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[0:04] Joe Rosko: Hi, welcome to Built for the Stage Podcast.

[0:23] Joe Rosko: This is Joe Rosko, founder of Built for the Stage, Broadway's number one fitness platform. If you want to try a free trial, go to the website builtforthestage.com or click the link in the description of this episode, and you can work for seven days with your own Broadway fitness coach on an online app.

[0:23] Joe Rosko: So check it out. No catch, no gimmicks. Builtforthestage.com. If you like Built for the Stage podcast, please rate, subscribe, and leave a comment. It'd be greatly appreciated. All right. Please enjoy this conversation.

[0:45] Joe Rosko: All right, we got an exciting one today with Jacob Haren. Jacob made his Broadway debut in the Book of Mormon, and he's currently doing his thing in the Book of Mormon because, well, it's the musical of the century, and that baby ain't going anywhere soon. Jacob, welcome to the podcast.

[1:03] Jacob Haren: Hey, how are you? I'm so happy to be here. Thank you so much for being on Built for the Stage Podcast.

[1:08] Jacob Haren: Absolutely. All right, let's have a great intro. Let's start with some important things.

[1:15] Jacob Haren: Fantastic. The most important of all. Tell us some useless Disneyland trivia that you know about the great land of Disney.

[1:26] Jacob Haren: This is the perfect first question. Um, I'm a huge Disney nerd, and so since I was a kid, I always read a bunch of Disneyland history books. So whenever I take people, I'm like basically like one of the private guides, because I've just like, you know, there's like a little gold dot on the ground behind the castle that marks the center of the park. Um, I could tell you all about like how Tokyo Disney Sea, the park there. Disney Sea actually was supposed to be in Long Beach because Disney bought the Queen Mary in Long Beach and that was supposed to be another theme park. We could I mean we one more, one more, do one more.

[2:06] Jacob Haren: One more. Um, I actually this is a selfish fun fact, but I am on an official Disneyland album. My voice is for the show that I opened, Red Car Trolley Newsboys, so that was like a cool little dream come true. But yeah.

[2:22] Joe Rosko: When was your first time going to Disneyland?

[2:25] Jacob Haren: You know, I actually, um, my parents, so I'm from San Diego, so everybody that I grew up with had gone, and I had never been. My parents were waiting until we were old enough so that we would remember it because it's expensive. So I was 10 years old, and we went and my life changed forever. And uh, I miss it. That's the one thing I hate about living in New York is I can't just hop in the car and drive to the park to go. Uh, how many times have you been, do you think?

[2:56] Jacob Haren: Well, I worked there for three years, so that's excluding that as like a visitor before you started working there. Uh, once a year for, well, you know, it's actually so the first time I went was when I was 10, and then I went maybe like two or three times in high school, um, two or three times in college, and then I started working there. So I actually hadn't gone a whole lot, but then when I worked there, I would always spend time in the park when I got off work. Most people go home, but so yeah.

[3:27] Joe Rosko: If you go to Jacob's Instagram, Jacob D. Haren, H A R E N, you can see him singing a fabulous rendition of A Whole New World. And I think that's how I ran across you.

[3:39] Jacob Haren: Oh, right. I think I came across your profile, and I saw you or heard you singing this.

[3:46] Jacob Haren: I was like, who is this guy?

[3:49] Jacob Haren: Yeah, that's with my dream boat. That's uh also my best friend Ariana, who um she's a performer as well. She opened Hamilton in Chicago as Eliza, and we have been childhood best friends, um, then you know, roommates, and uh yeah, we got to sing that together and sort of fulfill our Disney fantasies together.

[4:11] Joe Rosko: Who's last Disney question? Then we'll move on, everyone. Sorry if you're not interested in this street. I know this is like this is turning into the Jacob Disney podcast.

[4:18] Jacob Haren: I mean, hey, I'm not mad about it.

[4:21] Joe Rosko: It's a possibility. We'll talk to Dory after. Um, who is your favorite Disney villain?

[4:31] Jacob Haren: Okay. Uh, I mean, I would say Maleficent because Maleficent is like the I would argue she's like the Disney villain because it was also very revolutionary because she was very pretty, and most like villains up to that time were ugly, and she was like this gorgeous fierce, like all powerful sort of uh enchantress witch. So I don't say Maleficent, but I mean Ursula in a close second because Ursula is a drag queen.

[5:03] Joe Rosko: Yeah, pretty much pretty much. Uh, let's segue into this uh other little post. This is also gonna be about your Instagram. I love looking at my guests' Instagrams.

[5:15] Jacob Haren: It's all about the gram, right?

[5:16] Joe Rosko: Come on, it's all about the gram.

[5:18] Jacob Haren: Right.

[5:18] Joe Rosko: Tell me just a little bit about this cool walking tour that you're doing with your buddy Tim.

[5:23] Jacob Haren: Oh, Broadway Up Close. Yeah, so Tim, I met Tim um through my sister. My sister's also a performer, and Tim started this company called Broadway Up Close where they do all these different kinds of walking tours about the Broadway theaters uh in the area, and he has like the craziest like fun facts. And um, you know, they tour with an iPad and they show like pictures over time of um things and uh his Instagram as well also has some cool pictures of theaters that uh have closed theaters that actually still exist but are just vacant, and also it's fall, and there's a haunted uh Broadway tour, walking tour, which I haven't taken but will be doing for Halloween this year. I'm really excited. But yeah, they're so cool, and he's just done crazy research.

[6:09] Joe Rosko: You know a lot of stuff, don't you?

[6:13] Jacob Haren: Uh do I?

[6:14] Joe Rosko: A lot. I feel like I want you at every party. It's like all right, the conversation's dying. Jacob, say something interesting, please.

[6:22] Jacob Haren: I've written probably several dissertations in my mind on various Disney and Broadway things. So uh that's what makes podcasting fun. I finally get to use it. You know, a lot of the time when guests come on here, they have things that have been on their mind that they want or need to do and they just haven't done it. And then somehow when they say it into the mic, they're like, I have to do it now because I just is there is there gonna be like some type of podcast, book, um, documentary that you're gonna be making on Disney or some type of trivia?

[6:54] Jacob Haren: Um, commit. Commit to it. I actually, um, I well, um, you know, here we go. I'm just gonna say I actually am gonna be starting a vlog in uh November in uh conjunction with the release of Disney Plus, uh, about uh some of the new content that's coming and um commenting on certain shows and doing uh reviews and episode recaps and stuff like that.

[7:19] Joe Rosko: So amazing because I finally was like, you know what, I just have to talk about Disney because my poor dressing room is so sick of it, and I'm sure they're thrilled when I go on vacation and they get a break. So I was like, you know what, I'll make a podcast, I'll talk about Disney, and then the people in my life will have a little bit of a break from hearing me talking about it.

[7:36] Joe Rosko: All right, let me know when it comes out so we can shout it out.

[7:36] Jacob Haren: We can shout it out. Speaking of things coming out, we have uh Broadway Podcast Network in the background. We just launched the website. So um, if you're watching the IGTV or you're listening on the podcast, obviously right now, you can hop over to BroadwayPodcastNetwork.com and see all the other fabulous theater podcasts that we have on the website. And Jacob is now starring in one of the episodes.

[8:03] Joe Rosko: So all right. Last insta question.

[8:07] Jacob Haren: Okay.

[8:08] Joe Rosko: Or just conversation. I get I don't know why am I getting so nervous.

[8:11] Jacob Haren: Everyone bringing up everyone does.

[8:12] Joe Rosko: Everyone does. It's like when your mom calls you and she's like, everyone does what was that post about?

[8:17] Jacob Haren: Yours is great. Like it's it's not a thirsty Instagram.

[8:22] Joe Rosko: It's no, there's no thirst traps on here.

[8:24] Jacob Haren: No.

[8:25] Jacob Haren: Uh, the content is varied. You know, it's not all Disney. There's uh a bunch of stuff on here. I like this. Um, couple different like color patterns. You know, you're not doing the like all black and white or all you know very bright. You don't do the white border. I talked to uh another Jacob, Jacob Dickey about the white border, you know.

[8:47] Joe Rosko: Oh, like around a photo.

[8:48] Jacob Haren: Yeah. Yes. I said, why do you do that, Jacob? And he said, you know what? I just saw a friend do it. I thought it was cute, and I've done it ever since. And I was like, wow, you've been committing for a long time about this.

[8:59] Joe Rosko: All right, last one. So you just did this crazy, it was your most recent post. You're dancing as some like alien monster creature.

[9:06] Jacob Haren: Oh my gosh.

[9:07] Joe Rosko: Y'all gotta go. Jacob uh Jacob D. Haren. That's his uh gram handle. You gotta watch this video.

[9:14] Jacob Haren: It is, yeah, that's probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever done. It was an episode of um Alternatino, which is uh Arturo Castro's new show on Comedy Central. So the sketch is about how in 2045 minorities will be the majority, but then at the end of the episode, I come out as this mutant and sing how uh mutants will be the majority in 2085. But what was so funny about it is I it was like one of those like friend of a friend recommended me thing, and uh they wanted somebody with this great voice, and I was like, okay, yeah, sure. And then I get there and she starts giving me all this choreography, and I was like, I don't know what like you and then I tried the costume on, and there's this mask, and I was like, You should have just hired a like a legit, like fierce dancer to do this.

[10:02] Jacob Haren: Um and then they could just dub the voice in.

[10:05] Joe Rosko: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[10:05] Jacob Haren: Because that also is my voice, too. I didn't even recognize it when I first heard it back, but I forgot that after we shot it, we went in a studio and I just recorded like five different takes as completely different things. So I did like an opera version, a pop version, uh like soprano. I was just like going crazy, and they thought it was really funny. And of course they chose the one that sounds like a mutant. But um, yeah, it was ridiculous. And it was a freezing day, too. It was breezing. Um, but yeah, it's a fun clip. It's a fun sketch.

[10:39] Joe Rosko: You're talking about uh operatic singing and just uh maybe you did your strong falsetto that I see on your resume. Is there if you were doing like a crossover song, what would the song be that you would pick to sing?

[10:51] Jacob Haren: What would be your like a crossover?

[10:53] Joe Rosko: What do you mean?

[10:54] Jacob Haren: Like uh like a female role.

[10:55] Joe Rosko: Oh my gosh. I mean, if I it's like really hard for me to admit that I'll probably never get to play Elphaba in Wicked um because I would die to play that role. But I uh I don't know, I'd love to do like a classical soprano role too, like a Clara in Light in the Piazza or something. I was always singing uh in high school choir. I would always sing like female soprano, like with the choir.

[11:22] Joe Rosko: In secret, or did your choir teacher know?

[11:25] Jacob Haren: I mean, she probably knew, like she wasn't an idiot, but like I probably thought I was being really discreet about it.

[11:31] Joe Rosko: Were the tenors standing next to you like I can't hold my part? Can you please just sing the part you're supposed to sing, Jacob?

[11:36] Jacob Haren: I think that everybody in choir probably thought it was really annoying, so they probably like, you know, wished I wasn't in the class, maybe, but uh, you know, I don't know. But yeah, I was always singing way higher than I think I probably should have been.

[11:53] Joe Rosko: Let's do that's funny. Let's do you going back to uh uh Elphaba and you saying you'd do anything for it or you die for it. Let's do a hypothetical question.

[12:01] Joe Rosko: Okay, okay since you said that. You've been in you're on you're in the Book of Mormon currently.

[12:06] Jacob Haren: Yeah.

[12:06] Joe Rosko: Okay. How long have you been doing in the Book of Mormon?

[12:09] Jacob Haren: Uh actually um I think to is it today? It's like this week is my two-year Broadway anniversary, but before that I did the tour for like a year and nine months. So almost four years I've been doing the show.

[12:23] Joe Rosko: All right, almost four years. Four days as Elphaba on Broadway, or four years in the Book of Mormon.

[12:32] Jacob Haren: Oh my god. That's so unfair. Uh think of the paychecks.

[12:43] Jacob Haren: I don't know. I mean, obviously it's like the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, no pun intended. Uh, but I don't know. I would probably say Book of Mormon only because I have met some of like my closest friends and whatnot doing Book of Mormon, so I'd feel bad abandoning some of those relationships and choosing Wicked, but very tempting.

[13:07] Jacob Haren: Maybe if it was 40 days, I would pick Wicked.

[13:10] Joe Rosko: All right.

[13:11] Joe Rosko: Um, all right, so let's get into the Book of Mormon a little bit more.

[13:14] Jacob Haren: Yeah.

[13:14] Joe Rosko: So you've made friends, you've said, what have been like some of your most fond memories uh doing the tour or doing the show on Broadway?

[13:24] Joe Rosko: What is the Book of Mormon brought to the life of Jacob?

[13:28] Jacob Haren: Well, I had never um you know, like my family, we are a family of six. We didn't grow up with a ton of money, so we never traveled a lot, and when I toured, I think there was maybe only one city on that tour I had ever even been to in my life. So it was a really awesome experience touring the show with uh touring the country with a show that is also so great, and you would tour to these cities where you're like a celebrity in the city because everybody has been looking forward to the Book of Mormon coming to the city. But actually, this is a fun story. My favorite, uh one of potentially my absolute favorite memory is uh I met this woman um in Atlanta. She was uh uh we were both at this the uh human rights museum there, and we were both like really uh emotional at the end, and we just kind of like hugged each other and uh got talking, and she uh has she was a pretty like active woman and uh was kind of like I don't you know really want to see Book of Mormon.

There's just some things I don't really find funny, and uh, you know, I just was talking to her about the show because Book of Mormon is actually a really like beautiful loving story at the end of the day. So we were talking and uh and then she kind of you know said, Well, after talking, you actually really want to see the show. So she ended up coming and loved it, and we still keep in touch to this day. She has a pie company in Michigan called Grand Traverse Pie Company that has several locations. And when we went back to uh because she was just in Atlanta visiting her kids. So when we went to Michigan, she sent the whole theater and casting crew pies from her uh pie shop. And I was like, that's just an experience I only could have ever had on tour in that moment doing that show. It was really cool.

[15:15] Joe Rosko: That's cool.

[15:16] Joe Rosko: What's the message or what is you know, when you filter out all of the shtick and the funny and the inappropriate to some. What is the message of Book of Book of Mormon?

[15:29] Jacob Haren: You said like at the end, there is, you know, what is that? I I think it means different things for different people, but I think for me as a performer, it I think that it means that the world is a great place when we're all trying to make it a better place and uh help other people. And I think that uh, you know, whether it's religious mission work or you know, uh just regular relief work or even just in the way that we interact with people, when we just reach out to people and we try and help people, if we're doing it with a good intention, it can be really surprising and really cool. You know. And I think that uh the show's commenting a little bit on the distractions that can get in the way of that effort sometimes. I think it's a I think it's a story about people wanting to change the world for the better, you know.

[16:16] Joe Rosko: Cool.

[16:16] Joe Rosko: So besides going through your bubble VHS Disney movies every night and doing the Book of Mormon every day and night, what are some things that you like to do outside of the theater or Disney, you know? What what are some other things that like keep you productive, moving forward, bettering yourself?

[16:39] Jacob Haren: It's funny that you ask this because I'm on like a really interesting journey right now, because nobody ever really talks about what happens when you make your Broadway debut and like your dream comes true because you kind of take that bow and then you're like, great, okay, I checked that off my list, and I'm now gonna do the same thing every night and for as long as I want, or as the show is open. Um, so I've really tried to uh dive into what I like about what I do. And I've realized that I really like great storytelling, and I know that that sounds kind of cheesy, but one of the reasons that I love theme parks is because it's such an immersive story. You know, there's this new um, I tell people there's this new roller coaster at uh Universal Studios that's this Harry Potter like Hagrid roller coaster. It's a three-minute roller coaster, and the budget was 300 million dollars. So that's a hundred million dollars a minute of entertainment. And that's why it's such a cool experience.

[17:41] Joe Rosko: I better be, yeah.

[17:43] Jacob Haren: It better be cool. But it actually uh that's sort of a dramatic like financial investment, right? But I think that a good story can happen with two people at a bar sharing a story, uh, you know, or on a Broadway stage. Um, when I'm playing pretend with my nephew at a theme park, and so I uh, which is it's actually my Instagram bio. My favorite quote is uh that the shortest distance between two people is a story, and so I've really tried to connect to that and explore um other ways that I can tell stories. So I'm actually starting to write for the first time. Um so I'm uh writing a pilot right now that uh really excited about, and um I kind of just had this idea and I wrote like the first two scenes and sent it to my roommate, and she thought it was amazing, and she was like, You have to pursue this, you have to pursue this.

It's all she talks about is me and this uh you know TV show thing that I'm writing. And then I'm also trying to um write a musical as well. So I'm also I have a friend who uh he lives in California right now, but we went to the same college, and he's an incredible pianist composer, and we both just kind of had this itching to like try and do it. So um I'm writing lyrics because I cannot play piano, which is such a bummer. I wish I'd played piano. So that actually has been what's like lately in the past like six months or so has been what's really helped ground me in the show because it's so different, and it's not um, it's just like it's a different part of your brain, and gives you a new perspective as an actor as well.

[19:20] Joe Rosko: Yeah, so yeah, I try to tell people that my clients when they're on this fitness journey that it doesn't just revolve around that or the like consumed thought of the end where you you have to still prioritize your time, your passion, your efforts, so that when it is time to step into the the gym that you can really appreciate why you're there, what you're going for, and also be centered in that. I feel like when I'm so consumed with something and I'm neglecting other things in life that when I go to uh progress in that certain thing, it's just not it does not go as well unless I have the balance in my life of not neglecting things like passion projects, uh collaborating with with fellow peers, things like that.

[20:18] Jacob Haren: Yeah, my my um my older brother works for Amazon, so he's not a performer. But we just uh I was just talking to him the other night because we both can get into the habit of our work like defining us as uh people and um I uh, you know, because a lot of people ask like, how do you keep it fresh? Like you've been doing it for four years and all of that stuff, and I actually I think it's less about what you do in the show as opposed to your like outside life. Like if you're filling your life with colorful different things, then I can just go to the theater and like just do the show and not put all of this uh pressure on the show to be the most fulfilling part of my day because that's just not fair to an anything, you know what I mean? You can't expect a friend to just be the perfect friend and I was just gonna say it sounds like a marriage, it sounds like something you would oh my god you would hear in counseling.

[21:15] Jacob Haren: Like you can't rely on your spouse for your your ultimate happiness.

[21:18] Joe Rosko: Yeah, I think I think that being being on Broadway, you is uh the more you look at it like a relationship, it can be really helpful and help you set boundaries and but I'm also like a year and a half into my therapy journey, so I've gained a lot of you know, I'm much more grounded, I think I was than when I first made my debut, uh, which has been great, you know.

[21:42] Joe Rosko: Yeah.

[21:43] Joe Rosko: What's one thing that you've learned in therapy?

[21:46] Joe Rosko: Because this this podcast also like so much of the mental health aspect is involved.

[21:50] Joe Rosko: Um working with clients in fitness.

[21:54] Joe Rosko: Uh it's like 40, it's like 51% is fitness and 49% is mental.

[22:01] Joe Rosko: It's basically 50-50, but like I like to talk about the mental game a lot on this podcast.

[22:07] Joe Rosko: So what's one thing or a few or whatever that you've really clutched on to uh during these sessions that have really helped you in being grounded on stage and like my gosh.

[22:18] Jacob Haren: I mean, there's I I will like if we just really want to dive in, you know, like I had a lot of healing to do for sure. Um, you know, with my coming out journey, um, and all of that. So therapy has been really healing and validating because it's an outside perspective, um, sort of like looking in. And um, so I do uh what my therapist calls is systems therapy. So it's all about the system that you create for your life. Um, you know, everything is a system. Broadway is a system, um, the the subway is a system, um, and then and it's about uh creating a system for your life that makes you happy, you know. So I have um I am uh a middle child of a big family, so I've always sort of like you know, from an early age, like altered uh the role in which I play in any system to sort of keep waters calm.

And it's sort of interesting because uh being a performer is so much about like looking inside yourself and being, you know, Jacob and or whoever it is, and so uh I've really as I've like stripped away the roles that I realize I put on to avoid conflict, because I'm a huge conflict avoidant, as I've stripped away those roles, I've really been able to kind of drop into and ground myself in me and what's makes me me and what um you know I like about myself, and uh so that's probably like the tip of the iceberg, I think, like with my therapy journey.

[23:55] Jacob Haren: But actually, something that I think you'll find really interesting is that I had back problems for uh years and on the road with Book of Mormon, I would sometimes throw my back out so badly I couldn't like bend over past an inch and like because my back would just go into spasm and I'd have really bad sciatica. And since I started therapy, my sciatica has like disappeared.

[24:15] Joe Rosko: Yeah, because it's because we're so emotionally connected to our bodies, yeah.

[24:20] Jacob Haren: Everything is everything, yeah.

[24:22] Jacob Haren: Meaning like it's all one, like yeah, there's a reason that this side is doing this because of that side doing that, and right, right.

[24:32] Joe Rosko: Cool.

[24:33] Joe Rosko: All right, Jacob, we covered a lot, so much.

[24:36] Joe Rosko: Like, but I love it.

[24:37] Joe Rosko: Everyone listening, you all just went on a ride.

[24:40] Joe Rosko: Thank you for riding with us.

[24:41] Joe Rosko: Thank you for what ride do you want them to be on?

[24:44] Jacob Haren: The Harry Potter one, Splash Mountain, Tower of Terror.

[24:48] Jacob Haren: I would, I mean, my like childhood favorite ride was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. So I think that's a safe choice.

[24:52] Joe Rosko: All right.

[24:54] Joe Rosko: Thank you for riding Big Thunder.

[24:56] Joe Rosko: Please come again for part two of Disney.

[25:02] Joe Rosko: Maybe we'll talk about Disney on Ice.

[25:03] Jacob Haren: Oh my god.

[25:05] Joe Rosko: Let's not get started.

[25:06] Jacob Haren: Jacob's eyes are as big as Mickey's ears right now.

[25:10] Joe Rosko: So thanks, Jacob, for being on the podcast.

[25:12] Jacob Haren: Thank you so much.

[25:16] Joe Rosko: Alright, guys, that'll do it with Jacob Haren. Make sure to check him out in the Book of Mormon and on his Insta and on his website.

[25:25] Joe Rosko: Easy to find him and really easy to check out his content because it's super funny, super cool. His voice is amazing.

[25:30] Joe Rosko: So speaking of amazing, why don't you do yourself an amazing favor and go to BuiltForThestage.com, fill out that free trial, and let's get working on those goals.

[25:42] Jacob Haren: It would be my pleasure.

[25:44] Joe Rosko: Joe Rosko here, signing off. Don't forget PPN Broadway Podcast Network.com.

[25:49] Joe Rosko: Bye.

[25:50] Joe Rosko: Love you later.