For a couple of hours every night, Danny Gardner dances around a stage with 6-pound candles connected to the end of each arm.
The Reading native wouldn’t have it any other way.
“This really is a dream come true,” said Gardner, who plays Lumiere in the Broadway touring production of “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.”
Gardner will be performing at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia when the show returns to the city for the first time in 13 years from Feb. 11 to 22. Tickets are available at www.ensembleartsphilly.org/series-and-subscriptions/broadway-series/disneys-beauty-and-the-beast.
“The first time I took the stage was at Reading High School,” Gardner said. “I was in elementary school and they needed a little boy for a show just to come out and say a few lines. At the end of the show, they called my name. So, I just started taking more dance lessons and it grew from there.”
After graduating from Ithaca College, Gardner moved to New York and started hitting Broadway.
“I’ve been on Broadway three times, but the first show only lasted about four months,” said Gardner. “Then the other two shows I was on Broadway, there were limited runs. I did a lot of regional shows. So you’d have about two, three weeks of rehearsal. You’d go through technical rehearsals and then you’d open and then you had about a month, two months to run the show. By the middle of that first month you’d be looking for your next job.”
The tour for “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” is a yearlong travel, giving Gardner a little taste of stability.
“To have this reliability of a show that a lot of people not only know, but a lot of people will attend for a full year is a wonderful job,” Gardner said.
There is also another special perk.
Gardner’s wife, Emily, is also part of the show. They have been able to travel the country with their 9-month-old son, Jack, and beloved dog Maple.
“Sometimes, (we’ll) just sit back and be like, ‘This is very, very special,’ ” Gardner said. “Right now, we’re in Oklahoma City. We’re only here for a week. We then drive to Tulsa. We’re only there for a week. Then we drive to Fayetteville. We’re only there for a week. It can be hard because as soon as you get unpacked, you have to pack everything up. So, I can get mired down in the logistics of, he wants this toy, but that toy is packed in the trunk at the theater. Then I need to take a breath and realize it is amazing.”
The show started on the road in July. The Gardners gave up their New York apartment, packed what they needed into a Subaru Forester and hit the road.
“It’s like the old vaudeville performers,” said Gardner. “You know, we set up and then we do the show and then we tear it down. Now, luckily, I do not have to tear down any of the set.”
Gardner’s mother, a longtime teacher in the Reading School District, has helped arrange a talkback/Q&A with over 120 students from the Reading School District on Feb. 12 after the 1:30 p.m. matinee.
“I’ve never been on stage in Philly,” Gardner said. “I’ve always wanted to. The closest I’ve come is People’s Light and Theater Company. When I found out we were gonna go to Philly, I contacted our publicist and said I would love to talk to everybody. This is exciting for me, because I, I can trace my entire career back to Reading. I did a bunch of shows at the Genesius Theatre and my family lived on North 11th Street right across from City Park. So it really is special that I’m able to come back close to Reading and show everyone that I’m not starving.”