Video: Playing Pinball and Talking TOMMY with Ali Louis Bourzgui 

Welcome to Backstage with Richard Ridge

My guest, Ali Lewis Borski, is making his Broadway debut as Tommy Walker in Desmackenoff and Pete Townsend's new production of The Who's Tommy

And we caught up with him here at Barcades. Well, first of all, I am thrilled to be sitting with you

Yeah, I'm thrilled to be sitting with you. And here we are at barcades. Barcade, yeah

So you played some of these machines, right? Yeah, well, I, you know, I've been to a few barcades on different tours

And then growing up, my grandpa used to, like, bring me to the mall, and he'd go and do his shopping

He'd put me and my brother in the arcade. And we were just playing this, like, racing game over here all the time, and Pac-Man

and they didn't have pinball at that arcade, so maybe that's why I'm not great at it, but..

So you're good at Pac-Man and these, like, Car Games, right? Daytona, USA

Well, listen, you are about to make your Broadway debut as Tommy Walker and Tommy

How excited are you? It's insane. We're currently in that stage where, you know

we're at the end of previews, and it's just been like, you know, we didn't know how people were going to react in Chicago

and then we sold that out, and people were like, every single audience was

amazing energy and then we didn't know how it was going to do in New York

and so far we're at the end of previews and every single night there's this sort of

this like convocation to the audience and we like sing this song

straight to them and we're just getting like so much energy back and everyone's loving it

and standing up and it's just it's really really like exciting energy

because the run you had in Chicago was record breaking totally sold out

and people flew in from all around the world to see this show, which they're doing now in New York

Yeah. So it's got to be so cool. What do you remember about your first performance on stage here in New York as Tommy

I was so nervous, but it was a blessing to have been able to do the show in Chicago, because I knew I had the show under my belt, so I didn't have to focus on the show too much, but just the idea of, like, because this wasn't just my Broadway debut, it was also my New York debut

I've never even performed in New York City. so to sort of feel like a small need to like prove myself in kind of a way

But I just remember kind of feeling that nervousness. But when we went out, it was the realization that 16 of us were making our Broadway debuts together that night

and focusing on sort of the ensemble effect of that and lifting each other up

And that took the pressure away and just made it really, really exciting and special

It felt like everything I wanted my Broadway debut to be. What's it like living in this beautiful world of a who

is Tommy. Every day you feel the legacy of it. You know, the history. I have a big photo of the

Who performing in my dressing room right now. And you know, I

have been just like going back and re-watching old archive clips. And you

live that, you know, you keep that like inside of you when you're performing this. And every single night when we sing listening to you

it's like, this has been sung for audiences around the world for years

and years and years. And it's touched so many people and, you know, it's just, it's, like, the whole thing just feels like an honor

to be part of, you know, as someone who loves music so much and the history of music, and

it just feels like such an honor to be part of this whole legacy of it

Is it a big pinch me moment? I'm like, the Who's Tommy? And, like, you're doing it now on Broadway and making your debut

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I couldn't imagine a better debut because I always grew up, like, wanting to do rock musicals

Spring Awakening. I did that when I was in high school and it changed my entire life

And, you know, it's funny because Ira Pittleman was the lead producer on that as well

And so we were talking about that. And I was like, yeah, that photo of Moritz-Steefel, like, you know, with the microphone, like that, that was my lock screen

That was everything to me. That was iconic. And then we did a photo shoot together sort of in the same, you know, same vein

And it's, those are like the pinch me moments where I'm like, wow, I'm doing a rock musical on Broadway

it and yeah the who are a part of it and I get to meet them you know it's wild okay so you've

already met well I met Pete all right what was that like it was insane um it's like when you get

to meet the person who created the piece you're working on you just want you want them to

I want I just wanted him to be proud of like what we created and and I wanted to really honor

this thing that he made when he was my age um And, you know, he's just spent so much of his life with this piece

And to come into it sort of as like, you know, I recognize what it is

but to come into it sort of feeling like a bit of a newbie. Yeah. I really wanted to come into it, you know, with that sort of that dramaturgy I was talking about

of being like, I know every single in and out of this and, like, where you came from with this

I didn't think it was, I thought it was pretty irresponsible to come into the piece just like blank about it. Yeah

So, you know, I really, like, not only watched videos of them performing, but I even went back into interviews that Pete did of talking about, like, the origins of the piece and how he was inspired to write it and talking about Meher Baba and all these, like, spiritual leaders that he sort of was following and intertwined into the story

And, yeah, I don't know. I just, I wanted to make him proud with both the performance and the drama churchy

How cool is it singing the score? It's pretty cool. It's pretty cool

Especially, I love singing I'm free every night. because it's like, I can't really sing every single song at full like rock star

rasp and volume just because it shows a week It gets a little tiring There certain songs where I really choose to like perform as if I were Roger Daltry And so I free

You know, if there's any, like, Super Who fans out there, I went back to three different

Roger Daltry performances of it. I went to the movie, the Live It Leeds, and I don't remember the last one, but I chose

three different hyphs he did in those different performances. threw those in there so that like I'm doing a you know a little homage to Roger but also keeping it my own

and yeah it's just it's just fun to sing a score like this you know this is such a demanding role

so I was wondering how do you stay healthy physically and mentally to do this I do a lot of yoga

which was always something you know if you go to any kind of theater program you get a little bit of

yoga in your practice but it's never something that I've done religiously but

starting in Chicago, there's so much lifting in this show. Like, not me. People are lifting me, and I'm, like, contorting my body and doing all these, like

the show is very sharp in the choreography. So doing, like, flowing movements like that really helps my body just kind of work out

the kinks and stay healthy. And I don't do too much with my day. Yeah

I kind of, I read a lot. I chill out. Once it gets warm out, Central Park will be my haven, you know, in Chicago

I would just walk up and down. And again, I love music. So one of my favorite hobbies is just like curating music and finding like eclectic

playlists and, I don't know, just finding new artists and stuff. So I'll spend four hours walking up and down a park just listening to music, which, you know

informs my practice and also keeps me sane, I guess, in a way

Yeah. So I was going to ask you, how do you prep yourself for a performance? Like, what do you do to get into the Tommy mindset before you go on

Like, do you arrive at the theater early? Are you a later arrival? Like, how early did you like to get to a theater

I arrive relatively early. I have a great set of warm-ups given to me

by my voice teacher that involve a lot of tongue pulling when you're doing rock singing, your jaw

and your tongue get really tight, which can cause problems. So I closed my door because it looks wild

and I grab a paper towel and I'm pulling on my tongue. You know, I've said, like, vocal warmups are already weird enough

and these are even weirder. Like, vocal warm-ups are weird to non-theater people

And then the vocal warm-ups I'm doing are weird to know, are weird to theater people

She closed the door. I close the door. I do a lot of stretching

And I have a record player in my dressing room, and I brought a bunch of my records from home

And I'll usually throw one of those on it. It's really like getting into the idea of music

Just for the, you know, the fact that this show is based in classic rock

but also the character Tommy lives in a music. musical consciousness. He sort of experiences the world through this inner orchestration

So to get music in my bones from the start is a big part of my prep

Okay, Des Makhanoff is one of the most in-demand directors. He always has been. What makes him such a wonderful director and want you to enjoy the most about working with him

Because he's so detailed. Yeah. I mean, he is so, he's so detailed and he also doesn't settle for anything but like perfection and your best work

Um, which, you know, in the beginning, starting in Chicago, I already had so much imposter syndrome

I'm a relatively unknown actor. Like, coming into this huge legacy role and, um, you know, he kind of just kept being like, you know, you got to be more of a rock star

You got to be more of a rock star. More this, more this. And, uh, it was hard. But like, he pushed me to this point that I didn't even know I could get to

Like, like, he saw more in me than I saw in myself. And he does that for everyone. Yeah. So, so we sort of

work to get to this place that he sees us at. And then at the end, you turn around

you're like, oh, my God, I've grown so much. And, like, he's gifted me the, this, this

yeah, he's basically gifted me, like, you know, a new voice and a new, like, a new, like, a new confidence

Like, because he saw me at such a high level, I rose to that. And, you know, I can't thank him enough for it

And also just the fact that, um, every single piece of this show is so detailed

Like, the best note he ever gave us is he told us, not to smile in the show

There's very, very, very specific little moments of the show where we're allowed to smile

but otherwise, you know, he mentioned that when you're skydiving, they tell you to smile because they're going to take photos

and this is like the only way that you're going to look sane because otherwise there's a hundred different emotions

that can go across your face when you're doing something like that. So he said, if you don't smile throughout the show

there's like a hundred different ways that your face can be. Smiling is, we're used to seeing that

but otherwise, there's all these things. different things that you can unlock that are really interesting and like obscure for the

audience to see. So that's just been a great acting challenge. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. And you love working with this company

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The ensemble, I mentioned them in my bio. They quite literally lift me up

every night emotionally and, you know, keeping me sane, but also like they're literally lifting me

and holding me up in the show. And it's just such a great group of people. It's a hard, hard

show to do. And it requires 110% of your energy and we're all just there for each other

which we wouldn't be able to do the show without that. I love that. I want to go back to growing up

Where did your love for theater begin? Yeah, well, I grew up in the Berkshire's in Western Mass

which is like the mecca of all art. There's Jacob's Pillow for dance, and you have

Tanglewood for music, and we have Burlington Stage and Shakespeare Company and Williamstown Theatre

Festival and Berkshire Theatre Group. There's just so much. art and that's where my mom originally grew up

My grandma was a big community theater actor. Yeah. And just a lot of people on my mom saw I did like my aunt a tap dancer another one of my aunts a painter And in that and in that like world I was kind of inspired by them

And then got to start seeing a couple shows. And then when I was in middle school, my mom and I heard of this like Wizard of Oz audition

So I went and did that. And she, she, I stopped at the door and was just like, I, you know what

I changed my mind. And she goes, no, no, we're here. You're going to, you're going to follow through with this

And thank God she did that because from there on, I literally caught the bug. I played the lollipop guild Munchkin

And when I was given the solo and had this giant lollipop, I just was like, oh, yeah, this is it

And I caught the bug really early and then was just able to go see other shows Barrington

had this amazing thing for young actors and just young people in the community in general

where if you were under, I think under 30, you got tickets for like $20, $25

dollars so nice affordable theater which was huge and I got to see all these plays

and all these incredible Broadway actors and be inspired which you know a few of them

have already come to see the show and that has been a full circle moment I saw Jared Specter in a new show there

and I saw Joe iconist Joe iconist used to do all his

news shows at Barrington and now they're coming to see the show

and I'm like whoa you like literally inspired me to do this so yeah I love it

all started with the Wizard of Oz all started with the Lollip Doesn't it always? Yeah, totally

It's a lot of people's stories. So was there a defining moment when you're like, now I want to be an actor and try to make a living at this

Yeah, that was part of the way through high school. Because I, I don't know, I thought about doing environmental engineering

and I kind of heard. That's a big difference. Yeah, no, it is, yeah

And my brother's doing that now, so that's someone's doing it. At least it's in the family

And he's really good at it. And I'm so glad of my mom for pushing me and supporting me through this because

I'd be a really bad environmental engineer, and you'd have some poorly built wind turbine out

in, like, Illinois. You could play him well. You could play the role well, right

It's true. But yeah, you know, I think it was one of the Barrington stage shows

I left, and I've been trying to think of what show it was

and I think it was Kimberly Akimbo when it was just a play. Yeah. And I left being like, it was just a sudden realization

And I'm like, oh, these people are doing this as a job. Like this isn't just, I saw it as just a show, but I'm like, oh, that's an actor doing this, like, as a career

And he's going from like show to show to show. And so I kind of brought that up to my mom and she was supportive and then I brought it up to my dad

And, you know, being from Morocco and being from different culture, there's sort of this thing as like an immigrant where, you know, he came here and he worked so hard

And he worked tons of tireless jobs and kind of climbed the ladder in order to support his family

and he sacrificed a lot to give us, you know, the ability to have an education and everything

So for him to go into arts didn't really make sense, and he was really nervous and scared about it

So we kind of clashed heads a lot through high school of me trying to be like, this is what I want to do

This is like everything that I am and him not understanding that

And eventually I just, you know, had to just keep pushing forward. My mom really helped support me through it

And once I was able to show him what this was and proved to him what it was

And he sort of was able to wrap his brain around it

And now he's fully supportive. And he has the Who's Tommy logo on his phone

So now I got my whole family on board. But see now, like my son's going to make his Broadway debut

The Who's Tommy? So it all worked out. But you know, I like talking about it

because it's just like you're not always going to get support from a lot of your family. Or in the business

You're not either. Yeah, or in the business completely. But you just have to push it. through it for yourself. And, you know, hopefully people will start to see it, the more that you

find success and believe in yourself. Yeah. Well, you've already taken on so many other fun roles

like you've done the national tours of let's, I want to mention a few of them

And just tell me what comes to mind, a fun story or memory, Paul and Company, first national tour

Well, I jumped into Paul right after doing Tommy, which was crazy shift. Because again

no smiling in Tommy, but in company, it's nonstop. I was just like the entire time

the point where I'd come off stage after the first two weeks, I'm like, guys, do your face is hurt

Because my face hurt so much. It was just like nonstop smiling

And it was, but it was such a blast because I just got to do the complete opposite side of the spectrum

And I don't know. You know, I've seen company a few times. And I wouldn't say Paul is like usually a goofy character

but I think because I needed that, and the specific production that Marianne has put on

I made Paul just an absolute goofball. I mean, the entire time I was just doing the most ridiculous things

And we had so much fun with that group, and they're still out there doing the show

and I hope everyone can catch it because it's a beautiful, beautiful show, just full of the most unique people

Each person in that show is so specific and wonderful. And then there's the band's dance

which must have been a personal show for you to do right oh my god so I saw did

I played well I started the first half of the tour as a swing and I covered

seven roles which I'm honestly so glad I got to do that it just gave me an

appreciation for swings and also an appreciation it was just fun to like have

that kind of Russian roulette of like tonight for seven different people so

like who am I ready for today and all the I got a bunch of different wigs and stuff

it was fun but yeah I started first half of it as a

as a swing and then the guy played Khalid left to go to the kite runner. And so I went to

stage management. I was like, listen, I know the part. I'm ready for this. And they gave it to me

And so I stepped in to play Khalid for the whole second half of the tour which was amazing But I saw that show in college and it was the first time I ever seen my culture represented on stage

and it meant everything to me. And also, even beyond that, it's just such a great show

and I love it so much. It was my favorite musical. Yeah. And then I graduated college, got that edition immediately

and jumped right onto the tour after graduating. So that was just, like, such a perfect thing

And I say this isn't a really interesting thing because I kind of mention how, you know

the universe sometimes gives you bad luck or like some bad things

And you can view it as that. And listen, the pandemic was absolutely terrible

And I do not discount that it, you know, brought so much terrible, terrible things

But for certain instances, you know, you have to look at the positives. And because that happened, it put a bunch of these shows on a whole

and people left the tour and it opened up the slot and so like right as we came back

and I graduated through COVID and through the pandemic when I got out of school

the tour restarted and it would have finished at that point but it had been put on hold

and then I had the perfect time to jump into that show in it

it kind of made my career and set me off on a great foot So I always turn negatives into positive

there's always a positive in something you know talking about how proud

you were in the band's visit you are an ISF scholar, right

Oh, yeah, yeah. Tell me how proud you are, what is that, how proud you are of that? Yeah, so that was in high school, or sorry

that was in college, I found this program. It's the Islamic Scholarship Foundation

And basically they just help fund the education of any Muslims that are in media, public opinions

so like journalists or actors or filmmakers. And their whole thing is just like putting money forward

to help these future Arab Americans sort of be in these, you know, public eye roles. Yeah

And help, like our whole mission statement, you know, with them and even just mission statement

is being a Muslim Arab American in art and theater and, you know, offering that representation

but also just like putting a good public view because just so often in media and the news

It's just all negative stereotypes. And I grew up in a post-9-11 world

so growing up entirely my entire childhood was just ignorance, really. There was just a lot of misinformation and ignorance of the kids around me

but just from all they would see on stereotypes on TV and stuff. So, you know, I just got a lot of, like, microaggressions and bullying growing up

And if I can help in any way to put Arabs in a

in a good light, to fight dehumanization in any kind of way

I just hope to help the next generation of kids. I think it's wonderful that you do that because representation for everyone is very, very important

especially now, so I thank you for doing that. Now, look at your resume

You have so many great things on your resume. You do impersonations. Oh, yeah. But did you grow up blurting voices of people

I don't need to put you on the spot, but I was fascinated by that

Well, I love animated things. Okay. I love animated movies and TV shows

so I think I grew up always having an ear for, like, voices. And then in high school, to be honest, in high school

I didn't have that many friends. I mean, I feel like this is true

I talked to a lot of theater people, and they're like... None of us did. Until we found our tribe

Right, exactly. College was really when I started to sort of, you know

find my real group of people. But I would spend a lot of time in high school watching, like

impression videos. And I would just try to recreate what these other people

how these other people were impersonating other people. Yeah, it just became like a hobby of mine

Do you have a favorite? Do you have a favorite? Is there something? I think the one that I do frequently is Jeff Goldblum

Can you chew him? Sure, sure. I might need your glasses. Yeah, take it

I'm giving you my glasses. Go ahead, take him. All right, hello

We're going to play the pinball machine. Is it over here? a pinball or maybe tampoco, oh, I don't know

racing Daytona, USA. Yes, all right. Oh, okay. Oh, my gosh. I'm going to hire you now

They should just hire you for any of this stuff. That's great. No wonder why, you know, friends in high school

Just do impersonations of your friends. Yeah, well, no. I have Jeff at my house

Yeah, exactly. You could never do impersonations of your own friends because then they're just like, oh, oh, God

But now your friend's like, they'll come and see you on Broadway now. Yeah. After all those impersonations, now I'm on Broadway

Finally, If you could sum up the best part of the experience of working on Tommy

I know it's all fresh and new and you're about to make your Broadway debut and the openings right around the corner, what's the best part for you

The best part of the experience. Yeah, I think the best part is this like, I get a runner's high from it

And the entire company does. So I think I'd say the best part is the collective energy that we all feel around the halfway mark of Act II

where it's just nonstop and you feel the audience get on your side and then the entire audience the entire ensemble and like us the principal cast we are just in this meditative state of like rock and roll and it's it's electric what's the last thing you do before you hit the stage the last thing you do before hit the stage I do a couple squats

I get the legs ready I'm like we gotta go yeah make sure the legs work yeah I've had the time of my life sitting with you Broadway debuts are really special

I'll be there on opening night when you make it. Thanks. Make it from the heart

I've told you this before because they'll probably bring creatives on everything else, but I want you to have that moment for yourself

because it's going to live in your head forever. Yeah. Like when you take that bow that night

I can't wait. Welcome to Broadway, my friend. Thanks, Richard