I can't believe it's been six years since I last interviewed Tony & Emmy Award Nominated Actor Norm Lewis.

At that time, Norm was getting ready for his annual holiday show at 54 Below.

Since then, I've had the pleasure of seeing Norm on Broadway in Douglas Lyons' Chicken & Biscuits.

Now, Norm is taking center stage in the Off-Broadway play, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, which has not had a New York City production in almost 40 years.

In this NEW interview, Norm once again answered my call, but this time around he shares:

• Why 2025 is the perfect time for Ceremonies in Dark Old Men to be revived
• The similarities between the 1950s (the time period the show takes place) and today
• What he would name his barber shop, if he owned one
• Some non-theatrical jobs he has held prior to his career taking off
• A project I planted a seed in his head about working with the legendary Vanessa Williams
• So much more

Connect with Norm: Website, Instagram

In Ceremonies in Dark Old Men,  it’s New York in the 1950s. Russell Parker, a ne'er-do-well barber and the widowed father of three adult children, spends his days playing checkers and reminiscing about his life in vaudeville as a song and dance man.

His two sons, Theo and Bobby, are dreamers of a different sort – a pair of petty criminals looking for a “score" in the form of ill-conceived and dangerous bootlegging and numbers schemes. Russell's daughter, Adele, the only gainfully employed member of the family, refusing to work herself into an early grave like her mother.

When Adele's long-simmering resentments boil over and the boys' criminal enterprise falls apart, tragic consequences ensue for the whole family.

Ceremonies in Dark Old Men will play limited engagement through May 18, 2025 at St. Clements Theatre in NYC. Click Here for tickets!

Norm Lewis

More on Norm Lewis:

Emmy, Tony, and SAG Award nominee, Norm Lewis was recently seen onstage starring in the national tour of the Tony Award-winning production of A Soldier's Play and in Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End Concert of Love Never Dies. 

He starred in Spike Lee's critically acclaimed, Da 5 Bloods, and in the groundbreaking FX series, Pose. Additionally, Norm can be seen starring opposite Hilary Swank in the feature The Good Mother, Amazon Prime's newest series, Swarm, and Hulu's, Up Here. He was also seen as 'Caiaphas' in the award-winning NBC television special, Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert!, alongside John Legend, Sara Bareilles, and Alice Cooper. 

Norm returned to Broadway in the Fall of 2021, starring in Chicken and Biscuits at the Circle In The Square Theatre. He previously appeared in the Broadway revival of Once on This Island and as Sweeney Todd in the Off-Broadway production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at the Barrow Street Theatre, receiving the AUDELCO Award for his performance. 

In May of 2014, he made history as The Phantom of the Opera’s first African American Phantom on Broadway.

He has been seen on PBS in the Live From Lincoln Center productions of Showboat with Vanessa Williams, Norm Lewis: Who Am I?, New Year’s Eve: A Gershwin Celebration with Diane Reeves, as well as American Voices with Renée Fleming and the PBS Specials First You Dream – The Music of Kander & Ebb and Ella Wishes You A Swingin' Christmas. 

He had a recurring role in the VH1 series, Daytime Divas, also alongside Vanessa Williams. His additional television credits include TV Land's Younger, Women of The Movement, Law & Order, Dr. Death, Mrs. America, Better Things, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Bull, Chicago Med, Gotham, The Blacklist, and Blue Bloods, as well as in his recurring role as Senator Edison Davis on the hit drama Scandal. 

Norm is a proud, founding member of Black Theatre United, an organization which stands together to help protect Black people, Black talent and Black lives of all shapes and orientations in theatre and communities across the country.

He received Tony, Drama Desk, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle award nominations for his performance as Porgy in the Broadway production of The Gershwins’ Porgy & Bess. Other Broadway credits include Sondheim on Sondheim, The Little Mermaid, Les Misérables, Chicago, Amour, The Wild Party, Side Show, Miss Saigon, and The Who’s Tommy.

In London’s West End he has appeared as Javert in Les Misérables and Les Misérables: The 25th Anniversary Concert, which aired on PBS.

Off-Broadway Norm has performed in Dessa Rose (Drama Desk nomination, AUDELCO Award), Shakespeare in the Park’s The Tempest, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Drama League nomination), Captains Courageous, and A New Brain.

His regional credits include Porgy in The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (A.R.T.), Ragtime, Dreamgirls (with Jennifer Holliday), First You Dream, Sweeney Todd, and The Fantasticks.

His additional film credits include Christmas In Tune (starring opposite Reba McEntire), Magnum Opus, Winter’s Tale, Sex and the City 2, Confidences, and Preaching to the Choir. 

Norm has released two albums The Norm Lewis Christmas Album & This is The Life.