Ephraim Sykes was a multi-talented teenager. While at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg, FL, he was a dancer, a musician, a basketball and football player. 鈥淚 kind of teetered between jock and artist,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 rode this very fine line between really cool kid and nerdy artsy kid.鈥�
Unlike Seaweed J. Stubbs, the part he鈥檒l play December 7 for television audiences across the nation watching NBC鈥檚 Hairspray Live!, he didn鈥檛 spend much time in detention rehearsing the 鈥淧eyton Place After Midnight鈥� dance combination. He practiced his moves at the ballet barre, perfecting pirouettes and switch leaps.
Though it wasn鈥檛 detention, there was still a time when Sykes got in trouble in high school, but it was because he was trying to do it all and had to lie to his dance teachers to play in a football game. Sykes and his friend claimed, 鈥淲e have to stay behind and take some finals that we didn鈥檛 get to take yet鈥o we have to be late to rehearsal,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 was literally coming to the sidelines off the field and taking off my helmet, and up walks鈥攖hrough the center of the field鈥攎y dance teacher in her jazz shoes. [She] grabs me by my shoulder pads and just drags me off the field in front of the whole school.鈥�
His dance skills combined with his team-oriented mindset paid off, and he was accepted to the Ailey/Fordham BFA program, where he studied dance with Fordham University and The Ailey School. Musical theatre was an afterthought, as Sykes was seriously involved in concert dance and eventually began touring with Alvin Ailey鈥檚 Second Company.
When he completed his time with the Second Company and didn鈥檛 make the transition to First Company, he was looking for a new avenue to dance down. At company auditions, 鈥淚 would get down to the very end, and it would be between me and one other guy, and I鈥檇 end up always losing out,鈥� he admits. 鈥淚 was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life and how to go about it, and one of the choreographer鈥檚 assistants who choreographed me at Ailey II happened to be this guy James Brown III, who was the dance captain at The Little Mermaid at the time. He all of a sudden gives me a call and was like, 鈥楬ey, you鈥檙e perfect for this show. We want to bring you in for an audition.鈥�
鈥淗e said, 鈥楤ring your book.鈥� I was like, 鈥業 don鈥檛 even know what a book is. Bring what? A Bible?鈥� He said, 鈥楤ring your book, bring your tap shoes.鈥� I didn鈥檛 even have tap shoes. I had these old raggedy character shoes that I screwed taps onto鈥攏ever could tap. I had just learned how to flip at the beach a few months before that in the summer鈥擺it was] literally two weeks before I had done my first backflip. They said, 鈥楤e prepared to tumble, and be prepared to [skate in] Heelys.鈥� I was like, 鈥榃hat the hell is a Heely?鈥� This was my first Broadway audition, [my] first musical theatre audition at all, and I go in there, and it鈥檚 a small room. Lo and behold, I sing, I tumbled with my eyes closed, and made it and survived. I put on these freakin鈥� Heelys and skated across this room. I faked my way through that tap dancing, and I booked this job that was The Little Mermaid. That was my first big job.鈥�
Since then, he鈥檚 been on Broadway in Memphis, Newsies, Motown the Musical, and the megahit musical Hamilton. Now, on December 7, he will play Seaweed opposite Ariana Grande鈥檚 Penny and son to Jennifer Hudson鈥檚 Motormouth Maybelle鈥攁 dream he never thought he鈥檇 see come true.
鈥淚 was on a plane just the other day going over the music and got to the song 鈥業 Know Where I鈥檝e Been,鈥� and just the thought of [Jennifer Hudson] singing the song next to me is鈥t鈥檚 giving me chills right now,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檓 excited to try out things that I never thought were possible.鈥�
Michael Gioia is the Features Manager at 半岛体育.com. Follow him on Twitter at .
