This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:13] ♪ Musical number: "My Favorite Things" ♪

[0:17] Robert W Schneider: Bonjour.

[0:18] Kevin David Thomas: Bonjour.

[0:19] Robert W Schneider: Bonjour, bonjour, bonjour.

[0:21] Kevin David Thomas: There goes the beggar with train like you know, it's funny. Um that made me think of something.

[0:27] Robert W Schneider: What's good?

[0:28] Kevin David Thomas: What's good.

[0:30] Robert W Schneider: Oh, yeah, no, he that's I was genius. I love his stuff.

[0:33] Kevin David Thomas: Why doesn't he do more of those?

[0:34] Robert W Schneider: I think he's done a couple.

[0:36] Kevin David Thomas: Really?

[0:36] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, I think so. They look like they're really they cost a lot of money to make.

[0:40] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, I'll give him money. I have ten dollars.

[0:44] Robert W Schneider: And a coupon.

[0:45] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, and then we'll get you two. The IHOP. I can feed some people.

[0:49] Robert W Schneider: Love an IHOP.

[0:50] Kevin David Thomas: I love it. What do you get?

[0:51] Robert W Schneider: Uh I'm going out.

[0:55] Kevin David Thomas: Moon over my Hammy.

[0:57] Robert W Schneider: Uh that's Denny's.

[0:58] Kevin David Thomas: I know. Uh I don't I I don't like to get I you probably will get a scramble of some kind. You know, some of those potatoes and bacon and you know, all that stuff.

[1:06] Robert W Schneider: Are you a big breakfast eater?

[1:07] Kevin David Thomas: Uh no, actually I'm not a big breakfast eater.

[1:09] Robert W Schneider: Same here.

[1:10] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, I I tend to skip that meal of the day. I drink two. I try to drink coffee instead of eating breakfast.

[1:14] Robert W Schneider: You're so good. But today I had uh Sutton always makes uh breakfast uh tacos with you know eggs with the I love a good tortilla shell.

[1:22] Kevin David Thomas: The problem with breakfast is it goes too fast.

[1:24] Robert W Schneider: True.

[1:24] Kevin David Thomas: The trouble with well today is plain to see is coffee and a cardboard.

[1:30] Robert W Schneider: That was just my cue into my my my material.

[1:31] Kevin David Thomas: I hope you do.

[1:33] Robert W Schneider: Thank you.

[1:33] Kevin David Thomas: I love when you sing.

[1:34] Robert W Schneider: Thank you. Somebody has to.

[1:36] Kevin David Thomas: I do.

[1:36] Robert W Schneider: I do that, and then I go into it's an art from working.

[1:40] Kevin David Thomas: Everyone sang that song when I was in college.

[1:42] Robert W Schneider: Oh, same here.

[1:43] Kevin David Thomas: No one does it anymore. Everyone did everybody.

[1:45] Robert W Schneider: You know what my college used to do, which was horrible.

[1:47] Kevin David Thomas: What?

[1:48] Robert W Schneider: Any person that was I'm trying to think of a way of articulating this where it's not offensive. If you were not Caucasian, you were given that song at least once to sing.

[1:48] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[1:48] Robert W Schneider: Yeah.

[1:48] Kevin David Thomas: I'm trying to think of a nice.

[2:02] Robert W Schneider: I know. I'm trying to think of a nice little thing.

[2:04] Kevin David Thomas: Really? Like why was it skip? Ooh, my feet.

[2:07] Robert W Schneider: If you no, if you were not, if you were non-Caucasian, everyone at God was always, you know what would be really good for you? And people would be like, it's an art.

[2:17] Kevin David Thomas: It's an art.

[2:20] Robert W Schneider: I'm not joking, Kevin. But you know what's so funny? I can't can we have a serious discussion for a second?

[2:25] Kevin David Thomas: I know I know that we're usually very light and frothy.

[2:30] Robert W Schneider: We try to be light and frothy. I find it so interesting now that so many students um get offended. I'm gonna say the word offended when a voice teacher or an acting teacher says to like, for example, there's a school that I know where there's um a lot of African American students, and they they're told, Oh, you have to sing I hate the bus.

[2:54] Kevin David Thomas: Huh?

[2:54] Robert W Schneider: Or and it's like no, but what if she's not really a character? Well, she doesn't want to sing that song. You know, it's or what I heard this from one school that um a student who was a soprano was told, oh, you should learn all of Cinderella's stuff now that um Kiki Niki leagues?

[3:15] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[3:15] Robert W Schneider: Oh, oh, well, when they had the take, yeah, when she when they put her into Cinderella. Please forgive me. When they put her into Cinderella, then it was like, okay, well, now you can sing it because an African American has now played it on Broadway. Now you can do it.

[3:29] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[3:29] Robert W Schneider: Um, I'm just so interested by that. Is that something teachers should do or something teacher?

[3:36] Kevin David Thomas: BS to me. Um, I think students should, especially in educational institutions, should be singing anything they want to sing.

[3:42] Robert W Schneider: Yeah.

[3:43] Kevin David Thomas: It's all, yeah, it's yeah, sure. You can sing the make them hear you if you want to, sir, but you also can sing her face from Carnival. Like, please do that as well.

[3:52] Robert W Schneider: Absolutely. Absolutely. And you can sing from carousel, not just because Josh Henry got cast, you know, this year. But even because Josh Henry got cast if you wanted to sing from carousel.

[4:00] Kevin David Thomas: It's funny, we were I we were talking with um uh just today. I was in a little rehearsal with Allie Stoker, the girl from that was in Spring Over. Um, and she was talking, we were talking exactly about this about casting people, you know, she wanted to do, I hope she doesn't mind me saying, but she wanted to do a certain musical, and they went to the estate, and the estate people were like, no, because we don't see it, you know, the the widow was like, no, we don't see a person in a wheelchair playing that part.

[4:23] Robert W Schneider: What?

[4:24] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, right? And like, and like what like if if it's not it only will help a show. We saw that with Spring Awakening, you know, like it only it only will lift up a piece and put the emphasis back on the story.

[4:35] Robert W Schneider: Are you serious?

[4:36] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, you know, and I hope that I'm not out of turn saying that because I'm not telling you any more than that. But but I remember thinking that's crazy that we still live in a day and age where someone will say, Oh, well, that's not the you know, it's like the the who's your favorite Virginia Wolf, you know, and the all be state was like, Oh, people have you know, non-Caucasians, this is crazy. You know, it's like, well, we're the play is still good, so I think we're gonna be okay.

[4:57] Robert W Schneider: Oh, I think you're fine. And so uh yeah, I was just interesting. Uh the the the idea of casting with you know race, color, and and special needs or whatever, you know, like the you know, what whatever you're you know how about the best person first of all, this I was just somebody interviewed me about this a couple of days ago, and I was like, as soon as you enter that theater, you're playing pretend.

[5:23] Kevin David Thomas: Right, it's built in.

[5:24] Robert W Schneider: It's pretend.

[5:25] Kevin David Thomas: Right.

[5:25] Robert W Schneider: It's pretend. We are pretending. So why what is this thing? Oh, it's well, that that wouldn't have happened in real life.

[5:33] Kevin David Thomas: It's not real life.

[5:35] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, it's it's not realistic. I a friend of mine once said, not an old friend, a former friend, I should say, they saw anything goes with me. And they were just they're just rolling their eyes a little bit. So what's the issue? The issue was that there were African American members in the ensemble who were part of the guests on the boat.

[5:58] Kevin David Thomas: And he goes, Well, if this was, you know, historically accurate, you know, they would not have been guests on the boat. They would have been servants, or they would have done this or would have done that.

[6:08] Robert W Schneider: Oh my god.

[6:09] Kevin David Thomas: And I said they also wouldn't have broken out into a synchronized time step.

[6:13] Robert W Schneider: Right, and you're the top is harmony.

[6:14] Kevin David Thomas: Right, and you're the top is a list song that doesn't go anywhere. So, like, what do you want from them? But I that drives me crazy, which is we are auto, we are saying it is imaginary. It is let's play pretend. We are pretending. That's why we love it. So, why why is this a fucking issue? Excuse my language, but why is this a fucking issue? But I was so interested because this young lady I was talking to was like, yeah, she goes, the only thing I seem to get from my voice teachers are songs that other African Americans have sang, and I never get like she used to be mine. And I never and I never get glitter and be gay, and I never get this, and I never get that. It's literally like you will sing, mama will provide. You will sing, and and it has to be sanctioned on Broadway by an African American appearing in the role before my voice teacher will even tell me I can sing something along these lines.

[7:07] Robert W Schneider: So that's so strange to me. It must be very frustrating.

[7:10] Kevin David Thomas: So I asked one of the teachers though. I actually I didn't, you know, I asked, I said, so why do you do this? The teacher's response was well, they're going to be auditioning for these things when they leave here. So is it any different than preparing a soprano to be learning my Fair Lady music? And I'm like, I think I I get your point, but that's not all you give the person. You don't just give the soprano Eliza Doolittle stuff to learn. You give them a whole wide range of things, and I think that's a little different. I know a lot of Latina actresses who would never appear in In the Heights because their type doesn't fit any of those characters, and all they get is breathe. Breathe. You know? So I was just I was just curious. Sorry, that was a there was a very long tangent.

[7:57] Robert W Schneider: No, no, no. I'm I I feel you.

[8:00] Kevin David Thomas: Thank you. Thank you. I I'm done now. I need to smoke and lay down.

[8:03] Robert W Schneider: Hey, a positive note. May I give you a positive note?

[8:06] Kevin David Thomas: Yes, please.

[8:07] Robert W Schneider: We need to do this more often. Every time we tell our listeners that we like something or we are looking for something, they respond and go out of their way to send it to us. A couple of episodes ago, uh, Kevin David Thomas.

[8:23] Kevin David Thomas: That's my name.

[8:24] Robert W Schneider: That's his full name. Thank you everybody.

[8:30] Kevin David Thomas: It was my favorite thing.

[8:31] Robert W Schneider: It was a favorite thing. And refresh us on what show music magazine was.

[8:35] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, you guys, from the early 80s, it started out as like a basically a newsletter and it ended in 2002, 2003. And it was a exactly what it sounds like. It was a quarterly magazine that it was all about show music, and it is a magical Goodspeed helped produce it for a while. Uh Max Priot uh put it out. Um, and it was it was like the nerdiest thing ever. I mean, are these uh now that we have we have copies of all of them um it was just like reading were oh just tons and tons of articles about what theater music was coming out full page ads for the me nobody knows finally on C D because everyone's racing to get that but you know it it's uh yeah it was it it was a great way a resource for um getting information about what cast albums were coming out what books what theater all of that and and not only in America oh no all over the world all over the world had the Realto you'd have like the Australia down under you know um so we so Kevin mentioned this and I said to him oh yeah I used to read it too blah blah blah and I had like five I had like five copies of four right back in California anyway I got I'll start with mine and then you can tell me yours we had I had a listener or we had a listener named Lisa Vial Mento once again Lisa Vialement who was so kind she emailed us and said what's your address she goes I used to work for Goodspeed I've got a whole bunch of them and out of the goodness of her heart not only did she mail us a bunch she sent us duplicates so we didn't have to fight over them so Lisa I mean the kindness yeah of Lisa is incredible.

[10:15] Robert W Schneider: Now and then, but you, but this now tell us about your thing completely separate from that. I have a friend of a friend who's now become a friend named Michael Adams, and I met him at, well, it doesn't matter. Annalie Ashford's husband, Joey, was our Mercutio, and I met my wife, yeah, Romeo and Juliet. He was Mercutio, so we're friends with them. And we were at her baby shower, and I met this fellow there, his older businessman now. Um, and I we hit it off because he loves musical theater, and then, but that was it. It was just a conversation two years ago. Well, he reached out of the blue, reached out to me, and he was like, "Hey, remember we talked at Annalise and Joey's, you know, bridal thing?"

And we, um, he's like, "I love your podcast." Didn't know he was listening to us, didn't know any of that. And he was like, "I've got a whole collection in my closet, I'll mail you the whole thing. All of them." So we're talking from the early copies of the pre-Goodspeed years, which are these little tiny ones. I think I sent you, gave you some. Um, and they're like, they're very, it's very raw, it's very, it's just all Max doing his, you know, collaborating with other people, but he was, you could, this was definitely a labor of love. And um, yeah, and he just, he mailed me three installments, like a huge box full. So yeah, we're between the two of us. We're set. We are, but the kindness, it's so generous of our listeners, so generous.

And then I have to add another thing on top of that, if I may, because you're gonna get one. I know you're getting one. Nevertheless, yes. Nevertheless, don't start with me. Nevertheless, Robbie Rosel. Um, I got an email from Michael Levine, who was one of our guests, the sheet music connoisseur. I've ever had, I love my pen from Michael Levine. Michael's Living. You're a great coach and you've got lots of sheet music, but the swag you gave us is everything. We're supposed to give guests swag. He was giving us swag. So anyway, Michael emailed me, and he's, and Jen Tepper, the who you know runs 54 Below and does the great untold stories of Broadway series, which I'm pointing to on my bookshelf as we speak.

And he said, "I have a gift for you and Jen. Can I meet you guys?" He shows up and gave us these two posters that are called the Broadway Turkey. And it is a turkey, huge, a huge turkey drawing. But the turkey is made up of titles of, I'm gonna say underappreciated shows. Because Jen doesn't like the word flop, so I can't say flop. Underappreciated plays and musicals. So the turkey is made up of like the title Bring Back Birdie or Merrily We Roll Along. Angel or Angel, which you said was on the nose, which we kind of like. In a different color, which is pretty awesome. So the generosity of our listeners is so astounding, and we are very thankful. I don't know if this episode's gonna be airing during Thanksgiving, but if it is, we are very thankful for you.

So I'd like to put out in the world, I would like a million dollars. So whichever listener is going to respond to us and give us a million dollars, that would be great. Go for it. Awesome. But no, seriously, thank you so much. And we love, we love getting this stuff. And also, people are sending us book recommendations and clips to be looking at. Um, it's really amazing. So thank you all so much. We just wanted to say thank you for that.

[13:15] Kevin David Thomas: Um, Kevin, uh, what is your favorite? Well, this is a follow-up from last week, or whenever we tell when we, so the for the first time ever, Rob and I actually, first time ever, we had the same favorite thing. Now we, uh, where we're, we're we record a bunch of these at that one time, and so he was bringing up this woman, Alice Playton, and I could not believe you said that because that was one of my, she literally is my favorite thing that I wish to talk about, and we thought, well, let's just wait and talk about her on the same day. Um, may I remind our listeners of why I brought her up last time? That's okay. So we had Neva Small on as a guest a couple of weeks ago, the great Neva Small from Fiddler on the Roof.

Um, and we talked about her co-star Alice Playton, who was in Henry Sweet Henry with her. Um, but we got an email from a guy named Joshua White, and the email said, "Thank you both in Neva Small for remembering my wife, Alice Playton. We were married for 35 years. I miss her every day." Um, breaks my heart. I was so touched, and Kevin, I know telling you, you were touched as well, that we wanted to make sure that we acknowledged her because she's always been on our favorite things list. It's um, yeah, but it's so, it's something about the stars aligning at the right time. I just couldn't believe that we, yeah, so I postponed on talking about her. So I want Kevin to take this. But this, this is for Joshua and for everybody else who loved her.

What a fascinating career. What a, um, I, you know, I know her because one of my favorite shows is Carolina Change, which she was in, and was that 2005? Yeah, 2004, 2005. Uh, and I, I always knew her from other stuff, but then I was like, oh wait, I forgot she was the original baby Louise in Gypsy, you know. She was, she was the original um, Erming Guard in Hello Dolly. Obviously, we've talked about um Sweet Henry. Um, First Lady Sweet, she did Michael John LaCusa, like that's Mammy Eisenhower. Nuts. I mean, that's like so crazy to me. But then she also did lots of voiceover work, you know. She was um, Felix the Cat, she was in My Little Pony the movie, you know. The, that character voice that she has um, is very special.

What fascinates me is that for the last 50 years or so until she died in 2011, her career was across the board. She did everything. And we said this last year, it left us way too soon. Way too soon. She's only 63. My God. It's way too young. Um, and so, and so I was gonna offer up, I'm sure this is on your list, but um, there's a great clip on YouTube of her singing on the Ed Sullivan show. Poor little person. It's so good. And you get to see Michael Bennett, which is his first Broadway show. You see his choreography. That moment, the audience starts clapping when they start marching across the scene. And what musical is this from? Oh, this is from Henry Sweet Henry. So the flop musical, but like she was a standout.

People would compare her to Ethel Merman, and you know that she, because she, when you watch this video, you know, she's communicating to the last row, and yet everything she's doing is believable and real. And yet it is a musical comedy, and it is big, but yet it's believable, you know. They said it's funny. Oh my gosh, is she funny? Oh, and I never got to see it, but they said that her Nobody Steps on Cafritz, that was like one of the best shining musical moments of the 1960s. That was her first, that was her big number, and then Bob Merrill wrote, excuse me, Poor Little Person because he loved her so much. He was like, "I gotta, I gotta write this person another showstopping number." So that's why he wrote Poor Little Person.

Um, yeah, I wish that was captured. I wish we could see the capture. Yeah. I wonder if it is somewhere. I want, I wonder. I'm sure someone has like Stephen Cole has it somewhere. Yeah, just under his flahooly doll. Exactly. But she, I mean, she was absolutely, and for our older listeners, uh, she, her big thing was that Alka Seltzer commercial. That's what I was gonna mention. Oh, sorry, yes, go ahead. I forgot. Uh, yeah, the Alka Seltzer commercial from like 1970 or something like that, where it's, I don't, I'm not familiar with it, so I don't know. Oh, have you never seen it? It's a newlywed couple. It's her as the newlywed bride, and the husband, okay, kind of obscure. Do you remember the movie Weekend at Bernie's? Of course, I know Weekend at Bernie's. Oh my gosh.

And I have a story about him later on. I have a story about him later on, which I don't, I think I can tell on air. I think, I hope so. Allegedly, I'll tell it allegedly a little bit later on. Um, they're, they're a married, they're a newlywed couple, and she comes home and, and she's like, "Honey, I'm gonna make uh food for you." And the first thing she makes are like these huge dumplings, and she's reading a cookbook of like other things she can make for him, like marshmallow meatballs and sweet and sour oysters. And he, you just see him like reaching for the Alka Seltzer, knowing that the whole rest of the marriage is gonna be indigestion. Right. It is so funny and it's so cute. But that was her big thing. That was her big thing when she was the newlywed in the Alka Seltzer commercial. It's great. So I'll, we'll post that. Okay, we'll post that for everybody. But Bernie is on there.

[18:08] Robert W Schneider: So here's the story about Weekend at Bernie's. Okay. This is allegedly, allegedly. Um, Bernie signed up to do Weekend at Bernie's, and in his contract, he signed up to do anything else that was part of Weekend at Bernie's. And apparently he, uh, they didn't realize the movie was gonna be so successful that they were gonna make a sequel. Now he was dead in the first one, so why does he have to appear in the second one? Because in the second movie, have you ever seen Weekend at Bernie's part two? Oh God, no. He's possessed by a voodoo curse. No, and anytime he hears reggae music, his body gets up and dances. So the actor was like, "Fuck this." Uh, and refused to come to work, and he actually had to be forced back onto the set to play a dead body.

I'll tell you all fair, but I know these things. But anyway, so that's who co-starred in the Alice Playton. Excellent. We'll post some clips of her. She's really on track. Boy, you talk about staying, you know, current too, and she took new projects. She was, you know, working to the last Bob Merrill. Yes. To Michael John LaCusa. That, oh yeah, I'm gonna say it was this a test? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I thought it was like an SAT. True or false. Bob is to Michael John, as Alice is to, I don't know. Um, so yeah, you're right. She went all over the place. Yeah. Janine Tesori, you know. I mean, like it's, yeah. So I mean, but the versatility of the voice, the power. Uh, I didn't see her in First Lady Suite, but I heard she was heartbreaking.

So she's, so we really just wanted to take a chance to acknowledge her, but there must be something in the world that makes me want to acknowledge her when you want to acknowledge her, and her husband reaching out to us. Um, and to her husband Joshua, I'm sure you knew this, but she is so beloved and so missed by so many that, um, but her, her spirit and her memory always lives on in our hearts and minds. So thank you for reaching out because we really do appreciate it.

[20:07] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, indeed.

[20:09] Robert W Schneider: Um, is it my turn now?

[20:11] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[20:12] Robert W Schneider: For favorite thing?

[20:13] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[20:14] Kevin David Thomas: What is it?

[20:15] Robert W Schneider: Mine is a movie.

[20:16] Kevin David Thomas: Ooh, that really pulled at my heartstrings.

[20:20] Robert W Schneider: Oh.

[20:21] Kevin David Thomas: And I think it's so good.

[20:24] Robert W Schneider: And it came out last year, and it's on iTunes, so you can rent it.

[20:30] Kevin David Thomas: It's a musical?

[20:32] Robert W Schneider: No.

[20:33] Kevin David Thomas: It didn't make that much of a splash in movie theaters, but I think it's really, really lovely and a perfect representation of the actor's or the artist's life.

[20:45] Kevin David Thomas: What is this movie?

[20:46] Robert W Schneider: Yeah.

[20:47] Kevin David Thomas: Tick tock, Robert W. Schneider.

[20:49] Robert W Schneider: What is this movie?

[20:51] Kevin David Thomas: Maybe you saw it?

[20:52] Robert W Schneider: I don't think so.

[20:53] Kevin David Thomas: Okay.

[20:53] Robert W Schneider: Um, is that what it's called?

[20:55] Kevin David Thomas: TikTok?

[20:55] Robert W Schneider: No, no, no, no, no.

[20:58] Kevin David Thomas: I was giving you a little Jeopardy thing.

[21:00] Robert W Schneider: That was good.

[21:00] Kevin David Thomas: Um, it stars Gabriel Byrne, Nathan Lane, Patricia Clarkson, Frances Conroy.

[21:12] Robert W Schneider: Great.

[21:12] Kevin David Thomas: These are all actors' actors.

[21:15] Robert W Schneider: Boyd Gaines.

[21:17] Kevin David Thomas: Great actors.

[21:18] Robert W Schneider: And the movie is called No Pay Nudity.

[21:22] Kevin David Thomas: Never heard of it ever in my life.

[21:24] Robert W Schneider: Okay.

[21:24] Kevin David Thomas: It's called No Pay Nudity.

[21:26] Robert W Schneider: Is this Woody Allen?

[21:27] Kevin David Thomas: No.

[21:28] Robert W Schneider: It's written by a guy named Ethan Sandler, directed by Lee Wilcoff.

[21:33] Kevin David Thomas: Broadway's with Lee Wilcoff.

[21:35] Robert W Schneider: Yes, who created the role of, uh, well, wasn't he in, uh, the Kiss Me Kate?

[21:41] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, he was the gangster in Kiss Me Kate.

[21:44] Robert W Schneider: In the 80s, what role did he create?

[21:46] Kevin David Thomas: You know you're gonna kick yourself when you remember.

[21:49] Robert W Schneider: Who would I?

[21:51] Kevin David Thomas: Lift up your head, wash off your mascara.

[21:55] Robert W Schneider: Really? Here, take my Kleenex, wipe that lipstick off.

[21:58] Kevin David Thomas: Of course, yes, of course.

[21:59] Robert W Schneider: He's Seymour.

[22:00] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, that's right.

[22:00] Robert W Schneider: In Little Shop of Horrors.

[22:02] Kevin David Thomas: But Lee Wilcoff is a wonderful actor, a character actor.

[22:06] Robert W Schneider: If you saw him, everyone would go like, "Oh yeah, I totally know him." Um, he directed this film, and Kevin, this movie is so touching.

[22:13] Kevin David Thomas: It's the story of an aging actor named Lester Rosenthal.

[22:18] Robert W Schneider: What a name.

[22:18] Kevin David Thomas: Played by the great Gabriel Byrne, who the movie starts, it's so sad.

[22:25] Robert W Schneider: The movie starts with him taking his dog to the vet to be put to sleep.

[22:28] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, jeez.

[22:29] Robert W Schneider: Then he goes on an audition for King Lear at a regional theater in Ohio.

[22:34] Kevin David Thomas: And he's like, "I'm really excited to play Lear because a few years ago I played The Fool, and I know, but now it's my turn to play Lear."

[22:41] Robert W Schneider: And the whole ride over to the audition, he's doing the lines he knows, and then he gets in front of the audition room and he can't remember.

[22:48] Kevin David Thomas: Oh no.

[22:49] Robert W Schneider: Anything. But what he does during his day to kill time is he goes and he sits in the actor's equity lounge.

[22:56] Kevin David Thomas: Shut up.

[22:58] Robert W Schneider: And so the movie is about a group of friends who are out of work actors who just sit in the actor's equity lounge all day and commiserate about their careers.

[23:09] Kevin David Thomas: The actors include—this is who he meets there.

[23:13] Robert W Schneider: Um, and they all obviously, they don't play themselves. Nathan Lane plays, uh, Herschel, who is like the sage of the group, who hasn't worked in 30 years.

[23:23] Kevin David Thomas: And then you find out at the end why.

[23:24] Robert W Schneider: Oh my gosh.

[23:25] Kevin David Thomas: Patricia Clarkson, oh my god.

[23:27] Robert W Schneider: Oh, not Patricia Clarkson. I'm so sorry, forgive me.

[23:29] Kevin David Thomas: Oh my god, forgive me, forgive me, forgive me.

[23:30] Robert W Schneider: Frances Conroy plays this—it's so sad—this middle-aged actress who doesn't work and is so desperate to be in the business, even though she's in her late 50s, interns at a casting office to file people's headshots and resumes.

[23:48] Kevin David Thomas: The best though is Boyd Gaines plays this classical actor who is starting to get success that Gabriel Byrne feels that he should be getting.

[23:57] Robert W Schneider: Oh, geez.

[23:58] Kevin David Thomas: And it's very funny because Boyd Gaines is talking about something and he's like, "Ugh, it was horrible." And they're like, "Oh, who did it?" And he goes, "Ugh, Roundabout," and rolls his eyes, and you're like, "Boyd Gaines, your whole career is Roundabout."

[24:10] Robert W Schneider: So basically they just went to the equity lounge and they set up monitors and just listened to what goes on there.

[24:15] Kevin David Thomas: And yes, exactly right.

[24:16] Robert W Schneider: It sounds what it is. And you mentioned her before, and I want to mention her again. The wonderful Donna Murphy shows up in the movie as Lester's new girlfriend, an acting student.

[24:28] Kevin David Thomas: But it's a—I think it's a perfect look into our business, a perfect look into our industry.

[24:32] Robert W Schneider: Um, so once again aging too, you know, like aging in this business because it's not, as we know from our, uh, interviews, it's a tough—and how do you make it work?

[24:41] Kevin David Thomas: And the main thrust of the movie, and I'm not giving anything away because it happens pretty soon, is the fact that, uh, Gabriel Byrne's character is turned down to play King Lear, but he's offered The Fool.

[24:51] Robert W Schneider: And it's like in 30 years, where have I really gone?

[24:54] Kevin David Thomas: And the theater that's producing it is his hometown.

[24:56] Robert W Schneider: Yeah, so he has to go back to his hometown playing a role he played 30 years ago.

[25:00] Kevin David Thomas: Why hasn't he moved on when everyone else is advancing far ahead of him?

[25:04] Robert W Schneider: But, uh, I think that Lee Wilcoff does a brilliant job directing it.

[25:07] Kevin David Thomas: I think the screenplay is really magnificent.

[25:10] Robert W Schneider: But if you are in this business, if you are in this industry, one, I think it's gonna resonate.

[25:14] Kevin David Thomas: But two, it's so great to see so many great stage actors get substantial film time.

[25:19] Robert W Schneider: Because I don't—where else do we really see Boyd Gaines now?

[25:22] Kevin David Thomas: So, and I love him.

[25:23] Robert W Schneider: He's one of my favorites.

[25:25] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, you know, and I mean we've also got other people like Alan Foley's in it, and Jay Smith Cameron's in it, and Mark Bloom's in it.

[25:30] Robert W Schneider: So you see Zoe Perry's in it, so all these people pop up that we see on stage all the time.

[25:35] Kevin David Thomas: Anyway, it's called No Pay Nudity.

[25:38] Robert W Schneider: It's available on iTunes.

[25:39] Kevin David Thomas: I think it's a wonderful movie, especially if you're an artist.

[25:42] Robert W Schneider: Excellent.

[25:43] Kevin David Thomas: So glad.

[25:44] Robert W Schneider: It's heartbreaking.

[25:45] Kevin David Thomas: It's heartbreaking.

[25:46] Robert W Schneider: Wow.

[25:46] Kevin David Thomas: But very—something very uplifting about the fact that this is what we've dedicated our lives to.

[25:51] Robert W Schneider: Yeah.

[25:51] Kevin David Thomas: That we are not alone.

[25:52] Robert W Schneider: Right.

[25:53] Kevin David Thomas: Have you ever been to the actor's equity lounge?

[25:55] Robert W Schneider: Oh, of course.

[25:56] Kevin David Thomas: So really stupid question. Why hang out there? Like what's there?

[26:00] Robert W Schneider: Uh, well, I think for a certain type, it makes you feel like you're a part of what's going on in the world.

[26:00] Kevin David Thomas: It makes you feel like you're—no, you know, this is—I, you know, before there were like, you know, talk and Broadway websites, you went to the—well, you went to the equity lounge to like socialize, to see people of your kind, your ilk.

[26:17] Robert W Schneider: Interesting.

[26:18] Kevin David Thomas: You know, and that's where you usually go to audition to get the next job.

[26:20] Robert W Schneider: So it's kind of like the clubhouse.

[26:22] Kevin David Thomas: And it's a private place. You have to have your equity card in order to get in.

[26:25] Robert W Schneider: And I picture the equity lounge back where it used to be when it was on 46th Street on the second floor.

[26:31] Kevin David Thomas: Now it's much fancier.

[26:32] Robert W Schneider: There's an upper level, you have to go take one elevator, take another elevator.

[26:35] Kevin David Thomas: This one takes place, I think, in the old—your old building.

[26:38] Robert W Schneider: Yes, I believe so.

[26:38] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, because I'm not equity, so I've never—

[26:41] Robert W Schneider: And it's the old—it's the same building, just different floor.

[26:43] Kevin David Thomas: But it was—it was a very—like it was sometimes a sad place, but always interesting.

[26:47] Robert W Schneider: Because there were definitely certain types that are always there, always hanging out, kind of like watching what's going on, and you know, it's like your thing to do.

[26:55] Kevin David Thomas: It's like with the ladies in my neighborhood who sit on their chairs watching, you know, the cars go by.

[27:00] Robert W Schneider: That's so interesting.

[27:01] Kevin David Thomas: Well, take a look at it and tell me from an actor's perspective how accurate you think it is.

[27:05] Robert W Schneider: I found it deeply moving.

[27:06] Kevin David Thomas: Right.

[27:07] Robert W Schneider: And I'm just—I was a little surprised that I didn't get more traction when it first—

[27:07] Kevin David Thomas: I've never even heard of it, yeah.

[27:12] Robert W Schneider: Debuted.

[27:12] Kevin David Thomas: I mean, the tagline is great, it's about hanging out, hanging in, hanging on.

[27:17] Robert W Schneider: So I can't with that tagline.

[27:19] Kevin David Thomas: Someone was really proud of themselves for that one.

[27:21] Robert W Schneider: Whoever did that, I want to give you a big old kiss.

[27:23] Kevin David Thomas: So for me, No Pay Nudity, and for you, it was the wonderful Alice Playten.

[27:28] Robert W Schneider: Uh, go watch some of her clips and we'll post some as well.

[27:30] Kevin David Thomas: All right, till next time.

[27:32] Robert W Schneider: Bye.

[27:35] Kevin David Thomas: There, I did it.

[27:45] ♪ Musical number ♪

[30:04] Robert W Schneider: Nobody steps on a captain.