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[0:01] Lesli Margherita: Hello, and welcome back to As The Curtain Rises. Yes, we're returning to the creation of a new Avatar musical led by Out of Their Element writers Kay and Bobby.

[0:16] Lesli Margherita: And Bobby's ex-babe Thomas. Today is a particularly special day. Auditions begin. Talent is overflowing.

[0:27] Lesli Margherita: Somewhere, I'm sure, but not necessarily on the 10th floor of Ripley Greer, where the hundreds and hundreds of actors desperate to make a spectacular impression on casting director Deborah Hannaford and the Avatar creative team are busy chasing their props around the actors' holding rooms.

[0:53] Lesli Margherita: Don't ask. These very nervous and now sweaty, exhausted actors, all decked out in various shades of blue, have eight bars and five-minute tops to prove just how fabulous they are.

[1:05] Lesli Margherita: Ah-ha, auditions! Break a leg, you guys! And seriously, I mean it.

[1:11] Lesli Margherita: Today is Double A Day. Avatar auditions. The show of the year, if not the decade, a century, everyone wants in.

[1:25] Lesli Margherita: I just did a quick walkthrough at Ripley Greer and spotted 17 Tony nominees, 5 Tony winners, 2 Tony winners who didn't deserve to win, and a whole lot of wannabes.

[1:39] Lesli Margherita: Uh, obvs, I'm not auditioning. Still waiting on my call, Deb!

[1:44] Lesli Margherita: Group 1, we'll see you all at one time. Please leave all props, including live animals, in the rehearsal studio. Rebecca will oversee your pets during your audition.

[2:04] Lesli Margherita: Groups 2-10, please wait until we call you in the actors' holding rooms. Groups 11-20, please take everything you've brought with you and wait for my associate Derek to send you back upstairs.

[2:18] Lesli Margherita: Groups 21-35, please return next Tuesday by 9am sharp.

[2:24] Lesli Margherita: I did not say you could leave yet! Now, as always, we here at Speak To Me Talent encourage you all to sparkle. But, if your voice doesn't span four octaves, you can take your creatures and leave right now. Forget about coming back next week.

[2:41] Lesli Margherita: I will leave you with one last piece of advice. Be confident, or Steve Jones will eat you for lunch. Oh, and have fun, or whatever.

[2:53] Lesli Margherita: I have confidence in sunshine. I have confidence in rain. Don't mess up.

[3:00] Cheryl Philips: Just in time! Brought everyone some Starbucks. It's going to be a long but productive day. Zoe, looking forward to this.

[3:17] Zoey Taylor: That is so great, Cheryl. Thank you. What a thoughtful producer. Now, let's get this moving, people. The line is down the street and I need to head to JFK by 4pm. L.A. auditions start at 9 tomorrow morning. San Fran the next day. Utah. Yes, Utah. Then Chicago after that. Are we documenting this? I'm going to want to look back at our top group on the plane. Ryan, are you on it?

[3:36] Ryan: Good. Let's do this, people!

[3:38] Cheryl Philips: Don't give that woman any coffee. Do you hear me?

[3:42] Bobby: Oh, this is so great. Cheryl, you remembered my drink. Triple shot milk espresso with extra whip and a dash of vanilla. Thank you.

[3:52] Cheryl Philips: But of course, Bobby.

[3:53] Zoey Taylor: Not a good idea, Bobby. You'll need a nap in an hour.

[3:56] Bobby: Oh, no. I've got this. Not to worry. I love this day. Seeing how eager all these people are.

[4:02] Cheryl Philips: Makes you excited just to break their spirits, doesn't it?

[4:05] Thomas: Sorry, am I late? Went to the other Ripley Greer. My bad.

[4:09] Zoey Taylor: No problem. Thomas, take a seat next to me. Kay, can you move over a little?

[4:15] Kay: It would be my pleasure. Is Jersey far enough? Kidding.

[4:20] Thomas: I was talking to Tony Kushner this morning about what an amazing day the first day of auditions can be.

[4:27] Kay: Oh, really? I read that he's totally off the grid right now working on a new play. That's so great that you got to talk to him.

[4:32] Andrew Barth Feldman: Oh, you can't believe everything you read online.

[4:38] Cheryl Philips: Okay, Team Avatar. We can get started whenever you're ready.

[4:41] Bobby: As you know, Zoe and I have been through three days of open calls, and we have only seen 10% of the people who want to audition.

[4:49] Zoey Taylor: I've never seen anything like it.

[4:51] Bobby: I couldn't agree more. So inspiring. No, I'm just going to say it. We've seen the future of Broadway. Stand back.

[5:01] Cheryl Philips: All right, all right, all right. Enough sugar-soaked preamble. Let's get started so we can end this.

[5:05] Bobby: Cool, cool, cool. Okay, we're going to start with the role of Jake. Oh, I'm sorry, Ryan. Guys, I'm very embarrassed.

[5:12] Ryan: I see we have a typo on the sides. Instead of Jake, it says Lake.

[5:17] Bobby: Uh, no, that's right. The male lead of Avatar, that's two V's, mind you, is Lake Gully.

[5:26] Cheryl Philips: What? Does it really matter?

[5:28] Bobby: Lake Gully? Oh, you weren't kidding. Up first for Lake Gully, Alan Walrus. You know his work.

[5:36] Zoey Taylor: Tony, two years ago for the Google musical.

[5:38] Cheryl Philips: I love that musical.

[5:41] Bobby: Alan, thank you for joining us.

[5:44] Alan Walrus: Hey, everyone.

[5:45] Zoey Taylor: What the hell, crutches?

[5:47] Cheryl Philips: Oh, Alan, thank you for coming in, even with your situation.

[5:52] Alan Walrus: My, sorry, my what?

[5:55] Bobby: Cheryl, he's reading for Jake. I mean, Lake. He loses his legs, remember?

[6:00] Cheryl Philips: Oh, right, of course. Nice touch.

[6:04] Alan Walrus: Yeah, Mr. Jones, Miss Phillips, Bobby, Kay. Hey, Thomas. And of course, Zoe, I am so proud of you.

[6:12] Zoey Taylor: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you going to sing or what?

[6:14] Alan Walrus: Oh, yes, sorry, sorry. Right away, sir.

[6:17] Zoey Taylor: Alan, take your time. Not to worry, darling.

[6:22] Alan Walrus: Thank you.

[6:24] ♪ Musical number: "Blue Moon" — performed by Alan Walrus ♪

[6:37] Lesli Margherita: And next, Gwendolyn George, Drama Desk winner for That's a Tall Tree and Serious Triple Threat.

[6:43] Deborah Hannaford: Oh, thank you, Deborah. It's so great to see everyone.

[6:48] Gwendolyn George: Bobby, Kay, I haven't even had the chance to congratulate you on the last cigar. Oh, my God.

[6:52] Gwendolyn George: And now Avatar. I mean, how cool is that?

[6:55] Bobby: Yes.

[6:56] Gwendolyn George: Oh, no need for piano. I've got this.

[6:59] Gwendolyn George: Am I blue? Am I blue?

[7:07] Gwendolyn George: Ain't these tears in my eyes telling you?

[7:13] Gwendolyn George: Am I blue? You'd be too.

[7:19] Gwendolyn George: If each plan with your man just fell through.

[7:27] Bobby: Wow. Amazing.

[7:29] Cheryl Philips: Seriously, is every audition song going to have blue in the title?

[7:33] Bobby: What's next? Blue Velvet? Blue Suede Shoes? Blue Bayou? Crystal Blue Persuasion?

[7:39] Cheryl Philips: I guess that's why they call it the blues. I'm blue, da ba dee, da ba da.

[7:43] Bobby: Or one of my all time least favorites, Song Sung Blue.

[7:47] Cheryl Philips: I think if one person showed up right now and sang a song about the color red, they'd really stand out.

[7:52] Bobby: Genius, right? Oh, hi, Deborah.

[7:54] Deborah Hannaford: That's lunch. See you all back here in one hour.

[7:57] Cheryl Philips: Kay, can I speak to you for a moment?

[8:00] Deborah Hannaford: Deborah, I'll see you back here.

[8:02] Cheryl Philips: Of course, Cheryl. What's up?

[8:04] Cheryl Philips: I just wanted to apologize about how this whole thing has been handled.

[8:10] Cheryl Philips: You didn't deserve a sneak attack that way.

[8:13] Gwendolyn George: Oh, that's just mist over the hallelujah mountain, Cheryl.

[8:18] Gwendolyn George: Truly, it's a relief to not have to shoulder the book and lyrics.

[8:22] Gwendolyn George: Now Bobby and I can focus on the songs and I can actually breathe again.

[8:27] Cheryl Philips: This is a relief.

[8:29] Gwendolyn George: Well, okay. If you're sure.

[8:33] Cheryl Philips: Absolutely. Now, I'm just going to run down to the bodega and get some Drano.

[8:39] Gwendolyn George: Kidding. I'm kidding. Okay, I'm getting sandwiches for a quick work session with the gang.

[8:44] Gwendolyn George: Hey, Bobby. I feel like we haven't had the chance to chat.

[8:48] Bobby: What? No. What? You were just over at the apartment the other night.

[8:52] Gwendolyn George: And you avoided being alone with me the whole time.

[8:55] Bobby: That's crazy, Thomas. We're all adults here.

[9:00] Thomas: Steve? Steve? I wanted to talk to you.

[9:03] Bobby: You did? You did?

[9:05] Thomas: Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Sorry, Thomas, if you'll just excuse us.

[9:11] Bobby: Thanks, Steve.

[9:13] Thomas: Actually, I did want to talk to you.

[9:15] Thomas: I think we need a song to preview on America's Got Talent to drum up some interest.

[9:19] Bobby: Thanks, Steve.

[9:21] Thomas: You will never believe who I just saw deep in Story Conference.

[9:27] Thomas: N.Y.C.'s hottest exes, Bobby and Thomas.

[9:32] Thomas: And Kate. Nowhere to be seen.

[9:36] Thomas: Is there trouble brewing at Avatar?

[9:39] Thomas: J.K., that's like the happiest group of people I've ever seen on a show.

[9:44] Thomas: Hashtag jelly.

[9:46] Lesli Margherita: But that mere fact will not stop increasingly snarky and devious very junior agent Maxwell Furnsby from making the moves on his boss's client portfolio while the poor guy recovers from dimpleplasty.

[9:58] Lesli Margherita: It just doesn't get uglier than that, now does it?

[10:02] Maxwell Furnsby: Well, this is certainly out of the way.

[10:07] Maxwell Furnsby: I wanted a chance to really talk to you, Kate.

[10:11] Kate: Look, I know things have been very difficult.

[10:14] Maxwell Furnsby: Not at all. The last few weeks have been an absolute dream from a creative standpoint.

[10:20] Kate: Really?

[10:21] Maxwell Furnsby: Maxwell, you really need to get better at this.

[10:23] Maxwell Furnsby: Tell me why I am at a restaurant called Pasta Lovers.

[10:27] Kate: Well, I have some potentially very exciting news.

[10:31] Maxwell Furnsby: Potentially.

[10:32] Maxwell Furnsby: We've never discussed it, but I've been a fan of your first novel since I read it in college.

[10:38] Kate: Wait just a second, Maxwell Furnsby.

[10:40] Maxwell Furnsby: You've read Union Hotel?

[10:43] Kate: Listen, there's interest.

[10:44] The Curtain Rises: Welcome back to As The Curtain Rises, Broadway’s first digital soap opera.

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