This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Joe Rosko: Hey, what's going on? Welcome to Built For The Stage. This is Joe Roscoe, founder and host of Built For The Stage, Broadway's number one fitness platform with clients in over 20 Broadway shows, the West End, Tokyo, Disney, Australia, collegiate theaters across the globe. We have touring clients. One of our clients right now is on the road with Beauty and the Beast, and that's who we'll be interviewing in just one second. Super excited for that special guest. But before we get to it, special thanks to Broadway Podcast Network, who produces Built For The Stage Podcast. If you want to try out Built For The Stage, go to builtforthestage.com. You'll be on your way with a free trial working with me on an interactive fitness app, builtforthestage.com.

[0:51] Joe Rosko: All right, let's get on to our special guest. Super excited. They're playing this iconic role, Gaston, in the Beauty and the Beast tour. And like, I don't know if it gets any more built for the stage than that. Like, there's many ways of being built for the stage. It's not aesthetic only that, you know, can you hit the step over and over again? Can you be reliable on an eight show week? Can you, I don't know, do what's asked of you and be durable enough to continue to do what's asked of you? But, you know, if there's a character on the stage, it's someone who might be like, Oh, yeah, that person, they definitely take their fitness seriously. It's someone who plays the role of Gaston. So from Durham, North Carolina right now, please welcome Stephen Mark Lukas. Hello, Stephen.

[1:43] Stephen Mark Lukas: Hey, how's it going?

[1:45] Joe Rosko: Thanks for being on the podcast. Thanks for taking a break from eating chicken and broccoli or doing some dumbbell curls. Appreciate your time.

[1:54] Stephen Mark Lukas: Happy to be here. Thank you.

[1:56] Joe Rosko: Just teasing. Cool. So you're no stranger to Beauty and the Beast. You were Gaston at Paper Mill. You also, before all this, you were on Broadway in Funny Girl and you toured with Funny Girl as well. Not only are you back with a familiar show of Beauty and the Beast, but is there a familiarity to tour life? I want to jump into tour life. Like, no matter what the show is, is it still you can expect the expected, quote unquote, or does each tour kind of bring its own enjoyment yet challenges?

[2:33] Stephen Mark Lukas: Yeah, no, that's a great question. I mean, I think, you know, the first time I toured was with Book of Mormon back in 20, I guess it was 2012, 2013, 2014. And touring was very difficult then, you know, that was a huge show. We had these enormous sit downs. So we were in a city for like, you know, four weeks, three weeks, sometimes a week, but you'd have like just bigger engagements. And now, just for a number of reasons that the sort of the economy around touring has changed, the contracts have changed. And it's a lot more like one week, two week engagements than it is like those big, long sit downs. So for the most part, you know, like that tour doing Book of Mormon way back, you know, 10 years ago was a very different experience.

And my first experience really touring week to week, you know, where you have a week in a city, and then you close Sunday night, and then Monday's your travel day, and then you open in a new city Tuesday, you sort of rinse repeat for weeks at a time. My first experience really doing that was with Funny Girl. We launched in 2023, and then closed just this past April. So it's definitely I mean, you know, it's a lot of the same cities, which is cool, because I get to sort of cycle back to a lot of these places. And it's like, you know, I'm a creature of habit, especially when I'm performing, I really, really build a routine and stick to it. And I get very sort of anxious if I don't. So it's good in a way to sort of like, I'm in Durham right now, we were here with Funny Girl.

So I know where to get my coffee, I know where the gym is, I know where to get healthy food. And so that's kind of the game for me, it's just building that routine. And if it's somewhere I haven't been before, really finding all those places, and the ways to sort of take care of myself. And I'd say the biggest difference, I mean, Funny Girl was a big, was a big thing. I mean, it was, it was vocally more difficult than this. So, so it was, you know, a lot of having to, you know, rest my voice and steam and do all the stuff to take care of my voice. And this show is a little bit of that, but this show is far much more physical. So I'm dancing a lot more, I'm jumping up on bars, I do a cartwheel off of a bar, I, you know, lift people. I mean, it's just, it's crazy. So this show definitely feels like it's more of a challenge to take care of my body, you know, for eight shows of the week.

[4:49] Joe Rosko: Okay, so speaking of taking care of your body, you mentioned, I know where the coffee shop is and over the gyms that I know where I can get healthy food. Let's dive into the healthy food because coaching a lot of clients on the road, I know that this is inevitably usually our toughest task. Because maybe like I know, I think you're in a hotel right now. So a lot of hotels, no kitchen, you know, or you're constantly on the road. So it's not like you have a ton of time to be cooking, even if you could run us through what your preferred routine is when it comes to your nutrition while on the road.

[5:30] Stephen Mark Lukas: Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, I think I've had a lot of trial and error with it. Because you first get on the road, and you're like, oh, you kind of feel like you're on vacation, right? Because you're like, I'm in a hotel, and I can just order Uber Eats, and I can just eat the free hotel breakfast. And then like, after a while, you get you realize like, oh, I'm not, you know, either I'm not eating enough calories, or I'm eating too late at night, you know, which is affecting my sleep. Or, you know, I'm just not eating the right thing. So I sort of went through all that with Funny Girl. And with this, I've had to sort of dial back in and like find some strategies that work. So I'd say, you know, the biggest thing for me is, you know, if I focus on my sources of protein, I'm okay for the day.

So, you know, that involves for me like really trying to find a good source of protein when I get up, whether it's like eggs at the free hotel breakfast, if we're staying at a hotel that has that. If not, I'll do I have an air fryer, and a little electric cooking pot that I have in my hotel room. So I'll do eggs there. So just trying to get some protein in first thing in the day and get calories in this show, I don't really like to eat too close to showtime. Like I really need like a two, three hour buffer curtain. So I try to get my calories in earlier in the day. And then I'll usually find lunch out somewhere, you know, around like after the gym. I'll work out usually around like, like between one and 3pm.

I'll do my workout, try to have like a light lunch, again, focusing on like a good source of protein. So either like a sandwich with turkey, or sometimes I'll have like avocado toast with eggs and bacon or something like that. But trying to find, you know, just like another good source of protein after the gym. And then dinner, I try to keep it really light. And I'll do like a bowl like, usually, you know, you can find some sort of salad place or you know, deli that has like a you can get a bowl with like vegetables and chicken. And then you know, the other thing is like on this tour, we've had a lot of hotels where we have like a little kitchenette. So you know, I'll do grocery shopping at the beginning of the week.

But I think that like, the two main things for me are like sticking to a schedule. So I'm not just leaving it up to chance. So I'm really like thinking ahead in terms of like, where am I getting breakfast? Where am I getting lunch? Where am I getting dinner? And then, yeah, just like focusing on how I'm gonna get my protein for the day. Yeah, it helps. And then I've also been trying to not eat after the show for this one. Just because I sleep has been an issue for me. And I noticed that like eating a lot after the show is not good. So I'll try to eat before the show. And then I have a big break in act two. So I'll have like a protein bar and sometimes like a not another little light dinner, actually during the show during that break.

[8:03] Joe Rosko: Yeah, okay, great. So everyone listening, like, Stephen obviously is putting in small efforts to make this big result of not eating after the show, which is so daunting for so many people of like, I'm by the end of it, I'm starving. I just want to ravish any type of food that's around. But you hear Stephen, I tactfully have this protein bar or I have this mini meal like he's setting himself up for success during the show so that after the show, he can actually accomplish his goal of trying to get good sleep and, and not being a full stomach before going to bed after trying to refuel. You know, for some people that might not be an issue for me, I got it. I got an aura ring last year, and it tracks my sleep.

And I've noticed that the biggest difference is if I like have a heavy meal late versus when I don't. So it's like, it's just a personal thing. But it's something that, like you said, it requires a little bit more effort, right to try to figure out how to get my calories in earlier in the day. And it's something that for me has a huge payoff.

[9:04] Stephen Mark Lukas: Yeah. Speaking of rings, you said that you recently got married. So congratulations. What is it? What's married life on tour? I mean, geez, it's already hard enough being on tour. But now that you're married, like, how are you balancing that with your spouse?

[9:20] Stephen Mark Lukas: Yeah, it's tough. I mean, we you know, I we opened the show in Chicago in July, and I kind of knew going into it that I was I was I had sort of the first chunk of of rehearsal previews opening all that stuff that is so labor intensive. And then I was going to get these three weeks off for my wedding. So I was really looking forward to that we had an amazing wedding was perfect day. And then had two weeks off together after that, to sort of settle in and be newlyweds. But it's hard. I mean, it's like this is like the newlywed period when I feel like we should be together and I'm on the road. So it's tricky. But, you know, we try to see each other every four weeks. Sometimes we go a little longer if we have to, for whatever reason.

You know, sometimes we'll just get to a city and like there are no flights or the flights are too expensive or whatever. So sometimes it's a little harder, but we try to do every four weeks. So we've got we've got sort of a plan mapped out for the holidays as far as like when I'm going to go home, when he's going to come here. And so we make it work, you know, but it definitely is. It's definitely, you know, it requires sacrifice on both of your parts. You know, like he's got a full schedule back in New York. He teaches dance. He does real estate. My husband is Brian Latondra, who teaches dance at Pace University. He does real estate. He's teaching at Steps now. And so, you know, like he's got a full schedule.

So I can't expect him to just drop everything and fly out to see me, you know, and I'm doing eight shows a week on the road. So I can't always just drop everything to come home. So it's definitely, you know, it's like a give and take. And I think the key is you just both have to be willing to, like, give a little bit and get a little bit, you know, on either side of it.

[11:01] Joe Rosko: Yeah. OK, let's rewind and keep getting to know you as a person. Where were you originally from and how did performing come into your life? Was it from the very jump or did you kind of stumble into it along the way?

[11:11] Stephen Mark Lukas: Yeah, that's a great question. So I grew up in Maine, in Kennebunkport, Maine, just a small town, you know, not a lot of arts and culture. But there was a regional theater that was about half an hour away down in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. And I don't know exactly how it started, but I think my sister was taking like acting lessons there or something, you know, like at like four or five years old. And so my parents thought I was a really shy kid. So they were like, let's sign him up for acting class and see what that does. So I started taking acting lessons and then, you know, I just fell in love with it and started doing children's theater there and then eventually doing professional theater there and just kind of grew up.

And, you know, I always kind of thought it would be a hobby. Like I never I never really knew that it was something you could do as a job. And then I got into high school. I went to boarding school in Exeter, New Hampshire, at Phillips Exeter Academy. So I was in boarding school from 10th grade on. And they had a fantastic music department there. And, you know, I just I had some really good teachers there who who told me, like, you know, I think you could do this as a living, which was so bizarre to me because, you know, I was in prep school and a lot of people in prep school, like go to Harvard or go to Yale or, you know, go to Ivy League schools or, you know, and to like go from that type of environment to like a conservatory for musical theater was kind of unheard of.

[12:36] Stephen Mark Lukas: But I think yeah, I think it was like I was a junior or senior in high school and I started looking around at colleges and doing the thing of like going on tours and um seeing different places and you know everywhere I looked at that didn't have a musical theater program. I was like I feel like I'm gonna miss something like I feel like I'm gonna miss this you know and I got into a few great liberal arts schools and I just I ended up applying I think to four, three or four conservatories, got into a couple and um decided to go to NYU, the Tisch School of the Arts, um cap 21 for college and it was kind of a leap of faith like I again like I didn't really know what was involved in making a living doing it but I kind of knew that this was something I needed to do and if I didn't do it I was gonna you know there would be part of me that was missing.

[13:25] Joe Rosko: Yeah okay so you made it happen um I want to kind of segue into making it happen in this realm of fitness and theater which is what Built for the Stage is all about. You've continuously made it happen as far as showing up for sessions, being consistent. Um I'm gonna pull up your profile, I'm interested on the number of sessions because we've worked together for a good amount of time.

[13:46] Stephen Mark Lukas: Yeah, we're at nearly 200 and that's just you and I. That's just you and I so I know you've been training a lot longer than that. As far as showing up for fitness, does that help you in any way with showing up in a profession of theater that's such uh filled with ups and downs of the unknown of no's of not this time of it should have been different? Tell us like how your relationship with fitness ties into this like craziness of the theater profession.

[14:25] Stephen Mark Lukas: Yeah, that's a great question. So I, you know, I um got out of college and I you know was auditioning and you know whatever and sort of just you know locked into being cast in The Book of Mormon when I was 24 on Broadway um and I was playing Elder Price. I was standing by for Elder Price and it you know that role was so hard. I mean it was just so difficult physically, emotionally, vocally um and I ended up doing it on Broadway for a little while and then uh opening the tour in Chicago and you know when I got to Chicago you know that show had a ton of money and they had a ton of resources and they basically came and said like what do you need and I was like I think I need a trainer like I think I need so something in me was like I had been going to the gym for years and kind of just like doing the thing we all do sometimes which is like I look in the mirror I'm like oh I want my chest to be bigger so I'll do bench press today or like I think I should have bigger shoulders so let me do the you know just sort of like you know just what I felt like that day and I just didn't have a program.

[15:31] Stephen Mark Lukas: You're covering your eyes because it's like we all do that. No, I'm just yeah just saying like I'll just do you know this just pick.

[15:35] Stephen Mark Lukas: Yeah exactly you're like I'm tired today so I'll just walk on an incline or whatever. I didn't I never had a program. Um and that show was so just there was just so much cardio in it and singing and you know it was just insane and so there they had me going to Pilates or something. I was like I think I actually just need the Pilates is great I love Pilates but I was like I think I need a trainer like I think you need somebody to like get my heart rate up like really push me in the gym. Um so I found this fantastic trainer in Chicago his name is Pierce Hutchings I think he's still working there um and he just changed my life. I mean he like the workouts were insane it was like 45 minutes non-stop a lot of for you know trainers fitness pros out there like it was a lot of like peripheral heart action stuff like blood shunting and like up and down and upper body lower body and like working in legs and like for that role it was exactly what I needed.

[16:28] Stephen Mark Lukas: Um and he just really inspired me and and I I started to feel in real time how you know being on the road is hard mentally emotionally you know just how getting a good workout every day like really improved my day because it's it can be really hard like some of these cities like there's not a lot going on and so you know you just feel like you're kind of like stuck in this you know generic hotel room all day um until you go do the show and the show is great and that's exciting but the rest of the day you're kind of like what am I doing here.

[16:59] Stephen Mark Lukas: So you know just the mental emotional boost of getting a good workout also feeling like I was building mastery at something that was going to serve me long term and then the real like physiological benefit of you know my job on stage became easier you know and I could feel I could sing better I could breathe better I was you know my dancing was better like my performance just started improving um and it's something you know I've heard you say a lot which is like the hardest thing in my day was no longer doing the show the hardest thing in my day was my workout and then the show became a lot easier.

[17:40] Stephen Mark Lukas: Um and so that that's you know kind of where I I started and I you know got certified as a personal trainer um just because I was so fascinated by it and interested in it and wanted to learn about it um and you know then just kept coaching and you know Built for the Stage has been great it's really helped me just have it have a template you know even if it's not perfect every day even if I can't do the full workout every day or even if some days I you know have to take an extra day off because I'm tired from the show or whatever just having a uh something to go back to you know and kind of know what the parameters are and then you know if I have to make a few little changes here and there I do that but just having that as sort of the backbone of my program so I can you know no matter where I am right I'm in hotel gym I can mimic most of the exercises with dumbbells if I have to.

[18:41] Stephen Mark Lukas: Some we were just talking about this before we got on you know like some cities have an amazing gym we were just in Minneapolis and it was this incredible fitness facility that we had access to and some cities you know you got to kind of make do so you know just having that program to sort of serve as the backbone um and then you know making changes or deviating from it as needed.

[18:49] Joe Rosko: Yeah how about when you're not in the show is uh fitness or any other like routine or things about your your life that are pillars that kind of keep you centered when you're in that audition grind of the yeses and nos and I'm just trying to uh pull from you a bit of like yeah because for you to have booked all the things that you have booked there's obviously been times where it's been tough and I think what separates the the most successful from those who fall off is those things that keep you centered when you're not booking uh so is there is there anything aside from fitness or or is your fitness different while you're not in a show?

[19:28] Stephen Mark Lukas: Yeah tell us just about when you're not.

[19:34] Stephen Mark Lukas: I mean the in between times are that's you know to me like that's what we that's what we kind of get paid for you know like that's the job is like doing a show is the fun part all that auditioning like that's that's really where the you know the rubber meets the road. Um you know meditation is really helpful for me I do I wouldn't say that I have like a rigorous meditation practice um but I do it pretty much every day kind of in different ways whether it's guided meditation or I subscribe to an app that does it um especially auditioning. I mean I have a lot of performance anxiety um and it's usually worse in like an audition setting than it is you know if I'm doing a show eight times a week and so meditation is like that's gold for me if I can take you know even 10 minutes even 15 minutes a day um that's huge for me.

[20:30] Joe Rosko: Can we jump into that really quick because that that performance anxiety especially ahead of an audition I'm sure 99 out of 100 performers will say like oh I relate so the meditation that you tend to do before those moments is it always the same is it just a simple like uh steadying yourself silencing yourself or is there certain uh things you're saying yeah tell us a bit like what that process is uh when that's happening to you.

[20:57] Stephen Mark Lukas: Yeah I mean I think you know there's two things one is you know there's a saying you can't dig the well for you know when there's a fire like you have to dig the well you know first and then you'll have the water to put out the fire. I don't know exactly what the saying is but it's something like that so yeah I think of it as something that yeah exactly so thinking of it as something that you know I'm doing every day so that when the big audition comes you know I'm sort of prepared for it like I've had this experience of mindfulness and I'm I'm sort of just in a better place with it um because it's hard like you know I didn't meditate for a few weeks while I was off getting married came back and like it takes a while to sort of get your mind back into that you know finding that really really quiet place so it's something that even if it's like you know again five ten minutes a day just doing it consistently really helps when those big moments come.

[21:46] Stephen Mark Lukas: But then when there's an audition or um you know uh you know a concert like sometimes I use symphony concerts and those cause a lot of anxiety for me because it just feels like this big moment and you only get one shot at it. Um I'd say the biggest benefit of meditation for me is finding a way from my mind into my body so really making it um you know being mindful in my body so I'm not just thoughts that are spinning out like I I have the experience of it in in the moment and experiencing all those thoughts and emotions as a sensation happening in my body rather than you know just letting my mind sort of spin away with it.

[22:27] Stephen Mark Lukas: So um that's you know doing like a body scan um a lot of you know there are a lot of really good guided meditations sort of that the goal is to really you know become embodied um rather than just thinking about everything um so that's that's where it sort of sits for me and I notice on stage too like the times where I'm really you know my mind and my body are in the same place and I'm really experiencing everything as a physical sensation rather than you know what we all do sometimes which is acting or singing just kind of from here up um and having it be a whole body experience like that that is really and that feeds into fitness right like the more I'm going to the gym and keeping in shape the easier it is to be in touch with my body in that way.

[23:06] Joe Rosko: Yeah yeah I love what you're saying about the well because so often the general population or the general masses within the theater industry or any industry that uh requires excellence you don't what shows up on the stage isn't what's showing up in that given moment it's what was a week ago two weeks ago two months ago two years ago and I love like I was trying to get out of you like oh what's that meditation you do right before uh you go into the audition or whatever and then you so you know wonderfully said well it is before that moment but it's also the consistent practice day in and day out that allows me to even get to that place because I'm not just kind of like pulling it off the dusty shelf and expecting it to just work for me you know right there instantaneously so I love that.

[23:59] Stephen Mark Lukas: Yeah yeah yeah I mean it is it's it's definitely an ongoing process and I think it's the same with fitness you know where like you know uh you sometimes you know you'll get a call and and have to go in for an audition or a photo shoot or a you know a episode of a tv show or whatever and like if if you you know happen you're doing your program religiously like you're going to be in in a better shape and I don't just mean physically aesthetically but mentally too to sort of approach those big moments that can happen you know like that.

[24:34] Joe Rosko: Yeah okay so in the kind of uh taking a turn back to Beauty and the Beast and getting a little silly here you don't get to wear the the puffy arms and the big padded chested suit like maybe we see the characters in I don't know Disney World Park or maybe a middle school production of Beauty and the Beast Jr. It's actually you so I know I know that plenty of people out there like to get like a pre-show pump a mid-show pump like what's what's Steven doing in the wings before maybe making a particular entrance uh yeah tell us that's all right tell us the secrets.

[25:10] Stephen Mark Lukas: You know, I like to say, there aren't any secrets, I do have resistance bands, so sometimes I'll do a little resistance band. I try not to worry about it too much. I think this role is based on a character from an animated film. So like, you're never gonna, and listen, like people say in the comments all the time, they're like, Gaston doesn't look muscular enough, and it's like, well, you're up against a character that's drawn like that, you know what I mean?

[25:42] Joe Rosko: Wait, they say that about you?

[25:45] Stephen Mark Lukas: Yeah, yes, all the time, which is crazy. I just saw your recent Instagram post of you in character, and I'm like, wow, Steven's jacked out of his mind up there, he looks amazing. But you have to keep in mind, you're being judged against an animated character, and you're right, that a lot of productions, they pad you, or the costume design is kind of sneaky in the way that they sort of make you look bigger, and with this, it's really not. The goal of this production was a lot of things to make it a little bit more contemporary, but also to make the characters more real, and make them real human beings. It was the first thing when it came in, and when I did it at Paper Mill, it was a wonderful production, but it was based more on the original Broadway production, which things were a little bit more heightened, and there was a lot more slapstick, and it was a little bit more, a little goofier, and with this, they're like, no, we want Gaston to be a real guy that people really like, you know, at first, until, you know, in the second act, we find out he's the villain, but for the first act, like, we really want him to be somebody that's charming, the audience falls in love with him, the audience really likes him, and, you know, so that took a little bit of pressure off of me to like, you know, I didn't feel like I had to become an action figure, but yeah, I mean, you're up against that, like, the visual, you know, which is such an iconic role, and so from the get-go, I was like, you know what, I'm not gonna make myself a cartoon character, I just can't do that, I'm gonna, it'll be me, it'll be my body, it's my arms on stage, like, I'm gonna just do the best I can with it, and just make him a real person, and that, I think, has served me really well, you know, just sort of taking the pressure off, and it allows room, right, for me to, like, have a really great week where I'm working out a lot, and I feel great, and like, you know, a week where I'm, like, tired, and not able to get to the gym as much, or whatever, like, it just, I'm able to sort of just live my life, and sort of be, you know, be a human, which is great, but I mean, that said, like, you know, you've got a photo shoot, or whatever, like, I bought dumbbells for the dressing room, I have dumbbells, so I'll do, like, a little pump, or whatever, but yeah, yeah, I try to take some of the pressure off, honestly.

[27:59] Joe Rosko: That's good, I love that, I love that, yeah, the human element of a production that's often, you know, it's based on a cartoon, and Disney likes to, the bigger the better, so for you all to be making that a goal of yours, I'd be intrigued to see it, I hope, I hope I can, I can make it, tell us, then, what are the human elements of Gaston that you've portrayed on the stage, like, why, what makes him the villain, is it not his choice, are there some, I don't know, childhood, past shadows, like, what's haunting Gaston that makes him the way he is?

[28:34] Stephen Mark Lukas: Yeah, that's a great question, I mean, I think, you know, what's fun about playing the character is that, you know, he just, he enjoys everything he does so much, like, he enjoys himself so much, he enjoys, like, pursuing Belle so much, like, he even, like, hunting, and, like, drinking beer, and, like, doing all the stuff he does in the tap, like, he just, everything he does, he just loves doing it, which is, that's what's so much fun to play, but I also think, you know, unearned confidence is one of the funniest things you can do as an actor, and that's all he is, you know what I mean, like, that's, you know, just watching somebody that's so confident, and so sure of themselves, even though they have no reason to be, you know, like, he's a little dumb, but that doesn't stop him from, you know, proclaiming things, and so it's, like, unearned confidence is really fun to play as well, but yeah, I mean, I think, you know, like, going into, you know, I've got my own sort of backstory for him, and I think, you know, for any character, and especially, I think, for a villain, you have to ask, like, what are they really after, like, what is the thing they really, really want, and I think, usually, it's safety, right, like, he has, there is something about the world that is so terrifying to him, and we see people like this now, right, in our world today, where, you know, there is something that, you know, he is so scared of, that he has to feel safe, he has to be big, he has to work out, he has to be strong, he has to have the perfect wife, he has to, you know, if he sees something threatening, like, the beast at the end of the show, that he has to kill the beast, because it's creating this sense of safety for himself, you know, which I think is so, that's so prescient in the world today, you know, that we see people like that, who will sometimes take, you know, actions out of fear, right, and I think that he's a very fearful person at the end, and he's also, you know, I think there's an element of narcissism, too, right, which is, like, narcissistic personality disorder is a real thing, and people act a certain way, and one of the big triggers for people with that condition is rejection, and so at the end of the play, when Belle shows him the beast on the magic mirror, I mean, he snaps, you know, he really, that's a side of him we haven't seen before, I don't think anybody has seen before, because he cannot deal with the fact that he's being rejected by this woman who he's been pursuing for so long, so there's definitely, I think, one of the things that makes this show, you know, the reason it's been revived, the reason people have fallen in love with the film is because the characters are based on real people.

Linda Wolverton, who wrote the book to the musical and wrote the original animated feature, you know, based all of these characters on real people, and Gaston was an ex-boyfriend of hers, actually, and so, and we all know somebody like that, right, like, we all know somebody a little bit like Gaston, so of course, it's a heightened version, because it's Disney and it's on stage, but at the core, I think, of the way these characters are written are real people with real wants and real needs.

[31:42] Joe Rosko: Cool. All right, I'll end with a fun little silly question. Your resume is, it's stacked with, like, the leading men's style characters, Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees, Lancelot in Camelot, Gaston, obviously, Curly in Oklahoma. If you could be more, I don't know, a quirky type of off-the-wall or any other kind of character, like, is there anyone you're eyeing in the musical theater canon that you're like, oh, I wish I could be this role?

[32:08] Stephen Mark Lukas: Yeah, that's a great question. God, I haven't thought of that. I mean, because, you know, the business is so, you, like, get kind of locked into, like, okay, what am I marketable as, right? Like, what do they see me as? But yeah, I mean, there's a lot of roles I see. Like, I love, like, it's not really that quirky, but, like, King George in Hamilton, I'd love to play. You know, like, every now and then, I'll see something that's, you know, like Spamalot or something that's just so totally zany that I'd love to do. You know, I'd say, like, Elder Price was really fun to do because it had that element of, you know, comedy to it, which is really fun. And Gaston, too, you know, you get to be, you get to be kind of quirky, too. So, yeah.

[33:00] Joe Rosko: Would you ever want to be, like, a darker, like a Sweeney Todd or, like?

[33:08] Stephen Mark Lukas: Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'd love to do something like that. But yeah, and it's funny, you know, as you get older, you sort of get put into different types of roles. And so, excited to see where that goes, you know, going forward.

[33:18] Joe Rosko: Have you taken that in stride? You know, you're not, Stephen, I don't know, the 19-year-old, now Stephen, the more seasoned vet, like, has that been tough for you? Or have you just kind of evolved, have you just kind of gone with it, you know?

[33:29] Stephen Mark Lukas: You know, I kind of knew, it's funny, like, the way, just the way that I kind of came into the business, I kind of knew that I was going to be in my 30s and 40s when I sort of hit my stride for, like, the kinds of roles that I was technically equipped to play and wanted to play. And that's, you know, that's, you know, so far been kind of true, that, like, playing Nick Arnstein in Funny Girl and doing Gaston in Beauty and the Beast and, like, these roles that I kind of always knew I was right for. But when I was 20 years old, I was too young. Like, it just wasn't believable. So I wouldn't be cast in them. And sometimes I'd be cast to understudy or whatever. So, you know, I think, but, you know, there's also an element, I think, when you get older, that you really stop, there's a desire to really stop sort of putting anything on.

And when you're 24, 25, you're auditioning a lot saying, like, how can I fit the mold? And now I'm at a place where I'm like, this is what you get, you know, I go in for an audition. And sometimes it, you know, I came in for Beauty and the Beast, I was like, this is, this is what you get. And you can hire me or not. And yeah, you know, thankfully, they did. But you know, you just come at it with a different energy of knowing what you bring to it. And sometimes people surprise you, right? Like, sometimes you'll get called into a role and you'll be like, Oh, God, I never thought of myself as that. But that's really, that's really exciting. Let me try to do that. But I think there's an element of the chasing that goes away or that the striving that like trying to shape yourself to fit a certain mold kind of drops away.

And you're left with people hiring you to do what you naturally really do. And that's really special. And that's an exciting place, I think, in your career, you know, when you just can show up and, you know, I walk on stage as Gaston and like, it's, it's me. I mean, it's a heightened, you know, version of me, but it's, it's I feel like that kid again, who, you know, first started, you know, putting on the, you know, cast albums and dancing around around my room, you know, like, it feels like that it just is sort of innate expression of myself rather than trying to be something else. So that's, I think that's a good place to be.

[35:37] Joe Rosko: Yeah, we I have this conversation with many guests. And I always like to say it's hard enough to be yourself and go in and try to, you know, proceed, show display a character. It's another thing to have to be yourself, pretend to be someone you're not, as you're pretending to be the character.

[35:55] Stephen Mark Lukas: Yeah, no, it's tough. I mean, it is, you know, I think the business has changed a lot in recent years. And there is definitely, I think people are more attuned to, obviously, diversity and casting different types of people and seeing different types of people in different roles. We still have a long way to go as a business. But I think what that's done is it's allowed, allowed people to come in and, you know, just sort of see where the material lives in them, you know, as opposed to trying to hit some, you know, ideal of what it should be.

[36:28] Joe Rosko: Yeah. Okay, Steven, I'll, I'll, I'll let you go, go explore Durham or go, I don't know, go have a workout right now. Actually, go work out. Go have some leftover eggs from the morning breakfast at the hotel, you know, just teasing. Creature, you said you're a creature of habit. There's a great brand from a friend of mine, Creatures of Habit, but the creature it's spelled with a K. And they make a bunch of like great stuff for when you're on the road, like overnight oats, overnight oats mix, like in a packet that just, so that just popped in my head. I want to make sure that I, I'll check that out.

[37:02] Stephen Mark Lukas: Yeah.

[37:03] Joe Rosko: But, pleasure having you on the, on the show. Thanks for your time. And yeah, everyone that's listening, make sure you go check out Steven and the rest of the cast in Beauty and the Beast on tour.

[37:16] Stephen Mark Lukas: See you later. Thanks so much.

[37:18] Joe Rosko: Okay. Thanks, Steven. All right. Stephen Mark Lukas, Goldfish stage fan playing Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. Make sure you give Steven a follow on the gram. We'll put his handle in the description of this episode as well as anywhere else you can find him online.

[37:37] Joe Rosko: Thanks again for listening. I'm Joe Rosko, actors or athletes. Train like one. Later.