#brian beach

Elder McKinley is a deeply closeted, and a little troubled, yet a beautiful soul trying to conform for a religion that is altogether against him, but telling him to turn off his gay feelings and everything will be fine. I believe the key to playing Elder McKinley is finding the juxtaposition between the real human he is, and the so-called 'perfect elder' he strives to portray for the church, the community, and himself. He has so much hope. It’s a lot of fun. He has a lot of layers. I’m a very lucky guy to tell his story every night.

The show is more about humanity than religion. Yes, the Mormon faith is involved, but it's not the story. The story runs deeper and I think everyone can connect to it. It has A LOT of heart, and everyone has one of those.

Salt Lake was unreal. … I’ve never been on Broadway, but I’m guessing that’s what a Broadway opening night would feel like. The energy that I got from the audience was like nothing I’ve ever felt before. It was like a total buzz between the actors and the audience. Everyone was so into it, so there. It was the best audience I’ve ever had in my 10 years of being in the theater.