Edward Staudenmayer is excited to be reprising the role of Meyer Wolfsheim in the Broadway hit The Great Gatsby, following the Broadway production company’s run in Korea. He is a graduate of UCLA and a recipient of the Carol Burnett Award. He is a AEA, SAG, AFTRA, and AGVA member.

Staudenmayer’s Broadway credits include: Girl from the North Country, Wonderland (as White Rabbit), Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me. National Tour: Anastasia (as Vlad), Phantom of the Opera (as Monsieur Andre), Anything Goes (as Lord Evelyn Oakleigh), Beauty and the Beast (as Gaston), The Scarlet Pimpernel, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (as Pharaoh), The Radio City Music Spectacular (as Santa).

Our Lives’ Steve Noll sat down with Staudenmayer to talk about his career, interests, and upcoming stay in Madison.

Our Lives: Tell me about you and The Great Gatsby.

Edward Staudenmayer: Well, my name is Edward Staudenmayer. I’m one of the principal actors in The Great Gatsby. I play the role of Meyer Wolfsheim, who is a gangster, a bootlegger. He’s the guy that helps Gatsby to make all his money. I have the Act Two opening song, “Shady,” which is great. It’s a great opening number. But yeah, I’ve been working in the theater business for over 30 years. I come from Southern California originally and went to school at UCLA before moving off to Germany to do Cats in German. Then I moved to New York, and I’ve been over there ever since. So, I’ve spent most of my life in New York City and just been doing this, knock on wood, except for the break we had in the pandemic. And I had to go and do something else.

OL: Tell us more about Cats in German.

Edward: It’s my party trick now. I always sing the Rum Tum Tugger to everybody in German, usually when we’re on a break on stage in tech because it’s hilarious. It’s actually better in German because it sounds like cats.

OL: Often we interview younger performers on their first national show. We talk to a lot of newbies, and it’s nice to talk to someone, I don’t want to say veteran…

Edward: Well, I’m certainly the veteran in this show. I’m the oldest one. I know they usually want the cute young kids to be talking to the press, and now they’ve got the old guy calling you up.

OL: What is that like, being out on the road with what I’m assuming is a fairly young cast? Are they looking up to you? Do you tell them stories? Do you sit around and do campfire stories in the hotel rooms on tour?

Edward: Oh sure, yes, I tell lots of stories, and yeah, it’s fun. It keeps me young. Some of my best friends on the tour are the youngest ones in the show because I’m still trying to hang on to being a kid. But yeah, I hang out with all of them. I just got off the pickleball court with Gatsby and one of the younger ensemble guys. Whoever we have common interests with, it doesn’t matter our ages. But I certainly tell stories and I have a lot of advice, and sometimes they don’t want to hear it and then they usually go, “Oh yeah, you’re right.”

OL: Besides Cats, what other favorites have you been in?

Edward: When the pandemic hit, I was on tour with Anastasia. So this is my first big tour since then, and we did take this to Korea, which was phenomenal. We spent four months in Korea just before we started the national tour. About half of the company is from the Korean cast. It was great. Before that, I was on tour with Phantom of the Opera for almost four years, on and off, Beauty and the Beast, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I’ve worked recently at the Guthrie playing Emile de Becque in South Pacific, and I recently did Man of La Mancha down in Florida.

I won an award for Best Actor as Frederik in A Little Night Music at the Denver Center recently. I’ve also been a part of Forbidden Broadway, which is a show that’s been around for many, many years. I’ve been with them for over 30 years. I started that in college. I got the job as the understudy in Los Angeles, and then I started working with them. I’m now on three of their cast recordings. I’ve done it all around the world. I’ve even directed a production. That’s just been a great job to have when I’m not doing one of the bigger jobs.

OL: I am very familiar with Forbidden Broadway. I have all the CDs.

Edward: Yeah, I’m on the cover of one of them. I’m Alan Cumming. I’m shirtless and I’m Alan Cumming on the cover. Also on Broadway, I was in Wonderland. I played the White Rabbit. I originated that role. I was in Martin Short’s Fame Becomes Me. I got to perform opposite Martin Short. Most recently I was in The Girl From the North Country.

OL: Let’s talk about some of those big titles like Phantom and Beauty and the Beast. Were you the Phantom?

Edward: I was André, one of the two managers that sing “Prima Donna.”

OL: What a great song. And who were you in Beauty and the Beast?

Edward: I was both Beauty and the Beast, so I was Gaston.

OL: I’m sensing a pattern in your performances. You seem to be doing a lot of these really juicy supporting characters. You’re not on stage the whole time, but when you show up, you make that big impression.

Edward: Yeah, I would say that I’m certainly a character actor. I loved playing Emile de Becque in South Pacific and got to kiss the girl, but even then that’s kind of a character part. French accent and all the things. Even when I did Scarlet Pimpernel as the leading man, he is a big comedian and has to play multiple characters.

OL: Did you ever get to kiss the boy on stage?

Edward: No, no, damn it. Well, you know what? That’s not true. I did kiss a boy on stage recently. I was Off-Broadway last year in A Sign of the Times, and I had to play all the character roles in it. One part, I was this Andy Warhol character. We had to change the name to Randy Forthwall for legal reasons. We didn’t want to get sued. And yes, I had a little boy toy who would do all sorts of things. There was another kid I kissed in one scene too. So we had a really sexy scene. It was like Andy Warhol’s Factory. The main characters come in there and do a song, and it was very titillating, with guys in leather harnesses and stuff like that. So yes, I did get to kiss the boy in that. But it wasn’t like the main focus. It wasn’t the big swelling music and romance. I’m waiting for that musical to come out.

OL: Heated Rivalry: The Musical.

Edward: Exactly.

OL: The Act Two opener in Gatsby is called “Shady.” Is there any queer coding or subtext people should look for?

Edward: In the song itself, no. But Gatsby has always kind of had a little bit of queer coding in it. Scholars have thought that maybe the character of Nick is a little queer, that he’s maybe a little too obsessed with Gatsby. And it’s alluded that Jordan Baker, who is the second leading lady, is a professional golfer and a confirmed bachelor. She’s always wearing pants. In our production, it seems like their relationship might be more legitimate, but it’s definitely been discussed. There might be some queerness to their characters. It’s ambiguous, and it’s certainly ambiguous in the book.

OL: How long is this tour running?

Edward: We started this tour in February in Baltimore, and we’ve been on the road since. It’s going indefinitely. I’m signed for a year, but they keep adding cities all the time. I have a great part and a great Act Two opener, but it’s not killing me. It’s a pretty nice gig, and I’m really happy to have it.

OL: Let the kids do all the hard stuff.

Edward: Oh, and they do. They work so hard. Our Nick is fantastic. Josh Crosso plays Nick. He’s the narrator. He barely leaves the stage. And our Gatsby’s voice is crazy good. He’s singing so high. I have a very nice sensible character actor song.

OL: But you get that moment.

Edward: Yeah. It sets up the whole second act. My part is very important. It’s not a lot of stage time, but it’s an important presence when he’s there.

OL: Have you always been in musical theater?

Edward: Yeah. I’ve always enjoyed doing musicals. I do plays here and there, but I tend to like doing musicals. I think they’re just more fun to be in, and I have the talents for it, being able to sing and move OK. I always say I want to do plays because I want respect as an actor, and then I’m in one and I think, “Yeah, I’d rather be doing something where I’m singing and dancing.”

OL: Are there roles out there you’d still love to do?

Edward: I’m lucky because I just got two big ones under my belt. I did Man of La Mancha, which was fantastic, and I got to be Frederik in A Little Night Music. But of course every baritone wants to be Sweeney in Sweeney Todd. I’m dying to do that before it’s all over. And I’ve always loved The Music Man. I’d love my chance to still be able to play Harold Hill.

OL: There’s still time.

Edward: I’d better hurry up.

OL: Have you been to Madison before?

Edward: Oh, I have the most gorgeous picture of my dog walking across the street with the Capitol behind him in the most glorious summer. I was there with Anastasia. That was the last time I was in Madison.

OL:  How did the dog work with touring?

Edward: Well, I don’t have a dog anymore. Unfortunately, he passed away at the beginning of the pandemic. But he traveled with me everywhere. Sometimes you’d wake up in a hotel bed and think, “I have no idea where I’m at right now.” But thank God that dog was there because it gave me a sense of home and peace. That was really great. I will be having a dog while I’m in Madison, though. A buddy of mine is going to Japan and needed somebody to watch his dog for two months. This is going to be my little tryout because I really want another dog. I told myself if I ever got another big national tour where I was making steady money for a good amount of time, I was going to get another dog. I think it’s time. This will be a nice little test. I’ll have a little Pomeranian with me when I’m in Madison.

OUR: You can walk him around the Capitol for us.

Edward: I will. I think I’m staying right by the theater, so it’ll be great.

OL:  Why should Madison’s queer audience come see this show?

Edward: One of the reasons is—and this is what I thought when I saw it on Broadway too—it is such a spectacle. It is a show where you’re going to say, “I’m getting my money’s worth.” You are seeing the money you’re paying up on that stage. It is so lush. It is so beautifully designed. The costumes won the Tony Award. I think our sets and lighting should have won as well. It’s just a beautiful design, and it’s a fun story. It’s a book that we all had to read in high school. I remember it was the first grown-up novel I had to read, and it was all about bootlegging and adultery and murder. It was exciting. It wasn’t a Judy Blume book. It’s a great score. I think the actors and the production are top notch. The dancing is incredible. The choreography is wonderful. It’s a great score and just this classic American story that’s so much a part of the culture. You can’t even type The Great Gatsby on your phone without a little champagne bottle popping up next to it because it’s got its own emoji.

The Great Gatsby will be playing at The Overture Center in Madison July 28 – August 2, 2026. Tickets may be purchased at overture.org.