This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:01] Robert W. Schneider: Happy Thursday, everybody.

[0:02] Kevin David Thomas: Happy Thursday.

[0:04] Robert W. Schneider: Happy Thursday. Brandon, how are you?

[0:06] BRANDON URANOWITZ: I'm so good.

[0:07] Robert W. Schneider: Our guest today is the fabulous BRANDON URANOWITZ.

[0:10] Kevin David Thomas: Very lucky.

[0:11] Robert W. Schneider: We are very lucky to have you.

[0:12] BRANDON URANOWITZ: I'm the lucky one, you guys.

[0:14] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, Brandon, please stop.

[0:15] Robert W. Schneider: We're blushing.

[0:16] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Brandon is on a break from rehearsals for Burn This.

[0:20] Kevin David Thomas: Which opens when?

[0:22] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Tuesday night, the 16th.

[0:24] Robert W. Schneider: Oh my God. Are you excited?

[0:26] BRANDON URANOWITZ: A couple of days. Home stretch.

[0:28] Kevin David Thomas: Home stretch.

[0:28] BRANDON URANOWITZ: I'm loving it.

[0:29] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, I'm exhausted.

[0:31] BRANDON URANOWITZ: But loving every second of it.

[0:34] Robert W. Schneider: Of course.

[0:34] Kevin David Thomas: Hashtag booked and blessed.

[0:35] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Hashtag booked and blessed.

[0:37] Kevin David Thomas: As the youngest.

[0:38] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Hashtag grateful.

[0:39] Kevin David Thomas: I love that.

[0:40] BRANDON URANOWITZ: So many hashtags today.

[0:41] Kevin David Thomas: Hashtag burn this.

[0:42] Robert W. Schneider: How are the audiences been reacting to it?

[0:44] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Oh my God, they're insane. They're so great.

[0:46] BRANDON URANOWITZ: They're so great.

[0:48] Kevin David Thomas: Had you seen the show before?

[0:50] BRANDON URANOWITZ: I've never seen it, no.

[0:51] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[0:51] BRANDON URANOWITZ: I love Lanford Wilson has always been one of my favorite writers.

[0:54] BRANDON URANOWITZ: I love it. Love it, love it, love it, love it, love it.

[0:56] BRANDON URANOWITZ: One of the best of all time.

[0:58] Kevin David Thomas: And so for us muggles who perhaps don't do a lot of plays all the time, this is obviously there's not changes that are being done, but what changes do happen in previews? Is there anything going on that is like, oh, let's try something a little different?

[1:11] BRANDON URANOWITZ: You know, obviously, with the blessing of the Lanford Wilson estate, some small little cuts here and there just to like tighten certain moments. Um, and just like, you know, basic little simple staging things.

[1:20] Kevin David Thomas: Gotcha.

[1:25] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Um, focusing and just making clear.

[1:28] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Yeah, just making everything as clear and as active as possible.

[1:32] Kevin David Thomas: Indeed. I'm so curious because the play's been around for almost 30 years now, or maybe it's been about 30 years.

[1:37] BRANDON URANOWITZ: More.

[1:38] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Like '87, '97, 20, yeah, more. A little over a little over 30.

[1:42] Kevin David Thomas: Do you like to do a lot of research on previous productions? Or do you like to go in and create from the ground up?

[1:48] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Not necessarily. I mean, I do a little bit just to get an idea of the history of the play's life.

[1:54] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Yeah. Um, off the page. But I'm never one to go, like I'm not gonna go to the, you know, archives and watch Lincoln Center and study the other. You know, I sort of want to figure it out for myself and find out who my Larry is, as opposed to Lou Libertories, who I'm sure would have just overwhelmed me and scared the hell out of me.

[2:21] Kevin David Thomas: You know what I mean?

[2:21] BRANDON URANOWITZ: And then Larry is the name of your character.

[2:23] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Larry is the name of my character, yes.

[2:25] Kevin David Thomas: Amazing, amazing. Okay, so now we're gonna jump all the way back, Brandon. Where'd you grow up?

[2:28] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Uh, West Orange, New Jersey.

[2:30] Kevin David Thomas: West Orange.

[2:32] BRANDON URANOWITZ: West Orange.

[2:35] Kevin David Thomas: So close.

[2:36] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Born and bred.

[2:37] Kevin David Thomas: Wow.

[2:37] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Yeah.

[2:38] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Were you, uh, yeah, just like 12 miles out of the city.

[2:42] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, that's not bad.

[2:43] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Yeah. Did you grow up coming to the city and going to see shows and reading the show?

[2:47] BRANDON URANOWITZ: I did. Well, you know, I mean, I tell this to everybody, so it's like old news at this point, but I was terrible at sports, obviously.

[2:56] Kevin David Thomas: What?

[2:57] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Yeah.

[2:58] Kevin David Thomas: All right.

[2:58] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Shocker, right?

[2:59] Kevin David Thomas: Shocker.

[3:00] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Um, so my parents were sort of looking for the thing that made their child's, you know, perk up and spark. Um, and we, and at the time when I was a young child, like when I was three, Peter Pan with Cathy Rigby was my name. And they took me to see that, and they discovered, I think, what I was passionate about and what I was born to do. They, my mom said she was like watching me more than the show because she had never like seen me look like that before.

[3:38] BRANDON URANOWITZ: I was so much toy. Yeah, I was just like swept away by it.

[3:42] Kevin David Thomas: How old are you?

[3:43] BRANDON URANOWITZ: I was three.

[3:43] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, yeah.

[3:47] BRANDON URANOWITZ: You know what I mean? Like that was probably the thing that really sparked my joy.

[3:58] Kevin David Thomas: No, thank you, Marie. But like that's, yeah, no, that's really, that's it's funny how Peter Pan is a gateway drug because that was I grew up with the, well, I watched the original Mary Martin, but that was a good thing.

[4:06] BRANDON URANOWITZ: I did too on TV when they did that to you. I mean loved that. I was obsessed with that.

[4:13] Kevin David Thomas: Same, same, same, same thing.

[4:14] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Yeah.

[4:15] Kevin David Thomas: So Peter Pan was the gateway drug.

[4:16] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Peter Pan was the gateway drug.

[4:18] Kevin David Thomas: And then what other shows did you do you remember other shows they took you to that you were like, yeah.

[4:21] BRANDON URANOWITZ: I mean, but we, it became I became so obsessed with it. And what was really interesting and what was really beautiful actually was like I don't think my parents, specifically my dad had any reference point for theater growing up. I don't think they ever really do. My mom was like a buyer for a children's clothing store for many years, and my dad is in commercial real estate. So I, and he's always been obsessed with music, he's a drummer, but theater was never really on their radar, and my obsession with it sort of like awoke this obsession in my dad for theater too.

[4:58] BRANDON URANOWITZ: And so they, he just became completely obsessed with theater. We saw Tommy six times, we saw Crazy for You six times.

[5:06] Kevin David Thomas: Oh my God.

[5:06] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Yeah, like he like went all in.

[5:08] Kevin David Thomas: He went all in.

[5:09] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Love it. But then, but then it became, I mean, and it was also extremely expensive, so they had to like give me an annual limit for what I could see because I just wanted to see everything. But like we saw, I mean, I saw Phantom, Showboat, High Society. Um, with Anna Kendra. Just tons and tons of theater. So I was obsessed with it as a kid.

[5:37] BRANDON URANOWITZ: And then I started going to this extracurricular theater school called Performers Theater Workshop in Livingston, New Jersey.

[5:45] Kevin David Thomas: What is the Performer Theaters Workshop?

[5:47] BRANDON URANOWITZ: It is, you know, where young kids can go to learn how to do jazz and tap. And then there's song interpretation, there's acting class, there's private voice classes. You can take private tap classes.

[5:59] BRANDON URANOWITZ: And this is in addition to like regular school. Like after half done with school, and you go to like a lot of people. Well, you know, while all of the kids went to sports practice.

[6:10] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, yeah.

[6:10] BRANDON URANOWITZ: I went to play practice.

[6:12] Kevin David Thomas: I mean, and where you grew up is an area of Jersey where there's a lot of like musicians, Broadway actors live there.

[6:18] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Well, what was amazing about Performance Theater Workshop was they would bring a lot of people on Broadway to come and teach. You know, like one of our jazz teachers was in Cats.

[6:28] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, we saw Cats, obviously.

[6:31] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Um, have to, Lay Miz, obviously.

[6:33] Kevin David Thomas: Yes, classic.

[6:34] BRANDON URANOWITZ: And then, I mean, we'll get into it because I started working professionally, but I auditioned for Gavrosh like at least 10 times, never booked it.

[6:42] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[6:43] BRANDON URANOWITZ: And your parents were cool with you pursuing this as a dad was like obsessed with being a stage dad.

[6:50] Kevin David Thomas: Really?

[6:51] BRANDON URANOWITZ: That is awesome.

[6:52] BRANDON URANOWITZ: He loved it.

[6:53] Kevin David Thomas: So when did you start going to auditions in New York City?

[6:55] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Sorry to interrupt you, but like.

[6:58] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Like at what point was a fandom? There were a couple of kids at Performance Theater Workshop who got headshots, and then I was like, I want headshots. So I got headshots.

[7:08] Kevin David Thomas: What were you wearing in those headshots?

[7:11] BRANDON URANOWITZ: And were they black and things? It was like a houndstooth um button-up shirt. And I'll try and find it and send it to you.

[7:19] Kevin David Thomas: Please, please.

[7:20] BRANDON URANOWITZ: I'm my face is so unbelievably intense. It's so crazy.

[7:25] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Just beats giving us beats like a lot of things. But like drama beats.

[7:28] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, yeah.

[7:29] BRANDON URANOWITZ: No smiling.

[7:29] Kevin David Thomas: No.

[7:30] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Yeah.

[7:30] BRANDON URANOWITZ: It's houndstooth. It's serious.

[7:31] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, no, just like exactly.

[7:34] BRANDON URANOWITZ: It's just like a 10-year-old doing like Chekhov. You know what I mean?

[7:36] Kevin David Thomas: That's what it looked like.

[7:38] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Uncle Vanya Jr. will be playing next Wednesday in the Keep.

[7:43] Kevin David Thomas: In the basement of the church with a performers theater workshop.

[7:45] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Yeah. So they started, and like they everybody was getting these like these little pamphlets, these books that they don't. I don't know. I if you go to drama bookshop, I think they still make them, but it's like a guide of all of the agencies and casting directors.

[8:01] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Yeah, they're like little Ross reports, but similar, but like yeah. Like in these little bound whatever.

[8:07] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, yeah.

[8:08] BRANDON URANOWITZ: So I guess people at PTW Performance Theater Works now acronym would show up with these things. And then my dad, of course, wanted to, and I wanted to pursue it. So our like our litmus test for it was they were doing Evita at Paper Mill Playhouse with Judy McLean.

[8:27] Kevin David Thomas: Oh yeah.

[8:28] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Yeah. Okay. Yeah, she was incredible. Uh as Ava.

[8:33] BRANDON URANOWITZ: And uh they brought me to the audition for like the little kids ensemble. And I got it, and I did that. I was it was 1996. So I was I just turned 10. Um, and I did that. Uh and they were like, okay, let's all right. So let's see, maybe this is a thing he can work. Maybe he is a little bit talented, and we're not just, you know, like stars in our eyes, yeah. Red rose-tinted glasses.

[9:03] BRANDON URANOWITZ: You know. Um we met with an agent. Uh they're no longer around, S E M and M, Schiffman, Ekman, Morrison, and Marks. Do you remember them?

[9:16] Kevin David Thomas: No, I don't even think I heard of them.

[9:17] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Yeah, they're well, they're gone.

[9:19] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Yeah. Started working with their youth division. Um, and then I auditioned for a Christmas Carol that they did every year at the Garden.

[9:30] Kevin David Thomas: Yes with Cochrane and Susan Strowman, yeah.

[9:34] BRANDON URANOWITZ: Um and I booked that as a swing.

[9:40] BRANDON URANOWITZ: And I did that also hilarious story. Our assistant director right now on Burn This is Nick Corley, who's an actor.

[9:51] Kevin David Thomas: Yes, of course.

[9:52] BRANDON URANOWITZ: He's a um and director, and we did Christmas Carol together.

[9:57] Kevin David Thomas: What is that? Isn't that why? Is that how did you get your equity card, Dude?

[10:00] BRANDON URANOWITZ: That is how I got my equity card.

[10:01] Kevin David Thomas: And you were like how old?

[10:03] BRANDON URANOWITZ: 10.

[10:03] Kevin David Thomas: Oh shit.

[10:04] BRANDON URANOWITZ: That is how I got my equity card, doing it.

[10:07] Kevin David Thomas: So you I had I d had no idea that you were a child actor like that. I had no idea.

[10:13] BRANDON URANOWITZ: I mean, there was there's a chunk where I did stuff and then I stopped when I got bar mitzvah for various reasons. But we'll get there. Do you want me to talk about that now? Do you want or do you want to go in like a linear linear is not I mean we go anywhere you want, but I just I have a question for do we talk about it?