At the time Stephen Michael Langton thought it would be cool to sign up to act in his middle school\u2019s production of \u201cThe King and I.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was already in the choir, and had been dancing since age 8 at his mom\u2019s studio in Southlake, so why not try something new?<\/p>\n
\u201cLittle did we know it could take us all over the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
And now his career as a professional entertainer is bringing him back to Fort Worth as part of the ensemble and an understudy in \u201cSome Like It Hot\u201d at Bass Performance Hall<\/a> April 14-19. It\u2019s the latest in the Performing Arts Fort Worth Broadway at the Bass Series<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mother\u2019s very excited to see me at Bass Hall!\u201d Langton exclaimed. \u201cIt\u2019s the first place I saw a professional show \u2014 \u2018Cats.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Langton, 35, graduated from Keller High School in 2009. He did a lot of work in Grapevine at Oh Look Performing Arts Center (now New Look). It was there he was told something profound that he said changed his life.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a small black box, but it led me to some more open doors,\u201d he said. \u201cThe director of Oh Look, Jill Lord, told me, \u2018This is what you can do with your life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n And so he is.<\/p>\n Following graduation, he attended and graduated from Pace University in New York. He performed in various circles, including on a Disney cruise ship, where he said he learned to appreciate his craft like never before.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a job I think everyone in theater should do. You work seven days, you work your butt off performing eight times a week,\u201d he said. \u201cThat ship gave me a leg up on what an artist should do to get a leg up.<\/p>\n \u201cPlus, I was 23 years old, and I was on a cruise ship and seeing some cool places. Being on a national theater tour is very similar.\u201d<\/p>\n He also came across some pretty interesting people, such as the time he recalled meeting actor Harvey Fierstein (\u201cMrs. Doubtfire\u201d).<\/p>\n \u201cHe just came up to me and we started talking. All of a sudden I\u2019m rubbing elbows with famous people who know who I am,\u201d Langton said. \u201cHe was so casual, like he wasn\u2019t a legend. I hope I can carry myself like that.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2015 Langton got the biggest break of his career when he was cast in the role Davey in the North American Tour of \u201cNewsies,\u201d a major role he played through 2016.<\/p>\n \u201cThey had already played Fort Worth, so I missed that, which makes me even more excited now,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d never played to houses even half the size of what we got on that tour. But also, everyone in the cast was so young. It was such a new level for all of us.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so excited to have that at Bass Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n Following his time on tour, Langton also participated in a \u201cNewsies\u201d cast reunion concert at Feinstein\u2019s\/54 Below in New York City in 2017.<\/p>\n On the road<\/p>\n Langton is a gaming enthusiast and takes all of his games on the road with him.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a close group of friends I\u2019ve known since I was about age 7 and we\u2019re all over the world now,\u201d he said. \u201cIt allows me to live in hotel rooms and still feel like I\u2019m coming home to family each night.\u201d<\/p>\n Langton was an athlete when he was younger, playing baseball and hockey, along with trying football.<\/p>\n \u201cBaseball was all right, but I\u2019d be dancing in the outfield,\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n He still considers himself and his cast mates in \u201cSome Like It Hot\u201d as athletes.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re athletes and this show is athletic,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of moving, dancing and jumping. It can be really difficult, but there\u2019s nothing like it.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t even dance like this in \u2018Newsies.\u2019 We use all of our muscles.\u201d<\/p>\n After his run in \u2018Newsies,\u2019 Langton performed in regional theater for a while before COVID hit in 2020. Then he tried a different career as an optician.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought I was pretty much done with theater. I ended up stranded at my parents\u2019 house in Houston (they live in Denver now),\u201d he said. \u201cMy partner at the time, she wanted to move to LA. I did not like LA.\u201d<\/p>\n He has hinted that he is interested in some more film\/TV work. He did some TV work at the old Las Colinas Movie Studios when he was a youth.<\/p>\n But he couldn\u2019t walk away from theater. Then, in 2024, he found himself cast in \u201cSome Like It Hot.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was very humbling, being in that room,\u201d he said of starting rehearsals. \u201cI knew it was theater boot camp, but I was so glad to be back.<\/p>\n \u201cI just want to give it all so much more than ever before. I might be the sweatiest guy on stage at the end of the night.\u201d<\/p>\n Langton said the current version of \u201cSome Like It Hot\u201d follows the same premise as the 1959 movie that starred Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. Two struggling male musicians witness a mob murder and flee by disguising themselves as women in an all-female jazz band.<\/p>\n \u201cOur characters are literally the same, but our show introduces many of the social aspects of the world we live in today,\u201d Langton said. \u201cIt definitely handles relationships between men and women without just being a classic punch line. It\u2019s not discussing gender identities just to be current, it\u2019s genuinely talking about love.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a timeless message and people tell us all the time they\u2019re moved by the piece.\u201d<\/p>\n For Langton, it\u2019s the longest run he\u2019s had in a show, and he\u2019s not ready to see it end.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the time we get to Fort Worth we\u2019ll be close to 600 performances,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d love to do 600 more if they let me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the time Stephen Michael Langton thought it would be cool to sign up to act in his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":{"0":"post-238377","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-fort-worth","9":"tag-fort-worth-headlines","10":"tag-fort-worth-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}