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[0:12] Joe Rosko: Hey, what's going on? Welcome to Built for the Stage Podcast. This is Joe Rosko, founder and host of Built for the Stage, Broadway's number one fitness platform with clients in over 20 Broadway shows and stages across the globe, like the West End in London, Australia, collegiate theaters across the country and beyond. We are your one stop shop for all things theater and fitness. Head on over to BuiltForTheStage.com. Try out a free trial where you'll work with me on an interactive fitness app. BuiltForTheStage.com. All right, let's get on to our special guest. I just got to see Shucked, the musical on Broadway, um two weeks ago. I think two weeks ago, maybe a week and a half. I'm not sure. But uh yeah, my face still hurts from laughing.

Uh so funny. So so funny. Um, our guest before Shucked made their Broadway debut in Spring Awakening. They're also we're we're in War Horse, which is another like huge all-time favorite of mine. I might have to sprinkle that into this episode because I love War Horse. Head Over Heels, Ink, and now, as mentioned before, Shucked, where they are playing one of the principal characters named Bo. Please welcome to the podcast, Andrew Durand.

[1:29] Andrew Durand: Hey!

[1:33] Joe Rosko: What's up, Joe? Thanks for having me, man. Standing ovation. The crowd goes wild.

[1:40] Joe Rosko: All right. Exactly. All right. Thanks for your time. Yeah. Shucked is amazing. We're gonna jump into that probably the latter half of the conversation. The first half and majority will be just getting to know you. I know that I'm uh interested in knowing your background, how you came about theater, your journey through your career, and I know everyone listening uh is intrigued as well. So the first thing we're gonna do is jump on what I like to call the BFTS hot seat. And I also like to play some tacky music here. I'm gonna put it on, see if you hear it. There's a one, there's a two, and here we go. Okay, BFTS hot seat. We're gonna go back in time and we're gonna watch cable television. So you're going through cable television and a movie pops on. What's that one movie that no matter what, you're gonna stop and watch the movie?

[2:41] Andrew Durand: Oh, I would say Dumb and Dumber.

[2:43] Joe Rosko: Yeah, okay. The town you're looking for is actually that way.

[2:50] Andrew Durand: Yes, man. I quote that any day, all day.

[2:55] Joe Rosko: All right, sweet. Um, you are waking up or you're about to head out the door, you're feeling a little groggy, you need to shake it loose. What is one of your go-to songs that helps you like get the vibes flowing and get positive energy going?

[3:11] Andrew Durand: Oh man, I like uh for some reason that Justin Timberlake can't stop the feeling song came in my head. Uh yeah, that's I can I can see us like grooving down the sidewalks in New York to that for sure.

[3:25] Joe Rosko: Yeah, okay. Uh this one's really serious. Okay, you ready?

[3:30] Andrew Durand: Okay, cake or pie?

[3:34] Andrew Durand: Cake.

[3:35] Joe Rosko: What's your favorite kind of cake?

[3:38] Andrew Durand: Uh, ice cream cake.

[3:40] Joe Rosko: Oh, okay. Okay, okay. Any any particular kind, like uh you know like a dairy queen or like a as long as it's like a strawberry vanilla combo.

[3:51] Andrew Durand: Either you know, the cake is vanilla and the ice cream is strawberry, or vice versa. You know, it's that's my jam there.

[3:58] Joe Rosko: Okay, I'm with it. I'm with it. All right, you're reincarnated onto this earth as an animal. What animal are you gonna be in why?

[4:05] Andrew Durand: I'm gonna be a turtle, I think. Just take things nice and slow, right?

[4:10] Andrew Durand: Yeah, you know, I got my safe zone around me at any time, but I can come out and see what's going on. Yeah, that's that was the first one that came too. And like anxiety levels seem to always be at like an all-time low.

[4:22] Joe Rosko: Yeah, yeah. And then have you ever seen that video of the one turtle that's like on its back and it can't get up, and all the other turtles come in and help flip it over?

[4:31] Andrew Durand: No, but I'm Googling this, right? When when we're not there, you go.

[4:34] Andrew Durand: So you always got your turtle buds with you to help. I've been asking that one for a long time, never got turtle, but honestly, it's one of my favorites because the way that my life goes, I'm like, yeah, I'd like to slow the pace down a bit. That sounds good.

[4:49] Joe Rosko: You're not a performer. What are you gonna be if you're not a performer?

[4:54] Andrew Durand: Oh man, I don't know. I mean, I like to do stuff with my hands. Maybe I would like build things via carpenter or like landscaping or something like that, like you know, something where you can work with your hands and then see an immediate result and be like, yeah, I did that.

[5:11] Joe Rosko: All right, sweet, sweet, sweet. I like it. All right, congrats, you're off the BFTS hot seat, not so bad.

[5:17] Andrew Durand: No, that was good. I liked it. I learned a little about myself, even right, right.

[5:21] Joe Rosko: Okay, Andrew the turtle. Here we go. What uh where are you from? Let's start there. Where are you from?

[5:27] Andrew Durand: I'm from Georgia. I was born in Marietta, and I grew up in the surrounding suburbs, like Roswell, Alfred, all that. There was one year in my life that my family moved out to Washington State. We lived like next to a cow field in the middle of nowhere, but that was just for a year, and then we came back to Georgia again.

[5:44] Joe Rosko: So wow, so as you're up on the stage in Shucked, you're not acting, are you? As far as like being comfortable with your surroundings.

[5:53] Andrew Durand: That is true. I mean, yeah, I've had the pleasure of playing a lot of sort of Southern Friday characters, and I definitely can draw on things from back home, and you know, and that's also where a lot of my singing style and comes from, I feel like because I like grew up going to church and what I was around gospel music and all that kind of stuff.

[6:13] Joe Rosko: So yeah, your first act number was phenomenal.

[6:19] Andrew Durand: Phenomenal. Somebody will, yeah. I'll love that. Somebody will. Honestly, this woman who may or may not have had a few too much to drink in the audience, takes out her cell phone and turns on her flashlight and is just like at her best concert, just waving that thing back and forth.

[6:38] Joe Rosko: I love it. I look over, I give a chuckle, and before I even get out a few chuckles, that usher is like on it. They're like, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[6:50] Andrew Durand: So um, yeah, I just had I had to bring that up because you're talking about your singing style. So, church, singing in church. What about other like parts of the arts as far as like acting, or when did that performance side of you come out?

[7:05] Andrew Durand: Yeah, I mean, we I was around like 10 years old when I did my first show in my local community theater called the Roswell Village Playhouse. It doesn't exist anymore, but um it sort of went down like my little sister was in the Miracle Worker. Do you know remember that show?

[7:21] Joe Rosko: Yeah, actually, I I actually do.

[7:23] Andrew Durand: So that it was like uh a book that I think people were also reading in school. So because my sister was in the play, she got to leave school to go do the play so that other classes could come see the play. And I was like, you get to get out of school to go do this thing, like I'm down. So I uh I went and I went and auditioned, and I think the first play I did there was was called Heidi. Um, which was like, I don't know, some sort of like people living in the like the hills of Switzerland or something. I can't remember what it was. But but anyway, I immediately was like, Oh, I love it here. I love these people, like the community of theater people. I just fell in love. Like everybody that was my age, as well as like the older people all treated me with respect, and like uh, and then so even when I wasn't doing shows there, I was like, Oh, can I sell some popcorn at the stand, or can I help you paint the set, or can I help do this? Like, I it was just like I was there all the time. I I just loved being there.

[8:24] Joe Rosko: That's so cool. All right, so when do you make the transition or flip the switch of saying, I want to do this like seriously, I want to try to do this as a career?

[8:33] Andrew Durand: I mean, I guess I would give the credit to my mom. She she was like, We there was a high school, I went to North Springs High School in Georgia, which is still there, and it's it's a public high school, but it has an arts magnet program, and and so uh you audition for it, and then you get to go and and do that. So my mom was like, I think you'd like this, I think you should do it. So I started doing that, and um, yeah, the passion just kept growing, and I kept following it. And the the girl who was playing Belle in the tour of Beauty and the Beast came through our town in Atlanta, and she talked to came to talk to our musical theater class, and uh she she mentioned Boston Conservatory, and I went home and I looked it up and I was like, Whoa, a college that like doesn't require math or any I didn't know anything about like liberal arts schools and stuff like that.

So I was like, Oh, this looks like this looks like where I want to go. So I applied, it was the only school I applied to, so I got lucky there. Um and auditioned and and got in. But yeah, I mean, like my parents to get like a little deep, my parents were going through a divorce at the time, so I didn't have anybody like on my back being like you should apply to many schools, you should like do all this kind of stuff. I was just like doing theater and then saw this, heard this girl talk about it. I was like, that sounds like a good idea. So wow, it's all it's just all always worked out. I've always like landed on my feet in with doing this, following my passion.

[10:01] Joe Rosko: Yeah, okay. So with following your passion, what are some pillars that you practice like daily that yeah, it always works out, but I'm gonna assume that there's something regularly that happens with you that you keep going uh to be consistent.

[10:19] Andrew Durand: I mean, I think the main thing is like being a great person to work with. I I always try to I always like show up on time, I'm professional, I'm prepared, I'm respectful. I I try to add to the greater good of the company, you know. I'm never coming from like a place of me, I'm coming from a place of us. Um, and I think that that has helped me a lot because you know, this this business, like I didn't audition for um Shucked. They the creative team, like writer and director saw me in Head Over Heels. And then I'm sure, you know, everybody talks, I'm sure they talk to people, and somebody was like, Yeah, this is a good egg, like bring them on. And then, you know, your your contributions when you come in and just start doing a workshop or a reading, you try to contribute as much as you can so that then they can't they can't do it without you, you know.

[11:13] Joe Rosko: I like that. I like that. Once they see your worth, there's no way that they could they could turn you away.

[11:18] Andrew Durand: Yeah.

[11:19] Joe Rosko: Where where did you where'd you learn this along the way? Was it just always naturally instilled with you as far as like be a good person to work with, the you know, uh we versus me mentality, uh, or did you have a mentor, a hero of yours? Like, where did this mantra come from?

[11:38] Andrew Durand: Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, I think it was always in me to an extent because the thing, like I said, that drew me to theater in the first place was the community and the people. I just loved the people. I love like playing with your friends on stage and getting a reaction from the audience because of your relationship together. Um, but I'd say where it really solidified for me was it's this great story I auditioned for this Broadway show called Brief Encounter, and I didn't get the job, but it was this British director who ran a British theater company, and she was about to do a show in the West End, and she called me up. She was like, I'm not gonna cast you in this Broadway show, but I think you'd be perfect for this show in the West End.

Would you want to come do it? And I was like, Yeah, I was like in my early and mid-20s, and I was go live in London for a year and do all that. So I went and did that. The show was called Umbrellas of Cherbourg. It only ran a few months, so it was a flop, basically. But I I then for the next four or five years, I went to work with this theater company called Knee High Theatre Company that she ran. And they were very much like a company-based theater. They would to make their shows, they would come up with an idea, and then we'd go out and live in these barns on the cliffs by the sea in Cornwall, England, and we'd like to make shows together, and then we'd tour them around the UK. We'd tour them around like uh the US to places like Berkeley Rep or St. Ann's Warehouse here, or or the Guthrie.

Um so I'd say with those people is where I really learned what like company theater is, and you know, if you if you came, you know, we could talk about our individual problems and stuff, but it was always like you know, it's always for the greater good of the whole. Like that's where I first learned, like, you know, you can't get too down and out if they cut a song that you loved to sing that was your song, as long as it is better for the story and better for the for the whole, you know.

[13:41] Joe Rosko: Yeah, yeah, traveling as a company definitely gives you that team mentality, the family first type of uh yeah. I think I wish that for everyone. No, would you say the same? Like, yeah, just at least some type of maybe six-month or even like the kids studying, if they could somehow, I don't know, reenact that some in some way.

[14:05] Andrew Durand: Yeah, would it be fair to say that like that was a pivotal point in your career that shaped you?

[14:13] Andrew Durand: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean they were all so wonderful and supportive and you know encouraging of making mistakes and just like it was all very physical as well. And I feel that I am a very physical actor, like I start from my body first rather than my head. Um and I feel like they really helped me to lean into that. You know, a lot of British theaters way more like you come together as a company and you warm up together and you play a little theater games and things like that, and I just I really like that. And I miss that in the New York scene, you know.

[14:52] Joe Rosko: Yeah, okay. So you brought up the physical. This was definitely something I wanted to cover. So on the stage, we'll also transition into Shucked right now. On the stage, you're on some type of long board, it's bigger than a two by four. It's I don't know what the dimension is, but it's on these barrels rolling across the stage, and you're essentially like surfing on the rolling barrels. Uh first let's tell us about like creating that in the rehearsal room.

[15:23] Andrew Durand: Uh yeah. Yeah, I mean, well, the first time we did it, we were out in the O'Neill at in Connecticut, the O'Neill Theater Center, and we had like these giant, you know, those blue plastic rain barrels, they're like these big giant like water collectors, and they reinforced them with plywood and stuff, so they were huge. So, like the sort of box jump, if you will, up onto the tops of the barrels was crazy because they were I don't I don't know how tall they were, but they were too tall. Um, but that's where we like sort of made that whole thing, and a lot of the things like we call it the tractor when the boys are pushing me along, but they pull one barrel out and put one in front and point you know to keep it moving.

That and the surf were both born in that development. And you know, the surf knock on wood, it's never gone wrong. People always ask is like it has it, and it's like, well, I just had to go for it the very first time, and it's you know, it works. I tell people it's not as hard as it looks, I guess.

[16:25] Joe Rosko: Well, well, yeah, as a spectator, it's highly impressive looking, but at the same time, you don't feel nervous for you. Yeah, whereas there's other times in theater where you watch things on the stage and the actor makes you feel a little uneasy with what they've been asked to do.

[16:44] Andrew Durand: Yeah, uh so in your case though, it is like wow, I can't believe they're doing that. But at the same time there is an ease to it, which is cool. Okay, going to the box jumps. So I I'm uh you know, obviously big in fitness. Uh typically when you have a three-option box to jump on that's rectangular shaped, it could either be 20 inches, 24 inches, or 30 inches, and that barrel definitely is at the least at 30 inches. Do you know the height on it? Do they ever measure it?

[17:15] Andrew Durand: No, but I want to go check it out because we just got one of those boxes backstage recently. Cause I do I train a little bit at this uh at a Muay Thai boxing gym. I love doing that's like great like mental checkout for me to like do that kind of and they have box jumps there, and I was doing some, and I I was like, I don't want to do this, I do it every night. But funnily enough, when I did it at the gym that day and then went in to do it that night, I floated up onto those barrels. It was like so much easier. And but I thought that it was gonna make it harder because you know, just like wear and tear of doing it too many times. But anyway, we got one of those boxes backstage. I think I think they are can we pause?

Can we pause? Because like, as much as you want to say, like, anyways, like no big deal. This is like one of the biggest uh soap boxes that I stand on screaming at people that if you can out train your show and train above it, then it's gonna make your show that much better. And what you just said, where you were like, Hey, I was doing this challenging thing, maybe even more repetitively repetition-wise in that Muay Thai gym than usual. When it came to hop up there one or two times, you said you just floated up on the barrel. So I wanted to make sure we pause there to let our listeners be like, Oh, okay, I shouldn't just be kind of conserving myself just for the show. I need to train above it, right?

[18:40] Andrew Durand: And I was I was doubtful of it too. Like I said, when you first pulled out that box, I was like, Oh man, I do this eight times a week. I don't want to do this here, but it it did it made it easier, it helped.

[18:51] Joe Rosko: Yeah, okay. So, all right, sorry to interrupt there. So, let's go into the Muay Thai boxing or the training that you do, like what has physical fitness been like for you throughout your career?

[19:05] Andrew Durand: Um I mean, when I first started out, like Spring Awakening and War Horse and things like that, I I didn't I wasn't that physical. I mean, I was always kind of naturally like lean, I guess, but I wasn't like working out, lifting weights, things like that. And I remember that like my legs and my lower back were always so sore, so knotted up, and um just within the past like three years or so, I started lifting weights. So I just got some of the like Bowflex click weights for my house, and like just started lifting weights, and you know, suddenly like my back pain went away, my legs were so much stronger, and I could I could do the eight show week much easier. Um that way, and then um the Muay Thai I got into because there was a guy in Ink.

Uh, the play that I did, and he he would go there, and I was like, I was like, oh, and he was a cool guy too. So I was like, I want to follow into this gym, see what it's like, and um, yeah, I'm just I'm obsessed with it. I'm I'm not great at sort of like um relaxing, so for me, that that is my relaxation. I get to go in there for an hour, and you know, you're doing combinations or holding pads for people, so it's so physically and mentally. Uh it requires so much focus physically and mentally, that I sort of like it's meditative for me in a way. It's a way for me to just like check out and not think about anything else.

[20:28] Joe Rosko: Yeah, it's it's so detailed, you have no choice but to be in that exact moment the entire time.

[20:34] Andrew Durand: Yeah, there is no time to let your brain wander or take out your phone and scroll between sets or something silly like that. Uh okay, so you've you've had this consistent career, you've had uh let's see, five shows here on Broadway. You mentioned you were over uh in London and the UK working as well. Do you have any memories or uh shows that are a little bit more close to the heart that you like to look back fondly at?

[21:07] Andrew Durand: Yeah, um one the first one that comes to mind is uh The Robber Bridegroom, um, which I did, I guess it would be about seven years ago, and that was off Broadway at the Lord Hells Theater, the Roundabout Theater downstairs. And um uh it was directed by Alex Timbers. It just it was one of those um magical shows that was like it was so fun to do, and the cast was so great. You know, you do a show and usually one or two people stick as a friend once the show is done and moves on. But basically that whole cast, like we're still super close. We've been friends for years. We all hang out and we all reminisce about it, and and I just my character was so great in that show. He was just this like nasty, nasty redneck guy. I had like a long weird wig, and I had fake tattoos all over my neck and stuff, and you know, people would look at me on the train like I was crazy, but it was it was a fun time.

[22:04] Joe Rosko: Okay, uh uh a broad question that people love to ask, but is there any shows or roles out there that you have on your list of something that you'd love to be able to partake in?

[22:16] Andrew Durand: I mean, I guess I always say one of my dream roles is to play Pippin. I've always loved that show. I watched the VHS when I was a kid all the time. They did it at my community theater. I got to watch all the adults do it, and I was like, oh, I love that show. So yeah, I'd say I'd say that show. I love Pippin. I also love Little Shop of Horrors, that's one of my favorite musicals.

[22:38] Joe Rosko: Okay, maybe they've uh had a long run off Broadway so far. Maybe it'll still be around for you to hop on real quick.

[22:44] Andrew Durand: Yeah, we'll see.

[22:46] Joe Rosko: Make a little celebrity guest appearance.

[22:48] Andrew Durand: Uh all right, so Shucked, going back to that with the one-liners. Any favorite one-liners of yours that are in the show?

[22:57] Andrew Durand: Oh man, I guess my favorite one of mine is um it's like what daddy used to say when one door closes, another one opens. Other than that, it's a pretty good trick.

[23:08] Joe Rosko: Right. Yep. I remember laughing at that one for sure. That's a good one.

[23:11] Andrew Durand: And I like that one too because it's it's very Bow specific. It's like you wouldn't no other character in the show really would say that. It's like a Bow joke.

[23:21] Joe Rosko: So yeah, yeah. I like it. I like it.

[23:23] Andrew Durand: Uh all right. So on a serious note, you get to talk to younger Andrew or maybe uh a younger actor getting started. What's something that you have gone through or learned along the way that you'd want to share with yourself when you were just getting started to just give yourself that reassurance that either like it's gonna work out or hey, stick to this because it's gonna make things a lot easier for you or a lot more successful.

[23:52] Andrew Durand: Yeah, two things, I guess. The first thing would be uh always focus on what you know, and and this is kind of audition specific, I guess, because that's how you get the jobs, but always focus on what you want to present, not what you think the people want to see you present. Um, you know, I feel like you can spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to do an audition to impress the people that are in the room, as opposed to creating an audition that's gonna feel good for you to do and make you excited to share with people, and like you know, it's your job to create like a compelling audition, not to go in and just and try to impress people and show them what you think they want. And then the other thing would be to which like I'm still struggling to figure out from time to time is there, there's always gonna be uh in-between times?

It's just inevitable. There's no like up, up, up, it's always up, down, up, down with this career. So, you know, you gotta find the things for those in-between times that keeps you grounded and you know can help you make money or just help you um to get through those those times because it's because they're gonna be there no matter how successful you are.

[25:11] Joe Rosko: What has that been for you when you're in those valleys? What is what has gotten you through?

[25:17] Andrew Durand: I mean, I guess we all sort of went through one with the pandemic, didn't we? Um, and I I was lucky enough to like I had a car available to me, so I did like a lot of traveling. Um that that helps put me at ease, I guess, to like be constantly moving and like seeing different people who had been dispersed from New York from the pandemic, or just like seeing different places and getting back in touch with nature. That's what I I mean. I love to like go on a hike or things like that really um chill me out and help me through.

[25:54] Joe Rosko: Cool, cool. Uh all right. Last question. Uh if you went to dinner and you were supposed to meet someone and they canceled on you, but the hostess said, Hey, I'm gonna give you this magic ticket, and you can invite anyone living or deceased to join you. Who would you want to have dinner with?

[26:15] Andrew Durand: Oh man. That's pretty good. One. I mean, I guess as a celebrity, I would say John Goodman. I'd want to talk to that guy for a while. He seems cool.

[26:32] Joe Rosko: Why so? Why so?

[26:33] Andrew Durand: I don't know, because he's so big. I just like I feel like being in the presence of somebody with a voice like that and a and a size of you know the stature of that. I just feel like I'd like to experience that.

[26:45] Joe Rosko: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[26:46] Andrew Durand: Okay, cool. Andrew, uh an amazing, well-balanced uh conversation there. Thanks so much for being on Built for the Stage podcast.

[26:56] Andrew Durand: Yeah, thanks for having me. My pleasure.

[26:59] Joe Rosko: All right, everyone. Andrew Durand currently starring in Shucked on Broadway. If you haven't seen Shucked and you're in the New York City area, just run to the theater.

[27:10] Joe Rosko: Uh life is stressful. Life is hard. And Shucked makes it a little less stressful and hard. So show up, smile, laugh, have a great time. If you're not in the New York City area, I don't know, book a flight. Um or you know, stand on the side of the road with your thumb in the air, and maybe you can hitchhike to New York and see the show. Go see the show. It's amazing. Uh and follow Andrew on the gram. Uh his handle is in the description of this uh episode, and it's Durandrew.

[27:36] Andrew Durand: Durandrew.

[27:44] Joe Rosko: Creative, creative. All right. I'm Joe Rosko. Actors are athletes. Train like one. Later.