Photo: Joan Marcus

LINK TO THE FEATURE

Zak Resnick, now starring as “Sky” in Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus’ smash hit musical MAMMA MIA! is featured in today’s Wall Street Journal.

Singing Waiter Steps Onstage

By Eliza Pound

In New York, bringing work home isn’t uncommon. But for Zak Resnick, it doesn’t take the shape of paperwork or proofreading. Instead, he comes home humming Swedish pop hits from the 1970s.

“Sometimes [ABBA songs] haunt my dreams,” the 24-year-old actor, who is currently performing at the Winter Garden Theater as Sky in “Mamma Mia!”

Not that he minds. “There’s like witchcraft in the songs, literally nobody could dislike them,” he added.

Mr. Resnick joined the “Mamma Mia!” cast in June. He has been working on Broadway since his move to New York in 2009, albeit in the slightly less glamorous position of singing waiter at Ellen’s Stardust Diner. (The diner happens to be right around the corner from his new home at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theater.)

Originally from Richmond, Va., Mr. Resnick started acting at the age of 4, but it wasn’t until he traveled to New York eight years later and saw “Peter Pan” on Broadway that he had dreams of the big stage.

“OK, yeah here we go!” Mr. Resnick remembers thinking at the time. He said he knew then and there that this was what he wanted to do.

Mr. Resnick attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, double-majoring in musical theater and acting. He also studied abroad in Sydney, Australia, where he attended the National Institute of Dramatic Art and completed an acting program in film and television. Mr. Resnick said his time in Australia was “the best six months of his life.”

Mr. Resnick starred in a few other off-broadway plays, such as “Disaster” and “Lucky Guys,” before making his debut this year, but he said he was still nervous to step out onto the stage.

“My dad posted about my debut on Facebook, so I had 105 family friends turn up on my opening night and their opinions matter to me. So it was nerve racking,” he said.

However, Mr. Resnick was quick to escape the nerves and has now succeeded in his role as Sky. The actor said working with the cast of “Mamma Mia!” is like “being part of a big family.”

Read the rest of the feature:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444318104577585434279574706.html