‘The Book of Mormon’ Star PJ Adzima ’15 to Host MMC’s Legacy Gala
Open gallery
Theatre alum PJ Adzima ’15 knows how to work an audience. In any given week, you’ll find him on Broadway, serving up laughs as Elder McKinley in the long-running hit musical The Book of Mormon or racing off to host one of two vaudeville shows he puts on through his production company Stage Time.
This spring, he’ll bring those talents and boundless energy home. On April 3, Adzima will host the Marymount Manhattan Legacy Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, donning his showman’s hat for a crowd that includes his former professors, fellow alums, and other members of the community who’ve long rooted for his success.
Unlike the performances he typically helms, however, this one comes with a twist: the audience happens to be the star of the show. The gala will celebrate MMC’s remarkable history by paying tribute to the constituencies that have helped bring the College’s mission to life. That includes MMC’s founding order, the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary; MMC trustees; faculty past and present; students; and alumni. The evening will also spotlight the new Marymount Manhattan Center, dedicated to honoring the College’s past and carrying forward its mission long into the future.
For Adzima, a gig honoring MMC was an easy yes—the training he received at the College, he said, prepared him to take on the world and, in particular, to star in Mormon, with which he’s had a long relationship. To date, he has performed with the show on a national tour, an Australian tour, and, for the last two years, on Broadway.
Moreover, his exposure to an array of talented artists that started at MMC and continued throughout his career inspired him to launch Stage Time, which brings Broadway, drag, comedy, burlesque, and other performers together for a weekly and monthly showcase.
“MMC set me off on the strongest of feet so that when I graduated, it was a seamless transition,” Adzima said. “It was such a powerful on-ramp to get me to the rest of my life.”
On a personal note, it was through MMC that he met his wife, the actress Julia Knitel, who’ll star in the musical Dead Outlaw when it comes to Broadway in April.
We asked Adzima what we can expect from him as a host, about his favorite recollections of MMC, and how he views the College’s legacy.
This spring marks the 10th anniversary of your college graduation. What does it mean for you to come back and host this celebration of MMC?
Oh my gosh, it’s an incredible full-circle moment for me. I love Marymount—so much so that I was selected as the commencement speaker for my graduating class. I’ve been speaking about my love for the College for a very long time, and coming back a decade later and being able to host the gala is an honor that I am taking quite seriously and am very proud to do.
Do you remember what you said in your commencement speech?
We moved in freshman year in the middle of Hurricane Irene—they were closing the bridges and tunnels, so there was no time to have teary goodbyes with your family. Basically, our parents dropped us off and said, ‘Love you, mean it, but we gotta run.’ For me, that hurricane was a good metaphor for New York; the city’s like a storm, a place of turbulence where there’s so much happening at any given time. But what I kept coming back to in my speech was how MMC was this incredible lifeboat to weather the storm in—this amazing, soft place that was able to help us make the transition from wherever we were coming from to New York City and then to the rest of our lives.
What should the gala’s audience expect from you as host?
A level of showmanship and reverence. I’m an entertainer first, and my job is to put on as good a show as possible, so I want it to feel like a party. It’s going to be flashy and bawdy—I am in The Book of Mormon, after all! At the same time, there’ll be a proper, reverent celebration of MMC’s remarkable legacy as we look back on all that the College has achieved and also look toward the future. There’s so much to look at in both directions.
Does serving as the host of an event flex different creative muscles than acting/performing?
Oh, completely different. As a host, I’m creating a personal relationship with the audience. I’m not in character. We’re all here together to celebrate and share a moment. I love it because it allows for a really exciting and intimate affair that people aren’t used to—people are used to having more of a wall between them and the entertainment, where they buy their ticket to the play and sit back. When you’re hosting an event, though, there is no wall; there is no division between what’s happening on stage and what’s happening in the audience. We are, together, making this thing. And whatever you bring to the table will match whatever I’m bringing to the table. I love doing a lot of crowd work—I’ll do whatever it takes to remove that barrier between the performer and the audience so that we can all celebrate together as a collective, which is what we’re there to do.
Can you tell us more about your experience as an MMC student?
Marymount was the perfect fit for me. I loved my liberal arts education and the diversity in the academic programming, which I don’t think I would have gotten elsewhere. [Theatre Arts Professor and Chair] Jill Stevenson was an all-time favorite teacher of mine. I’ve never gotten my butt kicked harder in my entire life than I have in her class.
But really, New York City is just the greatest draw—so much is available to you when you are in a city that’s so diverse. You know, it’s not like being in a conservatory program in the middle-of-nowhere Kentucky. When I got here at 18, the Occupy Wall Street marches were happening. I was able to go downtown and see and feel the broadness of what New York City has to offer on my very first day. I was able to start working and auditioning and riding the subway and learning. It exploded my mind and opened me up to the world around me. And that was all possible because of Marymount.
MMC is also where I met my wife, so that’s pretty good. I met her when we were 19 years old, and to say that changed my life is an understatement.
Are there any favorite memories that come to mind when you think of MMC?
A lot of them have to do with my wife—our love story is so tied up in those halls. Beyond that, I remember rehearsing in the stairwells and just taking in as much as I could. I’m an overactive person, and MMC is a great place for an overactive person to be. I’d get up at seven in the morning for a 7:45 a.m. dance class, and then I’d be off and running until my midnight improv rehearsal. After that, I’d maybe finish some homework at 2 a.m., go back to bed, and get up and do it all over again. I slept five hours a night for four years because I was squeezing as much juice as I could out of that place. I’ve carried that hustle with me into my career: Between Mormon and Stage Time, I’m doing eight shows a week, and I’m thinking of taking on a ninth because I’m still that same crazy kid who was sleeping five hours a night at Marymount.
How would you describe MMC’s legacy?
I love Marymount’s history, and for me, that history has always been about change. The College has been so many different things to so many different people. The Marymount I experienced is not the same Marymount of that first graduating class in 1950. It’s constantly evolving; it is a school that grows to match the moment that it’s in. In that way, it really is a reflection of New York City. The New York City of the 70s is not the New York City of the 80s or the 2000s. Even the New York City that I moved to 10 years ago isn’t the same New York City now, but that is what makes New York so special and one of the greatest cities in the world—that it is always evolving with the current.
And an important lesson to becoming a New Yorker is that you’ve got to move with the times. It’s a big city and if you’re going to survive and thrive, you better be able to grow and not be afraid of change because change is the only constant.
What would you say to encourage fellow alums to attend the gala or stay connected through the new Marymount Manhattan Center?
I’d say this is yours. This is your school. This is your history. This is your legacy, and that legacy is in your hands. So come and make the most of it. You are a part of this story and the opportunities that are coming and the excitement that we have to look forward to. This is all something that you’re going to want to be a part of.
Published: February 05, 2025
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