After seven seasons and over 100 episodes, The CW’s campy drama Riverdale is soon coming to a close -- and as the show heads into its home stretch, Broadway star Nicholas Barasch has joined the cast as the preppy, rich, red-headed bully Julian Blossom. While delightful in a recent interview on my podcast Actors With Issues, Nicholas plays his conniving and vindictive character to nasty perfection. The actor sat down with us and reflected on his early years as a child actor on Broadway, how he's navigated feelings of self-doubt during his career, and his experience joining the world of Riverdale during its final episodes.
Barasch made his Broadway debut at just ten years old in the 2009 revival of West Side Story, and went on to star in the Tony-nominated productions of The Mystery of Edwin Drood and She Loves Me. Though it had a limited run, Drood featured an all-star cast of Broadway veterans who would nearly all later earn Tony Awards, including Andy Karl (Groundhog Day), Stephanie J. Block (The Cher Show) and Jessie Mueller (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), as well as Broadway legend Chita Rivera, who he described as his "fairy godmother" while working on Drood.
"I, of course, knew she was a legend and an icon but I was only fourteen years old. How many years can you worship Chita Rivera when you’re fourteen?" he laughed. "I think that's why I had an easier time being around her than other people. She is such a beautiful person and I learned so much just being in the room with her."
Riverdale marks Barasch’s first major television role and one that he admitted he did not expect to get. "I found out later that the showrunner Roberto [Aguirre-Sacasa] had seen me in some plays so that certainly helped my chances. It's this pop culture phenomenon and these faces I’ve seen on billboards for the last six years, now I'm doing scenes with them. With it being the final season, I can really feel that they all just want to be together and hang out and make those final memories for the show. I feel especially privileged that I can be a fly on the wall and see them wrap up this final chapter. It’s such a gift."
Barasch then revealed that he already knew one of the series stars, Casey Cott, which provided him with a sense of relief. "Casey was this wonderful conduit and introduced me to everyone," he recalled. "It’s a lot of good people on that set. It then became just a 'me' problem because I then had to work through my own nerves because no one there made me feel that way at all."
On Actors With Issues, guests speak about career obstacles they’ve overcome or are still dealing with to provide guidance and insight for young actors. Barasch (pictured at top with co-star Madelaine Petsch) revealed that while working on Riverdale he learned to let go of seeking perfection and gave credit to a few of his teachers who have helped him along the way. "I'm very goal-oriented and feel like I have to work hard to feel like I earned whatever good thing is coming my way," he said. "Especially working on Riverdale, what I’ve learned is that relaxation is so key, [as is] just letting go. As a theater creature, there’s more rehearsal and discipline and you’re going toward this result that will be performed eight times a week in front of an audience. With TV, you do some prep but then you show up and you’re in the moment, working with your collaborators and getting notes and discovering stuff in the moment and then you just move on. So, you have to just let go and not white-knuckle it. I’m what they call a recovering perfectionist.
"My acting teacher Bob Krakower says, 'Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good' and that’s really helped me. To go for the good and not the perfect, because perfect doesn’t exist," Barasch concluded. "To quote [actress and coach] Wendy Makkena, 'You can’t screw the lid on too tight.' In theater you want to achieve a result that is sustainable every night, that's going to get that laugh or knock people's socks off, while in TV you're looking for the mistakes, the spontaneity, or the little moments that you're only going to catch in that one take that maybe the editor will use and piece together. You're very much a small piece of a puzzle."
You can watch the full interview with Nicholas Barasch here. Riverdale is telecast Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on The CW.
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