and dangerous bootlegging and numbers schemes. Russell's daughter, Adele, the only gainfully employed member of the family, refusing to work herself into an early grave like her mother. 

When Adele's long-simmering resentments boil over and the boys' criminal enterprise falls apart, tragic consequences ensue for the whole family.

A Personal Behind-The-Curtain Note….

I have loved Norm ever since I saw him in his Broadway debut in the 1994 Original Broadway production of The Who’s Tommy.

Since then, I have had the pleasure of seeing Norm in Les Misérables (2006 Broadway revival), Sondheim on Sondheim (Broadway 2010), The Gerhswins’ Porgy and Bess (2012 Broadway), The Phantom of the Opera (Broadway 2014) Once on this Island (Broadway March 2018), Sweeney Todd: The Demon of Fleet Street (Off-Broadway June 2018), and Chicken & Biscuits (Broadway 2021).

I have also loved Norm in his many television & film appearances including his recurring role, acting besides Vanessa Williams, on VH-1’s Daytime Divas, his guest starring roles on The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and TV Land’s Younger as well as seeing him in the 2nd Sex and the City film.

Click here to watch this interview in video format!

Special Thanks:

• Brett Oberman at Keith Sherman & Associates
• Theme Song by Bobby Cronin
• Podcast Logo by Liam O'Donnell
• Edited by Adam Rothenberg
• Underscore Music by Cutique

Connect with Me:

Website: www.callmeadam.com

Facebook: @CallMeAdamNYC

Instagram: @CallMeAdamNYC

More on Norm Lewis:

Emmy, Tony, and SAG Award...