Grant Gustin on Life After ‘The Flash’ and Hitting Broadway: ‘It’s Not About Being Perfect’

It’s been almost one full year since “The Flash” aired its series finale on The CW, and Arrowverse star Grant Gustin is now back on stage, starring in the Broadway musical adaptation of “Water for Elephants.” And, according to the actor, life is definitely different now. But it’s also the same.

Gustin starred as Barry Allen, a.k.a The Flash for nine seasons of the superhero show, and in that time, he crossed some huge life milestones. He got married, and he had his first child with his wife. So, making his proper Broadway debut — he was previously part of a national tour of “West Side Story” — and doing what he’s doing now, the actor tells TheWrap “it hits different” (especially on his body), but in a wonderfully familiar way.

“From the time I was 10 to 21, [theater]’s all I did. And then, you know, I’ve been off on this kind of side quest of doing TV and film, and it’s all I’ve done for the last 13 years,” Gustin explained to TheWrap with a laugh. “And I always knew I wanted to get back on stage. So it has felt like coming home, and it feels really familiar and comfortable.”

But, that could be because there are more similarities between his experience on “The Flash” and now on “Water for Elephants” than expected.

You can read TheWrap’s conversation with Grant Gustin below.

You’ve been doing “Water for Elephants” for a few weeks now, tucking a lot of shows under your belt. Does it feel like it’s in the body at this point?

Yeah, it definitely feels like it’s in the body. It’s funny, I think we’ve done 40 or 41, something like that, including previews — 40-ish performances now. And I had done the eight shows a week before on tour, but I turned 21 on that tour. And I’m 34 now, so it hits different. And when you have a young family too, you know? But it’s funny, it’s more of like a mental game.

The show’s definitely in the body now. I thought going in, the biggest challenge for me was just going to be the vocals because it had been so long since I even considered myself a singer. It had been, I think, 13 years since I’ve been on stage. So it’s like, the endurance game of singing it. And that is tough still, that is part of the mental game.

But it’s just like, you know, eight shows a week, you’re not gonna — as an actor, we’re generally pretty hard on ourselves. I know I am. And you’re not gonna love all eight shows that week, you know? At the end of the week, you’re gonna feel like maybe two of them you’re proud of. (laughs). So it’s more of like a mental struggle, but yeah, my body is adjusting. And I’m having fun.

Well that’s the thing, you have to just keep going, even if you don’t like your performance in one show. So how do you keep yourself kind of mentally afloat?

I think the thing that I’ve realized helps me the most — and Jess [Stone, the musical’s director] had also kind of reminded us of a bunch before we started performances and even after — was to just kind of, any time you feel lost, or you’re losing focus in any given moment, just look at each other. And just try to focus on that. Look at the other people that are on stage with you.

I mean, this show is really special in that everyone in the company really pops and is really unique. And no one can kind of disappear into an “ensemble.” Everyone really brings something unique to this company. And if you just kind of focus on each other, and not get too in your head about what you’re doing or, you know, too focused on the audience or nerves, or whatever else is going on, it’s so easy to just kind of stay focused and do the job that we need to do.

Broadway is a first for you. How does coming off something like “The Flash,” where you can have a few takes to get something right, compare to being on stage, where you only get one shot per performance?

It’s like an ongoing process, trusting yourself. It’s kind of the same on camera too though. Sometimes I’ll shoot a scene, and you don’t have a lot of time to think about it. Especially on a show like “The Flash” or, you know, most TV shows, you shoot an episode in like eight to 10 days, and you don’t have the script for a long time before you shoot it.

And so, you don’t have a lot of time to think about what you want to do, or to worry about what you want to do, you just have to start prepping it and then do it. There’s not a lot of rehearsal process, if any, with the other people that you’re going to work with. So, often I’d go home after shooting a scene and then realize ‘That’s what I should have done,’ or you’re like, at home in the shower, and suddenly it hits you. You’re like ‘Oh man, that’s what that scene was about. Too bad!’

So it is nice, this process. We had, you know, five, six weeks of rehearsal and then previews before we officially opened, where we discovered things. But I’m still doing that as we do shows now, where like, in the middle of a show, a moment hits you different than it has, or you hear somebody else’s line different than you had, and I’ll do something in a show that I’m like, “Man, I’ve been doing that wrong for the past month.” But then it’ll change again. So I don’t know, it’s different, but it’s the same you know?

You’re still going out and acting, and you know, it’s a game really. We’re just playing a game and it’s not always gonna go the same. So it is different in that there’s 1500 people in the audience, and they’re seeing it right there and if you crack or make a mistake, it happens.

And I just have to remind myself, it does happen and life goes on. I had my first crack during a matinee, and it’s so easy to just let it ruin your show. But it happens to everybody, and it’s inevitable. It’s live theater. Things are gonna go wrong or you’re gonna make a mistake, or you’re not gonna have a perfect show. And it’s not about being perfect. I gotta remind myself that sometimes.

Well, you talk about “different but the same,” I’m curious what it’s like adapting a book on stage, as compared to adapting comics on screen. Is it different? Or are there the same elements there?

I mean, “The Flash” and “Water for Elephants,” the biggest difference in those two adaptations are obviously — not even like the superhero, I wasn’t even gonna go there. It’s more for me that like, “The Flash,” it’s been around since the 50s. And I always knew with the Flash that it was always going to be bigger than me, you know? I was lucky to get to be a part of it. And that legacy had been around since well before I was born. It’ll be around, you know, long after I’m gone. And I get to be a part of that legacy, which is really special.

[“Water for Elephants”] is the same in that it’s always gonna be bigger than you. You’re just getting to be a part of something. But this hadn’t been around for the same amount of time. It had the film adaptation, but not as many people know this, obviously. And I think those are the two biggest differences in both these adaptations.

But I personally love the idea of adaptations. I’m a big reader, but one of the biggest reasons I read anything is like, “Could this be made into a movie? Could this be made into a TV show?” I like to read things that like, theoretically, I could play a part in. I just like that idea. So, the idea of getting to be in a musical that was a book that I enjoyed reading, that my mom enjoyed reading that, you know, other people — like Jesse L. Martin [who also starred in “The Flash”] actually called me last night.

I was in the car on the way home, it was like 11:30 at night, it was in the car after the show, and he couldn’t believe I answered. So we talked the whole way home, and he loves this book, and he can’t wait to come see the show. And it is cool to be a part of something that, you know, people love. And now we’re doing it on stage!

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

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