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[0:00] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Andre, I do have a question for you, and it's about your Instagram.

[0:04] Andre Myers: Oh, okay.

[0:06] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Because I feel like if I had to describe your Instagram in one word, it would be intimidating.

[0:14] Andre Myers: What?

[0:16] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Your Insta is so perfect. It's like you go through your feed and it's like Vogue. So I want to know, is that because like at some point you were like, I'm going to own my brand, and I put brand in quotes because I know that some people hate that word. Where did you find that?

[0:34] Andre Myers: So going back to Utah, I joined Instagram when I was in Utah.

[0:38] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: No way!

[0:39] Andre Myers: In 2012.

[0:40] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Nothing's more inspiring.

[0:42] Andre Myers: Right. But it was so random because I had a friend that was in the cast with me, and he was like, hey, you should join Instagram. It's just like fun and blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, oh, I don't like social media. I don't want to join Instagram, but I wind up giving in. And then my first couple of pictures were of my Doc Martens and then of the food I cooked that day. And I was like, this is lame. Nobody wants to see this. I was getting five likes. So I've always been a very visual person. And so I know that Instagram could be a calling card, and it can be a representation of how you want to present yourself. So I decided to kind of use it as that. I put, you know, when I got married on there and, you know, like my bachelor party and, you know, just other places I travel so much.

So I have pictures there from like China, Thailand, Japan. I mean, the list goes on, you know? So that's just kind of what I like to show, showcase. I don't have like a certain brand that I'm trying to portray to the world. It's just like, hey, it's me. And I like to take pretty pictures sometimes. And I want to invite you into my world.

[1:48] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I totally get that. I bring it up because I think that in many ways, one of the problems with All Shook Up was they didn't know how to represent themselves.

[1:59] Andre Myers: Very true.

[1:59] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Like in terms of how you sell this show on Broadway, it's kind of a confusing sell.

[2:06] Andre Myers: Yeah.

[2:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: You're like, okay, it's the music of Elvis, but it's not Elvis, but it's Shakespeare, but not really Shakespeare. And so you're like trying to get people excited to buy tickets to come see this thing. And I think that they just couldn't figure out how to do it. The crazy thing about the show, though, is once you get into the theater, and if it's a good production, the show's off the hook.

[2:27] Andre Myers: Yeah.

[2:28] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. It's a great show.

[2:30] Andre Myers: Yeah. Like you're literally taking like some of my notes off of my page right now.

[2:34] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Really?

[2:36] Andre Myers: No. So like one of my questions was like, why do we think it only lasted six months? And I think you hit the nail on the head. They didn't know how to represent this musical. They didn't know how to sell it to other people. It's a lot of influences all together. And when it's done well, like you said, it's rocking. But when it's not, it's like, uh. And it does well regionally. I think like so many regional theaters have done it.

[3:00] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And they should.

[3:00] Andre Myers: Yeah. And they should. And I think it's like a perfect venue for this story.

[3:04] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Agreed. Agreed. Well, hopefully today we can kind of explore some of this thing and see if we can figure out how to represent it. What do you say?

[3:14] Andre Myers: Yeah, let's try.

[3:15] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: All right, let's do it. Welcome, everybody, to a musical theater podcast where we discuss the cultural and emotional impact of some of our favorite musicals in theater history. My name is Jeffrey Scott Parsons. You can call me Jeff. Today we're talking All Shook Up, inspired by the music of Elvis Presley, with my friend Andre Myers. Hey, Andre.

[3:46] Andre Myers: Hey, guys. What's up?

[3:48] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Long time no see.

[3:49] Andre Myers: I know.

[3:50] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Now, Andre, we worked together at Disney, but you are a well-known actor both in theater and in film. You've been on Dear White People, right?

[3:59] Andre Myers: Dear White People, Black-ish, Snowfall. And I have a couple new things that are coming out. I've had my own show, two seasons, on Amazon for a TV show called Cheetah in August. And I have a movie that just came out like a month ago. It's called As I Am, and it's currently playing on Here TV, Amazon Prime, and it will be out on other platforms like iTunes and other streaming platforms very, very soon.

[4:23] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: You're kidding me. I didn't know this.

[4:25] Andre Myers: Yeah, check it out.

[4:26] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: What is the movie about?

[4:27] Andre Myers: So I play a character who lives in his own very isolated world, even though he owns his own business and he interacts with people and this, that, and the other. He's very introverted because of things that have happened in his past. So like this movie takes place over a weekend where he has to go back home and he has to face some of his triggers. And eventually he faces the person that caused the trauma and the person happens to be in his family. And so like it gets really, really complicated, but there's a beautiful love story as well. He meets another guy who works at a grocery store. So it's a really cool story and I really want people to go check it out. I've been receiving a lot of messages on Instagram and Facebook about how much people relate to the story.

[5:15] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: What's it called again?

[5:17] Andre Myers: As I Am.

[5:18] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: As I Am. I was going to say All I Ask of You, and I'm like, nope, that's not it.

[5:22] Andre Myers: That's embarrassing. As I Am. That's so great. I'm really excited. I'm going to check it out. Now, have you done All Shook Up?

[5:30] Andre Myers: No, I've auditioned for it, I think twice.

[5:34] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Who are these casting directors? Because that's just stupid.

[5:38] Andre Myers: Yeah. Well, you know, there's not a role, you know, and I put that in quotation marks, there's not a role for me in it. So them hiring me, it would just be like, okay, let's, you know, yeah, let's put you into the ensemble and let's add some color to this cast, some more color, you know, to this cast.

[5:54] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, yeah. Have you seen it though?

[5:56] Andre Myers: Yes, I've seen it multiple times at different regional theaters, and I enjoyed what I saw, honestly. I've also watched it on YouTube and, you know, different places that put it up just to kind of check it out.

[6:09] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Okay, so I have done this show.

[6:11] Andre Myers: Oh, cool.

[6:11] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I was in the ensemble. This was back in my non-union days.

[6:14] Andre Myers: Okay.

[6:15] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And it was, it's always so silly how we do these titles, but it was the West Coast Professional Premiere on a Tuesday in the late 2000s. You know what I mean? Those titles are always so silly, but it was relatively new is my point. So I didn't know it.

[6:31] Andre Myers: Okay.

[6:32] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I had only listened to the cast album. I knew that it had been on Broadway, wasn't a success, by all means. And so I'm in the rehearsal studio and we're doing this thing. And it was the first jukebox musical I'd ever done. But Judgy McJudgerson over here was really thinking he was in a stinker.

[6:51] Andre Myers: Really?

[6:52] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. Like, oh, this isn't good. Like, what is this script? And I was like, well, I guess we got some talented people in this cast. It's going to be as good as it possibly can be. And then we got in the theater and an audience showed up and it suddenly became one of my favorite shows I'd ever done.

[7:09] Andre Myers: Wow.

[7:10] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: It was the first time I had been in a show where the audience told me what the show was.

[7:15] Andre Myers: That's cool. They kind of fuel the fire.

[7:17] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yes. Because all of a sudden they were the missing cast member. They were the presence that needed to be there to get all of the jokes about what song is where and why and not take it too seriously. Like I needed that help. And the audience was the one who gave it to me.

[7:34] Andre Myers: Nice.

[7:35] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And I look back on it with such, such good memories.

[7:38] Andre Myers: I love that.

[7:39] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Now, for those who may not know what a jukebox musical is, the term jukebox musical has to do with taking a catalog of music, of pre-existing songs, and fastening a story around those songs to create a musical theater experience.

[7:59] Andre Myers: Right.

[8:03] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: So you're creating a new musical based on pre-existing songs. And I think we mistakenly think of it as a current trend when in reality, all the way back to the Beggar's Opera, which is one of the great granddaddies of musical theater, that is what was going on. They were taking popular songs of the day and putting them into a story. And so there are examples all the way through our musical theater history. However, in 2001, we had two big events. We had 9-11 and Mamma Mia.

[8:32] Andre Myers: Right.

[8:32] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And they actually kind of fueled each other. But for whatever reason, Mamma Mia came out after 9-11 on Broadway, and it was exactly what the country needed. They totally grasped onto this feel-good music with this silly story and the escapism of it all. And it became a huge juggernaut and I believe the ninth longest running show in Broadway history. Or it might even be more than that.

[9:02] Andre Myers: It's up there.

[9:03] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. Now, what that meant, however, was that suddenly any publishing house or long distance relative who owned a catalog of music within the pop music industry suddenly saw dollar signs because now here was an opportunity to turn all of those songs just sitting somewhere into a musical that could possibly generate revenue for generations to come. So then we start seeing Moving Out, which was the Billy Joel musical. In Vegas, there was the Queen We Will Rock You show that was there for a while. And then in 2005, we had Lennon, which was based on the music of John Lennon. Good Vibrations, which was based on the music of the Beach Boys. And we had All Shook Up, which was based on the music of Elvis Presley.

All of these shows were not bio musicals. They were not telling the story of the people who created the music in the way the Jersey Boys then did after this. But they were trying to construct some sort of musical experience based on these songs. And all three of these shows flopped pretty miserably. But All Shook Up is the one that probably should have succeeded because it's actually pretty great. I don't know who owns Elvis's music. I assume it's Priscilla, Presley. So let's go ahead and I'll take the heat for saying Priscilla called up somebody and said, let's turn Elvis's music into a musical. So in order to do that, Joe DiPietro, who was basically known for this really popular off-Broadway musical called I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. Have you ever heard of that show?

[10:45] Andre Myers: Yeah, I've heard of it. I know the music.

[10:45] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And then I didn't know it lasted so long off-Broadway, like 12 years.

[10:51] Andre Myers: Yeah, exactly. Forever.

[10:51] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, he gets some claps for that.

[10:54] Andre Myers: Yeah, seriously. I mean, what a catalog he has, like such a range.

[10:58] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. Memphis, one of my favorite musicals that he won a Tony for.

[11:03] Andre Myers: Do you love that show?

[11:04] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yes, I love it. I would love to be in it.

[11:10] Andre Myers: You would be great in it.

[11:10] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's so cool. No, it's true. Once All Shook Up comes out, Joe DiPietro skyrockets because he'd spent, like you said, 12 years. So he was known as kind of like an off-Broadway guy for 12 years. All Shook Up comes out. But then after that, he writes Memphis, wins a Tony for it. He does Nice Work If You Can Get It, Toxic Adventure.

[11:29] Andre Myers: Yeah, which is like totally like rock music, on the different side. So I love that he has this versatility that he's able to create so many different stories. And even I think he's a lyricist as well. So he can create some of the lyrics for some of these musicals as well. It just shows like his range. And that's really cool.

[11:52] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's cool. I'm glad you brought that up. So he gets hired to write the book. Christopher Ashley, who we've already talked about on the podcast because he won a Tony award for Come From Away, he steps on as director.

[12:04] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And together they start creating this musical. They're not working with composers, so they kind of have free ride to, I think, comb through hundreds and hundreds, I'm going to say up to 800 songs that Elvis had recorded at some point in his career to figure out how to create a story. Joe DiPietro was inspired by the works of Shakespeare, and the approach that they brought to this music is that like in A Midsummer Night's Dream, you know how each character comes in contact with the love blossom and then immediately they fall in love with the first person they see. They decided that in this show, music would be the love blossom. So as this music of Elvis, which is always about love and sometimes sexy love, sometimes tender love, as soon as it keeps coming in contact with all of these people, it will cause a love potion.

And so you see that throughout the show. In addition to A Midsummer, you've also got Twelfth Night in there because you got a girl dressing up like a boy in order to get the man that she wants. You got couples kind of ending up with people that they didn't think they were going to end up with, which is a little more like As You Like It or Much Ado About Nothing. So you've got all of these different Shakespearean plays mixed around in a blender with the music of Elvis. And then at the center of it is a character that is Elvis-like, but not actually Elvis. Another confusing point. Now the star who played this Elvis-like character was Cheyenne Jackson, who has now become a big star.

[13:49] Andre Myers: Yeah, TV, films, everything.

[13:51] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Exactly. This was his one of his big debuts. And I think also between him and Gavin Creel, the introduction of a new generation of leading man to Broadway, leading men who are queer friendly, who sing their faces off, and yet are still like very handsome and play this like romantic sort of thing. It feels to me like a big generational step. However, I tend to think that the real star of this show is Stephen Arimus, who was the music director.

[14:27] Andre Myers: Oh, okay. This is my hot take. This is my hot take, everybody. He is responsible for all of the arranging and a huge portion of the instrumentation as well. And when you listen to this show, all of the arrangements are so spectacular, so fun, and kind of make the show.

[14:47] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. I mean, the choral numbers, the ensemble numbers are just beautiful and so different from the original song, but then it still pays a certain amount of respect to the actual song. So I love it. He did an amazing job.

[15:04] Andre Myers: Yeah, absolutely. Now he's kind of a star in his own right, because he's also the music director for Wicked and for The Book of Mormon. So Broadway is kind of his in this invisible way. The sound of Broadway post-2000s is kind of, I think, a lot due to him. And I think All Shook Up kind of turned him into a superstar in those respects, because music directors don't get nearly enough love, right? But here was an opportunity for him to really step up and show what a music director can bring to a project, because there was no composer, right? It was all about his arranging. So go, Steven, and we'll be talking about you a lot during this episode. The show opens in 2005 in the spring, right before the Tony Award nominations come out. It actually gets a pretty decent review in the New York Times.

[15:58] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Nice. And by decent, I mean, this show doesn't suck, which is about as nice as you can get sometimes if you're a jukebox musical. But at that point, like I said, you'd already had that Lennon show and the Good Vibrations show, which from what I understand was awful.

[16:08] Andre Myers: Yeah, they taint.

[16:10] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: So All Shook Up had a really hard time, besides trying to convince people who they were, to also convince them that they weren't those other two shows that flopped miserably. And even with pretty decent reviews, it only ran about 200 performances. It didn't get any Tony nominations, which is kind of unfortunate. It was totally snubbed. But let's go ahead and look at what the other shows were that year. Because this is kind of a stacked list. The nominees were Spamalot, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Light in the Piazza, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. I wouldn't take any of those out and put All Shook Up in.

[16:58] Andre Myers: Yeah. Would you?

[16:59] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: No, I mean, Spamalot is great. It's super funny, you know. Am I going to rush to the theater to see Spamalot? No.

[17:04] Andre Myers: Right. It's well crafted.

[17:05] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. And if you're a straight white guy, I'm sure you'll love it. Speaking of though, that list is like Tony's so white.

[17:10] Andre Myers: Yeah, for sure. Hashtag it.

[17:12] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Spamalot, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Light in the Piazza, Spelling Bee. That's a white group. And so maybe All Shook Up should have been given a little more love just because it was one of the few shows that brought some semblance of diversity to the group.

[17:30] Andre Myers: Yeah. Can you talk a little bit about theater and or musical theater? Because obviously you're focusing more on TV film now. What is your experience or what has been your experience in terms of the musical theater landscape in being a person of color?

[17:49] Andre Myers: So I'll just start like way back when I started doing musical theater when I was 15. And I would do like regional productions in DC. And I would be paid to do those. And I went to a performing arts high school. So I knew for a very long time that I wanted to do something in the performing arts. I started out as an instrumentalist. I played the clarinet and the trumpet. And then I started acting. And I would always take dance classes. And I would sing and this, that, and the other. And then once I got into high school, I kind of had to pick acting or singing or dancing. So I kind of picked acting, you know. And I am happy that I did because I think musicals are all about telling a story. Even if you're just a singer, I think it hits home a little more when you're doing a live show and you can take the audience on a journey with this song.

[18:37] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Most definitely.

[18:38] Andre Myers: Yeah, 100%. So I didn't start out in musical theater. But when it was time to go to college, I was like, you know what? I can sing. I can dance. I can act. And I've been doing musical theater. So like, why don't I go to college for musical theater? So I went to the University of the Arts.

[18:51] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Where is that, by the way? Where's University of the Arts?

[18:53] Andre Myers: That is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

[18:55] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Okay. Sweet.

[18:57] Andre Myers: And then I didn't finish college because I started auditioning. I needed those coins in my bank account because school was expensive. So I started auditioning, and I would get a lot of big callbacks for Broadway shows and international tours and stuff like that. So I wound up booking a tour, and I left the end of my junior year. I finished my junior year, and I didn't go back because I need to make that money. And I'm like, if I'm doing it professionally, why should I go back to school?

[19:24] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Totally understandable.

[19:25] Andre Myers: Yeah. As I started to step out into that professional world, I just noticed how many musicals that weren't written for me or my people. And then specifically me, I noticed that even the musicals that were written for my people, there weren't a lot of roles for me visually. Because I am slender, I look young, and there's not a lot of musicals that are written for my type. I mean, you can only play Seaweed so many times, or what have you. That's part of the reason why I left New York. Every time I went to do something, I was always in the ensemble. Except when I did High School Musical, which was I wasn't the lead, but I was supporting. I played the Corbin Bleu character.

[20:14] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I love that you did the Corbin Bleu hair as you described that, just for listeners.

[20:20] Andre Myers: Yeah, yeah. Because I used to have really big hair.

[20:22] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Did you really?

[20:23] Andre Myers: I had the whole hair and the aesthetic and everything.

[20:26] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. So I left because I wanted something a little bit more meaty. Not that you can't shine in the ensemble, but I wanted to be a lead. And I felt like coming to LA, though I had never been here before, was the best decision for me. Because now I get to play lead roles. Now I get to break stereotypes. A lot of the roles that I go in for are not for people of color. I mean, I do go in for things that are for Black guys, but a lot of the roles that I go in for can be the nerdy guy, can be the hipster, or what have you. Something that you wouldn't normally think of a Black guy playing. But just like one race can play all types of people, they run the gamut. The same thing with African Americans. We're very relatable, just like white people are. What? Come on. I don't buy it.

[21:17] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. I still do musicals and I still love it to this day, but I have recognized what it's been missing when it comes to my career path. And I do hope that with this Black Lives Matter movement and there's a lot of things that have been brewing and now it's coming to a head and we're having to deal with it, even when it comes to theater and the producers and the casting directors and directors. And so I look forward to see the change and I hope to revisit Broadway shows and all of that stuff.

[21:50] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. Agreed. I'm trying to think if... I think everything else that I want to talk about the show is actually in the show, so maybe we should just start talking about it from the top. Is that cool with you?

[22:05] Andre Myers: Yeah, for sure. Wait, hold on one second. Let me tell my husband to turn his TV down a little bit.

[22:14] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Okay, so let's start talking about the show from the top. So the show begins with Jailhouse Rock. We have this character named Chad, who's not Elvis, I repeat, not Elvis, who is getting out of prison. So he, of course, begins with Jailhouse Rock, which is probably the most well-known Elvis song of all time. And so now he's out, even though he leaves all of the singing and dancing prison mates in there to dwell, who are both boys and girls, might I add.

[23:43] Andre Myers: Yeah. Co-ed jail.

[23:46] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, co-ed jail. Yay musicals. I have to say that I wore the Broadway costumes and those pants were very stretchy.

[23:58] Andre Myers: Good.

[23:59] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And I appreciated that.

[24:00] Andre Myers: Yeah. Nice five-way stretch to those Jailhouse Rock pants. Nothing worse than doing a split in tight pants that don't stretch, you know, at all.

[24:10] Andre Myers: Do you know what? I can think of something worse, not being able to do a split, which would be me. But we work with what God gave us.

[24:21] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Right. We work with what we got. So after he leaves jail, he gets on his motorcycle with his black leather jacket, not Elvis, and drives to a small town. In this town, there are many characters. People, this is a farce. There are lots of characters. You might want to take notes. First up, we got Natalie. Natalie is our heroine. She is our Viola from Twelfth Night. And she's a mechanic. She's like a tomboy. She fixes cars with her dad, who's named Jim. And Jim's a widow. She sees how lonely he is. And I think in many ways, it probably makes her feel a little lonely as well. So she's dreaming of falling in love with somebody who loves her for her.

[24:09] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I think she says at one point what she wants to do is put on a white leather jacket and drive off on a motorcycle into the sunset instead of waiting for her white knight to come along and rescue her. She's all motorcycles all the time, which is fun. It's a fun female character. In this town, we're kind of what? We're like in the 1950s. It's during the Eisenhower era. You've got small town conservatism really reigning with an iron fist, mainly because of the mayor, Mayor Matilda Hyde. Is that true? Am I making that up? I think the first name is Matilda. Yeah, Mayor Matilda Hyde. I wonder if that was like a Jekyll and Hyde type joke. Maybe. Anyway, so Matilda has brought into enforcement the Mamie Eisenhower Decency Act, which if I'm correct, limits three things. Do you know what those are?

[25:07] Andre Myers: No loud music.

[25:09] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: No loud music. What do they call it? Necking?

[25:12] Andre Myers: Yes, no necking. There should be no hickeys in this town whatsoever. And then there was one more.

[25:21] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Tight pants.

[25:22] Andre Myers: Yes. Which is random. Random. No tight pants in this town. Okay. This is the town that they're living in. It turns out that also, not only are Jim and Natalie lonely, but kind of the whole town is, and they're all in this slump. Maybe it is because of the mayor, you know, forcing this really tight code. But we go to Sylvia's Honky Tonk. Sylvia is this black woman who owns a Honky Tonk. She has a daughter named Lorraine. And everybody in this Honky Tonk is singing a killer version of Heartbreak Hotel. So this is like the River City that we're looking at in terms of musical theater before Harold Hill, aka Chad, but not Elvis, comes riding in. So when he comes in, all of a sudden this is something new. This is somebody who's most likely against the decency act, but is bringing with him this swagger and this music because he also has a guitar.

[26:19] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. And tight pants.

[26:20] Andre Myers: And tight pants. I mean, the tightest. Cheyenne Jackson, between his tight pants and All Shook Up and his tiny, tiny little jean shorts in Xanadu, I think he's done more for denim in modern musical theater than anybody.

[26:32] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. Well, you know, talking about the new tights that he brought, you know, as far as leading men and even, you know, phasing that over to the ensemble, I think he brought a lot of body, you know?

[26:44] Andre Myers: And so now that's true. The Broadway body.

[26:46] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. And now so we see like everybody's buff and goes to the gym, you know, before and after shows and this, that and the other. Like maybe he was part of that.

[26:57] Andre Myers: Yeah. Do we have Cheyenne to blame for that?

[26:59] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Maybe. I mean, he is like a god, like vocally and physically. So that's a really good point, Andre, because it does that drive you nuts a little bit when you go to a show and you're like, there's no way everybody in this town has a 24-hour fitness membership.

[27:12] Andre Myers: Right. Like even if it was a musical about a gym, everybody would still not look the same, you know? So why does everybody have to have like eight pack abs and like these huge arms? And, you know, it doesn't make sense.

[27:25] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: It's true. Yeah. Of course, we're like thin boys who are like, what about me?

[27:31] Andre Myers: It's true. I agree. Okay. So Chad comes into town. He starts singing Come on, Everybody, which is a great Elvis song. Once again, a super fun arrangement that gets like the whole town transforming, like within one number, they've caught the love potion as it were. And no one more so than Natalie, who sees him as her savior in many ways, like who she's been dreaming of.

[28:06] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. Lucky for her, he's having motorcycle problems. He seems completely oblivious to her advances though. However, he does see the librarian. I made like a Music Man reference. And now all I see is she might be the librarian, but I'm not sure. But I know that she's like a beautiful woman.

[28:27] Andre Myers: And she's a beautiful woman. It's a museum.

[28:30] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. Like, she's like the curator of the local museum, which it's a pretty awesome small town to have their own museum.

[28:36] Andre Myers: Yeah. I don't know what's in that museum. And she's gorgeous. She's like, va va voom, Hottie McCutterson.

[28:42] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. And her name is Miss Sandra. And everybody is gunning for her.

[28:49] Andre Myers: Yeah. Yeah. And she is not having it.

[28:51] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. But when Chad sees her, he gets the love potion and now he's obsessed with her. We also meet somebody named Dennis, who is kind of a sweet little nerdy guy. He's friends with Natalie. He's kind of into Natalie.

[29:08] Andre Myers: Yeah. She's not paying any attention to him because he doesn't ride a motorcycle, but he agrees to be Chad's sidekick.

[29:12] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. That leads those four into this really great arrangement of Hound Dog and Teddy Bear. Just want to be a teddy bear. Do you remember Teddy Bear Grams? Like Teddy Grams?

[29:27] Andre Myers: Yeah. I still eat those randomly every now and then. Like, a nice little treat, you know?

[29:32] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. Yeah. They like would give you those little packets that had the side of frosting. Do you remember that?

[29:37] Andre Myers: I don't do the frosting anymore. I just do the Teddy Grams or Teddy Bears or whatever. But yeah, not the frosting. That's why I don't have the Broadway body because I still eat them. I'm like frosting. Yes.

[29:46] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. I just remembered that the commercial for those little crackers was the Teddy Bear song, like Elvis's Teddy Bear song.

[29:59] Andre Myers: Okay. See? This has been flowing through my life forever.

[30:06] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Right. I also appreciate that there is kind of a racial element to this show because honestly, one of the things about Elvis was that, I don't want to say guilty, but yeah, I guess I will say guilty. He was guilty of the Cadillac car phenomenon in Dreamgirls where somebody would record a song, usually a black artist, and then he would record the song and then it would become an Elvis song. And it would be super popular, super famous, you know?

[30:37] Andre Myers: Exactly.

[30:38] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And then the original person's kind of left in the dust. That happened right here in Hound Dog. It was originally a song recorded by Big Mama Thornton, and it wasn't a huge smash, however, until Elvis. And now we think of it as an Elvis song, but the Big Mama's version's pretty hot. I mean, with a name like that, how could it not be kicking?

[30:56] Andre Myers: Come on. Thank you. Thank you. You know she's got that heft behind those vocals.

[31:03] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yes. When you said that there is no role for you in this show, that kind of broke my heart a little bit. And I don't think I realized because I had come into this show thinking, oh, well, there's talk of racism in this show, there's biracial love interests, all of those sorts of things, but there is no speaking role for a black male in this whole town.

[31:26] Andre Myers: Yeah. I mean, that's the truth. I mean, you can throw me into the ensemble and maybe try to make a moment there, but there's nothing that's written into the story for a man of color to be a principal.

[31:33] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. I guess that's one of the, depends on whether you consider a plus or minus of making a story deal with racism, is that then you have to very specifically decide who's black and who's not. Could you have Chad be played by a black man when the relationship between Lorraine, who's Sylvia's daughter, and Dean, who's the mayor's son, is a really important plot point.

[32:05] Andre Myers: Right. You kind of take away from that storyline if you make Chad African-American, but I do think that it is still playable because there's so many storylines that are going on in this musical that it's okay if two of the relationships are interracial because you have a white guy with an African-American girl and then you would have a black guy with a Caucasian woman. So it would kind of, you know, it would shift.

[32:30] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, you're absolutely right because, spoiler alert, doesn't Jim end up with Sylvia?

[32:35] Andre Myers: Yes, yes.

[32:36] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: So that's another relationship that we don't ever really call out in terms of being something that has to be discussed, so why not?

[32:41] Andre Myers: Yeah. That storyline only matters because it's the mayor's son.

[32:47] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. See, you just opened my mind. That's great. Now we need a black Chad.

[32:53] Andre Myers: Yeah, I mean, come on casting directors and directors and, you know, producers, like, let's do something a little different. Let's use our imaginations.

[33:01] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: You know, we have a tradition of doing the same shows over and over again, which is fine. I have no problem with that whatsoever. It's one of the reasons why I love doing this podcast because I love revisiting these stories and their moments in history and what they have to say about our societies and cultures. I also think that along with that tradition comes an unwillingness to try something different from how it was done originally or even how it looked originally.

[33:28] Andre Myers: Yeah. Right?

[33:29] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. That if you have All Shook Up and Cheyenne Jackson is the lead, then you are going to be looking for a Cheyenne Jackson type when you cast that show from here on out. And I think that one of the takeaways that maybe we can talk about here is that there is no rule that says that that's what it has to be.

[33:53] Andre Myers: Right.

[33:54] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That just because this person played it originally doesn't mean that a person of color wouldn't be perfect for it the next time that it's produced.

[34:02] Andre Myers: Yeah.

[34:03] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And the more that we can kind of integrate that creativity and thinking in our casting, the more we'll be able to be allies in this art form to all of the incredibly talented people, regardless of color.

[34:18] Andre Myers: Yeah, 100 percent.

[34:19] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: We got a lot of unthreading to do.

[34:22] Andre Myers: Yeah. But I love that we're at a time right now. You know, I don't love the whole stay at home order, but I love that we kind of have time to unpack and time to deal with what's going on right now. If we didn't have this time, I don't know if we would have what's going on in the world right now where, you know, people all over the world are protesting for Black Lives Matter and trying to make things better, deal with their own biases or what have you, and just be better so we can all have equality. We can all try to get to an even playing field because it's not there right now.

[35:01] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. Take the moment. Take the moment to think for yourself because obviously we've been given the moment.

[35:06] Andre Myers: Right.

[35:07] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Thank you for sharing that. All right, back to the show. So we talked a little bit about how the mayor's son is in love with Lorraine, who's Sylvia's daughter, and they've never kissed. So taking the suggestion from the Elvis Presley song, they decide, it's now or never.

[35:27] Andre Myers: Yeah.

[35:28] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Because he's going to be shipped off to military school. By the way, mom doesn't know that there's this love story in terms of her son. So they're keeping it a secret. Lorraine was played originally by Nicky James, right?

[35:42] Andre Myers: I believe so.

[35:44] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Which then when you realize that Stephen Orimus was a musical director on The Book of Mormon, you're like, hey.

[35:52] Andre Myers: Right. Makes sense.

[35:53] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Tony winner, Nicky.

[35:54] Andre Myers: Yeah.

[35:55] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Natalie decides that since Chad isn't interested in her, that she is going to dress up like a dude so that she can become his new sidekick. And that'll be an end to spending more time with him because he's really only interested at this point in spending time with Dennis.

[36:12] Andre Myers: Right.

[36:15] Andre Myers: She gets all dressed up Shakespearean style as a guy and convinces Chad to let her, oh, see, now how should I do this? To let her, Natalie, dressed as Ed, now her name is Ed, to be his new sidekick. And so Ed comes into town, which is actually Natalie in boy drag, with blue suede shoes. And so now she's, oh, I guess blue suede shoes is probably the most famous Elvis song. Now, see, every song I'm going to talk about, I'm like, this is the most famous Elvis song. And she's so cool that Chad is like, hey, this is my new sidekick. Sorry, Dennis. Adios. In order for Ed to help Chad win over Miss Sandra, she agrees to deliver a sonnet, a Shakespearean sonnet to Miss Sandra at the museum. So Ed, Natalie, takes the sonnet to Miss Sandra.

And as she's reading the sonnet to her, all of a sudden, this gorgeous but cold woman receives the love potion and boom, she's obsessed with Ed, who's actually Natalie. Everybody following along? Nope. We'll go get a snack and then come back. Introducing Teddy Grahams. We just want to eat tasty Teddy Grahams. Just a bunch of right size bears, the fun to eat. Oh man, oh let them be. Your Teddy Grahams. New lightly sweet, great to eat graham snacks. Exploding with taste in honey, cinnamon and chocolate. Just want to eat those Teddy Grahams. Teddy Grahams is gone. Miss Sandra starts singing this song called Let Yourself Go, not the Irving Berlin one. And in the museum were all of these statues.

And then as soon as the song starts, the statues start moving and you realize that this entire time it's been dancers in unitards. It's kind of freaky, but also kind of fun to hear the audience go, what, what? Yeah. This song is pretty fantastic to hear Miss Sandra let herself go. Dang vocals. Yeah. So now Matilda, Mayor Matilda is peeved that Chad has brought all of this change, right? Everyone's singing and dancing to loud music. There's tight pants everywhere. So she has like the sheriff wrapped around her finger. Sheriff Earl is his name. He doesn't talk. She's his mouthpiece and he just kind of stands there. In the meantime, Miss Sandra is now looking for Ed because she's in love with him.

Ed's like, oh, I'm actually Natalie. I got to go. So there's this kind of chase happening as Miss Sandra is looking for Ed. Jim, who's Natalie's father, sees Miss Sandra and now he's in love with her, right? She doesn't even see him. Sylvia, who owns the honky tonk, is like, Jim, why are you in love with her? There's somebody right in front of you that could be perfect for you. There's always me. And so now everybody is in love with somebody who's not in love with them. And that's how the first act ends is everybody singing can't help falling in love because they literally haven't been able to not fall in love with the person they've fallen in love with. Once again, give me that key change with that full choral moment.

It's so fun. It's so great. Great way to end the first act. I just love the music and I love, you know, the vocals that come along with it. I mean, the Broadway cast was like amazing, just belting and skelting.

[40:02] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's so true because it is a true ensemble show. That's why it's so complex is there are so many lead characters and everybody has their moment to shine. And when they all step up to the plate, man, it's just like home run after home run. The production that I did, our Sylvia was played by Gwen Stewart, who was the original Seasons of Love soloist from Rent. Killer, our Dennis was Danny Calvert, who's an amazing performer from New York. He was in Alter Boys. Anyway, just like so many amazing vocalists and one Saturday matinee, everyone decided to have a riff off contest, which is not professional. And for anybody out there, don't do this. But everybody has their moment to step out. Yeah. And so every time somebody sang, it was like, all right, this one said the bar here. Now who's going to do it next? And by the time it came to Gwen in the second act to sing There's Always Me, we were like, Quan, you win, you win. Oh, my gosh, she just laid the house down.

[41:14] Andre Myers: I can only imagine. Okay. Now, you know, just like in any Shakespeare play, in order to escape the evil mayor, everybody has gone into this abandoned theme park. Right. There's like an abandoned amusement park in this town. By the way, did you see in the news that Japan has outlawed screaming on roller coasters? Really? Yeah, because it will spread the virus. And so there's this sign everywhere that says scream in your heart. And I feel like it should be my mantra for life. Oh, wow. Scream in your heart, Jeff. That's interesting. I don't really know if that you're moving so fast on a roller coaster. I can't imagine that you're going to get the virus from screaming. Yeah. Also, how can you hold it back?

Like, sometimes it's like, if you want to scream, you just got to let it out. I have a friend who is a classical soprano. And when we went on California screaming, now known as the Incredicoaster, at Disney, she would go, strange hootie hootie plays. Yeah. And that was her way of screaming. Wow. Ridiculous. Shout out to Melissa Mitchell. Okay, act two starts. They're in this amusement park. Everyone's looking for their person and they are all shook up. Another great number. Another great arrangement. Oh, my dance partner in this show was Morgan Marcelle, who was in the original cast of Hamilton. Oh, she did some pretty impressive things with her career. I am hosting a podcast. Dennis does come upon Natalie, who's still dressed as Ed.

And Dennis is the nerdy guy. And he's like, Chad isn't treating you as well as you deserve. And so he sings the song called It Hurts Me. But she won't hear it. She's still into Chad. So what she, Ed, decides to do is to teach Chad how to seduce Sandra. And by teaching him, she's going to actually seduce him. Right? Like you do. Have you ever done this? Be honest, Sandra. Is that how you landed your hubby? Um, no.

[43:31] Andre Myers: So she teaches him by singing A Little Less Conversation. And it ends with her kissing him. But as a guy, she's, but she's the guy. Yeah, right. Which like, throws Chad into this whole, like, questioning sense of self. Wait, am I like developing feelings for my sidekick? So her plan is working, but maybe a little too well. Now, as I was researching this show, I came upon, you know, like how sometimes there will be, Google will try and fill in the search for you. It'll give you suggestions. And it said, All Shook Up controversy. And I was like, controversy? What? So of course, I followed that tangent. Apparently, there was a production of All Shook Up in Utah, my Utah, my motherland sometimes is just makes me so proud.

And sometimes it makes me so embarrassed. But there was a high school production where they were complaining that All Shook Up was flaunting homosexuality, because he was kissing a girl who was dressed as a boy, right? And I was like, Oh, please go do something else with your life. You are so bored of all the things. Number one, I'm so sorry that like, homosexuality is so threatening that you need to shut down a musical. Yeah. But number two, it isn't even homosexuality, because it's actually a girl.

[45:05] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, I read about that, actually. And I saw that they were able to do the musical, but they had to make a couple changes. So ideally, they took, you know, that part out, or I don't know, they did something. Yeah, they like got permission. Yeah, they were able to continue. We need to have a talk. I need to go down the Jordan School District, give them a piece of my mind, right? There's a new teacher in town. So now Chad is, like I said, questioning everything going on in him. But both he and Jim, Natalie's dad are still kind of lusting after Miss Sandra. And so there's this like, cool trio called Power of My Love, which I this is, this is actually one of the things that I really appreciate about jukebox musicals, is that there are songs that I did not know until they were put in a musical. And that's just because everything that I experienced in life is usually through musical theater. And I'm sorry, but that's just how it is.

[46:01] Andre Myers: That's okay. Yeah, I am the person who got to know Billy Joel's music because of Moving Out. Oh, wow. And got to know a lot of these songs because of All Shook Up. So sue me, sue me. See, for me, I grew up with my grandparents. So a lot of the Elvis music is nostalgic for me because they listened to it when I was growing up. So yeah, I learned a lot of the music because it was commercial, you know, rather than learning it because it was in a musical or what have you. So it's really cool to see the backgrounds of how people learn things and grasp onto it.

[46:27] Andre Myers: Yeah, for sure. Okay, let's see. Then Chad has a solo after that in which he deals with his own sexuality and says, it's called I Don't Want To, which I can only assume when Elvis sang was about like, I don't want to fall in love with this beautiful girl because it hurts too much or you know, whatever. But now it's been repurposed to have Chad be questioning his masculinity, which is very funny and also can be staged quite offensively, in my opinion.

[47:01] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I have a question. Do we think he's questioning his masculinity? Or is he questioning his sexuality?

[47:05] Andre Myers: Well, I think he's getting the two confused. Okay. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's like that whole, you can't be masculine and kiss a boy. Yeah, go put on a dress.

[47:19] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Exactly. So maybe if he didn't question those two, we wouldn't even be having this plot point. He'd be like, Oh, okay, that's cool. Come on, Ed. Jump on the motorcycle. Off we go.

[47:32] Andre Myers: Yeah. Now, originally on Broadway, the show didn't start with Jailhouse Rock. I think it started just with Love Me Tender, like you were into the town and you didn't really see Chad until he appeared. And then in the second act, there was like a flashback to him being in prison. And then that's where Jailhouse Rock went. But then that number ended up being one of the things that was best reviewed. So then they went ahead and made it into the opening number.

[48:02] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. And now in this place is a song that was used to be in the first act called Devil in Disguise, which is for the mayor, in which she's singing this Elvis song about he looks like an angel, but he's actually the devil. So interesting stuff. I always find it fascinating when

[48:49] Andre Myers: They didn't last long after opening, but maybe even after opening, they might have still changed some other things. I don't understand how you can come to work one day, you know, ready to perform this one piece and previews, and then you get these notes before or what have you and have a quick work session and change a scene or a song, a part of a song or what. I don't know if I can do that. And then it goes in that night. Or even other times you rehearse something, but it's not ready to go in until the following night. So you rehearse it differently, but then you perform it the old way that night, and then it goes in the next night. That's a lot. Do you remember that Tony Awards performance though?

Audra McDonald is like pregnant and doing like the highest bop-bop you've ever seen in your life. Yes. Yeah, that's fantastic. So now it comes time for Sylvia to sing her big 11 o'clock number, There's Always Me, which is fantastic. She's once again pining for Jim. Dean and Lorraine have decided that he's going to not go to military school. They're going to run off together, and they sing a song called If I Can Dream. This all leads to like this big town meeting where everybody's there and all of the revelations come to light. Ed is actually Natalie, and Chad is thrilled because being gay would be terrible. Sylvia confesses her love for Jim, and he reciprocates. Dennis confesses his love for Natalie, which is not reciprocated, but because he's giving this beautiful speech to her about how much he's in love with her, that makes Miss Sandra fall in love with him.

So now they're together. And maybe the biggest revelation of all is that the mayor lets her son know that his father was actually a black man. And so what she has been fighting against is actually exactly what her life is. And so now they're together with mom's blessing, and all because Sheriff Earl stood up and spoke for the first time and chewed out the mayor. So now they're together as well, the sheriff and the mayor. Everybody's in love. Except for Natalie and Chad, because Chad wants to leave. Miss Sandra is now in love with Dennis. And so Natalie is heartbroken, and she sings Fool's Fall in Love, yet another song that I think Elvis stole from a black person. The other important thing about this solo is that it gives everybody time to change their costumes, because the next scene is a wedding.

So everybody has to change their costumes super fast. It's a triple wedding. You got Dennis and Sandra getting married. You got Sylvia and Jim getting married. You got Sheriff Earl and Matilda getting married. So you got all three couples walking down the aisle. And who interrupts the wedding, but not Elvis, Chad. He comes in, he's like, I've made a huge mistake. Natalie, will you marry me? And she says, no. She says no, because she has realized that it's not her dream to be in this town and get married, but she wants to get on her motorcycle and go. So she gets her white leather jacket that she's always wanted. And instead of getting married, they get on their motorcycle, and they're going to drive off into the sunset.

Yeah. I think it gives her a lot of power. And I love when women get the power. They're wearing the boots and they're saying, this is my life and I'm taking hold of it. Because for the 1950s, that wasn't the norm or what we saw portrayed as the norm. For the 1950s, the housewives and things like that. So that's one of my favorite moments for sure.

[53:02] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: No, it's so true. Natalie is a really interesting character. Because like you said, the time period is indicative of this type of female, which is everything that Natalie is not. And I also think it's one of those roles that is maybe a little unsung hero, because if the actress makes it look easy, she's doing it right. But then at the same time, you don't notice it. You know what I mean? Because she's running off stage, changing into Ed, doing a scene, then going back and changing back into Natalie, trying to sing with a man voice, but then also belting at the top of her range. All of these things are really demanding on the actor. And you probably don't notice it if she's doing it right.

[53:44] Andre Myers: Right. Very true. So that leads to one of my favorite finales, Burning Love. It's such a great song. What a great arrangement. Everybody's celebrating their love of who they found. Oh my gosh, it's such a feel-good show.

[53:56] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. And that's how it ends. Yeah. It's so sweet. What can we learn from this show in terms of when it came out? I mean, it has a lot of messages.

[54:01] Andre Myers: For sure. Yeah. I mean, I think love is a huge message and that, you know, I think that's something that the majority of people yearn for. I kind of take that message away from it, like, hey, you know, there is somebody out there for you and they might be right under your nose. You just have to be open to it, you know? So that's the biggest message I take away from it.

[54:23] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. What about you?

[54:27] Andre Myers: I mean, there are a couple of things. I guess I didn't fully realize that Elvis's career really pivoted heavily into inspirational music for quite a long period of time. And this show really points that out. There are so many message songs. And I think in many ways is inspired by so much of this music. Like, If I Can Dream and Can't Help Falling in Love and on top of the earlier stuff, which is all about style and swagger, are actually really heartfelt and beautiful. And all you have to do is arrange them in a different way to totally take them in a new way.

[55:06] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. And I think that that's one of the real takeaways for me in terms of jukebox musicals. What I think the failure of this show really cemented was this is kind of the last time that we see a musical with a story that is not connected to the artist who wrote the catalog of music.

[55:21] Andre Myers: Yeah. Here on out, we see Jersey Boys, which is about the actual Jersey Boys singing the songs of Frankie Valli. And then you have Beautiful with Carole King. You have the Cher show. Like we have all Tina Turner. Yeah. We have all of these shows after that are still jukebox musicals. But stop trying to create a new story around those songs. They just decide to use the music to tell the story of the artist who created them. Whether or not that's a good thing kind of doesn't matter.

[55:53] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, it varies. This is the pivoting moment for that.

[55:58] Andre Myers: Yeah, for sure. And I think a lot of people want to see either the artist or their journey, their struggle, you know, the success that they had. They want to go back to that time. You know, they live through the music and then they also get a story with it of the artist, not a random story that they're trying to piece together and make it make sense with the music.

[56:19] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: You know, exactly. And I think it's easier to sell to an audience as well in terms of, you know, ticket buyers.

[56:24] Andre Myers: Right. Did you was it last year, maybe two years ago? I know. I think it was last year. There was a movie that came out called Blinded by the Light.

[56:30] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Don't know what it was.

[56:34] Andre Myers: It was a movie about this young boy in England who discovers Bruce Springsteen. OK, and his music. It's like a true story. His music inspired him in a way that seemed a little unconventional, seeing that he was from like a Middle Eastern family. And yet he's listening to this American from New Jersey singing. And yet they were like both experiencing the same things. He was like, Bruce Springsteen knows what I am going through. It's such a beautiful insight about how art can reach you, no matter how different your background might be from the actual artist who created it.

[57:12] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. And I was like, this needs to be turned into a stage musical and is actually a really great blueprint, I think, for future jukebox musicals where they are still talking about the artist. They're not pretending that that artist didn't exist.

[57:24] Andre Myers: Right. So I loved that it was kind of like a combination where it wasn't necessarily telling the story of Bruce Springsteen. It was telling the story, a story that we didn't know.

[57:33] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Right.

[57:39] Andre Myers: And yet was still celebrating the actual artist.

[57:44] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. Anyway, I would love to see more of that.

[57:49] Andre Myers: Yeah, for sure. It was really fun. Well, thank you so much, Andre, for doing this with me.

[57:58] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Of course. I hope that I get to see you as Chad very soon.

[58:07] Andre Myers: I would, I would, I would cast you as Dennis.

[58:13] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. Like you're a good Dennis.

[58:19] Andre Myers: Yeah. Why not?

[58:25] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: How can we follow you?

[58:29] Andre Myers: So I mostly post on Instagram. I am PrinceADM. And then on Facebook, I am Andre Darnell Myers. So I have a fan page on there and I have a regular page. And, you know, you can find me there if you want to know what I'm doing. You can hit me up. I always, you know, write people back.

[58:39] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah.

[58:45] Andre Myers: Honestly, like I love hearing from people, especially if they've like seen my work or something like that, because acting has always been therapeutic for me. You know, the things that I've gone through, the tragedies and this, that and the other, I've always used all of that hurt and pain, you know, or even happiness that I've experienced in life. And I've poured that into different characters. So I love that me using what I've been through is helping somebody else. I think that's our goal as artists in general. And I've realized that it's been very important for me to focus on that purpose during this time when, you know, it seems almost impossible to create content, at least in terms of theater.

[59:20] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah.

[59:25] Andre Myers: To focus on the purpose more so than the product. You can complain about not being able to sing and dance on stage. But the truth is, is that what really matters is the purpose behind it, whether or not you're creating something that can help people and make the world a little bit better.

[59:36] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah. As always, if you have recommendations for shows you'd like us to cover on A Musical Theatre Podcast, you can always email me at amusicalpodcast@gmail.com. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram at amusicalpodcast for more great content. Be sure to check out our T Public store where we have great original designs paying homage to some of our favorite episodes, past and present. Andre, thank you again.

[59:49] Andre Myers: Yes. Yes, I remember. We're gonna do it.

[59:57] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And everybody out there, hug someone you love and trust is healthy.

[59:59] Andre Myers: I love that. Bye.