Luciano Gonzalez
Staff Writer
Deon’te Goodman is an alum of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) whose success will inspire future actors who learn in the Stone Building. The talented actor was one of the 12 students who were in the University’s first musical theater program cohort. His career may have started off in the Taylor Theatre but it has taken him far from the downtown of Greensboro.
Goodman is a professional actor who is ready to blow us all away. The UNCG graduate has gone from Tate Street to Broadway, and is joining the cast of “Hamilton” after performing in another Lin Manuel Miranda hit, “In The Heights.”
The actor’s impressive resume includes roles in “Freedom Riders: The Civil Rights Musical,” “Time,” and “Caroline, and Change.” Past reviews of performances that the actor has been in highlight his incredible presence, even when he is cast as a supporting member of a show such as a review of “The Toxic Avenger,” a 2008 musical based off of a gore-filled superhero comedy movie of the same name that came out in 1984. The review, published in Encore Michigan, says that he and a castmate named Greg Laux “[stole] the show” with their ability to convincingly and humorous play a range of characters, showing the world that Goodman isn’t just a talented musician, but also an actor with an impressive range.
Of Goodman’s musical talents, reviews have praised his, “firm, resonant voice,” which has been said to lend gravity to performances and to the characters he plays. As Pope Urban the 8th in Galileo Galilei, an opera about the life of the famed titular astronomer, his voice granted the character the necessary tone to be able to give the situation the characters were in an atmosphere of seriousness, but later performances of the show granted Goodman ample opportunity to show off a voice that much like the performers acting has a versatile range.
As Simplico, Goodman was a kind-hearted everyman whose voice lovingly sang of one of the character’s core-beliefs: that the human mind was one of God’s most awe-inspiring creations.
Goodman’s website focuses on the actor’s impressive career. Some of its highlights include mentioning the people Deon’te has worked for and with, such as American composer Philip Glass, and UNCG faculty such as Dominick Amendum who is the coordinator of UNCG’s musical theater program as well as an alum of the university.
The photos section of the website gives viewers a glimpse into past performances featuring Goodman and perhaps nothing gives a clearer sense of the actor’s ability to become other people than the photos he has carefully selected to display to any fans or potential recruiters.
Goodman’s high-profile success clearly signals an innate talent but he also credits the UNCG’s classical program in the School of Music. He says it gave him great discipline, and he is thankful for the musical theater program he was able to join which ensured that he had the skills he needed to excel in auditions and thanks to training from professionals like Professor LeFevre and UNCG alum Justin Cowan. The UNCG community can expect to see even more great things from Goodman in the future, and current Spartans can feel pride in their university seeing one of their own in such a critically acclaimed musical.
Categories: News
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