This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Caleb Dicke: Cheers.

[0:04] Elliott Mattox: Welcome to this week's episode of Equity One.

[0:07] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[0:08] Elliott Mattox: You know, we're putting this under hungover, but we're doing something a little different because, you know, our world has changed, everyone.

[0:15] Caleb Dicke: Um, as all of you know who listened to this, Stephen Sondheim unfortunately has left us, passed away.

[0:23] Elliott Mattox: Um, and we are sitting here with our friend Britney Coleman.

[0:27] Britney Coleman: Hello.

[0:27] Elliott Mattox: She's here talking with us again, and we decided to do something a little different and just spend the episode talking about Sondheim.

[0:37] Caleb Dicke: Um, there's just like I don't even know how to see how to begin into it.

[0:43] Elliott Mattox: Yeah.

[0:44] Caleb Dicke: I think we just, uh, I think we just start with, uh, our first introduction to Sondheim, how we like, yeah, even like, um, introduction.

[0:53] Elliott Mattox: I think I can start.

[0:55] Elliott Mattox: Um, I think it was Into the Woods Junior.

[0:58] Britney Coleman: Uh, Junior, yeah.

[0:59] Elliott Mattox: Junior. And like it's like when you're a kid, you don't even know who like Sondheim is. Like you're just like, wow, you're like, wow, I love these lyrics.

[1:06] Elliott Mattox: I love the storytelling of this. Um, my sister was, uh, Cinderella.

[1:10] Caleb Dicke: Of course.

[1:11] Elliott Mattox: And, uh, it was just like this is a brilliant show. And I think that's what got me started into it, and that just that was like the, um, gateway drug, I'll say, to like going to like the public library, renting all of the original cast recordings, and you're and you just start piecing it together.

[1:27] Elliott Mattox: You're like, oh, this person wrote this, and then you just start collecting all the Sondheim.

[1:31] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[1:32] Caleb Dicke: I was thinking about this too, like when I was talking when we were talking about doing this episode, like, and my I think my first in was actually Assassins.

[1:42] Caleb Dicke: It was when I know which is like a dark way in, but it was like the year of because that Tony year was like the year of Wicked and Avenue Q, and that was one of the first years that I kind of like started following like what was happening and like watching the Tonies.

[1:58] Caleb Dicke: And so I remember the performance, and I remember they won so much and then like I heard I got that cast recording I started listening to it and that was like one of the first like libettos that I bought like to like read it and like actually like study it I remember I did like the Sam Bick monologue in like high school acting class it was like so ridiculous.

[2:18] Caleb Dicke: Like the shit I would the shit we would do in high school acting class like girl we did August Osage County like we should we were exactly we felt advanced it was ours honey.

[2:29] Britney Coleman: Oh my gosh so ridiculous um but that was my kind of gateway in to Sondheim and then I started like per like you said getting those cast recordings of like a little night music and and all of them and so Britney what about you?

[2:49] Britney Coleman: What was what's your kind of first?

[2:49] Britney Coleman: Yeah mine's pretty similar um I did a couple of musicals in middle school we did little versions of West Side Story which Sondheim was also attached to but we didn't know this.

[3:01] Britney Coleman: Yeah um little Gilbert and Sullivan but in high school I only did one musical and that was Into the Woods.

[3:07] Britney Coleman: Uh-huh and that really changed the game for me especially playing Baker's wife where so many of her songs and her material is, you know, yes or no in the middle is okay too, um, which just totally opened up my eyes to a whole new world of what a musical could be it doesn't have to be totally linear.

[3:07] Britney Coleman: It doesn't have to be, you know, the good guy wins in the undercut it's just ugh just cracked open such a wonderful, um, like way to I don't know explore what the medium is.

[3:37] Britney Coleman: So Into the Woods for sure.

[3:40] Britney Coleman: And, and like I had experience in college.

[3:43] Britney Coleman: Luckily in college, like the time that I was there was we actually did a lot of Sondheim, and I was lucky to get to do those.

[3:51] Britney Coleman: Like to do Sweeney and Into the Woods there.

[3:55] Britney Coleman: And I remember like that was the first time where I was like paying attention to commas.

[4:04] Britney Coleman: Like, you know what I mean? Like going through like songs and actually looking, learn teaching myself to actually look at the lyrics because I knew that there was like such care and that and that like a period or a dash or whatever would be important.

[4:19] Britney Coleman: Like that kind of, you know, and that reverence that we all have for Stephen Sondheim is like it taught me to like really like take care.

[4:19] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[4:19] Caleb Dicke: You know?

[4:31] Britney Coleman: Mm-hmm.

[4:32] Britney Coleman: Um, and I, and you know, I this is also something I reminded myself when I saw Company is that also like it's so funny.

[4:46] Britney Coleman: Like I think that like we for I I I forget sometimes because like you know, it we hold all of his work to like such high esteem that we're like I think we forget like how funny and clever and like cleverness that always gets me, like yes.

[5:03] Caleb Dicke: Like I and Sweeney too.

[5:06] Britney Coleman: I mean, like it's so like a little priest and, uh, the like how smart everything was.

[5:12] Britney Coleman: I think that actually like that was one of my introductions to like smart funny, you know what I mean?

[5:18] Britney Coleman: That like that being in being clever and witty is is like aspirational.

[5:25] Caleb Dicke: Mm-hmm.

[5:27] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, he certainly wasn't intellectual, and I don't think he was trying to rhyme things in his songs just for rhyme's sake.

[5:34] Britney Coleman: Yeah.

[5:34] Britney Coleman: Either.

[5:35] Britney Coleman: Um, I mean it's it's reflected in all of his work.

[5:39] Britney Coleman: I think about Sunday in the Park with George too.

[5:41] Britney Coleman: Just those little quips here and there that are so unexpected and so out of nowhere.

[5:45] Britney Coleman: But the score that he's written perfectly complements the lyrics.

[5:49] Britney Coleman: It's just it's an amazing blend.

[5:51] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[5:52] Caleb Dicke: Sunday remain is my favorite, probably.

[5:55] Caleb Dicke: And that changes every day.

[5:57] Caleb Dicke: Like I think about it all the time, and I'm like, I feel like gun to my head I can't answer most days, and I'll like change it.

[6:04] Britney Coleman: I like, um, I like Sunday.

[6:06] Britney Coleman: Well, like because Cole has been in Sunday, he at my, um, my fiancé.

[6:10] Britney Coleman: Fiance.

[6:12] Britney Coleman: We'll focus on like I got to see him, uh, in Sunday as George, and it I it was my first introduction really into that because you, you know, like their shows you know more than others, and so watching that I was like, wow, the like seeing it on stage for the first time because I've never seen the original um video recording.

[6:32] Caleb Dicke: So I still need to watch it.

[6:33] Britney Coleman: Like I need to pull it out now, like go to Lincoln Center and watch it.

[6:35] Caleb Dicke: Oh, yeah.

[6:36] Britney Coleman: It's on PBS, right?

[6:37] Caleb Dicke: Oh yeah.

[6:37] Caleb Dicke: Sondheim Box that right there.

[6:39] Britney Coleman: I might just take, oh my don't have a DVD player or, uh, take my DVD player.

[6:42] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, I will take that too.

[6:44] Britney Coleman: Um, no, but Sunday in the Park with George is brilliant.

[6:48] Britney Coleman: It just act one and act two, it's just I'm looking behind Caleb and the full score is right behind him.

[6:56] Britney Coleman: Um, that's like the one that I've kept and throughout the years.

[7:00] Britney Coleman: I just can't like it's that stand right here.

[7:03] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[7:03] Caleb Dicke: Even if I don't look at it.

[7:04] Britney Coleman: I don't mean that's probably my favorite overall.

[7:09] Caleb Dicke: Like w it what's your favorite?

[7:11] Britney Coleman: I think my favorite is a little night music.

[7:14] Britney Coleman: I love a little night music.

[7:15] Britney Coleman: I saw the revival with, um, Angela Lansbury.

[7:19] Caleb Dicke: Of course.

[7:21] Britney Coleman: And we sat in the front row, and I was just like, it was a very, um, simplistic set, um, simple costumes because it was all about the music.

[7:30] Britney Coleman: You could really just focus on that, and it just, um, that is a cast recording that I'll put on.

[7:36] Britney Coleman: I'll visit like randomly throughout the year.

[7:38] Britney Coleman: I'm like, it just I go to work, just listen to it, it just drives my day.

[7:42] Britney Coleman: Like a weekend in the country.

[7:43] Britney Coleman: I think I wrote one of my report on it like in college, just like how it's just brilliant writing, how the everything, um, is just advanced so quickly in that one song.

[7:54] Britney Coleman: Like you get so much out of that.

[7:56] Britney Coleman: It's incredible.

[7:57] Caleb Dicke: And like, and that also like, you know, I was a kid that grew up watching like or like when I was becoming obsessed with theater, like watching Seth Rudetsky videos and like all that stuff, and he like deconstructs weekend in the country, and like it's I still think about it to this day, like the nuances and like the orchestrations and everything in it, it's like a perfect song.

[8:18] Britney Coleman: Yeah, and the fact that like we're like, oh, I love a little night music.

[8:22] Britney Coleman: Like, I don't think people talk about a little night music that much, but like it's like the wealth that all of his work has.

[8:30] Caleb Dicke: What about what's your favorite?

[8:32] Britney Coleman: Um, oh gosh.

[8:33] Britney Coleman: Well, I just want to add a little bit to some of that is those songs in particular are so long, yeah.

[8:40] Britney Coleman: They are full scenes within themselves.

[8:43] Caleb Dicke: Yes.

[8:43] Britney Coleman: And one of the things that, um, Sondheim has said every time he's been around our show and Company, he gives it up to George Firth, the book writer, uh, because he really Sondheim really, really wanted to make sure that it was George's show first.

[8:58] Britney Coleman: And, uh, of course, we have scenes that are 15 minutes long in our show.

[9:03] Britney Coleman: But then we get a whole other song that, um, like side by side, which can also go on for eight minutes.

[9:08] Britney Coleman: So many things happen.

[9:10] Britney Coleman: There's so much storytelling.

[9:11] Britney Coleman: And I think that, um, Sondheim needs to give himself more credit in that respect, you know, in terms of like furthering the plot.

[9:17] Caleb Dicke: I think that's just so much fun.

[9:19] Britney Coleman: Oh, weekend in the country.

[9:21] Britney Coleman: It's so good.

[9:22] Britney Coleman: Or, um, you know, a little priest or by the sea.

[9:24] Britney Coleman: Oh my god.

[9:25] Britney Coleman: Just goes on forever.

[9:26] Caleb Dicke: We could literally just keep naming songs.

[9:29] Britney Coleman: Yeah.

[9:29] Britney Coleman: And like I, I don't know.

[9:31] Britney Coleman: I it's and I will say too that that really comes across, um, in the show.

[9:38] Britney Coleman: Um, because I got to see it.

[9:40] Britney Coleman: Oh, and also here's my story.

[9:42] Britney Coleman: Story, please tell.

[9:45] Britney Coleman: So I went with, um, my cousin Amy, who is, um, she just finished her grad school, um, in arts management.

[9:51] Britney Coleman: She's about to start working at City Center.

[9:54] Britney Coleman: Um, and so, uh, the c she was working with the company management, um, group that does Company.

[10:01] Britney Coleman: And so we were there to see the show.

[10:03] Britney Coleman: We were gonna be in the box seats.

[10:05] Britney Coleman: Um, and they were filming.

[10:07] Britney Coleman: They were like, you know, filming and taking pictures.

[10:09] Britney Coleman: So we were just waiting and kind of waiting around to the last minute to be like taken into the, into our seats.

[10:16] Britney Coleman: And so, um, the company manager comes up to the group of us and she's like, I just need three people, um, to just follow me.

[10:23] Britney Coleman: And so we were just standing right there.

[10:27] Britney Coleman: And so we start walking down past the boxes, and she turns to us and she says, just to let you know, don't freak out, but you're gonna walk right by Stephen Sondheim.

[10:38] Britney Coleman: You're sitting in the row with him.

[10:40] Britney Coleman: You're gonna fill his row.

[10:43] Caleb Dicke: You didn't tell me this.

[10:45] Britney Coleman: So I was like, okay, this is crazy.

[10:51] Britney Coleman: And so we were just sit standing waiting, and then he, you know, came from the backstage.

[10:59] Britney Coleman: You know, the little like off house area where they closed the curtains.

[11:02] Caleb Dicke: Uh, yeah.

[11:03] Britney Coleman: He was sitting there and we waited, and then he and his people sat down and we sat down right next to them, and then Marianne came out and gave the speech, and he was right there.

[11:13] Britney Coleman: And I mean, we were sitting right next to him while watching the show. And it was the coolest thing to like, and you, you know, you've obviously had experiences like with him being around, like it was so you felt that kind of like presence that not only was he who he is to us, but that like he felt that love pour out for it, because that night there was so much love in that room for him, especially it was just like a really special feeling, and he seemed to take it in and not, you know, someone of his fame and acclaim like it doesn't necessarily have to be like that, you know.

[12:12] Caleb Dicke: Well, I mean, what have your experiences been getting to be, you know, in this presence, and especially in this moment in time that'll be like, yeah.

[12:25] Britney Coleman: Uh well, you know, he was in his 90s. So he wasn't around too much, to be honest. Um we had a moment with him the first time around. Um we were rehearsing downtown rather than in midtown, and he came to our first run-through, or maybe our final run-through in the rehearsal studio. And it's one thing to, you know, see him from afar in a theater. It's another thing to have him, you know, sitting in a folding chair next to the production table. And um he sat there and he just smiled the whole time and it was just so lovely. Oh, my favorite memory actually was at our sits probe the first time around, because we actually didn't have one when we came back to Broadway. Um we had the entire orchestra there with us, and of course he came in at the last minute and sat down and everybody was like, "Oh my gosh, Stephen Sondheim here.

Let's get on our P's and Q's people." Uh and he just sat kind of in the middle of all of the tables set up in a row, and there's nothing like seeing someone in their you know, eighties, nineties pull out a new piece of technology and try to use it. So is he trying to film or like decks or trying to take pictures on his camera on his iPhone? And it was, I mean, he wasn't having a problem with it. It was just like he spent a little extra time trying to zoom and trying to record and it was just so sweet. He had a smile on his face the whole time. You could tell he was really proud of the production, and he really loves everybody in it. You can see it on his face, it just shines and it's just lovely.

[14:06] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, I think I saw someone post like a picture, I think maybe it was like Max or something that posted a picture of him taking a picture of Matt.

[14:15] Britney Coleman: It might have been me.

[14:16] Caleb Dicke: Oh, was it? You're like, I've seen this picture.

[14:21] Britney Coleman: A lot of us did it. The minute we saw him take out his phone, then we all started taking our phones. And it's just so sweet. And I think that again speaks to that kind of spirit of like being he feels like really a Titan of our community.

[14:37] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[14:37] Britney Coleman: You know, and not just, you know, not just some kind of like legend. I mean he really seems like he cared about or cared about the community.

[14:49] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[14:50] Britney Coleman: About theater. You don't get to work with like living composers all the time. They don't like, like George Gershwin. Like you're just like, we just, they're just like a figment of our imagination now, but like having like him in the room or still alive could come and like give notes or just be there. You're just like, wow, like I'm doing your work. This is like it's connection all the way through. It's really special.

[15:13] Caleb Dicke: Yeah. And that's kind of like to go like really like big and meta I kept thinking of like, oh my God, like now like he's not in the world. Like, you know what, it just that thought of like he physically not here. That is like not to like knock this at all, but do you think this is a good passing of the torch onward? Like we can move forward in a theater now that like, um we had these greats that we are like we obviously always honor their works, but now it's like a new Sondheim has to step up, and now that that space is open, so if this is our chance to be like, okay, like we had to keep doing great work. We had to keep doing the job. So like more people can stand up now. So that's like the exciting part about theater, I believe.

[16:08] Britney Coleman: I think so too. And I think it's also a big part of like not only like his legacy in, you know, the work that he does, like you think that like those are the themes in Sunday in the Park, and you know, these are themes that pop up in so many of his shows. But also like in his like mentorship of people and how much he cared about, you know, young artists and uplifting people, and like it's been so cool to see people's letters, like letters are really cool, yeah.

[16:41] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, even the like the joke ones. There's like people have like photoshopped and yeah, a lot of folks have been saying, um, you know, there's tweets going around, no wonder he didn't write many works as we want, because he was so busy answering everybody.

[16:54] Britney Coleman: Answering letters.

[16:56] Caleb Dicke: I know it's just so funny, like, and so but I do think you're right, and that that's part of what we have to do moving forward. And also I've saw a sentiment online too that was like, you know, anyone hoping to kind of honor Sondheim, like for instance, like a regional theater or something like that. The best way to honor him is produce something by someone new because that's what he, you know, always championed.

[17:25] Britney Coleman: Yeah.

[17:26] Caleb Dicke: Um yeah.

[17:31] Britney Coleman: It's very bizarre. Have you all seen Tic Tic Boom?

[17:34] Caleb Dicke: Uh yes.

[17:35] Britney Coleman: Uh huh. Oh my god, I watched it the other night and just cried.

[17:38] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[17:38] Britney Coleman: Mm-hmm. And what a cool I feel like there's something really cool in the air right now. And, you know, with Company opening and Tic Tic Boom and West Side coming out.

[17:53] Caleb Dicke: Totally.

[17:54] Britney Coleman: It's a whole new generation is being um introduced to Sondheim, even though he just left us. Yeah. It's still like we can still like travel that forward.

[18:03] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, and I'm glad that there's like chances for all of us to kind of remember and honor him in so many different ways, you know, from like West Side, which was like his early early work that he has even said that he doesn't he's not necessarily a fan of his work on, but that you know, that was his and then Tic Tic Boom to like see him as a person as that character was so I just think it's a really cool time right now in that like so much is honoring him in a big way.

[18:39] Britney Coleman: Totally in the culture. I think it's helped with the grieving process.

[18:45] Caleb Dicke: Yeah.

[18:45] Britney Coleman: Like we have an outlet a little bit to be able to celebrate all of the work.

[18:50] Caleb Dicke: Ugh.

[18:51] Britney Coleman: For sure. I think lucky. I think so. And I I'm, you know, I'm I mean, obviously it was heartbreaking to hear, but the fact that there are those outlets to like see him and celebrate him, I think is really I'm glad that we have all of that.

[19:11] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, like we have like I mean, there are um not my favorite adaptations, but we have like the Sweeney Todd movie and like uh Into the Woods. We like now, I believe we're gonna start getting more like um movie makes of Sondheim's work that's like good uh history moving forward.

[19:32] Britney Coleman: Yeah, so the new generations will get that.

[19:34] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, like the and then like there's the Marilee movie that they're making.

[19:39] Britney Coleman: Oh yeah, like in reverse that's gonna take like years and years.

[19:44] Caleb Dicke: Yeah, we'll look forward to it in literally 30 years.

[19:47] Britney Coleman: Yeah, let us amazing. Um also the um the documentary when they filmed the Company uh so good and then the co-op.

[20:04] Caleb Dicke: I gotta go sh it's so good, it's so good.

[20:09] Britney Coleman: Like I really hope that like, you know, we're sitting here remembering all the things and chatting about our favorite things, whether they're actual Sondheim or you know, inspired by, you know, definitely like take some time and revisit one of your faves because it really like now is the time to like remember and look back fondly on all that awesome stuff that frankly started a lot of it for me.

[20:41] Caleb Dicke: Oh yeah. Um so that's it for this episode, I think.

[20:47] Britney Coleman: Nice and sweet, lovely. And uh Brittany, you're gonna be we're gonna hear more from you in a little bit, but um where can people find you if they want to follow you and if they want to see you in Company?

[21:00] Britney Coleman: Yes, come see me in Company. I'll be there eight shows a week. Yes, I'm on stage. Blink, and you'll miss me, but I am on stage.

[21:07] Caleb Dicke: Oh, you won't miss it.

[21:08] Britney Coleman: You won't miss it. Um and find me on Instagram, I guess that's where I'm most active. B-R-I-T-N-E-Y like Brittany Spears. C-O-L-E-M-A-N.

[21:19] Caleb Dicke: Oh we can't do it without it.

[21:22] Britney Coleman: Go ahead. Try it again.

[21:25] Caleb Dicke: You can find me on Instagram at B-R-I-T-N-E-Y like Brittany Spears. C-O-L-E-M-A-N Coleman like Gary.

[21:34] Britney Coleman: And that's my handle. Or my name is my website as well, BritneyColeman.com.

[21:39] Caleb Dicke: Amazing. You can find the podcast at Equity One Podcast on Instagram and on TikTok.

[21:51] Britney Coleman: Wow, I don't do this halfway.

[21:54] Caleb Dicke: I'm back. You can find the show at Equity One Podcast on Instagram and TikTok or at Equity One underscore on Twitter. Send us an email at EquityOnePodcast@gmail.com and head over to your uh podcast app on your iPhone or Android and give us a five-star rating review. It really helps other listeners find us and lifts us up.

[22:16] Britney Coleman: Yeah.

[22:16] Caleb Dicke: Uh Caleb, where can people find you?

[22:18] Caleb Dicke: Caleb Dicke on everything.

[22:19] Elliott Mattox: Elliott Mattox on everything.

[22:21] Caleb Dicke: Until next time.

[22:22] Both: Cheers.

[22:24] Both: Ding.