This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Joe Carroll: So an actor is saying his lines, and then out of nowhere, he just starts singing.

[0:12] Dan Tracy: You got any good unemployed songs?

[0:16] Joe Carroll: You know, like something that we could sing to start the episode that's like, uh, like, uh, what's the beginning of The Full Monty?

[0:25] Dan Tracy: That one when they're picking up their checks from the Union Hall.

[0:29] Joe Carroll: Scrap.

[0:31] Dan Tracy: Scrap.

[0:32] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[0:33] Dan Tracy: Scrap.

[0:34] Joe Carroll: Maybe that's what I want.

[0:37] Dan Tracy: That's easy, asshole.

[0:38] Joe Carroll: I want a job. I want a feeling. Maybe that's how we'll start. Scrap, that's the best.

[0:42] Dan Tracy: I need an unemployment song. Aren't we supposed to, uh, aren't we supposed to get our act together and stop using songs that we don't have licenses for so that we can start really selling ads?

[0:53] Joe Carroll: That's true.

[0:54] Dan Tracy: That's true. We are. We are. Hey, we got a really good idea though for our cool opening. Uh, Dan has something cooking, um, with, uh, with our opening song.

[1:04] Joe Carroll: We might be getting a new opening song here.

[1:07] Dan Tracy: Yes, we might soon.

[1:09] Joe Carroll: Yeah, okay. So we totally failed on the unemployment song.

[1:15] Dan Tracy: All I can think of is "All By Myself."

[1:17] Joe Carroll: Which it all by myself.

[1:20] Dan Tracy: Because I'm sitting in my apartment. There's something, there's some tune in my head that, yeah, we'll get to it eventually, maybe. I might find it.

[1:28] Joe Carroll: Oh, well, welcome everyone.

[1:30] Dan Tracy: Welcome!

[1:31] Joe Carroll: Welcome to Guys Who Like Musicals.

[1:33] Dan Tracy: Welcome to Guys Who Like Musicals.

[1:35] Joe Carroll: Uh, Dan's still asleep.

[1:37] Dan Tracy: Uh, I am in my bed.

[1:40] Joe Carroll: Are you still in the bed?

[1:41] Dan Tracy: In my bed.

[1:42] Joe Carroll: Indeed. Uh, we are here.

[1:44] Dan Tracy: I love podcasts.

[1:45] Joe Carroll: It is.

[1:46] Dan Tracy: It is, uh, Guys Who Like Musicals day.

[1:49] Joe Carroll: Dan is still in DC.

[1:50] Dan Tracy: Dan is still in DC.

[1:52] Joe Carroll: Joe is officially unemployed.

[1:56] Dan Tracy: And, uh, feeling groovy.

[1:58] Joe Carroll: My beard is coming back.

[2:00] Dan Tracy: Yes.

[2:01] Joe Carroll: I cut all my hair off.

[2:02] Dan Tracy: Yes.

[2:03] Joe Carroll: Um, the mullet is gone.

[2:06] Dan Tracy: No more mullet.

[2:08] Joe Carroll: I went into the, I went, I went to the barber yesterday. Like, I just went to this random barber shop, and the guy, I sit down in the chair, and the guy was like, "Oh my god, when was your last haircut?"

[2:19] Dan Tracy: And I was like, because what they did in the show was they wanted it really long, and then I just put a bunch of gel and pomade stuff in it so that the sides would slick down and it would look, you know, I don't know, Disney-ish. But I didn't have any product in it, and the guy, and it just looks insane.

[2:35] Joe Carroll: Anyone who's followed my, uh, my weather reports on Instagram that show that my, my hair just goes out. It doesn't, it doesn't, uh, do anything.

[2:44] Dan Tracy: You started looking like the guy from Home Alone.

[2:48] Joe Carroll: Well, that's what I was remembering. We were talking about trying to make a logo?

[2:51] Dan Tracy: Yes.

[2:52] Joe Carroll: Well, remember you were talking about trying to make a logo for the show. We want to make a little, uh, Guys Who Like Musicals logo. I was like, wouldn't it be cool if it was the two of us but silhouettes and I'm, it's like me as the guy from Home Alone and then you with your Leo DiCaprio hair, you know?

[3:06] Dan Tracy: I love it.

[3:07] Joe Carroll: And like that's, like, that's what the logo is, but all you see is the hairdo, you know. It's like, it's like the curly, curly-headed.

[3:14] Dan Tracy: So I know some of you out there are graphic designers, so if you, uh, feel a little inclined, yeah, let us know. We're looking to make a little icon logo to put on some t-shirts and put in our Instagram, uh, pictures.

[3:29] Joe Carroll: Um, Joe, how are you? Let me ask you, how are you feeling about, about Sunday? How did it go?

[3:33] Dan Tracy: Okay, Sunday was one of the best nights of my life.

[3:40] Joe Carroll: Aside from the day when you married your wife.

[3:42] Dan Tracy: Yes, exactly. Definitely. Like all things.

[3:47] Joe Carroll: The best speeches ever been given at a wedding.

[3:49] Dan Tracy: Aside from that.

[3:50] Joe Carroll: Those are, those are so aside from that day, and basically anything Alex related, right? Because that was kind of, those are all the best things ever.

[3:58] Dan Tracy: Well done.

[4:01] Joe Carroll: So closing nights are my favorite. If you ever get a chance to go to a closing night performance, if you ever hear that anybody at any point is leaving a show and you want to get tickets to it, it is, it's electric. It is so exciting.

[4:16] Dan Tracy: Um, we made it through the weekend. It was a five-show weekend, so we had to do two on Saturday, one on Friday, two on Saturday, two on Sunday. So we get to Sunday night and everybody's already really emotional and tired.

[4:27] Joe Carroll: And, uh, I made a joke with Patti Murin. Um, I got on the mic backstage and made an announcement to the whole building. I said that I bet her if Patti Murin doesn't cry during the show tonight, I'm gonna give her a thousand dollars.

[4:40] Dan Tracy: And, uh, one of the crew, one of the crew guys matched my bet. And so Patti Murin was standing to make two thousand dollars on Sunday night if she didn't cry on stage, uh, during her last performance of Frozen.

[4:51] Joe Carroll: And the moment, uh, she starts the show where she, like, it turns, the stage turns and it goes from young Anna to grown-up Anna. And she turned, the thing turns and she just says, "Elsa," and then, uh, you know, she's supposed to start singing. People clapped.

[5:08] Dan Tracy: She had a standing ovation for, I swear to you, it was a minute. Like she couldn't stop, and then she started crying immediately.

[5:17] Joe Carroll: And she lost the, she lost the bet.

[5:20] Dan Tracy: What could be that? So it showed there's a standing ovation for a minute. She sings the opening, you know. I know, uh, you know, hey, I know you're in there. I'm just wondering how you've been. And then the stage, the stage turns again, and Casey Levy stands there and says, "Do you want to build a snowman?"

[5:37] Joe Carroll: And when she turns around, she gets a standing ovation for a minute. And the place just stops, the whole, it's just shaking. Everybody backstage is applauding and crying. She's on stage crying.

[5:50] Dan Tracy: And finally we like get the show going, and all of the jokes are like the funniest jokes you've ever heard. Right? You know, so any of the bits that we do, the audience is just so with us. And then at the end of "First Time and Forever," uh, uh, I came out and got some entrance applause, not a big deal. That was very cool.

[5:59] Joe Carroll: Um, but, and then at the end of "First Time and Forever," there was a standing ovation. Um, which is really the first time in the mo, in the show that people get to really clap. And that was when I, I started crying right then, because that was so unexpected.

[6:26] Dan Tracy: Like you didn't expect that, and it was just like the place is sold out, and it's just like an absolute rock concert. I said that the whole show was, it's the best. It's the best. It's unbelievable.

[6:39] Joe Carroll: And they, uh, I said that like the whole night was kind of like I was playing drums for U2. Right? Like Patty Murin was, was the Edge and Casey was Bono. And you're like, and I was there too.

[6:52] Dan Tracy: Yeah, but like everybody treated me like a rock star. And, and I, I had been there for a year, yes, it had been a long time, but these women had created this thing for three years, right? You know, Patty's been doing it for over three years with workshops. I mean, they've put so much of their life and their heart and sweat and tears into this.

[7:11] Joe Carroll: So to see them go out with this type of ovation was unbelievable. Casey Levy, if you, there was some illegal footage on Instagram of her of her last "Let It Go."

[7:19] Dan Tracy: Oh, and she just, everything was optioned up.

[7:22] Joe Carroll: Everyone's as if it wasn't already optioned up.

[7:25] Dan Tracy: Exactly.

[7:26] Joe Carroll: It's already in a higher key and optional.

[7:29] Dan Tracy: So, you know, option zone, watch yourself.

[7:31] Joe Carroll: Option up.

[7:32] Dan Tracy: Wow. Um, and then the best part of the whole night, um, uh, Bobby Creighton, which is a great segue.

[7:41] Joe Carroll: Oh my gosh, I have some more things to say. But, um, uh, I have notes on our podcast from my mother.

[7:47] Dan Tracy: My mother was in town for closing, and she gave me notes on the podcast.

[7:51] Joe Carroll: So we have to get to these notes on the podcast.

[7:53] Dan Tracy: Um, gotta love it.

[7:55] Joe Carroll: Uh, gotta love it. This episode is an interview with Bobby Creighton and Kevin Del Aguila.

[8:00] Dan Tracy: Uh, I sit upsta, uh, up in the dressing room with them, um, and get to talk to them.

[8:04] Joe Carroll: No drinking. We'll talk more about that in a second.

[8:06] Dan Tracy: Correct. No drinking was done. Um, but just to finish up with Frozen with the closing performance, um, Bobby got, uh, came to the edge of the stage and, uh, stopped, you know, at the curtain, um, gave a really nice, like said some really nice things about Chad Burris, who was leaving, uh, he was Olaf, he was leaving.

[8:22] Joe Carroll: He said some super nice things about me, and then he said some super nice things about, uh, Casey and Patty.

[8:28] Dan Tracy: And then the Lopezes came out. Bobby and Kristen Lopez came out and gave big bouquets of flowers to Casey and Patty and just thanked them for everything that they did.

[8:38] Joe Carroll: Um, you know, and the place was just, it was the coolest thing. It was such a rock concert.

[8:42] Dan Tracy: And again, if you ever hear of any original cast or sh, or replacement cast. Anytime that anybody leaves a show, it's just so electric.

[8:51] Joe Carroll: And so closing nights are my favorite. It was amazing.

[8:55] Dan Tracy: I'm currently sitting on my couch eating bonbons looking for my next job.

[8:59] Joe Carroll: Um, and, uh, that's how my weekend was. It was unbelievable.

[9:03] Dan Tracy: So cool, man.

[9:04] Joe Carroll: I'm so happy for you.

[9:05] Dan Tracy: Yeah.

[9:06] Joe Carroll: It was great.

[9:07] Dan Tracy: It was great. Uh, so what's going on? What's, what's on the story with these notes?

[9:12] Joe Carroll: So, um, the notes on the podcast. Uh, my mom said, number one, I'm not allowed to make any more references to the transitions or the segues because they're, that's my, I s, I do it too much, apparently.

[9:25] Dan Tracy: So she said, uh, don't, uh, don't reference the transitions from one topic to another.

[9:31] Joe Carroll: You know, I do hear that because it is our job to make transitions.

[9:35] Dan Tracy: Right.

[9:36] Joe Carroll: Right. So that's your job.

[9:37] Dan Tracy: And I don't know, I, that's our job, but I don't know why I think it's funny when like I, I, we go seamlessly from one topic to another.

[9:45] Joe Carroll: That's literally the point.

[9:46] Dan Tracy: So we should stop patting ourselves on the back for just doing the bare minimum.

[9:50] Joe Carroll: Right.

[9:51] Dan Tracy: Exactly. Exactly. That's fine.

[9:53] Joe Carroll: Um, the other thing, the other thing that she said was, um, that you say "like" too much.

[9:58] Dan Tracy: I say "like" way too much.

[10:01] Joe Carroll: So we're trying to get better about that.

[10:02] Dan Tracy: She said I do it too.

[10:04] Joe Carroll: Oh yeah.

[10:07] Dan Tracy: It drives me crazy.

[10:10] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[10:10] Dan Tracy: So we're trying to get better about that one.

[10:12] Joe Carroll: Um, and then what else? The other note that she had, um, oh, she just, she had a lot of compliments though.

[10:20] Dan Tracy: That was the other thing. She just like really, really good things that were starting to feel more confident and, you know, good things about the show.

[10:28] Joe Carroll: Um, you know, oh, oh, this was a good one. She said that, uh, Joe, uh, when you burp, uh, excuse yourself and edit it out because fairly, oh, I do have acid reflux and it's disgusting.

[10:45] Dan Tracy: Um, but people on the podcast don't need to hear that.

[10:47] Joe Carroll: So that was her last note. Um, was to if I, if I burp on the podcast to not only excuse myself because I have manners and was not raised by wolves to edit it out.

[10:57] Dan Tracy: Thank you, Sandy Carroll, for still listening.

[10:59] Joe Carroll: And, uh, yeah, absolutely. We should send her some merch.

[11:01] Dan Tracy: Yeah, she wants merch, and I, I, I'm gonna bring some home.

[11:06] Joe Carroll: Uh, I'm going back to Michigan this weekend, so I'm gonna bring some t-shirts home.

[11:10] Dan Tracy: Give them, give 'em out.

[11:11] Joe Carroll: Cool. Um, okay, so, uh, Dan.

[11:14] Dan Tracy: Yes, sir.

[11:14] Joe Carroll: Gun and Powder coming to an end.

[11:17] Dan Tracy: Um, you got one more week.

[11:19] Joe Carroll: Uh, we are, yeah, we, how this is the final weekend.

[11:21] Dan Tracy: No, you, this Sunday.

[11:22] Joe Carroll: This is it.

[11:23] Dan Tracy: Exactly, yeah.

[11:23] Joe Carroll: This is it. You, um, how's it going? How's, how's everybody feeling?

[11:27] Dan Tracy: You know, what's being asked of Saleh and Emmy and, and their physical obligations in these shows is really insane.

[11:37] Joe Carroll: Like I don't know if there's a score that is the as hard to sing that I've ever heard.

[11:43] Dan Tracy: Uh, you know, like listening to, I mean, I guess like Kinky Boots, where it was just like.

[11:49] Joe Carroll: I was gonna say like, is it like a Wicked?

[11:49] Dan Tracy: Yeah, vocal Olympics?

[11:53] Joe Carroll: Exactly.

[11:53] Dan Tracy: It's vocal Olympics except in every style.

[11:57] Joe Carroll: Right.

[11:58] Dan Tracy: So like Saleh, I said like again.

[12:01] Joe Carroll: So Saleh is in, it's okay, we're getting better. We don't have, we don't have to fix the notes right now, but we're trying to get attention.

[12:09] Dan Tracy: So Saleh sings in F everywhere from R&B like Whitney Houston to like F to full opera.

[12:09] Joe Carroll: Full opera.

[12:24] Dan Tracy: Wow. I feel as though it is in a really great place. We've found a lot of great things. I'm excited.

[12:31] Joe Carroll: Everyone's kind of excited about what's happening. People are coming up to us and being very excited about the show and its prospects. But I think we've all become aware of the things that could change or shift. And that's been fun to think about too. How you might offer suggestions. And um, yesterday we had a student matinee at eleven o'clock in the morning, which I have several thoughts about. Thought number one.

[13:04] Joe Carroll: Yeah. It's insane to have to perform a musical at eleven o'clock in the morning. And um, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just rude. Then to have to do the musical again that day was really hard as well. Did you guys do like a seven o'clock or something? Did you do like an ele—oh yeah, so you just had the whole day to like just almost get tired again.

[13:23] Bobby Creighton: Yeah.

[13:24] Joe Carroll: Anyway, I think if there are people who listen to this show who have a lot of money, and they want to give their money to the theater, I hope that they listen to this episode of this show and they decide to give their money to help give student performances for free. Because I think that the future of whether or not this business stays as relevant as it is now is dependent on what happened yesterday in that performance.

[13:59] Joe Carroll: They were so deeply engaged in the show, it was amazing.

[14:04] Bobby Creighton: That's so—that is—that's amazing.

[14:06] Joe Carroll: It was amazing, dude. Every single—they were eating out of every single word.

[14:12] Bobby Creighton: And that what—what age do you think? Was it like mostly middle school?

[14:14] Joe Carroll: I want to guess it was like seventh grade to twelfth grade, but it could have been a little bit younger than that, but it wasn't babies, it was, you know, adult—uh, adult starting to be adult humans.

[14:32] Bobby Creighton: That is so cool. The other—the only other thing I would point to is that there's a lot of gun use in this show because it's about the Wild West.

[14:41] Joe Carroll: Right.

[14:41] Bobby Creighton: So there is a live gunshot on stage. In my song in Act Two, I have a gun that I'm like flailing around, and their reaction to it was very startling to me because they really didn't like it.

[14:55] Joe Carroll: It was like full screams.

[14:57] Bobby Creighton: Screams.

[14:58] Joe Carroll: Yeah. Um, that's the thing I mean.

[15:10] Bobby Creighton: But still a very different reaction than I think my high school class would have had if there was a gun pointing at my high school class.

[15:21] Joe Carroll: Uh-huh.

[15:21] Bobby Creighton: Yeah.

[15:22] Joe Carroll: We—I hadn't really seriously considered what all of that means or feels like for the audience.

[15:28] Bobby Creighton: Yeah, that's so—it's so funny that you say that. Um, first of all, that's incredibly moving. And uh, I think you're absolutely right that like, you know, if we can find a way to sponsor, put your money—put your money in putting kids in the seats of theater.

[15:45] Joe Carroll: You know, it's—it's too—it's too expensive, it's too selective, you know, and—and I mean, oh, there's this thing this morning, yeah. I think it was yesterday, the day before, To Kill a Mockingbird did a—a student—tonight actually was the performance is tonight, okay Thursday.

[16:04] Bobby Creighton: Uh, today's Thursday.

[16:05] Joe Carroll: Yeah, it's tonight. Eighteen thousand people. Eighteen thousand students at Madison Square Garden will get to see To Kill a Mockingbird. Like that's that sort of stuff, you know.

[16:13] Bobby Creighton: It's really inspiring when that sort of stuff happens.

[16:15] Joe Carroll: And so as hard as it is to wake up at eleven o'clock, you know, probably a wake up at seven o'clock to get your voice up to sing, you know, to sing a show at eleven, you know.

[16:24] Bobby Creighton: And even like, can you imagine? And I try to think about this because we did a lot of student matinees with Frozen. Um, they—you know, just like what if one or two kids, you know, one or two kids in a thousand—in eighteen hundred, what if they uh turn out to be the next, you know, I don't know, the next Angelica Sherry, right?

[16:44] Joe Carroll: The next Lin-Manuel Miranda.

[16:47] Bobby Creighton: That's what was so cool about this. There was a girl in our cast who was—who sat in the audience to watch because she's a young person of color and she's like 23. She just graduated from Catholic University here in DC and studied musical theater, and she tweeted something that if she were in that audience yesterday, it would have changed her life because she wasn't used to going to a regional theater and seeing a full stage of people like her.

[17:17] Joe Carroll: And that's what was so cool about and so impactful about this show at this moment with that audience was they actually were watching a musical that was about them and for them.

[17:29] Bobby Creighton: And you know, uh, there's just something really cool about that to me. Because that's really the only way that musical theater is gonna continue to be relevant, is for it to continue to reach larger audiences.

[17:43] Joe Carroll: Yeah, absolutely.

[17:44] Bobby Creighton: Absolutely.

[17:45] Joe Carroll: Well, that's super cool. Um, and uh, you know, you changed—you changed some lives, Dan. That's some—that's a big deal.

[17:52] Bobby Creighton: That's very cool.

[17:53] Joe Carroll: I'm not gonna take any credit for it, but it was really cool to be a part of and it makes me hope that they find more opportunities to, you know, get our rich friends and patrons to donate seats and blocks of seats and do things like that because that's not something that is done enough.

[18:15] Bobby Creighton: Very cool.

[18:15] Joe Carroll: Are you feeling a little nostalgic coming into your last weekend? Or people—are you guys—everybody kind of ready to um, you know, sort of close and recuperate a little bit?

[18:26] Bobby Creighton: It does sound like it's been a pretty—a pretty—it's been a heck of a process.

[18:29] Joe Carroll: Yeah, it's kind of been a f—it's been a full sprint to hear. So uh right now it's, you know, it's what the classic thing. Right now I'm kind of looking forward to time off, but it hasn't sunk into me that I don't totally know when my next opportunity to be on stage is.

[18:46] Bobby Creighton: And I feel like I've also caught my stride with how to play this role, so now then it's gonna be taken away from me.

[18:53] Joe Carroll: Um, right, you're figuring—you just figured it out, and now the—the—that's—that's the like reading the short regional theater thing.

[19:00] Bobby Creighton: Exactly.

[19:01] Joe Carroll: I can maintain it without it costing me anything, and then it won't come to an end. And you know, I have some small things lined up, but it's just back to the hustle.

[19:11] Bobby Creighton: So yeah, totally, totally.

[19:14] Joe Carroll: Dude, the hustle. Maybe that can be our interest on the thing.

[19:18] Bobby Creighton: That's because we're back—our back on the hall.

[19:20] Joe Carroll: That's it. Um, so our interview this week, um with Bobby Creighton and Kevin Del Aguila. They're my dressing room, or they were my dressing roommates at Frozen.

[19:30] Bobby Creighton: That's a little depressing.

[19:31] Joe Carroll: Um, but uh we got to sit down last week um and I got to tell these guys how much they mean to me and how uh welcoming they were. I mean, you gotta think about this. These guys were sitting in a dressing room for a year. They went out to Denver and they did the show even before that. They've known each other forever.

[19:49] Bobby Creighton: Um, you know, they've been developing this thing for two years, and then in comes this new guy who sits down in—in their office basically next to them, and they just completely embraced me with open arms.

[19:59] Joe Carroll: Um, they couldn't have been nicer to me.

[20:02] Bobby Creighton: And uh, we had a great time most nights of the week.

[20:05] Joe Carroll: Uh, we would do—we'd get done with the show and we'd have a splash of bourbon.

[20:11] Bobby Creighton: Um, and uh and just kind of like, you know, how did the show go? You know, we talk about stuff, and it was my favorite ritual.

[20:17] Joe Carroll: Um, just sitting in a Broadway theater, um, getting to have a drink with these two guys who are both uh, they've been in the business a long time, they both have families, they both have kids.

[20:25] Bobby Creighton: Um, and they're what I really wanted to talk to them about was their writing. They're both uh actors, obviously.

[20:32] Joe Carroll: Um, Kevin uh probably is best known in musical theater circles for Peter and the Starcatcher.

[20:38] Bobby Creighton: Um, he was Smee in Peter and the Starcatcher.

[20:41] Joe Carroll: Um, he was in—he was Mike in Rocky.

[20:44] Bobby Creighton: Uh, obviously he was in Frozen.

[20:47] Joe Carroll: Um, he originated the role of Oaken, which it was a really funny story that we—we don't really get to, but he doesn't look like the Oaken from the movie.

[20:54] Bobby Creighton: Um, if you remember the movie of Frozen, the Oaken is like a big hulking kind of massive uh Swedish looking man, and Kevin is a very uh funny, like, you know, bearded, uh, you know, kind of he doesn't look anything like this guy.

[21:09] Joe Carroll: And—and the reason—that's why we cast in all the readings.

[21:12] Bobby Creighton: Yeah, yeah.

[21:12] Joe Carroll: He's like wiry and white, yeah, and—and they always talk about he got cast because he was just the funniest person for in this track.

[21:18] Bobby Creighton: Like they couldn't find anybody funnier.

[21:21] Joe Carroll: Um, so uh Kevin obviously, you know, as an actor, but he—he wrote the book for Altar Boyz.

[21:29] Bobby Creighton: Oh, so he's like—he is one of—and—and had this this really—and still does this incredible writing career.

[21:37] Joe Carroll: He's an Emmy nominee, he writes for um children's TV shows.

[21:42] Bobby Creighton: He wrote um for a long time he was writing for Clifford the Big Red Dog.

[21:47] Joe Carroll: He is currently the head writer for Blues Clues, the Blues Clues Reboot.

[21:51] Bobby Creighton: Oh, no kidding.

[21:52] Joe Carroll: He wrote the—the lyrics and the book for a musical based on the Dog Man books, which are like a huge um, uh series of books for kids based on uh the—the guy who wrote Captain Underpants.

[22:02] Bobby Creighton: I don't know if you remember that.

[22:03] Joe Carroll: Um, those books when we were kids. This guy wrote the this Dog Man series, and Kevin is—is written for them.

[22:08] Bobby Creighton: He has written and created so many things, and he sits in his chair in the dressing room, he opens his computer, and he writes for the whole show up until his number, which is the opening of Act Two, and then he sits back down in his chair and he keeps writing, and he's always writing, and he's always writing.

[22:26] Joe Carroll: And it's—and I sit down next to him and I make this joke on the thing that like I sit and then I literally sit down and watch sports, and he's over there to being creative, and I'm like, okay, I have to be doing something creative.

[22:36] Bobby Creighton: And he's just—he is one of these guys that that is just like a beacon of what I find possible in this business.

[22:43] Joe Carroll: Bobby Creighton is the same way. He has two beautiful children, he has a beautiful wife, he is done a million Broadway shows.

[22:50] Bobby Creighton: He was in—he was in Lion King, he was in Little Mermaid.

[22:53] Joe Carroll: Uh, we—but we get to talking a lot about Cagney, the story of James Cagney.

[22:58] Bobby Creighton: He wrote a musical that premiered off Broadway.

[23:01] Joe Carroll: And he's been developing since he was in college about the life of James Cagney.

[23:05] Bobby Creighton: And he wrote—he conceived it. He wrote a lot of the book, a lot of the lyrics.

[23:10] Joe Carroll: And there's a very good chance that it—it's coming to Broadway. They did a production out at the uh, the Pioneer Theater Company in Salt Lake City.

[23:19] Bobby Creighton: Great huge success off Broadway with Cagney.

[23:21] Joe Carroll: And anyway, so I get to talking to these guys about all of the different facets of the industry, all the different things that they do, how they make it work.

[23:29] Bobby Creighton: And I also get to talk to them about, you know, just thank them for all that they did for me while uh I was on this show.

[23:35] Joe Carroll: These two guys are super inspiring, and I hope you'll appreciate this conversation because it will certainly make you want to sit down at your computer and write something.

[23:43] Bobby Creighton: Uh, because they are constantly hustling.

[23:46] Joe Carroll: Um, and uh I get a chance to tell them what I think. So um, we hope you enjoy this conversation.

[23:51] Bobby Creighton: I do apologize for a little bit of the audio because of course, because Dan is still gone, I've screwed up some of the audio stuff.

[23:57] Joe Carroll: So bear with us. Um, and please come home, Dan.

[24:01] Bobby Creighton: So without further ado, Kevin Del Aguila, Bobby Creighton.

[24:05] Joe Carroll: Um, thanks for that. Bobby has his pants on now.

[24:08] Bobby Creighton: Uh, which is fantastic.

[24:10] Joe Carroll: All is well. So let's—we'll do our cheers.

[24:14] Bobby Creighton: Cheers.

[24:15] Joe Carroll: Cheers.

[24:16] Bobby Creighton: Cheers, everybody.

[24:17] Joe Carroll: Saturday night glasses on a Wednesday.

[24:19] Bobby Creighton: Yeah, Saturday night glasses on a Wednesday.

[24:21] Joe Carroll: I mean, you said that we were—that's how we were gonna do this.

[24:23] Bobby Creighton: That's right.

[24:23] Joe Carroll: Um, where—where are we?

[24:26] Bobby Creighton: We are in the Hugo.

[24:27] Joe Carroll: The Huguenot dressing room of the St. James Theater in New York City.

[24:31] Bobby Creighton: The iconic St. James Theater.

[24:33] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[24:33] Bobby Creighton: I—and I wonder, I didn't ask anyone's permission to do this.

[24:37] Joe Carroll: So we call downstairs and let's a little bit.

[24:40] Bobby Creighton: In the Hugo dressing room of the St. James Theater.

[24:45] Joe Carroll: We're pretending we're in the Hugo dressing room with the St. James.

[24:47] Bobby Creighton: And we're not drinking.

[24:49] Joe Carroll: Why am I talking in an accent?

[24:50] Bobby Creighton: I don't know.

[24:51] Joe Carroll: Well, you kind of—you kind of do.

[24:52] Bobby Creighton: Like, so I guess the other ground rule is um, there's no um, uh, no rapping, Bobby.

[24:57] Bobby Creighton: I cannot do it.

[24:59] Joe Carroll: No freestyle rapping.

[25:00] Bobby Creighton: I have to declare now that I won't be rapping.

[25:03] Joe Carroll: Well, yeah, sometimes I have to float, yeah.

[25:05] Joe Carroll: See how the alcohol hits him.

[25:06] Bobby Creighton: Yeah, exactly.

[25:07] Joe Carroll: So this is one of the things and uh that we do almost every night of the week and have for the last year, where we sit in his dressing room and we have uh enough bourbon to cover the glass, the bottom of the glass.

[25:18] Bobby Creighton: Yep, that's what my dad would say.

[25:19] Joe Carroll: Just enough to cover the bottom of the glass.

[25:21] Bobby Creighton: And and we uh we recount what happened in the show sometimes, but really it's just like is someone pouring and we have a snort.

[25:28] Joe Carroll: Um and so because we have like a half an hour, I just wanted to like take this opportunity first of all, because there's microphones in front of you and you don't really have a choice, is to say how fun this has been for me.

[25:43] Joe Carroll: And the last we're going into my last week, and you're Kevin's going on vacation next week, so we had to make sure we got this done before you could you go to Iceland.

[25:49] Joe Carroll: Of all the places you could go on vacation.

[25:51] Bobby Creighton: He was having separation anxiety, he couldn't bear to be here for the city.

[25:54] Joe Carroll: Exactly, exactly last week.

[25:55] Bobby Creighton: We're gonna miss you both.

[25:57] Joe Carroll: I really, you know, with Frozen, I just want to experience the cold.

[26:02] Bobby Creighton: Two years in, it's about time, buddy.

[26:04] Joe Carroll: Start doing some research.

[26:05] Bobby Creighton: Right.

[26:06] Joe Carroll: Now it's time to really take it next level.

[26:09] Bobby Creighton: Yeah, exactly.

[26:10] Joe Carroll: Um, but you guys, I came into this dressing room and you uh it it is very Hugo, it's very chill. But you had your you had your your your vibe and your your the things that you would do, and I came in and totally screwed it up, but you kept you kept me.

[26:25] Bobby Creighton: We straightened you out.

[26:27] Joe Carroll: You really did, and just like really made me feel welcome and I'm gonna miss you guys a lot.

[26:32] Bobby Creighton: And I will miss you too.

[26:34] Kevin Del Aguila: We don't get to say the sappy stuff uh been a lot of fun, huh?

[26:36] Bobby Creighton: You know, and we've had a l we've had a really good time and it's been a really great year and I I I laugh a lot. I told a lot of people how much a the dressing room vibe matters, right?

[26:46] Kevin Del Aguila: Like if you're in a room with some jerks, it can be a real vibe's everything in a long running show.

[26:52] Bobby Creighton: It is everything.

[26:52] Kevin Del Aguila: True.

[26:53] Joe Carroll: Because on stage it's that you can talk to someone for a few seconds on stage, but we have to actually exist together here.

[26:58] Bobby Creighton: Exactly, right for extended periods of time.

[27:00] Joe Carroll: Right. And so I thought it would be fun is to talk about a little bit, you know, besides taking our clothes off, which was the first thing that we do before, you know, when we walked to into work, which I always thought was hilarious.

[27:09] Joe Carroll: The first thing actors do when they show up at Broadway shows is get naked and then put on other clothes. What goes on in here, right? Like pe I don't know if anybody cares, but I think it's fascinating. You two the two topics I really wanted to talk about with you guys both were uh one is creating character and the other is writing, because people don't really realize I g I I skipped obviously the rehearsal process, so I I didn't get to see you guys.

[27:33] Joe Carroll: So you didn't create a character.

[27:35] Bobby Creighton: I know I didn't create anything.

[27:36] Joe Carroll: I I just showed up and I I told Patty this way 'cause I interviewed her the other day and and I said I feel like I just showed up and got to reap the rewards of all of your hard work and the character you created. I just like got to jump on your jokes and um so I wonder we'll talk about that, but in this dressing room, Kevin, we'll start with you.

[27:54] Kevin Del Aguila: You um you sit in that spot and you write from basically the moment you get here until you go on stage and then and then you and and I I just wanna know like when what is this process been like as far as like you creating other things while you're in a Broadway show and you're writing all the time.

[28:14] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, that's weird, right?

[28:16] Bobby Creighton: Yeah.

[28:17] Kevin Del Aguila: I'm uh I'm very fortunate that I have found the perfect part in the perfect show to allow me to be able to write backstage and perform.

[28:33] Joe Carroll: Um what are you working on right now? What is the thing what is the most of it right now?

[28:37] Kevin Del Aguila: Well right now I'm writing uh the new Blues Clues reboot.

[28:42] Joe Carroll: Yeah.

[28:43] Kevin Del Aguila: You're the head writer on the head writer, so I need to um there was a big red dog a lot when I started read, but there's a lot of children's television that gets written in here.

[28:52] Kevin Del Aguila: Um but um uh yes, so so I come in, I have a late call because my character doesn't appear until the beginning of the second act. So I come in late, I sit down, I write. At a certain point, I have to put on my clothes and go out there and perform, and then I come back and I finish whatever I'm writing while you guys are out there finishing the show.

[29:17] Kevin Del Aguila: Um and it's weird. It is weird to kind of like it it's kind of schizophrenic to be like focusing on one thing and then suddenly, uh oh, gotta focus on that other thing and jump around and blah blah blah. But in another way, it's really good because you know I could be like all the other writers, sitting at home in my underwear alone writing this stuff, and not having any kind of like social uh kind of place to create.

[29:46] Bobby Creighton: You're in a dressing room with people, being an actor you make it.

[29:50] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, you mean being a 'cause being a writer, being a writer can be very, very isolating.

[29:53] Bobby Creighton: I mean, exactly.

[29:54] Kevin Del Aguila: So, but yeah, so that's the great thing is that I get the bust best of both worlds, is that I get to like focus on the writing, but I can also um you know be with people.

[30:04] Joe Carroll: Yeah, and let's face it, Joe and I are probably big inspiration.

[30:07] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[30:08] Joe Carroll: Don't you think, Joe?

[30:09] Joe Carroll: I I would say, I would say it is children's TV.

[30:12] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, I don't think a lot of things is the mentality.

[30:14] Joe Carroll: Exactly.

[30:15] Bobby Creighton: Well, and then Bobby, the same thing goes for you. And I mean, just to talk about feeling like a like a big sack of shit sitting in the corner. I I you were working on uh the and I explained it a little bit, uh the the story of Cagney. You uh developed this thing, and it had been for over a decade. You did it like you know, it almost was it like a thesis in college, you said or something.

[30:38] Bobby Creighton: I mean a teacher said uh you remind me of Jimmy Cagney, you kind of look like him and you move like him, and I know you like to tap dance on the side, and uh this spark went off as I started getting obsessed with his films and being about his life to create a musical about his life, yeah.

[30:53] Joe Carroll: Yeah, and so I'm sitting here over in the corner and I've seen every picture on Instagram and every like ridiculous Twitter crap thing, and you two are over here creating all the time. And so I'm you got to hear a new song. You can probably sing it right now because I repeat every sailor.

[31:11] Bobby Creighton: Like every sailor and every sailor likes me.

[31:13] Kevin Del Aguila: Yes, Daddy, that's it. It was a couple months to be birthed, and you heard every iteration.

[31:18] Bobby Creighton: And it was but thank you for that. It was the coolest thing, truly, because I made fun of you for it and was like, oh my god, please know more of this song. But like you were writing songs for the musical that you wrote and created, and you were taking out of town to the Pioneer Theatre Company in Salt Lake City while we're doing Frozen. Like, can the two of you just like knock it off for a second and just like have one job?

[31:38] Bobby Creighton: But I think what's so inspiring for me is just the fact that you guys do so much and you create so much.

[31:44] Kevin Del Aguila: And we have to. Like I mean, and we're at a place where you can't just just do the talking, it feels like you have to you have to create. You have to write you have to do all these things.

[31:52] Bobby Creighton: I think Kevin and I are both really lucky because we have the roles that you know we're not carrying the show. Kevin doesn't carry the show in the eight minutes he works a night.

[32:02] Kevin Del Aguila: So I don't know. I just fumble the show.

[32:06] Bobby Creighton: But but you know what we there's a lot of time to do things, you know? And it was it was intense for months leading up to the expansion of the Broadway sized version of Cagney.

[32:16] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah.

[32:17] Bobby Creighton: On my mind all the time and so up here working etc, etc. And then when that was done, I actually had some time to say, okay, I have a my part-time job Frozen. I do that eight times a week, but I can also stream the hockey game and feel good about it.

[32:28] Kevin Del Aguila: Totally.

[32:28] Bobby Creighton: Totally. Yep.

[32:29] Kevin Del Aguila: Yep.

[32:29] Bobby Creighton: And not feel like I should be doing something else.

[32:32] Kevin Del Aguila: Which I always felt leading leading up to that if I was doing anything other than working on it.

[32:37] Joe Carroll: Really? Is that something do you struggle with that when you're kind of all the time walking around?

[32:41] Bobby Creighton: Yeah.

[32:41] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah I think it's I I know that in in our generation and just any time that you are compared to anything on social media that's cool.

[32:49] Bobby Creighton: We really are backstage.

[32:50] Kevin Del Aguila: You can hear that the announcement still happening um that you you can compare yourself and and worry that that you're not doing enough you know that you're not creating enough.

[32:59] Bobby Creighton: Totally and in in a long this is now moving into the longest I've ever done a show in one shot. You know ending year two and planning to stick around for a you know year three.

[33:15] Kevin Del Aguila: With Cagney.

[33:16] Bobby Creighton: Um unless we get a theater in the meantime. But uh with Cagney but uh I definitely feel compelled to create.

[33:23] Kevin Del Aguila: Because I don't I love going on stage. Love coming to work 'cause you guys. We laugh a lot and have a lot of fun. But I also feel like I need to stimulate that part of me and also build for whatever is next.

[33:35] Bobby Creighton: Totally. You know, I definitely feel that. And you know, you beat yourself up for not being disciplined enough because we do have time here, and sometimes I don't, you know, when I see Kevin over there, he's very disciplined.

[33:45] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah.

[33:45] Bobby Creighton: Which is a real pain in the ass as you say. But he's also getting paid to do it. So it's more out of feeling. Mine is on this way. Someone's gonna scream at you if you don't have the the draft of Glimpsch. Let's face it.

[33:57] Kevin Del Aguila: So but definitely struggle definitely that is uh Yeah.

[34:00] Joe Carroll: For the both of you, when did the writing start? Was it always was writing always something in your background?

[34:43] Kevin Del Aguila: And then when I moved to New York, uh then me and my unemployed actor friends would sit around and they'd say, Hey, we don't have anything to do, let's put up some of these these shows you've written.

[34:43] Bobby Creighton: Um you kind of told me the story a while ago that you were it was kind of an accident, right?

[34:43] Kevin Del Aguila: Kind of. I w I will in school, I I went to school for uh for acting, but I would I was I would write as well. I would write like little one acts and little sketches and stuff.

[34:43] Kevin Del Aguila: Um and I don't know where that came from. I think I just sort of did it trying to emulate like the the the playwrights and stuff like that that you you know, whose plays you were in and and or sketches, like I remember writing a lot of sketch comedy and stuff like that.

[34:43] Kevin Del Aguila: Um but I wrote a lot of one acts and a lot of like little I don't think I ever finished a full line. Oh no, I did write a play.

[34:43] Bobby Creighton: Oh yeah, sorry.

[34:56] Kevin Del Aguila: And so we would we would self produce shows uh and some of the artistic directors of shows that that I had been in came to see it and they said, Kevin, you write. I didn't know you could write. Put you know, work this up, develop this more, and maybe we'll produce it.

[35:11] Kevin Del Aguila: And this uh woman, Robin Larson, uh who worked in New Hope, Pennsylvania at this place, uh was the first producer who was like, Look, if you if you get this this group of one acts together and you can turn it into an evening, I'll produce it in my uh in my season.

[35:26] Bobby Creighton: And uh she did, and it was like it went over really well.

[35:30] Kevin Del Aguila: And I was just like, Holy crap, I I can't believe this. She was like, I want to help you bring this to New York. I want to help you, you know.

[35:36] Joe Carroll: What was that piece?

[35:37] Kevin Del Aguila: It was called Six Story Building, and it was like it was like a bunch of one acts that took place on like a ascending floors of the same New York building.

[35:44] Kevin Del Aguila: And they were like that's each really good. Each one act was like kind of a different like um theme. Like there was a prologue in the basement, and then like you know, there was a the one floor was like a Shakespearean kind of thing where like it was a Macbeth sort of thing with uh a wife, you know, trying to in the theater still, by the way.

[36:01] Bobby Creighton: Oh yeah, sorry.

[36:02] Kevin Del Aguila: Oh, yeah, you gotta go running around. Sorry. Um there was uh there was a waiting for Godot one where uh a dog and cat were waiting for their owner to come back. There was a musical one at the top, and but it went over really well, and and um we tried to get an off-Broadway production of it to happen for years and years and years, and we were almost we did all these backers' auditions, we we we almost had like a theater.

[36:26] Bobby Creighton: I I learned a lot of the the like kind of seedy nature of the off-Broadway producing world back then.

[36:34] Kevin Del Aguila: We we tried to put a deposit on a theater, and this guy was like, This is great, I'm gonna buy my new carpet with it. And we were like, This is a deposit. You can't buy new carpet with this.

[36:44] Bobby Creighton: That's not how a deposit works.

[36:47] Kevin Del Aguila: It's not. Right. Anyway, this show never really happened, but um, we were like, Look, let's just submit it to the Fringe Festival. And and if something happens there, if something doesn't happen there, then whatever, but it's our last shot.

[37:00] Kevin Del Aguila: We did it at the French Festival. It was a big hit at the French Festival. It won like the Fringe Festival Award.

[37:04] Bobby Creighton: Wow.

[37:05] Kevin Del Aguila: And this producer saw it and said, I want to help you uh uh move this off Broadway.

[37:10] Bobby Creighton: That didn't happen yet again.

[37:12] Kevin Del Aguila: Um but then he said, Look, I think you have the sensibility for this other show I'm developing, which is called Altar Boys.

[37:18] Bobby Creighton: This um musical about a religious boy band.

[37:21] Kevin Del Aguila: So good, I saw it.

[37:22] Bobby Creighton: And we we haven't been able to get it work, but I uh to work, but I think you may be able to be the missing ingredient.

[37:27] Kevin Del Aguila: And I was the missing ingredient. It turned out very well.

[37:30] Bobby Creighton: Sure did. Suddenly I wasn't just a guy who wrote, you know, plays, I was like the guy who wrote Altar Boys.

[37:36] Kevin Del Aguila: The guy who wrote Altar Boys.

[37:37] Bobby Creighton: A big deal.

[37:38] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, and I mean, still it's iconic.

[37:40] Bobby Creighton: We did it in college.

[37:41] Kevin Del Aguila: You did?

[37:41] Bobby Creighton: Yep, yep.

[37:42] Kevin Del Aguila: You did it?

[37:42] Bobby Creighton: Yeah, uh, I wasn't in it, but it was like our, yeah, it was our student theater that did it, and you know, everybody showed up.

[37:48] Bobby Creighton: We all went at the it and it's, I mean, it's still hysterical. It's such a wonderful show that lives on, especially at universities, and I know it has like such a cult following, you know.

[37:59] Kevin Del Aguila: And then because we talked about like we interviewed Neil Haskell on our show, and Neil was a part of it, and people just, I mean, how long did that run off Broadway?

[38:08] Bobby Creighton: It ran for five years off Broadway.

[38:09] Kevin Del Aguila: I think it's like the ninth.

[38:10] Bobby Creighton: Five years, yes, yeah.

[38:11] Kevin Del Aguila: That's a crazy ninth longest running original American musical off Broadway or something.

[38:18] Bobby Creighton: Um, I'm gonna stop bragging about Cagney's 15 months now.

[38:21] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, no, no, no.

[38:22] Bobby Creighton: You're still the, you know, the second most successful writer in this room.

[38:28] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah.

[38:29] Kevin Del Aguila: So just, hey, can I tell you a funny little story?

[38:32] Bobby Creighton: I don't think I saw the whole thing because the night I went to see it, uh, Cheyenne.

[38:38] Kevin Del Aguila: Cheyenne got sick.

[38:39] Bobby Creighton: Uh-huh.

[38:39] Kevin Del Aguila: Get sick.

[38:39] Bobby Creighton: You were there.

[38:40] Kevin Del Aguila: Ambulance outside.

[38:41] Bobby Creighton: Yep, the whole thing.

[38:42] Kevin Del Aguila: That was the one that was the night I went to see it off Broadway.

[38:44] Bobby Creighton: That was the night I heard our producer Robin Goodman with a straight face said, "Is there a doctor in the house?"

[38:50] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah.

[38:50] Bobby Creighton: Oh my god.

[38:51] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, I was there that night.

[38:53] Kevin Del Aguila: We all waited and went and then we went outside, and then an ambulance came and the whole thing canceled the show.

[38:57] Bobby Creighton: Oh my god.

[38:58] Kevin Del Aguila: Isn't that crazy?

[38:59] Bobby Creighton: Wow.

[39:00] Kevin Del Aguila: That's some good lore.

[39:01] Bobby Creighton: Yeah.

[39:02] Kevin Del Aguila: That's some good, good off Broadway lore.

[39:05] Bobby Creighton: Unbelievable.

[39:06] Kevin Del Aguila: That's really cool.

[39:07] Bobby Creighton: That's really cool.

[39:07] Kevin Del Aguila: And so now then how did the sort of transition into the, like the, you know, Clifford and I mean what's also interesting about you were writing your, one of the shows that you, I don't think that you wrote it, but you directed a show that my friend Colin Hartman did.

[39:21] Bobby Creighton: Uh, he did a tour of, um, maybe it was like a Christmas Carol type thing.

[39:27] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[39:27] Bobby Creighton: You know, so like theater works in that relationship, like that's obviously been so much.

[39:32] Kevin Del Aguila: When I first, when I first moved to the city, you know, everybody would say to me, "You're a young character actor, you're gonna have a great career in 20 years."

[39:42] Bobby Creighton: And I was like, "Well, what the hell am I supposed to do for 20 years?"

[39:46] Kevin Del Aguila: And 20 years, that's a long time.

[39:50] Bobby Creighton: That's really nice of you to say.

[39:52] Kevin Del Aguila: If you live 20 years, survive for 20 years.

[39:56] Bobby Creighton: Um, but the one place they need character actors is in children's theater. They're always looking for character actors because you have to play dogs, bunnies, aliens, whatever they've got.

[40:07] Kevin Del Aguila: You're like, you're in, Mr. Character Actor.

[40:10] Bobby Creighton: Right.

[40:10] Bobby Creighton: Um, so my first job was with Theatreworks USA. They did like an off-Broadway production of Around the World in 80 Days.

[40:20] Bobby Creighton: And me and one other guy played everyone that they met going around the world.

[40:24] Kevin Del Aguila: I don't think you can do the production anymore because we did every accent under the sun.

[40:28] Bobby Creighton: Yeah.

[40:28] Kevin Del Aguila: But it was really fun and really hilarious.

[40:31] Bobby Creighton: And the beginning of my relationship with that company, um, as an actor and a director and a writer.

[40:38] Bobby Creighton: And I met so many influential people there. Bobby Lopez, who wrote Frozen. Crazy. He wrote a show at Theatreworks.

[40:46] Kevin Del Aguila: That's where I met him.

[40:47] Bobby Creighton: And in between, you know, 10 minute breaks, he would play, you know, songs from his little puppet musical that he was working on.

[40:53] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah.

[40:53] Bobby Creighton: And I'd be like, "You gotta submit that to the fringe festival."

[40:56] Kevin Del Aguila: Right, right.

[40:58] Bobby Creighton: And Avenue Q.

[41:01] Kevin Del Aguila: Where does that rank in off-Broadway running shows?

[41:03] Bobby Creighton: Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, is it still open?

[41:05] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, it's a good idea.

[41:08] Bobby Creighton: Wow.

[41:08] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, Broadway college.

[41:09] Bobby Creighton: It's good because he needs the money.

[41:10] Kevin Del Aguila: Well, and so like there's so much good in there for like, yeah, exactly.

[41:14] Bobby Creighton: He needs the money.

[41:15] Kevin Del Aguila: There's so much good in there for like, you know, we have a lot of college students who listen, a lot of high school students who listen, a lot of like parents of young actors who listen, and that idea that like you just gotta survive.

[41:25] Bobby Creighton: How do you survive? You know, I think is a great question. And you're saying that like as a character actor, you know, that relationship with Theatreworks, writing, creating your own stuff, and just kind of sustaining because you're not just gonna come walking into New York and fall into a production contract right away.

[41:40] Kevin Del Aguila: Well, the key in the theater I've learned is longevity. Like you hang around long enough, you will meet enough people that continue to work, you will, you know, people will just have to stop ignoring you.

[41:53] Bobby Creighton: Like, you know, people fall to the side and you stay there, they will see you.

[41:58] Kevin Del Aguila: I mean, Alex Timbers, uh, I met when he came to the city and when he was starting his theater company downtown, and I auditioned for him so many times, and he would just laugh and laugh and laugh and like give me every side that he had to watch me read them, and he was just like, he just loved what I did.

[42:18] Bobby Creighton: Hanging out, yeah.

[42:18] Kevin Del Aguila: And so he would cast me in things, and I sometimes I could do them and sometimes I couldn't.

[42:22] Bobby Creighton: But, um, you know, as his star rose, he was very loyal, and he kept calling me in for things over and over and over.

[42:31] Kevin Del Aguila: And, uh, you know, there was a time when I was like, "I'm, I, my writing career is taking off. I don't need to act, and I'm not enjoying acting, I'm not enjoying performing."

[42:40] Bobby Creighton: And, um, so I kind of unofficially quit. I was just like, "I'm not gonna pursue acting anymore."

[42:46] Kevin Del Aguila: And, um, but Timbers kept calling me in for things.

[42:50] Bobby Creighton: You know, he was like, "Oh, you gotta, you gotta like see him for this."

[42:52] Kevin Del Aguila: And he called me in for Peter and the Starcatcher.

[42:54] Bobby Creighton: Next thing you know.

[42:54] Kevin Del Aguila: Next thing I know, Peter and the Starcatcher is going to Broadway.

[42:56] Bobby Creighton: And I'm like, all these dreams that I put away long ago, thought that they were.

[43:02] Kevin Del Aguila: That was my Broadway debut, yeah.

[43:03] Bobby Creighton: It's crazy.

[43:04] Bobby Creighton: And it was incredible. In that show, in that role, with that company of actors.

[43:08] Kevin Del Aguila: I saw it three times.

[43:09] Bobby Creighton: Did you really?

[43:10] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, I saw it on Broadway three times. I saw it off Broadway, I think twice off Broadway.

[43:14] Bobby Creighton: It was the greatest experience of my life. So theatrically satisfying in every single way.

[43:20] Kevin Del Aguila: It just, and as you say, the cast was, they, I was just like, "Oh my god, I can't get that."

[43:31] Bobby Creighton: I suddenly realized, "Ah, this is, yes, yeah. This is what it is."

[43:34] Kevin Del Aguila: This is what it, there's a joy to it.

[43:38] Bobby Creighton: There's a creative, creative kind of, um, process to it.

[43:42] Kevin Del Aguila: Because I thought it was just like what I was being asked to do as an actor was just sort of like, you know, move here, do this, jump here.

[43:51] Bobby Creighton: No, that thing was really, I was gonna say something, given the demographic you described of who listens to your podcast and talking about longevity and that, I describe it in this way: it's circles, right?

[44:00] Kevin Del Aguila: And the longer you hang in there, the more circles you create, right?

[44:05] Bobby Creighton: And they start to intersect, and that's how you build a career.

[44:08] Kevin Del Aguila: Because if you're a good person to work with and you're in a show, that's you've created a circle there, right?

[44:13] Bobby Creighton: And as you go forward, you create all these different little circles and they start to expand, and all of a sudden you're not out of work all the time because once you're done with this circle, there's someone you know, intersecting in another circle who says, "Hey, come and do this," or "we need you to read this," or and your circles start to expand as you hang in there.

[44:33] Kevin Del Aguila: I love that, right?

[44:34] Bobby Creighton: And if you're a good person to work with, right, and, um, the consistent thing that people have said, you know, we've interviewed a bunch of people now, which has been so fun.

[44:44] Kevin Del Aguila: And everybody, it's some, you know, when I ask that question, which usually is at the end, and some like, "What would you say to young actors? What would you say to yourself? What would you say to, you know, a younger version of yourself?"

[44:54] Bobby Creighton: Everybody's always like, "Don't be an asshole."

[44:56] Kevin Del Aguila: That has to, that is like, that was Sutton Foster's when you talk backs during Anything Goes, and people would say, "Do you have, when you go down the line, do you have one piece of advice?"

[44:56] Bobby Creighton: And it could be anyone, like, you know, 13-year-old students, she'd say, "Don't be an asshole, be nice, be nice to work with."

[45:11] Kevin Del Aguila: That was her only advice she would ever give.

[45:12] Bobby Creighton: Right, right, right.

[45:14] Kevin Del Aguila: So it's true statement.

[45:14] Bobby Creighton: I mean, well, because the truth of the matter is that like you audition people for your show, but you'd much rather work with someone who is a known entity.

[45:24] Kevin Del Aguila: If you know somebody that's talented, yeah, not crazy, nice, and you know, easy to work with, why not just go with them as opposed to taking a chance on somebody new?

[45:34] Bobby Creighton: That's why everybody, that's why the connections are the bigger thing than, you know, the audition.

[45:40] Kevin Del Aguila: You've got to get to know somebody, and then you, once you trust them and you trust that they'll deliver, why not bring them in on everything you do?

[45:48] Bobby Creighton: Totally.

[45:48] Kevin Del Aguila: Hey, can I report?

[45:50] Bobby Creighton: Please, yeah, please.

[45:50] Kevin Del Aguila: Let's have another round.

[45:51] Bobby Creighton: Let's do that.

[45:52] Kevin Del Aguila: Um, do you think we could, I don't know, like, does Basil Hayden give sponsorship?

[45:56] Bobby Creighton: Sponsorships?

[45:57] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, well, that was I was gonna make that brought to you by Basil Hayden.

[46:01] Bobby Creighton: And I just want to point out because you talked about like grandparents whose kids want to be in the business and whatnot.

[46:04] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[46:05] Bobby Creighton: Now we don't do it every night.

[46:07] Kevin Del Aguila: You mentioned every night.

[46:08] Bobby Creighton: We do it.

[46:09] Kevin Del Aguila: That's true.

[46:10] Bobby Creighton: That's true.

[46:10] Kevin Del Aguila: Isn't it?

[46:11] Bobby Creighton: Saturdays are a weekend thing.

[46:15] Kevin Del Aguila: Maybe one or two other nights of the week.

[46:18] Bobby Creighton: I think it depends. Like, like right now, we just got off of a whole 30.

[46:22] Kevin Del Aguila: And so Bobby and I weren't drinking for the month of January.

[46:25] Bobby Creighton: Yeah.

[46:25] Kevin Del Aguila: But then I do find that like in the colder, darker months, it's like it happens more at cheers.

[46:34] Bobby Creighton: Cheers again, gentlemen.

[46:35] Kevin Del Aguila: Yes, yes, yes.

[46:36] Bobby Creighton: Um, I think that it does happen more like in like December.

[46:40] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, yeah, careful Derek.

[46:41] Bobby Creighton: That's more.

[46:42] Kevin Del Aguila: Sorry, Bobby that did not, that covered more than the box.

[46:47] Bobby Creighton: Sorry about that.

[46:48] Kevin Del Aguila: Can I hear?

[46:49] Bobby Creighton: Yeah, yeah, there you go.

[46:50] Kevin Del Aguila: There you go.

[46:50] Bobby Creighton: Um, I just, I just love that.

[46:53] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, no, it's just, it's with this ritual that I so love sharing with you guys.

[46:58] Bobby Creighton: Um, and so if Basil Hayden's wants to sponsor us, yeah.

[47:02] Kevin Del Aguila: How would you describe Basil Hayden's Bobby?

[47:04] Bobby Creighton: I would say, you know, I've thought about a lot and as I taste it, I think it's caramelling. It's really caramel. Bobby has his thing saying that if you eat cashews while you drink Basil Hayden's, it's the greatest thing ever.

[47:14] Kevin Del Aguila: So trying it right now.

[47:15] Bobby Creighton: Here we go.

[47:15] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, yeah.

[47:16] Bobby Creighton: Let's see what we's going on.

[47:16] Kevin Del Aguila: Am I right or wrong?

[47:17] Bobby Creighton: Recently discovered.

[47:23] Kevin Del Aguila: I don't often say this, but I think you're right, Bobby.

[47:25] Bobby Creighton: Wow, I think you're right, Bobby.

[47:26] Kevin Del Aguila: Do you want to do wanna cash in?

[47:28] Bobby Creighton: Yeah, I do.

[47:28] Kevin Del Aguila: I do want to cash you.

[47:29] Bobby Creighton: Now, see, this is good. This is when podcasting is clearly not like a visual medium.

[47:34] Kevin Del Aguila: I'm telling you.

[47:35] Bobby Creighton: Oh, yeah.

[47:35] Kevin Del Aguila: I'm onto something.

[47:37] Bobby Creighton: The sweet.

[47:37] Kevin Del Aguila: Didn't you ask me how we're going to monetize this?

[47:42] Bobby Creighton: No, how are we going to monetize cashews and bourbon?

[47:44] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, like cashew. We could have Basil Hayden could have a version that's cashew infused.

[47:48] Bobby Creighton: Oh, this is outstanding.

[47:49] Kevin Del Aguila: See, now you're doing like, uh, cross-marketing.

[47:53] Bobby Creighton: St. James Theater, Frozen fifth floor. Send a case.

[47:56] Kevin Del Aguila: So just to get slightly back on track before because, but like I don't, this is my favorite thing in the world.

[48:01] Bobby Creighton: This is exactly how this is supposed to go.

[48:04] Kevin Del Aguila: Um, the other major question because I had was this creating character thing.

[48:09] Bobby Creighton: And I wanted to talk about Starcatcher, and I wanted to talk about like, you know, the process of, you know, how you walked in for Wesselton, Bobby, and did it basically one time, and everybody was like, "That's, that's our guy."

[48:22] Kevin Del Aguila: How do you approach character and like when you're throwing things at the wall, trying to be funny, trying to be creative, trying to tell the story?

[48:31] Bobby Creighton: Like, do you have a, it's so silly to ask what's the process, but like, you know what I mean?

[48:35] Kevin Del Aguila: I can, I don't know about the, I mean process is a longer than the half an hour conversation, but I will say something that has grown in me over the, as I've gotten older, which is I can't be anything other than what I am, right?

[48:47] Bobby Creighton: Yeah, and I'm not 6'3, I'm not, well, this is podcasts, I could be whatever.

[48:52] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, yeah.

[48:53] Bobby Creighton: I'm looking up at you.

[48:54] Kevin Del Aguila: You do sound six three.

[48:55] Bobby Creighton: I found the tall dark hands and thing really hard to maintain.

[48:58] Kevin Del Aguila: Um, when we get, remind me at the very end, regardless of how the bourbon hits and where we go.

[49:04] Bobby Creighton: We're gonna end this with, uh, at least three.

[49:06] Kevin Del Aguila: No, no, God no, with a wrap book.

[49:09] Bobby Creighton: Because I'm ready.

[49:10] Kevin Del Aguila: I flow with at least three, uh, Bobby Creighton quotes.

[49:13] Bobby Creighton: Oh, good.

[49:13] Kevin Del Aguila: Okay, so I want at least three to end it.

[49:16] Bobby Creighton: But that's a, that's a great one that you, that you couldn't sustain the tall, dark and handsome thing.

[49:19] Kevin Del Aguila: You've made that joke many times.

[49:21] Bobby Creighton: Yeah, so I chose to play shorter, chubby character guys, and my career really took off.

[49:25] Kevin Del Aguila: I made a choice.

[49:27] Bobby Creighton: Um, but, but in like as a general statement about character, uh, I can, I'll relate it first of all to Cagney, where, um, you know, he's a real person, and he won an Oscar for playing George M. Cohan.

[49:40] Kevin Del Aguila: Yep, right.

[49:41] Bobby Creighton: And when he was asked, "How are you gonna imitate him? What are you gonna do?"

[49:43] Kevin Del Aguila: Like creating the character, and he says, "You take his essence, I take his essence and then I play it for real."

[49:49] Bobby Creighton: Because if you imitate, all you can do is exactly what they did.

[49:53] Kevin Del Aguila: Right.

[49:53] Bobby Creighton: But if you take their essence and then play it as you for real, then you get something that is compelling and watchable, right?

[50:00] Kevin Del Aguila: And with Wesselton, I watched the movie.

[50:02] Bobby Creighton: I have two small kids, so I had seen the movie a lot.

[50:06] Kevin Del Aguila: Um, and not for a while though, when I got the audition and I watched it, and then I was like, you know what?

[50:10] Kevin Del Aguila: I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna do that.

[50:13] Bobby Creighton: Yeah.

[50:13] Kevin Del Aguila: I'm gonna look at the text now.

[50:15] Bobby Creighton: And I gave him an accent and I played it like it was Shakespeare, like played it for real.

[50:20] Kevin Del Aguila: Totally, but you know, I played it very for real.

[50:22] Bobby Creighton: Yeah, well, the villain, the grill anger, like absolutely, like um, you know, and I did, I'll be honest, like the best jobs I've had on Broadway, I've taken a risk in the audition, and it's gonna go one way or the other, right?

[50:35] Kevin Del Aguila: Right.

[50:35] Bobby Creighton: But I had a strong instinct when I looked at the sides, and then I went with it.

[50:39] Bobby Creighton: And in this case, I rewrote the lyrics to um Morning Report from Lion King.

[50:44] Bobby Creighton: Just made up the Wesseltonian report.

[50:46] Bobby Creighton: It's an honor and a privilege of duty I performance. It's very, it sounded like Wesselton to me, right? And I came in and uh did you want to hear this story?

[50:53] Joe Carroll: Yes, this is the story that was me like trying to be a good interviewer, leading to the story of your audition where you sang the Zazu song and rewrote the lyrics.

[51:02] Bobby Creighton: Okay, so and but uh but I got in there and I chatted a while with Michael Grandich, who I didn't know, and but he asked some questions, and so we chatted, and then he said, uh, would you you know sing?

[51:13] Bobby Creighton: And Stephen Remus, who's sitting right beside me, said he doesn't need to sing. It's fine. I know his voice, it's fine.

[51:16] Bobby Creighton: And you know, I've got seven other shows on my musical that's on my resume. I mean, you work for this. I've done two other Disney shows on Broadway, so um, and I said, actually, I'd really like to sing.

[51:30] Bobby Creighton: I've prepared something, and so I went over. I still have my book in my hand, went over and set it up, and then I went walked back in, say we're walk back, and then you just give you a note.

[51:39] Bobby Creighton: And I went, It's an honor and a privilege. Do you perform? And I actually before that I told the reader, I said, I'm gonna use you if you don't mind, and we'll just go right into the scene.

[51:47] Bobby Creighton: And so I started singing, and then you could see I can remember Ann Quart started shaking like giggling because you know it's a Disney, it's like their biggest hit.

[51:55] Bobby Creighton: Yes, and I'm rewriting the lyrics, which is an idiotic move. This is not my recommendation, but it did go with my instincts.

[52:02] Kevin Del Aguila: Yes, that instinct was really loud and clear.

[52:07] Bobby Creighton: You know, uh your majesty, uh it's an honor to meet you, but whatever the scene is, and uh went into the scene and then finished, and everybody was giggling away.

[52:15] Bobby Creighton: And then and then Michael very calmly said, Okay, let's see the next one. And the next one is the blanket scene, which is dark, and I played it like ferociously, right?

[52:24] Bobby Creighton: You know, it was a real thing. And um, so that's that was the thing. And and then um there's a longer story in here because I got offered a play at the same time as I got offered Frozen.

[52:36] Bobby Creighton: That was gonna be a very sexy play in New York.

[52:38] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, but short-lived and Frozen, and uh that's a great other story along before you left right now.

[52:46] Bobby Creighton: Yeah. Uh was a the hairy ape, Eugene O'Neill with Bobby Canavale.

[52:49] Bobby Creighton: And there's only three lead guys, and I was gonna get to be one of them. At uh Park Avenue Armory, it's gonna be that's that's the definition of a sexy play, wouldn't you say?

[52:57] Kevin Del Aguila: I think that's pretty simple.

[52:58] Bobby Creighton: And I was daydreaming about oh, Bobby Canavale and I are gonna be best friends, and then we're gonna make movies.

[53:05] Kevin Del Aguila: I also love that about you, like you've been in the business for a long time and you still think that way.

[53:09] Bobby Creighton: You still have that no a dreamer, baby.

[53:14] Bobby Creighton: But I I also made the decision that what's most important to me, my family. And so, you know, and I talked to uh uh an older mentor of mine, and he said, You gotta do the you gotta do the musical.

[53:25] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah.

[53:26] Bobby Creighton: Your talent's not going away, you can do play in two years. But anyway, um when I did the lab, I remember Michael, you know, was doing private talks with everyone, come talk, and he said, I I don't know much to say to you, I just want you to know uh the reason you got this job.

[53:41] Bobby Creighton: He said, Everyone who came in, apparently I saw a lot of wonderful actors. But you came in and everyone else was trying to be other than and you just were.

[53:50] Kevin Del Aguila: I'm giving this as advice, not too deep in a horror.

[53:52] Bobby Creighton: Right, right, right. I was just me like I was me in that role.

[53:56] Kevin Del Aguila: Right.

[53:56] Bobby Creighton: Not trying to be create something radically different. I was just using who I you know, little me.

[54:02] Bobby Creighton: And um just instincts, you just leaned into your instincts.

[54:05] Kevin Del Aguila: I mean that's a good way to say it.

[54:06] Bobby Creighton: That's a great way to I like that line.

[54:08] Kevin Del Aguila: Um that's a Joe Carroll quote. Lean into your instincts.

[54:12] Bobby Creighton: So uh I was supposedly leading this interview. And it's the only Broadway show I've ever had one audition for.

[54:17] Kevin Del Aguila: So yeah, it was very it was thrilling.

[54:20] Bobby Creighton: Totally. And then so for Peter and the Starcatcher, which I remember so vividly, and I think anybody who saw it does.

[54:25] Bobby Creighton: What I mean, uh, Timbers calls, Alex Timbers calls and brings you along for the ride. But I mean, how did that you know, developing character and all of the the language of that show, which was so like a troop of actors and ropes and and boxes and just like use your imagination for you know, like how was that for you?

[54:44] Kevin Del Aguila: Well, he didn't bring me along for the ride. That's the thing. It's like he was co-directing it with Roger Reese.

[54:49] Kevin Del Aguila: So I I auditioned for that. I I I went in for the audition, I think on my birthday, actually.

[54:56] Kevin Del Aguila: Um, and I remember Christian Borrell and Celia uh Keenan Bulger were both in the room during the audition because they had done the show in um La Jolla.

[55:06] Bobby Creighton: Uh-huh.

[55:07] Kevin Del Aguila: And they were there kind of like watching, watching the auditions. So it was a very uh and I loved Roger Reese.

[55:14] Kevin Del Aguila: I had seen, you know, uh videotapes of um Nicholas Nickleby because uh and I had seen him on the on the streets sometimes, and I would get like a real thrill just watching like I was like, oh my god, that's Nicholas Nickleby walking down the fucking street.

[55:29] Bobby Creighton: Yeah, right, right, right, right, right.

[55:31] Kevin Del Aguila: So I was a little intimidated by by uh by him.

[55:34] Kevin Del Aguila: And I remember like I didn't the the headshot that I gave him was like a like like a um a copy. It wasn't like a real headshot, and he was like, Oh, what's this?

[55:44] Kevin Del Aguila: And I was like, Yeah, I'm sorry. I I I I don't have any more, I had to make a cut. And he was like, Oh no, the beard makes you look so regal.

[55:51] Kevin Del Aguila: And I was like, Oh, I thought he was about to like, you know, denigrate my thing. But no, he's like, and that's exactly who he is.

[55:58] Kevin Del Aguila: He was or who he was. He was a real like actor's director.

[56:04] Kevin Del Aguila: And it was just such a warm room right away. You just got like everybody's here to support you, and they really want you to to do well.

[56:12] Bobby Creighton: And the word has been thrown around here, but instinct was everything.

[56:15] Kevin Del Aguila: I sat in the in the waiting room looking around at all these people who looked exactly like Smee.

[56:21] Kevin Del Aguila: And I was like, I would cast all of these people. They are Smee. Like I don't know what I'm doing here.

[56:27] Bobby Creighton: It's not Smee, it's them.

[56:28] Kevin Del Aguila: Right.

[56:28] Bobby Creighton: It's not some me.

[56:29] Kevin Del Aguila: Well, also like Smee.

[56:31] Bobby Creighton: Well, you don't look like Oaken either.

[56:33] Kevin Del Aguila: So it's like from the movie.

[56:34] Bobby Creighton: That almost didn't get me the job. They tried to get rid of it.

[56:36] Kevin Del Aguila: They tried to get rid of me.

[56:38] Bobby Creighton: Yeah.

[56:40] Kevin Del Aguila: No, he didn't bring you back in.

[56:42] Bobby Creighton: That's a good story.

[56:43] Kevin Del Aguila: Sad story.

[56:44] Bobby Creighton: That's a sad story too.

[56:45] Kevin Del Aguila: Yes.

[56:46] Bobby Creighton: No, that's a well, sad for some.

[56:48] Kevin Del Aguila: Good for you.

[56:48] Bobby Creighton: Good. Good for me. You made it.

[56:50] Kevin Del Aguila: Um, but uh Peter and Starcatch. They're looking like Smee.

[56:53] Bobby Creighton: Everybody looks like Smee. You don't look like I don't look like Smee, but it's a prequel.

[56:56] Bobby Creighton: So I could be Smee before he became Smee, you know.

[56:59] Kevin Del Aguila: Right.

[57:00] Bobby Creighton: And um uh, you know, I just did my thing.

[57:04] Bobby Creighton: I mean, I really think it's like honing your instincts. Like you, you you learn timing, you learn comedy, you learn, you know, character, you learn these things by imitating them, imitating what you see, and eventually you put your own spin on it.

[57:06] Bobby Creighton: You know, you put your own spin on on on how these things happen.

[57:22] Bobby Creighton: And I think it was just the the the um I was just lucky to be in that room. I was lucky to have have the planets aligned to put me in that place, and I had, you know, what they were looking for at the time.

[57:34] Kevin Del Aguila: Um Do you have any like room? Do you remember like a particular moment where you did something totally ridiculous and and everybody and you know, room erupted kind of story?

[57:43] Bobby Creighton: You know what I mean, or like something you did that was like the scene was where he comes in and he's pretending to be somebody and then he starts to kind of go, like, I'm not really what I was, I told a lie.

[57:54] Bobby Creighton: And so when I began the scene, I I like pretended to to to be kind of giggling to myself and trying to stop from giggling.

[58:01] Bobby Creighton: And I could see the people behind the the um, I could see Christian Borrell like start to giggle right away. Like he could see the choice I was making.

[58:08] Kevin Del Aguila: Right.

[58:09] Bobby Creighton: So did you know Christian before that show?

[58:12] Kevin Del Aguila: I had actually directed him in a reading of something, but he he I we didn't know each other.

[58:18] Bobby Creighton: I mean, he's the least like that.

[58:20] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, no one was supportive.

[58:22] Bobby Creighton: Uh he uh but I could tell like they were digging what I was doing.

[58:27] Kevin Del Aguila: They were very keen on watching the choices I was making, and they were they were appreciating them.

[58:34] Bobby Creighton: Yeah.

[58:34] Kevin Del Aguila: Um so yeah, there were little things. Like you started to think, like, I don't know if this will play.

[58:38] Bobby Creighton: Oh, it's playing. They're they're they're into this.

[58:41] Kevin Del Aguila: And I found the whole experience appeared in like a Star Catcher like that.

[58:44] Kevin Del Aguila: People would do the same bits with each other, the exact same bits with each other, but just like subtly change something, and everyone would roar with laughter.

[58:52] Bobby Creighton: Right.

[58:53] Kevin Del Aguila: Because they appreciated like how like how keen everybody's like take was or just how like people were shading a moment or shading a line or phrase or everybody was like very I mean it was so actory and so like but it was delightful.

[59:09] Bobby Creighton: Smart actory though.

[59:10] Kevin Del Aguila: Smart actor, like people who were just like and you it's like it's the combination of extreme talent with extreme intellect, you know what I mean?

[59:18] Bobby Creighton: And yes, it's that can make stuff so freaking fun.

[59:21] Kevin Del Aguila: I think it's like the best comedy is so smart.

[59:23] Bobby Creighton: I mean, it's so it's so smart, and that show was just it felt like like the best uh theater with constraints.

[59:31] Kevin Del Aguila: Like you guys, like, you know, like in college, we had no money, we had no budget, and so we had this one professor who would be like, Here's a couple of ropes and some boxes, and we're gonna make the the ship, you know, the the rowboat out of the the ropes or whatever.

[59:44] Bobby Creighton: And that was happening on a Broadway stage.

[59:45] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah.

[59:46] Bobby Creighton: It was just one of the coolest and f you another word that I come to mind there, both with being able to trust is fearlessness.

[59:52] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, the fearlessness is the epitome of the thing.

[59:54] Bobby Creighton: That's what I mean. That's what made me think of it.

[59:56] Kevin Del Aguila: And you have to be that way in the audition.

[59:58] Bobby Creighton: Like once you've leaned into your instinct, right? You cannot be held back by fear of how they're gonna react, fear of what the outcome's gonna be.

[1:00:06] Kevin Del Aguila: You lean into it.

[1:00:07] Bobby Creighton: I'm now amusing, I'm I'm I love it.

[1:00:09] Kevin Del Aguila: Taking that and running with it.

[1:00:10] Bobby Creighton: Amateurs borrow professional steel.

[1:00:12] Kevin Del Aguila: And uh isn't that a great quote I just made up?

[1:00:15] Bobby Creighton: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1:00:16] Kevin Del Aguila: Lean into your instincts, people.

[1:00:17] Bobby Creighton: Right, right, right.

[1:00:18] Kevin Del Aguila: You should edit your part out and just let me say Bobby Craig.

[1:00:22] Bobby Creighton: Bobby had this great quote.

[1:00:24] Kevin Del Aguila: Now he's writing a book about it.

[1:00:26] Bobby Creighton: Um But but you first you lean in and then you you have to be fearless.

[1:00:30] Kevin Del Aguila: Right, right, right.

[1:00:31] Bobby Creighton: Same on stage, like you're listening to, and you can't be blocked by fear of doing, and when you watch Peter and the Star Catcher as a great example, it was fear they were fearless in that cast.

[1:00:41] Kevin Del Aguila: I will just tell one Christian Borrell story.

[1:00:43] Bobby Creighton: Yeah, we did um Little Me uh at Encores, and so he played the seven roles, and I played in seven different his sidekick or uh adjacent to him in seven.

[1:00:43] Kevin Del Aguila: We've both been sidekicks to Christian Borrell.

[1:00:55] Bobby Creighton: It was amazing.

[1:00:55] Kevin Del Aguila: And in the one where we're like uh Vulgarian, I think it was Vulgaria, you know, and he's the monarch and I'm his his man in waiting.

[1:01:04] Bobby Creighton: And the one night I said to him, I said, Wouldn't it be funny if this is when we're already running, right? Wouldn't it be funny if they because we did we were doing that we had a poker table, like came out, he was at a at a casino thing, and and we decided to do this thing where they they are very touchy with each other.

[1:01:22] Kevin Del Aguila: So we did our lines and we're like hands on face, and like when they talk to each other, and we just went for it in front of three thousand people and we were trying not to laugh yeah but the whole cast the audience is just on the and we did literally it was like you had to just abandon all but we had a little instinct about it and it was right for what we were doing.

[1:01:42] Bobby Creighton: They were so into each other just touch the faces when they talked and put their hands on their chest you know and and it was so stupid but so freaking funny because we just went for it with zero with a like with abandon.

[1:01:56] Kevin Del Aguila: I'm obsessed with that and uh that was thing like that was his thing I remember we did a run through like maybe it might have been one of our first run throughs of Peter than Starcatcher for like people in the room and intermission came the beginning of act two is like everybody comes out as mermaids and sings this mermaids.

[1:02:14] Bobby Creighton: Yep.

[1:02:15] Kevin Del Aguila: And he Christian Borrell said to me spit on me get a big a big um mouthful of water and at that moment just like spit it right in my face and I was like what are you talking about?

[1:02:26] Bobby Creighton: We're doing a run through for the for the creative team he's like just do it it's got they're gonna love it.

[1:02:26] Kevin Del Aguila: They're gonna love it.

[1:02:32] Bobby Creighton: And I was like okay and so like I went out there with this big like you know like mouthful of water and at this certain point I just spat it in his mouth and uh in his face and like everybody laughed and it was in the show from then on like it was that kind of stuff that it was like you take this he was just like let's just do it and if it pays off then it's it's worth it.

[1:02:55] Joe Carroll: Totally, and I would never be that way, but he kind of brought that out for sure a lot of people. I'm obsessed with that. I'm really the—I could sit here and listen to the stories of Christian Borle for hours on end. I want to let you both go home because it is late. Well, I mean, you know, you both have families, which is actually a pretty mediocre transition to family. I have a million questions, and we could sit here until they kick us out of this place, but like sipping bourbon. Yeah, I got great kids. I'm a great family. Exactly about our families, you know? Go ahead, what do you want to know about digital? But I mean, the family element of this business, I'm obsessed with because I got married a year and a half ago.

How has that been for both of you? I guess, you know, now we probably need another two hours, but like, you know, family—two kids in the Creighton household, one kid in the Del Aguila household. How has that been with this ridiculous Broadway life? You know what I mean? Because it's not—I grew up, you know, Dad was home at six, seven o'clock most times. Mom, you know, worked, you know, but this is insane. This is an insane life we live. I mean, the good part of it is that they get exposed to things that you would not get exposed to anywhere in the world. Like my son loves—he's a musician, he's a percussionist, and he loves—he's committed to it, and he's brilliant at it. He's not so much interested in coming to see the show, but he gets to hang out in the pit with the percussionist. And like, yeah, you said the other day that you guys went to see the Nutcracker or something, and he was making friends with the timpani player from the Harmonicists of New York City.

[1:04:45] Bobby Creighton: Exactly.

[1:04:46] Joe Carroll: Because he's gonna be one.

[1:04:47] Bobby Creighton: Exactly. Yes, that's right. And he hangs out with Dave, our percussionist down in the pit.

[1:04:53] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah.

[1:04:53] Bobby Creighton: And he could probably play this whole show because he's seen it so many times.

[1:04:58] Joe Carroll: Right. It's an experience that you wouldn't get.

[1:05:00] Bobby Creighton: I mean, no. How many kids get that experience?

[1:05:03] Kevin Del Aguila: Totally.

[1:05:03] Bobby Creighton: I do get a kick out of the fact that our kids will be able to tell the story of hanging out at the St. James, you know, and coming up to Dad's dressing room and filling that guy Kevin, who just won an Oscar for his movie. Remember when I filled his boots with candy every time I was in the dressing room, which my kids love to do to Kevin's boots?

[1:05:22] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah.

[1:05:22] Bobby Creighton: I know when the Creighton kids have been here.

[1:05:24] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, when there's candy boots.

[1:05:27] Bobby Creighton: And just on the home front, I mean, there are so many pros and so many cons.

[1:05:32] Kevin Del Aguila: Right.

[1:05:33] Bobby Creighton: I mean, I've always wanted to be a dad. And I have an amazing wife who understands the business.

[1:05:40] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah.

[1:05:40] Bobby Creighton: You know, used to oversee digital advertising for Broadway shows and now has her own PR company. But she's super smart, so she understands. She's a great partner in understanding what I'm doing.

[1:05:54] Kevin Del Aguila: Totally.

[1:05:54] Bobby Creighton: And what the world is. But I am gone right now. We're both gone six nights a week, right? Until we get back on our spring and summer schedule where we have two nights off. But that's hard. I mean, that is a definite con.

[1:06:06] Kevin Del Aguila: Totally.

[1:06:08] Bobby Creighton: I mean, but on the pro side with this particular job, you know, I've worked most of the lives most of the time my kids have been alive, so they're used to it. They're kind of used to it.

[1:06:20] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, and kids know what they know. Like when you tell a—kids know what they know. Like they don't know the difference. They don't know anything. I mean, they know when I miss certain events and things, but Dad's going to work at like four or five o'clock, and you FaceTime with them in the dressing room, and you're putting on makeup, and that's like—

[1:06:39] Bobby Creighton: Totally.

[1:06:40] Joe Carroll: Dad's putting on his eyeliner.

[1:06:41] Bobby Creighton: Absolutely. So, my daughter, my six-year-old, that's not how you put on eyeliner. Listen, child, I've been putting on eyeliner for 25 years. Don't tell me how to put on eyeliner.

[1:06:54] Kevin Del Aguila: So, but on the pro side, in particular with Frozen, like Cagney, I lived like a monk.

[1:07:03] Bobby Creighton: Right.

[1:07:03] Kevin Del Aguila: Like I'm right. I'm always thinking about my voice, always thinking about my body.

[1:07:07] Bobby Creighton: Right.

[1:07:08] Kevin Del Aguila: In this particular role, you know, which is obviously it's eight times a week and there's lots of energy. I'll put more on the fifth floor, so there's a dozen times we go up and down stairs in a night. However, I'm still up at 6:38 every morning with my kids and take them to school. And when I need a nap later, I do, but I'm able to engage fully in my family life.

[1:07:27] Bobby Creighton: Yeah.

[1:07:27] Kevin Del Aguila: And carve out time. Weekend mornings are huge. I take my son to hockey practice on Sundays, which we've talked about with hockey guys. But you know, sometimes I get teary, literally driving them to hockey practice. I'm like, that is to me, that's the thing.

[1:07:41] Bobby Creighton: Right.

[1:07:41] Kevin Del Aguila: You know what I mean? You remember driving to hockey with your dad, and I remember driving to hockey with my dad, and so talking about that is just like, you know, you can't help but get mixed up.

[1:07:50] Bobby Creighton: No, it's great. And the reason to go full circle why I spend time writing and doing other things is because I don't want—I love performing. I love going on stage. I love it every night. I'm going into year three. I'm weird that way. Still have fun every time I go on stage.

[1:08:06] Kevin Del Aguila: Right.

[1:08:07] Bobby Creighton: However, I don't want to do eight shows a week. I don't want to be bound to eight shows a week. You may be the same, Kevin.

[1:08:14] Kevin Del Aguila: Well, you're winning Emmys and writing, so you're funny.

[1:08:16] Bobby Creighton: But for me, I don't want to be bound to doing eight shows a week forever. You know, like in five years, maybe I do a Broadway show for one year, but then I do hopefully TV, or my writing, my musical is out, or my musicals are out, you know, creating passive income so that I can coach my kids' hockey team or, you know, whatever.

[1:08:36] Kevin Del Aguila: Well, and I do—I love that you use the word kind of bound to it. You know, you want to create a diverse career where you can do a bunch of different things.

[1:08:42] Bobby Creighton: Yeah.

[1:08:42] Kevin Del Aguila: Where, like, if you want to go do a Broadway show for, you know, or if you're able to be doing a Broadway show for a year, and then you're able to keep writing.

[1:08:50] Bobby Creighton: That's very interesting because we are really lucky that Frozen is still going into year three. I mean, that doesn't happen often.

[1:08:59] Kevin Del Aguila: No, no, truly, and even with Disney shows sometimes, even with Disney.

[1:09:04] Bobby Creighton: No, totally, totally. I mean, yeah, that's a gift, and it's never lost on me. But yeah, you do lose—you know, I used to be the story time dad. Like, we're gonna read the story before you go to sleep. Not anymore. Now it's time to go, you know. I gotta leave, and away you go.

[1:09:25] Kevin Del Aguila: And yeah.

[1:09:26] Bobby Creighton: So you guys are figuring it out. I mean, it really—from the outside looking in, and I know that everything is, you know, from the inside out, probably looks different. I know it does, but you know, my dad was in international sales growing up, so like, you know, he was around a lot and then not around. So, like, every family has something different, and you know, and that's what I mean. Like kids know what they know.

[1:09:43] Kevin Del Aguila: You're correct.

[1:09:44] Bobby Creighton: Just going back to that, they know what our life is, and occasionally there's disappointments, but a lot of times I can go do stuff during the day at school. I go read to the class.

[1:09:52] Kevin Del Aguila: Right, and you're there for breakfast, you're there.

[1:09:55] Bobby Creighton: You're driving to school, you know, you're there for a lot of that stuff. So because they're probably gonna kick us out of here, I want a couple Bobby Creighton quotes. So hit me with at least—let's just—is there a copyright symbol on your when you leave?

[1:10:12] Bobby Creighton: Yeah, well, my main, you know, I have mottos and then I have a quote. So, you know, my first motto is smell good, feel good. But that's not important. Smell good—the quotes that I've shared with you that I think have resonated, and I think I have a note in my phone with a bunch of them.

[1:10:26] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah.

[1:10:26] Bobby Creighton: One is time—and this is appropriate we talked about staying in there—time will either promote you or expose you. That's my favorite. Time will either promote you or expose you. It happens every time. You could be like—you start rehearsal for a Broadway show in the first two weeks, everybody's friendly and sunny and taking notes and da-da-da. And then there are certain people who two years in are exactly like they were the first two weeks of rehearsal.

[1:10:50] Kevin Del Aguila: Right.

[1:10:50] Bobby Creighton: And there's certain people who have been exposed for who they really are. They kept it together for a couple weeks. In this cast, by the way, we have a phenomenal cast. But in life, you know, time will either promote you or expose you, anyone.

[1:11:03] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah.

[1:11:04] Bobby Creighton: And that's an important one, I think. You can't hit the ball till you get there, Joe.

[1:11:07] Joe Carroll: Wait, what?

[1:11:07] Bobby Creighton: You can't hit the ball till you get there. You're a golfer. So you hit the ball, and if you spend the whole time walking down the fairway worried about your lie, right? Where how your ball is or where if it's gonna be okay, if it's gonna be a good lie, bad lie? You spoil the walk down the fairway. You cannot hit the ball till you get there. That's my dad's.

[1:11:26] Kevin Del Aguila: That's a new one.

[1:11:27] Bobby Creighton: I like that one. You can't hit the ball till you get there. That's a great one about the biggest. Take it all in, enjoy the ride, da-da-da. And then when you get up to whatever it is you have to deal with, then you deal with it. But why worry about it all the way down the fairway?

[1:11:39] Kevin Del Aguila: Big fan of that. Can't hit the ball till you get there.

[1:11:41] Bobby Creighton: Do you want me to keep going?

[1:11:43] Kevin Del Aguila: Yes, yeah.

[1:11:43] Bobby Creighton: Listen, listen, they're gonna kick us out.

[1:11:45] Kevin Del Aguila: Kevin's laughing.

[1:11:46] Bobby Creighton: Like we've had so—give me, give me two more.

[1:11:48] Kevin Del Aguila: Oh, geez.

[1:11:49] Bobby Creighton: Would you rather be right or have peace of mind?

[1:11:53] Kevin Del Aguila: Would you rather be right?

[1:11:54] Bobby Creighton: Or have peace of mind. Yeah, and sometimes it's be right, but a lot of times it's how peace of mind. Right. We're talking today about the changes in the show, et cetera, et cetera. Like, you know, they're—we're making changes to Frozen based on what the evolution of what happened for the—

[1:12:04] Joe Carroll: Just locked the glass doors.

[1:12:13] Bobby Creighton: Wow.

[1:12:13] Kevin Del Aguila: There you go.

[1:12:13] Bobby Creighton: Good. Yeah. They are making changes in the tour. See how I pause there so you could edit that?

[1:12:18] Joe Carroll: No, it is great.

[1:12:19] Bobby Creighton: It's great. No, I actually love it because they are literally kicking us out. That's exactly what I wanted. I wanted that. Everybody's locked in. Nobody's leaving.

[1:12:25] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, yeah.

[1:12:26] Bobby Creighton: So now we're stuck. Anyone podcasting in the building at this time, please shut it down.

[1:12:31] Kevin Del Aguila: Any Bobby Creighton quotes will be locked inside.

[1:12:35] Bobby Creighton: Yep. Yep.

[1:12:37] Kevin Del Aguila: I really like that one. And then there was one that you said—oh, something about information. No, no. Yeah, I saw documentation beats conversation. In other words, if I get in an argument with someone and they're saying, oh, you know, but 32% of the people on Broadway are blah blah blah. I'm like, show me the stats, man. Documentation beats conversation. We can talk all day, or you can look it up from a credible source and show me the documentation.

[1:13:08] Bobby Creighton: Documentation beats conversation. That's a big one. And then, and then, hold on, wait a minute. That's my favorite part of my day right now. Cashews and Basil Hayden's. That's another one. That's a new philosophy of this. Oh, this was a good one. This was another good one from my notes.

[1:13:22] Kevin Del Aguila: Yeah, yeah.

[1:13:25] Bobby Creighton: The first one is time will either promote you or expose you. That's—when you know the good you should do and you don't do it, that's a sin.

[1:13:34] Kevin Del Aguila: Listen.

[1:13:36] Bobby Creighton: Well, that's biblical. I didn't write that. But I didn't—I mean, I'm not like super religious, but to me, no, no. The idea that like, you know the right thing to do and you don't do it, and you choose not to do it, that's when you're wrong. Everybody makes mistakes. Right. Everybody screws up, makes mistakes, da-da-da. And everything's a big thing. But when you know the right thing to do, and then you choose to do the opposite thing, that is unacceptable.

[1:13:57] Kevin Del Aguila: Yes.

[1:13:57] Bobby Creighton: Or sin if you're a—whatever, but yes, Mr. Creighton goes to watch it. We were just talking about that movie in here. We were just talking about how we have old DVDs and no place to watch them.

[1:14:06] Kevin Del Aguila: Yes, except when he filibusters, he do did it like speaking. I would do it like this.

[1:14:10] Bobby Creighton: Check it, check it. The podcast.

[1:14:13] Joe Carroll: Oh no.

[1:14:13] Bobby Creighton: Come with me, and it's been so nice, my friend. He's got it going.

[1:14:19] Kevin Del Aguila: Guys, it'd like a musical call.

[1:14:20] Bobby Creighton: Thanks for joining us. It's been a sweet Basil Hayden, total cashew.

[1:14:26] Joe Carroll: Come on, Joe. You know I like to do.

[1:14:27] Bobby Creighton: I can throw for you. I got a show to do.

[1:14:30] Joe Carroll: Okay, now we're gonna get it. Guys, thank you so much.

[1:14:35] Bobby Creighton: Thank you.

[1:14:36] Kevin Del Aguila: And from the bottom of my heart, thank you for this dressing room. This has been such a joy.

[1:14:42] Bobby Creighton: We really will. We have the Altar Boyz. You know we're coming to your town.

[1:14:49] Kevin Del Aguila: We are the Altar Boyz.

[1:14:50] Bobby Creighton: We are gonna knock the devil down.

[1:14:52] Kevin Del Aguila: We are the Altar Boyz.

[1:14:54] Bobby Creighton: We're going to sing for two today.

[1:14:55] Kevin Del Aguila: We are the Altar Boyz.

[1:14:57] Bobby Creighton: We always be your when we pray.

[1:14:59] Kevin Del Aguila: We are the Altar Boyz.