This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:20] Bryan Plopsky: Hello, and welcome to the official Broadwaysted podcast where we're drunk on theater. I'm your host, Bryan Plopsky, and I can do that. We're not at the ballet. But when it comes to the music and the mirror, I say to Mother, well, nothing. She'll say, hello, 12, hello, 13, hello, love. But what I did for love is based on my dance, 10. Looks three. But joining us today are the usual winners who sing.

[0:40] Kevin Jaeger: Winners?

[0:44] Bryan Plopsky: Yeah, oneers.

[0:45] Kimberly Cooper: I see.

[0:48] Bryan Plopsky: I think you mean oh neither's talking about. You ever seen have you never seen that thing you do?

[0:55] Kevin Jaeger: No.

[0:55] Bryan Plopsky: Wait, really?

[0:56] Kevin Jaeger: I saw just the moment where the guy goes, I quit.

[0:58] Bryan Plopsky: I quit.

[0:59] Kevin Jaeger: And that's like literally the only thing I've ever seen.

[1:01] Bryan Plopsky: You've that's a that's a Patreon episode, no question.

[1:04] Kevin Jaeger: Gross.

[1:05] Kimberly Cooper: Is that his awful as Thing Street?

[1:07] Bryan Plopsky: I said it.

[1:08] Kevin Jaeger: No, you didn't.

[1:10] Bryan Plopsky: He didn't hate it at all. He said he didn't like the songs, and then all of a sudden he we went through the songs and he liked them all. It's just really fun to say I hate things that Bryan loves.

[1:18] Kevin Jaeger: Um Kevin, the tab combination Jager.

[1:21] Bryan Plopsky: Oh, I knew you were gonna do that too.

[1:24] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, that's me getting baggy.

[1:25] Bryan Plopsky: Yeah. Um jerk. Kimberly, our gimme the ball game master.

[1:28] Kimberly Cooper: Yeah.

[1:29] Bryan Plopsky: And unofficial babysitter for the hour. Uh and with us today is someone who you may have seen in the Adams Family Musical or season two of Smash. You definitely know him from the amazing Ensemblist and his work for the uh Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS Association. Let's give a big Broadwaysted welcome to Friend of the Show.

[1:47] Mo Brady: Cheers.

[1:56] Bryan Plopsky: Welcome. I'm so happy. As we all take a sip.

[2:01] Kimberly Cooper: Yeah, yeah.

[2:02] Bryan Plopsky: Let's just do what are you drinking? What are you drinking?

[2:05] Mo Brady: Well, we uh acquiesced to my request. Thank you. And we're having uh Manhattans with Brooklyn bourbon.

[2:13] Bryan Plopsky: We are. We're drinking uh Van Brunt uh Stillhouse Bourbon.

[2:17] Mo Brady: Yep.

[2:17] Bryan Plopsky: It is smooth and delicious. Local from Red Hook. Small batch. As I asked for a small batch, so we got a small batch. Um it's really good. They also can go to the brewery down there. It's really, really or the still distillery, excuse me. We should do it. It's really good. Um yeah, where we're all drinking. It's in Red Hook, right by the uh it's it's a little, yeah, it's it's between the IKEA and the fairway.

[2:38] Mo Brady: No joke.

[2:39] Bryan Plopsky: You've had a bad day at IKEA.

[2:41] Mo Brady: Yeah.

[2:41] Bryan Plopsky: Go to Van Brunt.

[2:42] Mo Brady: Absolutely.

[2:43] Bryan Plopsky: There you go. Or a good day at IKEA. Celebrate Van Brunt.

[2:46] Mo Brady: How do you think deliverable too?

[2:49] Bryan Plopsky: Yeah. Um you can follow him on social media at Mo underscore Brady.

[2:54] Mo Brady: That's right.

[2:55] Bryan Plopsky: Um you can obviously follow the Ensemblists at The Ensemblist.

[2:58] Mo Brady: Yeah, do that, do that more though, right?

[3:00] Bryan Plopsky: Yeah, yeah. Which we want to follow. We want to follow that.

[3:03] Mo Brady: Forget about him.

[3:03] Bryan Plopsky: No, don't let me love my work.

[3:06] Mo Brady: Yeah, yeah. And you can see all the awesome blog posts and all the content they have at the Ensemblist.com.

[3:13] Bryan Plopsky: So good.

[3:13] Mo Brady: Yeah, we're so busy.

[3:17] Bryan Plopsky: We will get into all of that. Um we can do it now. Um I was about to say, what have you drink? What are you drinking? But you know what? Let's do what have you seen this week? What have you seen this week or recently?

[3:31] Mo Brady: The Tony Awards.

[3:33] Bryan Plopsky: Oh, yeah.

[3:33] Mo Brady: Oh my gosh, I can totally talk Tony over it.

[3:35] Bryan Plopsky: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[3:36] Mo Brady: So we watched the Tony's.

[3:37] Bryan Plopsky: We did.

[3:38] Mo Brady: Yeah. I was in the 80s town. You know what I mean?

[3:40] Bryan Plopsky: I was in New Orleans.

[3:41] Mo Brady: Oh, okay. No, Tony's like, I thought I was like, was it an immersive production? I was like, did we have to play a lamb?

[3:49] Bryan Plopsky: Yeah, yeah. Bryan is the understudy for Tim, the really tall understudy ensemble.

[3:53] Mo Brady: I wore a trench coat and platform.

[3:57] Bryan Plopsky: Um what did you think landed? Like what performance were you like? Oh my god.

[4:05] Mo Brady: I think the prom and Beetlejuice did the best job. I think the prom showed its pure energy, especially on TV. And I think that Beetlejuice not only showed its tone, the humor, the in the moment poking fun, but I think it also showed with the opening of Deo showing that like we're still the movie a little bit, but we're not. I think they were a great commercial. I think they both nailed it.

[4:26] Bryan Plopsky: That those were the two that I also agreed with. Also, Quiet Boy made me really mad.

[4:30] Mo Brady: I didn't see it.

[4:31] Bryan Plopsky: Oh, yeah, me too. I mean, I saw it, but I saw it.

[4:34] Mo Brady: Oh, I was sitting with my husband on the couch. I was like, that was incredible. And he goes, What happens in the play? And I said, I don't know, but that looked incredible.

[4:42] Bryan Plopsky: Yeah, I'm sitting with my friend who went to boarding school and she was just crying. Like, yeah, it was super cool because they used uh step and that kind of movement to show like the frustration and anxiety of these students as the year went on. So, like as people were calling home, the rest of the cast to be on stage doing the step movements so you could hear like the rhythmic kind of getting faster, and it was really cool how they used it. Good on the nominating body to not overlook a play that is closed for choreography.

[5:12] Mo Brady: Yeah, yeah. I mean, it added to the story, and as we saw, like intrigued people. Yeah, they also did a really great job this year of highlighting the plays, which I think is always so hard.

[5:22] Bryan Plopsky: Yes, it's but and I don't know. I don't know about it. I liked the playwrights talking, mostly because I liked how sweet Jez Butterworth was on his wife.

[5:30] Mo Brady: Yes, but also like he's also like But also then he didn't talk about the play, he was like my wife is giving it to the book.

[5:38] Bryan Plopsky: And then he's not in the play anymore. And like you're gonna win some awards tonight, Mr. Butterworth. Like, we know we're gonna see you again.

[5:45] Mo Brady: Yeah.

[5:48] Bryan Plopsky: So maybe you can thank people during the time that we've specifically allowed for thanking people. Traditionally, like the playwright doesn't usually doesn't the producer thank now.

[6:00] Mo Brady: Which was super cool. Especially with boys in the Yeah, that was a great moment.

[6:07] Bryan Plopsky: Speeches across the board were really good.

[6:09] Mo Brady: Yeah, great favorite speech.

[6:10] Bryan Plopsky: Andre de Shields.

[6:11] Mo Brady: Yeah, mine too.

[6:13] Bryan Plopsky: Yes, but I like Andre de Shields. It was beautiful, but for me, Rachel Chapfield's gonna go with her call. Her call to arms was like it wasn't like anti-anybody, but it was like a celebration of her change and what people should be.

[6:26] Mo Brady: Yes.

[6:27] Bryan Plopsky: I want to listen to Andre do anything.

[6:32] Mo Brady: But but Rachel has some structure that Andre does not.

[6:37] Bryan Plopsky: Yes. And I just thought she used the speech really well. You sort of like, oh, okay, this is a working artist. She's gonna thank people, she's gonna do all the things, and then she's gonna like have a message.

[6:44] Mo Brady: Have a message.

[6:49] Bryan Plopsky: He was the poetry, and she was the like nonfiction.

[6:52] Mo Brady: Well, you've not enough time for the hammer, everyone from my 73 years on the earth plane.

[6:59] Bryan Plopsky: I was like, who says earth Plane and they're tiny?

[7:03] Mo Brady: This magnificent prize.

[7:05] Bryan Plopsky: No, you weren't at my house for this.

[7:07] Mo Brady: No, no. He said this is a marvelous prize.

[7:09] Bryan Plopsky: Oh, yes. And then Jay, my husband comes over to me during the commercial break, caresses my face and goes, You are my marvelous prize.

[7:16] Mo Brady: And if Jay won a Tony, he'd take that back immediately.

[7:22] Bryan Plopsky: No, every acceptance speech I made, Jay promise that if he wins an award, I'm the thing's last.

[7:26] Mo Brady: Yeah, that's a good one.

[7:26] Bryan Plopsky: Oh yeah, why last?

[7:28] Mo Brady: Because it's like the most important thing.

[7:30] Bryan Plopsky: Yeah, yeah, until he gets caught off right before.

[7:35] Mo Brady: But in an audition space, you always start with your best song because you don't know if they're gonna give you a second song.

[7:40] Bryan Plopsky: It's true.

[7:41] Mo Brady: Well, he wouldn't be auditioning.

[7:43] Bryan Plopsky: And Tony's Tony's is like auditioning for the world's love.

[7:46] Mo Brady: Right.

[7:47] Bryan Plopsky: Like if you win, it's like, okay, so why should we love you? Oh, you gave a good speech. Now we love you.

[7:51] Mo Brady: No, but overall, the speeches were spectacular.

[7:54] Bryan Plopsky: The speeches were great. And like how do you feel about James?

[7:58] Mo Brady: I thought he was I like him because he's like such a theater nerd.

[8:01] Bryan Plopsky: Yeah.

[8:01] Mo Brady: He gets it. And and I didn't, I wasn't. And he's excited by what is happening.

[8:05] Bryan Plopsky: Yes.

[8:06] Mo Brady: And he's done it. He wanted Tony, like he understands that night and how important that night can be, not only for the individual productions, but like the little kids sitting in, you know, Des Moines, Iowa, or even the little kids sitting just outside the bridge in New Jersey.

[8:21] Bryan Plopsky: I will say my I was not the hugest fan of the idea of like every time James Corden was speaking, it was kind of like tongue-in-cheek making fun of theaters not being as cool as TV and movies.

[8:34] Mo Brady: The energy was a little bad.

[8:37] Bryan Plopsky: That was not my favorite because it's like, yes, Broadway doesn't get like shined on all year round around the country. And yes, TV and movies get more attention because it's just widestream appeal. But like this is the one night a year where like if you turn on a major network, like Broadway is on. So let's embrace it. Let's be like, I want to go back to that, and I I'm not comparing the two hosts, but when Neil Patrick Harris hosted his multiple times, it was like an unabashedly like loving.

[9:03] Mo Brady: But he also had that TV.

[9:05] Bryan Plopsky: You could even go as far as numbers were similar.

[9:08] Mo Brady: Right.

[9:08] Bryan Plopsky: But you could even go as far as to compare it to James Corden to himself.

[9:11] Mo Brady: Right.

[9:11] Bryan Plopsky: Because that other number scene was the Hamilton year was better spirit.

[9:16] Mo Brady: Yes.

[9:16] Bryan Plopsky: Yeah, also it happened the night after the pulse.

[9:19] Mo Brady: The kid.

[9:20] Bryan Plopsky: Yeah.

[9:21] Mo Brady: I also loved the clips of the karaoke during the commercial breaks.

[9:25] Bryan Plopsky: Why didn't we get to see that?

[9:27] Mo Brady: That was awesome. So I had friends at dress rehearsal, and they were doing that at dress rehearsal too. That they were saying that like last year, like usually during commercial breaks, the energy dips because everyone gets up and talks to each other, and then they have to like shuffle everyone back to their seats. And they're like, we want everyone to stay in their seats and stay really positive. And that like at the dress rehearsal, the karaoke, everyone, it was 9 a.m. And people were like, no, thanks.

[9:50] Bryan Plopsky: And then I'm it seemed really fun.

[9:52] Mo Brady: Yeah, totally.

[9:53] Bryan Plopsky: What was it? Ben Platt, Billy Porter.

[9:55] Mo Brady: Billy Porter.

[9:56] Bryan Plopsky: And then Anthony Ramos Ross and uh Christopher Jackson didn't 9600. They're all in Broadway world. You can you can see them.

[10:01] Mo Brady: I will, I will.

[10:03] Bryan Plopsky: Super cute. Or go to the Ensemblist.com and not see them, but you could post them and people would see them.

[10:13] Mo Brady: Strange plug, but yeah.

[10:15] Bryan Plopsky: Five things you've never known about the karaoke performance in the Tony Ross.

[10:19] Mo Brady: It's a list that has an odd number.

[10:21] Bryan Plopsky: Yes, I recommend it.

[10:22] Mo Brady: Well, what's an odd number important in Listicals?

[10:25] Bryan Plopsky: Uh that's like a Mo thing.

[10:27] Mo Brady: No, it's like a thing that people say that when you're making your listicle, that it you can do. If you do ten people are like, okay, whatever, but like nine is like to read that.

[10:35] Bryan Plopsky: Yeah, like they left one off.

[10:37] Mo Brady: Yeah, yeah.

[10:37] Bryan Plopsky: So before we move on to, I want to talk more about the Ensemblist and like what it is and what you're trying to do with it. Um, we all know that, but it does that that's more that's more like five things about the ensemble. We didn't know. Um any final thoughts on um Tony's on the Tonies.

[10:52] Mo Brady: I man, I as much as I loved every win, and I think I did love every win.

[11:01] Bryan Plopsky: Sure.

[11:01] Mo Brady: Wouldn't it have been fun to have an upset somewhere?

[11:04] Bryan Plopsky: I know.

[11:05] Mo Brady: So all the upsets to me happened off camera. It was like for set.

[11:10] Bryan Plopsky: You're like crazy.

[11:12] Mo Brady: Yeah. Or or or Sergio winning for over Warren, who um, you know, the drama dance who won the.

[11:19] Bryan Plopsky: Yeah, and and I mean the choreography is so different. So, like, understandably, you know, people are voting for certain types of choreography and things.

[11:27] Mo Brady: Um, but like technically that was an upset. You know, and from what people expected, yeah.

[11:32] Bryan Plopsky: Totally. I just enjoyed the fact that this year it after having a few years in a row where it was just like one show swept.

[11:39] Mo Brady: Oh, it was really nice to see like it spread around a bit and seeing like each show like get to celebrate in their own way, most of them.

[11:48] Bryan Plopsky: Would have left one more Hades Town win for Amber Gray.

[11:51] Mo Brady: Absolutely.

[11:52] Bryan Plopsky: I but I didn't see Oklahoma, so I can't.

[11:55] Mo Brady: I didn't see Oklahoma either.

[11:56] Bryan Plopsky: So I she was my favorite part of Oklahoma.

[11:58] Mo Brady: She was my favorite part of Oklahoma, too.

[11:59] Bryan Plopsky: And I'm that we always have to remember that like not winning a Tony doesn't mean that you're not wonderful. It just has to be.

[12:12] Mo Brady: That's how it works.

[12:14] Bryan Plopsky: I think it's interesting that for the last three years, we've said, okay, Dear Evan Hansen, small chamber musical, the band's visit, small chamber musical, Hades Town, small chamber, like we're we're kind of telling the world that we like small artsy musicals.

[12:29] Mo Brady: Yes.

[12:30] Bryan Plopsky: I'm not saying that's a good thing or a bad thing. But it's definitely interesting.

[12:33] Mo Brady: It's what the data shows.

[12:34] Bryan Plopsky: Yeah. I mean, like, it's like, what does that mean? What does that mean for the genre? What does it mean for people coming up? This issue is what the highest grossing Broadway year of all time.

[12:47] Mo Brady: Yeah, I mean, that's not just a for inflation.

[12:53] Bryan Plopsky: I was just listening to another theater podcast.

[12:58] Mo Brady: First of all, regularly.

[12:59] Bryan Plopsky: You listen to another theater podcast?

[13:02] Mo Brady: This doesn't quench your entire podcast thirst.

[13:05] Bryan Plopsky: Um, speaking of which my my drink is empty.

[13:08] Mo Brady: Yeah, I mean, um, so the do you like how I've like my drink is that we I will do absolutely nothing to kill it?

[13:16] Bryan Plopsky: Um brought his oh oh. Gordon Cox's podcast is fantastic. He's a I mean, he's he's a veteran journalist, but like he he does a really great job of interviewing people. And this week he interviewed Tom Schumacher. And one of the most interesting things that Tom said was that almost every other form of the arts is in decline. You know, movies are in decline, network television is in decline, album sales are in decline. Theater is one of the only art forms where we keep finding an audience.

[13:49] Mo Brady: Yeah.

[13:50] Bryan Plopsky: You can't download it. There's a demand for being in the room where it happens.

[13:51] Mo Brady: The room where it happens?

[13:56] Bryan Plopsky: Yeah, that was a uh Dear Evan Hansen reference.

[13:58] Mo Brady: Yeah, I've heard let's talk a little bit about um the Ensemblists. So what? The Ensemblist?

[14:05] Mo Brady: Never heard of it.

[14:07] Bryan Plopsky: Oh, really? Well, maybe we can make up what it is. Um can you talk a little bit about the the entire like the the journey of Ensemblists? Because quite frankly, like the your blog posts that are really kind of started to move towards the forefront are just like incredible reads.

[14:25] Mo Brady: Oh thanks. But I know that you and and with kind of your guests. Whoever writes them does a good job.

[14:29] Bryan Plopsky: Yeah, yeah. Um journey-wise, I mean, just talk about what you put into it, what it started as, what it is now, what you're going to continue to be.

[14:40] Mo Brady: Wow. Um, your middle name.

[14:46] Mo Brady: James. Um I'll go in reverse order. Nika Graf Lanzaroni and I, who we worked on The Ensemblist together for about four years. We both had performed on Broadway and really loved the ensemble performers that we were seeing, kind of working alongside, and thought that they had such fascinating stories to tell. And this is really kind of at the brink of Instagram, really when people started sharing their own stories. This wasn't happening at the time.

[15:16] Bryan Plopsky: Sure.

[15:16] Mo Brady: And so what we were both like public radio nerds, and we were both interested in these people who were working alongside with, let's find a creative project to do both of those things together. And so we created a podcast, and we would create these like 45-minute episodes where we take a theme like swings or replacements, and we would do kind of a deep dive thanks to three experts on that subject.

[15:41] Bryan Plopsky: Your social media like podcasts, like those like three or four, whatever you that month you did or whatever, were exceptional to listen to.

[15:48] Mo Brady: Oh, thanks. They were really interesting. The rest was crap, but like again, the one errant article in those four episodes are wonderful. Um what we found as more podcasts have joined the Broadway family is that hi, it's nice to see you. Um we had an opportunity to really kind of distill our voice and to be champions and um supporters of the actors who are in Broadway ensemble.

[16:19] Bryan Plopsky: And so by sort of we sort of narrowed our focus, but then used multiple media to tell that focus.

[16:26] Mo Brady: So now we're not just a podcast, we're also a blog. We also spend a lot of time working on original photography this year and our and our Instagram presence. And so everything we're doing in multiple platforms is really trying to bolster this community, help them feel heard, help them feel valued. Um I think that it's sort of crazy to think, oh yeah, they're Broadway actors, they're like at the top of their field, but often the real life uh political life of being in a theater, they those people don't really feel seen.

[17:01] Bryan Plopsky: And so we're trying to normalize the sharing of their stories and normalize the hearing of these like incredible things that they do as part of their jobs. Um so it's it's it has been a journey. Um but I also think that's their responsibility of any good creator is to sort of go with the times. What worked in 2013 is not gonna work in 2019.

[17:28] Kevin Jaeger: Interestingly, drinking always works.

[17:30] Mo Brady: So we don't need to change.

[17:33] Bryan Plopsky: You guys figured it out at first. Cheers.

[17:36] Mo Brady: Cheers, um. Uh did you see a shift though when Instagram like really peaked and like all of the ensemble members from the original cast of Hamilton have crazy followings? Like, was there a shift in 2016?

[17:50] Mo Brady: What yes. I think what we saw was the rise of an influencer, and specifically in the theater community, the rise of a micro influencer. So we're looking at like 25,000 to 100,000 followers.

[18:03] Kevin Jaeger: That's the same thing.

[18:04] Mo Brady: That's the name of the new Star Wars movie. Rise of the influencer.

[18:12] Kevin Jaeger: Luke, I shared your weed retweet.

[18:16] Mo Brady: So the idea that like the worst Darthur impression also. It can't be true. I don't know what's happening. The idea that, like, oh, I could have 20,000 followers and someone will give me something for free. Like, that is something that has changed. We were talking about the Tonies before, and I know that it's been conversation, at least in the theater community, about a um best ensemble opinions, thoughts. How do you monitor an award like that? Is it just the people who start it? Do you have replacements involved in that?

[18:52] Mo Brady: No, you would be original companies just like every other, every other um Tony Award. You know, it just feels like it's not important enough to the right people to me. Someone at the top, you know, whether But you're for it.

[19:09] Bryan Plopsky: I'm 100% for it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, all of this, like No, no, let's not celebrate these things. The only place called ensemble is our contest.

[19:22] Mo Brady: Um the I love that so much. All of the argument, I'm like, how would we how would we judge which one was a better ensemble? You judge the other awards.

[19:39] Bryan Plopsky: You judge sound design.

[19:41] Mo Brady: Yeah, you can do that. You had to choose between Beetlejuice set and Hades Town set. Like, you can choose between two darn hot and you know, uh, all of a sudden I can't think of any other ensembles on Robert.

[19:55] Bryan Plopsky: There's no other ensembles.

[20:00] Mo Brady: Damn, what uh Hades Town. Yeah, that's also a show that opened. All we need is for someone at the league, someone at the theater wing, someone at the top just needs to be like, you know what, we're gonna do this.

[20:18] Bryan Plopsky: Yep, and they'd flip the switch, and it would happen. It wouldn't be that hard, it would mean a lot to a lot of people, but it's not gonna happen until a person high enough decides that it's gonna happen.

[20:31] Kevin Jaeger: Sure, that's that's super interesting because also like I had a thought and I'm drunk and I forgot it. But it's it was gonna be great.

[20:37] Mo Brady: You're like, that's wow. But the other side of that is that the ensemblist gets to sort of be the bedrock of that story.

[20:48] Kevin Jaeger: Sure.

[20:49] Mo Brady: We get to sort of be the continual presence of like, no, these people are here, they are important. Sometimes we get to sort of become come to like the forefront of the theater news, and sometimes we're just in the background. Yeah, but the fact that we're there all of the time means that there is there's a continual hum that these people matter and that the work they do is vital to the art we are creating.

[21:16] Mo Brady: I actually remember my question. Do you think that a best ensemble Tony would extend some people's stays in certain shows?

[21:23] Mo Brady: I think what it would do is it would say that for an actor, the pinnacle of your career doesn't have to be leading a show. So for someone like Donna Marie Asbury, who just left Chicago after 20 years in the ensemble. Uh-huh. You know, for for someone like um, you know, like Barrett Martin, who's also in Chicago, he has, I think, 10 Broadway credits. Um, this is the things that my brain knows. It's like, yeah, I am. I love that we all know different niches of the Broadway world. It's so no, it's like spectacular. But for someone like um, you know, a Adonna or a Barrett to be able to say, like, you get our industry's highest award. Yeah. That would mean a lot to those people. And it would change the way that we look at success in this industry.

[22:17] Kevin Jaeger: Yes.

[22:18] Mo Brady: Because right now, all we have is you only get Tony if you're the leading actor. And let's be honest, like, Tim Hughes is growing great work, but he's not even gonna be in anybody's conversation about best featured actor.

[22:29] Kevin Jaeger: Correct.

[22:30] Mo Brady: There's too many other great bigger roles. Right, right. So you don't literally, King Kong is on Broadway, so like it's a much bigger bigger than Tim Kong.

[22:42] Kevin Jaeger: He is a big man.

[22:44] Mo Brady: Very tall. So to expand the idea of what success is. The way the Tony's tell the whole world what Broadway is, it would tell the world that it is not necessary, like that the trajectory of a Broadway career is not the same as any other career, and it is not always the dream of an ensemble person to quote work their way up to a principal role, which is what everyone thinks. Like, oh, one day, like you'll be there. And you just want to yell like it's their Broadway debut, this is my 12th show. Like pouring more ice.

[23:17] Kevin Jaeger: Um I will say, yeah for many people in the ensemble, being a lead is there.

[23:22] Mo Brady: Well, of course. Yeah. And I don't want to take that away from them. Also people's dreams change. Sometimes you want to be like the best ensemble actor at 25, and then at 35, you're like, I want to work in in Chicago for 20 years because like you're doing some really cool things outside of that, but also making a paycheck to feed mouths. Uh she put her daughter through college, Donna Marie Asbury. Like her daughter's like 22 now or so. So she basically like raised her child through Chicago. She's and she lives in New York, so that's crazy. I think she lives in New Jersey.

[23:55] Mo Brady: Like lives in New Jersey, works in New York, am I right? Um, but on that note, let's play a game.

[24:02] Bryan Plopsky: Yeah, let's do it.

[24:02] Mo Brady: Wait, you guys play games?

[24:03] Kevin Jaeger: We do.

[24:04] Mo Brady: We do.

[24:05] Bryan Plopsky: No, no, I know, I know.

[24:06] Mo Brady: Oh, I was cool. Can I can I tell people what's happening?

[24:10] Bryan Plopsky: Yes.

[24:11] Mo Brady: Yes. Okay. We are each being handed a lights of Broadway show cards package unopened.

[24:16] Bryan Plopsky: But what kind?

[24:18] Mo Brady: It's special the prom edition.

[24:21] Kevin Jaeger: Yes!

[24:22] Mo Brady: Oh my god. Wait, don't open the map.

[24:24] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, okay, I got excited.

[24:25] Mo Brady: So this is just a short little game, basically. Great. Because I love the prom and I happened to have four of these packs. Um, we're gonna go. Have you seen the prom?

[24:34] Mo Brady: Twice.

[24:35] Kevin Jaeger: Great. So have we. Um just go around and say the one character from the prom you would most like to take to your prom. Your specific prom, and then if that person is in the pack that you open, you win.

[24:48] Mo Brady: Oh, cool. That's it.

[24:49] Kevin Jaeger: Oh, I like this game. This is a really simple game. Because my next game is very complicated.

[24:56] Mo Brady: Christopher Sieber. I would take him to the prom because I would show up in a tux and he would just show up in a Juilliard sweatshirt. That would be his name.

[25:07] Kevin Jaeger: The guy from Talk to the Hand.

[25:10] Mo Brady: That is the best joke on the show. I was peeing in my scene because I watched Two of a Kind every day.

[25:17] Kevin Jaeger: Oh my god, that was so funny that they actually put that in the show.

[25:21] Mo Brady: It was called Two of Kind.

[25:23] Kevin Jaeger: Right.

[25:24] Mo Brady: But just so we all know.

[25:26] Kevin Jaeger: Talk to the hand.

[25:27] Mo Brady: Talk to the hand is also a great name. Trent Oliver.

[25:29] Kevin Jaeger: Oh, that feels like I would totally take Trent Oliver because he would just be my kind of.

[25:33] Mo Brady: I want to know what Trent Oliver's real name is.

[25:37] Kevin Jaeger: Oh yeah.

[25:37] Mo Brady: Oh, you mean like that's his stage? Like in the world, I mean.

[25:40] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[25:41] Mo Brady: I think Trent Oliver is probably his first and middle name, but his last is probably something like.

[25:48] Kevin Jaeger: Or like fluff another or something.

[25:50] Mo Brady: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um is he in your pack?

[25:52] Kevin Jaeger: Oh, have I checking?

[25:53] Mo Brady: Yeah, I said, oh, but why are you doing? Um say who you have.

[25:58] Kevin Jaeger: I have the music team of the prom.

[26:01] Mo Brady: Oh, I have uh I didn't even think they were an option.

[26:04] Kevin Jaeger: Who's Alyssa?

[26:05] Mo Brady: I have oh, I have him singing Love Thy Neighbor. Does that count?

[26:09] Kevin Jaeger: You have to have!

[26:12] Mo Brady: You can take this one. I have it in the Juilliard jacket that I was referring to. So I win. So I win this game.

[26:17] Kevin Jaeger: Yes.

[26:19] Mo Brady: Alright. You're up. You're up.

[26:21] Kevin Jaeger: Who would you pick the prom?

[26:23] Mo Brady: Okay. My first thought was Alyssa Green. Um, which I know she's like the drama of not going to the prom, but I'm attracted to like a little bit of business, a little bit pleasure.

[26:33] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah.

[26:34] Mo Brady: Sure. So maybe So mullets. Totally your thing. But the maybe like end of show, Alyssa Green. I mean, she looks cute in that purple dress with the updo. So cute. You know, like you just want to dance with her. I get it.

[26:51] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, your heart is unruly.

[26:53] Mo Brady: She she will, she she gives a mean kiss at the end of that show. You don't know what's going on in that parking lot afterwards. I loved all the people for the. Because they do that quick. I don't know I'm not a dancer. They do that like quick trend and church, and then the knees like swivel.

[27:07] Kevin Jaeger: Oh that one.

[27:15] Kevin Jaeger: Okay. Wait, okay. This one is just the show.

[27:19] Mo Brady: So she's part of this show. It has lyrics to tonight belongs to us and a really hard. Nice.

[27:25] Kevin Jaeger: Um, Caitlin Kinninen.

[27:29] Mo Brady: And now we all know how to say her name.

[27:32] Kevin Jaeger: Right? Yeah.

[27:33] Mo Brady: Caitlin and I are like family friends.

[27:34] Kevin Jaeger: Wait, really?

[27:35] Mo Brady: Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. She's from after I graduated from college. I moved back to Seattle, which is where I'm from my health helped run a youth theater program. Sure. And Caitlin was one of the students there. And so and so was her sister Julia.

[27:48] Kevin Jaeger: So you molded her into the Tony nominee she has today.

[27:51] Mo Brady: Unclear. I will say that I've spent a good amount of time with Caitlin and her family, and it she's a beautiful soul. And so to watch her be embraced by the community is fantastic.

[28:03] Kevin Jaeger: Christopher Siever, I got the real Christmas.

[28:04] Mo Brady: You did. I got the real Chris Receiver as turn on what I'm take. So you got my man and your woman. I got an Isabella McCallalla as Alyssa Green card. Oh, you also got a reflector card. A reflector card. Oh wait, it's a crowd on the other side. It's time to build a prom. For can we talk? Okay. My favorite moment of the Tonys was the created key change from Tonight Belongs to us into Building.

[28:36] Kevin Jaeger: Yes, yes.

[28:37] Mo Brady: Man, I was like Because I was like, oh, they're doing this song and it makes me anxious because I know what happens. Thank you, Chad and Matt.

[28:45] Kevin Jaeger: I know, right?

[28:47] Mo Brady: Alright. No question. I am bringing Beth level to my mom.

[28:51] Kevin Jaeger: Oh, yeah.

[28:52] Mo Brady: Didi Allen. I'm taking Didi Allen to my prom because one, who doesn't want the drowsy chaperon at their prom? Two, like, she would just like you've seen every entrance. Every entrance she has had in that show was spectacular.

[29:09] Mo Brady: She takes that thing by that gymnasium by storm.

[29:13] Bryan Plopsky: Oh, yeah.

[29:13] Mo Brady: And so I want her by my side. I'd be like, oh, is that your your your your family member?

[29:18] Kevin Jaeger: And I'll be like, no, this is my date.

[29:20] Kimberly Cooper: Yes.

[29:22] Mo Brady: Are we going as current age selves or like 18-year-old selves?

[29:22] Bryan Plopsky: 18-year-old selves, definitely.

[29:29] Mo Brady: Oh, I totally would have gone. I would totally would have gone with Alyssa Green.

[29:32] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[29:33] Mo Brady: Okay. Still rings true, Izzy. Let me that. I got her singing it's not about me.

[29:43] Mo Brady: Um, but I also got her as a guest. It's two points. It's a two-fam.

[29:50] Bryan Plopsky: Oh, I got the ensemble of the prom.

[29:52] Mo Brady: Oh.

[29:55] Mo Brady: It's weird. This card says the ensemblist.com of the prom.

[29:58] Kevin Jaeger: What?

[29:58] Mo Brady: What else? Is it really?

[30:00] Bryan Plopsky: No, no.

[30:00] Mo Brady: Okay. Cannot believe that no one else wanted to take Angie Schwart Prom.

[30:04] Kimberly Cooper: Oh, good.

[30:06] Mo Brady: Good show for promise because listen. She would teach you how to dance if you felt a little self-conscious in your dress because like maybe someone else is wearing the same dress as you at your prom.

[30:16] Bryan Plopsky: Like my prom.

[30:17] Mo Brady: And then you had to go out zazz her.

[30:20] Kimberly Cooper: Mm-hmm.

[30:20] Mo Brady: Oh. I did anyway. I also have fully the prom. The design team.

[30:26] Kevin Jaeger: Oh, look at that.

[30:29] Mo Brady: Oh, that's cool. The music team.

[30:31] Kevin Jaeger: You did.

[30:32] Mo Brady: I like that one. A lot of BTS. It's not about me.

[30:35] Kimberly Cooper: Oh, yeah.

[30:36] Mo Brady: And I don't have my date, but I do have a reflector card and a character card.

[30:43] Kimberly Cooper: That is cool.

[30:44] Mo Brady: That's really cool. These cards are really cool. And I just want to dance with you on the back. And they're dancing together if you flip the card.

[30:51] Mo Brady: Squiggs always does great work with Light Sparta show cards, but these like special prom edition ones are really awesome.

[30:55] Bryan Plopsky: I love the special editions, like the Ensemblist edition in every year.

[30:59] Mo Brady: Oh yeah. Not a bunch of them. The fact that Squiggs does that for us, I think is really great.

[31:05] Kevin Jaeger: It's so cool. Um every year we do these awards called the Ensemblist Awards, which last year's winners pick next year's winners.

[31:14] Mo Brady: That's so cute.

[31:15] Kevin Jaeger: So it's sort of like the community celebrating themselves, and all we do is we ask for last year's winners to pick someone who they admire in the community.

[31:23] Mo Brady: So they're not people that I would necessarily even know or like would have are at the forefront of my mind, but they're it to see this sort of like torch being passed from year to year is really beautiful.

[31:36] Kimberly Cooper: That's awesome. You can check that out at the Ensemblist.com.

[31:40] Mo Brady: Oh, that gov. And um that's yeah, exactly. That game was actually brought to you by Goldstar.

[31:52] Kevin Jaeger: It was. Um, you can go to goldstar.com backslash broadwaisted.

[31:55] Mo Brady: Oh, definitely get tickets for the Ron. Go to the prom, guys.

[31:57] Kimberly Cooper: Go to the prom guys. Do it.

[31:59] Mo Brady: Um they just want to dance with you.

[32:03] Kimberly Cooper: Yeah, yeah.

[32:03] Mo Brady: Um again, um everyone had to dress out. I would go to the prom.

[32:07] Bryan Plopsky: No, I kind of like to do it. Like a real product performance.

[32:10] Mo Brady: Yeah, the prom night where we all dressed up and then we went to like Haswell Green and like had a dance house.

[32:17] Kevin Jaeger: Spiked punch and group sales.

[32:20] Mo Brady: Yeah, it's fine. I'll take care of it. Um, but again, um Story, are you listening? Uh Goldstar game.

[32:27] Kevin Jaeger: Goldstar.com backslash broadwaisted.

[32:30] Mo Brady: Um, you can also get tickets to not just Broadway, um, but tours, concerts, comedy, dance across the entire country.

[32:37] Kevin Jaeger: Um, so go to goldstar.com backslash broadwaisted, check out everything there.

[32:41] Mo Brady: Um, we've gotten tickets from there. We actually went to this is a long time ago now, but Kevin and I did haunted house tickets through that.

[32:48] Kevin Jaeger: We did.

[32:49] Mo Brady: Um, you can we did a botanical gardens tour this past really love a haunted house in June.

[32:53] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, that's one of my favorite um, but we bought botanical garden tickets for this summer.

[32:57] Mo Brady: We did. Um, it's gonna be super fun. And um, you can go to goldstar.com backslash broadways, so check it out.

[33:03] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah. I as a fellow podcaster, I just want to say like these things actually matter. Like it would really like it really means a lot to the people creating podcasts if you actually go to this link.

[33:16] Mo Brady: Like so, so if you are thinking about buying tickets to like anything in Gold Star, they have tickets all over the country.

[33:22] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[33:23] Mo Brady: Yeah. Yeah. Like, like just do it, guys. Let's see. Just come on to it. Come on.

[33:27] Kevin Jaeger: Just like what you're already on your phone. Just like Safari, open goldstar.com.

[33:33] Mo Brady: I'm gonna look around.

[33:34] Kevin Jaeger: I'm a Google Chrome man myself.

[33:36] Mo Brady: Oh my god, you're so extra.

[33:40] Kevin Jaeger: Let them use our link.

[33:42] Mo Brady: Yeah. But we have some more questions for you.

[33:45] Kevin Jaeger: I love talking about me.

[33:46] Mo Brady: Yeah.

[33:48] Kevin Jaeger: What's your favorite musical?

[33:49] Mo Brady: Hairspray.

[33:50] Kevin Jaeger: Why?

[33:51] Mo Brady: I just I just think hairspray is just like a well-made machine.

[33:55] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah.

[33:56] Mo Brady: Yeah. Um, do you have a favorite ensemble track in a show?

[34:03] Mo Brady: That's a good question. Um, answer to certain people. I mean, honestly, like I feel like I have favorite, because me and Jay play a game called Spot the Dance Captain, which isn't really about Spot the Dance Captain. It's just like this guy is a cute. And when we saw the Violet revival, there was like this 13-year-old girl. She was crazy. That was the understudy couple for the young Violet, and we were like, she's working the hardest.

[34:26] Mo Brady: She well, you can say that she's working hardest in the Tony performance as well. She's working if you watch if you if you go back and look at that Tony performance, she's working harder than anyone.

[34:34] Kevin Jaeger: She's on her way.

[34:35] Mo Brady: Yes. I'm gonna she has an axe standing by just in case she has to go on.

[34:44] Mo Brady: Jesus. So I'm working on a lot of like lists for 2020, and we're getting towards the end of the end of the decade, and I'm actually working on like a lot of like we have six more months, please stop. But I'm working on a lot of like best ensemble roles of the last decade, like best ensemble bangers of the last decade. Um so I've actually been thinking about this a lot. I'm not sure if it's the best, but it's the first one that came to my mind.

[35:10] Mo Brady: Okay, and it's Spot Conlin from Newsies. Oh Spot Conlin is the ensemble track in Newsies that was originated by Tommy Bracco. Um he also plays it in the filmed versus the Netflix-y version.

[35:19] Kevin Jaeger: Netflix-y.

[35:26] Mo Brady: Um it's like the thing that comes out is like the guy who comes out in Act Two, and like Theor Brooklyn is here.

[35:33] Kimberly Cooper: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[35:34] Mo Brady: He's the best part of the movie as well. Not Tommy Bracco, but Scott Conlin.

[35:38] Kevin Jaeger: Spot Complex.

[35:39] Mo Brady: Right. No, he was in the movie, it was crazy.

[35:43] Kevin Jaeger: That does feel very Tommy Bracco, though.

[35:45] Mo Brady: Yeah, right. Like maybe Tommy Broccos 50 and he's been tricking.

[35:50] Kevin Jaeger: Um it's like the movie Orphan.

[35:52] Mo Brady: Was it Orphan?

[35:53] Kevin Jaeger: Oh, yeah.

[35:56] Mo Brady: Oh, I did see. I don't know what that means.

[35:59] Kevin Jaeger: No, no, it's the actual spoiler. People are be so mad at that.

[36:04] Mo Brady: Speaking of orphans, oh yeah, great. I love an ensemble role where they're like incredibly specific and present. They're part of the team. You know exactly who they are. Tommy brought such a great point of view to that role. I saw it on tour as well, and Jeff Heinbrock, do you know guys know who he is?

[36:22] Kevin Jaeger: I know that name.

[36:23] Mo Brady: Yeah, he he's currently in Wicked. He made his debut in Mormon. Um I just like Tommy like walked on the stage and commanded it. You know exactly who he was. He had a point of view, he changed the plot of the show. Um, and yet he seamlessly like danced his friggin' ass off. So that's my first.

[36:42] Mo Brady: He also does brilliant ensemble work uh when he was in Pretty Woman. His character was amazing. He's like a bell boy, but like he went shopping with her, and I was here for it.

[36:51] Kimberly Cooper: Julio?

[36:51] Mo Brady: Julio Gulio?

[36:53] Kevin Jaeger: Yes.

[36:53] Mo Brady: Um Julia Gulio? I love the wedding scene.

[36:57] Kimberly Cooper: I just want to throw it out. We are very big wanteding singer fans here.

[37:01] Mo Brady: Oh, wait. I saw the invited dress in Seattle at the Fifth Avenue.

[37:05] Kevin Jaeger: Did you take Caitlin with you?

[37:07] Mo Brady: No, I've shared them. I sat in the front row. It was super fun. The set broke down. Um, so great!

[37:12] Kevin Jaeger: Such a great show.

[37:14] Mo Brady: You saw that in Seattle? Where did you see when you saw Newsy's on tour?

[37:15] Kevin Jaeger: Where did you see that?

[37:19] Mo Brady: Philadelphia.

[37:20] Kevin Jaeger: Oh, cool. Do you want to go somewhere else?

[37:22] Kimberly Cooper: Oh Tuesday in the corner with Kevin.

[37:28] Kevin Jaeger: It's Kevin's Corner. Welcome to Kevin's Corner where I have three highly researched questions that I spent time on Wikipedia. And they uh today's the name game.

[37:39] Mo Brady: These are very involved questions. I also was on Wikipedia.

[37:43] Kevin Jaeger: So this is uh the name game. So they all start with your name and then they go into weird places from there. So you ready?

[37:48] Mo Brady: No.

[37:50] Kevin Jaeger: Okay. Question one. Your name is Mo. Just like the single Mo Money, Mo Problems by the notorious B.I.G. from his album Life After Death, that was Biggie's second uh posthumous number one single following Hypnotize. Hypnotize and Hysterical, hairstylist wanted, is a 2002 French musical comedy drama film about the crossing paths of three lost young women, one of which wants her daughter back, one who wants her soul back, and one who wants her cat back.

[38:21] Mo Brady: That's what it says.

[38:22] Kevin Jaeger: Her soul I need to see this. Wait, am I supposed to answer these things?

[38:25] Mo Brady: No, thank God.

[38:27] Kevin Jaeger: Okay. The cat came back is a comic song written by Harry S. Miller. Miller time is the time of day that you should be in binding a beer by the Miller Brewing Company, made popular in their successful ad campaign. So my question is what are some of your favorite ad campaigns or jingles from when you were growing up?

[38:47] Mo Brady: The first one I think of is there was like a kids' modeling company in the Northwest at least called Barbazon. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

[38:59] Kevin Jaeger: Oh, it was like, it was like what was the commercial?

[39:05] Mo Brady: It was very glamour shots. Like imagine like if your parents were so rich that not only you're gonna get glamour shots, but then you're gonna get like a full like print spread.

[39:15] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, exactly. It was an ad for that.

[39:18] Mo Brady: And he wanted that.

[39:19] Kevin Jaeger: No, but my sister and I would like sing the song. It was like bum bum bobson. Trained to be a model, or just look like one.

[39:31] Mo Brady: That is wonderful.

[39:33] Kevin Jaeger: Amazing.

[39:34] Mo Brady: Yeah. I like Stanley Steamer.

[39:35] Kevin Jaeger: Did you Stanley Steamer?

[39:38] Mo Brady: That was always a good one.

[39:39] Kevin Jaeger: That's such a good song. You know, no. Cars for kids.

[39:42] Mo Brady: Oh that's a good idea.

[39:43] Kevin Jaeger: I hate it when I say my advantage.

[39:45] Mo Brady: No, I told her to put her tag inside of her scarf.

[39:48] Kevin Jaeger: No, but the Carlos Kids commercial has been on the radio forever. I used to listen to it like when driving to school, my dad would drive us. Like it would be a commercial on the radio.

[39:57] Mo Brady: Yeah. It's a rite of passage to get like New York commercials. Like just someone who moves to the city and you get New York one or Barnes and Jurian.

[40:05] Kevin Jaeger: The Grand Postric.

[40:08] Mo Brady: Oh, the Grand Prospect Hall.

[40:10] Kevin Jaeger: Oh, y'all dreams come true.

[40:14] Mo Brady: I saw a show there once, and I was like, I'm here. My dreams have come true. I had Ricky Uveda on my podcast and he was talking about Fossey Vernon, and he filmed his scene in the Fossey Vernon at the Grand Prospect Hall. And he was like, everyone kept saying, we make your dreams come true. And I didn't know what it meant. I was like, because you don't have New York one.

[40:35] Kevin Jaeger: But do you remember Mel Harry Lodge?

[40:37] Mo Brady: Oh, yeah, Philly commercial.

[40:39] Kevin Jaeger: Is your love of everything?

[40:41] Mo Brady: Oh, 666.

[40:43] Kevin Jaeger: 666.

[40:44] Mo Brady: 666.

[40:46] Kevin Jaeger: Remember this.

[40:47] Mo Brady: It's Carmel Limmel.

[40:48] Kevin Jaeger: Carmel Limo, but there's the one white.

[40:50] Mo Brady: Why used him when I first moved here? You're stabbing on the He's stabbing on the wrong beat.

[40:56] Kevin Jaeger: And you're like, who missed this?

[40:59] Mo Brady: It's like you have scarf tag.

[41:01] Kevin Jaeger: Alright, question two. Your name is Mo.

[41:02] Mo Brady: Correct.

[41:03] Kevin Jaeger: Just like the American rapper, singer, and music producer Mo B. Dick, who is founding member of the production team, The Medicine Men? The Medicine Men is also the title of the ninth episode of the third series, the 1960s cult British Spi Fi television series.

[41:20] Mo Brady: Spi.

[41:22] Kevin Jaeger: The Avengers. It said Spi Fi on Wikipedia.

[41:24] Mo Brady: Okay.

[41:25] Kevin Jaeger: Where's the thing? Where Steve and Kathy investigate a conspiracy to flood the market with medicines that are counterfeit. Counterfeit Cat is a British Canadian animated television series produced by Wild Seed Kids for Teletune and Disney XD that follows the adventures of and friendship of Max, a lazy house cat, and Gark, an alien who disguises himself as a purple knitted cat.

[41:51] Mo Brady: Cat Dealy is an English television presenter, actress, singer, and model who has hosted My Fave, So You Think You Can Dance since 2006. So my question is what reality show do you think you could totally win? And what reality show do you think each member of the broadwaisted crew would be great on?

[42:10] Mo Brady: Oh God. I'd like to let you know how much I bake.

[42:13] Kevin Jaeger: Oh, great British Isn't Great British Makeoff a bastard.

[42:18] Mo Brady: I also want to mention that I um I'm people say I have ninja skills. I don't steal my show, Brad.

[42:26] Kevin Jaeger: That's my favorite show of all time. I just watched the new hundred thousand dollar pyramid last night. Uh and I was like, these are dumb questions. I could win this.

[42:33] Mo Brady: Like, okay, so you could win that.

[42:35] Kevin Jaeger: I could I can win that. Great British Bake Off, American Ninja Warrior. Absolutely.

[42:39] Mo Brady: And I'm looking at the case.

[42:41] Kevin Jaeger: The Josh Moe show.

[42:42] Mo Brady: No, I mean you're making drinks, so I'm gonna go with Survivor.

[42:44] Kevin Jaeger: I wish I could win Survivor. I would lose Survivor.

[42:48] Mo Brady: Or they can go survive by making drinks.

[42:51] Kevin Jaeger: You're friends with her, you're taking care of people, you're dextress. You're being nice, you like know how to do the technical stuff. You know, Broadway Ensemblist, and my former Adams Family cast member, Reed Kelly was on Survivor.

[43:06] Mo Brady: Really?

[43:06] Kevin Jaeger: Oh yeah.

[43:06] Mo Brady: Oh yeah, they got pretty far.

[43:08] Kevin Jaeger: Alright, question three. Your name is Mo.

[43:10] Mo Brady: It still is.

[43:12] Kevin Jaeger: Just like Moe Gaffney, the American actress, comedian, writer, and activist who has written and starred in two off-Broadway shows, the Kathy and Mo show Parallel Lives, and the Kathy and Mo show The Dark Side with her friend Kathy and Jimmy. Jimmy Dugan is a fictional manager of the Rockford Peaches in the movie A League of Their Own, where he peased for an incredibly long time while being timed by Madonna.

[43:33] Mo Brady: When I was a little kid, my brother and dad were always wanting me to go out and play catch with them, and I would only agree to do so if I could do Madonna catches, which is where I pretended to be Madonna from the movie and acted feminine and graceful and so and oh so gay.

[43:46] Kevin Jaeger: So my question is if you could live your life as one fictional character for a day, who would you choose and why?

[43:53] Mo Brady: Interesting.

[43:54] Kevin Jaeger: That's a good one, Kevin.

[43:59] Mo Brady: Barota gave me birth.

[44:02] Kevin Jaeger: Friendliest place on earth.

[44:06] Mo Brady: Pay us a visit and see.

[44:08] Kevin Jaeger: Okay, this is something I've been thinking about a lot recently is actually like how Garrett Haw is like nailing the tenor one part in so much of Newsies. And I've been wanting to figure out how to give him a shout-out. So the fact that there you go.

[44:19] Mo Brady: There you go.

[44:20] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah.

[44:20] Mo Brady: Garrett, you're doing great work. Or he did great work in 2012.

[44:26] Kevin Jaeger: He's in the West Side Story movie now.

[44:27] Mo Brady: He's not.

[44:28] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, he's fine.

[44:29] Mo Brady: Yeah, he's fine.

[44:29] Kevin Jaeger: Um, what's the mean guy from what's the Leonardo DiCaprio?

[44:35] Mo Brady: I hate myself for saying this. What's the Leonardo DiCaprio character from The Great Gatsby?

[44:39] Kevin Jaeger: Gatsby.

[44:40] Mo Brady: Yes. Yeah, I want to live in a big fancy house and have like great parties with like before he shows up in the pool.

[44:47] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know how that ends, right?

[44:49] Mo Brady: Yeah, yeah.

[44:50] Kevin Jaeger: I mean, like I read in high school.

[44:51] Mo Brady: Yeah, yeah.

[44:52] Kevin Jaeger: And by read in high school, I mean I took the test on it.

[44:54] Mo Brady: Yeah, but read the cliff notes.

[44:56] Kevin Jaeger: Do people still use Cliff Notes?

[44:58] Mo Brady: I think they just spark notes, right?

[45:00] Kevin Jaeger: Spark notes is like online version. Right?

[45:02] Mo Brady: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[45:03] Kevin Jaeger: But like now you could probably just read Wikipedia.

[45:06] Mo Brady: Oh, sure, you just read Wikipedia and be like, that's what happens.

[45:08] Kevin Jaeger: Or you just Google like someone else's paper, and I'm sure it comes up.

[45:11] Mo Brady: Oh, yeah.

[45:15] Kevin Jaeger: Yes, running your paper.

[45:17] Mo Brady: Yeah.

[45:18] Kevin Jaeger: Check plagiarism.

[45:19] Mo Brady: That's fine, but maybe not a whole essay.

[45:22] Kevin Jaeger: Sure, sure.

[45:23] Mo Brady: Yeah.

[45:24] Kevin Jaeger: Okay, so you would you would be Great Gatsby.

[45:26] Mo Brady: Wait, it was a day for a day, yeah.

[45:28] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, I want to be friggin' rich.

[45:30] Mo Brady: You want to be that gif where he's cheersy.

[45:33] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I like that because I when I wrote this question, I was thinking that I would want to be Annie on the day where she gets to the house just to see all those people doing those ridiculous like lifts and just to dance with Ann Reinking.

[45:45] Mo Brady: Yes.

[45:46] Kevin Jaeger: Just all I wanted was Gardner climbing up to high.

[45:50] Mo Brady: So ridiculous.

[45:51] Kevin Jaeger: We got in.

[45:52] Mo Brady: Straight the butler.

[45:53] Kevin Jaeger: Another great ensemble role.

[45:55] Mo Brady: So good.

[45:55] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, and every once in a while, just like Ann Reinking just strikes a pose, and I'm just like, Annie.

[46:02] Mo Brady: We got it, folks.

[46:05] Kevin Jaeger: So how did you can I just ask real quick how you got involved with Broadway Cares?

[46:09] Mo Brady: Yes.

[46:10] Kevin Jaeger: Um, next question.

[46:14] Mo Brady: No.

[46:15] Kevin Jaeger: Okay.

[46:15] Mo Brady: So this will be a great segue. So I was in The Addams Family on Broadway.

[46:21] Kevin Jaeger: You were.

[46:21] Mo Brady: And you were on uh were you in the ensemble and understudying?

[46:25] Mo Brady: Yeah, I was in the ensemble and I covered the role of Lucas, Wednesday's boyfriend.

[46:29] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah.

[46:29] Mo Brady: Um who's Wesley Taylor, right?

[46:32] Kevin Jaeger: Wesley Taylor, yes.

[46:33] Mo Brady: I didn't hear you for a minute, and I said, Wesley's boyfriend?

[46:35] Kevin Jaeger: That's what I heard too.

[46:36] Mo Brady: I covered Isaac.

[46:37] Kevin Jaeger: We covered Isaac in high school, Beyonce's now.

[46:41] Mo Brady: Congratulations, Wes and Isaac.

[46:43] Kevin Jaeger: Yay.

[46:44] Mo Brady: Um, so there are a few things in your life where like something changes so quickly, right? Like you you reach a goal in an instance. Uh-huh. You know, you get married, you have a child, you make your Broadway debut.

[47:04] Kevin Jaeger: And I was like, so I did you do it in that order?

[47:07] Mo Brady: Oh, okay. Debut, married, child.

[47:10] Kevin Jaeger: Um so I I was like, I don't know if I'm gonna get to do this again. I've always wanted to do it. I'm gonna do friggin' everything that's involved with being on Broadway. I wanna soak up every experience I can. And so much of those experiences are Broadway Cares, brought, you know, Broadway Flea Market, Broadway Bears, Um Easter, Easter Bonnet, like so many of them are actually events that are produced by our organization.

[47:39] Mo Brady: And so I just got to know Broadway Cares through kind of volunteering as an actor. And then my show closed, and I was like, okay. Well, I guess I can spend all my time auditioning and stressing about getting another job, or I can like figure out another thing to spend my time on.

[47:57] Mo Brady: And so I had a degree in theater marketing. I'd worked in marketing departments of regional theaters in the background.

[48:03] Kevin Jaeger: Well, you had an actual degree in theater and marketing.

[48:06] Mo Brady: I had a degree in theater. My thesis was in theater marketing.

[48:09] Kevin Jaeger: But no, that's interesting. Where'd you go?

[48:10] Mo Brady: Whitman College, it's it's a very small liberal arts college in Washington State. Um, and I and I wrote a thesis and it was about gorilla marketing tactics. Do you remember when we used to call like a gorilla?

[48:22] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah.

[48:23] Mo Brady: So it was sort of like about like product placement and how you like you like it uh use I mean we didn't even have social media back then, but it was like how you sort of like spread the word organically about shows.

[48:35] Kevin Jaeger: Cool.

[48:37] Mo Brady: And so I wrote a cold email to my now boss. Um, and it was like, hey, we met while I was taking off my clothes.

[48:46] Kevin Jaeger: Wait, what did you not sound like?

[48:47] Mo Brady: Hey, okay. I we met while I was taking off my clothes and Broadway Bears. Um, I want to volunteer for you. Can I volunteer for you this summer?

[48:57] Kevin Jaeger: And he was like, Can you come in tomorrow?

[49:01] Mo Brady: And so I volunteered initially. I know I was like 30 years old. I was volunteering, I was writing press releases, and the sort of the last project I did before I went off to do a regional gig of Next to Normal was I edited the Broadway Bears 2012 teaser.

[49:20] Mo Brady: And they liked it. And they said, we've got a job opening up. Do you want to apply? And I was like, no, I'm an actor. I do acting things. And then I thought more about it, and I was like, I'm just gonna let the universe decide. I'm gonna put my best forward and I don't have to do this for the rest of my life. I can do this for six months and quit. I but I'm I'm gonna see if this is a door that opens.

[49:45] Kevin Jaeger: Sure.

[49:45] Mo Brady: And so I applied and but you still went on the Next to Normal topic.

[49:49] Kevin Jaeger: I did.

[49:49] Mo Brady: I did. This today is my eight-year anniversary, it probably cares.

[49:53] Kevin Jaeger: Really?

[49:54] Mo Brady: Really?

[49:54] Kevin Jaeger: So happy anniversary.

[49:56] Mo Brady: I forgot to tell that. I should have. They asked me to apply. I went through the process, they offered me the position, I was like, I'm gonna try this. And it ended up being exactly the right fit. I came from the regional theater world.

[50:07] Mo Brady: I mean, you guys probably know this feeling. New York is such a place where there are people who do everything really well. Yeah, everyone is at the top of their game, which is a thrilling place to be, right?

[50:22] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah.

[50:23] Mo Brady: But for some of us, we like to have our hand in multiple pots. We like to do this and that. And that actually was what I had loved about being an actor was uh not just being an actor, I loved being a choreographer and a teacher and all these other things. I spent eight years prior to moving to New York as a full time actor in Seattle.

[50:42] Kevin Jaeger: Sure.

[50:43] Mo Brady: Um teaching future Tony nominees.

[50:46] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, exactly. Caitlin.

[50:47] Mo Brady: Yeah, yeah. And and uh, and I was also doing all of these other things, and when I got to New York, I was like, I don't want to just act in contemporary musicals where I sort of you know ping through my nose. This one thing that I do super well. I want to do a lot of stuff.

[51:05] Kevin Jaeger: Sure.

[51:06] Mo Brady: And so Broadway Cares, the job offer was like a door into being that multi-faceted human. And so that's why I've never looked back. I choose my path. That's that's the path I want.

[51:24] Kevin Jaeger: That's awesome.

[51:25] Mo Brady: And it's not necessarily the path that I wanted in 2012 or 2013 or 2014, but now I can look back and go, that was the right choice to be able to sit back and have an artistic home where I get to create and I get to support and I get to bolster people and I get to share this mission of like theater's magic.

[51:47] Kevin Jaeger: And it is really special when we all sit in a room together and tell a story, and it's incredibly special when we all look each other in the eye and we say we're gonna do something to help people.

[51:59] Mo Brady: Yeah.

[52:00] Kevin Jaeger: Um that is it's beautiful.

[52:03] Mo Brady: Cheers, cheers, cheers, cheers.

[52:05] Kevin Jaeger: On that, no, let's play a game.

[52:06] Mo Brady: Let's do it.

[52:07] Kevin Jaeger: Um, we're gonna play a game called the Broadway Care Bears.

[52:10] Mo Brady: Oh, yes, so I got that dad bod going, bang.

[52:20] Kevin Jaeger: Um pick sort of a chunk of show cards from my scenery bag here. So this is your hand for this game. You want us to have seven actors that ideally, I can have seven-ish actors. We can make this happen for you. You know we know who that is.

[52:37] Mo Brady: Great.

[52:38] Kevin Jaeger: So next to my scenery bag, we have a pile of slips of paper. These are the original ten Care Bear names. Oh, and what you're going to have to do is when it is your turn, you will pick a Care Bear name from the pile, and we will all pick someone from our hand to be that Broadway Care Bear.

[52:58] Mo Brady: And I have to choose.

[53:00] Kevin Jaeger: And you have to choose one apples.

[53:04] Mo Brady: This is spectacular.

[53:04] Kevin Jaeger: Oh, this is a good game. Okay, Bryan, you go first.

[53:07] Bryan Plopsky: So I read the bear name.

[53:08] Kevin Jaeger: Yes.

[53:09] Bryan Plopsky: I have Wish Bear.

[53:11] Kevin Jaeger: Wish Bear. Is it Christopher Fitzgerald? Is it newly anointed Tony winner, Celia Keenan-Bolger? Or is it the magical Ithacograd Carrie Butler?

[53:23] Mo Brady: Yeah, who is it?

[53:24] Bryan Plopsky: Oh. Who's Wish Bear?

[53:27] Mo Brady: That is a good set of things. These are fair.

[53:30] Bryan Plopsky: These are two good. I'm gonna go only because she just won the Tony with Celia Keenan-Bolger.

[53:37] Kevin Jaeger: We gotta play your good cards first.

[53:39] Mo Brady: That's true. Now you can pick her a placement from the deck.

[53:42] Kevin Jaeger: The audition song. You gotta uh your turn.

[53:47] Mo Brady: Oh Mo.

[53:48] Kevin Jaeger: Oh.

[53:48] Mo Brady: I'm the game master. I will decide whose turn it is.

[53:50] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, Kevin. Tenderheart Bear!

[53:54] Mo Brady: Donna Lynn Champlin. Not necessarily for our Broadway work, but man, we gotta.

[53:59] Kevin Jaeger: I mean, Crazy Ex for Non.

[54:02] Mo Brady: Donna McKechnie.

[54:03] Kevin Jaeger: Two Don't Robert Sean Leonard.

[54:07] Mo Brady: Tenderheart?

[54:08] Kevin Jaeger: I go, I go, um uh uh Dead Poets Society.

[54:13] Mo Brady: Yeah.

[54:14] Kevin Jaeger: I'm calling Donna.

[54:15] Mo Brady: Yay!

[54:16] Kevin Jaeger: Oh yeah. I'll take her. Good one.

[54:20] Kevin Jaeger: Okay, my turn.

[54:20] Kevin Jaeger: Okay. Uh, I have Grumpy Bear. This is so good. Who's Grumpy Bear? Who's a grumpy grumpy? First choice is David Hyde Pierce.

[54:30] Kevin Jaeger: Oh, that was a good one. Kevin Chamberlain is also a good choice. But my winner for Grumpy Bear's, not a rare card, Michael Bennett.

[54:45] Kevin Jaeger: I pretended that David Hyde Pierce wasn't mine, so you would choose it.

[54:48] Bryan Plopsky: Oh yeah, I know you, bro.

[54:50] Mo Brady: I would have showed some David Hyde Pierce.

[54:52] Kevin Jaeger: Thanks, man. For that Tony Award performance.

[54:54] Mo Brady: I know.

[54:57] Kevin Jaeger: Anyway, I have the Cheer Bear.

[54:58] Mo Brady: Oh, Cheer.

[54:59] Kevin Jaeger: Oh, the Cheer Bear.

[55:00] Mo Brady: Cheer Bear. I hadn't already had one with Celia.

[55:05] Kevin Jaeger: Oh, that's true. Very cheery.

[55:08] Mo Brady: Max Von Essen. Is he cheerful?

[55:12] Kevin Jaeger: Uncle.

[55:12] Mo Brady: I suppose. Annaleigh Ashford.

[55:15] Kevin Jaeger: Or Kristin Ashford.

[55:17] Mo Brady: Look at you.

[55:17] Kevin Jaeger: Glicky. And then try to be like, oh.

[55:20] Mo Brady: Whoever puts that in is a good person.

[55:22] Kevin Jaeger: Christina Ebersole.

[55:23] Mo Brady: Oh, that's a good one with you.

[55:24] Kevin Jaeger: Also very cheerful, but have we all watched the Lincoln Center performance?

[55:29] Mo Brady: No.

[55:29] Kevin Jaeger: Annaleigh Ash?

[55:31] Mo Brady: Yeah, Annaleigh Ash!

[55:32] Kevin Jaeger: I want to buff.

[55:36] Mo Brady: That is for guests only, Kevin.

[55:38] Kevin Jaeger: It is what like my best. I love it.

[55:40] Mo Brady: Anyway. What was the name of the game again?

[55:42] Kevin Jaeger: That was so fun.

[55:43] Mo Brady: That was the Broadway Care Bears.

[55:45] Kevin Jaeger: Yay.

[55:46] Mo Brady: Um, well, that actually brings us to the end of our episode.

[55:50] Kevin Jaeger: Oh, you want to try that again?

[55:51] Mo Brady: That was the end of our episode.

[55:52] Kevin Jaeger: No.

[55:53] Mo Brady: Well, that brings us to the end of our episode.

[55:55] Kevin Jaeger: Yeah, it does.

[55:56] Mo Brady: Mo, this was too much fun as you can hear in my voice. Do you want some more?

[56:02] Mo Brady: No, I'm good. I already poured.

[56:04] Kevin Jaeger: Um before we end, what was your first Broadway show?

[56:08] Mo Brady: Annie Get Your Gun. 1999.

[56:11] Kevin Jaeger: Ooh.

[56:12] Mo Brady: With Bernadette Peters.

[56:14] Kevin Jaeger: Oh, yeah, of course. But thank you for joining us.

[56:17] Mo Brady: Um don't forget, go to theensembleist.com, follow them at The Ensembleist, follow Mo at Mo underscore Brady.

[56:24] Kevin Jaeger: But after you've done The Ensembleist, follow me.

[56:25] Mo Brady: Yeah, that's private, honestly.

[56:27] Kevin Jaeger: I was gonna say, I realized that today, and then I was very sad that I didn't already follow you.

[56:32] Mo Brady: Oh, no, you can follow me. That's fine.

[56:33] Kevin Jaeger: Um, always feel free to donate to Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS.

[56:38] Mo Brady: Thank you guys. Especially, especially people who listen to your podcast. Like our next big event is gonna be Broadway Flea Market, which is coming up.

[56:45] Kevin Jaeger: Um follow us at Broadwaysted on Instagram, Twitter.

[56:48] Mo Brady: Um, you can join our Facebook group. It's private, so we can say stuff.

[56:53] Kevin Jaeger: Um but it's super fun.

[56:55] Mo Brady: It is private.

[56:55] Kevin Jaeger: Um I went with it.

[56:59] Mo Brady: Be a patron on our Patreon.

[57:01] Kevin Jaeger: We'll be obviously doing that thing you do, I guess now.

[57:04] Mo Brady: Oh, yeah, apparently.

[57:05] Kevin Jaeger: Uh no, we have to watch the thing.

[57:06] Mo Brady: Oh, it's so good.

[57:07] Kevin Jaeger: Like a record.

[57:08] Mo Brady: Like a record?

[57:08] Kevin Jaeger: Like a record.

[57:09] Mo Brady: Is it as bad as Sing Street?

[57:10] Kevin Jaeger: I've never seen Sing Street.

[57:12] Mo Brady: Sing Street is wonderful. Listen, pay five dollars, you'll get Kevin's really hot takes on everything.

[57:18] Kevin Jaeger: Um they're hot, let me tell you.

[57:20] Mo Brady: But we end every episode with a quote.

[57:22] Kevin Jaeger: Oh, yeah. Um, today's quote is let me entertain you, let me make you smile, let me do a few tricks, some old and then some new tricks. I'm very versatile.

[57:29] Mo Brady: And that is Bryan's grinder profile.

[57:35] Kevin Jaeger: Um, remember, go to goldstar.com backslash Broadway for concerts, comedy, dance.

[57:44] Mo Brady: Um, and then obviously go see The Prom Broadway shows um here in New York.

[57:48] Kevin Jaeger: Um, but Mo, thank you so much for joining us.

[57:51] Mo Brady: Guys, do we live here now? I feel like we live in this recording.

[57:52] Kevin Jaeger: But we do.

[57:54] Mo Brady: As we end every episode, we raise a glass and we sing.

[57:59] All: Cheers.

[58:02] Mo Brady: Thank you for hanging.