| Full given name: | Ronald John Bommer, II ("ronjohn"? Yes. "II"? Uh-huh). Legal spelling is still B-O-M M-E-R, which looks like it might be pronounced "Bomber." Probably best not to tempt the critics, so I changed one letter for pronunciation. |
| Hometown: | Cincinnati, Ohio. Cheviot, to be exact. |
| Zodiac sign: | 100% Leo |
| Audition song: | Depends on how suicidal I am about the whole experience that day. My favorite, though, is what I sang for director Jeff Calhoun to audition for High School Musical: nothing. |
| Special skills: | Used to be a tapper, now I'd probably break a hip. |
| First Broadway show ever saw: | Caught the 2nd act of Godspell on my first (one-day) trip to NYC when I was 14. First full-length show was A Chorus Line. Wore the T-shirt for seven years. |
| If you could go back in time and catch any Broadway show, what would it be? | I'm a big Superman fan, so I would have loved to have seen It's a Bird ... It's a Plane ... It's Superman. And Angela Lansbury as Mame - I got to do the show with Juliet Prowse who was phenomenal. Still, I'd love to soak up the whole 60's vibe on Broadway. |
| Current show you have been recommending to friends: | Curtains because of Jill Paice and Noah Racey and Spelling Bee because of Jen Simard and Jessica Snow. |
| Favorite show tune: | I cannot pick a favorite, but, all things considered, by default I will say "The Music of the Night." It's been awfully good to me. I've sung it more times in my life than "Happy Birthday" and still enjoy it. |
| MAC or PC? | Girls, girls, you're both pretty. |
| Most played song on your iPod: | "Zak & Sara" by Ben Folds. |
| Last book you read: | "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. I'm now back to finishing Stephen King's sprawling and brilliant "Dark Tower" saga. |
| Must-see TV show: | Totally "Lost." |
| Last good movie you saw: | Just saw "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" again for the 25th time. William Goldman is the god of screenwriters. |
| Performer you would drop everything to go see: | Kenny Loggins. Nobody can sing like that man. Nobody. |
| Pop culture guilty pleasure: | Comic books. |
| First stage kiss: | Marianne Schweinberg. She was 13, I was 14, she was Marian the Librarian, I was Harold Hill. And I was in LOOOVVE! |
| How you got your Equity card: | I was in three summer stock shows at the American Music Theatre (sadly, it is no more) in new London, CT. I was Horatio in Kiss Me, Kate (Ron Raines was Petruchio/Fred). I also was chorus in Music Man (Rebecca Luker was Marian) and How to Succeed. |
| Who have you played on "Law & Order"? Which edition? | Dr. Randall Forbes on "SVU." |
| Worst costume ever: | I was a bag of coffee in an industrial once. Mmmm, mountain grown, it's the richest kind. |
| Cats or dogs? | DOGS! DOGS!! DOGS!!! We have 2 (Griffin and Murphy), we'd like to have 20. |
| Favorite cereal: | Bacon and eggs. |
| Who would play you in the movie? | Dennis Quaid. |
| Worst job you ever had: | First two weeks I lived in Manhattan, I was a waiter for nine days on the breakfast shift (5-11 AM) at the Barbizon Plaza Hotel. I was fired in front of my customers. I haven't been up that early since. Thank God this theatre thing has worked out. |
| What musical role have you been dying to play? | When I first moved to NY, I saw Sunday in the Park with George standing-room like 23 times. I'm still dying to play George, not just for the role but to hear that score and philosophy eight times a week. As far as yet-to-be-produced musicals? I think it would be pretty bad-ass to play Batman. Hard to imagine him singing, but I'd love to figure that one out. Maybe not though. Another sweaty role with your face in a mask. |
