On January 21, Hauppauge’s own Justin Albinder was months into his second go as Joe Pesci with the US Tour of “Jersey Boys.”
The following day, due to a Covid-caused personnel shortage, the 25-year-old made his Off-Broadway debut as Frankie Valli, his dream role for as far back as he could remember.
Spring
Having debuted on stage as a third-grade munchkin in Smithtown Performing Arts Center’s (S.P.A.C.) 2004 adaptation of “The Wizard of Oz,” Albinder was first coerced into attending a matinee of the Tony-winning Four Seasons frenzy weeks before his freshman year of high school.
Helming from what he described as a “predominantly Roman Catholic neighborhood,” the Jewish-raised Albinder did not anticipate connecting to the material like he did. But, sitting front and center, he did not just see actors; he saw friends. Neighbors. Himself. And a confidence rushing over him – that one day, he could be the Frankie that inspires the Justins of the next generation.
“From that day on, I memorized the entire show,” Albinder recalled. “I don’t know if my voice [alto in nature, compared to “Frankie” falsetto] was ever meant to sound like that; but I got it there eventually.”
Those who know him best agree with this sentiment.
“Getting to see Justin make his Off-Broadway debut (as Frankie at New World Stages) was an incredible and surreal experience that none of us could miss,” said Cole Albinder, an entertainment writer for Comic Book Resources – and Justin’s twin brother. “Justin’s always been an incredible talent, not just an accomplished actor but a dynamite singer and dancer. And from here, he can only go up!”
Summer
The Hauppauge ‘14 graduate first auditioned for the US Tour after responding to a summer 2017 open casting call. Entering his senior year at Ithaca College, Albinder assessed practically: he had not yet accrued quite the experience to knab the coveted Frankie role.
However, his insecurities heading into the foreign process of professional auditions dissipated, when, through a stroke of what he perceived as kismet forces in the works, none other than fellow Hauppauge native, Chris Messina, was in charge of the dance call sessions.
The pair first met when Messina – Hauppauge Class of 2003 – starred as “Scarecrow” alongside the much-younger Albinder in that same S.P.A.C show all those years ago. Messina had recently risen to the Joe Pesci/Frankie understudy role Albinder knew he too could set his sights on – moved someone raised by the same community could branch out and become a member of a most exclusive fraternity.
Albinder would add to his summertime savvy two years later. After a six-week contract as Frankie in Phoenix’s 2019 slate, and a turn in Tampa after that, he underwent what would essentially amount to “boat-side boot camp” as a Norwegian Cruise Line rehearsal swing.
Needless to say, this prefaced his arrival to the US Tour that fall – signifying forward momentum in his desired industry that could not be denied, nor stunted.
Then, things took a turn.
Fall
The pandemic forced Albinder to chase his solitarily-focused commitment to becoming Frankie on the highest of stages with a most humble return to odd job collection.
After reuniting with his loving family for five months of local quarantining, Albinder shipped out to Queens, where he quickly earned employment in retail. Next, he even worked on a farm for a time. Then, this past fall, as Broadway slowly returned, so too did Albinder – as a dialect coach and Covid compliance officer.
When “Jersey Boys” followed suit and revived its US Tour, Albinder was back at it again as well – and wiser than ever before. This could all go away in the blink of an eye, he now knew. Missteps are naturally bound to occur, sure. But if the passion never wavers, then the performance can never falter.
Winter
Akin to the career minor league ballplayer told the night prior he will start in primetime the following day, Albinder did not have time to let the nerves wash over him when he got “the call” (to flex in as Off-Broadway Frankie on January 22). If anything, he was elated.
“On the US Tour, we play everywhere, including a lot of wonderful cities – Houston, San Francisco, Minneapolis. Wherever we’re going, friends on tour get to have a coming home celebration. ‘I get to play in the theater I went to as a kid!’ Everyone gets this moment, except for me. So to earn mine as New York Frankie standby was riveting and thrilling; truly a trip.”
He added, “to play for my family, friends from Long Island, the city and from high school – it was such a special day. The magic was in the air. It was one of the stronger performances I’ve had doing the role, too. Everything sort of clicked, and I can’t stop smiling thinking about how lucky I am to live this life.”
Finale
Albinder could travel the world’s stages around the globe and back, and the town that formed his early self will never miss a chance to remind him this is who he is, and always has been. After all, as childhood friend Thomas DeRosa, 26, remembered, he is, on par with what “Jersey Boys” itself intimates, “the energizer bunny that just keeps going.”
“Four guys under a street lamp, when it was all still ahead of us..” DeRosa said Albinder obsessively recited back in the day. The pair were a part of a close-knit group of elementary school friends who regularly spent recess holding auditions for fake plays never put on, and wrote scripts for filmed movies that have not seen the light of day since. They reconnected in high school over their shared affinity for the timeless show- one that still keeps on giving six years after it wrapped on Broadway.
“To see him playing in the show now, living out his dream, having it all come back full circle for him – it’s truly awesome!”
“As much as I was unique and undeniably me, I was also scrambling to figure out who I was,” Albinder cautioned in his appeal to aspiring actors. “Thankfully, my high school classmates figured it out for me,” he added, noting the dual joy and anxiety he felt as lines formed before him at Senior Picnic – peers keen on getting their yearbooks signed by the budding star they voted “Most Likely to Succeed.”
Jersey Boys tickets are on sale at the New World Stages box office or by visiting Telecharge.com. Group sales (ten or more) are available through Dodger Group Sales at 877-536-3437.
