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[0:01] Shannon Lewis: And it's musical. It's 1, 2, and 3, and 4, and 5, and 6, and 7, clonk, ba-da-di-da-clonk. It's all musical.

[0:09] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Shannon, you have done so many freaking shows. How do you have the count still memorized?

[0:15] Shannon Lewis: I never forget anything. It's all up here. It's in me. It's in my DNA now, especially your first show. You never forget. I could literally stand up right now and do all the choreography of Slap That Bass. I could do it all right now. It's in me.

[0:30] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's amazing.

[0:43] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Welcome, everybody, to A Musical Theatre 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 are discussing the musical Crazy For You, which was a listener request, a recent one, actually, from Emma, who wrote in and said, "Could you do an episode on the show Crazy For You?" Spoiler alert, yes. It's a wonderful and funny yet heartwarming story. The community theater I'm with is currently doing this show, and I'm playing Lottie Child. How cute is that? It would mean the world to me if you could do this. There's so much I would love to learn about it." Thank you, Emma, for writing in.

By the way, she also said in this email that she sent in that because of the podcast, she's been able to discuss shows with her castmates and also share fun facts with her mom and asked if we do this episode, could we please give mom a shout out? So, uh-huh. Hey, Emma's mom, thank you for supporting her being a true theater nerd. I promise she's in good company. Case in point, my guest for today's episode, Shannon Lewis made her Broadway debut in Crazy For You, the first of 10, count them, 10, Broadway musicals she's appeared in, most notably for me, if you've ever listened to the OG cast album of Fosse in the car and tried to be as cool as the girl singing, "I gotcha, uh-huh, huh." That's her.

Iconic. Well, now, as a choreographer, she's everywhere. Watch Saturday Night Live at any point over the past few years or musical numbers on John Oliver, The Tonight Show, you'll definitely see her work. But her choreography is on Broadway right now in Just In Time, the new musical about Bayou Darin, starring Jonathan Groff. I can't wait to talk to her. And, oh my gosh, this is such a long introduction. Everyone, please welcome Shannon Lewis. Yay!

[2:41] Shannon Lewis: Hi! Wow, I love that introduction. Thank you.

[2:44] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Shannon, thank you for being here. You guys are in, you're in the, it's not the danger zone, what is it, the splash zone? We're in the deep splash zone. How are things going over there? Congratulations.

[2:58] Shannon Lewis: Thank you so much. Things are going amazingly well. Amazingly well. I mean, we are doing a brand new Broadway musical, brand new, with the music of Bobby Darin and with an original book and original choreography by me and a crazy, beautiful, immersive set by Derek McLean, all headed up by Alex Timbers, the visionary genius director, and starring Jonathan Groff, who is a unicorn singular talent. So we're having a lot of fun. I mean, we have lots of joy in that space, and we are definitely working hard and we are trimming and editing and doing all the things. But we had our first preview last night, and it was like a rock concert. It was a packed house. It was absolutely one of those, you know, moments that you, even if you've been in the business as long as I have, you pinch yourself because, you know, a first preview for a brand new original Broadway musical in an immersive space like that is never something to, you know, forget. So I was honored. Yeah, we're doing good.

[4:00] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: What is the difference for you being on Broadway as a performer versus a choreographer at this point? What do you think?

[4:07] Shannon Lewis: I mean, you know, when I started choreographing full-time, I was on Broadway for over 25 years as a performer, and I had always been choreographing here and there. But when I decided to make the leap, I got some larger jobs that took me away from performing, and I chose to do that. People were like, tell us about your new chapter. And I was like, I don't know that I would say that. I never felt like I was leaving anything behind. I felt like I was just adding to all of the things that I knew and bringing all of my knowledge forward. So obviously now I can pass on all of my knowledge, and it's very satisfying to do that. It's nice to be able to have dinner at like seven and not have to, like, not eat before the show because you can't, you know, like, you don't want to have a full stomach.

[4:52] Shannon Lewis: These are the things no one talks about, like, when do you eat?

[4:57] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, so like, I can eat and then go and watch the show and enjoy it, you know? So like, that's a difference. And also just that I'm using my brain in a different way. And that's really what I was yearning for near the end of my performing career. I found that I had lots and lots of creative ideas, and I was so interested in that creative collaborative conversation that was happening with the creative team. And, you know, as a performer, I was more of a muse, and I obviously had things to say, but you're there to sort of execute the vision of the creatives. And I did it very well until I got to the point where I was like, I think I have something to say. I think I really have something to say. Yeah. And so it seemed like a very natural progression for me to do that.

[5:39] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's amazing. Well, I was reading a little bit about, because there isn't much to find about the show, because it's so, you know, freaking brand new. It's very secret. But in prepping for this episode, I learned two things that I didn't know. And I don't think I'm spoiling anything. Bobby Darin, famous crooner, played, of course, by Jonathan Groff, passed away very young. And I'm thinking, okay, the title is Just In Time. And knowing the kind of energy this individual like, had in order to do everything he did, that's got to like, affect the movement and staging that you're bringing to the piece, right?

[6:15] Shannon Lewis: Oh, absolutely. And I mentioned before that it's an immersive staging. Well, that was number two. It's a circle and a square.

[6:23] Shannon Lewis: Okay. Yeah. So you're right. Bobby Darin died at 37. We talk about that right off the bat in the show. And on our show, Jonathan Groff starts the show as himself. He is Jonathan Groff in 2025. And then you have to go on this journey with us of how we transform him into Bobby Darin, and then we start telling the story through history that way. So it's a very interesting way to do that. And what you said, he was young. And what was your second question?

[6:52] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Well, like, when you're that young, and you're doing that much, right, that there's got to be a lot of almost a kinetic energy to that kind of life.

[7:02] Shannon Lewis: That's right. So that leads me into the word for me when I was talking to Alex Timbers about my inspiration for what the choreography and the whole movement for the entire show, the vocabulary would be urgency. There's an urgency to it. You know, there's an urgency in the book writing that he even says, as Bobby Darin, you know, I don't have time to be patient. I can't wait. I have to go. He was told he would die young. And he lived far past any expectation of him living past. And so he felt like he was living on borrowed time every single day. And I think what we can all take away from that is none of us really know the future, and for our own selves either. So I think there's inspiration to be taken from his life that he did accomplish so much, and we still sing his songs and play his music.

I heard Beyond the Sea the other day in Starbucks. And like, there's a whole other generation now that's rediscovering his music. So the urgency in the choreography and the movement of the show is baked into his story, his life story. And also just the time that he rose to fame. I did a lot, a lot of research, and a lot of that was like the hullabaloo time. So there's all this really fun stuff in the choreography of the time. Obviously, I've made up my own moves. But we went from sort of like a kind of like square kind of feeling to like this wild and crazy looseness of the body and the shapes were different and new and exciting. And there were midriff tops, and there was like lots of drums and percussion in the music and dance breaks built into Bobby Darin's music already.

Like Beyond the Sea has a dance break in it, originally. So he was very dance forward. He was very body forward when he performed. He was always moving and dancing. He was very quirky in his movement. Clearly not a trained dancer, but like one of the most entertaining electric people to watch on a stage ever of all time. That's where he really thrived was live on stage. And I think there's a quote, I'm going to paraphrase it from Sammy Davis Jr. He said, the only person I don't want to follow on a live stage is Bobby Darin.

[9:08] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's someone who's not a slouch, right?

[9:11] Shannon Lewis: Right. Like one of the best performers of all time, like one of the most talented, electric, incredible people was saying that they didn't want to follow him. So I think I just think that that really gives you a sense of, you know, how much dance there is in our show. And up close, I mean, without this proscenium, you know, yeah, that's really cool, Shannon. I mean, you totally you just sold me. So I hope a lot of people I think a lot of people are going to get their tickets now. But when you said hullabaloo, I immediately thought of how do you teach style?

[9:45] Shannon Lewis: How do I teach style? How do I teach style? Well, I think I have my own style. I've developed my own style as a dancer, I had my own interpretation of other people's movement, obviously. And then when I jumped off into my own world of choreography, I think what I did very specifically, I put my own creative blinders on. And I really try to create in my own world and stay in my own lane and make it very personal to me, so that it looks like me, it moves like me, it has shapes like me. And that I think when you watch my stuff, it's very identifiable. I think style is related to storytelling. I think style is related to acting. And I think those are at the basis of every single move I make as a choreographer, there has to be a strong point of view at the core of it, I have a very hard time just creating steps for no reason.

There has to be some kind of inspiration, which what I think is what makes me really good at theatrical choreography, obviously. And then cutting my teeth on the last four to five years of SNL, I work on the film unit. So I'm in this digital film unit for one day, and we're getting these original songs written as music videos. And I immediately go back to my training of what's the lyric? What are we trying to say here? I love that.

[11:04] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: How do you keep a dancer from just looking like they're doing steps, you encourage them to be an actor?

[11:08] Shannon Lewis: Correct. I mean, I think that all great dancers are great actors, period. I will make that blanket statement, I will fight to the death. I think not necessarily like the spoken word kind of acting, but there's many ways to act.

[11:16] Shannon Lewis: Storytelling.

[11:17] Shannon Lewis: Energy, storytelling with your body, dancers are experts in body storytelling. And you can do an entire ballet without one word being spoken or an entire dance break without one word being spoken, and you know exactly what the story is. And you don't need words, right? So I think remembering that dance is an art form that can do that, and really leaning into it. And, you know, I think dance is making a comeback as well in TV, film and on Broadway. It's a huge season for lots of dance musicals. And I think it's because we're reinventing the way stories are told. And I think that also means that dance has become important again. It's not just someone standing and doing a scene. Now we're finding different ways of telling these stories and on camera and on stage. So it's like a renaissance of dance right now.

[12:04] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's fantastic.

[12:09] Shannon Lewis: One of the reasons I've been so excited to talk to you about this show is that obviously you're a choreographer and performer. And Crazy for You is one of those shows that is famously linked to its original choreographer, like A Chorus Line or Chicago. I mean, those are probably two extreme versions, but there are hallmarks of movement that you're always going to see no matter what production you go and attend. So Susan Stroman, the OG choreographer, Crazy for You isn't the only legendary artist you've danced for, and ranking comes to mind. Do you know that The Look of Love actually came up in a conversation the other day? So...

[12:47] Shannon Lewis: What?

[12:48] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Right?

[12:49] Shannon Lewis: Oh my God.

[12:50] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: There you go. Rob Ashford, Wayne Cilento. So what did you learn from these people? And how has it informed who you are as a choreographer?

[12:59] Shannon Lewis: It's informed me completely. I mean, how lucky am I to have come in at the end of what we would call the old school and at the beginning of what we would call the new school, right? That I got to train under literally every day in private sessions for years with Gwen Verdon and Anne Ranking and Chet Walker and Graciela Danielle would pop in and investing in me and passing on their knowledge and also trusting me and saying, try that again. Interpret it your way. What do you want to say?

[13:30] Shannon Lewis: How do you want to do this? If Bob Fosse were here, he would have probably asked you the same question, so we're going to do the same, and let's make it for you. So I was asked to invest in a different kind of way, and I think the old school did do that. I think the old school choreographers and directors took what they had in front of them, the clay, and molded it. It wasn't just like, I want to do this. It was like, this is the talent I have in front of me, and I'm going to make it work for that person. So I loved that, and I know how lucky I am, and I know how unusual it is that I had that. Someone like Susan Stroman, she discovered me. I was discovered by a casting agent in Toronto, but I was brought in front of Susan Stroman, and she saw something in my raw talent.

I was in my late teens when I was cast in Crazy for You on Broadway. I have to talk about it because it's related to Susan Stroman, that I was dancing in a theme park, which is one of the biggest jobs you could get in the surrounding area of Toronto, Canada, where I grew up. It was at Canada's Wonderland, and I was cast in it when I was like 15, and I was already a professional dancer. It was a big deal, and everybody in Canada auditioned for that job, and I got it. It was an amazing training ground. These were full review-style shows, but they were great choreographers. We were doing six shows a day. It was hard choreography. We were singing. I mean, it was such a great training ground for me, and so during that time, I was seen by Stephanie Gorin, who is a very large, amazing, influential casting director in Canada, and still is.

She said, “How come I don't know you?” and I said, “Because I'm 16.” She was like, “Oh, my God! You're still in high school!” So she kind of banked my picture and resume and called me when they were looking for the Canadian cast of Crazy for You. They had already auditioned everyone, but they were looking for a swing, so she said, “Let's give this girl a chance.” I went in, and I did not get the job, but they were very excited about me, and they told me to keep working on my voice and everything, and I was like, “Okay.” Then again, six months later, I got another call saying, “Susan Stroman is very busy, but she'd like to see you again, and this time, we're going to fly you to New York City in two days, and you're going to audition on the stage of the Schubert Theatre for this other position.”

They told me it was in the Canadian company, so they said, “You're going to get on a plane and go,” which I did, and I went to the stage of the Schubert Theatre. There was one other lady auditioning with me that day, and we did the combination, and I had never seen a Broadway show. There was Mike Ockrin, the director of Crazy for You, Susan Stroman, Paul Gemignani, the musical director, Legendary, and Barry Hughes and Julie Moss, who are legendary casting directors who are casting musicals. I didn't know any of these people, really. They were just there, and they were all watching.

[16:27] Matthew Tauber: Honestly, it may be good for you that you didn't know.

[16:30] Shannon Lewis: 100%. 100%. Innocence is bliss, sometimes. So they released the other gal, and then they had me do a whole bunch of stuff, sing and dance and do solos, and she worked with me. Then they said, “Okay, Shannon, thank you so much for coming. You're amazing,” and I was like, “Okay, thank you,” and I remember thinking, “I should take this in because I'm never going to see another Broadway stage. How would I ever get here?” I got back on the plane, and I flew home. That night, I was walking back into my dormitory of my college dorm, and my phone was ringing. I picked it up, and it was the stage manager that had been there that day. He said, “Shannon,” and I said, “Oh, I'm sorry. Did I forget something there?

Did I leave something behind?” He said, “Yeah, you left your contract behind because we want to hire you for Crazy for You Broadway.” I said, “No, I was auditioning for Crazy for You in Toronto,” and he said, “No, you weren't.” I pulled out of school, and a week later, I was in rehearsals for Crazy for You on Broadway. Then I was doing the show a week after that, and I stayed for two years in that show. I know everything there is to know about Crazy for You. I was the featured dancer. The character name was Vera. I popped out of the top of the show. I did the little duet with Bobby. Then I did the scream, which is an entrance to Nevada. I caught my leg, and I was lifted by a guy, and I screamed. Then I also did the toe tap in “Stiff Upper Lip” in Act 2. I was the toe tapper as well.

[18:04] Matthew Tauber: Iconic when you're on pointe.

[18:06] Shannon Lewis: On my pointe shoes, yes. There's actual taps that are molded to the tips of the pointe shoes, and you do a solo on a table in that number. It's a specialty that I guess is one of the reasons I got the job, because no one else could do all of those things and fit in the context of the show. So I got it.

[18:25] Matthew Tauber: That is amazing. Okay, so you're kind of a child phenom in terms of the dance world. Where are you ranking tap in all of that? Did you love tap dance?

[18:35] Shannon Lewis: I did love it. I started out ballet, just ballet only. In my studio, I did that only, and I was an elite-level gymnast for a long time. I was a gymnast, and then I was a rhythmic gymnast for a while, so that's with the ribbon and the ball and everything. I got too tall to do, they call it artistic gymnastics, which is like Simone Biles on the flips and the turns. I became too tall to really do that. Where gymnastics was going was away from that Nadia Comaneci look and more like the Mary Lou Retton thing at the time. So they moved me into rhythmic, and it was great for me because it's dance, basically. It's just flexible people doing kind of dance with props, which is actually what Susan Stroman does. That's basically why I got the job. So yeah, so I had done all of that stuff. What was the rest of your question?

[19:30] Matthew Tauber: So it was tap dance, so then when did you start tapping?

[19:31] Shannon Lewis: Oh, tap dance, right. Okay, so I discovered jazz in my studio, where my teacher was like, “Shannon, I think you should join our little competitive group.” And I was like, “Well, I'm not really a jazz dancer.” And she said, “No, but you have beautiful technique. So let's get you in, and let's see how it goes.” And the minute I took a jazz class, it was over. I was like, “This is my new calling.” And it really worked well for me, because I do have very strong technique. And then I was loving the musicality of jazz, and the shapes of it, and the kind of elongated lines that I could do. And then she said to me, “Well, you should tap, too. I mean, you should learn how to tap.” And she said, “What's going to be hard for you to do is tap, because you have such strong ankles, because of all your point work and everything, that tapping requires that loose ankle.”

And so tap is like the last thing I learned to do, I have to work really hard at it. And I have to, I can do certain kinds of tap, like Susan Stroman's kind of tap is perfect for me, because it's very rhythmic and musical. And it doesn't require like, crazy amounts of like loose ankle kind of stuff, because that's just not how my body is built. Yeah. And it's rhythmic and musical. And that's really what I think I loved about it. So I have to work a little harder than some people who started doing that just to get the rhythms and to understand takes me a little bit longer, but I can choreograph it. I certainly, you know, did Crazy for You on Broadway as the featured tapper for two years. So and I did do other tap shows as well. But it's something that I have to kind of think harder about.

[21:02] Matthew Tauber: Tap is so fascinating to me, because it reveals in many ways, what kind of a learner you are, not just a dancer, but like, there are people who want counts, there are people who sing it, there are people who want to see it and then mimic it. Like whenever I teach tap, I always, my rule number one is be nice to yourself. Because we're talking about your brain and your feet. And sometimes they couldn't feel further away from each other.

[21:27] Shannon Lewis: Yeah, that's right. That's very right. Sometimes you just need a little time for the message to kind of sink in. But like, I don't necessarily know all the names of the steps, like some people who have been studying tap, but I know I can hear the sounds and pick that up right away.

[21:41] Matthew Tauber: Yeah, yeah.

[21:42] Shannon Lewis: So like padiddling, all the padiddles in the world. I don't always know what that is.

[21:48] Matthew Tauber: No, we I'm exactly the same way as you. I started out clogging.

[21:53] Shannon Lewis: Okay.

[21:54] Matthew Tauber: I'm like, I'm like, I'm country boy. Well, actually, I'm Utah. So like farm boy. So we were I was doing country Western clogging. And then I got into my first callback for 42nd Street. And they were like, grab offs, eight of them. And I was like, sure thing. Can you show me what that is one more time? Just just to make sure we're on the same page.

[22:15] Shannon Lewis: And then you probably picked it up right away.

[22:17] Matthew Tauber: Exactly. But like, I didn't know any of the words for him. Anyway.

[22:21] Shannon Lewis: Anyway, let's dive into Crazy for You. Because clearly, so many amazing, talented people. And I had no idea that you were with the show for two whole years. So this makes me even more excited at the Schubert no less. Crazy for You is a really interesting piece in my expired ketchup metaphor that I use a lot here on the podcast, which is basically this, Shannon, that my great grandma was from a ration generation. And she had a whole food storage thing in the basement. And my aunts and uncles would tell a story about how they went down. And there were just like, lines of bottles of ketchup that had oxidized, they had expired, and they had turned black. And they're like, “Hey, Grandma, maybe it's time to you know, like, throw away these bottles.”

And she's like, “Yeah, it's fine.” And sometimes I wonder if in our musical theater history, we have some expired ketchup bottles. It doesn't mean that it wasn't tasty and beautiful in its time. But as time goes along, then we have to ask ourselves, “Okay, does the whole thing need to be thrown away? Do we just need to maybe empty out some of the ketchup and fill it up with new ketchup?” This is my metaphor. And Crazy for You is in align with that because it even though it opened on Broadway in 1992, it actually opened on Broadway in 1930, 62 years earlier, as Girl Crazy. It introduced the world to some of the most incredible Gershwin songs, like “Embraceable You,” “But Not for Me,” and then most famously, “I Got Rhythm,” which was belted out by, you know, somebody named Ethel Merman, whoever she turned out to be, who did not need a microphone.

Well, that's just it. That opening night of Girl Crazy just changed the sound of musical theater forever. If for no other reason, then Merman's voice was able to cut through a brass section in the orchestra without any microphone, right?

[24:14] Shannon Lewis: That's right. That's right. And at the same time, it wasn't just Merman, like Ginger Rogers was the character that we now think of as Polly, and it made her a huge star, right before she went to Hollywood to do 42nd Street. So like, this was a huge moment in theater. Now, Girl Crazy gets turned into a couple of movies, most popular one being like a Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney film that changes a bit of the plot so that it's more of a, hey, let's put on a show type of movie that Garland and Rooney were known for. So then fast forward to the 90s, some producers wanted to bring back Girl Crazy. You got the score, you got the Gershwins for crying aloud, what's not to love, but like, is it expired a little bit?

Is some of the humor from 1930 going to work? Are people even going to know what Girl Crazy is? Because it's been a different kind of a movie and a different kind of a stage show. What they end up doing is creating a whole new thing called Crazy for You. They bring on an amazing playwright, Ken Ludwig. He is known for making American farce, right? Like farce plays are very much an English thing. But with Lend Me a Tenor, he was like, no, Americans can do it too. And what I think is really interesting is that with him is a British director like Mike Ockrent, who had just had a big hit with Me and My Girl and understands the rhythm of that kind of farce type humor. But then this show is red, white and blue through and through. Yes, it's a perfect marriage of the two things, isn't it?

[25:59] Shannon Lewis: I haven't ever heard much about Mike Ockrent because unfortunately, he passed away very prematurely. He was husband to Susan Stroman, and they worked together, most notably on this and then also Big, the musical, which I would love to talk about another time. But what was Mike like? You know, because I wasn't in the original cast, I didn't get to really experience him as much as I wanted to. But I'll tell you this, when he did pass away so tragically, we all talked about him and we all got together and talked about him. And every single one of those original members of Crazy for You said he was the best director they ever worked with and that he was the nicest man and that he was kind, but he was so intelligent. And so his notes were so exacting that they knew exactly what he meant. He was able to articulate things very, very specifically. And he would never give like line readings. He would inspire the actor to

[28:00] Shannon Lewis: I created The Secret Fosse Musical with Gwen Verdon. I was there for months and months working on that show. We got into this old tiny elevator with an elevator operator. I was in the elevator, and he got in. I knew it was him, and I thought, he's not going to remember. He's Mike Awkward. He's this big director. He turned to me and said, Shannon. He gave me this huge hug. He said, darling, how are you doing? I said, Mike, I'm really well. I had heard that he had been ill, but I think he had been in remission at this time. I said, I hear you're doing well, and it's so wonderful to see you. He said, yes, we're working on a new musical called The Producers. He was the original director of that show.

He was working on it with Susan there. I don't know what they were doing exactly, but he just said, oh, I'm so proud. We see you doing all these wonderful jobs, and we're just so proud of you. Remember when you came to us as this young, talented woman, and now you're doing so well. Best of luck to you. That was the last time I ever saw him. He passed away shortly after that, unfortunately. It was very upsetting to me, because I would love to have worked with him again. I would be honored to have worked with him again. Also, I heard from the cast and people that worked with them together, Susan and Mike, that they were just the perfect match for each other, and that they weren't together at the start of Crazy for You.

They were not. They were with other people, but I think handled it in the way that it's kind of a famous story that they realized that they had a connection, but didn't act on anything. Then I guess when the show opened, Mike flew back to London and broke off his marriage, I think, and then called Susan Stroman and said, I'm in love with you. I'm not sure how you feel, but I'm taking this opportunity to tell you, and I think she felt the same way. I'm not going to speak for them, but that is the story that I was told. Then they got married a year into when I had joined the show, and we all sent them gifts and pictures and everything. I remember that happening during the run there, but they were not together.

[30:17] Jeff Parsons: Well, I mean, look, if you can fall in love with someone and still know how to communicate, putting it on a Broadway show, are you kidding me? That's something. If you can survive that, I think you know you should be together forever. That's really cool. Thank you for sharing these stories, because it's really brought a lot of... I can see the picture a little bit clearer now, especially when you know Crazy for You, and you know how... I talk about this all the time on the pod, but how musical the comedy is, the fact that he wasn't giving line readings to help people find that kind of blows my mind.

[30:52] Shannon Lewis: Like I said, I wasn't in the room. I wasn't in the room, so I really can't speak to it, but I do know that everyone said... There are some directors that would say to you, Jeff, if you want to get a laugh, say it like this, not letting the actor find their way to it and just cutting through everything and cutting off the process. That's what I mean by, he was very process-oriented, but he also had a very... I think there was a real, like you said, a musicality to the comedy that is a very stylized way of doing things, and clearly it was present. I remember, this could be interesting, there's a fake fight scene in Act Two that happens in the bar, and a lot of the showgirls who are in their normal street clothes that are beautiful $25,000 dresses.

They're stunning. William Ivey Long, shout out to William Ivey Long. Beautiful, beautiful dresses, but they're in the bar relaxing, hanging out with the guys of Dead Rock. It's in our second act, so we're far into the story, and it turns out to be this fake gunfight that they've been rehearsing. And it's epic. It's epic. And when I went into the show, there's guns are fired into the air, and it's all timing. It's like, scream, gunshot, down, up, gunshot, gunshot, slam, look, scream. It's literally like that. It's like choreography like that, and it's all based on sounds and gunshots and screams. It was really hard to learn, actually, because it was like... Featured screamer, you said.

[32:23] Jeff Parsons: Featured screaming, yeah. It was one of your specialties.

[32:28] Shannon Lewis: One of my specialties, but it was so fun to do it every night, because it was so epic. It wasn't just this short little thing. It's this long section, and it's so perfect, like a Swiss clock, like perfectly timed, all the gears doing their little thing. It's like this beautiful little gem of a scene, and I remember everybody saying that Mike was a big part of that.

[32:47] Jeff Parsons: That's so cool. Gosh dang it. I hate to be the person who's like, they don't make them like they used to, but this is...

[32:53] Shannon Lewis: No, they don't.

[32:54] Jeff Parsons: But they don't. And maybe it's because you just don't have enough time, but I don't know.

[33:00] Shannon Lewis: Yeah, I think it's from another era, that musical, and I think now it feels like a classic musical, you know, like a throwback musical. But I do think that I want to make sure that I throw all of the respect and props to Susan Stroman, because she clearly... Her vision of what this show could be and how to make it sort of like that movie musical feel in certain areas of the show, and the rhythm of it and the storytelling of the choreography, but the choreography also being like unique and original, is very inspirational to me, not only as a dancer, but now as a choreographer. You know, Susan Stroman was a Bob Fosse dancer, too. She was a swing on the first national tour of Chicago, so she knew Bob Fosse.

And she approached... I think she got a lot of, obviously, knowledge and education from working on that, because she clearly approaches her work from that place of storytelling, of dynamic energy, of how to build a number. That's something that she knows better than anybody.

[34:00] Jeff Parsons: Right, like how to build a number, like when do you pull back? When does the orchestration swell? When, you know, do you push? When is it unison dancing? When is it only a trio? When does it grow into five? When does it grow into ten? You know, when are just the men dancing? When are the women dancing? Like, it's incredible what she did. And I can't explain it other than it's her natural amazing talent and instinct. And she just absolutely burst onto the scene with that show. She had been around doing work as a choreographer, but that was such a perfect, perfect vehicle for her. You couldn't have made a more perfect vehicle for her to debut with on Broadway.

[34:37] Shannon Lewis: Beautifully said. When it opens, it opens in a really interesting season, because it's not just Crazy for You, but it's also Falsettos, you know, gorgeous musical. Jelly's Last Jam, which is incredibly interesting. Gregory Hines, another huge tap show. And yet the musical that wins Best Musical of the Tony Awards is Crazy for You. Now, that seems, I think you can look back and be like, really? Like, the jukebox musical? But I want to read this review from the Butcher of Broadway, Frank Rich. He wrote about the opening of Crazy for You. When future historians try to find the exact moment at which Broadway finally rose up to grab the musical back from the British, they just may conclude that the revolution began last night.

Are you kidding me? The shot was fired at the Shubert Theatre, where a riotously entertaining show called Crazy for You uncorked the American musical's classic blend of music, laughter, dancing, sentiment, and showmanship, with a freshness and confidence rarely seen during the Cats' decade. Talking about, of course, about the 80s. The miracle has been worked here most ingeniously, though not exclusively, by an extraordinary choreographer named Susan Stroman. I mean, 100% rolling out the red carpet for this new choreographer. But also, how can you not give Crazy for You a Tony Award for Best Musical when it is heralded as the moment that the Americans finally were like, we got this. Yes. Les Mis is awesome. Phantom is amazing. We all love Cats. But let's also remember this.

[36:24] Shannon Lewis: Yeah. I think it's really cool, too, that I'm a big advocate, obviously, because I'm a choreographer, but I'm an advocate for the importance of choreographers and of dancers, which many times in our business, sometimes they are on the bottom of the power structure. Not always. Dancers are. But choreographers are so essential to musicals like that. And not just the big, giant numbers, right? All the little transitionary moments, all of the kind of vocabulary that sews everything together. The good ones, anyway. And that's something that I try to do in my work as well. But I think having the New York Times anoint Susan Stroman that way, and placing so much importance on her contribution to Crazy for You, I think is also the takeaway from that.

That era was defined by that. And then everyone was like, oh, who's the choreographer? Oh, that choreography. That brought that back into favor. And I think it feels like maybe that's turning back around now. That dance, again, sort of went away after a while, and then it came back again, and now it's coming back again in a different way. That it's really cool to hear her anointed in that way by the New York Times, you know, and making choreography important again.

[37:40] Jeff Parsons: Yeah, a huge important piece to the musical. With our time left, I'd love to kind of go through a little bit of the story. We can't talk through all of the beats because, once again, farce. How on earth can you describe farce? But I would love to kind of talk about some of these different numbers because it's interesting to know what is from Girl Crazy originally and what they brought in for Crazy for You. The construction of it is really fascinating. So the show begins, we meet this guy by the name of Bobby Child.

[38:08] Shannon Lewis: Yeah, Bobby is kind of a rich, spoiled dreamer. He's set up for life because his family's in real estate, but all he wants to do is dance. And he is constantly trying to get into, you know, what the show claims is the Ziegfeld Follies of the time, which is, of course, run by this character not named Ziegfeld, but Zengler.

[38:36] Jeff Parsons: Zengler. Bella Zengler. And so he's showing up backstage to try and get yet another audition for Zengler. Zengler's rolling his eyes, constantly getting his foot stepped on by Bobby, who's tapping his little heart out, but just has the worst timing and social skills. And so he's getting really frustrated, not only with the possibility that his dreams might not come true, but the pressures of what are actually surrounding him in New York City, which are, number one, his mom, who's very controlling. And number two, his fiancée, or actually the woman who wants to be his fiancée, named Irene. And these two women are constantly at each other's throats because they both want to control Bobby. And in a moment of sheer bliss, he wins the entire audience back by disappearing into his safe spot, which is dance.

As rich and spoiled as he may seem on the outside, he really does have this earnest heart of wanting to express himself through dance and just be free in it. And the fantasy of being out of his life and in the fantasy, that's the big thing. What's really cool about this, I mean, there was a limousine on stage, right? And he opens up the door and out pops all of these showgirls one by one by one. And soon, you have a huge chorus line of what I like to call the pink girls.

[40:06] Shannon Lewis: But we never... And that was what they were called. They were called the pink girls.

[40:09] Jeff Parsons: Is that what they were called? The pink girls?

[40:10] Shannon Lewis: Yes, they were, yeah.

[40:10] Jeff Parsons: But never once do we go, well, that doesn't make sense. Or what, so now they're just dancing in the street? It's this perfect little escape or fantasy that is done so seamlessly and earnestly that you never question it.

[40:28] Shannon Lewis: Correct, yes.

[40:32] Shannon Lewis: Who was your cast? Because the talent that has played Irene and Bobby and all of these characters has just been insane. Yeah, I mean, I got I pretty much was close to the original cast. I had Harry Groner as my Bobby. I mean, and I got to dance nose to nose with him every night coming out of the car. We did a little it's called the swing tap. And it's Susan Stroman's puts it in every show for her dance partner that passed away from AIDS. And they used to do this little act and she puts this swing tap step in every show she does. And so I knew that. I didn't know that it had a history like that. Oh, yeah, it's called the swing tap. And she, she was on always honors him at least up until a few shows.

And I also was a part of contact and she put it in that as well. So in a different context, of course, but so I had Harry Groner as my Bobby, and he's just a musical theater legend. Like, I've learned so much from him. And he would come on stage every night before every show and warm up his taps and do all this tap breaks for a half an hour before half hour. So I started doing that. And I continued that through the whole show as well. And he would like we would talk and we would tap and he like, let me be out there with him and I didn't bother him. And I we would do our dance breaks together for like an hour. And I know everything looks so easy. But it's not I mean, it's not for him either. He he he had to work hard for it too.

And he told me hilarious stories about being the original monk strap in Cats and the workshop of that, where he was like crawling around on his hands and knees and like coming nose to nose with like Terrence Mann. He was like, What are we doing? Hilarious, great stories like I really just looked up to him and he really took me under his wing and I'll be forever grateful for that time I spent with him. And I had and I had Jodi Benson, the voice of the Little Mermaid who is the original Polly. She was in the show for like a good year that I was there. I wasn't sure how long she stayed. So that's cool.

[42:38] Jeff Parsons: Yeah, they stayed a pretty long time. I mean, and it was hard. It was difficult to replace them because they were so iconic by that time. And then in the ensemble of our show, I danced alongside Rob Ashford, who became a choreographer who I worked for many times. And also Casey Nicholaw. Oh my gosh.

[42:57] Shannon Lewis: Also, we danced alongside each other. And that show and Rob Ashford was just he stayed in the show probably six to eight months when I got there. And then he left to go and start he was like associate choreographing like kids in the Spider Woman, I think, on tour. And then he started to his very first choreography job in New York was doing the opening number of the Easter bonnet. And, and we all and he used all of us and he built all these beautiful lifts on us. And, and we, we premiered it for him. And it was like his first big choreographic debut.

[43:32] Jeff Parsons: He loves the lift that Rob Ashford.

[43:34] Shannon Lewis: He loves the lift. Oh my gosh. And I worked for him for the next 20 years, you know, doing crazy lifts. And I was like, I remember when you first did it. And same with Casey, Casey and I worked together as well. And he directed and choreographed me in a couple things. And, and it was really cool to see them like I was literally just starting my own performing career. And they were just starting to segue out to their own directing and choreography careers. So, so yeah, there was a lot of hugely talented folks in that. Our Irene at the time is Kay McClelland, who was in City of Angels. That's right. And she had just replaced, here's something crazy. So she had just gone in and replaced Michelle Pak, who was the original Irene.

And Michelle Pak is in Just in Time in my show. I'm choreographing now. So I said, Michelle, I just missed you and Crazy for You. She's like, oh my god, I was just hearing about how great you were in the show. And like, I was so mad that I missed it. I was like, but we're together now. It's like a crazy, full circle moment.

[44:36] Jeff Parsons: Seriously. Oh, that's so cool. I love Michelle Pak, man.

[44:39] Shannon Lewis: Oh, just waiting to see her in the show. She's spectacularly good in our show. She's amazing. Amazing, amazing.

[44:47] Jeff Parsons: All right. So Bobby, going back to the story. So Bobby faces an ultimatum. He either has to go to a place called Dead Rock, Nevada and do what his mom wants, which is to close a property that they have there. It just so happens to be a theater or stay in New York and marry Irene. And he picks the lesser of two evils and goes to Nevada. So he shows up in Nevada. Dead Rock is exactly what it sounds like. It's just dead. You have all of these great characters and in the shape of these cowboys who are singing Bide My Time, one of the original songs from Girl Crazy, by the way.

[45:28] Shannon Lewis: Correct. Yes.

[45:29] Jeff Parsons: But the one person who is, you know, kind of energized and motivated is this character named Polly Baker, who is the daughter. She's also the postmaster. Am I remembering this right?

[45:41] Shannon Lewis: Yes, she does all the jobs, pretty much in the town.

[45:44] Jeff Parsons: You're right, because she's the only one motivated.

[45:46] Shannon Lewis: And she's the barmaid, bar person, and she pretty much does everything there.

[45:51] Jeff Parsons: That's awesome. Polly's mom used to be a star on the stage of this theater, which is the reason why the dad doesn't ever want to let it go. Even though the owner of the saloon is this guy named Lank. All of these characters are so great. You guys, if you haven't seen the show, please see it because it's just filled with so much great stuff. The character named Lank wants to buy the theater and he won't let him. The dad won't let him because of the mom. So then Bobby comes in, sees the theater, and here comes Mickey and Judy. Oh, let's put on a show and save the theater. The only problem is that Polly finds out that Bobby is this bank guy who wants to repossess the theater. So now he's on her shiz list.

The rest of the show is about Bobby's in love with this girl and wants to put on a show. How does he win back her trust? He goes about it in the most convoluted way you could possibly imagine, which is he decides to pretend to be Bella Zangler and also get all of the pink girls from New York that he made friends with by going backstage and trying to audition for the show to come to Nevada. Because they're all on vacation, which we've discovered in the very first scene. They're like, vacation. And then he's like, come to the desert. And they're like, sure. So they come to Nevada and help put on the show.

[47:20] Shannon Lewis: Now, in the midst of this, we've skipped over so many amazing songs. Shall We Dance, which is just one of the true best pas de deux I can think of in a classic type Broadway show. Stunningly choreographed with huge amounts of storytelling in that show. It's a gorgeous moment. Actually, the scenery peels back in the second half and it's just them on an empty stage with a moon in the background. It's a pretty stunning moment in the show as well.

[47:47] Jeff Parsons: So I've been able to do the show twice as Bobby. And both times that I've done it, we'll talk about this in a little bit, but we used the original Strowman choreography. And I always would laugh at Shall We Dance because it feels so romantic and so just like story driven, but you're also human and dancing really hard. And so you get to the end of it and you can't breathe. And you're supposed to hold this kiss for what feels like forever. And all you end up doing is like open mouth breathing into the other person. Like you're giving them CPR or something like that. Like the least romantic thing you could possibly think of. But that is the glamour of show business. Now, like I said, I have done the show a couple of times and the first time I showed up to rehearsal and the director had a big old binder and said, this is the choreography and we have a DVD and here we go.

Let's do this number. Come and watch the DVD. Look at all of the little steps written down on the page and let's make it happen. Now, I feel like that is something that Strowman began. Is that true? I don't even know.

[48:59] Shannon Lewis: I don't know the answer, but I will tell you that she's very exacting and she desires perfection. And she desires, I'll tell you a quick little story that every three months she would show up at our theater in the afternoon and we would be called to rehearsal and every person had to do the dance, the acapella break in I Got Rhythm. One, two and three and four and five, six and seven, eight. We had to do that one at a time and get every sound and she made us do one at a time. And like we were doing it on Broadway every single night and everybody messed it up because like I did it every night, every night I did it. And I actually wore a tap, I wore a mic on my ankle because I was the featured tap dancer.

So my sounds were important and I got them, but she would be standing in front of me and I just would forget how to dance like everyone would. She wanted to make sure every single person was doing the right rhythms and that it was clean and precise and she came often to do that. First of all, kudos to her, but it also feels like such a boss lady move to kind of own your intellectual property in this way because I don't think, you know, every time you go and see Hello Dolly, you expect Dolly at the top of the staircase with feathers and here she comes walking down, but our champion isn't receiving royalties every time somebody does that, right? So I don't know, she seems kind of pioneering in being like, okay, you want to do my stuff, you got to pay for the binder and then you got to do it exactly as it says.

That's, I mean, I hope it is her. I know that Jerry Mitchell also is spearheading something like that as well. Yes, he's got a whole system in a similar way and I think it's the future. I think it's what it should be. I think that, you know, choreographers on stage with SDC have intellectual property rights to their work. In every other realm of this business, we don't. Like television film, we don't. We don't have a union, we're working on it. It's called the Choreographers Guild, look it up, it's really important. But SDC choreographers own their work. After opening night, it becomes theirs. It's their intellectual property. So kudos to Susan Stroman, who is, you know, clearly very influential and important, setting that bar so high for everybody.

It's really important. Looking back on this show, because in the first act, you've also got Slap That Bass, which was a number that they brought in from, you know, other Gershwin catalogs, right? The Gershwins made so much music and some of the songs, like Tonight's the Night, for example, at the end of the first act, it had never been heard on a stage before, which is really cool. If I can digress for a second, I'll give you some trivia that Slap That Bass, I'm not sure it was originally in the show when they went to Washington. They made a couple big changes and it was like a whole other number and it was to a song called By Strauss. That is the song. Yeah, which is very waltzy. Yeah. And so there's a moment right before Slap That Bass starts where everyone's on stage and they're kind of like working on stuff and playing instruments and painting and there's somebody in a costume being pinned in this huge costume, which is like the famous, they're called the Hussars, the I Got Rhythm corsets that the gals dance in.

It was like corsets that are all red and blue and purple. They're velvet. They're actually the top of that costume. They had this big, long skirt that they apparently, in this By Strauss scene, had found in the theater or something and they were wearing them and trying to do this big waltz in these big skirts. And then I guess in the storytelling in the original first act, they cut the skirts and then did I Got Rhythm without skirts on or something. I don't know the whole thing. Okay, so it was going to be much more elegant and then they dressed it down. By Strauss was a different number and it wasn't playing or whatever. And in their out-of-town tryout, they cut it. And overnight, I think somehow, I don't know if Slap That Bass was already there, but they cut it and then ended up using Slap That Bass in this place or something.

[53:09] Jeff Parsons: Well, in terms of intellectual property, I can't think of an image more iconic than in Slap That Bass when the girls are holding the rope.

[53:14] Shannon Lewis: Ropes, yeah.

[53:19] Jeff Parsons: And the boys are pretending that they're a double bass.

[53:22] Shannon Lewis: Right, they're trying to teach them how to play the bass and they do it with their bodies, which is insane and innovative and iconic and beautiful. And that number is so much fun to dance. It's really fast. It's really, I think you know this if you've done it, it's really hard for the gals, like you're really being whipped around and there's a lot of pressure on taking the rope out.

[53:43] Jeff Parsons: At the right time.

[53:44] Shannon Lewis: And then this axe, and it's musical.

[53:46] Jeff Parsons: Oh gosh, the stupid axe.

[53:46] Shannon Lewis: One, two, and three, and four, and five, and six, and seven.

[53:51] Jeff Parsons: It's all musical.

[53:52] Shannon Lewis: Shannon, you have done so many freaking shows. How do you have the count still memorized?

[53:59] Shannon Lewis: I never forget anything. It's all up here.

[54:01] Shannon Lewis: It's amazing. Well, I can't say that everybody can do that, so bravo.

[54:24] Shannon Lewis: A show that has this many blockbusters and showstoppers, do you look back at any particular one of them as being one that you always looked forward to hearing the audience response? Well, I mean, I got Rhythm Insane. It's 12 minutes long. It's iconic. It goes through so many different places. There's girl dancing, there's guy dancing, there's mining pans, and then they get on the mining pans, and then there's corrugated roof that they dance on and their taps. That was fun, but I also love the surprise of the pink girls. I loved being that first girl out and being the shocker of it, if you hadn't seen the show, the cleverness of that number. Overall, it was the muse. The music was so inspiring to dance to.

I got so lucky. That was my first Broadway show. I got to wear the most gorgeous costumes by William Ivey Long. I got to dance to Gershwin songs. I got to do the iconic and brilliant choreography of Susan Stroman and the direction of Mike Ockren and work with these incredible people. For me, the whole show was amazing. Then it was like, where do I go from there? I started at such a high place that every other experience, I was like, oh, they're not all like this. They don't all change the face of musical theater in their way. You don't always get to dance that much. As a woman, sometimes you get to look beautiful or look like a showgirl, and you don't get to do all those things. Crazy for You really got everybody, especially the women.

We were showgirls. We were hoofers. We were jazz dancers. We were singing. We were tapping our faces off. We were hilarious. I think that was because of her point of view and how she knew that these female dancers could be characters that were really well-fleshed out and iconic in their own way and really pushed the dance to the edge as much as we could possibly do.

[56:27] Shannon Lewis: That's so cool. In the second act, I do have to shout out this great moment. The true twist at the end of the first act is everyone's on the same page, and then the real Bella Zengler shows up. So through a series of twists and turns, both Bella Zengler and Bobby, dressed as Bella Zengler, end up drunk side-by-side and kind of going through this Marx Brothers comedy sequence in the embodiment of this song called What Causes That. It's sublime. There's no number like it, and yet it feels classic. I used to stand there. The crew made a little tiny space for me right off the stage left in the wings. Broadway theaters are very small, and there's not a lot of backstage space. So I would squeeze myself in my little backstage robe into this little corner every night because when we weren't on stage, I wanted to watch what was happening, and I did that for two years.

I would sneak into that little corner, and I would watch that number every single night from the wings. Every single night, I watched that number. Also, I watched Bobby's Harry Groner solo as well. I watched that every night, and I watched him change it or fall out of a turn or nail it, and how he acted through it, and how different emotions brought out different things in his dancing every night. And like you said, what causes that number is sublime musical theater, where they take the chairs that they've been sitting on, and they've kind of agreed to sort of be together and accept each other, kind of in a way, being there in their drunken state. And they take the chairs, and they're like bent wood chairs, which are kind of normal to be on stage in musical theater.

And they put them on their heads, and like showgirl headdresses, and they walk with the chairs on their heads. I just remember, I just thought that that was the most brilliant thing. And it ties the show together, because obviously, they would do that because they're just around showgirls all the time. And they turn their bent wood chairs with the legs sticking straight up into like showgirl headdresses, and they walk around like showgirls together for a second. And I remember that the spotlight changed to like a lavender color, which is what all the fantasy numbers are in. So all the fantasy numbers are in like a pink and a lavender. And then as they do that, the spotlight changes into that color.

Such great little details. Wow, I never knew that. How fun. Ultimately, Bobby has to go back to New York and leave Polly. They can't take that away from me. I mean, just so many, like you said, the music is so emotional. I love the Gershwins, because in particular, George, you know, in a Bernstein type of way, knew how to use instruments to be emotional.

[59:15] Shannon Lewis: And that's a really good comparison. Yes. All you need as an actor is to like, just let that music fill you up. And you're already there. You don't have to do any sense memory. Just listen to the freaking music, you know? Speak the lyrics, sing the lyrics, and invest in that. And then those melodies, sing them, sing them. There you are. You know, you don't really have to do much. But like you said, those are the moments, like those quiet, heartbreaking moments when the music and the storytelling are just incredible. Like in this musical of all these farcical things and these hilarious moments and, you know, silly showgirl headdresses and things, then you get a gut punch emotionally from stuff like that, which is so special.

When he goes back to New York, he has a very, like, grown up moment of deciding what he really wants. And it's all done through dance. And it makes me emotional just even thinking about it, because how often does, like in musical theater, how often does one character get to be by themselves, figuring something out emotionally, personally, through dance, and have that be enough to command the stage? Like, what a freaking, I can think of Cassie in A Chorus Line. I can think, you know what I mean? Like, there aren't that many. How cool that you got to watch Harry. Well, and how cool that it exists for, you know, for everyone that you've said you've played Bobby, that you got to do that. You got to have that moment. And that moment is carved out and exists in that show and happens every time the show happens. Someone gets to do that. And it's really cool.

[1:01:17] Shannon Lewis: Yeah. Of course, the show can end there. By the end of the number, he realizes that he wants to give everything up, including this brand new theater that his mom bought for him for his birthday. But he gives up the New York theater to go back to the Deadrock, Nevada theater, where Zengler is now living and going broke, I'm sure. But everybody's happy. And he goes and stars in it with Polly and everybody lives happily ever after. Now, what I got to say is, it doesn't surprise me that you had such a special experience with this show, because at its core, it's about expressing gratitude. The finale of both the first act and the second act, you're saying, who can ask for anything more? Right. And when you're dancing your heart out, giving that to the audience and saying something like, I really am just doing this because it feels good.

And I'm trying to be selfless. Like it makes me emotional because it taps into what I hope we do as performers is have it come from a place of gratitude. You know what I mean? It makes me so beyond thrilled that you are emotional right now because, you know, people are like theaters dying and theaters dead and musical theater. It's not at all. It's not the fact that you feel emotion that I felt when I was doing the show in 1994. It shows the power of theater. It shows the power of this story and of music and a well told story in this genre, musical theater. You know, there's a reason why musical theater is still around. You know, honestly, there's a lot of ties to what you're feeling with my show just in time that I'm choreographing right now that there is a similar thread of, you know, Bobby Darin's life was short.

And, you know, it's the be here now of it. It's the don't sweat the small stuff, kid, you know, the enjoy those moments when you have when you feel the joy when you feel the love when you feel the warmth. Feel it, you know, experience it. Don't walk away from it. I think that these types of musicals like Crazy for You, they are feel good musicals, right? They want you floating out the door. At the end, the bows, you know, you dance through the bows, and there's this medley of music playing. And like, you know, the showgirls are there and then the doors fling open of the Schubert Theater when I was there, and everyone would pour out onto, you know, the street onto Broadway and onto Schubert Alley, and literally floating out the door.

And I think that, especially in times like we're living in now, it's really important to get back into a space with other people and connect with that emotion and connect with that humanness. So I'm so grateful to you that you that you also talk about this in your podcast and that I've dedicated my entire adult life to doing this and dance and moving people with this art form, and I believe in it so strongly because I experience it. There's an energy exchange in live theater that is unlike anything else. It's not like watching Netflix. It's not like watching Instagram. Those things can be moving as well, especially when they're well-crafted. I do that, too. But the experience of live theater for the people on stage and the people in the audience is sacred, and I think, timeless.

[1:04:05] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Amen, sister. That's beautiful.

[1:04:08] Shannon Lewis: Thank you.

[1:04:09] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: It's just my two cents. Yeah.

[1:04:10] Shannon Lewis: No, I'll take two cents and eight more cents, please. Make it a full dime.

[1:04:16] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Shannon, thank you so much for doing this with me. What a total joy. And I feel like, I mean, I felt like I knew the show pretty well, but you've really brought even just so much more context for me, and I'm so grateful for it.

[1:04:28] Shannon Lewis: Oh, thank you for letting me share all of this with you. You know, my whole motto is pass it on. I want people to know and love Crazy for You. I would love for that show to come back and, you know, people to go and float out the door again and for dancers to get to dance that stuff and, you know, that music to be played every night is wonderful. So thank you for caring about it.

[1:04:52] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: As always, if you have recommendations for shows you'd like us to cover on A Musical Theatre Podcast, just like our friend Emma, be sure to email me at amusicalpodcast at gmail.com. Don't forget to follow us on our social media. We are on Instagram. We are on TikTok. Got great content there. But even more than that, come to Patreon! We got a great and growing community there full of musical theater lovers. You'll find lots of bonus episodes, lots of bonus conversations, polls that you can vote on for our next episodes on the main feed, musical theater trivia nights. I mean, the list goes on and on and on. Join us at patreon.com slash amusicalpodcast. We have our TeePublic store, which has great designs.

Don't forget that our profits from those designs go to Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS. More than anything, my oh my oh my, I'm so grateful that you are here with us, because if you can't tell from this episode, musicals are my happy place, and I hope they are for you as well. Shannon, thank you again so much for being here. How do we follow you? What do you want to plug? I mean, obviously, Just In Time, but go for it. This is your time.

[1:06:04] Shannon Lewis: Well, Just In Time on Broadway, starring Jonathan Groff at the Circle in the Square Theater. We've started previews. We open April 23rd. It's going to be amazing. We're already, like, sold out, so get your tickets now. It's really exciting, and I think people will float out of the theater. If you're listening to this podcast and you want to float out of the theater, come to our show. It's amazing and joyful at the end. And you can follow me on Instagram at realshanlu. And I also have a website, shannonlewis.net, if you want to get a really deep dive into my full resume and things like that. I have lots of videos and things there. Lots of great dance videos on there. It's awesome. Yes, I have a treasure trove of dance videos on my website, and people sort of get lost on it, which is the whole point of it, so please visit that website. And I post a lot of my Saturday Night Live and television and film work on Instagram, so you can always see my latest stuff on there as well.

[1:07:03] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Incredible. Congratulations. So excited for you, and thank you for all of the great work you've given us and continue to bring to us. Everybody out there, thank you for listening, and remember, who could ask for anything more? That's right. Who could ask for anything more?