Theater People

We are SO SO SO excited to welcome Tony-winning actress LaChanze back to the podcast! For this return visit, we get to talk about her life and career in a way that we didn't the first time. We start with a little bit of background about growing up and discovering her talent at a young age, we then talk about her iconic work in "Once On This Island," "Bubbly Black Girl...," and "The Color Purple. And we end with some exciting news:On February 27, 2017 LaChanze is bringing her one-woman show "Feeling Good" To the Highline Ballroom. Tickets are still available and can be purchased at www.highlineballroom.com

Tony nominee--and just fabulous human--Orfeh has an incredible story of growing up in NYC, going to high school at the famed La Guardia High School (the "FAME" school), starting a pop band and getting a record contract that took her all over the world, and then landing on Broadway in such shows as "Saturday Night Fever," "Footloose," and "Legally Blonde"--earning a Tony nomination for playing the role of Paulette. She's divine and totally my kind of gal. Enjoy!

The handsome and charming Michael Park is currently co-starring in this season's hottest new musical, "Dear Evan Hansen." Michael has been a working NYC-based actor for almost 25 years. He got his start off-Broadway in the almost legendary productions of Michael John Lachiusa's "Hello Again" and Jeanine Tesori's "Violet." Prior to "Dear Evan Hansen", his Broadway credits include "Carousel," "Smoky Joe's Cafe," and one of my favorites from last season, "Tuck Everlasting." We loved chatting with this guy! Enjoy!

The genius Orchestrator / Arranger / Musical Director tells all about his experiences working on Dear Evan Hansen, Hamilton, In the Heights, and more! We go deep and get great stories of working alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda, Phillipa Soo, Tommy Kail, Michael Greif, Ben Platt, and more!

We're OBSESSED with Emily Skinner and we FINALLY get to meet her!! Emily made her Broadway debut in 1997 in the original Broadway cast of "Jeckyll & Hyde." Less than a year later she originated the role of Daisy Hilton in "Side Show." She was next seen in "James Joyce's The Dead" before originating the role of Vicki Nichols in "The Full Monty." She was most recently seen on Broadway in "Billy Ellliot: The Musical" where she was hand picked by director Stephen Daldry to play the role of Mrs. Wikinson. She's amazing and we love her to pieces.

For today's show, we're doing something a little different! We're traveling to Philadelphia, PA to spend the afternoon with the creative team behind the fabulous new musical "Found," which is now playing at the gorgeous Philadelphia Theatre Company. The show, which began in the basement theater of the Drama Bookshop and had it's off-Broadway premiere last year at the Atlantic Theater Company, is inspired by the popular "Found Magazine" and it's founder Davy Rothbart. Our guests are Davy Rothbart, Lee Overtree (co-book writer / director), Eli Bolin (music & original lyrics) and Victoria Lang (producer)

Today's the day, Theater People! Our brand new podcast," Broadway Backstory", premieres today! Episodes 1 and 2 tell the incredible true backstory of the Tony Award winning "In The Heights". We're playing the first 20 minutes of episode 1 here, but you can get the first two full episodes RIGHT NOW by searching iTunes, Stitcher, Googleplay or any other podcast catcher for Broadway Backstory. Enjoy!

We loved chatting with this guy!! He's funny, charming, has a GREAT head of hair, and really knows how to tell a story! Brandon made his Broadway debut in 2011's "Baby It's You." He received a Tony nomination for his turn as Adam Hochberg in last season's "An American in Paris," and can now be seen eight times a week as Mendel in William Finn's and James Lapine's hilarious and heartbreaking "Falsettos." He shares great stories about his long road to booking "Falsettos," how James Lapine was lovingly hard on him throughout the rehearsal process, and that time he accompanied Katie Holmes on a shopping spree.

WE"RE OBSESSED! We had the MOST fun hanging out with Mandy Gonzalez in her dressing room backstage at the Richard Rodgers Theater before a performance of "Hamilton." It had been less than two weeks since she'd taken over the role of Angelica, and she still hadn't completely moved in!Mandy made her Broadway debut in 2000 in "Aida" as the Amnneris standby-she eventually took the role over full time. She went on to originate roles in "The Dance of the Vampires" and "Lennon" before winning her breakout role as Nina in Lin-Manuel Miranda's "In the Heights"--a role she originated in the show's pre-Off Broadway days. She went on to take over the role of Elphaba in "Wicked," and can now be seen eight times a week in the hottest show on Broadway--"Hamilton."

I am so excited to announce that Theater People has partnered with the fab folks at TodayTix to create a brand new podcast called Broadway Backstory. Each episode tells the story of how a show develops from an idea to a full Broadway production. We get the behind-the-scenes story directly from the people who lived it - the concievers, actors, directors, producers, composers, and more. Season 1 will feature stories from "In the Heights", "Fun Home", "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee", "The Secret Garden", "Legally Blonde", and the Deaf West production of "Spring Awakening". And the best part: You, our listeners, get to vote on our 7th show! We've picked another 5 shows for you to vote on, and the most popular wins! We'll get to work interviewing everybody we can find who was involved with the show!Episodes 1 and 2, which premiere on Tuesday, November 15th, tell the incredible true backstory of the Tony-winning "In the Heights.

I"m a little obsessed with today's guest, Jay Armstrong Johnson. I loved him in "Hands on a Hardbody" and "On the Town" and I think I've listened to his new album "Jay Armstrong Johnson Live at Feinstein's / 54 Below" like 100 times. It's that good. He made his Broadway debut in 2009 in "Hair" and went on to standby for Aaron Tveit in "Catch Me if You Can" before originating his roles in "Hands on a Hardbody" and "On the Town." This episode has TONS of music from Jay's new album. Enjoy!

The Legendary three-time Tony nominee talks "Fun Home," The secrets to having a long career, and we even talk politics! Rebecca made her Broadway debut in the original Broadway cast of "The Phantom of the Opera"--She was a Christine standby before eventually taking over the role full time. Other highlights from her amazing career on Broadway include Lily in "The Secret Garden," Magnolia in "Showboat,"Maria in "The Sound of Music," and Marian in "The Music Man."

It was such a thrill to chat with the Tony winning "Hamilton" director all about the magic of that show! We also go all the way back to the beginning and talk "In the Heights," "Lombardi," and the short lived "Magic/Bird." And we, of course, talk "Grease Live" for which Thomas just won the Emmy Award for directing!

The handsome, charming, and SMART Jose Llana talks lying his way into his first NYC audition (the most adorable story every), starring in two productions of "The King and I" on Broadway, the productions of "Flower Drum Song," Spelling Bee," and his new album "Altitude."

Happy Friday, Theater People!. As many of you know, the fabulous "The Ensemblist" podcast has recently launched their new season. Hosts Mo Brady and Nikka Graff Lanzarone tell us all about it!

YOU GUYS! I’m still hyperventilating over the fact that I got to sit in a room with Will Chase and Rob McClure. These two gorgeous and hilarious men are currently starring in the absolutely fabulous "Something Rotten" currently running at the St. James Theater. I have to say, I’ve seen the show three times now and it NEVER gets old. With Rob McClure in the leading role of Nick Bottom--a struggling playwright in Renaissance-era London and Will Chase in the role of Shakespeare, who, in this telling is a pompous, lady killing, self-doubting mega-star, the show is every bit as hilarious as it was when I saw it in previews. Rob McClure, of course, is best known for originating the roles of Charlie Chaplin in "Chaplin" and Jack Singer in "Honeymoon in Vegas." Will Chase is best known for his work in "Rent," "Aida," "High Fidelity," and "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" in addition to a thousand TV shows. It was so much fun to get to chat with these t

You guys, I’m gonna use a word that I don’t think I’ve ever used before to describe a guest. Are you ready? Debonair. That’s right, today’s guest, Jeremy Kushnier, is best described as… debonair.....He’s handsome and charming and has one of those, like, gorgeous deep voices. And he’s funny and humble and is just one of those guys who has great insightful stories and ideas who you could just talk to for hours.Anyway, Jeremy made his Broadway debut in the starring role of Ren McCormick in the 1998 production of "Footloose"—the story, by the way, of how he got that job will knock your socks off. He went on to star in "Rent", "Jersey Boys", and the stunning 2012 revival of "Jesus Christ Superstar" in which he understudied both Jesus and Judas and yes, we do talk about how on Earth he was able to pull that off. He was recently in the original New York company of "Shear Madness", a show that I’m sort of obsessed with from Boston. It’s that’s a hilarious, improvey wh

It is such a pleasure to welcome three-time Tony winning Producer Kevin McCollum to our show! Kevin is well known in the industry for being the kind of producer that can spot something special miles--and years--away from being a fully formed product. This is the guys who, waaaaaaaaaay back in the early 90s saw a very early workshop of RENT and made a promise to Jonathan Larson--AT THE WORKSHOP'S INTERMISSION--that he would get the show to Broadway. In addition to a MILLION other shows, Kevin helped shepherd "In the Heights", "The Drowsy Chaperone", and "Something Rotten" to Broadway. He sat down with us to talk about his most recent productions--"Motown The Musical", which had a quick return to Broadway this summer--and "Something Rotten". And, yes, he indulged me in my "In The Heights" obsession and answered a few questions about 'discovering' Lin-Manuel Miranda.

We are SO excited to welcome Carmen Cusack back to the podcast! Since we last spoke with her, Carmen received her first Tony nomination for her work in the FABULOUS "Bright Star." For this episode, we talk about the wonderful craziness of the Tony Awards season, saying goodbye to "Bright Star" performing at the DNC, and her upcoming sold out solo shows at Feinstein's / 54 Below. We're obsessed with her! Enjoy!

Hello Theater People! So, the plan was for us to take two weeks off and have a little bit of a summer break. But then we did this great interview with this young actress named Allison Semmes. She was playing Dianna Ross in "Motown The Musical" on Broadway. The day before out interview, the show got it’s closing notice. It was limited engagement on Broadway anyway, but now the show was closing way earlier than expected. Mike and I had LOVED Allison in the show and we loved her even more in person, so we wanted to get this episode out while the show was still fresh on people’s minds. It’s a really short interview, which made for a really short episode, but I urge you to keep your eye on her, she clearly has a really bright future on Broadway. Just, to let you know why I sound a little insane in this episode--it was our first time recording in an actual recording studio. I am veeeeeeery particular about the sound of this podcast and I was just loving every second of being in that padded room. So just