My freshman and sophomore year of high school, I had two major passions: cross country running and theatre. I was also obsessed with Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals, particularly Phantom of the Opera, Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar. In my dreams, I appeared in the role of Che waltzing with Eva Peron. We are talking 1994-1996. That was when I first met C. Mykhl. Neither of us was “out and proud” yet. He was one of 13 Black students at my high school. He and his twin sister, Christian, ran cross country with me. At the time, Mykhl confessed his secret love: musical theatre. He lamented that there were no Black roles, especially leads. I told him that wasn’t quite true. I introduced him to my favorite rock opera, telling the greatest story of love and betrayal ever told, that of Jesus and Judas. 

“I have to say thank you. You gave me an Andy education. Ironically, my first Broadway show after graduating from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA), was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” Mykhl said.

“Oh, and can I tell you a secret?” Mykhl said. “Remember our high school production of Gershwin’s Crazy 4 You? I didn’t know what I was doing, but I auditioned. I did the acting/singing audition for Mrs. Monica Hall, then I got sick and had to miss the dance audition. I assumed I was out, then people started congratulating me that I was casted. I didn’t know anything about tap. I didn’t have the money for tap shoes. I only knew I was playing a chorus cowboy character. Well, I owned a pair of cowboy boots that my grandfather gave me, but I never wore them. I took the money I had made over the summer and went to this shop, and I asked them to turn those boots into tap shoes. When I got to rehearsal everyone made fun of me.”

But Mykhl stuck it out and had a ton of fun. And he still apologizes to his dance partner Autumn Reeser (yes, that Autumn, the actress, producer, director), for accidentally kicking her in the head during dance rehearsal. His perseverance and passion eventually got him a scholarship to attend AMDA, The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City.

“I remember walking down the street my first day in New York City, and all at the same time, I heard English, Russian, Mandarin or Cantonese, Hebrew and Spanish,” he said. “I thought to myself, ‘Everyone is here.’ I had dreads in my hair, I was wearing a black leather jacket, and I carried my black and white fender guitar. I was a rocker. My uncle was a drummer; I spent every summer with my grandparents and my uncle. He would have his band over, and I was either watching them perform, or I was watching MTV.” 

“I also recall the culture shock of my first time in Harlem. I had never been around that many Black people. My mouth just dropped open. I didn’t sound like them either. I was very, ‘la, la, la,’ naive, just saying hi to everybody. People were just trying to get to work. They would look at me like, ‘You don’t need to talk to me.’”

Earning his degree from AMDA proved to be really hard. “Across the history of theatre, I was just not prepared for the prequel to musical theatre, vaudeville and Black Face. That is a worn out, tired trope,” Mykhl said. “But I kept going and with my learning disability, I just put my best foot forward. Between lectures, homework, team partner acting scenes, song practice and dance classes, I was always tired. I loved it, but it was hard to wake up in the morning. That’s when I had to take caffeine pills.”

“I also had an awful teacher; his goal was to get me to ‘sound Black.’ He let his students select a song from each period of musical theatre, but for me, he only wanted me to sing songs that were previously sung by Black actors. After two semesters, I finally talked with the administration. From there on out, I got to pick my own songs, but that teacher would only give me pass/fail, and not a grade. It was rough,” Mykhl said, “Lin [Manuel Miranda] and Hamilton really changed things. After Hamilton, more theatre departments and casting directors began to consider people of color for roles traditionally played by white people.”

“The next hardest thing was submitting audition singing tapes/CD, not a video, and when I would get called in, the casting director would look confused. They would look at their notes from the audition tape and back at me. My very rock/pop voice was not a match with being Black. Then one day, I was at an audition for Rent, when the casting director handed me a song and it was too low for me. I told her, ‘I’m a tenor.’  She said, ‘Oh, you’re a rocker who can smooth it out to a pop sound. You’re a Benny!’ Finally, someone got me. I then got put into the right group, and I was casted for Rent, Rock of Ages, A Chorus Line and High School the Musical.”

Across his 20-year career, Mykhl has branched out to action films, television guest-starring roles, Carnival Cruise Lines entertainment, MTV (including the Dave Chappelle Show), Six Flags entertainment, Comedy Central, and regional playhouses and dance centers.

Today, Mykhl’s two favorite roles are being an uncle and a music producer: “My sister’s kids are so amazing and so beautiful, and the music industry is too, but it is tricky now. It is so different from when I first got here. Back when I started, it was all about getting a deal. They would put you in a boy band or send you off to Germany to live out there and make music. That was my first offer, but I turned it down. I didn’t want to live alone in a foreign country, where I didn’t know anyone, and I didn’t speak the language. It made me feel a little uncomfortable and it really made my mom and grandmother nervous. They didn’t even want me to move out to New York City. By my fifth contract they got used to the idea and eased up on me.” 

Mykhl is currently focused on music production, recording and sound mixing. “It’s been all music for the last five or six years. I am finishing up several mixes. Since COVID, I had to rebuild my studio inside my Brooklyn apartment. I had a core group I worked with before COVID. Most of them moved out of the city, then they had kids, and they won’t be moving back. I am pretty much doing everything myself at the moment. I won’t be releasing a full album; I am releasing a cascade of singles, because in all the music apps, people buy songs, not albums.” 

 Look for Mykhl’s newest music release in late December/early January. instagram.com/iamcmykhl