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[0:00] Robert W. Schneider: Hi, I'm Robert W. Schneider.

[0:01] Kevin David Thomas: And I'm Kevin David Thomas.

[0:03] Robert W. Schneider: And this is Behind the Curtain: Broadway's Living Legends.

[0:05] Kevin David Thomas: Don't forget to follow us on Twitter at Broadway Curtain.

[0:08] Robert W. Schneider: And make sure to join our Facebook page at Behind the Curtain: Broadway's Living Legends, and follow us on Instagram at Broadway Curtain Podcast.

[0:16] Kevin David Thomas: Plus, you can always listen to all of our episodes, old and new on the Broadway Podcast Network, iTunes, and Spotify.

[0:22] Robert W. Schneider: We have been wanting this guest for a very, very long time, and we're so excited it's happening.

[0:27] Kevin David Thomas: The three Tony Awards, folks.

[0:29] Robert W. Schneider: That's right, three Best Featured Actor in a Musical Tony Awards for today's guest, and he's deserved every single one of them.

[0:34] Kevin David Thomas: Yet in addition to his performances on stage, he has created an incredible legacy offstage as a choreographer, a teacher, and appearing on such shows as Quantum Leap, Touched by an Angel, and of course Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[0:50] Robert W. Schneider: His stage works include The Wiz, Dancin, Sophisticated Ladies for which he won a Tony Award, Dreamgirls, The Tap Dance Kid for which he won a Tony Award, and Miss Saigon, for which he won a Tony Award, to name just a few.

[1:02] Kevin David Thomas: To tell us what it was like to work with such legends as Geoffrey Holder, George Balanchine, Michael Bennett, Debbie Allen, Donald McHale, Gregory Hines, and so many more.

[1:10] Robert W. Schneider: Here is one of Broadway's most iconic performers, Hinton Battle.

[1:14] Hinton Battle: Great. I'm tired. It's, you know, it's 10, 11 o'clock here in Japan.

[1:20] Kevin David Thomas: I was gonna say, tell our listeners what you're doing over in Japan.

[1:25] Hinton Battle: Well, three years ago, I opened up the Hinton Battle Dance Academy, and we're actually going into our fourth year, and basically I fashioned the school after how I trained myself, which was I did start off as a ballet dancer, then I started doing tap, then I started singing, then I started acting, directing, and doing everything. So all the students have to take, God, they take ballet, hip-hop, modern, tap, gymnastics, improv, Second City improv, vocal, and all of our students are on scholarship. No one pays.

[2:02] Kevin David Thomas: Wow.

[2:04] Hinton Battle: We have this year, we have 35 students, and we're about to audition to have more.

[2:10] Robert W. Schneider: Oh my gosh. Congratulations. Hinton, how did you set that up? How did you create a training program in which they're all on scholarship?

[2:19] Hinton Battle: Well, I have a good partner, a very good partner, Yoshimoto is my partner. And years ago, I did a show here in Japan called American Variety Being, where I was a solo spot and did this big act in it. And after, the man who's in charge said, "You want to open up schools?" And I said, "Sure, why not?" So we opened it up, and we were supposed to open up three, and I said, "Let's just do one. One at a time is good. Three's a lot at once." So it's doing very well. It's a three-year program. Our students, our third-year students have graduated, and they're all working in Japan.

[3:02] Kevin David Thomas: Wow, they're doing Hairspray, they're doing, God, West Side Story, Bodyguard, oh God, Newsies. I mean, they're all working.

[3:16] Hinton Battle: And the great thing about it, they can do everything. They can do anything. If you want ballet, they can do it. Modern, they can do it. Tap, they can do hip-hop, they can sing. So this training is very rigorous. They do four to five classes a day, six days a week for three years, and they're re-evaluated every year, and it's working, and the kids are working.

[3:41] Robert W. Schneider: Congratulations, and God bless you for passing the joy of the arts on where no one has to worry about the financial.

[3:47] Hinton Battle: Yeah, oh yeah, that's a blessing. That is a blessing because the financial always with the school, that's why I haven't opened in the States, because it's just very hard. You know, the cost, you know, and you don't make a lot of money, and we don't, it's not a school about making money, it's really about creating new talent that can go out there and hopefully change the world, change the industry, come with new ideas with all this information and knowledge that they have, they can go out and create something that doesn't exist. So that's the goal.

[4:16] Kevin David Thomas: On behalf of all of us, thank you so much for creating something like that. So you're a teacher now, but years ago you were a student. When did you first fall in love with dance, and how did you begin taking classes?

[4:31] Hinton Battle: That's a tough story. Well, I didn't fall in love with dance. I actually wanted to be an architect. But in elementary school, they put on a production of The Nutcracker, and everybody had to audition. You know, I had a little knowledge of ballet because I had to go watch my sisters every Saturday take ballet classes. So I knew how to do a pas de deux, so I do that over and over again. So, oh, he's talented, you know, and they gave me all these parts, and like five or six of us got scholarships to the local black ballet school, Jones and Hayward. And my mother said, "You're going," and I said, "I don't want to go." She said, "No, you're going. You get a gift, you don't throw it away." So I accepted the gift, and three years later, every year I'd asked her, "Can I quit?

Can I quit? Can I quit?" Every year she'd say, "Well, you did a year, it doesn't make sense to quit now." And after the third year, she said, "Okay, you can quit, but you come straight home. You're not hanging out in the streets, no baseball, no basketball, you come home. And when I get home, you better be home and your homework better be done so I can look at it." So I said, "Okay, Mom, I think I'm gonna go back to ballet." So I went back to ballet. And that third year I got a scholarship to the School of American Ballet in New York City. And it wasn't so much that I was gonna study ballet, but it was no small thing at all. I'm gonna go move to New York. I was thirteen years old. I'm gonna move to New York. And that's what happened.

[6:01] Kevin David Thomas: And you had been living where? Where had you been living, Hinton?

[6:04] Hinton Battle: I'm sorry, didn't we? Yeah. We're army brats, so we traveled a lot. And we landed in Washington, and then New York called, and I said, "Well, ooh, yeah, I'll go." And then that's when I fell in love, not so much with dancing, but I fell in love with the technique of it. I loved being able to make my body do things that it was not supposed to do.

[6:28] Kevin David Thomas: Right.

[6:29] Hinton Battle: That's what I got into that. So George Balanchine, I mean, you were talking, you were working right with the top, right? And how old were you when you were in New York City?

[6:37] Hinton Battle: I was thirteen.

[6:38] Kevin David Thomas: Thirteen.

[6:39] Hinton Battle: Yeah.

[6:40] Kevin David Thomas: Thirteen when I went. And did your parents go with you?

[6:43] Hinton Battle: Yeah. No, well, my sister went with me, and then she went on and did her career. She was also a dancer and danced with George Faison's Universal Dance Experience at that time. And it's a funny story. I used to go watch the rehearsals, and I loved his choreography. I'd always say, "Can I join your company?" He said, "No, you can't join. Go to school, go to school and get your degree, then you come back to me." So he never would let me, but then when The Wiz came along, I ended up getting The Wiz, and he was the choreographer.

[7:14] Kevin David Thomas: Yes.

[7:16] Hinton Battle: Full circle. A full circle moment. But yeah, so I lived with relatives, and that was a lot of interesting stories living with relatives, being a black boy at 13, wanting to be a ballet dancer and going, "What?" Yeah, it's not like there's a ton of icons that you could look up to and be like, "Oh yeah, only Arthur Mitchell." You know, it was Arthur Mitchell and there was Lewis Johnson that I knew of at that time. I've learned there's more that I'd met actually, Sylvester Campbell and a few others. But you know, it was like, "You're joking, right? You're gonna be a ballet dancer." But you know, I got into it, and I was there for three years, and Balanchine decided I was too short.

[8:03] Kevin David Thomas: Oh wow.

[8:04] Hinton Battle: Okay. What were some of the lessons that you took away from working with George Balanchine?

[8:11] Hinton Battle: Discipline, learning the intricacies of the art form and not just, you know, a tendu, but how you do the tendu, what it means, how you present yourself, how you present your body, how you walk onto a stage. I mean, I learned all of those things. And when you're thinking that way, fear and anxiety, they just don't come into place because you're so focused on other things that you're going out to accomplish those things. And in the process of accomplishing those things, the audiences love you. So it worked out to my advantage.

[8:58] Kevin David Thomas: Prior to that lesson, did you have a lot of anxiety before you would dance in public or not so much?

[9:04] Hinton Battle: Not so much, but I didn't take it quite as seriously. It was just fun to do. I mean, I always, if I did something, I was really gonna do it, but it wasn't like, "Alright, I'm gonna make a career out of this, I want to join New York City Ballet, I want to do this." It wasn't like that until I got there. And then when you're in a classroom and you're, the men's class was at least 30 boys, 30 boys from all over the country. I was the only black boy in school, 30 boys from all over the country, and all they wanted to do was dance and be the best. So the competition was pretty intense.

[9:40] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[9:42] Hinton Battle: And then you'd get people like Peter Martins that would come take class, Nureyev would come take class, so you had all these people coming to take a Stanley Williams class at the School of American Ballet. So it was intense, it was very intense. I wouldn't give it up for anything, but at that age it was really intense, but you don't know any better at that age.

[10:07] Kevin David Thomas: Right, you just do it.

[10:09] Hinton Battle: Yeah, yeah. You just do it. You know, when you get older, you go, "Holy crap, that was a bit much, but how did I do that?" You know, but you don't think about it. You just put your blinders on and you dance. And that was my world.

[10:24] Kevin David Thomas: I'd like to ask you if you don't mind to go back to talking about your family a little bit. So was there a lot of skepticism from your family going, "Why ballet?" Was that a daily thing? And did that make, did that ever make you want to go, "I'm gonna stop"?

[10:37] Hinton Battle: No, my mother wanted to be a dancer. And she married my father and quit college to marry my father, but she always wanted to be a dancer, so when this opportunity came, vicariously she lived through me to dance. So it was, I don't know what the conversation was with my father, but he never ever made mention of it. And this is like a military man, I mean, like we're talking like, you know, the bink and bounce kind of man. He was one of those. But I don't know what that conversation was, but it was never discussed, not in front of me, you know, but Mama said, "I'm gonna dance," so that's what it was. And then years later, I mean, when they got a divorce and years later he would actually sneak to New York with his new girlfriend or his wife or whatever and see me in shows. It wasn't until like, oh, on his deathbed that he told me that he had seen me in all these different shows.

[11:46] Kevin David Thomas: Because you never knew?

[11:46] Hinton Battle: I didn't know.

[11:47] Kevin David Thomas: Oh wow.

[11:48] Hinton Battle: One show he did come backstage, only one, and that was The Wiz. And I was 15, and I was doing The Wiz as the Scarecrow, and all he said to me was, "So when are you gonna get a real job?"

[11:46] Kevin David Thomas: Oh wow.

[11:46] Hinton Battle: Wow, okay, I think this is it. You know, I was 15, I was like starting the wrong way. I can't do anything else now, I said, "It's to this, you know, it's kind of, I'm in. I'm all the way in."

[12:24] Kevin David Thomas: Right.

[12:24] Hinton Battle: So I'm making it.

[12:26] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, but he used to sneak up and saw me in Dancing and The Tap Dance Kid and late, he saw me in every show I was in. And I never knew.

[12:32] Hinton Battle: Wow.

[12:34] Kevin David Thomas: I never found out.

[12:35] Hinton Battle: I'm glad he told you.

[12:35] Kevin David Thomas: Really special.

[12:38] Hinton Battle: Well, he was a tight-lipped man to put it nicely. He didn't talk very much, and he grunted a lot.

[12:49] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, grunted a lot like that.

[12:51] Hinton Battle: So what, how you doing? Hmm. How you feeling, Dad?

[12:57] Kevin David Thomas: Man of few words.

[12:58] Hinton Battle: Yeah, yeah. So, you know, it was a lot of grunting. But in the end, I found out he wasn't easy, he was a whole nother person.

[13:07] Kevin David Thomas: But he was there.

[13:08] Hinton Battle: Oh, 25 years in military, I can't imagine what it does to a person.

[13:11] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, oh absolutely. Speaking of discipline, I mean, boy, that's there it is. I mean, that kind of discipline goes very well with the discipline of dance. I mean, that is so rigid and that when you're a dancer like you are.

[13:26] Hinton Battle: Yeah, we, the family was pretty rigid. I mean, there were rules, and you know, you do this and you didn't question it. You did what you were told, and but it was great. I mean, it instilled a work ethic for me that I still carry on today, yeah, and has allowed me to go and do other things.

[13:47] Hinton Battle: So I'm happy that he was the man that he was.

[13:53] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[13:55] Hinton Battle: Absolutely, absolutely what a thank you for sharing that. That's an incredible story. So how did The Wiz come into your life? Were you auditioning for musicals prior to this? Or no, no?

[14:07] Hinton Battle: No, my sister was with George Faison's company, and George got the choreographer who's gonna be the choreographer of The Wiz, and they were having auditions for the dancers. He took his company and put it in, but he needed more dancers. So my sister said, "Come and audition." I was still at School of American Ballet at that time. So I said, "Okay, I need some money. I can do it." You know, School of American Ballet paid you, I think, four hundred dollars a month to live on. They gave you a living expense. Um, and you had to, you know, eat, pay your rent, and do whatever you had to do for four hundred dollars. That's not a lot. So I ate a lot of tuna and yogurt because tuna was cheap then. It was like fifty cents or forty cents a can or something.

Not anymore. But anyway, I said, "Oh great, I'll do this show for the summer, and then I'll quit and go back to School of American Ballet for the winter." So I got I auditioned for the show, and I got it, and we went on tour. I know we went on tour, and I think we were in Detroit. Yeah, we were in Detroit. And the original Scarecrow, that's when you did pre-Broadway tryouts, was a pretty big star at that time, a comedian, but he was a big star. Um, walked out on after the first act. He was angry about something and he just left.

[15:38] Hinton Battle: So yeah, I know. Charlie Blackwell was a stage manager, and I remember sitting in the dressing room with all the guys, and you know, I'm the 15-year-old kid and all these, you know, 20, 25-year-old guys, and he comes straight to me and says, "Do you want to go on for the Scarecrow for the second act?" And Charlie Blackwell's a big man, like six feet, you know, he's a big tall man. Okay, and I looked at him, I said, "Are you kidding?" And he said, "Do I look like I'm kidding?" I said, "Okay, sure, okay, fine." I've uh, okay, so they took me into his dressing room—this is my Geoffrey Holder story—into the stars' dressing room. Um, Stephanie Mills was also 15 at that time, and I was not the understudy.

I didn't know the role. I had never been rehearsed. I didn't know any of it. So they're actually making me a costume, refitting his costume to fit me in the dressing room. Uh, Stanley is putting on my makeup, and the Scarecrow had these big eyelashes and all this makeup and the wig and the hat and, you know, all this stuff, and he's putting all this stuff on. Charlie Blackwell is standing to my right, and he has the script open, and he's saying, "Now when this line happens, you walk this way." I mean, he's running the show down for the second act of my blocking right then and there. I'm supposed to remember all of this, and he's—and they do this and you do this.

[17:08] Hinton Battle: Stephanie Mills is on my other side going, "When it's time for you to talk, I'm gonna just pull your straw, and you should say something." You should talk; that's time for you to say your line. So I'm like, "Okay, okay." And Jeffrey Holder literally is pacing behind me, this huge man—he's huge in his big voice going, and Stanley's putting on this makeup and this glitter and stuff, and he's going, "More glitter, darling, more glitter," and he's walking back and forth, "more glitter, darling, more glitter," and it was just crazy. And then they put me on, and they wouldn't allow anybody in the wings because they thought I'd get nervous. And I didn't get nervous. I just thought, "Okay, here we go."

And um, whenever Stephanie Mills would pull my straw, I would say whatever came out of my mouth. I figured I'm the Scarecrow. I don't have a brain; what the hell? And I would kick my leg, do a turn, and fall into a split and look at them like, "Say something." And that's what I did. The next day I get a phone call from 20th Century Fox, and Ken Harper was the producer asking if I wanted to keep the role.

[18:29] Hinton Battle: Oh my gosh. And that's why I started on Broadway.

[18:32] Kevin David Thomas: That's insane.

[18:34] Hinton Battle: That's an origin Broadway story.

[18:36] Kevin David Thomas: That is gonna be one of the best ones. So now, you know, you've been trying for so long to work with George Faison, and now you were doing it. What were some of the lessons that you took away from working with him? What was he like in terms of his choreography?

[18:51] Hinton Battle: George is incredible. George Faison is one of the most brilliant choreographers that I've worked with. I've watched him being in that show, uh, the opening tornado scene. There are actually three versions of it. Oh, we did one; they didn't like it, and then we did it, and then, okay, let's change it in rehearsal. We're performances. Did one; they didn't like it. He went back in, rearranged the music, changed the choreography, did another one; didn't like it. We went back in, changed the choreography, and did the third one, and that's the one we ended up with. But his mind and the creativity and the speed in which he was able to do it was like, "Wow," you know, not just, you know, this—that was a big number. That was a big number.

[19:50] Hinton Battle: Yeah, it went from almost like a classical thing to sort of a modern thing, and then it went to this sort of funky street kind of thing. And um, he was able to do these three genres great, yeah, and find what fit for the show, and that is what I learned from George—to be able to really think on your feet and um, don't inhibit yourself and just go with it and see if it works. If it doesn't work, don't fall in love with it; move on, go to the next thing. Find what works, and that's I really learned that from George. I'm no other choreographer I've worked with like that.

[20:31] Kevin David Thomas: So worth the wait, right?

[20:32] Hinton Battle: Worth the wait? Oh absolutely, yeah.

[20:34] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And by the way, just to say my sister was a great dancer. She just decided not to have a career and went into education, but she was a great dancer.

[20:45] Hinton Battle: Absolutely, absolutely. We need educators. My god, do we need educators?

[20:49] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, um, can you tell us what it was like working with some of the other cast members that made up your little foursome that was going on down the road?

[20:57] Hinton Battle: Well, Stephanie was great. Tiger Haynes was fantastic. Um, Didi Bridgewater, who we all know, beautiful. Um, God, Mabel King. I mean, it was a great cast, and they all just kind of took me in. I mean, they realized I had no clue of what I was doing.

[21:17] Kevin David Thomas: So you had a lot of mentors.

[21:19] Hinton Battle: You had a lot of mentors. But the amazing thing is some of the people that were in the ensemble, like Felicia Richard, was a munchkin, and uh, who else? Oh my god. A lot of people, a lot of Peter Michael Peters, yeah, was also in the show. He was the original Winged Monkey, went on to do Michael Jackson videos to "Beat It" and "Thriller" and all of that stuff. Um, I mean, Otis Salid, who does a lot of films with uh Spike Lee. And so I mean, it was the now who's who of uh talent, black talent, you know, that came out of that show or was a part of that show.

[22:02] Kevin David Thomas: Can you tell us a little bit more about Tiger Haynes, who's a name that we would love for more of our students to know for everything that he contributed to musical theater?

[22:12] Hinton Battle: Tiger Haynes played the Tin Man. Um, I don't really know a lot about him other than he was just really supportive and funny as shit.

[22:24] Kevin David Thomas: Good.

[22:27] Hinton Battle: He was the first man who taught me what a Dingleberry was.

[22:34] Kevin David Thomas: An important lesson in a person's life.

[22:37] Hinton Battle: What is that? And then when he told me, it's like, you know, you didn't have to tell me. It was okay. You could just say no.

[22:49] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, we love him. We absolutely love him.

[22:51] Hinton Battle: Humor, really talented, and he was great in the show, and you know, I used to feel bad for him in that tin suit, and he had to do that tap number, but he was great. I mean, the beautiful thing about that show is that um, and I know lots of people have tried to do it not as successfully, is that the characters in that show represent more than just those people. They represent different types of people. Like Ada Pearl and Mabel, the evil lead, you know, the three women are definitely nurturing types of women.

[23:39] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[23:40] Hinton Battle: And a lot of the new versions of it, they don't really do that. They kind of go with the, how should I say, the um, not as deep of a take on it.

[23:55] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[23:56] Hinton Battle: So it ends up losing its warmth sometimes, I think.

[24:01] Kevin David Thomas: Got it. Because it was a very warm show, even though it was spectacular. It still had a lot of heart.

[24:08] Hinton Battle: Yeah.

[24:09] Kevin David Thomas: Were you surprised by what a hit the show was?

[24:12] Hinton Battle: I was so young, I didn't, you know, I at that age, you know, was sort of like, you know, I have a job, you know, it wasn't even Sophisticated Ladies. I was surprised about that becoming a hit.

[24:26] Kevin David Thomas: Oh really?

[24:28] Hinton Battle: Yeah, because in Philadelphia before we came into New York, we were—it was pretty bad. It wasn't very good. Um, there were a lot of stuff that was excellent and a lot of stuff that had to be taken out that uh, people were fighting against taking things out, and it caused a problem. And um, like people wanted their solo number in, but then they were like, "We should take this out," but they were fighting for their stage time basically.

[24:36] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, yeah.

[24:36] Hinton Battle: And you know, more on the mu—more on the creative than the performers. The performers, we pretty much did what we were asked. I mean, like I had a number where I came out in a blue chiffon suit, yes, and I would sing "Heaven Divine."

[24:36] Hinton Battle: Wow, okay. I was very flowy vision. I love that. So okay, before we go into Sophisticated Ladies, I want to just jump back to The Wiz for a second because I'm sure there's so many Sophisticated Ladies stories. Um, what was it like, you know, what were the audiences for The Wiz like? I heard they were like a—it was like a rock concert. There was so much euphoria and joy coming at you, is that correct?

[25:55] Hinton Battle: Yes, it was. It was, and it sold out. I mean, we just sold out and made Stephanie Mills a star. Everybody involved with that show well known or a star or something um, launched careers. And, you know, it um, and for African American—for black folks at that time to have a show like that, it was like, you know, in Broadway when we came, they were saying Broadway was dead.

[26:24] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[26:25] Hinton Battle: And then we came in with The Wiz, and it was this mega hit. And then it was a black show, and then people just loved it. You know, there was a lot of not so good press on the show because, you know, how dare you take The Wizard of Oz and do blah blah blah. There was a lot of that kind of press.

[26:43] Kevin David Thomas: Oh.

[26:44] Hinton Battle: But that's, you know, that you know, uh, that's understandable. It isn't, it isn't, but it's understandable. I mean, it is America. This is America. But you know, no, there was a lot of uh, people just—what it ran for five years; it had to move to another theater.

[27:03] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, yeah.

[27:04] Hinton Battle: I did it three of those five years.

[27:06] Kevin David Thomas: My goodness.

[27:07] Hinton Battle: Yeah.

[27:08] Kevin David Thomas: Oh my God.

[27:09] Hinton Battle: Yeah, and Stephanie did all five years. She did the whole thing.

[27:12] Kevin David Thomas: Wow. And why did you eventually leave the show?

[27:16] Hinton Battle: I got, you know, Scarecrow was a very, very physical role. You know, I first thing I did, I'd come in and say my first line and then jump off this thing where I'm hanging, uh, jump off the thing, fall into a split, and split, split, split, split, cut splits all the way to the front of the stage, scroll around, stand up, developing my leg, haul my leg, and then say my next line.

[27:42] Hinton Battle: So that's how I started the show. And it just, you know, it just continued. But I think thank God I had the training I had, so I was able to do it, but it was a blessing and a curse because every time I would get a show, the chargers would try to kill me.

[27:59] Kevin David Thomas: Right.

[27:59] Hinton Battle: He can do anything.

[28:00] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[28:01] Hinton Battle: Oh, oh yeah, you know, Tap Dance Kid, Fabulous Feet was literally ten minutes long.

[28:06] Kevin David Thomas: Yes.

[28:08] Hinton Battle: It was ten minutes. I can't. I one point I said, you have to let me get off stage just to catch my breath, please. So I would run off stage. Literally, I'd run, do the split, I'd turn, turn, split, scream, jump up, run off stage, oxygen mask. Four puffs. One, two, three, four. Walk to the back of the stage and make my second entrance back on.

[28:31] Kevin David Thomas: You're not kidding.

[28:32] Hinton Battle: The oxygen mask.

[28:34] Kevin David Thomas: Oxygen mask.

[28:35] Hinton Battle: One, two. Go. Back in. If you need an oxygen mask in order to do your production number, that is like, that is insane. My jaw is on the floor.

[28:48] Kevin David Thomas: I guess ten minutes.

[28:51] Hinton Battle: Ten minutes. We what we did on the Tonys was like a breeze. It was like, you're like, yeah.

[28:58] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, well, what, what, what you already? You ready to use this?

[29:02] Hinton Battle: You know, it was like, but in the show, it was a full song, a dance, a bigger dance.

[29:11] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[29:12] Hinton Battle: Solo, solo, solo, exit, back end, dance, sing, dance, big vocal singing, fall to the ground, and end on a note. That's all. And then go into a scene afterwards.

[29:29] Kevin David Thomas: Of course.

[29:29] Hinton Battle: Of course. So control. Control. Control. What are you doing here, Willie?

[29:40] Kevin David Thomas: Let's jump back a little bit to dancing. So how did you get into dancing? Did you get to work with Bob Fosse?

[29:46] Hinton Battle: Yes.

[29:48] Kevin David Thomas: What was that like?

[29:49] Hinton Battle: Like, oh, he's got a different balance. That's not Balanchine. Well, the funny story getting into Fosse was at I, you know, after The Wiz, I wanted to fulfill my ballet dream. So I went and I joined, I was with Chicago Lyric Opera Ballet for a little bit and then I joined Dance Theater of Harlem with Arthur. And I became a soloist with them. And we toured and we were about to do City Center for the season. And I had all these ballets. I had, oh God, I had Four Temperaments, and I had all these ballets that I was the lead of. So I was really excited. But I auditioned for Dancin' when we were back and I got it. So I thought I was doing a nice thing, but obviously it wasn't taken that way.

[30:46] Hinton Battle: So I went to Mr. Mitchell and said, I'm going to, you know, after the City Center, I'm gonna leave the company. I auditioned for Dancin' and I got it.

[31:02] Kevin David Thomas: Well, why did I do that?

[31:05] Hinton Battle: He was not very happy with that.

[31:07] Kevin David Thomas: Oh no.

[31:07] Hinton Battle: Yeah, he insisted since I was still on payroll that I had to come to every show, and I had to teach all of my parts to someone else. So I had to come to every show and watch someone else do the parts I was gonna do. And the opening night, I go out into the audience to go watch, and guess who's sitting there? Gwen Verdon. And she's like, what are you doing here? Don't you need to be backstage getting ready? I came to see you. And I said, well, uh, I won't be dancing. Um, I well, I'll tell you later. Oh no, oh yeah, so but it was, it was alright and then, you know, ballet dancers, you know, they're amazing. You don't make, you don't make money. It's really about the love of the art. And we were in rehearsal and Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse were both there for all the rehearsals and rehearsed us.

That show was really tough. Why? Because it was all dancing back to back to back to back. So you could be my, I did the opening number which was Crunchy Granola and then I had to go backstage and I had literally, I think 30 seconds to change full costume to get into do Bojangles, which was the next number. So I think there was an announcement or something between it and I would leave the stage before the very end of the number, go backstage, and I had to wear Givenchy stockings so my costumes would slide off and slide on. Those things are so uncomfortable, talking about gripping. But anyway, the truths, these are the truths. So, um, but one day in rehearsal, I'm, you know, changing and I pull out my dance shoes to rehearse in and they have holes in them.

They're, you know, I'm a ballet dancer. I don't can't afford to, my shoes have holes. When Gwen Verdon looks at my shoes and says, what is, what, what are those for? I said, those are my shoes. So she starts digging in her bag and she pulls out a pair of shoes and she says, here, I couldn't believe it. She just had that ready to go, help you out, had shoes, and she gave me shoes and I wore those shoes. So I put holes in those because she gave them to me, but that was, she was, she was very instrumental in helping me and in my career. And so Dancin', that show, we went on the road, so I was on tour for about a year and then they decided to bring me in to Broadway and do the lead to replace Charles Ward. So I had to do the percussion part.

[31:42] Hinton Battle: Four, oh okay, great, you know, great number. It's hard, it's very hard. But when I moved into New York, I didn't have a place to live, so I told Gwen, you know, I'd love to come, but I don't have a place in New York. I gotta find a place to live.

[34:45] Kevin David Thomas: Oh my gosh, come again?

[34:45] Hinton Battle: Yeah, I know, I know, I know, and I'm sitting, I'm like, yeah, exactly. I'm like that, I'm like, you kept it just like what she says, yes, come, just come stay in my house. I'll have the housekeeper give you keys and blah, blah, blah. And you know, she lived on a penthouse on Central Park West.

[35:07] Kevin David Thomas: Yes, it was nice.

[35:10] Hinton Battle: Beautiful. So I lived there until I found an apartment. And then I found an apartment, and then Sophisticated Ladies came along.

[35:22] Hinton Battle: Wow. And I auditioned for that. And oh no, I didn't audition. I was good, I wasn't gonna go audition for it.

[35:28] Kevin David Thomas: Right.

[35:31] Hinton Battle: And I told her, you know, I had this audition for Sophisticated Ladies, but I'm not gonna audition for it because it's a tap show. So Gregory Hines is starring and I don't tap. So she's, don't worry about it. I said, what do you mean? She said, don't worry about it. I'll teach you a tap routine.

[35:47] Hinton Battle: Okay, okay. So the shoes, the apartment, right? And I assume you guys, I mean, would you have downtime together, like hanging out, like sort of chilled out? I mean, did you have to read it?

[36:00] Hinton Battle: No, no, I mean, I w no, not really. I mean, we could have dinner, but you know, a dinner party or something, but not like, hey, how you so how was your day? No, not putting your pajamas and having coffee in the morning.

[36:12] Kevin David Thomas: No, having coffee, you know.

[36:14] Hinton Battle: I tried not to, I mean, I felt, you know, I tried not to be there as much as possible. I tried to, I mean, it's at the, I mean, she's like at that height of her, you know, right after Chicago.

[36:26] Kevin David Thomas: Right.

[36:26] Hinton Battle: Exactly. And here I am.

[36:28] Kevin David Thomas: That is just to hear that story of mentorship and to hear that story of kindness is incredible. Okay, so she encourages you, go audition for Sophisticated Ladies. I'll give you the tap routine. I wanted to ask you about working with Donald McHale on Sophisticated Ladies.

[36:45] Hinton Battle: Him and it was Michael Smuin, right?

[36:47] Hinton Battle: The two shares. I was being replaced on you, actually.

[36:51] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, can you walk us through a little bit about what it was like working with Donald McHale and how that process happened?

[36:56] Hinton Battle: Donald, well, Donald created that show, Sophisticated Ladies. You know, he created that show, and it was, it is, and it is brilliant, and it still is brilliant. And a lot of the stuff that he did in that show that works really well are the high points of the show. They really are dancers in love, um, it don't mean a thing, which is he was him and him really tang. And you know, all of those numbers are the ones that really, really work on the show. Donnie was great. I mean, he would sit down and say, okay, all right, um, kick and fall down to the ground. Let me, can you do that? So we kick and fall down to the ground. No, now kick and fall down to the ground, but keep your leg up. Alright, kick, fall down the ground, keep it up.

We do that. Alright, now while you're down there, can you switch legs? Kick, kick, kick. Switching, switching, switching. We do that. Okay, keep good. So let's do turn down, punch a split, fall to the ground, kick, kick, kick. Just keep going. Coming up with it in the moment and just in the moment. And thank God, you know, me, it was me and Greg Burge. And Greg Burge, God bless his soul, was just as a proficient technician as I was. So we were able to do all this stuff. Anything he asked us to do, we could, we were able to do. The only thing he asked us to do that I couldn't do was gymnastics. Oh, those kinds of tricks. When I get upside down, my equilibrium, and I can't figure out where the ground is.

So, um, but he was, he was a genius. He just, you know, created on the spot, and that's what I learned from him, just to be able to go look at something and create it, and you know, literally come in with no preconceived idea of what he wants to do.

[39:02] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[39:03] Hinton Battle: Fosse was like that, George was like that. They were all of those guys were like that. They were creators, they created on you on the spot.

[39:14] Kevin David Thomas: Boy, that takes guts and confidence.

[39:17] Hinton Battle: Yeah, and you know, and it wasn't even, it was very easy. It wasn't like, why, what's wrong with you? It was just sort of try this. Okay, wait a minute. Let's try this, you know. And I'm sure that also comes from being so strong in their own techniques that they would, you know, they have the reserve and you know, to pull all that out. So you get a Tony nomination, right? And a Tony win for Sophisticated Ladies, right?

[39:46] Hinton Battle: Yes.

[39:46] Kevin David Thomas: So what, what is that like? What's that experience like? Because you, if you don't mind asking, how old were you at the time of this?

[39:54] Hinton Battle: Oh God, it must have been, I mean, had to be in my 20s by now, or 19 or 20 or 21. Late teens, early 20s, and walk us through that, walk us through that.

[40:05] Hinton Battle: Well, it was a sweet and sour experience, actually.

[40:12] Kevin David Thomas: Okay.

[40:13] Hinton Battle: Um, Greg Burge and I were always pitted against each other.

[40:16] Kevin David Thomas: Why?

[40:17] Hinton Battle: I don't know.

[40:18] Kevin David Thomas: In your careers or just in the show?

[40:21] Hinton Battle: Uh, both.

[40:23] Kevin David Thomas: Okay.

[40:24] Hinton Battle: And it's sort of like, you know, we're very different, you know, there's really no need for it. So what kinda happened was my role in Sophisticated Ladies was nowhere as big as Greg Burge's role. So everyone, including the cast, although I got the nomination, I thought it was great. The cast was in, you know, they kept saying it was a mistake and you know, and it doesn't matter he's not gonna win anyway because they probably meant to nominate Greg Burge. At the time, um, Gregory Hines was out during the nomination period when they're coming. So a lot of the times, about I say half the times, I was doing my role and his role.

[41:14] Hinton Battle: So um it was people oh that's probably they got confused and thinking that your role is you know I I don't think I don't think so. I mean they're savvy look at a program and go No. Everybody knows Gregory Hines too many voters but when I won I think ever it everybody just kinda chilled and then it became great. Yeah because then it was um they were like oh okay he he did he won so there was no mistake and no way no but it w so it was kind of bittersweet.

[41:54] Kevin David Thomas: What was it like working with Gregory Hines?

[41:56] Hinton Battle: Gregory was great he always wants to kiss you. I I didn't like that though. Oh yeah. Yeah, he he's in no no no Gregory, you know. I don't want to kiss you. I I I love you, but I don't want to kiss you. Gregory was gay, great. He was he was a good guy. Um, you know, smooth talker. Yeah. Love the ladies. And just talented. I mean, I uh watching him, watching him and Phyllis Hyman on stage. Um because boy, could they they would just uh terrific, they just knew how to play that audience and get them in the palm of their hand. I learned that from both of them. Yeah, you know, uh Phyllis with her vocals and Gregory with his comedy. Uh he had a great sense of timing with comedy and was able to land a single line at a certain point and get a laugh, you know. Um so that that was I learned a lot from uh a lot of the people in that show.

[43:11] ♪ Musical number: "Good Morning, Mama" — performed by Hinton Battle ♪

[45:30] Hinton Battle: Oh boy. Every show is different. What did I sing for sophisticated ladies? I d I don't remember. I probably sang sophisticated ladies. Um for Miss Saigon, I had to sing Bredoy, and that's a story in itself. Um what else? Um Dream Girls? Well, Dream Girls, um, Michael Bennett just asked me to do do the role, actually.

[45:30] Kevin David Thomas: Wait, really?

[45:56] Hinton Battle: Yeah, I I was um I wasn't the original James Thunder early. Um Cleavon was right, right. Cleveland was going off to do the movie with uh Robin Williams. So he needed somebody to come in while he was gone. I think it was three months or four months or something. So he asked me if I would do it. So I said, sure. Did you know him? Had you ever interacted with Bennett before?

[46:20] Hinton Battle: He must have known your work, obviously, but I yeah, I never met him or anything. I mean you called the agent, you know, through the agent and said of course here's an offer, you know. But and I did it, and then both Michael Bennett and Michael Peters came in and changed stuff and added more dance and added more music bars for me to dance. And I mean they changed the role. So they were like, oh, we've got Hinton, so now we've gotta, you know, we've gotta add stuff to we've gotta really challenge him. That's Michael Peters tried to break my back.

[46:20] Kevin David Thomas: What?

[46:52] Hinton Battle: What one of my the exits to one of the songs, stepping to the bedside, the upbeat, step, step to the bed. I had to do this thing where I jump, you jump on both feet and then you backben all the way as far back as you can go, and then you come up, step, step, jump, back, step, step. That was my exit.

[46:52] Kevin David Thomas: Oh wow.

[47:20] Hinton Battle: Okay. Um you were a replacement for Dream Girls. Uh so what was that process like? Because now you have to kind of, you know, not create something for even though they were, you know, added music, but you're having to kind of fill in shoes with a show that's already running. What were the challenges with that? And um did you know people in the show? Was it kind of weird to be sort of like, oh hi family? This is a new group of people.

[47:41] Hinton Battle: No, I didn't know I didn't really know anyone in the show, actually. Only person I knew was Felicia. But I didn't know anyone in the show. So I was the new kid. And you know, Clevant was great in the role, so it was it was challenging because I had to be as good or if if not or better than him. Um so it it was turned out great though. I mean, I I loved doing the role. The audience reaction was great. I used to have so much fun doing that role because he's such a crazy wild and sexy and showman, you know, yeah, like charismatic. Yeah, and you know, down on his knees talking and stroking and you know, he was just like, Oh, uh, ice cream, he's ice cream mommy.

[48:40] Kevin David Thomas: Exactly it. But joy. Can we talk about one of our favorite shows?

[48:46] Hinton Battle: And that's the Tap Dance Kid.

[48:46] Kevin David Thomas: Which we're like, when are we gonna get a revival of that anytime soon? Where where is that show? Because we we loved it. We absolutely loved it.

[48:57] Hinton Battle: Oh special. Oh man. Well, I don't think I don't think it's gonna get done. I actually had the rights to it for a while.

[49:06] Kevin David Thomas: Oh.

[49:07] Hinton Battle: And almost got it done, and then um uh there became a um creative differences. Sure. But I loved that show. I thought it was a great show. The best part of it for me were the three little boys. Who are Savior and Glover, Dooley Hill, and I cannot remember the third one who actually was killed. Um but working with them and playing with them and beating them up. I used to, you know, when they did something bad, I'd pick them up and throw them. They had these big huge trash bins. I'd pick 'em up and throw them in the trash. You're trashing me. And I throw them and um but it was you know, that that was fun. Those kids were like, I mean, they were how like eight or nine or no, ten-ish.

[50:04] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[50:04] Hinton Battle: Eight nine, ten, yeah. You know, uh, would you do us a favor in an in a l in a little nutshell, can you tell our listeners what the story of the tap dance kid was?

[50:13] Hinton Battle: Oh well, the tap dance kid is about a little boy who wants to be uh a tap dancer. His father, uh African American family, middle class is a lawyer, very successful lawyer. The mother is um housewife, doesn't work. The daughter who is a overweight wants to be a lawyer, but her father doesn't really give or pay her any attention and think she'll just get married and be taken care of that way, don't worry about it. And about the little boy struggled to want to be a tap dancer, and um his uncle Dipsy, who is a struggling choreographer in New York, uh try to take someone's wing to be a tap dancer, and they fight and uh animosity between the two of them for the son and the mother finally stepping up and supporting their kids as opposed to just being stepped over by whatever he wants.

Um so it's about dreams and aspirations and following your dream and fighting for what you believe in and um accomplishing them. I mean, it's a great story, screen story. A beautiful story and a great show.

[51:32] Kevin David Thomas: And yeah, so you had the rights for a little bit. Were you looking to direct and choreograph a new production of it?

[51:38] Hinton Battle: I was looking to produce it and uh yeah, direct it and choreograph it. I basically wanted to keep it the same, make a couple of changes, update it, you know, because it was it was uh a peer a piece for that time. Yeah, update it and bring it to date, and um but um originally, yeah, you we'd love that idea, and then they decided they wanted to change it to something totally different.

[52:08] Kevin David Thomas: Oh.

[52:09] Hinton Battle: And I thought, oh well, that's that's not the tap dance kid. I mean, I wanted to be tap dance kid, so the spirit of the original, but yeah, you know, update that. It just didn't work out.

[52:21] Kevin David Thomas: And then um a second Tony nomination, right?

[52:24] Hinton Battle: And a s and a second Tony win.

[52:26] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, yeah.

[52:29] Hinton Battle: Yes.

[52:29] Kevin David Thomas: So was this one more fulfilling for you?

[52:32] Hinton Battle: Much more. Much more. This one what this one was um I mean um tap dance kid. Much, much more fulfilling. Yes.

[52:42] Kevin David Thomas: And am I also correct in saying that in addition to the Tony Award, you also won the NAACP award and the Fred Esther Award?

[52:49] Hinton Battle: Yes.

[52:50] Kevin David Thomas: For these. So what is it like what does that mean? I mean, to to win both of those awards that are so significant. Yes, the Tony Award, but NAACP image award and then the Fred Esther Award. Can you talk about that a little bit?

[53:08] Hinton Battle: Well, it's you know, it's you know, awards are a tricky thing. Sure, sure. You want to win 'em. But um, you know, it's nice to be appreciated for your work for that season that you're doing, and that people um take notice and want to say thank you. And the way of saying thank you is uh presenting you with an award. Um I think, you know, the only thing I don't like about it is that you're pitted against other performers, that you know, their work is just as valid. Um to say yours is better than theirs is uh you know, I it it it's it's a tough thing for me. Yeah. Um but I I do take it as uh an appreciation for what the work that I've done did uh at that time and uh it touched people. I mean, I try to whenever I do, I try to do 200%. I mean, I really go all the way, and usually after a show, I'm so after I've done a show, I'm I'm pretty drained and exhausted.

[54:21] Hinton Battle: So yeah, because I I try to give all of myself to that.

[54:27] Hinton Battle: Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, you know, and you had said this earlier, and I'd like to go back to it. You know, you said when The Wiz first came out, there were no black shows on Broadway at the time, and the fact that you hardly had any shows.

[54:39] Hinton Battle: Yeah, right, oh yeah, absolutely. And the fact that you appeared in so many of these seminal musicals, did you have in later years a lot of younger persons of color reaching out to you and saying you were one of the reasons I got into the business, or you were the ones that said because of you?

[54:57] Hinton Battle: Can you talk a little bit about that mentorship and do you think that's something that's getting better in our theater community or not so much? How does that work? Well, I mean, I think the most interesting one was I did Miss Saigon and I had an actor who had gotten the role reach out to me and wanted to know what he should do for the role. I explained to him I can't tell you what to do for the role; you have to do what you feel for the role and make it yours.

[55:35] Hinton Battle: People that are looking for someone to mentor them, I don't think they understand what being mentored means. I think they think somebody's gonna tell them what to do, how to do it, and make it work like I did it. I don't think that's how it works. I think the only thing I can give to someone is to find their talent and bring out the best in what they do to make whatever they do their own.

[56:17] Hinton Battle: So when I get people that say, you know, give me some tips on the character, it's like, dude, do your research. I can't tell you how to do it, but I can tell you where it has to come from. It's gotta come from you, you know.

[56:36] Kevin David Thomas: Now you had said earlier on when you auditioned for Miss Saigon, you said there was a story there, right? With Badoy and all of that.

[56:43] Hinton Battle: Oh well. Yeah, I was living in California at the time, and I get this call from my agent. They want you to audition for Miss Saigon, and I'm like, I don't want to do that show. So I was in LA, my agent calls, and I says, okay, fine. You know, they really want you. I said, okay, fine. And I told them I'm not available.

[57:06] Hinton Battle: So they send me the song, and I look at it, and then I have to go in and meet and sing the song. He flies out to LA and all this stuff, so I go in. I don't practice the song; I don't know the song. So he's teaching me the song, so I'm like kind of half-learning it.

[57:24] Hinton Battle: Okay, okay. So he says, okay, so I'm thinking, great, it's over, it's done. He's unprepared, he's not professional. Don't hire him. They want to see you again. Oh, come on, really? I totally blew this; I didn't even try. They want to see you again.

[57:44] Hinton Battle: So I go in again. I kind of do the same thing, but I learned the song a little bit. Uh-huh. A little more. A little bit more. At least the parts that he worked with me on, so I don't look like a total jerk.

[58:00] Hinton Battle: So good. It's over. It's done. They want to see you again. They want to fly you to New York. What? They want to fly you to New York. And they want you to sing the song for Cameron and everyone else. Blah blah blah. I said, I totally, totally dissed this audition. Why do they want to see me?

[58:25] Hinton Battle: So I said, made it convinces me to go. So I says, okay, fine, fine. So I go to New York, I'm in the hotel, and I said, okay, Hinton. They flew you here. You can at least do the damn song. You know, go for it.

[58:42] Hinton Battle: So I work on the song all night before my audition because I still didn't know it. I work on it all night and I get it, and all those high notes. Oh god. I go in, and there's, you know, stage that's one light pole on the thing, and so you can't see in the audience, and they're out there hitting battle, come on.

[59:04] Hinton Battle: On stage, I come on stage. Are you ready? Yes, I'm ready. They start. So I sing the song. I sing the shit out of the song. Like, great. After I sing the song, and I really put myself out there and done the whole thing, dead silence. Nothing.

[59:21] Hinton Battle: Not a word. Then I hear, out of the blackness. Do you want the damn job or not? And that was Cameron Mackintosh. And I said, okay, fine. Fine. You win. You will win. So that's how my Broadway audition went.

[59:49] Kevin David Thomas: Oh my god.

[59:51] Hinton Battle: Oh, we do.

[59:53] Kevin David Thomas: He's got it.

[59:55] Hinton Battle: Oh my god. And they got to the Tony Award goes to.

[1:00:01] Kevin David Thomas: I mean, I know.

[1:00:02] Hinton Battle: So the moral to that story, don't get in your own way.

[1:00:06] Kevin David Thomas: Yes.

[1:00:07] Hinton Battle: I love that. I love that.

[1:00:09] Kevin David Thomas: And then how was that process for you? How was the Miss Saigon rehearsal process?

[1:00:11] Hinton Battle: It was great. I had a ball. I mean, it was, you know, I was always like going to the director and going, you have any notes for me? You want me to do anything? You want me to be tougher? You want me to—oh, you're good, you're fine. Oh, they're not firing me. That's what I'm thinking. They're gonna fire me. Nobody's fine.

[1:00:35] Hinton Battle: And it was great. And I just, I had a ball.

[1:00:38] Kevin David Thomas: So then, you know, you have a lot of on-camera choreography experience, right? Like when did you, when did that start to interest you?

[1:00:50] Hinton Battle: Well, I've always done choreography. I've always, you know, even when I was back in Jones Haywood, and when I first started, I would always want to choreograph something and put little dances together and things.

[1:01:03] Hinton Battle: So I just kept doing it, and I kept watching choreographers how to put a number together, how to create a number, you know, working with people like George and Bob Fosse and Michael Bennett, and watching how they made a number work, you know, the elements to create a number, the climax of it, the rhythm of it, not just the steps, but the rhythm and the flow of the entire number.

[1:01:34] Hinton Battle: Debbie Allen's another one. Working with those people, I learned a lot about choreographing. And I always love, I like choreographing. I like creating movement on other dancers, on other bodies and other people, create something that's not what I do.

[1:02:01] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[1:02:01] Hinton Battle: I have to ask, you did These Old Broads, right? With four legends. Can you tell us who they were and what it was like working with them?

[1:02:14] Hinton Battle: Oh god. It was um, Dynasty. It's Joan Collins, right? Joan Collins, uh, Shirley MacLaine, Debbie Reynolds, uh, who was the fourth one? It was Elizabeth Taylor.

[1:02:29] Hinton Battle: Yeah. So what's pretty amazing. It was amazing. It was amazing. I mean, you know, these women were the queens of their queens. After every rehearsal, they had these chairs; they weren't even chairs, I don't know what you would call them. They looked like standing thrones that they would stand on and lean back on their armrests and they're standing so their costumes don't wrinkle.

[1:03:01] Hinton Battle: And you see the four of them on their standing thrones talking to each other, and it's pretty amazing. And Shirley MacLaine was—they're all unbelievable, just hysterical. They're really funny. Debbie Reynolds is hysterical.

[1:03:18] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[1:03:19] Hinton Battle: She's really funny. I love that.

[1:03:22] Kevin David Thomas: Okay.

[1:03:22] Hinton Battle: But they were a hoot to work with, and very fast.

[1:03:28] Kevin David Thomas: Oh yeah.

[1:03:29] Hinton Battle: Well, they're old, you know, like Shirley MacLaine, old Hooper. I mean, like she's like from the chorus, you know. Changing in a minute. Oh, boom, do it this way, do it that way. It was great.

[1:03:40] Hinton Battle: I love working with that, and rankings like that, and I love working with her like that. You know, it was a good experience.

[1:03:51] Hinton Battle: Yeah, it was a great experience. I wish I could have—it was a show we could do it every night. It was cool.

[1:03:56] Kevin David Thomas: Oh my god, please. People would pay; that show would still be running today.

[1:04:01] Kevin David Thomas: We would be remiss if we did not ask you about Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[1:04:07] Hinton Battle: Oh, random.

[1:04:09] Kevin David Thomas: I know, but you're so good on it. Can you walk us through this a little bit?

[1:04:16] Hinton Battle: I almost didn't do it. You know, they called me and made an offer, and I said, well, when I heard it, you know, he's this mask and all that. I says, I don't really want to do all of that, you know.

[1:04:30] Hinton Battle: And it was Nancy Bennett said, what the hell? Do it. She said, okay, so I did it. I did it. And it's—everybody loves that character. It's like iconic, legendary, Sweet, right?

[1:04:45] Hinton Battle: Listeners, it's an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that they made the entire episode into a self-contained musical called Once More with Feeling that actually had its own cast record or soundtrack recording that came out of all the songs, and it came in a very iconic episode of this very popular television show.

[1:05:06] Hinton Battle: And you played the devil in it.

[1:05:07] Kevin David Thomas: And cat dancing, singing devil.

[1:05:07] Hinton Battle: And I really love that character. Love it. Sweet. Sweet. And then make go tea and the long fingernails and stuff.

[1:05:22] Hinton Battle: Tell her to come. I mean, I actually had a ball playing that role. Yeah, it's so like any other role I had ever played.

[1:05:30] Kevin David Thomas: So that's awesome.

[1:05:33] Hinton Battle: It is so cool. And it's such a part of like cultural history. It must be so cool to know that you're a part of that.

[1:05:39] Kevin David Thomas: Okay, so then that was what, like the early 2000s? And when did you first start your academy? When did you first start your school?

[1:05:45] Hinton Battle: We started four years ago now. So that was 2017.

[1:05:55] Kevin David Thomas: I want to ask you one last question, then we'll let you go to sleep because we know it's late over there.

[1:05:59] Hinton Battle: So late there.

[1:05:59] Kevin David Thomas: If there—what do you know now that you wished you had known when you were first starting out, when you were that 15-year-old boy going into the stage door for the first time? What do you know now that you wished you had known then? Or if you could talk to yourself back then, what advice would you give them?

[1:06:16] Hinton Battle: Fear is crippling. So good. Don't be afraid. Believe in yourself and just do it. Let all those thoughts that we all have that come into play. It's not worth it.

[1:06:31] Kevin David Thomas: That's great advice.

[1:06:32] Hinton Battle: That is great advice. Something I think we need to remind ourselves quite often.

[1:06:37] Kevin David Thomas: Well, we love you. I mean, we wanted to thank you not only for the interview today, but you know, you have created such a beautiful, wonderful legacy of work, and it's still continuing, obviously. But on behalf of us and all of our listeners, thank you for giving us so many wonderful evenings in the theater.

[1:06:38] Hinton Battle: Thank you.

[1:06:54] Hinton Battle: Thank you for having me. I want a pleasure.

[1:06:57] Kevin David Thomas: We are—it has been a pleasure talking with you. I usually don't kind of open up as much, so you've gotten me very comfortable.

[1:07:04] Kevin David Thomas: Well, we really do appreciate it, and you feeling safe enough that you could do that with us. And you know, this interview is forever, and so I think that it's really special that you shared so much. So thank you so much.

[1:07:15] Hinton Battle: Yeah, thank you.

[1:07:21] Kevin David Thomas: Thank you for listening to today's episode, and a big thanks to the punchy players, Jeff Marquis, who is bringing back Lucy, Betty, Judy, and more to shill for us. And a big thanks to our sound editor, Daniel Schwartzberg, and social media manager Bethany and Select.

[1:07:36] Kevin David Thomas: And don't forget, we want more folks to hear these incredible stories, and that's where you come in. In order for people to find out about us, we need lots of ratings on iTunes.

[1:07:45] Kevin David Thomas: So head on over to iTunes, search for Behind the Curtain, Broadway's Living Legends, click on our logo, click on ratings and reviews, then write a review and leave us five stars and make us feel as special as Eliza Doolittle on Eliza Doolittle Day.

[1:08:00] Kevin David Thomas: Or you can leave us just one star and you can make us feel as bad as Annie did in that really weird production in Boston where Annie dreamt that she was being adopted, but then she ended up back where? In the orphanage, right?

[1:08:11] Hinton Battle: Back where she started.

[1:08:12] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[1:08:12] Hinton Battle: True story, Rob saw it.

[1:08:14] Kevin David Thomas: Yes, and I was batting.

[1:08:16] Hinton Battle: It was bizarre.

[1:08:17] Kevin David Thomas: I was there.

[1:08:19] Kevin David Thomas: Oh god.

[1:08:20] Hinton Battle: So head on over to iTunes and make us feel even more special than we already did.