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[0:13] 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 other stages across the globe, like the West End in London, Australia, collegiate theaters across the country, and more. We are your one stop shop for all things fitness and theater. Hop on over to BuiltForTheStage.com to try out a one-week free trial working with me on an interactive fitness app. We'll love to meet you. All right. Let's get on to our special guest. Really excited to chat with our guest that's currently in Some Like It Hot, but they made their Broadway debut in Motown the Musical, also appeared in Ain't Too Proud.

And in their role in Some Like It Hot, they're currently playing Sunny. They're in the ensemble in various tracks, and they also understudy the role of Jerry slash Daphne. Really excited to bring on to Built for the Stage podcast, Jarvis B. Manning Jr. Welcome to the pod.

[1:19] Jarvis Manning Jr: Yeah, you're feeling my vibe. Ahvis, welcome to the podcast. Thanks again for taking the time to chat with us.

[1:30] Jarvis Manning Jr: Please, thank you for having me on. It's so funny to hear you say Sunny. I'm like, yeah, that's my kid's name.

[1:35] Joe Rosko: Yeah.

[1:37] Jarvis Manning Jr: Yeah.

[1:39] Jarvis Manning Jr: Ah, yeah. I'm loving this vintage hat you're wearing. Uh I'm yeah, I need can you maybe you can hook me up with the shop link after so I can uh shop it after sure.

[1:50] Jarvis Manning Jr: These are this is for the Brooklyn Giants, a Negro League from back in the day.

[1:55] Joe Rosko: Yeah, I thought so. That's badass.

[1:59] Jarvis Manning Jr: Hey, let's go. Yeah, as a baseball fan, that's badass. Um let's uh get to know you just a little bit in a silly way by just shaking it loose with our uh Built for the Stage hot seat. Um I'm gonna put that on there right there, hot seat, and I'm gonna put on some cheesy music. You hear it? Let's see.

[2:17] Jarvis Manning Jr: Yes, let's see.

[2:19] Joe Rosko: There it is. And all right, here we go. Go for the stage hot seat. I actually saw on your story um you posting about like a gym pump up song, and one of my go-to questions is like, if you need to be vibing and get the energy right, what is one of those songs? So share with us what that song was uh that you posted on your story.

[2:46] Jarvis Manning Jr: Yeah, so I'm from Houston, Texas, and that song was called South Side. It's a song we grew up singing on the bus all the time, so it's one of them hype songs, and Fi Fi FYE FYE, which is fire fire, um, by Toby is also another one of my hype songs.

[3:02] Joe Rosko: I'm in the GMA.

[3:03] Jarvis Manning Jr: Okay, amazing, sweet. Yeah, at all times. What did your uh session look like? Let's get a behind the scenes look on what you were doing in the gym.

[3:14] Jarvis Manning Jr: Nice yesterday, it was me trying to get back in. I've been doing double duty for a while, yeah, and then I got sick right after double duty. So this was like, let's get in the gym and see if I can survive by doing something. And I always start off by stretching, rolling, and well, rolling, then stretching, and then I jump rope and I try to do at least 600 jumps, and I have a counter because I cheat. Like I'll start jumping and I can jump for like up to be like 500 and just know it's wrong. But I started off yesterday with 600 um jumps, and then it kind of like pumps me up to actually do stuff in the gym versus just sitting around.

[3:52] Jarvis Manning Jr: Yeah. So yesterday I did a lot of back, a lot of uh pulling for back, and then I did um some squats yesterday just to get my legs back into some sort of shape.

[4:02] Joe Rosko: Awesome. I love that you I love that you jump rope. When did you start doing that?

[4:06] Jarvis Manning Jr: Um during the pandemic. Um I was watching uh Cynthia Erivo. I'm a big fan of Cynthia's like fitness journey. Um, and so I was watching her jump rope often, and she had a speed rope and some sort of app. And I was like, Yeah, I can't afford that, so I'm just gonna go on Amazon and find a jump rope that counts. And I was like, Oh, snap, there is a jump rope that counts. And I got that. Um, and a way to get it in shape in the pandemic because I was eating Oreos faithfully, cakes, pies, cookies, like literally having the most fun. But then I one day I was sitting down or laying down, and I went to get up, and I had to like lay over to the side to then push off the ground to get up. So I was like, Yeah, it's probably time to start doing some sort of fitness again, you know.

[4:51] Joe Rosko: All right, cool. Okay, speaking of, I love a this or that question cake or pie. What's the this or that? Which one?

[4:59] Jarvis Manning Jr: Oh, it really depends, but I'm gonna go with cake.

[5:03] Joe Rosko: All right, well, let's do this. Let's let's do this then. What's your favorite kind of cake?

[5:08] Jarvis Manning Jr: My favorite kind of cake, it must be buttercream ice. Everything else, throw it away. It must be buttercream icing. And there's a cake at Little Cupcake Shop. I might have made that whole name up. I was trying to plug, but that might be completely wrong. But it's in Soho, and they have a banana, I think it's a banana chocolate chip cake. And that thing is ridiculous.

[5:32] Joe Rosko: Okay. So that uh that cake, what's your favorite pie?

[5:39] Jarvis Manning Jr: It depends. So my grandmother and great-grandmother made this pie we call the milk pie, which is basically a custard, basically. Um, I love that thing. And in our family, like it's a challenge to see who gets it right or gets it closer to being. And um that's my favorite pie. But like, if I had to go to the store and grab something, it'll be blueberry. It has to be like a certain kind of blueberry. It can't be like the jail, yeah, where it must be like blueberries full in the pie.

[6:09] Joe Rosko: Got it, got it with a girl crust. All right, and also a polish cheesecake. Get it out of here.

[6:14] Jarvis Manning Jr: Okay, let's go. Cheese pie. Let's go with grandma's pie versus that cake from that uh shop in Soho. Which one are you gonna choose between the two?

[6:24] Jarvis Manning Jr: Oh, grandma.

[6:25] Joe Rosko: Uh, okay, there we go. Okay, okay, good answer. Good answer.

[6:31] Joe Rosko: Right, right. Uh, who's one of your heroes? Who's one of your heroes?

[6:36] Jarvis Manning Jr: Oh, my grandfather. Um, my grandfather was always heavily involved in like encouraging all of his grandkids and his kids, really, but he would do it in this like poetic way. So he wouldn't tell you up front, like for instance, um, when I was in Louisiana doing Motown, I was excited because they were coming to see the show. But he turned me down so smoothly to the point where I walked out of his office, like, oh wait, so is he coming or is he not coming? But he was like, Um, I want you to continue to chase after your dreams and focus on your goals and don't let the no shake you. This is the man who knows nothing about auditioning. He knows nothing about I've never told him anything about how I audition and get told no all the time, but it's like he would know the things at all times. Um, so he is he was a special being on earth when he was alive, and when he passed away, I feel like he even got more powerful. So that's my man, my grandfather.

[7:36] Joe Rosko: Nice, awesome. Um, I'm gonna do one more question for you. We're gonna rewind it to when we're watching cable TV more than like streaming platforms. When you're watching cable and you're flipping through the channel, what's a movie that always stops you in your tracks and you're like, ah, I gotta watch this?

[7:57] Jarvis Manning Jr: Oh, good one. So as a kid, the youth, I would have to say that it would be Life with Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, so many uh amazing legendary actors were in that thing. And I think it was one of those films that just touched on the period that I loved. Um, and it just really dealt with a lot of amazing things and the comedic timing, of course, but those two geniuses was ridiculous. So I would say the Life or Life.

[8:27] Joe Rosko: All right, cool. Nice. All right, you're off you're off the hot seat, easy peasy.

[8:31] Jarvis Manning Jr: So nice. I like the hot seat, man. That's for it.

[8:33] Joe Rosko: Nice, nice job there. Uh tell us where you're originally from.

[8:37] Jarvis Manning Jr: I'm originally from Houston, Texas, the southeast side of Houston, Texas.

[8:41] Joe Rosko: Oh, yes, you said that when uh you brought up the song.

[8:44] Jarvis Manning Jr: Yeah, man. You always say the southeast side of Houston is a completely different experience in the southeast side than it is on the other side.

[8:53] Joe Rosko: And uh what uh what age or when did the arts come into your life?

[9:00] Jarvis Manning Jr: Oh, great question. So when I was younger, um I was always singing in our choir or our family group. Um, but I didn't know it went past that, right? So we would sing at different churches and different funerals and things like that, and then um at our church, we would do like little uh plays. And I was like, oh, this this seems fun. And then we did plays at my elementary school as well. And I was like, huh, this is fun. And it wasn't until high school where I realized that people were like singing, dancing and acting all at once. And I was like, Oh, yo, this is cool. Y'all actually singing dancing and acting at one time. I like doing all these things. What is this? And then I found out what musical theater was um on a whim too, just randomly.

So that's how I actually ended up into um performing. It was like a random thing, but I grew up singing always. I was singing and always danced at like parties, birthday parties, events, whenever there's a song would come on that I loved, I would be in the middle of the circle and like shut it down.

[10:03] Joe Rosko: Okay, cool. Okay, so fast forward, when do you decide that you want to make a go of like doing it professionally?

[10:12] Jarvis Manning Jr: Oh, great question. Because even after school, I wasn't sure because I went to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, and I still wasn't sure because I didn't know anything about it. Um, and my first job out of school was not a huge paying job, so I still was kind of like I don't want to do this forever, you know.

[10:33] Jarvis Manning Jr: Yeah, um wasn't until I saw Color Purple on Broadway where I was like, oh, yo, these are actually stories out there where I can sound like myself and tell great stories. Where I was kind of like, this is cool. But then after seeing Color Purple, I didn't see anything that excited me that was available for me to audition for. Um, so I was when I graduated school seeing like Pinocchio, uh the Suzucole, you know, like stuff like this that I can audition for. And I was like, what happened to like the stories? Where are they? Um, so it wasn't until I ended up doing Ragtime and Hairspray at Summerstock at this theater that I shall not name because they I think they feel on some illegal issues, some legal issues.

Um, but I was like, yo, this is cool, this is fun. It still wasn't a lot of pay, but it was cool to tell stories um that were exciting to me. Um so that I think may have been around the time when I was like, okay, I can do this. I'll struggle for a while and I'll see something cool when it comes to.

[11:45] Joe Rosko: Um, and it's been cool since then. All right. So since then, fast forward to your Broadway debut, was it smooth sailing, or was it kind of like those uh lessons your grandpa would give you about those no's, you know? Tell tell us a little bit about that.

[12:01] Jarvis Manning Jr: Listen for sure. You know, um, I saw Motown um the musical on Broadway at the L'Enfant Theater, and Eric LeWan Summers um was on playing Jackie Wilson, Rick James, and Billy Gordon. And I gave him a standing ovation every time he came on stage because he was a genius to me. Um, and I was like, I want to be in this show and I want to play that role. I ended up getting the first national tour, which was a crazy audition. I was non-union, and that was the show that gave me my card. And I was understudying that role. So I'm around these people watching how they acted and how they responded to certain things. I'll never forget in the room day one, they were like, who can do a toe touch? I was like, me, me, me, me, me, me.

But nobody else was raising their hand. I was like, I'm the only one in here that can do a toe touch. Yo, I'm better than everybody. And then the choreographer was like, you're lying. You went to art, you went to this school, you went to that school. You can do toe touches. Get up and do your toe touch. And everybody got up and their legs went into this V position that I've never seen before in my life. And I was like, what the hell? And the feet were so beautifully pointed. And my toe touch would have been a strong flex foot to the side, you know. And that was my first learning experience from there, knowing that these people were choosing not to do a toe touch because they did not want to do it eight times a week.

So they were trying to build their show according to what they can do eight times a week. Whereas I'm this 20 foot old coming in, like I can do everything. I'm gonna do everything to make sure that my show is amazing. But these people who have been doing it for years are like, I need to figure out how to make this show work for me, and then thinking longevity. Um, so that show was the show that really checked me in, making sure that I was creating and crafting shows that I could physically spiritually do every day.

[14:06] Jarvis Manning Jr: Um, and then when we transferred from the tour to Broadway, there was a lot going on because there was a lot of legal issues going on because we were told that Chicago was our place of origin, so we weren't given um per diem in Chicago. Um, so we came to New York, we should have been getting per diem because New York was seen as a tour stop. We had to go through this major voting process to figure out if we were going to be getting the per diem that we were owed in New York because New York now was becoming our place of origin. So they were willing to change our place of origin so they didn't have to give us that money. And that was my time realizing that this is a business and that it's ran by business people, and that these people are sharks, and that the dream also includes the bull, you know?

[14:59] Jarvis Manning Jr: Um, so we were told that we're going to be on Broadway for 18 weeks as a tour stop, and we were in New York on Broadway and in Russell, told 80 days. So that also was a learning experience. Every step of the way was a learning experience, but like seeing how everything panned out was such a learning experience and such an opening experience, good and bad, good and or bad. Um I learned so much from that show about the business, how I want to be treated, how I will go forward in the business, um, how I want people to acknowledge me and see me as a business person and a performer. Yeah, um, so yeah, I learned a lot.

[15:42] Joe Rosko: Okay. A business person and a performer. Do you have, aside from your performing on the stage, do you have passion for like something specific in business? Producing or anything like of that matter, or stuff for yourself that isn't necessarily tied to a show?

[16:02] Jarvis Manning Jr: Yeah, man. I um grew up around a lot of entrepreneurs growing up. Um my grandfather had a lot of acreage of land in um Louisiana. And so he had um produce shops and produce stands that he would set up all the time that I would work with and all his stuff and figure out ways to sell stuff as a kid. Like I'm six now. How should I sell now that I'm six years old? And like always trying to step it up and like do new things to sell stuff. And I also worked on a plumbing van for years, my father. Um so when I got here, I was always looking at everything and excited about everything. Um I'm a photographer and I've always loved photography. I love storing through photography. Um, so I started my own photography company.

Um, and then I also started a company called Staged Masterclasses during the pandemic, where um, uh there's a team of people of color would teach students who have never been taught by people of color who never um had the experience of learning arts in education. Um so we were like that bridge for a lot of different schools and different areas that don't get this type of training from people of our quote unquote um standard or uh people who have been doing it and who are in the business. Um so I love creating and I love like trying my best to make a pathway for others. Um it's a love of mine, it's a dream of mine to make it bigger. I love watching people like Chance the Rapper who are actually in the business and also in the community for teachers, uh Lean Waith, who is always trying to pull up the people behind her and always in the community as well. So I'm inspired by business in the aspect of pulling people forward. Um it's always been a love of mine.

[17:51] Joe Rosko: Yeah, I love your Instagram, how clean it is, uh really highlighting your photography. What is like your favorite style of photography? Is it portrait? Is it you know more lifestyle in the midst of action? What do you like to shoot?

[18:06] Jarvis Manning Jr: Nice. I love shooting black and white portraits. Um, I love looking at old photos of families and just seeing how stoic families are and how important photo was to them. And I'm always intrigued by when we stopped being serious in photos and started smiling, like that transition to me is always amazing. And I can't personally pinpoint a moment, but it like opened up another realm of photography. But just having family or someone you know just sitting for you, sit in for you and shoot portraits of them can be so um therapeutic. And then the editing process of like sitting there and looking at your family members' face and noticing things that you've never seen before on their face and noticing the struggle and their the sleepless nights, a paper, a mole, like all these simple things.

Um, I love that part of photography. Um, I recently did that with a lot of my family members, and as I was shooting them, a lot of my family immediately was like, yo, this is gonna be a dope obituary photo. And I was like, what? Like, how y'all going there already? Yeah, yeah. So many people die and have like a picture on their obituary from like 1920. And so it's cool to give that outlet um of um seeing themselves in a different light. Um, but yeah, I love black and white portrait photography.

[19:42] Joe Rosko: Very cool, very cool. Um, okay, let's uh hop on over to Some Like It Hot. What was it like uh creating uh an original show? Um, and also just that process of rehearsal to opening to this uh historic Tony season. Uh tell us a little bit about that.

[20:03] Jarvis Manning Jr: It was crazy. I would say it was fun um creating in the process, um, like for Some Like It Hot because there was no um limits to what it could be, and in the room, there were so many people who were willing to bend over backwards to make the vision come to fruition was craziness to me to watch. Um like I said, my mindset was hey, eight shows a week, but other people were like, let's okay, get my arm, reach it under my leg now, make me flip backwards and throw me in the air. So y'all that every day at the top of the show? All right, shout out. So it was cool. It was cool to watch people like willing to break themselves for this process. And granted, the choreography, a lot of them had no choice, um, and what it was gonna be, of course.

Um, but to see it be created in the room and be like, what the hell is going on? So exciting, but also to hear to sit and watch and witness Christian Burrell and um Jay Harrison create these roles and to watch them in the process for Christian, Christian would say his line so easily to the point where I thought he was just making up stuff in the room. And I was like, why is no one calling him out on him just saying random stuff in this room? So one day I went to the book and I was like, yo, he's saying these words exactly like they're written in this book, comments, periods, exclamation point, everything he was putting them out loud with the paper, which by mine. Um, and to watch Jay create from such an honest place and from such a place with dignity, and on a minute, watching Jay in that room, you could tell Jay was on a mission that was bigger than everything else that anybody else in that room was doing.

It meant something completely different to Jay, and you could tell that it was coming from a place from the heart, and it was not just a show. Um, and I remember just going up to Jay and being like, Hey, you got something special. I don't know what it is, watching you hit this as being a joy. And I remember one day in the room after one of the runs, Jay sang "Feather," and they turned around, and I saw them completely release tears from their body and had to like walk to a corner for a moment and have a moment. And I was like, Yeah, this is special, and it's cool to see you physically experience what I've been watching. So to watch these people create these roles and do it with such peace, with so much joy, with such a learning experience and such an eye-opening experience to what art can be when it really means something to you.

Yeah. And watching Jay has been amazing, which is also why it's so scary to cover somebody like Jay because Jay has so much heart attached to this particular role in this particular story. If you don't have that heart, it's going to be hard for you to even get close to what they do. So it's it's been a joy to be a part of and watch.

[23:31] Joe Rosko: Yeah, that was gonna be my next question is how do you uh honor what Jay has established in the role while still being true to yourself and your artistic interpretation of when you go on for the role?

[23:46] Jarvis Manning Jr: Great question. It's funny, but because I respect what Jay has done so much and what Jay's crafted, it's almost like you don't want to do it. Like this is holy ground, get away from it. You know, Jay can't be in the show, cancel the show because there is so much that Jay has to say that I feel the audience needs to hear, and I think with that character, um, what they do so gracefully is gives a message that's written, but does it with such class and grace, right? So me stepped to uh this particular role, I had to sit with myself before I even got into the space and be like, okay, there's a there's controversy around the idea of um six gender men wearing dresses and what that means on stage, right?

So I had to sit down and be like, from an artistic point of view, what is your dress? What do you need to put on that's gonna help you reach freedom? Because that's what's happening in the show, right? They trans, they put in these these outfits and they transform into these humans or to these characters that then gives um Jerry Daphne push to then explore what's also been hidden within themselves for years. So for me, I had to sit with myself and be like, what do you need to tap into? Um that you can use this for free, you can use this role and this experience for freedom. What you need to tap into that you've been hiding that you need to start tapping into, and there's so much freedom in going on that stage and feeling exposed and stripped of because you're like, okay, these people know that I'm not Jay.

Okay, all right, y'all know I'm not Jay. And then I can't back out of it. My name starts with the J, but y'all know that I'm not Jay Harrison because it's y'all, they put the skip in the paper. So now that y'all know that, what do I need to do? And that is be honest. And so the being honest point part is what's been giving me the freedom to express more um this particular role. And it's crazy because the first time I went on, I was thrown on, and there was no rehearsal really. It was just to be on, no practice in the heels, none of this stuff. And so there was a freedom that came with that. Then I was given notes, and then it was that the ideal freedom that I was looking to achieve was completely smashed down, uh balled up, thrown in trash, set on fire, out of the grass, put outside, set on fire again, ran over, taken out through into the water, taken out the water, it was like completely destroyed. And so then I have to rebuild to then find freedom again, which has been such a challenge. Um hope some of this, some of this makes some sense to somebody in the world.

[26:43] Joe Rosko: Oh, of course, but it's definitely been um a challenge and awarding challenge at the same time.

[26:51] Jarvis Manning Jr: Nice. Thanks for sharing that. Last question.

[26:55] Joe Rosko: Yeah. If you could talk to your younger self or maybe someone younger right now, starting out in their career. What's something that uh you wish you could just like you know, put your hands on yourself's shoulders, your younger self, and say this bit of advice? What would you say?

[27:15] Jarvis Manning Jr: That's a great one. I would tell myself, be yourself. It's so basic, but it's such a uh a freeing phrase. I was told that exact phrase when I was sitting in the hallway um for Hamilton for one of the cars, and one of my friends went to room, and I heard them messing up thoroughly and laughing in the room. And I was like, What are you doing? Why are you throwing why are you throwing away your shot? You know what I mean? So I was like, why are you doing this in the room? And they came out and they saw the worry and fear on me, and they were like, What are you doing? What's going on with you? And I was like, I'm just in my head trying to make sure I get everything together, make sure I'm doing everything right.

And my friend told me, go into the room and give them Jarvis. Nobody else is going to do Jarvis today. Go into that room and give them Jarvis. And I remember sitting in the hallway being like, yo, that's that's the power. Because literally nobody else can go in there and give them Jarvis B. Manning Jr. Yeah. Um, and getting that freedom from somebody else was magical. My friend who messed up in the room ended up booking Nick Walker. Now he's been Burr and multiple people and made lots of money from Hamilton from messing up in the room. So it's because they were themselves in the room. Um, and so I think um I would tell myself, be Jarvis. Don't waste time trying to be this idea and this creature they want you to be. Be you develop, yes, grow, but stay true to who you know you are, your values and um what you know you can bring to the table.

[28:16] Joe Rosko: Yeah, amazing. Jarvis B. Manning Jr., thank you so much for being on the episode.

[29:09] Jarvis Manning Jr: Yeah, please, thank you. Appreciate you.

[29:13] Joe Rosko: Please appreciate you for having me do this. All right, we'll see ya. Jarvis B. Manning Jr., Some Like It Hot. Rewind it, listen to it another 10 times. Uh, super inspired. I'm on fire right now. Can't wait to attack the rest of my day. Make sure you follow Jarvis on the gram. Uh brain art. You can check out that handle in the description of this episode. Go see Some Like It Hot if you haven't yet. And yeah, follow all things Jarvis B. Manning Jr. I'm Joe Rosko with Built for the Stage. Actors are athletes. Train like one. Later.