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[0:00] Bryan Plofsky: Hello and welcome to the official Broadwaysted podcast where we're drunk on theater. I'm your host Bryan Plofsky and we're live from the famous restaurant Sardi's on West 44th because I have an announcement to make. I've written a new musical. It's called To Whom It May Concern. I like it. It's open to a bunch of people. It's a musical about knowing exactly who you are and having no obstacles. Some of the explosive numbers are I've got my GPS right here, Knocking on a Door Frame for a Relatively Short Amount of Time, All the Best, This Guy. That's a great song. My favorite is Baby Announcement. I told her and she didn't bite at all. Appear. And ending act one is I'm Not Totally Lost at All. But act two opens with To Break into a House, Only Us and Them and Those People and That Couple Over There.

Words facilitate a perfect description of what I'm feeling at this specific moment. So small, so big. And it closes with Finale, of course. Yeah. Which is just a Newsies Megamix. Right. Yes. And it's a giant. Yeah. It's great. Joining us today are the usual theater goers who just do Newsies leaps over and over again. So many barrel rolls. It's all about the Delancey Brothers. Joining us today are the usual theater goers who would hate this show, including Kevin Albuquerque Jager.

[1:56] Kevin Jager: Albuquerque. That is the opening to my musical called Oldies about former paperboys who live in a retirement community in Albuquerque, New Mexico, just south of Santa Fe. And they want to relive their youthful adventure. So they form a shuffleboard and canasta union. Yeah, it's a great show.

[2:10] Kimberly: It's nice. I want to sing that song, Albuquerque. Albuquerque, are you there?

[2:17] Bryan Plofsky: Kimberly, our game master and unofficial babysitter for the hour.

[2:22] Kimberly: Hello. I waved like you couldn't see me.

[2:29] Bryan Plofsky: And with us today are two guests. One is the O.G. Delancey brother completing our Delancey brother series. Yeah. For our fancies. Morris, to those who didn't know, I'm from Disney's musical Awakening. I was just noting there's a lot of spoilers in this episode.

[2:45] Will Roland: Yeah. Yeah. Turn it off.

[2:52] Bryan Plofsky: He's also currently playing Connor Murphy from Broadway's heavily Tony nominated hit Dear Evan Hansen. We also have with us Jared from that same musical about the same thing as the first musical. Not Newsies.

[3:05] Mike Faist: I was also in Newsies. I'm a moron.

[3:14] Will Roland: And it's a secret. Spoiler alert. Oh, yeah. I was in Newsies. I was the papers.

[3:20] Mike Faist: Oh, yeah. You were phenomenal.

[3:24] Will Roland: Yeah. You played a lot of different roles. That guy that bought the papers.

[3:32] Bryan Plofsky: Yeah. That guy who comes in. He's like, I'd like a paper, please. And they said, these are pipes, man. So let's give a big Broadwaysted welcome to Friends of the Show, Mike Faist.

[3:38] Mike Faist: And I almost said Jared Roland. You kind of also look like a Jared.

[3:44] Will Roland: That's fair.

[3:50] Mike Faist: Oh, no. The real spoiler is I'm not Jewish in real life.

[3:55] Will Roland: Wait, really? I'm only Jewish in the play. It's acting.

[4:00] Mike Faist: Wow. You are really phenomenal.

[4:05] Will Roland: Yeah. Forget about his Tony nomination. I want to talk more about your... and you grew up on Long Island.

[4:09] Mike Faist: I did. You're really defined. One long character study. One big island. I mean, you should see not many people have suits that fit a 13-year-old with pit stains because they've been worn to that many mitzvahs.

[4:15] Will Roland: Yeah. And they've danced so hard. But he like refused to take off the jacket.

[4:19] Mike Faist: How many mitzvahs did you have a weekend?

[4:25] Will Roland: Um, well, let's think there were sixty-five Bar Mitzvahs my seventh grade year. And how many weekends are there in a year? Like in a school year, like 14 or 15 weekends.

[4:31] Mike Faist: Oh, my God. Is that all there is?

[4:36] Will Roland: Yeah. I refuse to believe that. I went to a really nice school. We were always on vacation. It was always on vacation. It was always the weekend. So, yeah, I probably went to like, I don't know, 10 a weekend.

[4:44] Mike Faist: Do you want another drink?

[4:48] Will Roland: Do you want another drink?

[4:53] Mike Faist: I'm good on my one. We have our wonderful waiter here. And what's your name?

[4:57] Nicholas: Thank you. Nicholas, everybody. So much food. If you come to Sardi's, ask for Nicholas.

[5:01] Mike Faist: Do you want anything? Should we get the cheese?

[5:06] Will Roland: Let's get the cheese and crackers.

[5:10] Mike Faist: Yeah. Can we get the cheese down here? Is that what?

[5:12] Will Roland: Yeah. Well, we're ordering the cheese. I just want to note that we're surrounded by pictures of people like Laura Benanti and Blair Underwood and Bob Fosse and Jerome Robbins, obviously all related.

[5:19] Mike Faist: That's Steven Lang from Avatar.

[5:25] Will Roland: Not too close.

[5:29] Mike Faist: Mm hmm. Not from Avatar. Like the last airbender?

[5:33] Will Roland: No. The blue people.

[5:38] Mike Faist: Got it. Yes. But you can follow these guys on like six on Twitter. Mike is Mike underscore Faist.

[5:43] Will Roland: I don't know.

[5:49] Mike Faist: Yeah. And I'm Will underscore Roland.

[5:53] Will Roland: So easy.

[5:57] Mike Faist: Yeah. Well, what's funny is I didn't know this because I have a joke in the play about having a weird off-brand cell phone, but I have like a weird off-brand like I don't like I have a razor. It's a Motorola. It's a Moto X, which might as well be a razor.

[6:07] Will Roland: Yeah, but it's really easy to type an underscore on this. And it's really hard to type an underscore on an iPhone.

[6:11] Mike Faist: Yeah, that's true. It is. I didn't know that. So go the distance to follow Will and Mike.

[6:16] Will Roland: Yeah. You got to really you got to get to the second set of symbols on your iPhone to get the underscore.

[6:21] Bryan Plofsky: So let's start with our first segment, which is called What Are You Drinking?

[6:27] Will Roland: Well, Mike and I are having two Woodford reserves on the rocks here at Sardi's on 44th Street.

[6:30] Mike Faist: Served in a wine glass.

[6:35] Will Roland: Served in a wine glass.

[6:37] Mike Faist: Served in a wine glass. They don't stock rocks. The only way to actually do it here and on the rocks. You guys. The Shubert's can't afford rocks glasses. Just leaky sippy cups and wine glasses.

[6:42] Bryan Plofsky: I like to talk about what the Shubert's can't afford while they are co-producers.

[6:48] Kimberly: That's actually Kimberly's first game. What can't the Shubert's afford?

[6:58] Will Roland: I love you, Bob. Thanks for everything.

[7:04] Mike Faist: I have a tequila on the rocks in a wine glass.

[7:10] Will Roland: Yeah, and I have a cabernet in a wine glass.

[7:16] Mike Faist: Excellent. Extra cabernet waiting for you.

[7:20] Will Roland: Yeah, you do. I have a twofer. We'll have another whiskey before this night is over.

[7:27] Bryan Plofsky: Indeed you do. So let's start with what we always start with and bread, which is what have you seen this week?

[7:35] Will Roland: What have you seen this week?

[7:41] Mike Faist: Yeah. Have you guys seen anything lately?

[7:47] Will Roland: I've seen my dressing room.

[7:51] Mike Faist: I've seen I have a lot of scenes where I can see the back of Ben Platt's head.

[7:55] Will Roland: Most recent thing I think we saw and maybe I can say this for the both of us is Significant Other.

[8:01] Mike Faist: Yeah, he was the last one I went to see. It really was. And we had such a blast. We saw it together. We were crying and like having such a wonderful, beautiful time. Those guys were fantastic.

[8:09] Will Roland: Gideon Glick is what we talked about. He was he was one of my bigger like snubs, if you will.

[8:13] Mike Faist: I agree. I think his performance will be talked about for a very long time.

[8:19] Will Roland: Did he not? Did he not get the nod?

[8:24] Mike Faist: He did not. No, that's fine.

[8:29] Will Roland: I know. I don't think you can do that.

[8:34] Mike Faist: No, listen.

[8:41] Will Roland: Yeah, sorry. I didn't mean to derail you.

[8:45] Mike Faist: No, I agree. More cue sacking. I totally agree.

[8:50] Will Roland: Yeah. Um, the entire show didn't get anything, right?

[8:55] Mike Faist: No, nothing.

[8:58] Will Roland: That's messed up.

[9:04] Mike Faist: It is messed up. Yeah. And that was a show that was, I think, beautifully told. I mean, I guess it got mixed reviews. But you know, I'm I think Will agrees with me. But that was just really, really well done.

[9:10] Will Roland: Well written. Spectacular. Fantastic cast.

[9:15] Mike Faist: It was true.

[9:19] Will Roland: Yeah. Well performed. Absolutely. You know, really elegantly directed and designed. And, you know, it's a shame that obviously the people who listen to the Broadwaysted podcast, we're preaching to the choir.

[9:25] Mike Faist: Right. Like these are the people who went to Significant Other.

[9:29] Will Roland: Right. Right.

[9:34] Mike Faist: It had another Pasek and Paul alum, Lindsay Mendez.

[9:38] Will Roland: Oh, yes. Yes. Lindsay was spectacular.

[9:43] Mike Faist: Fantastic. I'm sure she's... I've never seen her not good.

[9:47] Will Roland: She's not.

[9:50] Mike Faist: Everybody in that show is so great.

[9:55] Will Roland: Yeah. I really identified with Sask Goldberg because we occupy similar roles in different plays. You know, she's the like making the, you know, the crass jokes while everyone else is crying and like keeping everything light and true and fun.

[10:06] Mike Faist: Yeah. And wonderful performance. So great.

[10:10] Will Roland: Really. What I actually... I don't think so. You guys saw Hello, Dolly. You guys got in. You saw Hello, Dolly.

[10:17] Mike Faist: You did.

[10:21] Will Roland: My mom bought me... my mom for her birthday. She loves Bette Midler and she loves Hello, Dolly. The day they came out, my mom bought tickets for the whole family for like for her birthday.

[10:31] Mike Faist: You know, she was one of 20 million dollars worth of people that did that.

[10:36] Will Roland: Yes. Twenty million dollars in one day.

[10:41] Mike Faist: Wow. They broke records.

[10:45] Will Roland: Yeah. So is that show harder to see than our show?

[10:50] Mike Faist: Yes.

[10:52] Will Roland: Yes.

[10:54] Mike Faist: Yes.

[10:56] Will Roland: I've seen your show twice.

[10:59] Mike Faist: Oh.

[11:01] Will Roland: Oh, yeah. Bitch. I have tickets for September.

[11:05] Mike Faist: Good. See you then. Front row.

[11:10] Will Roland: Oh, my God. We got spit on. We had ponchos.

[11:15] Mike Faist: That's fantastic.

[11:19] Will Roland: And then we were still giving it our all back then.

[11:23] Mike Faist: Yeah. Now it's just...

[11:25] Will Roland: We are too.

[11:27] Mike Faist: But I was I was telling my friend of the show, Michael.

[11:32] Will Roland: Absolutely.

[11:34] Mike Faist: Yeah. When. So it's very different from the front row than it is when I saw it in front mezzanine the second time.

[11:41] Will Roland: Is it because of the projections of the floor?

[11:45] Mike Faist: Mm hmm. I know. It's a beautiful thing to sit in the mezzanine for our show because it is completely... we are in this box of like everything is going on and it's either completely still or it's completely interactive. It's amazing.

[11:54] Will Roland: But let's talk about the show a little bit.

[11:57] Mike Faist: All right. Again, it's going to be a little spoilers.

[12:00] Will Roland: When Dolly Levi comes out, you find that when Dolly opens her laptop at the top of the play, can you hear the gays cheering for Dolly in your theater?

[12:06] Mike Faist: We can hear them across the street.

[12:10] Will Roland: Yeah. So the question is, can Bette Midler hear the young girls screaming for Ben Platt?

[12:15] Mike Faist: Yeah, that's the real question.

[12:04] Mike Faist: Just knowing what kind of a show you're in and playing the reality of the situation that leads to the comedy aspect.

[12:11] Bryan: And Mike, I'd love to hear about your starting out as a real physical person and then literally being what other people put upon you.

[12:21] Will Roland: Can I change it a little bit?

[12:23] Mike Faist: Yeah.

[12:24] Will Roland: And answer for him and he can answer for me?

[12:26] Mike Faist: Oh my god, yeah, that'll be fun.

[12:27] Will Roland: Okay.

[12:28] Mike Faist: 100%.

[12:29] Will Roland: I, I, they are, yes, you're correct.

[12:31] Mike Faist: No, answer for yourself.

[12:33] Will Roland: They are different characters. However, I think that in many, many ways that they serve the exact same purpose.

[12:40] Mike Faist: And they're way more related than I think the audience may perceive at first.

[12:45] Will Roland: They do a lot of things. Will's character, Jared, tells a lot of truths that are happening to Evan very blatantly and very obviously.

[12:56] Mike Faist: And like maybe they come across as funny, but it's true. My favorite line that he has is like, you're talking about, you're talking about like, look, this whole Connor thing, it's going to blow over.

[13:11] Will Roland: It's going to be over. There's going to be like this, you know, third world disaster that's going to happen too.

[13:15] Mike Faist: And then like the attention will be drawn to that. And then Connor will be just some dead kid that no one remembers.

[13:20] Will Roland: That's very, that is.

[13:24] Mike Faist: The real deal.

[13:25] Will Roland: Yeah, that's one of my favorite lines in the show actually.

[13:27] Mike Faist: That is one of the best lines in the entire show.

[13:29] Will Roland: You actually botched it both times I was there.

[13:31] Mike Faist: Yeah, well, you know, he's not a professional.

[13:33] Will Roland: I'm not going to say that.

[13:34] Mike Faist: Oh, you want to go down that road?

[13:36] Will Roland: You want to go down who's a professional?

[13:38] Mike Faist: I said it.

[13:39] Will Roland: But, I mean, and I think in a lot of, and then I have a, well, I'm not going to speak for myself. We'll let him do it.

[13:44] Mike Faist: Yeah.

[13:45] Will Roland: Let him speak for you.

[13:47] Mike Faist: Right, right. Exactly. Now, Will, you're up.

[13:50] Will Roland: Yeah. No, and I think that what is great. So back to Mike. I was wondering.

[13:54] Mike Faist: Oh, I forgot. This thing's muted, right?

[13:58] Will Roland: I forgot. No, what's so wonderful about, I think, you know, to piggyback on that point.

[14:05] Mike Faist: Yeah.

[14:06] Will Roland: Connor, you know, one of the things that is set up for us I think at the beginning of the show and we learn more as it goes on is that Connor and Evan are very similar.

[14:17] Mike Faist: They're, you know, they are on parallel paths. They're dealing with parallel issues.

[14:22] Will Roland: And they're just reacting in different ways to similar, similar problems. And I think that, you know, when Connor, you know, becomes this construct for Evan, it is Evan's, he's Evan's conscience in, you know, in both giving him bad advice and then, you know, it's this strange thing where like, you know, Evan feels like, you know, I need to keep doing this because in a strange way it's the right thing to do.

[14:52] Mike Faist: I have to keep telling these lies and keep sort of leading down this path. And, you know, Connor is Evan's, you know, self-preservation instinct in many ways to sort of like keep himself safe from this horrible web that he's woven.

[15:07] Will Roland: Very much so. Interesting.

[15:09] Mike Faist: Yeah. So it's telling Evan truths in different ways. The truths that Evan knows in his heart and the truths that are coming to him externally from Jared.

[15:16] Will Roland: Cool. That was a really good answer.

[15:18] Mike Faist: Mostly, mostly from Mike.

[15:20] Will Roland: But thank you.

[15:21] Mike Faist: I'm not the intellectual one. I just tell the jokes.

[15:25] Will Roland: Listen, I'm the jokes boy. So can you talk about where you guys started with the process and kind of the evolution of it in general for your, either for the show in general or for your specific character?

[15:37] Mike Faist: We started on the same day.

[15:38] Will Roland: Yeah, we, Bill and I were a part of the very first, we're not, I don't know if it was, I don't, I think it was one before we got involved. Actually, there might have been one reading before us, but we were in the second reading together and we showed up day one, we're like, hey man, who are you?

[15:51] Mike Faist: But on your day, it was only you, only us.

[15:53] Will Roland: That was a reverse joke.

[15:54] Mike Faist: Only us.

[15:55] Will Roland: Oh, I see, I get it. I'm so sorry. Let's do it again.

[15:58] Mike Faist: Really quick, really quick. We started on the first day together and it was only us.

[16:01] Will Roland: Yay!

[16:02] Mike Faist: I stole your joke because I'm the jokes boy.

[16:04] Will Roland: But your mic is muted, so no one ever got it.

[16:09] Mike Faist: It was honestly three years ago this summer. I think come June, it'll be three years ago.

[16:14] Will Roland: So you guys, what a, what a roller coaster ride.

[16:18] Mike Faist: What a ride it's been.

[16:19] Will Roland: No, truly. In the scheme of things, a shorter time than others.

[16:23] Mike Faist: Really abbreviated.

[16:24] Will Roland: Yeah, very much so. But you know, for us, it's been an extremely, I mean, I'll speak for, I'm not going to speak for him now, but for me, it's been a time to grow not only in our craft and what we do, but also like as a person.

[16:40] Mike Faist: And the show has been a huge part of that. I mean, you know.

[16:45] Will Roland: I can tell because I saw Newsies and your Delancey brother sucked. But you're really good as Potter.

[16:49] Mike Faist: I don't know. He danced on a table.

[16:51] Will Roland: You know, my favorite thing is I never saw Newsies. I have no idea like what Mike did in that show.

[16:56] Mike Faist: But I talk about what Mike did all the time.

[16:58] Will Roland: But you should see Oldies about an old bug's home.

[17:02] Mike Faist: Oh, God. Mother turkey.

[17:05] Will Roland: Hoo, hoo, hoo. My old friend.

[17:09] Mike Faist: But I can't do it until Jeremy Jordan is 80 years old.

[17:12] Will Roland: 80 years old. How old is he now?

[17:14] Mike Faist: He's got to be mostly there.

[17:15] Will Roland: He's like 72.

[17:16] Mike Faist: Very close.

[17:17] Will Roland: Very close, yes. Being a C.W. Hunk really ages you.

[17:21] Mike Faist: Yeah, no, but you get up close and you see he's just like, you know,

[17:24] Will Roland: He looks like Edward James Olmos up close.

[17:28] Mike Faist: Thank you.

[17:29] Will Roland: Thank you. Meat melon medley right there.

[17:31] Mike Faist: Edward lines a meat melon salad.

[17:33] Will Roland: The audience, I mean, the menu tells you what it is.

[17:36] Mike Faist: I might have at some point, but I've never been like, can you hand me the meat and melon, please?

[17:40] Will Roland: You've clearly never been to the Little Bar.

[17:45] Mike Faist: Owned and operated by the Shubert Organization.

[17:49] Will Roland: The organization that used to employ me.

[17:53] Mike Faist: My former employers before they fired me when they heard this podcast.

[17:57] Will Roland: So how's the character of Jared kind of evolved over that time?

[18:02] Mike Faist: You know, I had a song. I did. I had a song.

[18:04] Will Roland: I had a song that's totally cut.

[18:06] Mike Faist: Yeah, totally cut.

[18:08] Will Roland: It's called Going Viral.

[18:10] Mike Faist: Oh, my God. That's the most of it that anyone's ever heard.

[18:12] Will Roland: I'm going to get fired. My NDA is violated.

[18:19] Mike Faist: Yeah, no, we've been looking more and more at this song. It's been eking out lately, yeah.

[18:26] Will Roland: No, no, no.

[18:30] Mike Faist: That was a slightly different show.

[18:32] Will Roland: Oh, yeah, no, that's a different play. It was this really interesting, wonderful, actually hilarious, awesome rock song that Will sang.

[18:40] Mike Faist: And it was right after my character and Evan's character have that scene in the computer lab where I take his letter.

[18:50] Will Roland: Which didn't used to be in a computer lab. It used to be in a hall.

[18:51] Mike Faist: It's true.

[18:53] Will Roland: And a bag fell open. Super early on in the show.

[18:55] Mike Faist: Very different, yeah. Yeah, it got cut before we went to D.C. I'd taken the letter. It was very, like, malicious at the time.

[19:01] Will Roland: I was like, on purpose.

[19:02] Mike Faist: Yeah, mean Connor, bully Connor.

[19:03] Will Roland: Oh, well, I'm just going to keep this, so.

[19:05] Mike Faist: Yeah, the way it is presented now is very, you can see the sadness and, like, defensive nature of it all.

[19:11] Will Roland: It's much better.

[19:12] Mike Faist: Mostly because of a Tony-nominated performance.

[19:14] Will Roland: I know. Well, yes.

[19:15] Mike Faist: You know, speaking of Ben Platt, you know, Morgan Freeman came to our show.

[19:25] Will Roland: Oh, my God, guys.

[19:26] Mike Faist: Oh, really?

[19:27] Will Roland: And totally unparalleled. Morgan Freeman's actually been to our show twice.

[19:29] Mike Faist: Twice.

[19:30] Will Roland: But, so, Morgan Freeman was on Seth Meyers and totally out of the blue, Seth Meyers was like, hey, have you seen anything you liked lately?

[19:36] Mike Faist: Really?

[19:37] Will Roland: Yeah, I saw this, I saw, I'm doing terrible Morgan Freeman.

[19:40] Mike Faist: You be Seth Meyers, I'll be Morgan Freeman.

[19:41] Will Roland: Hey, Morgan, you seen anything you like lately?

[19:45] Mike Faist: I saw this great show recently.

[19:47] Will Roland: It was a funny, well, not, I guess it wasn't funny. It was about a kid trying to help his friend and I can't remember.

[19:55] Mike Faist: I'm sorry, it's not, it's not Dear Evan Hansen, is it?

[19:59] Will Roland: That is, that's what it was.

[20:01] Mike Faist: Wow.

[20:02] Will Roland: No, it's March of the Penguins.

[20:04] Mike Faist: And I'll tell you, in that show, I saw, that is one of the best performances I have seen from anybody anywhere.

[20:14] Will Roland: And I, Will Rowland, would like to point out that Morgan Freeman did not specify who he was talking about.

[20:18] Mike Faist: Right.

[20:19] Will Roland: He said, he meant Will Rowland.

[20:21] Mike Faist: He meant Will Rowland.

[20:22] Will Roland: It's about a young man trying to help his friend, i.e. Connor Murphy.

[20:25] Mike Faist: I.e. Jared Kleinman.

[20:28] Will Roland: Coming back. Trying to give good advice.

[20:30] Mike Faist: Coming back from the dead. To Evan Hansen.

[20:32] Will Roland: So, one of you is Morgan Freeman's favorite.

[20:34] Mike Faist: No.

[20:35] Will Roland: It's definitely me.

[20:36] Mike Faist: See, I was his favorite the first time, but then he came back and he saw it again.

[20:40] Will Roland: And, you know, he's a Tony nominator.

[20:42] Mike Faist: Right.

[20:43] Will Roland: Exactly. He's the only Tony nominator, in fact.

[20:45] Mike Faist: He's just Morgan Freeman.

[20:46] Will Roland: He's just Morgan Freeman.

[20:47] Mike Faist: Yeah.

[20:48] Will Roland: He only saw the, you know, there were only 25 shows nominated this season. He saw those ones and not the other ones.

[20:52] Mike Faist: That would be amazing.

[20:55] Will Roland: And he didn't really remember the names, so he just wrote descriptions.

[20:58] Mike Faist: Yeah.

[20:59] Will Roland: That nice boy with the long hair.

[21:00] Mike Faist: That's what the ballot said.

[21:02] Will Roland: Yeah, that's all it said.

[21:03] Mike Faist: You should have seen.

[21:04] Will Roland: That's amazing.

[21:05] Mike Faist: Chris Jackson opened that envelope, he goes, the boy with the long hair.

[21:07] Will Roland: What the hell?

[21:09] Mike Faist: Mike, he just saw your Vogue spread while he was getting his hair cut and he was like, good looking young man.

[21:13] Will Roland: I think he deserves a Tony.

[21:15] Mike Faist: I like the mom standing next to him. Morgan Freeman is a huge Gigi Hadid fan.

[21:22] Will Roland: Who?

[21:23] Mike Faist: Gigi Hadid.

[21:24] Will Roland: Morgan Freeman loves Gigi.

[21:25] Mike Faist: He loves Gigi.

[21:26] Will Roland: He loves Gigi.

[21:27] Mike Faist: Yes, yes.

[21:28] Will Roland: Yes.

[21:29] Mike Faist: So, I have a more important question to ask you guys.

[21:31] Will Roland: Okay.

[21:32] Mike Faist: Impossible. Have you been growing your hair since the first reading?

[21:35] Will Roland: He has.

[21:36] Mike Faist: Not since the first reading.

[21:37] Will Roland: Not since then.

[21:38] Mike Faist: What?

[21:39] Will Roland: But we did the workshop and it was kind of shaggy and long then and I was like, I'm just going to keep it going.

[21:44] Mike Faist: And that was two years ago.

[21:46] Will Roland: That was.

[21:47] Mike Faist: Two years ago. Has he ever had a haircut in two years?

[21:49] Will Roland: Um, no. I mean, he gets his split ends trimmed.

[21:52] Mike Faist: You need a trim to make sure that it grows.

[21:55] Will Roland: Obviously. It's up now. Can you take it down?

[21:57] Mike Faist: Can you like librarian style take it down?

[22:00] Will Roland: Librarian style. This is where Mike takes his hair down and takes his glasses off and suddenly he's the heartthrob of the film.

[22:07] Mike Faist: Wow.

[22:08] Will Roland: Wow.

[22:09] Mike Faist: Wow.

[22:10] Will Roland: But you have paint on your overalls.

[22:11] Mike Faist: And you wear glasses.

[22:12] Will Roland: Oh my God. His hair barely moves. He's had a long press day.

[22:15] Mike Faist: There's a lot of stuff in it.

[22:16] Will Roland: He's all that.

[22:17] Mike Faist: My hair was.

[22:18] Will Roland: My hair was never that long.

[22:19] Mike Faist: Mike, what happened this morning?

[22:20] Will Roland: What happened?

[22:21] Mike Faist: I had a crazy long press day this morning.

[22:23] Will Roland: Why did you have a press day?

[22:25] Mike Faist: I've been. Because I'm Tony nominated actor Mike Faist.

[22:29] Will Roland: I am extremely fortunate to be a part of a very long 70 year tradition of celebrating actors.

[22:35] Mike Faist: Congratulations.

[22:37] Will Roland: Thank you. You're an Oscar nominee?

[22:39] Mike Faist: I wish.

[22:40] Will Roland: Mike's all about the gold.

[22:44] Mike Faist: Listen, from day one I was like.

[22:47] Will Roland: When you were a young boy in Ohio, you were like, the only thing I want is accolades.

[22:55] Mike Faist: Absolutely. That's why you're a Columbus Blue Jackets fan.

[23:00] Will Roland: Exactly. You were like, this is my way.

[23:03] Mike Faist: Absolutely. I don't know what a blue jacket is.

[23:07] Will Roland: I know, right? You're like, why don't you talk about the crazy stuff? We're like, who shows up at your house?

[23:12] Mike Faist: Oh man, I woke up at like 630 this morning and like a woman was like, I'm going to do your hair and makeup and make you look pretty.

[23:20] Will Roland: And he has no idea who this woman was.

[23:22] Mike Faist: Sounds pretty sexy to me. She walked in off the street, just rang my buzzer and I was like, I guess I trust you at seven in the morning. And then it was just press day all day and then wonderful two shows. I wasn't able to get a nap in and here I am drinking whiskey with you wonderful, wonderful people.

[23:37] Will Roland: I mean, thank you.

[23:39] Mike Faist: No, truly. Thank you guys. Because this is like a perfect nightcap to like a wonderful day.

[23:44] Will Roland: So thank you guys. You guys were not eligible for drama desks and out of critics circles because of the Broadway that didn't.

[23:51] Mike Faist: And like that, those nominations didn't come to fruition for you.

[23:56] Will Roland: And all of a sudden, like almost out of the blue, if you will.

[24:01] Mike Faist: It's completely out of the blue.

[24:08] Mike Faist: This was very possible. Really? I was up all night talking about the politics of the Tonys, but it is not uncommon for the Tony Awards nominators to, when they like a show, especially if there's a category where there aren't sort of really clear set, like these are the people who have to get the noms, it's not uncommon for people from those shows to be recognized as a way of recognizing the show. I find that the Tonys, it's gonna sound crazy, are very similar to the Golden Globes in that they're very into newbies. You know what I mean?

[24:49] Will Roland: Oh yeah, all three of them.

[24:58] Mike Faist: Well, yeah, no, but the guy who played the friend in Billy Elliot who was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Tony. The little boy? The one who had like the amazing gay number? I'm pretty sure that guy, yeah. That little kid. You also have a gay number.

[25:07] Will Roland: I do.

[25:08] Mike Faist: Oh, we both do, kind of. I'm the one that makes it gay.

[25:16] Will Roland: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. That's my authorship. Can I ask you a question?

[25:23] Mike Faist: Yeah. Who's going to win Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical?

[25:30] Will Roland: I hope it's Brandon.

[25:31] Mike Faist: I hope it's Brandon. No, Mike Faist is going to win. It's a lock. His name is David Bologna. The guy from Billy Elliot. He was.

[25:38] Will Roland: Oh, there you go. You're right. And that was my point. It was like, it's the, you know, the sort of like, it could have been a bunch of people and like, you know, and that was the like, they were like, oh no, this guy.

[25:47] Will Roland: I know we're fucking around a lot. Yeah. But I just want to say that like, super happy for you.

[25:52] Mike Faist: Thank you. Two, I think that's, I like Dear Evan Hansen and I recognize it any way possible because it's such a powerful story.

[25:58] Will Roland: We think so.

[25:59] Mike Faist: And it really is. But I have to say this really quick. Let's play our first game.

[26:03] Will Roland: No.

[26:04] Mike Faist: All right. The day that the nominations came out and I found everything, Michael Greif texted me and he said, oh, well, if you want some come and just give me a ring.

[26:17] Will Roland: It's pronounced Kvelling.

[26:18] Mike Faist: Kvelling. Excuse me. Give him a call. And, you know, we're congratulating one another. And he said to me, he's like, you know, there's his direction job is phenomenal.

[26:32] Will Roland: Oh my God. Thank you for recognizing that.

[26:36] Mike Faist: No, that show doesn't work without someone knowing exactly what that show should say.

[26:40] Will Roland: We totally 100% agree.

[26:45] Mike Faist: Yeah. I think he's the best director ever.

[26:47] Will Roland: Yeah, I really do.

[26:49] Mike Faist: But he said a very wonderful thing to me. He said that there are obvious choices for these kinds of things. And then there are less obvious choices. And he said that I'm representing kind of like the rest of the cast. And I feel that way with except for Will, except for Will, because he's an asshole and not good.

[27:05] Will Roland: We didn't talk about that.

[27:06] Mike Faist: You're great, Mike.

[27:07] Will Roland: Yeah, well, just not that great. Honestly, you know, I've seen better.

[27:13] Mike Faist: Here's the thing. I went to singing school. And I am a university. I don't know anything about acting. I've been saddled with all this acting. You can tell. So I'm just, you know, I'm getting I'm getting what could be best described as a ham-fisted performance. In one scene, if you haven't seen it, he comes in with a fistful of ham. And he just eat, I just eat it throughout the whole scene.

[27:47] Will Roland: Yeah, that's what makes Jared so powerful.

[27:51] Mike Faist: Yeah, yeah. Very true. Mike, do you need another Woodford? You need another Woodford?

[27:54] Will Roland: I mean, if you're gonna have one, I'll have another Woodford. Yes.

[28:00] Mike Faist: No, but you know, when Michael said that to me, I was so deeply honored. It actually is truly unfortunate that there isn't like an ensemble category.

[28:11] Will Roland: So we've been talking about that for weeks, because this group of actors has devoted three years of their time and eight shows a week and their heart and soul and it really like it. We're really good.

[28:26] Mike Faist: It's true, you guys. And you know who we're gonna say is the number one unsung hero greatest actress ever 123 Jennifer Laura Thompson.

[28:32] Will Roland: She's amazing.

[28:33] Mike Faist: She's everyone.

[28:44] Will Roland: Yes. To Jennifer Laura Thompson. To JLT.

[28:50] Mike Faist: Shall we play a game?

[28:51] Will Roland: Yeah, let's do it. Kimberly, I leave it to you.

[28:56] Kimberly: We're gonna start with a little round of dirty hands on a hard body. If you've ever taken an improv class, it's a spin on Dirty Hand Randy.

[29:03] Mike Faist: You've never been on an improv class.

[29:04] Kimberly: I'm gonna explain it right now. All right. Dirty hands on a hard body. Everyone has two hands on the table. Mike's nails are painted black. One by one. Mine are painted red. Is that still from the wedding?

[29:13] Mike Faist: No.

[29:14] Kimberly: Okay, this is two colors away from the wedding. We're gonna go one by one with a category of some kind. And then the person who names the category, everyone who has not said the category is going to go around rapid fire trying to name things in that category. If you repeat something or hesitate for too long, one hand goes up. That is your dirty hand. Dirty hand. If you have two hands up, you are out. Are we gonna skip Kimberly as we go?

[29:34] Mike Faist: Well, so if you give the category. It's not part of the game. We skip.

[29:40] Kimberly: That's an idiosyncrasy of the game. You give the next category.

[29:44] Mike Faist: All right. To give you like a reprieve. So the first category is high school movies.

[29:55] Will Roland: Clueless.

[29:56] Mike Faist: The Breakfast Club.

[29:57] Will Roland: Fuck.

[30:00] Mike Faist: Dangerously.

[30:09] Will Roland: So I'm already up one.

[30:10] Mike Faist: Damn, I meant.

[30:17] Will Roland: Mean what?

[30:18] Mike Faist: No, you're looking at two like.

[30:25] Will Roland: I get to say a category now. Ready? Dinosaurs.

[30:30] Mike Faist: Jurassic Park.

[30:31] Will Roland: Oh, in lieu of everything.

[31:01] Mike Faist: Tony nominees.

[31:06] Will Roland: We're gonna start arguing after like the third one.

[31:09] Mike Faist: I change it. Okay, I change it. I change it. Great Broadway musicals.

[31:15] Will Roland: So it's objective to like what you think is great?

[31:18] Mike Faist: Yeah, I'm the judge. If he's like, nope, that's not great.

[31:21] Will Roland: Newsies.

[31:22] Mike Faist: Done.

[31:29] Will Roland: Obviously.

[31:32] Mike Faist: Yes. Hand up. All right. High school musicals.

[31:38] Will Roland: As in musicals that feature high schools, not musicals you would do in high school.

[31:41] Mike Faist: Got it. Sure. High school musical.

[31:42] Will Roland: West Side Story.

[31:46] Mike Faist: Dear Evan Hansen.

[31:47] Will Roland: Heathers.

[31:51] Mike Faist: I'm out.

[31:52] Will Roland: Yeah, my voice is out.

[31:53] Mike Faist: Oh, speech and debate, but not a musical, but really wonderful. So I think I think retroactively you should get Heathers and I need to go again because I skip Heathers.

[32:02] Will Roland: Yeah.

[32:03] Mike Faist: Oh, that was so good.

[32:04] Will Roland: Yeah, that was so good.

[32:06] Mike Faist: Michael. So innovative.

[32:08] Will Roland: Yeah, thank you.

[32:09] Mike Faist: Bring it on.

[32:10] Will Roland: Bye bye birdie.

[32:11] Mike Faist: Grease.

[32:12] Will Roland: Speech and debate.

[32:13] Mike Faist: Not a musical. Not a musical. I'm really actually the worst person to ask about music.

[32:17] Will Roland: Yeah. Mike doesn't know anything.

[32:18] Mike Faist: Well, now you get to do a category again.

[32:21] Will Roland: Yeah.

[32:22] Mike Faist: Okay. But you're out.

[32:23] Will Roland: Yeah. That's fine. I get to like, you know, I love this improv game.

[32:26] Mike Faist: Yeah, me too.

[32:27] Will Roland: All right. Great category. It doesn't have to be theater related.

[32:34] Mike Faist: No, I know. I would just say that I got really my category because dinosaurs is a great category and you fucked it up.

[32:39] Will Roland: Five, six, seven, eight. Dinosaurs.

[32:40] Mike Faist: No, you got a source.

[32:49] Will Roland: Velociraptor.

[32:50] Mike Faist: Um, paleo.

[32:53] Will Roland: Why can't you people think of dinosaurs? You're the worst. You're the worst boys in the world.

[32:58] Mike Faist: I'm gay.

[32:59] Will Roland: Brontosaurus.

[33:01] Mike Faist: Dilophosaurus.

[33:02] Will Roland: Literally. I played with Barbies.

[33:04] Mike Faist: Tyrannosaurus rex.

[33:05] Will Roland: Gigantosaur.

[33:06] Mike Faist: Megasaur.

[33:07] Will Roland: If people were like, let's play dinosaurs, I was like, I'll be Wilma Flintstone.

[33:15] Mike Faist: Have you guys seen that video of like the cute little British boy?

[33:20] Will Roland: Yeah.

[33:21] Mike Faist: There's another one. Name the Thundercats. Go.

[33:23] Will Roland: So I have a hand up.

[33:24] Mike Faist: Yeah. So you decide category.

[33:26] Will Roland: Eighties cartoon shows.

[33:28] Mike Faist: He-Man.

[33:30] Will Roland: Jam on the holograms.

[33:32] Mike Faist: Rainbow bright.

[33:33] Will Roland: Oh, we skip you cause it's your category.

[33:36] Mike Faist: Um, outlaw star.

[33:38] Will Roland: Yes.

[33:39] Mike Faist: Yes. I knew you would know that. Good one.

[33:41] Will Roland: You're out, Kimberly.

[33:42] Kimberly: Yeah, I'm sorry.

[33:43] Mike Faist: Did anyone say Thundercats?

[33:44] Will Roland: No.

[33:45] Mike Faist: I said name the Thundercats. Right. And that was the category, but then no one said Thundercats.

[33:49] Will Roland: Status is you got one. Will has one. I have two. I have one.

[33:53] Mike Faist: Oh, you're going to win.

[33:54] Will Roland: No, we'll get him out.

[33:56] Mike Faist: Wait, do I get a category even though I lost?

[34:00] Will Roland: I hope this is how the Tonys go. And the winner is still handsome. Handsomest of all. Gavin Creel.

[34:06] Mike Faist: And his mustache.

[34:07] Will Roland: Oh, he has a mustache again. He's very handsome.

[34:09] Mike Faist: If it's for handsomest, you're out buddy.

[34:11] Will Roland: Musicals.

[34:12] Mike Faist: He's at least two ahead of you. Are you ready for the category?

[34:14] Will Roland: Yes.

[34:15] Mike Faist: Musicals that feature a person's name.

[34:17] Will Roland: Annie, the unsinkable Molly Brown.

[34:20] Mike Faist: Oh, I'm sorry.

[34:21] Will Roland: Annie.

[34:22] Mike Faist: Hello, Dolly.

[34:23] Will Roland: The unsinkable Molly Brown.

[34:24] Mike Faist: Dear Evan Hansen.

[34:25] Will Roland: Amelie.

[34:26] Mike Faist: Rachel Lily Rosenblum. And don't you ever forget it.

[34:30] Will Roland: Phantom of the Opera.

[34:31] Mike Faist: His name is Phantom. He is the Phantom.

[34:33] Will Roland: Your turn.

[34:34] Mike Faist: Hamilton.

[34:35] Will Roland: I'm screaming at you basically.

[34:37] Mike Faist: Most happy fella.

[34:38] Will Roland: I'll put my hand.

[34:39] Mike Faist: No, no, no. His name is Joe.

[34:40] Will Roland: Oh no, no. What's his name?

[34:41] Mike Faist: How Joe?

[34:42] Will Roland: No.

[34:43] Mike Faist: Oh, Joe's the good one. But who's the old man who is in fact the most happy fella? The Frank Lesser musical.

[34:48] Will Roland: Featuring the hit songs.

[34:50] Mike Faist: Which is my favorite musical.

[34:52] Will Roland: Oh my feet. Gotta soak my feet.

[34:54] Mike Faist: Brian, you have one out?

[34:56] Will Roland: Sure.

[34:57] Mike Faist: You'd love that Joe actually.

[34:58] Will Roland: Is this me and Will back and forth?

[35:00] Mike Faist: Yeah. You and Will back and forth.

[35:01] Will Roland: Okay. NHL hockey teams.

[35:03] Mike Faist: Pittsburgh Penguins.

[35:04] Will Roland: The Columbus Blue Jackets.

[35:05] Mike Faist: The New York Rangers.

[35:06] Will Roland: There's Toronto Canada Leafs.

[35:08] Mike Faist: The New York Islanders.

[35:09] Will Roland: Maple Leafs.

[35:10] Mike Faist: The New York Islanders.

[35:11] Will Roland: Yeah. The Wyoming.

[35:12] Mike Faist: No, you're done.

[36:12] Mike Faist: Will Roland. Mike Faist. Mike Faist. Mike Faist. Mike Faist.

[37:39] Will Roland: That's it. Congratulations! Mike brought me along because I'm a winner.

[37:42] Mike Faist: What's your favorite musical? 1776. Yeah. Did you see it at 54 with all the ladies?

[37:47] Will Roland: No, I did not. I think I was doing Dear Evan Hansen that night. We were at parties.

[37:51] Mike Faist: Yeah, 1776 is a tie between 1776 and Batboy for me.

[37:56] Will Roland: I was introduced to this wonderful musical when I was doing a little show called Dear Evan Hansen at Second Stage by none other than Mike Faist and Benjamin Platt.

[38:06] Mike Faist: We were all sharing a dressing room and it goes a little something like...

[38:11] Will Roland: Sunday by the blue purple yellow red water on a sunny day in yellow red grass.

[38:24] Mike Faist: No, Ben Platt played a song from it and you were like, what is this? This is kind of good.

[38:29] Will Roland: And we were like, this is Sunday in the Park with George. Mike, you'd love this.

[38:34] Mike Faist: And there's a video, you know, there's like a video of the original production.

[38:37] Will Roland: You should watch it. I went home and I watched it. If you go to Walmart, it's bundled with Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat.

[38:43] Mike Faist: It is not.

[38:46] Will Roland: Because there's a lot of colors in both of them. That's wonderful.

[38:50] Mike Faist: I went home and I binge watched YouTube versions of that show.

[38:53] Will Roland: He came back on Tuesday and he knew all the words. Six times.

[38:56] Mike Faist: I knew every, well, don't, but I do, you know. This is true.

[38:59] Will Roland: Yes, George, run to your work. I'd buy your paintings.

[39:03] Mike Faist: Jay and I tried so hard to figure out how to dance to Sunday for our first dance.

[39:06] Will Roland: How? How do you? You can't. Do you do a ribbon dance?

[39:13] Mike Faist: We like rented a studio and we were trying to figure out how to dance to Sunday for our first dance. And we were like, there's no beat to dance to. We can't do it. So we danced to Bright Star.

[39:20] Will Roland: But both of our favorite musicals are Sunday in the Park with George.

[39:25] Mike Faist: But I didn't know they made the change, so I'm sitting at my table being like, I know what the song is they're dancing to. It's great. It's Sunday in the Park with George.

[39:33] Will Roland: And then everyone was like, I wonder if he's even supposed to be here.

[39:36] Mike Faist: Like, who is he?

[39:39] Will Roland: Yeah, they're like, who are you?

[39:43] Mike Faist: Except he was probably the only person who also understood what the Bright Star song was.

[39:46] Will Roland: But then I was like, oh, it's Bright Star. They're like, I don't know if that is.

[39:49] Mike Faist: Better than holding you close. Let's play a game.

[39:53] Will Roland: What are those? Oh, no. Those are Wigs cards.

[39:58] Mike Faist: Yes, they are. Everyone at this table is going to draw a card.

[40:02] Will Roland: If you get a show, just put it back and draw a person.

[40:09] Mike Faist: And you're going to have to write yourself an affirmation letter from that person to that person.

[40:16] Will Roland: So, for instance, if I have Len Carew, I'd say, dear Len Carew, today is going to be a good day. Here's why. You're the original Sweeney Todd.

[40:24] Mike Faist: And like you for Rock.

[40:25] Will Roland: Len Carew.

[40:28] Mike Faist: I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm getting on board with that.

[40:29] Will Roland: I'll go first. Yeah.

[40:31] Mike Faist: Dear Nathan Lane.

[40:33] Will Roland: Oh, that's easy.

[40:35] Mike Faist: Today's going to be a good day. You already won a Tony for the producers.

[40:38] Will Roland: You're a two time Tony winner. Yeah.

[40:40] Mike Faist: You were in great films like The Birdcage. Yeah.

[40:43] Will Roland: And Lion King. Yeah.

[40:45] Mike Faist: Kevin, this is my letter. I'm sorry.

[40:47] Will Roland: And movies like The Lion King.

[40:50] Mike Faist: I'm the Jared to your letter writing right now.

[40:53] Will Roland: Yeah, exactly.

[40:55] Mike Faist: Your slow burn is epic.

[40:59] Will Roland: You're actually very good in the producers movie.

[41:03] Mike Faist: But it's been a good day. Yeah.

[41:05] Will Roland: Because you've won multiple Tonys.

[41:08] Mike Faist: And you are literally one of the Mount Rushmore of Broadway.

[41:14] Will Roland: Yes, absolutely.

[41:16] Mike Faist: Sincerely, Nathan Lane.

[41:28] Will Roland: Dear Mary Martin. Today's going to be a great day. And here's why. Because I'm Peter Pan.

[41:36] Mike Faist: Yes.

[41:37] Will Roland: It doesn't get any better than that.

[41:41] Mike Faist: Gender roles.

[41:42] Will Roland: Yeah. Right?

[41:46] Mike Faist: Let's break down the barriers.

[41:48] Will Roland: And figure out who we actually are as human beings.

[41:51] Mike Faist: Way to go.

[41:53] Will Roland: Sincerely, me, Mary Martin.

[41:57] Mike Faist: Mary, Mary Martin.

[41:59] Will Roland: Mary, Mary Martin.

[42:02] Mike Faist: Mary, Mary Martin.

[42:04] Will Roland: I love it.

[42:06] Mike Faist: Dear John Cameron Mitchell.

[42:08] Will Roland: Yeah.

[42:10] Mike Faist: Did you imagine that after all your years running this play downtown that it would really transfer to the most haunted theater on Broadway?

[42:19] Will Roland: Did you imagine that it would be a veritable carousel of leading men stepping in to play the role that you originated?

[42:24] Mike Faist: And all the hardcore fans would say.

[42:29] Will Roland: Yeah, I saw Neil Patrick Harris. And yeah, like I saw Darren Criss. But like John Cameron Mitchell went in for two weeks and he broke his skin leg. And it was fucking amazing.

[42:40] Mike Faist: Did you ever think that your show would be so fully realized and lauded and beloved by so many people?

[42:49] Will Roland: And in fact one of the actors who went in to replace you in that original run of Hedwig would end up in the greatest musical of all time, Dear Evan Hansen.

[43:03] Mike Faist: Sincerely, John.

[43:05] Will Roland: Michael Park was so good in that role.

[43:08] Mike Faist: Oh no, it was Asa Summers who covers Michael Park.

[43:10] Will Roland: Exactly.

[43:11] Mike Faist: Very good.

[43:13] Will Roland: I saw him in Next to Normal.

[43:15] Mike Faist: Second stage.

[43:17] Will Roland: And on tour I think.

[43:19] Mike Faist: And on tour.

[43:20] Will Roland: Exactly.

[43:21] Mike Faist: Dear James Earl Jones. You're getting a lifetime achievement Tony.

[43:25] Will Roland: Yes.

[43:28] Mike Faist: And you are the original awesome voiced guy.

[43:34] Will Roland: The guy who owned everything.

[43:36] Mike Faist: You are Darth Vader.

[43:37] Will Roland: Who would have thought in 1977 that now in 2017 you'd be still voicing the same part?

[43:42] Mike Faist: 40 years.

[43:45] Will Roland: Congratulations for having a voice that went forever.

[43:52] Mike Faist: 40 years from now you're voicing Connor Murphy in something.

[43:57] Will Roland: You're doing the video game of Dear Evan Hansen.

[44:00] Mike Faist: Dear cats.

[44:03] Will Roland: Yeah. Today's going to be a good day. And here's why. Cats.

[44:11] Mike Faist: You just get to dance and be cats with no pressure.

[44:14] Will Roland: Sincerely, cats.

[44:18] Mike Faist: I have to say that Will Roland's absolute favorite musical other than 1776.

[44:24] Will Roland: I love cats.

[44:25] Mike Faist: I love cats.

[44:26] Will Roland: Did you see it?

[44:27] Mike Faist: I love cats.

[44:28] Will Roland: I think you know here's the thing. If you want to put this as a preamble to something, someday some scholarly podcast that you endeavor on, I think that cats is actually like a masterful exercise in songwriting.

[44:42] Mike Faist: Okay.

[44:43] Will Roland: I think as a musical, as a dramatic theater piece, it doesn't necessarily hold up in the way to the standard that we hold other things.

[44:50] Mike Faist: But I think that cats in terms of like.

[44:53] Will Roland: Oh I took a book of limericks.

[44:55] Mike Faist: Right.

[44:56] Will Roland: That all scan the exact same way and wrote this incredible diversity of music in and around it.

[45:05] Mike Faist: And then like you know the original production is really incredible.

[45:08] Will Roland: Uh huh.

[45:09] Mike Faist: And you know there's some great performances. There's great material in it.

[45:13] Will Roland: I think cats is. It's fun to make fun of cats. But cats is masterfully done.

[45:19] Mike Faist: And anybody who doesn't acknowledge the skill level and effort that goes into a production of cats is a jackass.

[45:24] Will Roland: And uh.

[45:27] Mike Faist: They're a curious cat.

[45:29] Will Roland: Yeah, I'm a curious cat. Can we raise a glass to cats?

[45:31] Mike Faist: Yes.

[45:32] Will Roland: I'd like to raise a glass to two cats for people who are breaking their bodies. Aaron Albano included.

[45:38] Mike Faist: Literally breaking his body.

[45:40] Will Roland: I was doing a show called Newsies. I don't know if you guys have heard of it.

[45:45] Mike Faist: Newsies.

[45:46] Will Roland: I know.

[45:47] Mike Faist: I know.

[45:48] Will Roland: I feel like someone should spin on a newspaper very quickly.

[45:51] Mike Faist: And Aaron Albano was in it. And Aaron Albano won our gypsy robe for being the guy.

[45:56] Will Roland: I'm not. You know. I'm really happy for him.

[45:59] Mike Faist: And what those. What that entire cast does on a raked stage. Forget about it man.

[46:08] Will Roland: Um no. But I was like thinking about how Mike Faist and I dance for um.

[46:14] Mike Faist: We dance for about 18 and a half seconds.

[46:16] Will Roland: We quote unquote dance.

[46:18] Mike Faist: Yeah we do a little. Like.

[46:20] Will Roland: We bounce.

[46:21] Mike Faist: 18 and a half seconds in our play. Right.

[46:24] Will Roland: And uh.

[46:25] Mike Faist: And at the end of that, I walk off stage in my short sleeve t-shirt and I go, it's hot. We're sweating.

[46:31] Will Roland: We're sweating at the end of the number.

[46:33] Mike Faist: We were in Newsies.

[46:37] Will Roland: I know.

[46:38] Mike Faist: I watched Gimbal Shanks the Railway Cat. They built a crane.

[46:40] Will Roland: Yeah.

[46:41] Mike Faist: And like they danced for like. It was like a four minute dance break.

[46:45] Will Roland: Which maybe is a little too long.

[46:46] Mike Faist: Um.

[46:47] Will Roland: But so they did like this four minute dance break.

[46:49] Mike Faist: And I'm watching all these actors bust their asses in Lycra and makeup and all this stuff.

[46:53] Will Roland: And then like in the huge Neil Simon Theater, I hear like.

[46:56] Mike Faist: Yep.

[46:58] Will Roland: It like tepid applause.

[47:00] Mike Faist: And I was infuriated.

[47:02] Will Roland: I was so mad.

[47:05] Mike Faist: Because I was just watching people work so hard and do such like A game work and then not be recognized in the way that they deserve.

[47:13] Will Roland: Will really loves cats.

[47:15] Mike Faist: I love cats.

[47:16] Will Roland: No I.

[47:17] Mike Faist: Yeah.

[47:19] Will Roland: I hate it.

[47:20] Mike Faist: So.

[47:21] Will Roland: On that note, this ends our episode.

[47:22] Mike Faist: We guess we have to end this.

[47:23] Will Roland: We're having way too much fun.

[47:24] Mike Faist: We're the only people left at Sardi's.

[47:26] Will Roland: We're getting kicked out of Sardi's.

[47:27] Mike Faist: Jackie Mason is gone.

[47:28] Will Roland: We just closed down Sardi's.

[47:29] Mike Faist: No one else is here.

[47:31] Will Roland: We end every episode with a quote.

[47:33] Mike Faist: And today's quote is.

[47:35] Will Roland: I want to be a producer.

[47:38] Mike Faist: With a hit show on Broadway.

[47:40] Will Roland: Yeah.

[47:41] Mike Faist: I want to be a producer.

[47:43] Will Roland: Yeah.

[47:44] Mike Faist: Lunch at Sardi's.

[47:46] Will Roland: Every day.

[47:47] Mike Faist: Every day.

[47:48] Will Roland: You bitch.

[47:49] Mike Faist: Well on that note.

[47:50] Will Roland: Cheers bitch.

[47:51] Mike Faist: I drank all of mine.

[47:53] Will Roland: At the end of every episode.

[47:55] Mike Faist: Zoo doo wop bump.

[47:58] Will Roland: Zoo doo wop bump.

[48:00] Mike Faist: Yo thanks for joining us.

[48:02] Will Roland: Thank you guys.

[48:05] Mike Faist: Broadway.

[48:08] Will Roland: Stadium.