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[0:01] Lauren Van Hemert: Welcome to the Beltline to Broadway podcast!

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[0:40] Lauren Van Hemert: I'm Lauren Van Hemert, your host, and on this episode, I'm chatting with Broadway royalty, Amy Spanger. Spanger has originated roles in such Broadway shows as Elf, Rock of Ages, and The Wedding Singer, and Off-Broadway in shows like Tick, Tick... Boom! and Rent. She's now taking on the role of Dee Dee Allen in the Theater Raleigh production of The Prom, a character whose Spanger says is a far cry from where she started. And that is where our conversation begins.

[1:20] Amy Spanger: Yeah, I did like local theater and then I did theater in middle school and then high school. And then when it came time to figure out like, you know, what I was gonna, where I was gonna go to school and what I was gonna study, it had always just been really fun and I had been good at it, but I didn't think it could be like a career choice, you know. Um, and no one in my family was in the business, so no one knew anything about it. It was just this thing that I did. Um, so I went to UMass Amherst for a year, and my first semester I was communications, and then my second semester I was the theater major. And then while I was there, I auditioned for a course line at a local theater, and I got it.

And the director of that course line had been in A Chorus Line on Broadway and said, if you move to New York, you will make it on Broadway. You're that talented. So I told my mom, I visited New York for the first time when I was 19. And when I got home, I told my mom that I was gonna move to New York and be a Broadway star. And she said I had to wait until I was 21. And I saved up my money, and then I moved there, not completing school. Don't do that. Go to school. I had no plan, but I was gonna be a star on Broadway. That was my plan. And I told people, they would be like, What are you doing here? And I would say, I'm gonna be a star on Broadway, and they would laugh at me. And I'm like, I don't know, it's really gonna happen.

[3:05] Lauren Van Hemert: You mentioned community theaters. I know you've worked on so many regional stages, including Fifth Avenue, even North Carolina Theater, um, and now Theater Raleigh. I just read an article this morning about how so many theaters are shutting down around the country, and how really our regional and community theaters, I feel like, are in crisis. So before we jump into The Prom and this gorgeous production, can you talk about, um, in your experience, the importance of community and regional theater and why people need to support their theaters?

[3:44] Amy Spanger: Yeah, you know, everything that's happening right now with the SAG-AFTRA strike and with the Writers Guild strike and things happening in terms of local theaters not getting support, I think people forget that storytelling is really, really important. Storytelling helps people feel things, helps people heal. Um, and I think, you know, laymen, people who are not in the arts, don't understand that, you know, they go to the movies, they go to Broadway. And it's just very casual, and the people, but the people doing it, the people like creating it and the people acting in it, and the people singing and playing instruments and, you know, building the sets and dressing people and, you know, all of the jobs involved are so important to keep telling stories. It's like as old as time, telling stories, and um, it's noble, it's really noble.

[4:57] Lauren Van Hemert: A hundred percent. You've originated several roles on Broadway, including Jovi in Elf, directed by the same creative team that is responsible for the Broadway production of The Prom. How did that experience working with Casey and Matthew and Chad inform how you're approaching this piece now?

[5:25] Amy Spanger: Well, I've done two shows with Matt and Chad and Bob Martin. I think I'm just a huge fan of Matt and Chad and Bob because they create the perfect blend of like big, broad, bombastic comedy, and then you get like punched in the gut by heart and vulnerability. Um, yeah, there's a scene I do in the play where Mr. Hawkins is, you know, singing a song to me about, um, we look to you, storyteller. Um, and we did it yesterday, and everybody was in the room, the entire cast, and I wept, just wept because I was like, it's my life story, you know. It's like exactly, you know, what I go through as an artist, you know. I think about quitting sometimes because it's really hard, you know, because we don't work for periods of time.

But like, when you get the opportunity to do it, it's so beautiful and wonderful, and especially like doing a show like The Prom where it's just all love. Um, you know, it's a gift. Dee Dee is surprising me. I didn't understand. I saw it on Broadway and loved it and loved the character of Dee Dee, and um, Beth Leavel is a friend of mine. We did Elf together. She's brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. But I was like, I am nothing like her. So I know it's gonna be different, you know. And just like we're finding, I'm finding my way in there.

[7:14] Lauren Van Hemert: Yeah, I uh, I'm just a huge fan of the depth of the character. I did interview Beth Leavel, um, right before the Macy's performance. And what she was telling me is that although she and the others were Broadway veterans, they were learning so much from these young performers, so many of them making their Broadway debuts. Are you all having that same experience? Because there's such a mix of North Carolina talent and young talent and then Broadway veterans on this Theater Raleigh stage. So talk about that experience.

[7:55] Amy Spanger: Yeah, um, we do have many very young, very green performers whose learning curve is like, they're learning a lot daily, you know, but they are all wonderful and they are all learning, and they are like just like checking all the boxes, and just watching their growth is really moving. Um, and by the way, the talent in Raleigh, North Carolina is astounding. Like I was blown away. I am blown away. And I do think Lauren, um, and what she's doing at Theater Raleigh and creating really this destination for theater and for art is so incredible.

[8:40] Lauren Van Hemert: You mentioned you're friends with Beth Leavel. Did she have any advice for you in stepping into Dee Dee's shoes?

[8:47] Amy Spanger: She said that I was gonna be fab in the role, and you know, she's so excited for me and had like just wonderful things to say, wonderful support. So I was like, okay, I got my blessing. I got my blessing from Beth.

[9:02] Lauren Van Hemert: You've been in so many shows like Tick, Tick... Boom!, You're in Town, Next to Normal, the workshop of that. How, in your opinion, does theater and even shows like The Prom, because I think The Prom is gonna sneak up on a lot of people in how heartfelt it is and how important the messaging is of The Prom. How, in your opinion, does theater have a part in kind of changing hearts and minds, affecting social change, helping address the big issues our country, our world is facing?

[9:46] Amy Spanger: Yeah, well, I think people who have not read up on The Prom before coming and people who might not necessarily be the most open-minded people, liberal people, um, I just think they will learn about acceptance. They will, I think they might just be a little bit more accepting of other people having, having, um, bear witness to the storytelling. Um, yeah, I think it's incredibly important, um, sharing stories. And, um, you know, I've been so lucky to tell some incredible stories. You mentioned Tick, Tick... Boom! I'm so proud of that. I was talking about, um, I've actually had some people approach me about possibly directing it this next year. And, um, and I am really excited at the thought of doing that.

I did the first national tour of Rent like six months after the Broadway show opened, they put the tour out, and I was incredibly lucky to be a part of that because we opened up the Rent story to the country. We introduced it to, you know, Boston and Chicago and DC and St. Paul, and just to see, um, you know, hearts and minds being opened up in that way, and, um, you know, the LGBTQ+ stories that were happening in that and, um, you know, and Tick, Tick... Boom!, I think, you know, it's really important storytelling. And I think that's so much the messaging of The Prom and why it's such an important piece is for young people coming to be seen and heard, you know. I think why Rent, why Tick, Tick... Boom!, um, even why Next to Normal, you know, when I saw Next to Normal, I was gobsmacked by the storytelling. But I think it gives a chance for people to be seen and heard who maybe aren't always seen and heard.

[12:15] Amy Spanger: Yeah. Well, my mom was bipolar. So, um, it's really funny. I started working on that and I was like, I don't know, like it was so close to me, and I died, I wasn't aware at first, um, that I just kind of knew how to play her, you know. I just was like really good at it immediately. And, um, you know, I was kind of like, I don't understand why I get her, and I was like, oh right, because my mom is bipolar, right? Um, yeah, so, but yeah, The Prom, I think The Prom will be so important because in The Prom, a young girl comes out, and I think that will, you know, that will give young people who come permission to have the courage to maybe come out and maybe for older folks, older patrons to see themselves maybe in Dee Dee and Barry and begin to take that journey because those arcs are so meaningful and important in this piece.

Josh Franklin, who's playing Barry, is tremendous. He was in the original cast of The Prom. He's just like chef's kiss incredible, so wonderful. Um, yeah, and Ella Frederickson is playing Emma, and she has the voice of an angel. I mean, like just a soaring beautiful voice, so it's gonna be a treat for everybody's comedic sense, for your ears and for your hearts.

[13:57] Lauren Van Hemert: The Theater Raleigh production of The Prom runs through August 13th. I will put a link to Theater Raleigh's website in the episode notes. If you like what you've heard on this episode, please consider subscribing to this podcast. Follow me on social media on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter at Beltline to Broadway, or visit the website at www.beltlinetobroadway.org. Until next time, I'll see you at the theater.