WOODSTOCK - Without any kind of official rehearsal, Woodstock native Matt Cassidy stepped onto the Lord of the Rings revolving Toronto stage during a Sunday matinee and performed the role of Aragorn.

It was during the production’s early March previews and Cassidy, as the understudy for the role usually played by Evan Buliung, had to step in with only a few hours of notice.

“It was surreal,” Cassidy, 30, explained of the first of the two occasions he's had to fulfill his understudy duties.  “It was a test.  But I just had to and go and tell the story.  I had to help destroy the ring.”

A veteran actor of theatre, Cassidy rose to the occasion and performed like a pro.

“I wasn’t terrified.  It was a controlled calm,” he said of his feelings that afternoon.  “As an understudy, you have to be ready.”

Touted as the most expensive stage production ever, Cassidy joined the cast of 55, performing eight shows a week, after a rigorous interview process that included cardio tests geared to gauge the aerobic capacity of the actors.

“It was insane.  I had friends who saw people pass out and throw up,” Cassidy said.

A second callback saw the actor perform “crazy dances” and pretend he was in a battle “to see if we were in our bodies and able to go with the flow.”  

When it was confirmed Cassidy would join the ensemble of the production, and understudy the roles of Aragorn and Boromir, he was elated.

“Once I got the call, I was still in shock that I was doing the world premiere of Lord of the Rings,” he said.  “It's just one of those shows that's epic; it's theatre history.”  

After five months of rehearsals in east Toronto on “a crazy, moving, rotating, stage,” the extravaganza officially opened March 23 with a party that saw the attendance of J. R. R. Tolkien’s grand-children.

“It was a party that I don’t know that I'll ever experience again,” Cassidy said.  “It was huge, the place was packed with people with tuxes.  It was a special day.”

Cassidy is also thrilled that he will be able to stay in a Toronto apartment and bike to work at the Princess of Wales Theatre for at least another year.  He has a contract until March 2007.

Despite mixed reviews, the $28-million mega-production has been drawing large crowds, Cassidy said, especially on the weekends.  

Born in Montreal, Cassidy spent most of his childhood in Woodstock where he attended Central Public School and Woodstock Collegiate Institute.   

After seeing a production of Les Miserables, Cassidy said he was hooked on acting and joined the Woodstock Little Theatre, where he took part in several productions, including Dracula and Oliver.

Cassidy said what appealed to him about musical theatre “was the whole idea of telling stories through music was just fun - straight up fun.”

After graduating from high school, he enrolled in a three-year musical theatre program at Sheridan College where he expanded his musical horizons by studying ballet, jazz and dancing.  “I had never taken dance before,” he explained.

After graduation, he moved to Toronto permanently and began a diverse career in the theater, which included performances in Beauty and the Beast, The Secret Garden and the Rocky Horror Picture Show, where he got to play next to his fiancée Sarah Connell, an actress he met when they both attended Sheridan College.

They plan to marry in September.

Cassidy says the best thing about acting is having fun at your job.  “That's the magic,” he said.  “You're getting paid to go on stage.  They call it a play for a reason - you're playing.”

- with files from the Toronto Sun