This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:08] Al Malafronte: Hello and welcome to the Break A Bat podcast where baseball meets Broadway, an attempt to show that my two favorite mediums don't have to live in such separate worlds and maybe even break some stigmas.

[0:20] Al Malafronte: We're happy to have you with us. Now let's play ball.

[0:25] Al Malafronte: Hello and welcome to Break A Bat. I'm your host, Al Malafronte, coming at you for the Broadway Podcast Network. Uh, this is a very special show that we have in store tonight. Uh for a lot of the folks at home who have been with us uh since the very beginning, even prior to joining the BPN, you probably remember that so much of the inspiration behind creating this podcast actually came from all the excitement surrounding an upcoming trip to Beetlejuice that I had planned for my birthday last July.

[0:54] Al Malafronte: Uh before I introduce our incredible special guest, I'd like to reintroduce you all to my original co-host and co-founder of Break A Bat, uh, who's actually sitting right alongside me at the Winter Garden Theater that night. So uh Scotty, welcome back to the podcast, buddy.

[1:10] Scotty Katzmann: Hey, thanks, Al. Thanks for having me. This is a pretty fun thing to do right here. This is my first real uh remote podcast. So it's a pretty cool experience for me, also. And it's always great to be back with you and talking baseball and Broadway. So this is gonna be a lot of fun.

[1:24] Al Malafronte: Well, you made it to the right show, Scotty, because uh as so many of you know, um, I'll be honest. Yeah, I I've talked a lot over the years about uh what I love about those nights on Broadway. And so much of that is attested to the stories that surround actually going to the show and obviously the incredible talent that you get to see perform. It's a lot like a night at the ballpark in that way.

[1:45] Al Malafronte: And I'll be honest, if you put a short list together for my 23 years of going to shows, uh, few nights rival July 13th, 2019, uh, for many different reasons, which we'll certainly touch on. Uh tonight we were lucky enough to be joined by a member of not only that Beetlejuice cast, but uh a true Broadway all-star in every sense of the term.

[2:06] Al Malafronte: And her Broadway career now spans more than a decade and a half. Uh, she made her debut back in 04 in Hairspray. She's since gone on to appear in Legally Blonde, Elf, Something Rotten, and of course her portrayal of Delia Deetz in Beetlejuice is up there with any of the great comedic performances that I've ever seen here on Broadway.

[2:24] Al Malafronte: So it's with great pleasure to ask you all to please turn your attention to home plate. Just be on the marquee. Now batting Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer.

[2:34] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Hi guys, how are you? Wow, what an intro. That's so exciting.

[2:40] Al Malafronte: We like to do it big. I'd like to, you know, imagine yourself the crowds going wild when they uh call your name out. So uh I hope that we set the right tone.

[2:49] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Oh my god, I feel like a rock star in my closet here in South Orange, New Jersey. It's pretty amazing that we got to put this together when we did, because I think it actually falls like nearly on the one-year anniversary of that Broadway blackout.

[3:05] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Yeah.

[3:05] Al Malafronte: That's creepy. Wait, okay, wait. So were you there that night?

[3:09] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Yes, we were.

[3:10] Al Malafronte: Yeah, that was the night.

[3:12] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Oh my God, I totally remember that. That's so nuts.

[3:16] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: I totally remember that.

[3:17] Al Malafronte: You remember us in the audience or you remember the blackout?

[3:22] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: We were cheering pretty loud, so but I remember that was a really good show.

[3:28] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: I do. I remember that was a really, really good show because Yeah, there must have been a lot of emotion there. I mean, we were nervous. We were just like, What? Yeah, it was nuts, but it was it's so fun when things like that happen, especially like you guys must have been like, you know, it's like you don't kind of know is the show gonna happen, is it not? But we did it, we made it work.

[3:49] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer:

[3:51] Al Malafronte: Leslie, take us behind the scenes for a moment. What was going on backstage during that?

[3:53] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Okay, so we we had started hearing actually from other people in other shows that they had no power in the theater, they had no power in their theater, they had no power in their theater. It was like boom, boom, boom, boom. There's and then we're like, wait, what? We still have power, like what do you mean? Then we started looking out of the window on seventh Ave, and then uh 50th, and to the right, we like stuck our heads out the window down the street to Wicked and like the Dwayne Reed, none of that, they nothing had power.

[4:26] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Anything west of Broadway was like black. We're like, oh my god. Um, so we were just like in costume going, what? What are we doing? And then you guys were like outside, right? Like lined up, you didn't know if you were coming in yet, and then they let you in, and then we started the show.

[4:44] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: But it was kind of cool because it doesn't happen all the time. So we're kind of like backstage going, Yeah, oh god, we're gonna miss our train home. We're like, no, no, please hurry. Let's say our lines faster. No. Um, but yeah, uh things like when things like that happen, it's kind of like just roll with it. Nuts, craziness, but it was fun.

[5:07] Al Malafronte: So Al and I had to walk, I think like 15 blocks, and we were walking all the way through the shutdown blocks.

[5:14] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Oh my gosh.

[5:15] Al Malafronte: So it looked to us like the entire city was shut down. I mean, we could see like Times Square was black. I mean, we were almost certain that it was gonna be shut down. We got one block over to the theater, and somehow there was power, but there were just street lights out, like cars are like Yeah, everything was it was like But Seventh Ave East, like we there was power down there, no power this way.

[5:37] Al Malafronte: It was like it was the craziest thing. Um and you know, I also like a snow day. So I'm like that that little like rebellious side of me. It's like, ooh, do we have to do the show? Can we go to get a drink now? Like we'll do it again later, right? Like the part of you kind of likes there's like you're like ready to do the show, you want to do the show, but then the part of you is like snow day.

[5:57] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: You're like, oh, maybe we can like go to maybe it's over and we can like go to get a drink now. I don't know. Or like not even go anywhere. We drink in the building, like you know, we're grown grown ass people.

[6:10] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Yeah, most of us. And um we have some great parties in that building. Oh my god. We had great parties. We used every Saturday night we had a thing called Snob, which is Saturday night on Broadway, and it was a different theme every week.

[6:23] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Um, and people different people would host it. I hosted like a empanada party with Sangria, and like every week it was someone's someone a different uh theme. So I I really miss that. Like when I think about Saturday nights, it was like a thing. You know, everyone had a drink, we'd hang out.

[6:39] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: You can hang sometimes. We'd hang out till like one in the morning, sometimes everyone was like busted, tired, and just have a drink and go home. But it was like it was really cool. That's one of the best things about being like a show. You really get close with everybody like that.

[6:55] Al Malafronte: Who threw the uh wildest snob parties?

[6:58] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Who threw the wildest? I threw a pretty good one.

[7:03] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: I threw a pretty good one.

[7:04] Al Malafronte: I believe it. I haven't I would have had my money on you or McClure, one of you two.

[7:08] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Um McClure threw one. It was pretty tame. McClure's is pretty tame.

[7:14] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: McClure has a baby now, and he, you know, he like it's it's a little different.

[7:19] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Um we did a snobica, which was a Hanukkah snob, and we had like an ice luge.

[7:25] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Um, we did uh like we had a whole thing from Katz's Deli there. Then I think Adam Danheiser, we had a keg at Adam Dan.

[7:34] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Like we did we did fully, what is the funneling, whatever? I I'm too old for the sh I don't remember anymore.

[7:40] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Yeah, you you funnel it, you just pour it in the top air. Funneling, funneling, like we were kegs that night was crazy.

[7:48] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: I think one of the nights I hosted snob, I hosted maybe once or twice.

[7:51] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Yeah. I mean, we were in my dressing room till two in the morning. There were I have many photos. Wigs were put on, like random wigs.

[7:59] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Um there were neon lights. We hung out, there was music. I mean, the doorman we like gave the doorman, we're not supposed to do that, but gave the doorman drink.

[8:08] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: And we're like, hey, just like let us say an hour more. And he's like, Yeah, sure.

[8:12] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: We'd always give it. We'd be like, what do you need? What do you need? What do you want? Like a vodka soda, what do you want?

[8:17] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: I mean, these are not we're not partying with like children. We're like at everyone is 21 above. And I would venture to say most all the principals except for Sophia and Alex were at least 40.

[8:29] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: So we're old people hanging out.

[8:34] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Anyway, long answer, long answer.

[8:37] Al Malafronte: What a ride that must have been, though. It's you know, it is. It's like, you know, you've been in some mega hits before, but like, you know, as far as a cult following goes, do you think anything tops Beetlejuice?

[8:48] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: No. Nothing. Nothing. I've never experienced anything like this. I mean, guys, like I I've been in, I've had, you know, gone outside, seen lines for playbills, like wanting people want to sign your playbills, Legally Blonde, whatever, like all those shows.

[9:03] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: But this had a cult following, not only from the people that knew it from the movie, but then all of these kids from Instagram and all the then, like not even just kids, like adults, they just fell in love with the show.

[9:15] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: They fell in love with the album. So you had already the movie fans, like you guys. Like you were fans of the movie, right?

[9:22] Al Malafronte: First.

[9:22] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Oh yeah. And then all of these the whole social media thing and our album and the Tony Awards, it just exploded.

[9:29] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: I've never, I mean, I've never seen anything like it. The artwork we would get, the letters, the messages.

[9:36] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: I mean, and you know, it it wasn't gonna be over. I mean, you know, the plan was, and it wasn't announced officially, but the plan was to move on.

[9:47] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Like that's that's what was going to be happening following June 7th. And I think that was gonna be announced and all that.

[9:56] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: I mean, nothing was set in stone when, but then all of this happened, and then so we we just now we just don't know.

[10:03] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: We think it's still gonna move on. Um, and we we have really strong feelings like it will happen. It's just like who knows? We can't even like eat in a restaurant right now.

[10:14] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: So let alone do a part of the show. So we can't. So, like, I you know, but I think if shows were to come back, we'd be one of them.

[10:22] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Like when they come, sorry, when they come back.

[10:24] Al Malafronte: Oh, yeah, yeah, come back big this time.

[10:27] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: And that that's really exciting to hear because you know, we were kind of left hanging. We didn't know what was gonna happen to Beetlejuice.

[10:34] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: It's it was a really fun show, and I would love to see it come back somehow. I just hope that everything going on right now doesn't, you know, yeah, so much crazy stuff happening in the world right now.

[10:43] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: We just don't know. But it was a lot of fun, I can say that, and so much fun just to watch it.

[10:48] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Really, I first heard about it about the show. My first experience with the show was probably seeing it on the Tonies, and it was just so much fun.

[10:54] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: I really fell in love right there. Um, and obviously I'm a big fan of the movie as well. But it was just a lot of fun for me and Al the time we had leading up to it.

[11:02] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: We actually had episode building up to the show, and then we had one where we went back and reviewed it. So it was a lot of fun for us on the podcast, really just the beginning of this podcast, and it helped us kind of get our bearings and you know, really cool experience for us.

[11:15] Scotty Katzmann: Al obviously being the Broadway expert on the show. I was just really here to have fun, and I I enjoyed it a lot. It was a really good time.

[11:22] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: And I love that you guys both love Broadway and baseball. Like, I think that's so cool.

[11:26] Al Malafronte: Well, I figured that you were the same way, Leslie. I mean, you do you grew up in Jersey, right near the Yankees and the Mets.

[11:31] Al Malafronte: I mean, obviously. What you gotta tell us though, what a lead is Yankees or Mets?

[11:36] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Yankees because my dad was a Yankees fan and growing up, and I went to Yankees games growing up, and he's from Brooklyn. My mom's from the Bronx, but now I married a Cleveland Indians fan.

[11:47] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Ooh, Cleveland Indians.

[11:49] Scotty Katzmann: The AL rivalry.

[11:51] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Yeah.

[11:51] Scotty Katzmann: What what I'm sorry, what did you say, Scotty?

[11:53] Scotty Katzmann: Well, there's an AL rivalry there, and they're both pretty big American league teams.

[11:57] Scotty Katzmann: I would say Indians, Indians for a while have been a top five team.

[12:00] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: I mean, the the world tiers appearance. I have seen some incredible games in Cleveland.

[12:05] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: I you know, listen, I will say this like I've dated a couple of guys in my life. I obviously married one of them.

[12:11] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Um who is a sports guy. Like he's a sports guy, but I will say, and I know we're talking about sports, but we'll talk about all of it. Why not?

[12:20] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Um, he really I I always watch like uh what Sports Center. We used to I had a boyfriend once, so like we he'd watch Sports Center like three times a day, and I would watch it with him, but it wasn't as much fun with Vadim Feichner, who is my husband, he's a musical director, he worked on Falsettos on Broadway, he's done a bunch of stuff.

[12:38] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Um, he really started talking to me about the players, not only with the Cavaliers, who he's obviously a huge fan, um, but specifically in the Indians, like when we would go to games when we would be in Cleveland or just watch them on TV, I'd be like, okay, so tell me about this guy. Tell me about this guy. I want to know him. I want to know about him. Explain to me about the minor leagues, like how do they get out of the like he explained it, he explained it all to me, like so in detail. It's it's like I love the stories. I want to know about the players. I wanna, you know, and then I started listening to ESPN, like sports radio. I'm like, this is like soap opera. Like, this is you know, when you hear them get so mad, or like they're like, how can you say this about him?

It's like, I just love it. And Mike and Mike, I I um listen to them, and they're no longer right, like that's done. That's done now, and yeah, Golek, he was doing that uh that new that morning show, and they just cut that too. So there's a lot of change over there now, right? So I um I just really appreciate that. I really appreciate the work, and and and most importantly, because my husband's from Cleveland, you know, he really explained to me, and with football there too, he's a Browns fan.

[13:50] Al Malafronte: You have a Johnny Manzel jersey back there that I see, uh Leslie. Where is he? Does anyone even know where he is? Is he still alive? Last time I heard he's never playing football again. So he's in Vegas somewhere, right? Like, oh god, they had so much promise for him. Oh, trust me, I heard all about it. Okay, so so like the what I what's different, I feel it's not different. Like you feel about this, like you feel this about the Yankees and but with a small town like a smaller town like Ohio in Cleveland, Cleveland, sorry, Cleveland. When you're at a game there, it's like it's a different feeling. It's like these people, this is what they live for. This is like the sports is what that's what they have.

And it was so it was so interesting to be there with his now his his father since past this year. But like the last time we were in a a game there in person, his dad was there and people were talking to us, and and then I was like, so what's happening? And some person would like go, okay. So this let me explain to you what's going on. So and I was like, this is like uh everybody knows each other. It's really, really cool. And it didn't feel like you know, Yankee Stadium feels super fancy, like, you know, like as we say, bougie, you know, it can feel super fancy. Whereas like in Cleveland, it felt like this was everybody's place to hang out. There's no hierarchy, even though there is, but it's it was just I it gave me a real appreciation for baseball and and how it brings people together and how people get so passionate. Um, and I I just I really appreciate that. So I love that you guys are mixing the two things together. It's awesome.

[15:30] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: A lot of fun, you know, having some baseball conversations with Broadway stars and vice versa. It's a lot of fun mixing the two, honestly. I mean, people wouldn't really expect, you know, maybe at face value that people in one crowd would love baseball so much and another crowd would love Broadway so much. But we I've been shocked, frankly, about how much there is crossover potential here. It's really fun.

[15:52] Al Malafronte: Yeah. Totally.

[15:53] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: And my husband uh worked on the musical version of Bull Durham. You know, the movie Bull Durham. Yeah, right. He worked on the musical version of that. So that's been in development for years, and it's really good. Now who knows it'll ever see the light of day, but like it was real good. And actually, um, a bunch of people from the Yankees came to see it that were interested in producing it. So who knows? I mean, see, it's like it's out there, you know. That would be like our dream, basically, to go see.

[16:26] Al Malafronte: And honestly, yeah, yeah.

[16:30] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: It's it's so cool to see these baseball stories, not even necessarily on Broadway, but just see how they're portrayed. Um, and obviously the the baseball movies are our favorites, of course. But there's so many, there's just countless stories, true stories from baseball. True stories. Yeah, and I love that. That's what gets me. I'm like, tell me the stories, tell me about the injuries and how they push through them and the families and this they weren't picked to this and they had a weight. And I mean, especially now understanding like how major and minor leagues work, um, and that system and what's going on now with baseball, and oh, it's just like it's so fascinating to me. Um, and the talent, like when you watch, and I'm literally I'm saying this, like you guys don't know this.

Like, of course, you know, like when you see people play up close, so you really appreciate their gift and the psychological, like you know, they're actors too. Like they're on, you know, they're the communication that everybody has, and everybody knows different plays and what's going on, and constantly looking behind your back. I mean, that's it's so exciting. And uh I've been very lucky to have married someone that I can share this with and be awesome, but like I just love talking about it and then you know appreciating other people's gifts and it's fun. It's fun to be a fan, you know, because it's like I'm always performing. It's fun to be like be in the audience and cheer on other people doing what they do best.

[17:57] Al Malafronte: You know Leslie are there any players that you've taken a liking to either from the Indians or the Yankees in recent years or even from when you were growing up?

[17:57] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: I mean I was a Daryl strawberry fan growing up just because like I liked him so much but then I don't know I really liked him. I mean Derek Jeter um you know like random people like I wasn't I there's people in the Indians that I like I'm forgetting their names right now but they're so good. There's one guy he's like so funny he's from Dominican like I mean he's so so funny. He's so funny and he's animated and I love that um and I'm trying to think well like growing up like I don't know why and obviously Daryl strawberry played for the Mets. Oh yeah right yeah yeah with the Mets. We love Daryl strawberry like I don't remember like everyone was like Daryl Strawberry. I I don't know why that was like middle school.

I don't even remember but he played on the Yankees too I don't know if this would be the reason why you liked him so much if you were watching him in you know late 90s out you can correct me on this but I want to say he played with the Yankees through like 98 um 99 99 yeah so I mean 95 to 99. Yeah yeah yeah it's a little Yankee stint there.

[19:10] Al Malafronte: Well I watched that documentary first of all I'm a huge 30 for 30 fan.

[19:14] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Oh, the John Affattow one you're talking about.

[19:17] Al Malafronte: Yes.

[19:19] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: And um God, it's just so fascinating. It's just like, oh man. Doc and Darrell. Yeah. I mean, I just I love and I love thir I just love the 30 for 30s. I think they're all amazing. I I think they're so well done. So um, yeah, that's my connection with baseball. And I really wish I could, you know, like I can't wait till we can go back and see it in person. I would go to a Yankees game with you guys, it'd be fun.

[19:44] Al Malafronte: That would so do a lot of fun.

[19:46] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: I've sat in a box at the Yankees game. Whoa! One time. One time.

[19:53] Al Malafronte: So basically, Leslie, you're saying that you know they're gonna ask you to sing the national anthem at Yankee Stadium next season when you know crowds are allowed back in and you're gonna get VIP tickets and bring me in Scotty with you and your husband. I think that's what you're telling me.

[20:06] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: We should definitely go. Well, okay. Here's the thing. It's not fun to invite people that aren't into it. It's only fun to invite people that are like, yeah, let's go. Like it's it's so exciting. And especially because then we can all like we can all like I know I cursed Dan, you can beat me out. We're gonna curse curses. We're fine. Cause then we can all like, you know, hang out, drink, talk, talk shit. Like they suck. This person sucks. Like it's fun because I don't know everything, and you guys know so much. So it's and my husband and you guys like it's great. That's what I'm talking about. That kind of energy. That's the way people like having season tickets. I I I perform all the time, so I never can go to games, like ever, barely ever, ever, ever, unless it's like a Monday night. So this would be the first time that I could actually go in first, like this. If they had it in person and we could like go and I wasn't working, you know.

[21:03] Al Malafronte: Uh-huh.

[21:04] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: But next year, or you know, whatever. But they're gonna play. I mean, they're they're they're they made the agreement, they worked out the money things or whatever they were dealing with. Uh, the don't we can't don't sue us whatever they were dealing with.

[21:23] Al Malafronte: Yes, players' unions were involved, and yeah, it was it was starting to get a little dirty there.

[21:27] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: At least you know, listen, if you're looking for a silver lining, you know, you're getting your rest for a big upcoming 2021 Broadway season, and you can watch the games at night, you know, after you're out at the beach all day, come home, learn more about the game. So when next spring rolls around, like you'll be getting close to being an expert.

[21:45] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: I might be a correspondent on this program. Oh, I was a couple like a guest couple it, you know, like once uh once every couple of weeks, just come in and we'll talk Broadway, baseball, what I've learned, who I like, who I don't. Um, but no, you're listening it's the fact that again, again, it's like that's what we were saying before that we hope the whole baseball thing would work out because America needs it. America needs that. America needs baseball, they need that something to hold on to normalcy, and that's what that is. That's what basketball is and football also. So, but it's great that they're that they're able to do that because we do, we need it, and it and it will be something to make us feel good, to make us feel like okay, we still this is we can all be together on this, you know.

[22:35] Al Malafronte: Um, so yeah, yeah, well said, well said, yeah, yeah, yeah. Especially in these times, and uh, you know, we I think that we certainly need theater too. Yeah, let me ask you, you know, they're throwing this date around of January. You think it's realistic?

[22:48] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: No, I think it's gonna be spring. I think it's gonna be spring. I think January, let's hope for a vaccine or treatment. That would be sweet. Because then everyone will be like, okay. We have some now. We can feel like uh we're not gonna like get it and maybe die. So um maybe we can all go back to work. Maybe we can, you know, maybe then people, because listen, Broadway's a big business for New York, and it's a huge tourism thing. So people are not gonna want to come to New York, which was before the epicenter, now Florida is, um, and spend money on hotels and all this, especially if they haven't been working. I mean, you know, so I think we're more apt to be in a better place if we open in the spring, which is uh what I really think they're shooting for.

January is gonna be too soon, and there's gonna be a lot of people unemployed. Um, and I think financially it's just not gonna be possible. And what you know, I've talked to, you know, uh big theater agents that are friends, and they're saying like the worst thing you want, don't the thing you don't want is for theater for Bradway to open and then close and try to reopen because it won't. I think that that'll it it'll just be too financially um i it just won't it won't happen. So pushing it off further is better. And spring is like a rebirth, right? And that's like the spring season, bringing in the shows then, bringing back the Tony Awards. I mean, I have envisioned all of the shows back on the Tony Award telecast.

This like again, another thing, like another real Americana sort of, even though it's a small niche niche of the arts, but I think the reopening of Broadway is going to be very special. And I I think it will happen in the spring. And and I'm hoping that we have some sort of treatment or vaccine before then for all of us, it would be great. You know.

[24:44] Al Malafronte: Yeah. And on the baseball front too. It's like my my fantasy right now is uh, you know, there's a vaccine. I'm at Yankees opening day on a Friday afternoon, nice April weather, and then you know, Saturday night, I'm coming to see Beetlejuice 2.0. That's like that's what I'm hoping for.

[25:01] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: And coming backstage, because you obviously will both will be.

[25:15] Al Malafronte: I'm assuming you both are over 21.

[25:18] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Yeah, we're oh, so are you saying we're invited to snob now? Is that what you're telling us?

[25:21] Al Malafronte: Yeah, well, if it's on a Saturday, then if well, oh well, so you can't you were gonna come on a Saturday.

[25:26] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: If it's on a Saturday, then yes, you will come to Snob. Providing that like we're not allowed to like bring people backstage.

[25:33] Al Malafronte: But by then, if there's a vaccine, then it's on.

[25:37] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: It's on. You're coming to snob. Mark my words.

[25:40] Al Malafronte: It's July.

[25:41] Scotty Katzmann: What days?

[25:42] Al Malafronte: July.

[25:42] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: So let's say April or when would you say April?

[25:45] Al Malafronte: You want to let's say April, because that's when baseball season would start.

[25:48] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Like on the I'm saying April too. I'm saying April is gonna happen.

[25:52] Al Malafronte: It's gonna happen. I really do hope that happens.

[25:54] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: And hey, there's a lot of other stuff kicking off in April, obviously. That'd be the start to the full baseball season, a complete baseball season with everyone, you know, in attendance.

[26:04] Scotty Katzmann: Yeah, yeah.

[26:05] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: So there's a lot to look forward to next year, and even if things end up getting pushed back a little bit, I think that like what you said, having everything open and stay open is so important.

[26:14] Al Malafronte: And it would be really good.

[26:15] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Yeah, not just for Broadway, but I think for businesses too. Just keeping everything open.

[26:18] Al Malafronte: Yeah.

[26:20] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Yeah. You want to come back strong. You don't you don't want to have to reclose.

[26:23] Al Malafronte: It's a lot of complicated. It's a mess.

[26:26] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Um that's my fear with baseball right now because it's like, you know, for example, Raldus Chapman tested positive for the Yankees on Saturday. And now they have to test everyone on the team and put potentially put like X amount of guys into a bubble and not keep them in the clubhouse. It would just be too messy.

[26:39] Al Malafronte: It's gotta be smooth and like you said, Leslie, kind of like a rebirth and you know, a renewal have those good vibes like that.

[26:47] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Yeah, I mean, and you know, I have friends right now who are working down at Disney with the NBA bubble, and um who literally are working at the Disney Yacht Club, like where a lot of them are staying with their families, they're all getting tested all the time. I mean, they're in like lockdown.

[27:02] Al Malafronte: And Vadim and I were like, I'm like, how do you have kids there and like be like, no, guys, you can't go to Disney today. Like, are you joking?

[27:15] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: That is the worst six weeks of my life as a kid. Like Epcot's yacht club. If you've ever been there, yacht club is like on property, right? You walk maybe 50, 75 feet, and you're in Epcot, it's right there.

[27:30] Al Malafronte: Okay, you can smell funnel cake from the yacht club.

[27:35] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: But you can't just let your kids go. I mean, uh I'm sure they might actually do something where they close down the park and they let them all go at night or something, but yeah.

[27:47] Scotty Katzmann: Yeah, I I I would be shocked if this whole NBA bubble situation works out because there's just so there's so many people involved.

[27:57] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: I mean so many. So many people to leave, and it doesn't really, you know, it doesn't work out if people are not really a hundred percent serious, and there's there's a lot of variables going on right now.

[28:10] Al Malafronte: So many, so many. So it's like, well, okay, good luck. We'll see.

[28:14] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Yeah.

[28:15] Al Malafronte: Lizzie, one thing I did want to ask you about because I thought it was so cool. I listened to an interview you did sometime last year, like during some Beetlejuice press stuff, and you and I could not agree more, likened the Broadway community and the folks performing on Broadway to athletes. And I think that it's so awesome to, you know, to have a voice like yours say things like that. Um, you know, given how long you've been in the business, I've always wondered like, do you still feel big pressure to perform?

[28:43] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Uh, or you know, do you feel like you've kind of mastered a systematic robotic routine that served you really well? I know baseball is certainly a game of adjustments. I've always been curious to hear a you know a uh Broadway performer's perspective on that.

[28:58] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Well, you know, like they talk about in baseball, uh, you know, how many years can you play as a player, right? Like, and and what's the top age? Like, when do people go, okay, like what's around the age where you're like, you're kind of done.

[29:11] Scotty Katzmann: Well, what do we say? The physical peak is 27 to 32, and then you're considered old at 35.

[29:18] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Is that what they say? I mean, actually, I mean, lately I'd say players are hitting their physical peak even earlier, and a lot of this is due to the way kids are, you know, being raised or being raised playing baseball, and there's just so much that goes into the farm system and everything now.

[29:30] Al Malafronte: Right.

[29:31] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Yeah, players can peak at you know, as early as 27, 26, but there, I mean, traditionally, I would say you're getting old in your late 30s. I mean, that's kind of just the rule that people have done.

[29:41] Scotty Katzmann: That's just the rule.

[29:42] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Yeah. Right. And um, and then you got to uh switch gears, and you either, you know, do uh commentating on ESPN or whatever.

[29:51] Scotty Katzmann: Like Arod, yeah.

[29:52] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Yeah, or yeah, you marry JLo or Um you are a gajillionaire, you know, and you start businesses a lot of people I mean so to to go back to your question it's kind of it's not similar in the sense that like you're kind of done at a certain point but the eight show a week grind just like any schedule for an athlete you know it's they're all different all the sports are different Broadway schedule is eight shows a week sometimes on our new schedule that we were just starting five show weekends so we do a one Friday two Saturday two Sunday one Monday one Tuesday Wednesday off one Thursday night one Friday and start that all over again which is really brutal depending on the part that you do.

[30:38] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Now if I'm just walking on stage and I'm like ah I sing one song and I walk off it's like the easiest job in the world. The job for me that I knew that I had to do in this show, I really really was like okay I'm 42 uh I just turned 43 in May but when I started this I was what 41 uh I am not young young anymore I am technically middle aged and I'm doing stuff like flipping over couches and doing all this like dancing and you know singing really high like I got to make sure that I'm in optimal shape.

[31:13] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: So you know I did I treated it like I was an athlete. I hired a trainer I I got a nutritionist I um built in all kinds of things whether it be physical therapy and stuff like that to maintain the grind of that show to the point where like it's I do I have injuries on the right side of my on the my shoulder and my right ankle because the way the the stage had a rake like this. So when you're standing on the the deck of the the house you know you're just standing you lean forward a little bit that throws your whole body weight off and your uh your positioning and stuff and then all the the flipping and the throwing and the falling and banging I have injuries and so still now I'm getting treated for those injuries and um but definitely training my body, my voice constantly in voice lessons, constantly working on that.

[32:08] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: I mean, we would have drinks and stuff, but really go home early, sleep, water, good nutrition, didn't eat shit like shit a lot. And um, but it never ends. There's no off season. Off season is now for me. Right now, which is why I've gained like uh eight pounds at least. Um, I was like, oh God, I have to get back in that green costume at certain point. Oof, that's gonna be rough. Um, we were joking, we're like, why is dessert like normal at every every meal now? Like it it that's not the life we lived. If you had to like be in certain costumes and do certain things, you can't just, you know, do and eat whatever you want.

[32:47] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Um, but I think even now, now it's technically off season, but actually things started ramping up now with because I do um TV a lot also, and voiceover is different because I'm in this room and I'm I've been doing I'm the voice of CarMax, so I do CarMax uh commercials. If you hear a CarMax commercial, that's me. I do eBay commercials. But with on camera stuff, that has not, even though there's no shooting right now, it's gearing up to shoot. So like today I had to put, you know, between yesterday and today, have to put stuff on film. I have a studio downstairs. Like I'm not, it's not really off season anymore. It's continuing even though the world is basically stopping. It's not. So it's always about and finding balance within that, you know, and like taking time to kind of reset because performing all the time too is a it's it's not normal to do the same thing over and over and over again, eight times a week, sometimes twice in a day.

[33:51] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: So uh that's a long answer to your question, but that's basically, you know, the thing. You gotta you gotta think longevity too. Like don't go crazy. There's nights where I was doing Argentina where I was like, I want to sing higher, I wanna sing higher, I wanna try this, I wanna try that. And I'm like, okay, um good. Uh you know, you have to you have to pace yourself because one wrong, one super high note wrong way, you're out for weeks. And I and I've had that. I've had vocal injuries before. I've had to be silent for two weeks to rehabilitate. It's no joke. So, but it's worth it. It's worth it.

[34:30] Al Malafronte: That's like one of my favorite performances, what you did in Beetlejuice. And it's it's I cannot wait for that to come back, especially. And uh, you know, and it's just so it was a very, very aggressive performance too, which I think is really something that it draws an audience. And you know, Scotty, you and I've talked about it all the time, especially with baseball. Like those are some of our favorite types of players too. You know, someone who really it it makes it makes the audience feel uh like you're actually seeing something special. And I think that that's so much of what you know we appreciate about appreciate about both of these mediums, you know.

[35:06] Scotty Katzmann: Yeah, totally.

[35:08] Al Malafronte: Totally.

[35:09] Scotty Katzmann: Yeah.

[35:09] Al Malafronte: Well, uh hey, it sounds like everything that you put into the show has helped you get to this, you know, level that you're at right now. And you can see the hard work pay off. You could see the voice lessons pay off. And hopefully your injuries are, you know, feeling kind of.

[35:24] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: They can't do planks the way I used to. It's like clicks. It's like terrible.

[35:26] Scotty Katzmann: Oh, is it your shoulder?

[35:28] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Yeah. Yeah.

[35:29] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: It's like it's not rotator. It's um it's something. Well, it feels it's like if I were to try to like pick up a gallon of milk, it's hard for me to turn that way. Like it's yeah, yeah.

[35:41] Scotty Katzmann: It's terrible.

[35:42] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: And then my right ankle's mess. Those aren't fun. But even now, you know, we work out here, we figure it out, we try to stay in shape. And then, oh, and then just the other part of your question, as far as like beyond, like what's okay. Well, you know, just a career. It's I always try to think, I never try okay. I'm gonna I'm gonna reset what I'm saying. I'm not I try not to be complacent, right? Because you gotta grow with the times. You gotta you gotta keep expanding, keep learning. Um, and for me, it's like, well, Broadway is it changes and trends change, uh, vocal styles change, all of it. And you kind of you know what you do, but you're flexible within it and always being um open to learning about yourself and not taking yourself too seriously either, because like yeah, of course.

[36:35] Al Malafronte: Yeah, anyway, that's that's that was the end of that answer.

[36:39] Scotty Katzmann: Leslie, that is awesome. And uh, you know, I know that right now is typically uh, you know, your recovery period, but uh I want to see how your swing looks. So we do one little segment here on Break a Bat to wrap every show. Have you heard of that fastball derby?

[36:52] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: No.

[36:55] Al Malafronte: What is wait? What? What is that?

[36:58] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Swing is code.

[37:03] Al Malafronte: You'll see. I don't want to give anything away here.

[37:05] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Okay, okay, okay.

[37:06] Al Malafronte: All right. I want you to picture the ninth inning, two outs. Um two folks on second and third. Araldis Chapman is on the mound, throwing 105 miles an hour. And um, you know, you gotta think quick because you want to end the game with a win. So um me and Scotty will ask you a few questions, and you say the first thing that comes to your head. How does that sound?

[37:25] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Okay, wait, set it up for me one more time. Set it up for me one more time. Say the whole scenario one more time.

[37:31] Al Malafronte: Okay. Okay. It's like a hundred degree. Ninth inning crowd is going nuts, and it's a hundred degrees outside, so the heat is really on you, you know.

[37:38] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Right.

[37:38] Al Malafronte: Um, and uh, you know, your team's down a run. There's two outs, bottom of the ninth. Arol to Chan, the Yankees six-time all-star closer, is bringing in heat tonight. And you know, you gotta think quick at the plate because you want to bring home that winning run.

[37:53] Al Malafronte: And the only way to do that is you know, by hitting a few questions out of the park, and you know, those questions will ask them to you. You say the first thing that comes to your head.

[38:02] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Okay.

[38:04] Al Malafronte: All right, I'll start. Favorite New York City meal.

[38:10] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Uh, Linguinian clams.

[38:13] Al Malafronte: You sure you're not part Italian?

[38:15] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: I know you call yourself like a Jew recon, but that's a really good answer. I love Italian food.

[38:21] Al Malafronte: All right, amazing. All right, next question. If you can play one position in baseball, what would it be?

[38:27] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: First base.

[38:30] Al Malafronte: That was my position in high school. So we're kindred spirits listening. You gotta stretch the first. I mean, they got it at first base. I mean, needs to know how to split, first of all. I just want to get them. I want to get them right, yeah. Get them right away.

[38:44] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Yeah. That's fun. That's it. I'm like, get out of here. I got you. Your desert island album.

[38:53] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: My desert island album. Like the album that I would play in a desert island. Pink Floyd's The Wall. The show must go on is one of my favorite songs of all time. So there we go.

[39:10] Al Malafronte: I love that. Okay. Okay. Okay. Oh, well, this is kind of, you know, a good segue here. Your favorite song from Beetlejuice. It doesn't have to be one that you sang.

[39:21] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Um, home. I love home. I love home. I actually want to sing it one of these days. It's beautiful. Hey, Al, maybe we can end this end the podcast with that.

[39:36] Al Malafronte: Yeah, I want to sing home.

[39:42] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Oh, she did a swing. Look at that. She's driving them in. Wow, look at a baseball car and Beetlejuice. I love that.

[39:48] Al Malafronte: Yes. There we go. I'm not even like, I didn't even do that on purpose. I just see we got you in the baseball mood right now.

[39:54] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Totally.

[39:59] Al Malafronte: All right. How about this one? Your favorite holiday.

[40:11] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Um, oh god, why is this hard for me? Um, I would say Christmas.

[40:17] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Christmas. You gotta love Christmas.

[40:20] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: I do. I also love Halloween.

[40:24] Al Malafronte: Yeah. Oh, that's a fun one.

[40:25] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: That is. A lot of time. So no wonder you don't have to be. It would be really cool to see Beetlejuice on Halloween, I have to say.

[40:36] Al Malafronte: So good.

[40:38] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: So good. Yeah. All right. So this next one. Okay. Person in the audience that you were most intimidated to perform in front of.

[40:47] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Catherine O'Hara.

[40:50] Al Malafronte: From the movie Beetlejuice.

[40:52] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Yeah. Who played the who was the original Delia? Did she ever eat? Did she ever, uh, you know, link up with you and give you any oh really?

[41:05] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Yeah, she came to the show and she came on stage and everyone knew she was there, but me until the towards the end, and then I knew she was there because I told everybody not to tell me until after uh Argentina. After Argentina, that you know, the Miss Argentina number. Then you can tell me any that's our that's Carrie Butler's and my role. After our big songs, then you can tell me anybody who's here. I still was terrified by her being there because it's Catherine O'Hara and I've loved her since Waiting for Guffman since Home Alone. Like she's amazing.

[41:40] Al Malafronte: Um, and then she came up on stage. We all introduced her, she said, You're amazing. You're so much better than me. I was like, I'm dead. I'll see you later. I have left the building.

[41:52] Al Malafronte: That's really cool. She she was she was huge, huge, huge, huge, huge. How about this one? Most embarrassing on stage moment.

[42:02] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Most embarrassing on stage moment. In Beetlejuice or in any show?

[42:08] Al Malafronte: Any show.

[42:14] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Um, I so I did a production of Godspell off Broadway and in 2000. Um, I had must have eaten something weird. And uh I had to leave the stage. I had to leave the stage in the middle of a number to go to the bathroom. Like there was no, there was no, I had to leave. I had to leave the number. I mean, I just had to. It was either gonna go one way or the other. And um had to leave. Yep, had to go. The next biggest one actually is that I missed a cue. I was in a show and I missed a cue because I was on my phone in my dressing room, which this was like a small production of something I was doing, and I was like, Angel Gabriel, Angel Gabriel, and I'm like, dunno, I'm like, come on. And they had to come offstage and grab me.

I was playing Gabriel Angel. I was like in a big blonde wig with wings, and I was like, oh, I'm so sorry I'm late. Like full audience waiting for me to come out there, and I was on my like Nokia wherever, circa 2003, wherever. I've come a long way. I'm much better now. I'm much more professional.

[43:26] Al Malafronte: All right, so this is cool. The proudest moment of your career. We're taking now this is a positive term. We're gonna make you feel good now. The proudest moment, uh the proudest moment of my career. Um, this is gonna be a weird answer, but I this is what I think about now, like now. I've been nominated for many, many awards, which I've been so great. I've won a few, but I've been nominated a bunch of times, which was great. When I was not nominated for Beetlejuice for a Tony Award, um, and and I and everyone thought I was gonna be my cast thought I was gonna be my husband, everybody. And I I kind of like put it at bay for a little while. Like I was like, you know what? If it happens, great, if it doesn't, I'm doing a killer job.

I'm proud of myself. I look the best I've ever looked. I sounded the best I ever looked. I'm like killing it, feel great. I'm a good cast member. Like when it happened and they announced it that day, it was in um Montauk in a hotel, and we were watching it on TV, and they didn't call my name. And I like was like, ugh, like I I did all of that, I'm gonna be fine. I like wasn't fine. And I was really disappointed. But I have to say, the proudest moment of my career was when I was able to come back to work the next day, and my my uh castmate Alex Brightman was nominated. And I walked in that building, and I just I went, of course, I texted him right away when he was nominated and all that, and people, but I was able to do my show that night as if I had been nominated, as if it doesn't it does not matter.

And that's the thing. Like I'm the most proud of that from that moment on. I never held it against anybody. I never felt um, I mean, sometimes I felt sad, but when I was able to go to the Tony Awards, I rooted, I rooted for the people that were in my category, my cast and the creators that also were nominated. I thought about the bigger picture, and it's not just and not just me. And um, I'm really proud of that because that, you know, when you're in the business for over 20 plus years, you start to expect things, right? You think you're owed things. It's like my year, you know, it's like my year for my like, you know, what do they call them? Championship rings or whatever, you know, like you want, you want your trophy, you want your prize for all the work and the years.

And if you don't get it, it's it's okay because it's not a meritocracy. Sometimes it's just not. So you can do great work and not get the prize. And how you how you act after not getting it speaks volumes about who you are. And so I'm the most proud of that. I'm most proud that I didn't let it eat me alive, get me down, and change the way I acted towards people, how I treated people. Um, so yeah, that's I know it's a weird answer, but that's like a big moment for me, I feel like.

[46:28] Al Malafronte: And that's one of the most unique answers we've heard to that. I love that, Leslie. Um, all right, this is the last one we use it to wrap every show. And I'm sure this is gonna serve a lot of folks in our audience really well. Okay. Um, what is the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you?

[46:48] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: Um, the best piece of advice that anyone ever gave me um was Barbara Cook, who is no longer with us, is a big Broadway actress. Um I said to her one day, I said, Barbara, you know, you've been through a lot. Um, and were there days where you just wanted to quit? Were there days you just wanted to throw in the towel, like I can't do this anymore? Like this is too hard. Like it's not fair, or whatever, it's just too much. And some and she looked at me in the mirror. She was putting on her makeup. We were doing a show together. And she looked at me and she goes, you know what, Leslie? Sometimes it's about it's just about doing the job. And it's and that really resonated with me and has, especially now getting older, and I couldn't have understood it before in my 20s, maybe.

But you know, you got a good gig, be happy you got the gig. You know, be grateful where you're sitting. You got a good gig. Enjoy it. The hard times will come. Um, they will. But when you have a gig, you know, sit in that gig and like be grateful because they don't come around all the time, and that's part of it. Sometimes it's just about paying the bills. That's the other part she said. It's just about paying the bills. It could be hard, but you know, you do what you gotta do. And when you think about it practically, because you think you know, Broadway people, it all seems very glamorous and cool and like whatever. It's it's a job. It's a job, and um, it's one that I'm grateful to have when I'm able to have it. But uh at the end of the day, it's my gig. So yeah, that's probably it. May she rest in peace. Barbara's awesome.

[48:30] Al Malafronte: That was incredible, Leslie. And uh I I mean, Scotty, I I know you haven't been here in a while, but you know, you've been listening to the episodes. Can you tell that this is one of uh one of the shows we've done that I've probably enjoyed the most?

[48:42] Scotty Katzmann: Absolutely. I think I mean, really, this has just been a great. I mean, for me, this is a lot of fun because I haven't been back with Al on the show in a while, but really in general, the positivity today and uh some cool stories. This is kind of what we shoot for here, and this is a lot of fun. Um you guys are great. I would I'll come on anytime, and I can't wait, you know. You know, I want to share this because like I'm so glad that I got to meet you both.

[49:05] Al Malafronte: Wait, Scotty, also, where are you? Where are you right now?

[49:08] Scotty Katzmann: I am you in your apartment.

[49:10] Al Malafronte: I'm in my actually my parents' house.

[49:13] Scotty Katzmann: I don't want to. I know everyone's at their parents. If I didn't have a house, I'd be at my parents.

[49:18] Al Malafronte: Scotty and I were both on 2nd Avenue within five blocks of each other and had to retreat.

[49:24] Scotty Katzmann: Yeah, we had to flee the city. But hey, I'm happy to be back here.

[49:28] Al Malafronte: Yeah, listen, it's all we're in we're in a whole learning, a new learning. We're all gonna change. Something's gonna happen. It's all we'll see. You'll see.

[49:38] Scotty Katzmann: I mean, I don't blame you. I'd get out in a second. Please. You can come visit me. Why not? Come to Jersey. Visit me anytime.

[49:45] Al Malafronte: Hey, thanks. Thanks for listening to Break a Bat. This is produced by the fine folks at the Broadway Podcast Network. Visit and subscribe at BPN.fm slash breakabat. You can find me online at break underscore a underscore bat underscore podcast. And you can also find the Broadway Podcast Network on Instagram at Broadway Podcast Network. It's been so great having you here with us today. And we'll see you next time.

[50:17] Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer: See you next time.