‘The anxiety and excitement an actor experiences before a performance are a combination unmatched anywhere else,” says Nikhil Kulkarni of Plainsboro — who has been acting since he was only five. He plays the role of the Greek in “Guys and Dolls” opening Friday, August 26, at Monroe Township High School.
He read the audition notice from the Mighty Oak Players in the June 10 issue of the WW-P News and was cast as one of the gamblers. This is the second production of “Guys and Dolls” to his credit. He played the gambler, Rusty Charlie at Community Middle School two years ago.
A rising junior at High School North, he has been active in both musicals and the concert choir.
Born in Bombay, India, his family moved to Plainsboro close to seven years ago. Both of his parents, Anant and Nutan, work in the pharmaceutical field. His sister, Neha, 10, is a fifth grade student at Millstone River School.
“Moving here was a significant change from living in the city,” says Nikhil. “But it’s fun to go back.” He visited Bombay three years ago.
Not new to having an audience, Kulkarni at the age of five took second place in an elocution competition for reciting the famous words of Mahatma Gandhi. He also took second place in the Kumarkala acting competition for a monologue in Marathi, “Raigadala Xag Yitey.”
Also at age five, he played the title role in the “Pied Piper of Hamlin.” “I was running around right before the performance and when I got on stage everyone had a good laugh because I had mud stains on my black pants,” he recalls.
At Community Middle School. he also portrayed Benvolio in “Romeo and Juliet;” Armand, Beauxhomme, Gatekeeper, and Peasant, in “Once on This Island.”
Nikhil, a Boy Scout with Troop 168, is working on his Eagle Scout project at Mill Pond Park. Earlier this summer he went backpacking at Philmont 2005, a 50-mile trek in New Mexico. He is also a lifeguard in Plainsboro.
“Guys and Dolls,” the fifth longest-running Broadway musical during the 1950s, won a Best Musical Tony Award in 1951. The story is based on Damon Runyon’s short story, “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown,” published in 1931.
Nathan Detroit seeks a location for the “oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York” and the bets begin.
Guys and Dolls, Monroe Township High School, 732-521-3782. Musical. $12. The show runs Friday through Sunday, August 26 through 28.
