As Hoy sets sail on his second Broadway production, "Pirates! The Penzance Musical," opening early next month, he'll never forget how his time at BW prepared him for the challenging journey to The Great White Way.
Most music theatre students dream of being on Broadway. For Baldwin Wallace University alumnus Dan Hoy '18, that dream is about to become a reality — for the second time.
The music theatre grad makes his return to Broadway with the show "Pirates! The Penzance Musical" as a member of the ensemble and the understudy for the Pirate King.
The show, opening on April 4 in the Todd Haimes Theatre, marks Hoy's second time on Broadway after making his debut in "Harmony," which closed in October 2023.
"Pirates! The Penzance Musical" is a modern musical adaptation of the comic opera "The Pirates of Penance," which tells the story of a young man named Frederic who is mistakenly apprenticed to a band of pirates until his 21st birthday.
Hoy's journey to Broadway started his senior year at BW with a masterclass led by the casting director for the "Cats" National Tour. Hoy was given the opportunity to help host the guests of the music theatre program.
That gave Hoy a leg up when he later auditioned for the "Cats" National Tour.
"When I went in for that audition, they already kind of knew who I was, and we were able to connect and kind of get right down to work," Hoy said. "We didn't have to go through the typical formalities."
After booking the "Cats" National Tour in 2019, Hoy was lined up to begin work on a show called "Between The Lines" in March of 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the production was delayed until 2022.
From there, Hoy took up work on regional productions, including "Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812" at Idaho Shakespeare before he had to part ways with the production to begin work on "Harmony."
"Broadway came-a-calling, and you've got to say 'yes' when the opportunities knock," Hoy said.
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Hoy credits Baldwin Wallace's music theatre program with his success in the rigorous "Harmony" audition.
"We have a Bachelor of Music. We take three years worth of theory work, and without all of that time really focusing in on the music aspect of the industry, I don't know that I would have been successful in that call," Hoy said. "So I have a lot of gratitude to the program for that."
Hoy said that the University's Bachelor of Music is really what "sets BW apart" in terms of training, as there are very few music theatre programs with them.
Hoy also attributed his success in New York to an audition workshop course that left him feeling "very prepared in every audition setting."
Hoy said that he is "always here as a resource" for current BW students and that he loves seeing members of the BW community at his shows, including two students he saw during one of his "Harmony" performances.
"I got to meet them at rope line, and I happened to be wearing a Baldwin Wallace shirt at the time, so it was really cool to kind of have that sense of community," Hoy said.
The biggest advice Hoy would give BW students aspiring to be on Broadway one day is to always be prepared.
"There's no formula to get to Broadway. It's 99% preparation and then that 1% luck. That's just the reality of it," Hoy said. "Rejection is just a part of the game. But you never know the one time that opportunity is going to come knocking."
