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[0:00] Martín Acuña: Hi everyone. I am Martín Acuña and you are listening to Backstage Talk.

[0:18] Martín Acuña: Hello everyone. Welcome back to Backstage Talk. Today, this episode is a full circle moment for me because this performer I will be interviewing today, I saw him at Moulin Rouge just before the shutdown back in January 2020. I have here with me Reed Luplau. He is an absolute triple threat. He's a singer, dancer, actor, and he has also developed a love for choreography and film appearing not only on TV series like Fosse-Verdon, but The Shape of Water. He was born in Perth, Australia. Reed has been dancing at the age of 18 months at his mother's studio where he trained in jazz, ballet, tap, acrobatics, and musical theater. And before graduating from the Australian Ballet School, Reed was invited by the then artistic director Graham Murphy and Janet Vernon to join the Sydney Dance Company.

As a dancer in New York City, Reed has performed in several companies and he has been on Broadway several times on shows like Moulin Rouge, Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, and Fiddler on the Roof. And he has also had shows off Broadway and opera. So Reed, thank you so much for coming over to Backstage Talk. It is an honour to have you over.

[1:42] Reed Luplau: Oh my gosh, what an intro. I was like, oh my gosh, he knows everything about me and that's crazy. And yeah, thank you. I'm so happy to be here. Are you kidding me? I'm way more happy, like I am fanboying right now very hard. That's so crazy. I'm really not that special. I mean, thank you. I'll take it. And I really appreciate it. I'm so happy to be here too. Thank you.

[2:08] Martín Acuña: Okay, so what made you choose the thespian life at the very young age of 18 months?

[2:17] Reed Luplau: Good question. I honestly didn't, I don't really have, I didn't really have a choice. And that's a great thing for me. Some people are like, oh, no. My mother still owns and runs her dance studio in Perth, Australia. And I was born and raised into it. And I did try football, Australian football and t-ball and baseball for my dad. But I was, you know, out in the field doing cartwheels instead of, you know, playing the game. And it was just, the studio was just a natural place for me to be. And I loved it. And, you know, ever since I was a young kid, it was just always there in my blood. So I just followed it. And when I was about 14 or 15, no, I was like 12, 13. I apologize. One of my mom's former students went off to dance for Netherlands Dance Theatre, which is a great company in the Netherlands.

And she came back to the West Australian Ballet, which is our state ballet of Western Australia. And I saw my first ballet, which is crazy at the age of, well, not my first ballet, I won't say that, my first contemporary ballet. And it was this updated version of Coppelia. And I was like, wait, you can, you can dance full time. You can be paid to do this. And it kind of, there's this switch that went, oh, okay, I'm going to be a professional dancer. I think, you know, as a young kid, you're like, I'm just going to dance. And that's what makes me happy. But then as you kind of grow into it, you're like, oh, I can, this can be a career. And so that's what kind of, it just continued down there.

And so I went off into the ballet world and I trained at the Australian Ballet School. And I thought that a ballet company was where I was supposed to be in my life. But by the time of my third year before graduating, I very much realized that I'm a very good mover. And I, yes, I had my ballet technique, but I love moving and dancing in all different shapes. Any sort of aspect of dance you can, you can get yourself into. And I didn't really just want to stay on this ballet trajectory. You know, I wanted to very much explore everything. And then the artistic director of the Australian Ballet at the time, David McAllister, was like, you need to be in touch with Graham Murphy and Janet Vernon and you should be dancing for this company.

This is where you should be going. And right before I graduated, I was taking class. I would travel up to Sydney. My mom and I made a special trip together. And then I was taking class with the company because at the time they never really did auditions. They just took people word of mouth. Or if you came and showed interest, it was a weird time. And then right before I graduated, I got a phone call, you know, saying welcome to the company. It was extremely unheard of at the time to have such a young artist in that company. It was a very mature company at the time. And so I just went on from there and I'm still dancing now. And I just always just wanted to keep pushing the envelope, you know, step outside the box of what my comfortability was. And now I live in the craziest city in the world. I love it.

[5:29] Martín Acuña: And that is an amazing journey because you've also developed a love for directing, for video editing, because I've seen your YouTube videos, the videos you've done. So listeners go right now to YouTube and search for Reed. He has pretty cool stuff there. So tell me a little bit about your journey, specifically musical theater, because you've also done what we can understand as musicals on TV and film. You've choreographed things and you've been on Broadway.

[6:03] Reed Luplau: Yeah. First of all, I always had a passion for musical theater. My Nana, when I was younger, was the first thing I watched or remember watching was the VHS of Singing in the Rain. And of course, that just sticks in my head and it's such a memory and it's such a vital, important time being imprinted so early on. And then, of course, she would show me Michael Jackson's Thriller. So I was very heavily influenced in this theatrical world to begin with. And I sort of, you know, went off and took my ballet training and went into that. But there was always that deal at the back of my head, oh, you should be singing and acting and doing all the above because dancers are primarily we don't say anything.

We just use our bodies to talk, of course. And I think when I was deciding when I decided to move to New York and America in general, I wanted to push outside again, as I was saying, push the envelope. And I moved here to specifically work and try and get into theater and film and TV, because that's where I really wanted to get to. And so I was dancing and dance companies before then, but I was really I still had to coach things on the side to push that. And I was going to acting classes to add to my skill set. And then I once I got my green card, things changed because this country is very strict with rules. And I started I had to start again. No one in casting knew who I was. So I was starting no one in theatrical casting or TV casting knew who I was.

I was this new person, even though I had been dancing my whole life and, you know, had a great dance career already. It was starting from scratch. And you have to sort of build that rapport with casting directors so they know what you're right for, what kind of show you're right for. But, yeah, that's how I kind of started. And it was just so many close. Yes, yes, yes. It was like maybe. And there was always no. And then Fiddler on the Roof came around and it was just the perfect fit. It was Holfesh Schechter and Bart Lachiere. And it was this magnificent combination together that just happened to be right for me. And that was my debut. And so and it was an incredible way to start on the Broadway stage, having Bart as our director and Holfesh as Cardiffer and then having Daddy Burstein as our lead really was such an educational time, not only to be paid to perform and be on Broadway, but it was like I was a sponge. I was just learning so much already from that. So, yeah, I hope I didn't derail too much of that question, but I think.

[8:53] Martín Acuña: You didn't, you didn't. So what was your best memory with Fiddler? Besides having those great directors and performers at your side.

[9:04] Reed Luplau: It was my debut. So already that to begin with is such a massive milestone in your life. And on my birthday, we had the. We had our rehearsal with the orchestra for the first time, and it was just a great time. But yeah, being on that stage and being on the Broadway theater was incredible. That's where Steamboat Mickey first had its world premiere. So it's such a great theater to begin with. I will say the Tony performance was just incredible that year was my first Tony. It was just a first for a lot of things that was just tick, tick, tick, tick. Same with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was a lot of just this great time with so much goodness was happening.

[10:37] Reed Luplau: Oh, my goodness. The best part. There was so many good times. It was I was kind of it was the third sort of time or fourth time they were coming back. You know, they started small, went to a tent, took it to Boston. And I had such a high appreciation for the show. I just think it was so unique and so different and diverse and eclectic. And I just it was not it's not a dance show. And I'm primarily a dancer. So to be able to be a part of that show where they got to add some dance into it was incredible. I was coming into it fourth time round. People already knew each other. So it was very much they you know, it was a new coming into a new school. And I there was only a few of us that were new to Broadway.

But the energy and the audience gratitude towards what we were doing. And, you know, they completely tore down the inside of the Imperial Theatre. And we had no stage and the seating was everywhere. It was just runways. And it's so creative. And to be a part of something that was that creative and innovative for a commercial run on Broadway was just so I'm so incredibly proud to be a part of. And yeah, what a show it was. You didn't know we never had a genre for it was like folky with like some pop rock, then like extreme dance, like, you know, electric music. It was just all over the place. But really well directed and really well focused and just a really great time on Broadway.

[10:57] Reed Luplau: Yeah, but that I would say those highlighted moments and then just being in such a great musical theater piece to begin with was such a great story, still relevant and still current to today with exceptional music and great choreography. So it was just such an honor to be a part of. And the fiddler to it is still going around the states as we speak. So I'm really proud of that show and how far it's continued to grow, go and continue to grow from that. I love it. So let's talk a little bit about the Great Comet for a second. What was the best of that process?

[12:18] Martín Acuña: Yeah. I love it. Absolutely love it. So you are now performing with Moulin Rouge, a huge Tony Award winning show. Even before the Tonys, it was huge. So how was

[12:34] Reed Luplau: I was in the group that Sonia Taye, the choreographer, was auditioning to be the choreographer, so I was in her group auditioning for her to get the job. And then we, of course, had to go through the whole audition process just to get the job. And this is back in 2017, and I was doing Kama at the time. And it's just been such a roller coaster. It's ups and downs and ups and downs, a lot of highs, a few lows, but it's incredible to be a part of this show. I am a huge Baz Luhrmann fan. I always have been, being Australian, such an icon from everything that he's done and still continues to do so. But bringing it to every stage, like we did a lab and then we took it to Boston and went through the ringer of sort of finding what works, what doesn't work.

The things that have changed since then have been very beneficial for the show, and that's what you learn from being out of town. And then, of course, the hype of bringing it to Broadway, which was incredible. And I never, when I heard that it was in the works, that Moulin Rouge! The Musical was in the works, I honestly didn't think it was the show for me. I kind of pictured it as like a Casey Nicholaw or Susan Stroman musical where everything was very sharp and you had to be six foot tall and very macho, you know, very the other Broadway chorus boy that is not me. And I didn't think it was going to go that way. But then when Sonia got it, I was like, oh, this could be very different and unique and bring the individuality from ourselves to make what the Moulin Rouge!

Musical is. So I'm so proud to be a part of it that way from the get-go. And bringing it back was extremely strange, strange and weird and good and strange and weird and good. You know, we were rehearsing all the time with masks. We were tested, I think, three or four times a week, you know, safety first. And now things have calmed down. We're back into a routine of sort of, you know, we still get tested. We are wearing masks throughout the building, except when performing, everyone in the audience is masked. It feels good to be back, honestly, from having that break. And I think a lot of people have learned a lot. And so have I as an artist and where I need to put my attention in the show. I'm not saying this, you know, as a bad thing, but sometimes before the pandemic, the show was always the priority, you know, and life would come second.

It's just work, work, work, work, work. And I think we really took the time during the pandemic to realize what is important in life and how much time we spend with work and how much time we should spend with family and for ourselves. But it's really lovely to be back. And the audiences are very appreciative. And we're very lucky. The Moulin Rouge! should be a very popular show. And having, you know, swept so well at the Tony Awards has been very great for us. And it's really, it honestly is such a beautiful show. And I've made such a family there at the show. And it's just lovely to be backstage and on stage with the people that I've spent four years of my life with.

[16:16] Martín Acuña: Absolutely. And I just can barely imagine how a party it was the first show back, like the first night back.

[16:25] Reed Luplau: Oh, definitely. Yeah. So you've been with this show since day one.

[16:32] Martín Acuña: Literally day one. So how has it been building a Tony Award-winning show? You've seen all the process.

[16:41] Reed Luplau: I have. I've seen all the good stuff. I've seen all the mistakes. I've witnessed it all. It's incredible because you see how much time, I mean, they had been working on getting it to somewhere for so long. You know, it's a show that requires so much music licensing, so much thought, so much detail, how to bring those current, like how to bring Baz Luhrmann's version of Baz Luhrmann's story to the theater without having the tricks of editing and like, you know, film and then how to make it how to bring current and relevant songs and to still be able to storytell within that and sort of try and, you know, not mimic the film, but also to get it to a new standard of what the theater version could be because, you know, it's going to be slightly different.

Someone else's take on Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge. But it was amazing. You know, it's been so cool to be a part of an originating, you know, choreography and steps and movement and how things are happening. And we've just been through so many versions. There were so many things that got cut. There were so many things that, especially in the first lab, where we had different storytelling and different stories that were happening. And Christian used to be in the original. Christian was a lot darker of a character and was running away from things. And we've just tried different options musically. And I've learned so much on the other side to sort of watch and see what things work, where people choose to, how people choose to make decisions and think what's right.

And I think Boston was a huge learning curve to obviously having an audience for the first time and seeing what works, what doesn't. Yeah, it's amazing. It's just so I have to step back sometimes and remember what I'm a part of because I'm so involved, like I'm so in this thing that it's like it's a part of my life. And yeah, it's very, very cool.

[18:55] Martín Acuña: Amazing. Amazing. I'm starstruck just imagining the whole process from the lab to Boston to New York to reopening. It must be mind-blowing.

[19:10] Reed Luplau: Yeah, very much so. Yeah.

[19:12] Martín Acuña: So what advice would you give young people that want to become musical theatre performers that want to be triple threats?

[19:19] Reed Luplau: I would just say, keep going. Keep going. No matter how many walls you think you hit or how many roadblocks or people saying no, there is a place for everyone in this business. There is a place for everyone in this world. And I absolutely believe that. I had before Fiddler, I had three very close yeses and those shows were not for me. And I've learned so much from that. And it comes down to casting. It also comes down to if you're replacing someone, do you fit that person's costumes? Like it's still a business at the end of the day. And honestly, there is just a place for everyone. And now what I learned also too from the pandemic is why wait, if you want to create something, if you want to do something, you have this phone that has like five cameras on it that you can do anything.

There's so many programs that you can edit, you can put yourself out there. And it was also letting go of that fear of putting stuff out there and just being like, I have literally nothing else to do. I need to wake up and have something to do. So I'm just going to create. But I will say, just keep going. There is a place for you. And if you want it that badly, it'll happen. Just keep going. I'm from the smallest town in Australia. Well, not smallest, but a very, very far away place. And it was determination. And I was like, no one's going to tell me that I can't do this. So I made it happen.

[20:42] Martín Acuña: I absolutely love it. So you've been on Broadway several times. You've directed a lot of stuff. You've choreographed a lot of stuff. Do you have anything you want to do next? Is there any other project that you have in the works on the side besides the show?

[20:56] Reed Luplau: Yeah, I am. I'm working with Disney Cruise Line. I am actually working for Disney Cruise Line. And I am Associate Choreographer for one brand new show that I cannot announce just yet. I'm working on a second show for the Disney Wish and then a third show I'm choreographing as well. So all for the Disney Wish. And I'm actually done. I'm done with Moulin Rouge on January 16th. It will be my final show. After four years, it's time. I'm really, you know, found from the pandemic, I really want to, you know, spend more time on the creative side and really dive into that and place my focus there. And one way to do that is to, you just have to be open. And so I love Moulin Rouge and having a show eight times a week can just be very constricting and I can't go anywhere.

And so I'm very excited to be working creatively for Disney and it's so fun. And I, you know, get to create, but I get to create with Disney characters and it's a dream. So that's one thing that's just what comes up as of from January onwards. So if you're ever on the Disney Wish, actually you'll see some of my choreography on the Disney Wonder and the Disney Magic. But yeah, I'm starting back with Disney Cruise Line and as a creator and I'm so excited.

[22:20] Martín Acuña: That sounds huge. And I'm super excited for you. Wow. I just wish you the best with Disney and whatever endeavor you go on next.

[22:31] Reed Luplau: Thank you. Thanks. One question before we wrap up.

[22:41] Martín Acuña: Yeah. What are your top five favorite musical theater shows?

[22:44] Reed Luplau: Oh goodness. My first that comes to my head is always Little Shop of Horrors. That's probably the first movie musical that I saw and fell in love with. I mean, that music is just incredible. I always loved the music of Jesus Christ Superstar. It's so random and weird, but I just love that rock music. Top five. Okay. I've said two. I'm going back in time now. I loved American Idiot. I'm not sure if you saw it. It was really cool. I loved the interpretation of that album. And I just, I saw it like four times. It was crazy. I love Bob Fosse's Dance, the Fosse show, of course. I watched that a few times. I think that's so beautiful and creative. And then my fifth choice. Oh my gosh. I know I'm going to get off this podcast, but like, oh, why did I say that?

Oh, I love Avenue Q. I think that's genius too. That was so good. Yeah, I think so. I mean, I love Hamilton. I love all the new stuff. It's so hard not to love any of the big hits, of course, like Wicked and Lion King and Aladdin, all the big ones that are back. And of course, our show. I loved Great Comet. I just think Comet was such a cool musical. Yeah. I think one day I'd really love to be Bert in Mary Poppins, if that ever comes around. I'm going to put that out there.

[24:03] Martín Acuña: Yeah. Yeah. Manifest that. Put that into existence. Reid, where can people get a hold of you?

[24:07] Reed Luplau: My social media handle is just at Reed Luplau. And I'm on the Instagram and the Twitter, and then my website as well. So I'm around. I'm here.

[24:21] Martín Acuña: Awesome. Well, Reid, thank you so much for coming over. It's been amazing having you. And as I said before, I am super excited for where you go next. And I wish you the best.

[24:35] Reed Luplau: Oh my gosh, thank you so much. It is my pleasure to be here. And thank you so much for asking me. It's a pleasure. Thank you.

[24:43] Martín Acuña: Thanks, everyone, for listening to this new episode of Backstage Talk. Remember to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Backstage Talk Podcast.