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[0:01] Myles Frost: This is Myles Frost and you're listening to Behind the Awards.

[0:14] Eila Mell: Hello and welcome to Behind the Awards. I'm Eila. I'm here with Bruce.

[0:19] Bruce Gotlieb: Hello.

[0:20] Eila Mell: Hello there. How are you?

[0:22] Bruce Gotlieb: I'm good.

[0:23] Eila Mell: Cold.

[0:25] Bruce Gotlieb: We're getting a bit of a cold blast here on the East Coast.

[0:29] Eila Mell: This winter is no joke this year.

[0:32] Bruce Gotlieb: I know, but we've had, you know, we've had a few years of really mild temperatures and, you know, a person can get used to that.

[0:41] Eila Mell: I've become soft and I love it.

[0:43] Bruce Gotlieb: And now I am having a lot of trouble. So my house was really cold for a while, but now we're back to normal, but I have a frozen pipe.

[0:53] Eila Mell: Oh, no, that's not good.

[0:54] Bruce Gotlieb: I know. I know. So I have heaters on the pipe, just hoping that it doesn't crack. So we'll see.

[1:00] Eila Mell: Okay. Well, fingers crossed.

[1:02] Bruce Gotlieb: I know.

[1:05] Eila Mell: All right. Well, Bruce, you broke the sad news to me yesterday.

[1:09] Bruce Gotlieb: I did. I did. Seven years ago, we had Moulin Rouge open up at the Hirschfeld and it's been, you know, churning out hits and bringing in stars and people have been going crazy, but it's going to pack up and it's going to close its doors.

[1:30] Eila Mell: Yeah, I mean, it's a good run. Seven years is a nice long run.

[1:32] Bruce Gotlieb: Absolutely. It's a little sad.

[1:37] Eila Mell: So when did you see Moulin Rouge? What cast did you see?

[1:39] Bruce Gotlieb: I was definitely a little bit late to the party. Soleil Pfeiffer was my Satine.

[1:48] Eila Mell: Okay. And who was my Christian?

[1:52] Bruce Gotlieb: Was it Aaron?

[1:53] Eila Mell: No, it was not Aaron. It was the guy from The Notebook.

[1:59] Bruce Gotlieb: Ryan Vasquez?

[2:00] Eila Mell: Nope.

[2:01] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, John Cardoza?

[2:02] Eila Mell: John Cardoza. Yes.

[2:03] Bruce Gotlieb: All right. Sorry, John, if you're listening. And who is your Harold Ziegler?

[2:11] Eila Mell: That's the part where they get all the big names to come in for.

[2:13] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes, Harold Ziegler, oh shoot, was, I saw him in The Great Gatsby.

[2:20] Eila Mell: Eric Anderson?

[2:21] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes. Thank you.

[2:22] Eila Mell: Okay. I feel like you're in The Stand and I'm asking you questions. I feel like I'm making it playing match game or something.

[2:32] Bruce Gotlieb: So, yeah, so and they were absolutely terrific. The show is just, you know, you walk in and you are engulfed in the atmosphere, in the Moulin Rouge, and that's something that friend to the show, Derek McLean, does just with such expertise. Not every show requires you to dress the theater also.

[2:53] Eila Mell: But when you're going into the Hirschfeld for Moulin Rouge, that's what your expectation is, that you're walking into the Moulin Rouge.

[3:01] Bruce Gotlieb: And you are, yeah. And some people really, really are because they have those tables, you know, to be served.

[3:09] Eila Mell: Absolutely. So, who are your stars? Did you see the original cast?

[3:11] Bruce Gotlieb: I saw the original cast. Yeah, I couldn't wait to see it. So, yes.

[3:15] Eila Mell: And, you know, they were great.

[3:17] Bruce Gotlieb: Absolutely. I mean, right now we have Bob the Drag Queen is in.

[3:21] Eila Mell: How fun.

[3:22] Bruce Gotlieb: I believe the end of March.

[3:24] Eila Mell: Right. They also said that they're going to be within the announcement of the show closing to stay tuned for some surprises.

[3:31] Bruce Gotlieb: So, oh, maybe, maybe some of the original people will come back to close it.

[3:36] Eila Mell: Maybe, maybe. I mean, we had Aaron Tveit was, you know, a Tony Award winner for his role.

[3:41] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes. Remember, he was the only one nominated that year.

[3:45] Eila Mell: Yeah, but still, it wasn't a guarantee.

[3:48] Bruce Gotlieb: Right, right, right. Because had he not gotten a certain percentage of the votes, it would have gone to no one.

[3:53] Eila Mell: Right.

[3:54] Bruce Gotlieb: And at that point, you just have to, like, quit and run off to a foreign country, because that would be so humiliating.

[4:01] Eila Mell: Yeah, not good. If that, yeah.

[4:03] Bruce Gotlieb: So, thankfully, that didn't happen. I had a friend nominated that season, and all I was thinking about was Aaron, not my friend, because I felt so bad. Imagine?

[4:14] Eila Mell: Crazy.

[4:14] Bruce Gotlieb: He did win.

[4:15] Eila Mell: Crazy. And also, our friend and former guest, Robin Herder, was a Tony nominee for that show.

[4:22] Bruce Gotlieb: That's right. Danny Burstein.

[4:25] Eila Mell: My pal Danny won.

[4:26] Bruce Gotlieb: Your pal Danny, and he won. So, I mean, there's a pedigree with that show.

[4:31] Eila Mell: Yes, and the set. You mentioned Derek. He won, too. And that show also recouped. It's the only show from that season of new shows, that class that's still open.

[4:43] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, wow. Okay. So, yeah, it was great. And it won Best Musical.

[4:48] Eila Mell: Yeah. Were you a fan of the movie?

[4:50] Bruce Gotlieb: I sure was. I loved it.

[4:51] Eila Mell: Yeah, the movie's great.

[4:53] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, the movie is great, too.

[4:55] Eila Mell: Yeah, they did pay homage to certain things. You know, it's hard when you're putting a movie on stage or taking a stage property and putting it in a movie. There are certain things that you can and can't do, just logistically.

[5:09] Bruce Gotlieb: Yes.

[5:10] Eila Mell: But I thought that they did it well. And, of course, incorporating some new music or additional music or more current music.

[5:17] Bruce Gotlieb: Updated, right?

[5:18] Eila Mell: Which is a great idea. They were really successful at capturing the energy of the movie without the tricks of the camera.

[5:25] Bruce Gotlieb: So, you know, that was huge. I think that is why the show has been so successful.

[5:31] Eila Mell: Yeah, for sure. So, if you have an opportunity and you're in New York and you have limited time, so you have till July to be able to go there and engulf yourself in the Moulin Rouge.

[5:48] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, it's a fun time.

[5:50] Eila Mell: Absolutely. Now, our guest today.

[5:53] Bruce Gotlieb: Also a Tony winner.

[5:54] Eila Mell: Also a Tony winner.

[5:55] Bruce Gotlieb: Not that season, though.

[5:57] Eila Mell: Not that season. Myles Frost.

[5:59] Bruce Gotlieb: We're so excited to have him.

[6:01] Eila Mell: He was one of our first, I guess, when we started the show, we made a list of who we wanted to ask. And so he was on that list. So we're glad that we finally have. Schedules aligned.

[6:12] Bruce Gotlieb: I mean, yeah, it's been a little bit hard to schedule, but we did it and we're so excited to have him. I mean, he's a busy guy.

[6:20] Eila Mell: You just, you know.

[6:22] Bruce Gotlieb: He is. Can't hold him down for long.

[6:25] Eila Mell: No, well, no. Let's bring Myles out and we'll hear all about what he's been doing.

[6:30] Bruce Gotlieb: Absolutely. Well, Bruce, I know we're so excited today because we're having a guest on that. We've wanted to have for a very long time.

[6:41] Eila Mell: So let's not waste any time and welcome Myles Frost to the show.

[6:45] Myles Frost: Hi, Myles. How you doing?

[6:48] Eila Mell: How you doing? Thank you so much for joining us. We're thrilled to have you here.

[6:51] Myles Frost: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.

[6:53] Eila Mell: Yes, I should have said Tony winner.

[6:55] Myles Frost: That's true.

[6:56] Eila Mell: That's true.

[6:57] Myles Frost: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[6:59] Eila Mell: Now, have you put like a chain around your Tony and do you wear it around your neck? Because that's what I would do if I had one, you know, honestly, honestly.

[7:07] Myles Frost: It used to be at my grandma's. She's like bragging on it. I just I just I made it available for her to do that. But yeah, no, it's just in my room and I'll look at it. It'll look at me. I might spin it a few times.

[7:23] Eila Mell: See, that's what's good about the Tony. It's the one award that you can actually interact with.

[7:29] Myles Frost: He can't do anything.

[7:29] Bruce Gotlieb: That's right.

[7:31] Myles Frost: Yeah, you know, maybe you can use a Grammy as a shot glass as from, you know, from what I've seen.

[7:35] Bruce Gotlieb: Right, right.

[7:38] Eila Mell: Well, you are very busy right now. You're in rehearsals for Chez Joey. How is that going?

[7:45] Myles Frost: It's it's a whirlwind. I'm not gonna lie to you. You know, it's I would say the the rehearsal process is very on par with the energy of the show. It's just we hit the ground running and high energy from start to finish and working with Savion is definitely very much that, you know, and and Tony, you know, they are geniuses, you know, within their own right and as you could probably imagine, you know, geniuses have have a way of doing things.

[8:18] Eila Mell: Yeah, that is unlike any other which makes them who they are, you know, so having to experience that I think is made me grow a lot in ways that I never thought I would be able to just because you can't you can't predict the process like that.

[8:31] Myles Frost: Right now you're coming into the show when it's already an entity, right? Because they did a run in DC.

[8:38] Eila Mell: So yes, what is it like for you? Are you the only person who's new to the cast?

[8:43] Myles Frost: No, the majority of the cast is new. I think there were I think there's three people that were part of the previous iteration, but I also do know that this the iteration that we have now is significantly different from what they did in City Center, I believe.

[8:59] Eila Mell: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm very excited about that. It's still it's still new, you know, even though there have been past iterations of it.

[9:05] Myles Frost: So right. Were you familiar with Pal Joey much at all, but like the original?

[9:10] Myles Frost: No, no, I never heard. Yeah. No, no, no. I'd never heard of it. And I was I was told not to watch the you know, that's watch it because it didn't it didn't have any correlation with what we're doing. You know, we're not we're doing a I like to call it and the team likes to call it a reimagining as opposed to you know, a revival.

[9:35] Eila Mell: Yeah. Yeah, they don't want you probably to do any background work on on a character that would be vastly different than the character you're going to be playing.

[9:43] Myles Frost: So, yeah. He was a boxer in the in that version. I mean, yeah, it's a whole different guy that you're playing me. Meanwhile, Joey carries a switchblade. He doesn't know like this is, you know, Joey's on a whole different time, you know, he's he's on some he's on some different.

[9:59] Eila Mell: So let's talk about your dance background because you're working with Savion Glover one of the best dancers in the world on the planet. So, how did you learn dance? Did you go to classes for you know, the traditional way or did you have your own method?

[10:15] Myles Frost: Yeah. No, I'm I'm self-taught. The reason I laugh is because I remember I was around high school, you know, that's that's around the time you start building a resume for the first time and start constructing what that looks like and I put singer songwriter dancer actor on there and my mom was like, I think you should take dance off your resume.

[10:38] Eila Mell: Oh, I didn't have any dance training, you know, I have no formal training of any sort everything that I'd learned, you know, I taught myself the first I guess you can say my first dance lesson was after I got MJ and I worked with Rich and Tone. I mean the best teachers in the world the best literally literally the best.

[11:00] Myles Frost: What a luxury right? Isn't that great?

[11:03] Eila Mell: Yeah, but then after I won the Cheetah Rivera award my mom said I could put it I could put dance on my resume.

[11:09] Myles Frost: But it took up until then. I know dancers, you know, who've trained their whole lives who are dying to get that Cheetah Rivera award. It's such a big thing. So what an honor to get it.

[11:21] Myles Frost: Yeah, and I got that alongside Jared Grimes who you know, on the on the topic of tap, you know, yeah phenomenal and I was very honored to share that award with him.

[11:30] Eila Mell: Yeah. So did you say you were self-taught? But did you watch Michael Jackson? Were you influenced by him?

[11:37] Myles Frost: Yeah. Yeah all the time him James Brown, you know, I took a very Michael like approach to to learning dance, you know, Michael would just you know, study the greats and become greater as he would say so I was just I was my eyes were glued and I love footwork. That's my thing. So I watch a lot of James Brown a lot of Michael, you know, a lot of electric boogaloos, you know, shout out to Poppin Pete. He was also one of my teachers after I got MJ and then when I when I got MJ it opened my world to a whole new type of research, you know, that's what I discovered the Berry Brothers the Nicholas Brothers, you know, Fred Astaire's early stuff Gene Kelly, you know, a lot of art people I didn't know until you know to look up and right.

[12:23] Myles Frost: Yeah, and it's just been expanding and growing since then.

[12:26] Eila Mell: So I love that number in MJ when it's all the influences.

[12:30] Myles Frost: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and it's so important. It's so important, you know to shine light on where a lot of if not all of these dances originated from right now exactly showing how you know, Sammy Davis jr. Did this thing that evolved into Michael doing this thing, you know, yeah, it's building blocks that it's yeah, that is all yeah, right and I would I would I will say about them, you know, especially during that time like in the 40s, especially being that shade Joey takes takes place in that same time here. I'm trying to I'm trying to figure out what they were smoking because the fact that they did all that kind of stuff they jumping off banisters and oh, yeah into splits. I'm like and you know that they didn't have knee pads back.

[13:15] Eila Mell: Right, right. They didn't have anything they didn't have anything and I'm just like no, I they're doing it. Everybody already believed you before you jumped off of that and into a split. We already know it.

[13:26] Myles Frost: I know but that's why that's why we still know them because they were they were athletes in a way that no one really was and has been for such a long time.

[13:40] Myles Frost: I'm tapping into that time period and finding that athleticism within myself, you know, that's so different from MJ and I'm enjoying that process. What's it been like for you? We've heard you talk about, you know, getting MJ and becoming, you know, Michael, but that's a character now that you've lived with for so many years. Are you able to have the luxury to continue to keep it fresh and find new things? Because obviously, you do something for so long, it becomes second nature, I'm sure. I will say, even though a show is set, right, there's always opportunities to discover new things. And a lot of those things happen on accident. That's the fun part. You know, a lot of the things happen, you know, you might do something and the audience laughs.

Like you're doing that and you test it out and it keeps working. You know, you may have moments, you know, I definitely experienced during MJ where I'm like, OK, I'm going to challenge myself. You know, how long can I stand on my toes for Billie Jean? You know, you know, you just see this. It's a little small stuff when you get into that routine. The routine allows you to think of other things that you can incorporate. And what I'll say about Chez Joey, and this is really a shout out to Tony and Shea, is our show is so, Shea likes to use the word improvography. Cool. That was coined by Gregory Hines. And we do a lot of that in the show. So it's highly, highly, highly a pretty good chance that if you come and see the show on a Tuesday, and then you come on Wednesday, you may see a different variation.

And then if you come on Thursday, you're going to see a whole different variation. And you know, and obviously the core of the show is, you know, going to be what it is, but how we interpret that and the different things that we do, it shifts and it changes because we want to create a live environment. You know, it takes place in a small black-owned club in the 40s in Chicago. You know, so we want people to feel that when they walk in, like, you know, I've entered this world, you know, and I don't know, a club in the 40s that or any club rather that's that's routine based, you know, it's a live environment, you know, anything can happen, anybody could walk in. So it's, it's that kind of buzz that we, you know, are curating right now. And it's so, so different. So it's so non-traditional. And I love that.

[16:03] Eila Mell: Yeah, no, that's so much fun. Is there tap in the show? Are you learning tap? Or did you already know tap?

[16:09] Myles Frost: No, I didn't know tap before this, you know, so he's definitely pouring into me in that way. We got some cats, man, that I don't know how people be like, I don't know how your ankles do that. I'm like, No, I don't know how their ankles do that. Yeah, and say what hate to call it, you know, he, although he obviously comes from that world, he referred to it as tap as far as what we do in the show, but more so just expression via movement, you know, and he, he and he and Tony's mindset is to reach a deeper connection of what we know sound to be, you know, and how sound, you know, outside of what we hear that the sound as in the vibrations of the earth and how we're all connected the sounds that of our ancestors echoing and how we receive that unknowingly how we just innately know how to do things because our ancestors did them in the past while we do certain stances and how they have certain meanings that have been curated over time.

You know, we really tap into that. And as far as tap is concerned, you know, he always brings up the point to say, you know, before they put the metal on the bottom of the shoe, what was it called? It was just it was just expression. It was just dance. Yeah, you know, so we try to live in that world of not classifying what we do and just allowing the action in the movement to define itself and however you're impacted as an audience member by that is how, you know, is will be your takeaway.

[17:46] Eila Mell: Now, if I were you, I would just be a little wary of Tony, because you know, he did have Patrick Swayze killed in Ghost.

[17:59] Myles Frost: I saw, I saw. I'm like, you know what? It's gonna be killing you, man.

[18:05] Eila Mell: Hi, this is Kevin Solak and we'll be right back with Behind the Awards.

[18:09] Eila Mell: All right. So now I know that some crazy stuff happened during MJ. So let's talk about that a little bit. Sure. Did people start to think that you were Michael Jackson audience members?

[18:14] Myles Frost: Yeah. I heard a story one time someone gave you their baby on stage.

[18:22] Myles Frost: They sure did. Can you talk about that? So yeah, it was during one of the curtain calls. And you know, we were singing. And I looked to the bottom right of the stage. And I'm like, this lady is like, take my child. And I'm like, okay, so I pick him up and I put him on stage. And you know, we start dancing and stage management is freaking out because if anything happens to this child, if he gets a paper cut, they are suing us, you know. So I was like, okay, let me just make sure, you know, he gets up here safely, you know, has his moment and you know, his mom gets to record it and do the thing. But yeah, people, I think sometimes people forget that we're doing a theater show. Right. And you know, that I'm not actually Michael Jackson.

Right. I've been called the second coming of Michael. I've been called quite a few things. All which I'm appreciative for. Right. You know, and I think any real artist who gets compared to Michael in any way, humbly declines. Right. Like, oh, you do it so much better than Michael. No, Michael's an alien. Right. Even Chris, if you ask Chris Brown, Chris, you know, people say, Oh, Chris Brown, Michael Jackson's better than Chris Brown. Chris is like, no, I'm not better than him. Yeah. We know our place when it comes to that. You know, it's reminiscent of what Mike Tyson said. And when he references Muhammad Ali, who, you know, obviously he reviewed so much. He's like, no, like Muhammad Ali is different because Muhammad would die for this.

He's like, I'm not willing to die for this. Michael will wake up in the middle at 2:30 a.m. Like, I have an idea. I need to get down and call producers like, hey, wake up, meet me at the studio. We've got to record this idea. Right. I'm sleep. I don't. Yeah, I'm not waking up. You might wake you up. You might jot it down for later. Yeah. I might, you know. I get in the morning, but it's like, no, this has to because he really believed that if he didn't record it and laying down and make that idea tangible, that Prince was going to get that idea. He was serious about that. That's not just a joke that we say in the show, like he was very, very serious in the transfer of energy and concepts and thoughts that if you don't take advantage of that, you guys are going to be like, all right, I'm gonna give it to so-and-so because they're going to do something with it.

[20:43] Eila Mell: And just, you know, did you find the fever or the crowds different in New York versus England? I'm assuming you might have been a little bit more, but I could be wrong.

[20:49] Myles Frost: No, you're absolutely right. You know, New York, for the most part, we're Americans. We like to be heard. We like, you know, scream, yell and do I do the thing, which is very helpful for us. So like MJ, because we're pouring so much out, you know, energy wise, you know, and to have that reciprocity is so important because it keeps us going. Where I would say London, they just appreciate it in a different way. I don't I wouldn't say they're better or worse, but I think they're just different. You know, they care about the book. So they're very they listen intently, you know, and with purpose and save a lot of their cheering and stuff for the end, which I also respect. You know, you got to, you know, we're in Rome, right?

Right. But also they they react differently than we do. Right. Yeah. Culture. And, you know, making some of the the comedic points land also. Sure. Right. You know, because, you know, when we tell a joke, we're telling it in an American way, as you know, and sometimes it may not land. Right. And, you know, you don't got to not take offense to that, but just understand that sometimes the humor also may just be different. It may not translate.

[22:00] Eila Mell: Yeah. Because you had that experience of feeling a little bit of what it was like to be Michael Jackson. Did that add to your portrayal of him? Did you understand him in a different way?

[22:05] Myles Frost: Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, I would I would say in so many different ways, if I'm being honest, two of the biggest ways I would say is definitely one from the media, because when we first started, you know, nobody really, really wanted to give us a time of day because of the allegations and stuff like that. Right. Right. And if they did, that's all they want to talk about. Yeah. Right. It's very hard to do an interview when people just want to talk about not you and, you know, that I'm just a show about a slice of someone's life. And it's not, you know, it just doesn't deal with that. Yeah. You know, and, you know, even though I knew I bore the responsibility of portraying him, so I have to answer for certain things, you know, or I'd be questioned about certain things.

Understand, I wasn't even born. Right. What do you know about it? I've got to go back to the research about some time I wasn't born in, you know, so I'm like, OK, you know, but I'm like I said, I still it doesn't take away the responsibility of, you know, me having to answer for that and give my opinion because I portray him just as just as much as, you know, someone who portrays somebody like Jeffrey Dahmer has to, you know, they have to have that connection with with him in order to be able to articulate and explain, you know, how that, you know, how that person lands, you know, within their spirit. And, you know, as far as Michael's concern, how do I put it? You know, I was like it was it was frustrating.

You know, this was my first, you know, big opportunity to show the world who I am. And don't nobody want to see me because of some allegations that I wasn't even born to see, you know, want to be a part of. And not only just myself, but I'm like, we have so so much talent on the stage and we're telling a story that's so much deeper than, you know, just a particular moment or a particular series of moments in Michael's life. And I'm like, people need to see this. You know, there's so much positivity. There's so many kids that that need this and need to be impacted by Mike, you know, because, you know, that's that's one of the Mike is one of those people that come once every few hundred years, you know.

[24:06] Eila Mell: Well, that's the thing. You know, we don't know what none of us were there. We don't know what actually happened. And if it is true, it's it's a terrible thing. But, you know, there have been plays and movies and, you know, TV shows about many terrible people and no one seems to think that that's an issue. So, you know, I don't know why this got so much controversy. Plus, you know, let's put aside whatever he might or might not have done. But he did create art that endures and that is, you know, in a class by itself.

[24:39] Myles Frost: Yeah. And a lot of people is so many things that people don't know about Mike, you know, that is so amazing that never makes the never makes those big tabloids. Michael being having the Guinness World Record for being the most charitable person. Really? You know, yeah. Like Michael during a dangerous tour, Michael used to he would when he would land in the city, he would go to like the nearest Boys and Girls Club that was in that city, play with the kids, leave like a twenty thousand dollar donation, go do the show, go to the next city and do the same thing to the part where he was giving more than he was actually making on that tour. Wow. Even though it was the highest grossing. Yeah. Wow. Well, that's great.

That's, you know, I mean, you just want so so much for it not to be true. You know, yeah. And, you know, if it is true, I feel so much for the victims. It's just the talent is so undeniable. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I'm all for for people, you know, living their truth, getting the justice they feel like they deserve, you know, but at the same time, you know, I wasn't there, you know, I would I'd like to think and I strongly believe that Michael was a was an amazing person that didn't have any, you know, ill intent for anybody. You know, sometimes I do believe that people can just not like you because they can't imagine somebody being so so giving, you know, just like Beyonce. Hey, I'm like, hey, don't be like Beyonce.

Name the last time you heard Beyonce singing wrong. Right. Or do anything. We're doing questionable. She barely do interviews anymore. You know, it's like, right. And, you know, it was, oh, my God, I'm like, look, you know, it's it's already hard enough being an artist as it is and trying to find your sound, trying to, you know, perform your sound every time you perform is a test to see if you're worthy of how you're revered. That's that's another thing I'll say about the Tonys is, you know, before you get a Tony, people are like, OK, let's go see if this kid is worth a Tony. Yeah. And then you win it. And then they say, OK, now let's see if this kid is worth the Tony that he won. Right. I never.

Right. It never never ends. That's why you can't even worry about that. Yeah. That's why he's got to focus on the on the art. And that's I'm forever going to be appreciative of that. So, you know, it marks one of the most significant points of my life. Yeah. Outside of anything that has to do with my family. Right. You know, but I didn't I didn't do it for that. You know, I did it for the impact that the show is continuing to have. Yeah. And I'm just I'm honored to be a part of the fact that it's still doing that, you know, in so many places now.

[28:51] Myles Frost: And wife to Derek Payne. She was like, Myles, no, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We have it at 70%. I was like, okay, well, let's just try 80 and just see what that's what that's feeling like. She's like, Myles, we're gonna, we'll try 80. But no higher than that. Needless to say, we ended up like, I'd say like 80, 85, 86%.

[29:15] Eila Mell: Did you ever do the 100 just to see?

[29:18] Myles Frost: No, you know, because 100 is crazy. For the simple fact that you would, even if I did everything properly, I'd jump so high that the landing would cause more harm than good. Yeah, especially in the type of shoes that I was in.

[29:37] Eila Mell: Okay.

[29:38] Myles Frost: You know, because those penny loafers don't offer really any support, you know, for a lot of the things that, you know, your feet are doing.

[29:46] Eila Mell: Sure.

[29:46] Myles Frost: They're not special dance loafers. They didn't make shoes.

[29:50] Myles Frost: No, I mean, they were custom made loafers. But it's in order to do the stuff that Michael and James, you know, did, you gotta, you have to wear the same shoes. And it's hard for it to be when it's modified, because you lose, you start to lose the feeling of the floor. And that that's so important. That's so, so important.

[30:09] Eila Mell: Interesting. When the show was in London, I mean, it's still in London, but there was a point where everybody was sick, right? All the other studies were sick. And didn't they have to fly you out at the very last minute to do the show?

[30:20] Myles Frost: Yeah, you know, MJ is not an easy show. You know, when you have an illness, it makes me think about COVID, you know, when, you know, Broadway shut down, you know, MJ is one of those shows, if you're not feeling 100%, it is a hard show to do.

[30:37] Eila Mell: Yeah.

[30:38] Myles Frost: You know, very first number you out of breath and ready to go home, you know, open with a number like Beat It. That's a commitment. You're committing to the rest of this journey. You know, top of act two, I'm dancing for 13 minutes straight. That's a 13 minute opening number. You know, so it's a lot. It's a lot. That's the running joke of MJ is once you, once you, you know, come to MJ, you never leave because they always need somebody.

[31:07] Eila Mell: And it's also such a hard role to cast because the asks are so specific, you have to dance, but in a certain way, you know, but also, Michael Jackson's body type is very, very hard to match. So, you know, you can't just get anyone to do that role.

[31:24] Myles Frost: And Michael didn't even, you would think like, Michael had a nutritionist who was on his back about eating broccoli. Michael would eat three jelly beans, go and do a two, two and a half hour show and they'd be like, Okay, guys, let's go to the next broad and do the same thing. Like, that's why I said he's just on a whole different level. And Michael hated vegetables.

[31:46] Eila Mell: I was gonna say, based on the amount of dancing and how much you're giving, you must be starving at the end of a show.

[31:52] Myles Frost: Absolutely. And I hate that I have nothing to show for it. Isn't that crazy? I have nothing to show for it. I'm like, I can't get a muscle. I can't get anything. I'm trying to like I just ate a triple cheeseburger with yucca fries. And, you know, I go and do the show and I lose all of that. Yeah, it goes out the window. Can't even say none of it.

[32:14] Eila Mell: That's a good thing. You don't need to be all bulked up. You wouldn't dance the same way.

[32:19] Myles Frost: You know, I'll say I'll say that, you know, Shay Joey allows me to, to, to bulk up a little bit more in a way that, you know, Michael didn't, right? Because Michael was so slender, you know, Joey, Joey has a little bit more leeway. So I do, I do look forward to getting into my, my D'Angelo body. There you go. It's loading.

[32:39] Eila Mell: You got to know a lot about Michael on a personal level because his family was involved with the show with MJ.

[32:44] Myles Frost: Yeah. Yeah. Did they, you know, did they give you insight into who he was?

[32:52] Myles Frost: You know, I wouldn't say necessarily that I think, you know, it's one of those things where if you, if you get it, you get it. If you, if you understand the world that he comes from, the fact that he had his first hit at six. That's crazy.

[33:11] Eila Mell: Yeah. What was I doing at six?

[33:11] Myles Frost: Right. Exactly. You know, jumping off couches. Yeah, literally doing backflips off couches for no reason. It wasn't gonna lead me anywhere. Right. You know, if you, if you, if you understand, you know, he was in a, in a two or a two bedroom home with nine siblings.

[33:32] Eila Mell: Yeah. Damn.

[33:32] Myles Frost: You know, like it's, it's such, it's, it's, he didn't have a job is essentially, you know, what I'm getting at and to understand mentally where you have to be to hold from that and use that to be, to then become the biggest, one of the biggest icon, if not the, if not the biggest icon in the world and definitely the biggest entertainer in the world. It's either you get it or you don't.

[33:59] Eila Mell: Yeah.

[34:00] Myles Frost: And you know, we think that that's a privilege, but it probably is not because the life you have to leave, he leave, he couldn't, he couldn't just go places he wanted to go. It had to be a whole thing. You know, that's, that's a prison in itself.

[34:16] Eila Mell: Absolutely.

[34:16] Myles Frost: You know, it's like, it's even hard for me to fathom sometimes imagine never having to carry an ID.

[34:23] Eila Mell: Yeah.

[34:23] Myles Frost: You don't need every, literally everybody knows who you are.

[34:28] Eila Mell: Right.

[34:28] Myles Frost: But then you can never have a private moment in public. You just can't be anonymous ever. No. You know, and you know, some people joke about, Oh yeah, I want to get to the point where I can't even go into the grocery store. No. Like Michael had used to pay actors to be regular shoppers in the grocery store so he can shop just so he could feel like the person.

[34:49] Eila Mell: Yeah. Wow.

[34:49] Myles Frost: It's, it's serious. You know, it's, you can't go to the mall because the cops will ask you to leave because you're possibly inciting a riot.

[35:02] Eila Mell: Yeah. Wow.

[35:02] Myles Frost: You know? Yeah. I happened to a streamer a couple of years ago. It's like, you know, you reach a certain level of, of notoriety in, you know, your, your everyday life becomes a prison. That's why I, I, there's so much peace in, you know, nobody knowing who you are, you know, and I want to cherish that for as long as I can.

[35:20] Eila Mell: Well, it's nice because there are many, many people who do know you, but then you can go places where maybe they don't have Broadway or, you know, they don't think about that kind of thing and you do have anonymity.

[35:41] Myles Frost: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and that's, and that's the, I will say the blessing of Broadway, you know, uh, and in the spirit of not being typecast either is if you saw me, if you didn't, you didn't, you know, and I'm not, I'm not bound by, you know, I wouldn't be, I'm not bound by something like the movie that's coming out, you know, where that's, once that's out, it's out forever. And that's what you, you know, that's how people refer to you.

[36:04] Eila Mell: And I think the fact that Jafar is doing it makes so much sense.

[36:09] Myles Frost: And it's the best option for that, you know, cause he won't have to deal with the typecast and he won't have to deal with, you know, people questioning him about the allegations. And even if they did, he like, man, that's my uncle, what are you talking about? You know, that's family, you know, this.

[36:20] Eila Mell: Yeah.

[36:20] Myles Frost: Yeah. I think that's, that's the best situation.

[36:25] Eila Mell: So what are you bringing to Shade Joey that people don't know that you can do?

[36:31] Myles Frost: I'll give you a line from, from Shade Joey that my character Joey says, well, if I gave you everything all at once, you wouldn't come back for more now, would you? And I'd very much like for you to come back.

[36:39] Eila Mell: I'm sure it must be, you know, after doing, and it's a privilege to get to play MJ in Star and MJ for, you know, as long as you have, but it must be also so exciting to do a new character now.

[36:49] Myles Frost: Yeah, no, you know, this is my first character that is not a real person, you know, so there's no template, there's no real research, you know, there's, there's no, there's no book of, of what to do. And that's so exciting. You know, I get to create who Joey Evans is and will continue to be for as long as the show continues to run, you know, and that's so fun. That's so exciting.

[37:12] Myles Frost: You know, Joey is, he's a fireball. The drive that he has is, is, is survival. You know, he's like, I have to, I have to own my own club because if I don't, I'm, I'm, there's no reason for me to live. And everything and everybody that I'm around has to have that same mentality, or they're not supposed to be in my space. That's, that's the Joey Evans, you know, mentality.

[37:38] Eila Mell: And he believes in pulling, if he sees something in somebody, you know, he believes in pulling that out so that they can see their own potential.

[37:44] Myles Frost: Yeah. You know.

[37:50] Eila Mell: What is it like, this is probably the closest you get to like a homecoming for you to be able to perform right outside of where you grew up and went to high school. And you don't get that opportunity, like with MJ, it's not, you know, you don't get to slide into the arena and say, Hey, I'm going to do a quick hometown concert. Do you have people that are going to have the opportunity to see you that wouldn't?

[38:13] Myles Frost: Yeah. Yeah. My whole, my whole, my whole city, cities. I'm from so many places, you know, between Maryland and DC. And I'm so glad that I did Broadway first, because they're getting a seasoned version of Miles, as opposed to Miles before he goes off to, you know, do the big thing. I've done the big thing. I'm taking everything that I've learned and curated and bringing it home so that people who didn't get a chance to see me in MJ, you know, whether in New York or London will get a chance to see me at home and say, Wow, it's like this, this is what you do, you know, because I still have some friends who are like, so what do you do again? Like, like, here's great. I'm like, Yeah, no, sure. Because sometimes they just don't get it. You know, you got to help. You got to help them understand. Right?

[39:05] Myles Frost: I'm like, Okay, you know, I'll get you a ticket. Right? Just just asking questions. You sound great.

[39:11] Eila Mell: Well, that's what's also great about Broadway is that it isn't just one thing.

[39:16] Eila Mell: So is it like a concert?

[39:16] Myles Frost: Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, I think, you know, Broadway is so amazing. And the fact that it literally caters to everybody. There is a show for everybody, right? You know, and if it's not currently, there's one, right?

[39:31] Myles Frost: You know, the music in Shea Joey has a lot of American standards that, you know, so many people know.

[39:37] Eila Mell: Yeah. How are they changing the style of the music? Because now it's it's jazz inspired?

[39:44] Myles Frost: Absolutely. So, you know, you're, you're, you know, Rodgers and Hart's, you know, music, obviously is timeless. And they are they are gems. And we want to respect that as much as possible, but still be honest about who's telling the story. Now, you know, we're black people telling the story saying, you know, Rodgers and Hart, you know, so it's more so what is what is that interpretation look like for a small, you know, black club in Chicago in the 40s? You know, what is that sound? And, you know, Savion also burdening himself with being the orchestrologist as he, you know, refers to himself when it comes to the music, you know, and curating what that sound is. That's also been a fun process.

[40:30] Myles Frost: And I'll tell you, like, our band is amazing. These cats. I'm so I'm so excited. Everybody's just so talented. Everybody's so talented. And the fact that, you know, it's we really we we walk into this world, like from the pianos to the drums, everything that everything's from the 40s. Like, it's really just walking to, you know, and the fact that the musicians they just they're like, Oh, yeah, we play on that. I'm just saying all are amazing, man. Amazing.

[40:55] Eila Mell: I assume it has a different sound, right? Things are made.

[40:55] Myles Frost: Yeah. Now than they were then.

[40:55] Eila Mell: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[40:55] Myles Frost: That's so cool. And the costumes.

[41:01] Myles Frost: Amazing. I'm not ready. Yeah, I'm not ready. Who's your costume designer? Emilio. His last name.

[41:11] Eila Mell: Sosa. Yeah. Sosa. Yeah. Oh, he's my pal. We go back to Project Runway together.

[41:17] Myles Frost: Oh, Emilio, you know, as you know, he's amazing. He is. He's very particular. And he doesn't put anything less than greatness out on that stage and is always looking for new ways to be inventive and say, OK, if you've got to do this during this scene, how are we going to, you know, this has to magically appear on your body. Let's make it happen. Like he's not scared. He's not scared of a challenge. And nothing's impossible. Well, I'll tell you, when I was writing the Tony book, he brought me in to do it because he was the chair of the American Theatre Wing. But I had a conversation saying how we wanted to include you in the book, that it was important to both of us. And so there's a beautiful photo of you in that book.

[42:01] Myles Frost: I appreciate that, you know, and I've wanted to work with him for a minute. I just love his eye. I love his vision, you know, and, you know, he just gets it. He just gets it. And, you know, we were kind of curating what Joey would look like, you know, the thing we ultimately landed on is we want him to be honest. You know, Joey is honest, but he's also ahead of his time, you know, he's fashion forward, you know, so he may have a little something that, you know, people were about, you know, we're probably saying, why you got that on that people ended up wearing 10 years later, you know, I ended up having that same style 10 years later, you know, so we wanted to make sure that that Joey was, you know, ahead of his time, especially in the fashion department.

[42:42] Eila Mell: Have you already bookmarked some of them and said, this might have to come home with you?

[42:47] Myles Frost: Allegedly, allegedly. So fashion is something that's in your family. And, you know, you wore an amazing outfit to the Tonys. Who was your stylist? Did you have? Did you do? Yeah. Or did you have a stylist?

[43:04] Myles Frost: So Maggie, your aunt checked in my, you know, my aunt who checked in, you know, yeah, she she's the fashion lady, you know, she's my stylist as well. And, you know, she has so many connections to people that you know, especially that relationships that we've curated from for MJ during MJ post MJ London, you know, that have been so insightful on helping me curate my style and like, you know, what I want to look like, you know, I don't look like everybody else. You know, I resonate with Michael in that way. As far as you know, I want people to, you know, feel something when they look at what I'm wearing and be amazed by, you know, being on like the concept like, you know, what are you going for? And I'm just like, I don't know. But that's the point. You know, it's something that just turns into, you know, when people can't quite put their finger on what it is, it just ends up being miles of style.

[44:04] Eila Mell: Yeah. And that's what's going for it. Well, Emilio is very busy these days. But are you? But when he wasn't quite as busy designing costumes, he had a fashion line. I don't know if you know this, but I have Emilio Sosa in my closet.

[44:15] Myles Frost: So really? Yes. Oh, yes. See, he got all these gyms. He does. Oh, yeah. You see it later. You're gonna have to be like, listen. Yeah. I don't get anything from the collection. That's that's right. That's crazy. See if he has any archives, because it was pretty great.

[44:38] Myles Frost: Obviously, you're busy with Shea Joey now. And that's going to take up some of your time. But anything in your mind of like dream roles? What does the future look like? If you could draw it out for yourself?

[44:48] Myles Frost: Yeah. If I could draw if I could draw the future. Well, I have a I also have a fashion that I'm curating. It's it's luxury sweats. So it's a luxury sweatline. You know, had that velour kind of juicy kind of feel with silk in the hoodie. So we can protect our hair. You know, even if even for my bald people, you know, protect your scalp. It's important. Yes. You know, fuzzy socks and crop tops. And yeah, it's gonna be really nice. I like I like being comfortable with stylish at the same time, especially like in places like the airport.

[45:23] Eila Mell: Yes. Well, it's it's so relevant now because after COVID, we all change the way we dress. Yeah. Like I myself am not willing to be uncomfortable anymore where I would squeeze into anything. Yeah. And it's just different because we spent what two years being comfortable and now we see how important that is. So it's such a brilliant idea to have luxury sweat.

[45:50] Myles Frost: Yeah, that's what people want to wear right now. Absolutely. And I'm here to provide it. I'm here to provide. So I'm, you know, I'm definitely starting to get into the final final phases and things of that nature. So I can't wait to, you know, start promoting and let people see it. I'm still always working on my own music. I think I took a little time off from it because I wanted to think about what my sound is. And I think doing Shea Joey so far has allowed me to open my mind a little bit as far as the type of artist I want to be. It's easy to get stuck in that whole system of mainstream and saying, OK, I got to make music that connects with the TikTok audience or this audience or that audience instead of saying, you know, I just want to make music that I want to make.

And then I was like, OK, now that I've made that decision, what I want to make, I don't know. You know, that's a process within itself. Sure. You know, that's that's one of the harder parts of being an artist is knowing what to create and knowing what makes you feel good when you perform it and sing it. That's one of the biggest things that I learned from Michael is, you know, from a very young age, Michael understood and committed to the fact that if he doesn't believe it, he don't sing it. You know, and every song that he sings comes across that way.

[47:01] Myles Frost: I'm also I'm writing I'm writing right now. I'm writing a little animated film. Oh, excellent. Yeah. I'm very, very excited about that. You know, it's new for me. I never thought I'd be interested in that, but, you know, the idea popped in my head and I say, you know, let me let me see how far this can go. Yeah. Let me see how far this can go. That's great. Especially with the where the world is as far as the climate and, you know, us protecting our earth and things of that nature. And one one movie I love them conceptually, as far as the tone of it. I'm taking a page out of The Incredibles book. That's that's The Incredibles is my favorite movie of all time, ever. And as I've gotten older, you know, I rewatch it and I keep discovering new things.

And I'm like, oh, that's what that meant when she Oh, okay. So he thought so she thought he was cheating. Oh, okay. Things you couldn't have gotten. Yeah. You know, so I want to I want to create something that, you know, a film that you can grow with, you know, that adults can enjoy that children can can watch and not be burdened by the things that when they rewatch it as an adult, they'll then know, you know, you can really grow with that with that movie. So I want to take a page out of that.

[48:26] Eila Mell: It's amazing. Excited. Oh, also Miles Morales. I want to be Miles Morales too. Okay. Yeah. Spider Man. That's right. When can people see Shea Joey? When is the run?

[48:40] Myles Frost: So our first day of previews is January 30. Oh, yeah. Our opening night is February. Yeah, it's literally next week. Oh, wow. You know, and you know, we're super ready. We're super excited. Opening night is February 12, I believe. And then we close March 15. And that'll be the end of this portion. And hopefully, you know, we will see Shea Joey a little later in the future.

[49:07] Eila Mell: Well, we're hoping it's going to come to a theater near us in New York. Fingers crossed if you're in the DC area, get yourself tickets and get to the arena. It's so exciting to see a show out of town also because, you know, it can always change and just to get to see it, you know, at the beginning is really very exciting. So Miles, there's so much going on for you. We hope that you'll come back and share all your accomplishments as they happen with us because, you know, we consider you family.

[49:36] Myles Frost: That's right. So we want you to come on as often as you want. Thank you. Thank you. Y'all have taken such good care of me and I appreciate it. I'll always make myself available to you.

[49:47] Eila Mell: Oh, like we said, to get your tickets, there'll be a link in the notes. Then you can just click on it to buy your tickets to go see Miles and Shea Joey. And follow him on Instagram because he posts really great videos.

[49:56] Myles Frost: Oh, thank you. I'm trying to get better at that. I'm trying to get better at this whole social media thing. Everybody's like, you gotta post every day. I'm like, every day? I don't know about all that. It's tedious after a while. I'm like, I just want to post every now and again and disappear.

[50:11] Eila Mell: Well, when you posted so special, like you just posted a rehearsal video and it was so great.

[50:16] Myles Frost: Yeah, yeah, yeah. One thing I'll say about this, guys, before we go is this is a family. This process has been so intense. The pace has been so forward that we have to rely on each other. We've had to rely on each other since day one. Like to give you a small glimpse, a small glimpse of how the first day of rehearsal went, right? Normally you come in and the tables are in a circle and you say, hey, my name is such and such and this is a fun fact. And then you might do a, you read through the script and you say, okay, this is what we're going to do tomorrow because tomorrow's really the first day. Savion says, why are these tables in a circle? Can we move these off the tape so we can create this number?

And that's what we did. We created a number on the first day. That's how we got to know each other before we knew each other's names. So when you have a process that's intense like that, you quickly realize, okay, I have to lean on you and rely on you and depend on you. That's what you saw in that video is the result of that. That's my family.

[51:20] Eila Mell: Yeah. And just before you go, can you tell us who your leading ladies are?

[51:23] Myles Frost: Yes. Yes, yes, yes. So Aula South Seca, she's playing Linda. And Samantha Macell, she's playing Vera. And they are two incredible, incredible, incredible, talented women. And this show would not even make sense without them. Vocally, they're two powerhouses within their own right. And I'm not even just saying that just to say nice things about my co-stars. I'm saying they're the real deal. Their interpretation of this music, because it's very free. Savion is like, just do what you feel comes naturally to you. And the performances that you're going to see are the artist's understanding of how that song should be sang and should be done. When I was doing the audition process, Savion was like, hey, do you know this song? I said, no. He said, great, sing how you think it goes.

[52:16] Eila Mell: Oh, interesting.

[52:18] Myles Frost: Yeah. It's one of those kind of processes. So hearing and listening to the things that they've, with that in mind, hearing the things that they've come up with, with these songs, I'm just like, it's an honor to be in the room and then watch that manifest.

[52:36] Eila Mell: Wow. As an audience member, it's an honor to be in the room when you're on stage.

[52:40] Myles Frost: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that.

[52:43] Eila Mell: Absolutely.

[52:43] Myles Frost: Yeah. You're going to see me do some stuff that I did not do in MJ.

[52:49] Eila Mell: Okay.

[52:50] Myles Frost: I love it.

[52:50] Eila Mell: Well, that's what's so exciting. We get to see more of Mile.

[52:54] Myles Frost: Absolutely. Just when you thought you saw all I can do, I'm going to do something crazier.

[53:00] Eila Mell: That's right.

[53:00] Myles Frost: And you're going to be like, Miles, why didn't you tell us you could do that?

[53:04] Eila Mell: Oh, listen, you're young. We know that you have so much that you haven't even begun to think about doing yet. We know how much potential there is.

[53:14] Myles Frost: That's right. Yeah. I'm making use of this body, but by the time I'm 50, I'm going to look back and be like, yeah, I've earned to not have to do none of that stuff anymore.

[53:24] Eila Mell: That's right.

[53:25] Myles Frost: Sorry, stop. None of that stuff anymore. I would have earned it.

[53:31] Eila Mell: But you probably still will want to.

[53:33] Myles Frost: Oh, of course.

[53:34] Eila Mell: That's right.

[53:34] Myles Frost: Of course. Because if James did it, James was doing splits until he passed on. Michael was dancing his heart out until he passed on. Sammy Davis Jr., same thing. All the greats, they did it up until they literally could not do it anymore.

[53:53] Eila Mell: That's also exciting to look forward to because you get to a certain level of swag where you don't even need the same amount of energy that you needed when you were younger to pull something off to make it look amazing. Because you realize you shave down the things that aren't important and you get to the core of what makes a move a move or what makes a style a style. And you just you become a master at that point. So I can't wait until I embark on that mastery and hopefully I can create my own style, you know, like Michael Jordan.

[54:25] Eila Mell: For sure.

[54:26] Myles Frost: Inspire future generations.

[54:29] Eila Mell: Well, thank you so much for joining us. It was such a treat.

[54:31] Myles Frost: Yes. Thank you for having me.

[54:33] Eila Mell: We'll see everyone next time on Behind the Awards.

[54:36] Myles Frost: Bye-bye.