Matthew Marvin (with the Oak Knoll Lower School Class of 2008) is a New York-based actor, singer, and dancer carving out a niche in musical theater. It’s a tough gig that requires a lot of hustle on a good day. But the hustle is the job. And, for now at least, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

The lights dim as we shuffle in our seats, exhaling a cough or a last cleared throat. For the next couple of hours, we absorb the storytelling and are absorbed by it. Few theater-goers spend much time thinking about what it takes to pull off the spectacle. But Matthew Marvin knows it well; he is currently serving as a swing in the North American tour of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast: The Musical.

“You go see a show on Broadway, and the lead actor is not in the show that night,” Matthew explained. “Their understudy will perform so that the show can go on. When that understudy is bumped up to the lead role that night, a swing, who’s not in the show every night, is sitting backstage for emergency purposes and ‘swings up’ into the ensemble role for that particular performance.”

For Beauty and the Beast, Matthew is a vacation swing, replacing performers on long national tours. In May of this year, he spent three weeks learning the show with the rest of the company. He’ll rejoin them in Chicago for two weeks of stage rehearsals.

But there’s a catch: as a vacation swing, Matthew has to master more than one ensemble role.

“There are six men in the ensemble whose roles I have to know. That means every dance step, every costume, every prop,” he said. “I have to know every piece of business that they do on and off stage and be prepared to perform at the drop of a hat.”

Since earning his BFA in acting from Marymount Manhattan College, Matthew has been cast, ensemble member, understudy, or swing in more than a dozen regional productions, including A Chorus Line, Newsies, Sunset Boulevard, and Ragtime. He portrayed Flounder in The Little Mermaid and Jack in Into the Woods. He was also a swing and assistant dance captain for the most recent national tour of Elf: The Musical. But swings aren’t a part of the performance in the same way that ensemble members or even understudies are. And for every “yes,” Matthew noted, there can be dozens of “no’s.”

“You need stamina for this life,” he said. “But I find the stamina is less about when you’re actually in a show. It’s more the stamina and resilience you need for the auditioning. The auditioning is the job. For the majority of us, even when you’re in a show, you’re looking for your next thing. You’re considering your options. It’s really the stamina of staying in the audition game and staying positive in that game and open to it.”

Matthew caught the performance bug around the age of seven and began preparing for the actor’s life while still a student at Oak Knoll — which he credits “1,000%” with his earliest encouragement and love of the craft. He left the school after Year 5 but says he was never confused about the professional path he would take.

“I’m still friends with my Lower School Drama Teacher Patti Cepparulo,” he said, citing some of the musicals she showed in class. “I credit her and Carlee Bennett, who was the Lower School dance teacher, with seeing something in me. And Carlee Bennett literally called my mom in kindergarten and encouraged her to put me in the New Jersey School of Ballet, which is where I trained in dance through high school.”

Matthew auditioned for, and won, the part of Raymond in John Patrick Shanley’s 2008 film Doubt, starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Viola Davis. He was spoiled, he recalled, to have had that experience his first time out. But by high school, he had made up his mind to pursue musical theater—a small and highly competitive world.

“I’m in such a lucky and abundant place right now,” he mused. “I get employment. I get my face out there, and I keep it moving.”