[MUSIC PLAYING]
MATT MAGER: So what
happens when four stars
leave the bright
lights of Broadway
and take leading roles in a
small town controversy making
national headlines?
Big drama, bigger laughs,
and honestly, one of the best
musicals I've ever seen.
Trust me, you will love
it when you see it.
Let's start off
with a little video.
[VIDEO PLAYBACK]
[MUSIC - "IT'S TIME TO DANCE"]
[MUSIC - "TONIGHT BELONGS TO
 YOU"]
[END PLAYBACK]
ISABELLE MCCALLA AND
CAITLIN KINNUNEN:
[SINGING "DANCE WITH YOU"]
[APPLAUSE]
MATT MAGER: Thank you.
That was so great.
Have a seat.
So that was one of the great
numbers in the musical,
and I'd like to invite
the rest of the cast
to join us so we can
start asking them
some questions about the show.
Hi.
Hey, everyone.
Yeah.
So thank you all for
joining us today.
This is a really awesome panel.
I'm so excited to
have all of you here.
I'm going to hop right in
because I know that we all
have tons of questions.
Four Broadway stars
hungry for attention
have had some bad publicity.
They decide to go and
help a teenage lesbian who
has been told that she can't
go to the prom with her date.
And they say, we can fix this.
Honestly, when I
saw that, I thought
it was maybe a hard sell.
I was like, all
right, well I'm gay.
Would I go see this?
And then I saw it
and I was like,
this is amazing, honestly.
I want to start first with kind
of the process by which you all
got attached to this
because I imagine
I'm not the only person that was
like, hm, interesting concept.
How did you all get involved?
BROOKS ASHMANSKAS: The money.
ANGIE SCHWORER: Casey Nicholaw.
BROOKS ASHMANSKAS:
Yeah, Casey Nicholaw,
who is the
director/choreographer
of the show.
We've all worked with him
many times or only on this,
but he pretty much
got in touch with us
and wanted us to be
a part of it, which
is very lucky and
fortunate for all of us.
And we've all been involved
with it for a long time.
We've been working on this for
a considerable amount of time.
And all of it joyous
and fantastic, so it
was an easy audition process.
MATT MAGER: So another
question quick first.
We're going to edit that out.
Don't worry.
If you can also let us know
your names and like what part
you play in the show.
CHRISTOPHER SIEBER: Hello.
Hello.
My name is Christopher Sieber.
I play the out of work and
former member of Actor's Equity
Associations, Trent Oliver,
who is a former actor,
still trying to be, and
now he's a cater waiter.
BROOKS ASHMANSKAS:
I'm Brooks Ashmanskas,
and I play Barry Glickman
who is a Broadway
veteran, an old gay
actor, so real stretch.
Stick with me.
ISABELLE MCCALLA: I'm
Isabelle McCullough.
I play Alyssa Greene, the
closeted girlfriend of Emma,
who's just trying really
hard to come out, but can't.
CAITLIN KINNUNEN:
I'm Caitlin Kinnunen.
I play Emma Nolan in the show
who is the teenage lesbian.
MICHAEL POTTS: I'm Michael
Potts and I play Tom Hawkins who
is the principal of the school.
ANGIE SCHWORER:
Hi, Angie Schworer.
I play Angie, a old chorus
girl with a heart of gold.
COURTENAY COLLINS: Hi.
I'm Courtenay Collins
and I play Mrs. Greene--
she does not have a
first name, Mrs.--
who is the president
of the PTA in Indiana,
and I'm also Izzy's
mother and I'm
trying to keep her in the can.
CHAD BEGUELIN: Oh, I've got one.
I'm Chad Beguelin.
I co-wrote the book,
which is the script,
and I wrote the
lyrics to the songs.
MATTHEW SKLAR:
I'm Matthew Sklar.
I wrote the music.
BETH LEAVEL: That's it?
MATTHEW SKLAR: That's it.
That's all I did.
BETH LEAVEL: I'm Beth Leavel.
I play diva Dee
Dee Allen, who has
won two Tony awards that she
carries with her at all times.
MATT MAGER: They make a cameo.
It's really great.
So Matthew and
Chad specifically,
how do you approach an
original work like this?
Some of your previous
work is really awesome,
but they're based on
properties that exist already.
How did you formulate this show?
CHAD BEGUELIN: Well there
was a lot of trial and error.
The idea came from
Jack Viertel, and he
was working with our
director, Casey, and he said,
I have this idea for a show.
And you know, thankfully he
suggested us to write it.
And we got together with
Casey and Bob Martin, who's
not here today but co-wrote
the script with me,
and there was just a
lot of brainstorming.
And you know, we did
a million workshops
and a million readings.
And you know, the show used to--
a very early version
of the show opened
with these three characters all
in different horrible musicals.
So Beth was in--
BETH LEAVEL: Tell them
which ones they were in.
CHAD BEGUELIN: Beth was
in "Goonies" the musical.
MATTHEW SKLAR: "Forrest
Gump" the musical.
CHAD BEGUELIN: And "Long
Day's Journey into Night"
the musical.
And they all ended
with confetti cannons.
Even "Journey," which was just--
MATTHEW SKLAR: At
the top of the show,
we just blasted the
audience with confetti.
CHAD BEGUELIN: Just everybody
in "Long Day's Night" go,
journey, and then confetti.
MATTHEW SKLAR: Yeah.
We thought it was hilarious.
MATT MAGER: That's
another musical.
CHAD BEGUELIN: Yeah, yeah.
MATTHEW SKLAR: Exactly.
CHAD BEGUELIN: Yeah, so it
was a lot of stuff like that.
We'd try it and we'd go,
OK, well that doesn't work.
Or you know, it
was a lot of just--
and definitely with
this caliber of a cast,
you know, getting their
input has been crucial.
So it was great
to sort of design
these roles for these actors.
MATTHEW SKLAR: Yeah.
When we first started,
we spent a couple
of years outlining
and just trying
to figure out where songs would
go and how they would function.
And we were probably
at it for two years
before we even kind of invited
you guys into the process.
We had you all in
mind for it, but it
was a really lengthy process.
From the idea to
opening on Broadway
was about eight years,
a really long time.
And the one character
that changed the most--
we used to have, instead of
Angie's character, we had--
I forget what her
name was, but she
was an understudy to
Elphaba, and she never
got to go on she was
always slightly green.
CHAD BEGUELIN: Couldn't
get the makeup off.
MATTHEW SKLAR: Yeah, she
couldn't get the makeup off.
She was allergic
to it or something.
But we thought it
was kind of campy,
and then we were meeting
one day and Casey said,
what if it's like a
showgirl like Angie?
And we said, yeah like Angie.
So we just wrote it for
Angie, which I love.
ANGIE SCHWORER: I'm glad it
was Roxie Hart and not Elphaba,
because that wouldn't be me.
MATTHEW SKLAR: It
was the right move.
It was the right move.
MATT MAGER: So that's awesome.
I'm glad that you
didn't have to be green.
I hear it's not easy.
I couldn't help myself.
But speaking of Casey,
you know, he directs
and he choreographs,
which for those
of you who aren't
musical theater fans,
that's a big deal.
And that's a different style
of direction and choreography.
How is it working with
a director/choreographer
versus the directing and
the choreography separate.
Does that really
change it for you?
BROOKS ASHMANSKAS: Yeah.
I think it becomes
just much more focused.
Everything that
happens in the show
is basically coming from not
just the mind of the writers,
but then when it's filtered
through one person as opposed
to two--
musicals are very, very
collaborative events,
I think the most collaborative
art form there is.
And so that can
be an opportunity,
but it can also be a challenge.
And so that's one less
challenge taken away,
so you just have one
person instead of two.
CAITLIN KINNUNEN:
It automatically
becomes such a cohesive piece
instead of like bits and pieces
trying to work together.
It's just streamlined.
BETH LEAVEL: And I also
think it makes it seamless.
Because yes, there's
choreography,
but when you have someone
with the same vocabulary,
it just is seamless
and you can't really
tell where one ends
and one begins.
It's the same language and
Casey's so brilliant with that,
so it makes our job easier.
MATT MAGER: And I'm thinking
of very specific points
in the plot where you have,
basically, two scenes happening
at once where there's
dancing and there's acting,
and it's pretty amazing.
CHRISTOPHER SIEBER: That was
actually more challenging,
because we were trying to make
that work and the audience
wasn't getting it.
But Casey was able
to fine tune it
and it was clearly
in different places
but were still in the same room.
That was brilliantly
done by Casey Nicholaw.
Yeah.
MATT MAGER: And I noticed it,
and I said, this is smart.
Speaking of smart--
BROOKS ASHMANSKAS: Thank you.
MATT MAGER: All of you.
"Unruly Heart,"
specifically, is a song
you sing in the second act.
It is such a great song for
Emma, but it's written by Emma.
And writing a song that
feels authentically written
by a teenager when you're
not, if I can assume.
MATTHEW SKLAR: Hey, come on.
MATT MAGER: You seem like
you're maybe in your early 20s.
We're not ageist here.
Everyone here is
in their early 20s.
Just kidding.
But how did you go about
writing that piece specifically?
MATTHEW SKLAR: Well that
song was music first.
I had that tune living in
me for actually a long time,
and I didn't know
what to use it for.
And when this moment
came up in the plot--
and it took years
to figure out what
that moment was going to
be when Emma kind of comes
into her own.
It felt like, oh, I
can use this tune.
And then I sent a
recording of it to Chad,
and he wrote this
beautiful lyric.
And it's morphed over the years.
It used to really just be Emma,
and then we added the kids
to it, and then in our last
workshop which was just
in January, February,
Casey said, I
want the kids to just soar more.
And he was really
on me about that,
because we used to
end it very quietly.
And it worked in Atlanta and our
out of town a couple of years
ago, but he said, I think
we can get more out of it.
And so went downstairs, and
took three shots at it, and then
the third, he was
like, that's it.
And then we taught it to
everybody and everybody
was a crying mess.
CAITLIN KINNUNEN: And everyone's
a crying mess every single day.
MATTHEW SKLAR: It
feels like that, yeah.
Me included.
MATT MAGER: And the
audience as well.
Definitely everyone
is a crying mess.
CAITLIN KINNUNEN: There's
always like a pause
before people start
clapping, that you just hear
the [SNIFFLING] every night.
MATT MAGER: Wear long sleeves.
Speaking of crying messes,
for those of you who
were watching the
Macy's Thanksgiving Day
Parade from home, not when it
was 20 degrees, first of all,
wow.
MATTHEW SKLAR: Yeah.
God bless you guys.
MATT MAGER: Yeah.
Good work.
CHRISTOPHER SIEBER:
It was 7 degrees.
MATT MAGER: It was.
And it was also the first LGBT
kiss at the Macy's Thanksgiving
Day Parade.
About damn time.
Good work.
So it's been a week, and there
has been buzz about that.
How have you all received that?
I mean, don't read the comments,
but how have you received that?
CHRISTOPHER SIEBER:
It's been funny to hear
from the people opposing any
like goodness, love, and light.
The comments that they're
making about two people who just
happen to love
each other kissing
on a national television,
they thought, you know,
our children's
innocence is broken.
And the funny thing,
reading comments like that,
you kind of go, well, all right.
You kind of just
missed the entire point
of the entire thing.
But also, seeing everybody
from around the world defending
was like, your heart just
got bigger and bigger.
Because there were
more people jumping
on those haters
than anything I've
ever seen defending and making
points about gun control
and all these other things
which were quite valid,
but it was so nice to
see so many people, just
the message of love that
we have, holding on to that
and preaching that out
rather than any kind of hate.
ISABELLE MCCALLA: And for me,
what was the most rewarding
was that I kept getting
messages from teenagers
across the country.
CHRISTOPHER SIEBER:
Yeah, all of us.
ISABELLE MCCALLA: Yeah.
We all did, about how either
they were still in the closet,
just had recently come
out, identify as bi,
identify as gay, and how
it made them feel validated
and just human to be like that.
There are so many
families that look
like that around the world, and
to say it's not a family show
is actually not true
because there are so
many families like that.
And hearing those kids
feel inspired by it
and feel emboldened
to be themselves
was kind of the
best result of it.
MATT MAGER: That's
really awesome to hear,
because sometimes it goes
the opposite direction
and it's like wow,
maybe we overstepped.
But queer representation and
representation in general
has become a bigger and bigger
thing in Broadway, a bigger
a bigger thing and movies.
"Head Over Heels"
has a trans character
played by a trans actor.
The Donna Summer musical has
an almost entirely female cast,
and various musicals are using
sign language interpreters
and sign language
as part of the show.
Writing a show
that is kind of, I
don't want to say pushing an
agenda, but pushing an agenda,
is also hard.
What, for those
of you who may be
more veteran in the industry,
not that you're not--
CHRISTOPHER SIEBER: The olds.
You can call us the olds.
BROOKS ASHMANSKAS:
Speak up, boy.
CHRISTOPHER SIEBER: What?
Who?
Where am I?
MATT MAGER: So for those of you
who have been here for a while,
how has acting and performing
changed over the time
that you've been here.
I know you actually came out
in the process of your career,
Christopher, and do you feel
like that would be different
now?
Like do people even
have to anymore?
CHRISTOPHER SIEBER:
Well what happened
was, I was always gay and
everybody knew, so coming out
was like, and?
But you know, I did my very
first situational comedy on ABC
called "Two of a
Kind" where I played
the Olsens' dad, and they--
thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
No, go on.
MATT MAGER: It also gets
a cameo in the show.
CHRISTOPHER SIEBER: Yes.
But I played
professor Kevin Burke.
I had two daughters,
and they wanted to--
our executive
producer said, hey.
Do you want us to
fly your wife out?
And I said, oh.
Well, let's go talk
in your office.
So I said, you know,
I don't have a wife.
I have a partner.
And they were like,
oh, yeah, great.
I don't know how
to deal with this.
I mean, it's Hollywood.
It's different.
Theater is like whatever,
but television, you know,
there's so many
closeted people still.
But I said, I don't
know how to handle this.
I don't care, but
it's about the show.
It's not about me.
So they were like, if you
make a big deal out of,
it'll be a big deal.
If you don't, it won't.
So that's what we did.
But the second sitcom,
"It's All Relative"
where John Benjamin Hickey
and I played partners,
well-heeled men with a daughter
at Harvard, we kind of just
said, well yeah.
I mean, we're two gay actors
playing gay men, let's go out
and say hi, everybody.
Yeah.
And again, it was kind
of like, whatever.
You know, it was
like, yeah, we know.
We know.
So it wasn't a problem.
Now though, I mean, over
the course of the years,
like Izzy was saying, you
see kids at our stage door
wanting autographs and there
are tears in their eyes
because they see themselves
finally represented.
And they are so moved and
they're shaking with tears just
from seeing the show.
You know, I am here.
I am here.
And then that's
what I see when--
like somebody saw me, finally.
But then they're coming
out younger and younger,
which is so great,
which is fantastic,
because there's a
lot of people that
just have the courage
enough to be themselves.
Wow.
That was a long-winded answer.
Sorry.
Sorry.
BROOKS ASHMANSKAS: You know,
I would also say that the--
CHRISTOPHER SIEBER:
Brooks is gay too.
Brooks is gay.
BROOKS ASHMANSKAS: No, no.
God no.
I like the ladies.
MATT MAGER: We don't
want to encourage
anyone outing someone else.
BROOKS ASHMANSKAS:
You know, you said
that this is pushing an
agenda, and I would deeply
disagree with you on that.
And not in a mean way, just
to say what the theater does
is presents, you know,
as a mirror to life.
Right?
And so agendas are attached to
things or tagged onto things.
And some of them are
welcome, you know.
Obviously all the good
news about love is love
and all of that stuff
is a welcome agenda
that can be tagged onto this.
There are unwelcome
ones as well as we
were talking about the
Macy's thing with some people
not really loving that.
And you know what?
OK.
But that's what's so beautiful
about this show in particular
and why I bring this up,
is that it doesn't judge,
or it sends up
judgment, sends up
our leftist judgments
about small town America
and vise versa.
And it lets the audience, you
know, have their own agenda
about it or not, but
hopefully just to give them
just a little taste of light.
You know.
That's what this show does
beautifully, and it's funny.
BETH LEAVEL: And it's funny.
I just have to
say that it is one
of the best musicals in my
94 years in show business.
It is one of the most satisfying
pieces of theater, if not--
I will say it.
It is the greatest
show I've ever done.
CHRISTOPHER SIEBER: Me too.
BETH LEAVEL: It
really is, and I think
it's crafted so beautifully.
What you guys have written is--
I think, oh my gosh.
It's just the greatest.
Wait until you hear
these tunes wrapped up
in this whole story about
love, listening, tolerance,
entertainment.
People have-- and I'm told
this constantly-- have never
laughed so hard at a musical in
their life, and then at the end
go, oh my gosh.
I'm crying out of joy.
I mean, the joy that comes
from this show is unbelievable.
And the audience at the
end, every single show,
we have a standing--
I feel like we're
celebrating with the audience
the joyous collaboration that
we have all just experienced.
And that is why I'm in theater.
Thank you.
MATTHEW SKLAR: Well said.
MATT MAGER: Thank you.
And I appreciate that.
That is a really
great correction,
because I have another
question specifically for you
because you play Mrs.
Greene without a first name.
And I noticed that, you know,
she doesn't get a redemption.
She gets a, we'll talk later,
and that was really honest.
And it didn't answer the
question to your mind.
It didn't solve
the problem, but it
shows that everybody is a little
bit of an outsider in the show.
Everyone is bringing
something that's
a little outside of
the norm in some way.
Now you're also
from Atlanta, right?
BETH LEAVEL: Yes.
MATT MAGER: You're
not from New York.
BETH LEAVEL: No.
MATT MAGER: You're dealing in
your day to day life in Atlanta
with people that are probably
not all New York liberal types,
and you know these characters.
You know this
person I'm guessing.
How is the process of
being in that character
here, and I'm not going
to presume anything
about your political [INAUDIBLE]
or anything like that,
but I'm curious.
How do you build that character?
BETH LEAVEL: Well,
as a Republican-- no.
I'm joking.
No.
No, that's not true actually.
But the character has grown on
me and on all of us I think.
The character has
morphed and changed,
and these incredible
writers have really
added a lot of depth and layers
to Mrs. Greene that maybe
wasn't in the first
reading that I
read two years ago in Atlanta.
And I think what I've noticed
is that we've taken basically
a lot of political
references out of the play.
It's very sort of
party neutral, I
would say, from
Mrs. Greene's side.
So I always say that wherever
you are-- because I mean,
we're playing to
New York audiences,
but we're also playing
to middle America.
We're playing to people who come
to the show from everywhere.
So I think that wherever
people sit in the audience
and from whatever side
of politics they sit on,
they're going to see themselves.
They're going to
laugh at themselves.
They're going to maybe learn
something about themselves.
I think it's a very--
we celebrate everybody.
We open our hearts to everybody,
and we represent small town
America and in a very truthful
manner about people who
are afraid of big government.
And we're afraid of people
who are different from us,
and in the end--
and it's the same
with the New Yorkers.
New Yorkers come
and they're so sure
that their way of
tolerance in life is--
they're going to
teach us compassion,
these booger-eating, whatever
y'all say about the--
CAITLIN KINNUNEN:
They don't say that.
BETH LEAVEL: Cousin humping,
booger eating, spam eating.
That's it, spam eating.
Sorry.
BROOKS ASHMANSKAS: You'd tell
us if you had a stroke, right?
BETH LEAVEL: I would
be the last to know.
But this is my favorite
part about playing
Mrs. Greene, besides the
fact that she does not
have a first name, is that I
have had so many stories shared
with me from gay men and women
because it doesn't resolve,
because Chad and Bob and Matt
have tried very hard to find
a truthful story about a child
who is gay and a mother who
doesn't want the
child to be gay.
And the dialogue that happens
between parents and kids
being who they are and the
parent not wanting that--
is afraid, the fear of your
child not being like you
and the fear of your child
not having an easy life.
That's what they perceive.
So the dialogue that happened,
people have come up to me
and shared their
beautiful stories
about their conversations
with their parents that
are very similar to the
conversations that we have
in the show and the things
that Mrs. Greene says
to her daughter.
And some of the
stories end happily.
Most of them don't.
And I carry those stories with
me every night in this play,
so that's been a beautiful
sort of result of playing this.
MATT MAGER: And I want to
give you a tiny little gift.
I was hanging out with
some friends from Austin,
Texas, that had come to the
show with their extended family,
some of whom are a little
more on the conservative end.
And I said, oh, I'm going
to interview the cast.
And one of them said, oh, so my
stepfather came out of the show
and said, there are some
things I need to rethink.
And so thank you for that.
You're doing really
solid work, all of you.
So from the
community, thank you.
MICHAEL POTTS: I mean,
I know it's a musical
and we talk about
music, but I also
wanted to thank the creative
team because they've
taken such great care
of the book as well.
They've put in the same
amount of compassion.
Book scenes in a musical, mostly
in musicals, the book scenes
get tossed.
No one really cares, like
get to the next dance
or the next song.
But they have taken such
great care of the characters
and of the story that
they want to tell
even outside of the music.
And I wanted to
thank you for that.
That's pretty incredible
and rewarding.
CHAD BEGUELIN: Bob thanks
you too from Canada.
MATT MAGER: We've got some
questions from the audience,
and I would love to open
up now for some of those.
AUDIENCE: Hi.
I've got a question
for the writer.
I'm a hobbyist writer,
and I was wondering
if you could give any advice
to what kind of pitfalls
you kind of fell into and
what you would do differently
to make it be maybe not eight
years but something shorter.
CHAD BEGUELIN: Time travel.
I think the best
advice I ever got
was that it's got to be
bad before it can be good.
And so when you write that
first song or you write
that first draft or that first
scene, and then you go back
and you're like,
oh, this is awful.
That's part of the process.
And it's so easy to just give
up and just say OK, well this
is not working, where it's
really about rewriting
and rewriting and rewriting.
And I think another thing
that actually my therapist
said to me a long
time ago, you know,
I would get sort of a panic,
especially with lyrics
when we needed a new lyric,
the sort of panic of like,
oh can I do it?
Can I do it?
And she said, it sounds
like you're closing down
when you should be opening up.
And I thought, oh, OK.
That's a really good
way to look at it.
So I think that's the other
thing is that because there's
so much pressure to sort
of trust the process
and trust the collaborators
and know that it will come.
AUDIENCE: Yes.
So I saw some clips of the
Atlanta production online,
which is how I first
found out about and fell
in love with the show.
And I noticed a few like
artistic and structural changes
from that one to
this production,
particularly like with
the song "You Happened"
and a few other things.
So I was wondering if you
could talk about the rewriting
process and what
you had in mind,
whether it was
feedback from audiences
or changing geography
or anything.
MATTHEW SKLAR: Well, with
"You Happened," in Atlanta,
it was basically just a
duet for Emma and Alyssa.
And what we found was that
it wasn't propelling anything
forward.
And then actually our producers,
Dori who's back there actually,
told us about the phenomenon of
promposals that were happening
in high schools across America.
And we thought, maybe we can get
some straight promposals happen
in that song, and
then we're going
to join Emma and Alyssa where
they are talking about the prom
but in private.
So we're going from this big
celebration to these girls
who have to hide their
love for each other,
and that's kind of how we
started with this new version
of the song.
And we just feel
like it's just more--
and we get to see them be happy.
You know, everything in
Atlanta, the two girls,
it was a lot of angst
a lot of the time.
And we realized
that we really want
to see them be happy
in Act One, so that
was one of the big reasons
for that change as well.
CHAD BEGUELIN: And we also--
another big thing we focused
on was the town itself
and making that more real.
And I'm actually from a small
town in Southern Illinois,
and all of the stuff Mr.
Hawkins says it's actually
true of my hometown.
We had a factory shut down.
The prison's the only
place that employs anybody
and it's hard to
even get a job there.
I mean, really putting that
sort of reality into the show,
I think, has helped ground it.
MATTHEW SKLAR: Yeah.
When we left Atlanta,
Casey said, here's
one of the big things
I want to work on.
I want to make sure we're
not Broadway people going
to a Broadway town.
I want Broadway people
to go to a real town,
and that was really
the bulk of our work
from Atlanta to New York.
And I think it made
a huge difference.
MATT MAGER: It
feels really real.
It almost feels like there's
kind of three shows happening.
There's the town show, there's
the Broadway folks show,
and then there's the love story.
It, really--
MATTHEW SKLAR: And
you need all of them
to balance each other out.
MATT MAGER: And
they're very distinct.
It's awesome.
The work--
BETH LEAVEL: The
groundedness of these guys.
MATT MAGER: And the
intelligence of Mrs. Greene.
Thank you for that,
because you don't want
to show these people stupid.
MATTHEW SKLAR: No.
We never wanted to--
we're not villainizing anybody.
We're all real people, and
that was really important.
MATT MAGER: Awesome.
Thank you.
Another question?
AUDIENCE: Hi there.
So I have two
questions about energy.
So I saw the show with my
mom on October 29, which
was this preview
during Monday and there
were a bunch of other
performers there,
so I felt like the energy was
extra high during that night,
and I had never seen
anything like that.
It was super fun.
And so I'm just wondering--
this is actually
a question from my mom and
then I have a separate question
from myself.
Hi, mom, when you
see this on YouTube.
So my mom's question was,
how do you keep the energy up
when you're performing the same
show and sometimes two times
a day?
And then my question is, during
preview versus officialness,
how do you--
like, I know you can't make
changes after the preview
period ends, but how do
you sustain that and do
you try harder during previews
or do you try harder after?
Like, how do you try?
CAITLIN KINNUNEN: Brooks?
CHRISTOPHER SIEBER:
Well, go ahead.
BETH LEAVEL: No, no, no.
You go.
CHRISTOPHER SIEBER: Well
during the preview process,
we're still rehearsing
during the day upwards
of like four or five hours
before that night's show
in previews.
And during that process, during
those four or five hours,
we are making changes.
We are lucky though.
Because we have all done
so much work on this,
there wasn't that much but there
was a lot, because there's just
little details.
Storytelling was like
the biggest tightening
thing we did during
the preview section,
but it's a long and
hard, tedious process
to put on a big
huge Broadway show.
There's a lot of tech elements.
There's the costumes, the
wigs, the makeup, the sound,
orchestra, everything, and
it's all coming together
in one big room.
And to get everyone together
and synchronize like watches
almost, finally
getting together,
it does take a
toll on your brain
because there's
so much new stuff.
And stuff that we had
been doing for six
years all of a sudden just--
like my two numbers, "Love Thy
Neighbor" and
"Acceptance," they're
like, oh yeah, we're going
to change everything you've
known for the last six years.
And that happens, and your
brain is like, I don't even
know what I'm saying.
And then that night,
I said some weird line
but it didn't matter.
I think I went
bow-ba-bow-ba-bow.
Yeah.
That was the lyric
that night because I
don't remember what it was.
So yes, you're wiped out.
You're absolutely wiped out,
like mentally, physically,
vocally.
And you get on stage and--
I always call it doctor show.
Some people call it doctor
greasepaint, doctor theater.
You get onstage and
for some reason,
there's something within us that
we become superheroes onstage.
It's weird.
I mean, if you have a cough,
you won't have a cough onstage.
If you have hiccups backstage,
you won't have them onstage.
If you're sneezing like that,
you will not have it onstage.
It's the most bizarre thing.
But yeah, so we're tired,
but that's just what happens.
CAITLIN KINNUNEN: And I also
think there's something really
uniquely special about this show
because we've all been working
on it for so long
and we're all friends
with each other in
real life and we all
want to be telling this story.
And so when we get
onstage with each other,
there's like this instant
bond and this instant
like, OK, we're
going to do this.
Yes, we're exhausted.
Yes, we've been doing this
forever and we're tired
and we would like to be
in our beds, but like,
we all get onstage,
and we just--
you turn it on.
And it's easy with these people
because we want to be there
and we want to be
telling this story,
and that makes a
huge difference.
BETH LEAVEL: The audience from
the night that you were there,
it was--
I mean, we must have
added 10 minutes
to the show with laughs.
But our performances didn't
change from that night
until the end of
last week when we
had done eight shows in a row
and the Macy's Thanksgiving
Parade in -40 degrees.
So you know, because A,
we're professionals, B,
that's my job and there are
20 million other people going,
I'll do it if she can't.
So--
CHRISTOPHER SIEBER:
Big motivator.
BETH LEAVEL: Yeah,
it is a big one.
CHRISTOPHER SIEBER:
Big motivator.
BETH LEAVEL: But I'm so proud
of the show that all of us
give 150% every single show.
And thank you for coming.
Hi, mom.
BROOKS ASHMANSKAS:
It's also the audience.
I'm sorry, but you
know, that's why
we love to do this and not other
things that are going to be
taped or things like that.
It's this that,
for me personally,
I know it of these other
people as well, that's
what gives me the energy.
I have no energy
right this second.
You know?
I'm asleep because it's, you
know, not even what, 2:00 yet?
This is ridiculously early.
1:49 and 53 seconds.
Google.
But it really is the audience.
If the audience is
not there with us,
that becomes very difficult.
But with this show
so far, it's been a real treat
because people seem to really
climb on board and happily.
I'm so glad about that,
so it's thanks to you.
MATT MAGER: All right.
So we've got time for
one more quick question
and then we've got a couple more
performances so stick around.
AUDIENCE: Thanks, everybody.
I saw the show the Sunday
of the opening weekend
and it was a really
great performance.
I really enjoyed it.
I kind of have another specific
question for the composer.
Spoiler alert, there's a really
great number during the prom
that you really wrote kind of
this great blend of a Broadway
dance number that's mixed with
an EDM top 10 sounding number.
Can you talk a little
bit about the challenges
that you faced in sort of making
a sound that really encompassed
both of those?
MATTHEW SKLAR: Well,
the show really
lives in two musical worlds.
We have the Broadway sound,
and then we have the kid sound.
And you know, what I had to do
is really simplify harmonically
and lyrically.
We had to kind of simplify
things for the kids.
And part of it is, usually I
make my own demos when we're
writing stuff and then
we get to give our work
to these brilliant
arrangers and orchestrators
and give them direction.
So you know, I
have to give credit
to them for helping make those
songs sound so authentic.
But I think most
of it is listening
to what people are listening
to now and dancing to.
And it was also a challenge to
write in that particular song
because it lives
in Brooks' world,
and then we morph and then you
get thump, thump, thump, thump.
It's the same tune, but
it's sort of flattened out
and it's no--
we don't swing the
eighth notes anymore,
and then it becomes
a dance tune.
So a lot of it is arrangement,
but in the construction of it,
just making sure that you have a
melody and chord structure that
can live in both worlds.
And I hope I answered
your question.
That's basically it.
Just a lot of listening,
a lot of listening.
BETH LEAVEL: What's EDM?
Sorry.
MATTHEW SKLAR:
Electronic dance music.
BETH LEAVEL: I knew that.
CHRISTOPHER SIEBER: It's what
the kids are [INAUDIBLE]..
BROOKS ASHMANSKAS: I was like,
erectile dysfunction man.
MATT MAGER: I think that's
a different musical.
CAITLIN KINNUNEN: Go
back to sleep, Brooks.
Go back to sleep.
BROOKS ASHMANSKAS: I'm here.
MATT MAGER: Yes, you are.
And you have a mic in your hand
and we have a couple more songs
that we're going to
hear from the cast.
We have one from Brooks
and one from Beth.
"The Prom" is an
excellent musical.
I want everyone to go see it.
BROOKS ASHMANSKAS:
Thank you so much.
ANGIE SCHWORER: Thanks
for having us, Google.
BROOKS ASHMANSKAS: Thank you.
CHAD BEGUELIN: Just so
you know what's going on,
this song is called
"The Lady's Improving"
and Beth's character-- it
was the song that she sang
many-- well not many.
BETH LEAVEL: Yes it was.
It was 20 years ago.
CHAD BEGUELIN: OK, a long time
ago, and it made her a star.
And so the principal,
Mr. Hawkins,
is a big huge fan
of hers and he keeps
begging her to sing the song.
When he finds out
that she's just there
to use him for publicity,
he's furious at her,
so to make it up to him, she
performs a song in his office.
BETH LEAVEL: You're welcome.
[SINGING "THE LADY'S IMPROVING"]
[APPLAUSE]
CHAD BEGUELIN: And so
for this final song,
Barry reveals
earlier in the show
that he never went to the
prom because he was too afraid
and didn't have the
courage that Emma has.
And I don't want
to spoil anything,
but once it seems like
the prom is back on,
Emma goes to Barry's
hotel room and says
she wants him to be
her date for the prom.
And she leaves, and
he sings the song.
Brooks Ashmanskas.
BROOKS ASHMANSKAS: Thank you.
Hit it.
[SINGING "BARRY IS GOING TO
 PROM"]
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
MATT MAGER: One more time, give
it up for the entire cast--
no, sorry, the leading cast
of "The Prom" the musical.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you so much everyone.
