Billboard.com Interview – April 23, 2022 – Guest: Blaine Anderson

Blaine sat on a small soundstage as his stylist, Chloe, messed with his outfit and hair. They had been best friends since 2nd grade, and Blaine was always grateful to have her around. He sat there, waiting for the interviewer and playing idly with his phone in his hand.

“Hunny, let me fix your bowtie,” Chloe said, but Blaine did not respond. “Blaine,” she said again, still with no response. “Lover boy! Come back to me!” She said as she lightly smacked his shoulder, finally pulling him back to her world.

“I’m sorry, Chlo,” Blaine said turning to look at her. He couldn’t help but be slightly nervous for this interview. He wasn’t one to do interviews. His stature as a Broadway star didn’t really seem very effected by his unwillingness to take them, so he turned down as many as possible. It was helpful that his brother was a star in his own right. To an extent, publicity for Cooper also meant publicity for Blaine. It was a large part of the reason he chose Broadway, other than the obvious fact that it was much more rewarding. He didn’t want to have to be a media darling. He liked performing 8 shows a week with no room for anyone to care what he did with his off time. However, with his first Tony nomination for his staring role in a recent musical, as well as 9 other nominations for the show as well, he had to acknowledge the media and fans. He chose broadway.com because of their constant encouragement and help in his career as well as the fact that he wouldn’t have to leave New York to do it. He had been asked to appear on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for the 4th time in 6 years, and had again opted out. While there were many pros to choosing broadway.com, there was one major con. Internet interviews in general tended to get more personal, and with the twitter Q&A portion of this interview planned, he knew he was going to have to do a good job avoiding. The worst part was that it was causing turmoil on the inside that he was even planning to avoid personal questions.

“Blaine, love,” Chloe said taking a seat next to her friend. “What’s wrong?”

“I really hate interviews. You know that,” he responded still twiddling with his phone.

“Yes, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you quite this agitated. You are a Tony nominee! You look FANTASTIC, thanks to me! You have a ridiculously gorgeous and talented brother-“ she let the word hang in the air with a forced look of shame, like she hadn’t meant to say that, when she really truly had very well meant to, before continuing and correcting herself. “Boyfriend, I mean.” Blaine laughed at her obvious crush on Cooper, which is exactly what she had intended to cause, trying to calm him down a bit.

“You do know that he is ten years older than you right? I mean, it was cute when we were 8. But still?” Blaine asked, even though he knew he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“One day Blaine. One day he will wake up and he will say to himself, ‘Oh! She’s been in front of me this whole time!’ And I will be here. Waiting with open arms and a fancy bowtie.” They laughed together as Blaine pulled her into a hug.

“I love you,” he said as he kissed the top of her head.

“I know, I’m awesome,” Chloe responded leaning into her friend. A crewmember came over and informed them they would start filming in 10 minutes, which caused Blaine to tense up again, but not nearly as much as before.

“I wish I didn’t have to be so secretive. It’s not who I am. That’s why I avoid these stupid interviews. I don’t want to have to lie or answer in half-truths.  But that is how this stupid game works.” Blaine was venting, again, and was grateful that Chloe would always just sit and listen. His phone vibrated and he looked down, a smile spreading quickly across his face.

Kurt: Love you, babe. Don’t throw up on the interviewer. I know you don’t have much practice with these things. :)

Blaine: I’ll remember that. :) It’s about to start, I’ll talk to you after.

Kurt: Tell the story about how we met. There is no harm in that. It will serve as a good distraction.

It was funny how differently the two of them had taken Cooper’s advice when it came to navigating the media frenzy. Blaine had watched Cooper as he was becoming a star, and so when it was his turn he knew he would rather avoid interviews than lie and evade. Kurt, who hit his first big break on a film with Cooper, also watched and listened to his advice, but chose the route of ‘give them as much and as little as possible.’ He was actually quite good at it. 

“Alright, you. Interview well. I will be right over there,” Chloe said as she walked away. A couple minutes later a broadway.com staffer sat down in the empty chair, and the interview began.

“Our guest today is a Broadway sensation. Since storming into this town 6 years ago, he has gained much fame and notoriety for himself. Last Tuesday he was announced as a Tony nominee for Best Actor in a Musical. I’m so happy to introduce, Blaine Anderson!” Blaine smiled at the camera.

“Well, hello! It’s great to be here.”

“You sir, are a Tony nominee! How did you find out?” The interviewer asked.

“My agent called me at some ungodly hour! I mean, I know I shouldn’t complain, and it was a great way to wake up, but it was very early! Actually though, it did make it fun to call my brother. I think it was 7 AM here when I got the call, and I called Cooper immediately, not thinking that he was in LA and it was only 4 AM. It’s ok. He was excited as well,” Blaine said calming at this line of questioning.

“Was it something you were expecting?” Blaine inwardly groaned at this ridiculous question. There really was no good way to answer this. You say yes and you look like an arrogant asshole. You say no and you look insecure.

“This show,” Blaine began, trying to figure his way around the question. “It is such an amazing show. I worked very hard, as did the rest of the cast and crew, and we are immensely proud of what it has become. This was this first show that I originated a leading role, and went through the endless process of workshops and previews with. I feel like it’s coming full circle. I am so proud and honored to be part of such an amazing show.” The interviewer nodded and Blaine let out an inward sigh of relief.

“You have every right to be proud. This show is truly amazing. I’ve seen it 4 times, and you are fantastic every night,” the interviewer said, causing Blaine to blush.

“Wow! That means a lot. Thank you,” Blaine responded genuinely.

“It’s true. So tell me about you. We don’t know much. You are from Ohio?”

“Ohio, yes. I grew up in a fairly small town. It was great. I had good friends. In fact my best friend is with me today. She is now my stylist! There’s something about having a special person with you in such a big and scary city.” Blaine knew he was rambling. This was the problem. Get him started and you would never know what could come out of his mouth.

“You went to an all boys high school, correct? A rather well known one in the show choir realm, if I remember correctly.”

“Yes!” Blaine responded, smiling fondly at the memory of Dalton. “I went to The Dalton Academy, and was part of the a cappella group, The Warblers. It’s where I started to find myself and my love of performing. I don’t think I would have ever ended up here if it weren’t for that time. It was an honor, and something I am still very proud of.”

“That’s awesome. I’ve heard about you and your show choir days from Rachel Berry. She said you were quite the competition back then.”

Blaine laughed. “Yeah, it was a great time.”

“You also have a famous older brother. What’s that like?”

“Cooper is great! I mean, it’s nice having him gone through similar things as I have and understand where I am coming from and what I am feeling. He’s a lot older than me, so he wasn’t always around when I was younger, so it’s nice to have him and I be in sort of the same world now, even if we are far away. I love spending time with him.” As soon as Blaine said it he was sure he had gone too far and silently cursed himself for his lack of filter.

“You two, along with Kurt Hummel, have made quite the media stir lately. How did that happen? Kurt also grew up in Ohio, and even competed against you, along side Ms. Berry, if I do remember correctly. Did you know each other before he did the movie with Cooper?”

How in the world did Kurt know that this line of questioning would come? How did he know!? “That’s funny that you ask that. He is from Ohio, and he did compete against me, but I did not know him before Cooper signed on to do The Other Side of Darkness. It’s been great getting to know him. Cooper thought we would get along, and he was right. But I had one interaction with Kurt when we were both in High School. It’s a funny story.”

The interviewer looked excited, which surprised and calmed Blaine. “Do tell,” he encouraged.

“Ok. When I was in high school, I lived at Dalton. It was a boarding school. Anyway. The Warblers were very well received and beloved on campus, and we would do these impromptu performances in the common rooms from time to time. Really, it’s crazy to me now that I think about it. Show Choir is like the nerdiest thing for a performing arts student, but they all loved it! So, anyway. On this random day in November, which I can only remember because we were all in our blazers because it was cold outside, there was a random guy wondering our halls as I was walking to the common rooms. I knew he wasn’t a student, because he was wearing this ridiculously fashionable suit, which was in no way a Dalton uniform. He acted as if he was new, and was very interested in the Warblers, which made me think he was a spy. It was funny, this kid had driven all the way to watch us perform, to size up his competition. He could have just looked on YouTube.” Blaine smiled, fondly remembering the day. “My friends and I ended up talking to him for a while after he watched us perform. It was Kurt. And I hadn’t seen him again, until his movie with Cooper. It was great to catch up and see how far he had come.”

“What a small world,” the interviewer said with a smile. “Alright, lets move on to some questions from twitter, since you are a busy guy with a performance tonight.”

“Sounds great!” Blaine said, inwardly groaning. He glanced briefly in Chloe’s direction and saw her give a slight thumbs up.

“First question is, what is your dream role on Broadway?”

“Oh wow. That’s a good question. I’m not sure. I’ve always wanted to play Tony in West Side Story. It’s just a classic.”

“Nice. Good Choice. This one is kind of funny. Why do you ALWAYS where bowties. And they put ‘bowties’ in all caps like they are really upset about it.”

Blaine laughed. “Coop is just as frustrated as you are.” He looked down at his bowtie. “I don’t know, they are just so awesome! Bowties are cool,” He said with a slight accent, looking to the interviewer for acknowledgement, but he just looked confused. “Don’t get the reference? Ok, that’s cool. I’m a nerd. Next question?”

“Alright… are you dating anyone?”

Blaine could feel his throat constrict and his stomach turn in knots. “I wouldn’t tell you if I was,” was the best thing he could think to say. There were a few more fan questions after that, but his heart was no longer in it, and the interview ended shortly after. As he was leaving the studio with Chloe, who was just saying good things over and over again about how well he did, he couldn’t shake the feeling of disappointment in himself. Finally he retrieved his phone from his pocket and sent one text.

Blaine: I’m not ashamed of you.