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[0:03] Josh Lamon: Just follows, Josh Lamon, just follows Broadway.

[0:20] Josh Lamon: Hey everybody, what's up? Welcome back to Josh Swallows Broadway. Um, I'm so excited. I'm here with the Never Boys. That's right, the boys of Neverland, finding fucking Neverland. Can you believe it? We have Jonathan Ritter.

[0:36] Jonathan Ritter: Hi, Jonathan.

[0:38] Josh Lamon: Hi. How's my angel baby?

[0:42] Jonathan Ritter: Oh, so good.

[0:44] Josh Lamon: Good. Oh god, I love you, and your beard is so long.

[0:48] Jonathan Ritter: Thank you. I just stopped cutting it.

[0:51] Josh Lamon: Oh, well, congratulations. Ryan Worsing, Broadway's darling Ryan Worsing.

[0:57] Ryan Worsing: Hi, Ryan.

[0:58] Josh Lamon: Hi, Joshua. How are you?

[1:00] Ryan Worsing: Oh my gosh. I'm just better now that I'm looking at you. I miss you so much.

[1:05] Josh Lamon: I miss you too, baby. That's right, audience at home. He's crying. Chris Dwan.

[1:12] Josh Lamon: Hi, Chris Dwan. Look at him. He's voguing. Got a got got all computer setup.

[1:20] Chris Dwan: Hi guys.

[1:21] Josh Lamon: Hi, baby. I miss you so much. You look great. I love those glasses.

[1:26] Chris Dwan: Oh, thanks. Thanks. They bring out my chin.

[1:30] Josh Lamon: Sorry for your readers. I can see you. And Colin Cunliffe and Ron Todorowski are in the same room, ladies and gentlemen.

[1:42] Colin Cunliffe: Hi.

[1:50] Ron Todorowski: Hi.

[1:55] Josh Lamon: I think that see this is what we got to experience every day in that never-ending insanity.

[2:08] Colin Cunliffe: Chaos was finding Neverland. Now, Josh, I'm not sure how what your feelings are on bootlegs, but I stumbled across one the other day called A Grown Man Plays in the Park with Children, but it isn't creepy, Act One.

[2:25] Colin Cunliffe: And it turned out to be FINDING NEVERLAND. And I watched highlights, and guys, it was utter chaos. It was so fun to watch again.

[2:38] Josh Lamon: Yeah, yeah. Um, it was so weird to see it. You know, like I never saw it before. I just knew what like our journeys were.

[2:49] Ryan Worsing: None of your leave of absences, you came to see the show.

[2:52] Josh Lamon: How dare you?

[2:57] Ryan Worsing: How dare you?

[2:58] Josh Lamon: I took two leaves, didn't I?

[3:04] Ryan Worsing: Did you miss me when I was gone?

[3:06] Colin Cunliffe: Every time.

[3:07] Ryan Worsing: Always we miss you.

[3:09] Josh Lamon: That's right. The puzzle pieces were just so lonely.

[3:13] Colin Cunliffe: Oh, right. Uh, we had an area of the theater that was very sacred. It was by the men's dressing area around stage level, and it was a hallway called Hush Meadows because you couldn't be loud.

[3:30] Ryan Worsing: And um, I was watching Big Brother or Survivor while cross-stitching during the show because I had like an 81 minute break.

[3:39] Josh Lamon: Um wow. Um, what did we call the ensemble area? Like our area?

[3:45] Colin Cunliffe: It was Hush Meadows and something else.

[3:49] Ryan Worsing: Well, like Hush Meadows blended into like the men's dressing room. And I think it started with like you just slowly moving like your dressing room station chair like further and further into Hush Meadows, and you're like, oh, you guys, we can do puzzles.

[4:08] Josh Lamon: The deep end of the lunch.

[4:13] Ryan Worsing: Let us just remember too that you were literally five feet from sitting audience members on the other side of those doors.

[4:22] Josh Lamon: But it made you really close if Kristen Twitch wanted to come backstage for a picture.

[4:27] Colin Cunliffe: So yeah, that's right there. Who was your favorite celebrity that came?

[4:32] Ryan Worsing: Jesse J.

[4:35] Colin Cunliffe: I thought she was off.

[4:37] Ryan Worsing: She was so sweet. I was I was all about Jennifer Lawrence.

[4:42] Colin Cunliffe: Love Jennifer Lawrence.

[4:44] Ryan Worsing: Julie Andrews.

[4:46] Colin Cunliffe: Julie Andrews.

[4:48] Ryan Worsing: She came when I wasn't there.

[4:49] Colin Cunliffe: You got to meet Julie Andrews.

[4:52] Ryan Worsing: Yeah, I know she came to the show.

[4:56] Colin Cunliffe: Oh, I will say we all took a photo with her, and I feel like we all look insane. We're all just like the biggest beady eyes and huge smile. Just like, look at her.

[5:09] Ryan Worsing: And very undressed, mind you, because we'd all quick changed out after the show as well. So yeah, we look like lunatics.

[5:17] Josh Lamon: Um I love FINDING NEVERLAND, and I love all of you because I feel like we became such a tight family just because everything was so crazy. Like I want to hear some of your favorite moments from backstage or favorite crazy moments that happened. And Colin I want to start with you.

[5:47] Colin Cunliffe: Well, do I just I I guess I just gotta say it. My probably one of my favorite moments or most memorable moments was walking onto the stage a week before previews and seeing the full company on stage with a real live dog when I was playing the dog performing my scene in the show.

[6:13] Colin Cunliffe: No calls, no emails. All of a sudden, out of the blue, I walk on stage, and there's a fucking dog barking my lines, and everyone there, everyone on stage. And I just immediately jumped off stage and said, keep your job.

[6:36] Colin Cunliffe: You're a swinging pirate, make it work, and then found um everyone in the audience and said, What's up? Which they just were like, so basically in a nutshell, I've been doing the dog, the dog's design between like just all of us. We couldn't quite figure it out. I looked like a big kind of creepy sasquatchy character, just yeah, yeah, I just looks so big in it, and we just couldn't figure out the right design for it.

[7:05] Colin Cunliffe: And the problem was, I think I would always wanted to go for like kind of a knickers and a vest and like mix it in, and you know, I'm hairy, so whatever. But they said that that looked too no, I mean, like, you could just make something kind of a cool design out of it or whatever. Um, and they said it looked too much like I was a young boy, like next to him, and like snipping his crotch, and then just like up on and just with you know, Jay and Barry's backstory, that was not a good look.

[7:32] Colin Cunliffe: So they kind of know that is not a good look. Which I thought Sutorat did an amazing job, and all the people did such an amazing job creating, uh, but we just didn't know what it looked like on stage, and I just don't think it worked for their vision, and so they replaced me with a real dog without telling me a week before previews.

[7:53] Ryan Worsing: Oh my god, bear in mind was not very good at this their entrance opening night, which yeah in the wheel. I didn't know his lines.

[8:04] Colin Cunliffe: The amazing thing was that they chose they were like, Well, we need to get a dog. Why don't we find a dog that's never been on stage before? Oh yeah. You know what? Let's just start from scratch, give them a new opportunity, and uh let's get Bambi in here to train her.

[8:23] Colin Cunliffe: Now Bambi, I love so much, and she's got this voice, she talks like this. And um, Diane Paulus would be in the house trying to get the fucking dog to like turn left or turn right, and she'd be on the god mic being like, Okay, Bambi, Bambi, can can you have the dog? Um, look at Matthew. And Bambi would be like, No, no, I can't, he's a dog.

[8:51] Colin Cunliffe: Not trained for that. Well, what what do you want? He's a dog. You're lucky to have a dog, you know. You know, it was just but she would also be like standing in the wing, like fully seen in like her street clothes, like with a cracker and a snapper. Like, hey, Bambi, we're gonna need you to take a few steps back.

[9:13] Colin Cunliffe: There was a time during during previews when I had a bit in the nursery scene with a dog or something, and they kept putting like real meat in my hands to like entice the dog. So I'm trying to make like a not so funny bit funny while holding like raw meat in my hand while in a onesie on Bron.

[9:38] Ryan Worsing: Wasn't the new meat?

[9:40] Colin Cunliffe: Me too, Josh. You would hold the raw meat for me too.

[9:43] Josh Lamon: Well, that's because you're a hungry baby.

[9:50] Colin Cunliffe: Oh this hour is just gonna be us giggling.

[9:58] Josh Lamon: Happens every day.

[9:59] Colin Cunliffe: No, but I mean, just to wrap it up, I mean I I did have to, and and at one point when they first brought out the costume, I was in a rehearsal room, and they brought me in, like, okay, Harvey's coming, Harvey's coming. And this is the first time we're showing in the costume. So just like, would you wear it? Can you just um I was like, be a dog? And they're like, Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[10:21] Colin Cunliffe: Waiting in the with like, I swear there's like 15 people that I may or may not have never seen before, I'd ever seen before, and the doors open, and it's Harvey and his daughter. Very they're very sweet, but so I'm thinking, okay, great, like interact with the kid. So I like go and like gallop over as a dog, and she just screams in horror.

[10:45] Josh Lamon: Oh no, it's going so bad.

[10:47] Colin Cunliffe: Be a cuddly dog, be a cuddly dog. So then I curled up and she was like, um, I want to feed the dog. Daddy, I want to feed the dog. So he's like, Great, get the dog a treat. So an assistant goes out, grabs a brown bag from the hallway, comes back in, and I didn't know what it was. Luckily, it was, I think, a Starbucks cookie, and had to eat just at like looking up at Harvey Weinstein and just eating a cookie from his daughter's mouth.

[11:16] Colin Cunliffe: She was very nice, and they were they were happy, but I'll never forget that image.

[11:21] Josh Lamon: I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I just want to acknowledge how bizarre that is.

[11:26] Colin Cunliffe: It made comments. People pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for that training at a BFA.

[11:38] Ryan Worsing: You got it in an afternoon.

[11:40] Colin Cunliffe: That's right. That's exactly what it's like. What if that was a class? Like, okay, you're the executive producer of the entire world. Um their child is going to make you be their dog. And if you do a good job, they'll give you a treat.

[11:59] Josh Lamon: Yeah. You want to see breath, grounding yourself, grounding your knees on the floor.

[12:06] Colin Cunliffe: Now, didn't he also make Melanie dance for the daughter at some point?

[12:12] Ryan Worsing: Oh, I think that sounds right.

[12:14] Colin Cunliffe: Like, look, does this look like Peter Panda you? You know, and show and tell.

[12:19] Ryan Worsing: Yeah, a lot of show and tell. Like in general. I remember there being moments in rehearsal where, like, all of a sudden, like all these assistants would show up, and Diane would come up to us.

[12:32] Jonathan Ritter: Like, we'd hear her like yell at someone over there, and then she'd come up to us and be like, I am so sorry. I am so sorry. Harvey's on his way, and he wants to see believe.

[12:44] Ryan Worsing: Oh yeah, oh yeah.

[12:46] Jonathan Ritter: But we hadn't learned it yet.

[12:48] Colin Cunliffe: Yeah.

[12:48] Jonathan Ritter: So we just perform it and then we'll go back and like learn it. But just like do it, just do it full out once. See, that's why I bring up chaos because it was always such intricate movements with 30 people on stage children, animals, adults, all trying to shine.

[13:16] Ron Todorowski: All right.

[13:19] Jonathan Ritter: When we finished a run, and Diane on the God Mic goes, Jonathan, can you come out and run that again? So I'm like, okay. This was during this was at ART. We were doing uh that first song that Jeremy sings.

[13:36] Colin Cunliffe: What was the the cut song?

[13:38] Jonathan Ritter: Um, no, but they that was another one for member me.

[13:46] Ryan Worsing: Oh my god.

[13:47] Jonathan Ritter: There were 8,000 opening numbers, better better, and they still weren't happy after Broadway.

[13:54] Chris Dwan: They changed it for the tour, too.

[13:57] Jonathan Ritter: Really?

[13:57] Chris Dwan: Yeah, they did up with like a whole new opening nine minutes when they sent the show out on tour.

[14:05] Jonathan Ritter: They still hated the opening.

[14:08] Chris Dwan: What about and what about when Diane said in tech? Um, great job, you guys, after like I think like circus of your mind or something? She was like, really great job, great wonderful work, you guys. Now let's go back and fix all of that.

[14:29] Jonathan Ritter: All of that.

[14:30] Chris Dwan: Yeah.

[14:30] Jonathan Ritter: And by fix, we meant cut and replace. Good effort, but wait, that sucks.

[14:37] Josh Lamon: Josh, didn't you have like a little tradition before believe, speaking of believe, that you would do before going on stage each night?

[14:45] Josh Lamon: Sure did. I did. What did I do?

[14:48] Ryan Worsing: You would do you would do different methods to meet.

[14:54] Josh Lamon: Okay.

[14:55] Ron Todorowski: So Ronnie, tell the story. Tell the story.

[14:57] Ron Todorowski: You're on stage. Entrance in stage right wing two. And you know, we maybe had like 45 seconds, maybe not even, or whatever. And there were there were different. There were very I mean you this went on for I mean, eight shows a week for months.

[15:14] Ron Todorowski: And they're different. You drowned, you cut your throat with your cane, you hung yourself, you got electrocuted. There were always you were very creative.

[15:25] Colin Cunliffe: I think there was even a crucifixion.

[15:27] Ron Todorowski: There was definitely a crucifixion, yep.

[15:30] Jonathan Ritter: Well, these little kids are dancing on stage and believe.

[15:38] Chris Dwan: Easily.

[15:40] Ron Todorowski: What was the line the line you used to say to the kids that got cut as the old man before the lead?

[15:46] Josh Lamon: I think, oh yeah, there was a there was a moment in FINDING NEVERLAND history where I played an old crotchety man that I had a crossover, and the kids ran around me, and they called them like little devils or white devils devil child devil child and that got cut just as quick as my balloon dance at ART which was so good no it wasn't um was oh you were amazing it was epic I mean if the public doesn't know Josh Lehman is a beautiful and brilliant dancer correct I mean sure everyone knows by now after seeing him like in the prom but well of course I am I'm a Nicolau girl Josh dancers I'm a Nicolau girl you understand you're a warlile girl I'm a Sergio girl you're a Sergio go you're a Mia Michaels go you guys were the Mia Michael dancers true I wish it was called finding neverland and the Mia Michael Dancers working with her was a real trip for me like I've never really had to like dance much and granted I didn't really have to do that in finding neverland either but um Mia doesn't come from the theater world correct now we can use a safe word if we need to right now.

[17:33] Chris Dwan: Um, because I see I see faces going up.

[17:37] Jonathan Ritter: I see uh oh uh-oh.

[17:39] Chris Dwan: Um so safe word is stronger.

[17:49] Jonathan Ritter: That's gonna that's gonna be problematic.

[17:53] Chris Dwan: Okay.

[17:54] Chris Dwan: So what was it like being a Mia Michael dancer?

[18:00] Ryan Worsing: Well, I'll go first because I I danced in her company back in 1998.

[18:08] Jonathan Ritter: You're really a Mia Michaels girl.

[18:10] Ryan Worsing: So I'm an old school girl, Mia Michael dancer. Um, yeah, you know, I've been through a lot of chapters with her, and she's you know, she's layered. She's she requires a lot and she's really passionate about what she does, and you know, like it's it's an intense process.

[18:29] Ryan Worsing: Um, and I I really do feel as far as finding Neverland goes, I wish that she had more freedom to do what she really wanted choreographically.

[18:38] Jonathan Ritter: Um, but that's you know, so often what happens with choreographers. They're just like the dance is the first thing to get cut.

[18:45] Ryan Worsing: Um yeah, that's what I'll say about it.

[18:47] Chris Dwan: That's all I'll say about it.

[18:48] Ryan Worsing: My favorite, my favorite thing about Mia. I was so starstruck when we started, and so I I just loved how she wanted to work so hard and then play even harder.

[19:03] Ryan Worsing: We would go out with Mia till four o'clock in the morning.

[19:08] Jonathan Ritter: It was so fun.

[19:10] Ryan Worsing: I remember going to her birthday party too at some expensive steak restaurant.

[19:15] Ryan Worsing: I had I was like, oh my god, this is amazing. I made it. This is my Broadway debut. I'm having dinner with Mia Michaels. Then the bill came and I was like, I need a second job.

[19:25] Jonathan Ritter: Oh no.

[19:29] Ryan Worsing: So fun. Such a fun time.

[19:32] Chris Dwan: Oh, yeah.

[19:33] Ryan Worsing: I just remember there was one day where we were kind of working on the pirate number and stuff, and she had worked with I think Elliot a bit to create this like these drums and chains, and it was just kind of on loop, and she just wanted to play with us in the studio.

[19:48] Chris Dwan: But I remember on this amazing sound system, you know, at a new 42 studio, and and she just put it on and like pulled it out of us.

[19:57] Ryan Worsing: I mean, we got so nasty and crunky, and she's just in your face, and like go, go, go, you know, and and I don't I don't know if I can remember like being in a studio with a Broadway choreographer and having that freedom to really go in that hard and that deep and just explore kind of that world and that way of move moving, which I just really am a fan of with her.

[20:19] Jonathan Ritter: And you all were fierce in that number.

[20:24] Chris Dwan: Now, how many of you had to climb the sails that like came out of the ground?

[20:31] Jonathan Ritter: I see Jonathan, Ryan, and Colin.

[20:34] Ron Todorowski: Yeah, Ronnie, you were saying no, thank you, ma'am.

[20:38] Ron Todorowski: That actually was gonna be my what my story.

[20:40] Jonathan Ritter: One of why there's so many.

[20:43] Ron Todorowski: I love I love this story, though.

[20:46] Ron Todorowski: I love this story.

[20:53] Jonathan Ritter: I just slowed Emma was the only one that clocked this.

[20:57] Ron Todorowski: I just casually like made my way off stage, the furthest upstage wing it could possibly, and lit literally hid.

[21:10] Jonathan Ritter: It hid.

[21:11] Ron Todorowski: I was like out of sight, and thank goodness. You know, at in at ART when they were doing uh circus of your mind, I hid in the stage left quick change booth because no matter what, I was not moving one of those doors.

[21:30] Jonathan Ritter: I was not that was not my journey.

[21:34] Ron Todorowski: That was not going to happen. And that saved me.

[21:38] Jonathan Ritter: And uh, like remember when the three girls had to come out holding giant mirrors on their bodies and like I couldn't move.

[21:50] Chris Dwan: Um, but anyway, um Jessica Vosk.

[21:56] Jonathan Ritter: They had to like pony on the ears to hold the doors though, too.

[22:01] Chris Dwan: Many girls, I think called out because they hurt their wrists, or their shoulders.

[22:06] Ryan Worsing: Those doors were yeah, problematic for sure.

[22:10] Chris Dwan: They were dangerous, yeah.

[22:12] Jonathan Ritter: The doors took out Carolie in tech, right?

[22:15] Ryan Worsing: Well, and that was the only one. We had half of our principal cast behind the doors as well.

[22:20] Jonathan Ritter: It was treacherous, yeah.

[22:22] Chris Dwan: That's nuts.

[22:24] Jonathan Ritter: No, we got to show circus of your mind without rehearsing it one time, and that's when I I got to smack Carolie Carmelo in the head with my pole in front of everyone.

[22:36] Ryan Worsing: Yeah.

[22:36] Jonathan Ritter: Oh Jonathan. She looked at me, she looked at me and went, ah to the ground.

[22:46] Ryan Worsing: And this was like at a breaking point.

[22:48] Jonathan Ritter: We were all exhausted.

[22:50] Jonathan Ritter: We were all like, what are we doing? We it was like version number 17.

[22:54] Ryan Worsing: And I looked, I looked down at her, and she was she just looked at me and like winked.

[23:00] Jonathan Ritter: And I was like, okay, she's okay. I didn't kill her. She's okay.

[23:04] Jonathan Ritter: The whole last 15 minutes of act one felt like just a massive, hideous crossfit class for the ensemble guys because I had to either work the doors for those carousel poles in circus of your mind, and then quick change into running the ropes or lifting math on the bench, and then quick change into flying off of the rat lines until you pass out and they call blackout.

[23:31] Ryan Worsing: I mean, that last 15 minutes was rough.

[23:35] Colin Cunliffe: Wasn't there like one door that was like five times heavier than the others, Ryan?

[23:40] Ryan Worsing: The purple purple door.

[23:44] Ryan Worsing: And like they had tape, the black tape wrapped around the poles as well.

[23:48] Jonathan Ritter: Half of them had like shards of met sticking out of them.

[23:52] Ryan Worsing: I mean, you were if you didn't get injured in the last 15 minutes of act one, uh, you you didn't do the show.

[23:58] Jonathan Ritter: You that just didn't count.

[23:59] Ryan Worsing: There was uh I think it was Rory's door that was significantly heavier, um, which was always choice when a swing got to go on for that track, too.

[24:10] Jonathan Ritter: Always a dream.

[24:12] Ryan Worsing: Yeah, god.

[24:14] Chris Dwan: We were originally supposed to wear these like 700 pound horse heads for that number that were then cut.

[24:21] Jonathan Ritter: Right there's a picture.

[24:24] Chris Dwan: I think there's a picture of Ronnie trying it on stage.

[24:29] Jonathan Ritter: He's like, I can't move my head.

[24:34] Ryan Worsing: There were a lot of people playing animals in that show, a lot of people playing animals.

[24:41] Colin Cunliffe: Lucky them.

[24:42] Chris Dwan: Lucky them, lucky them girl.

[24:42] Colin Cunliffe: Lucky them.

[24:46] Chris Dwan: And you got to be a dancing bear on roller skates, Colin.

[24:52] Colin Cunliffe: Was that terrible?

[24:53] Chris Dwan: Talk about bootleg.

[24:55] Ryan Worsing: Yeah.

[25:01] Chris Dwan: I looked so it looked so weird.

[25:07] Chris Dwan: And then I called it.

[25:10] Chris Dwan: Because then I had that little like I had to come back out, quick change out of my roller skates, and then this little tricycle that Diane was really just wanted a bear on a tricycle.

[25:20] Chris Dwan: So then all of a sudden.

[25:25] Chris Dwan: But I had so much fun in that head and in those paws and on those skates.

[25:30] Chris Dwan: And yeah.

[25:31] Chris Dwan: Oh, we all had fun during believe.

[25:34] Chris Dwan: But not as much fun as we had during the uh the play at the end of the show in the nursery.

[25:44] Chris Dwan: Um my we were so terrible.

[25:51] Chris Dwan: Um I just remember during play Melanie or um who came in after Melanie?

[26:00] Ryan Worsing: Amy.

[26:01] Chris Dwan: Amy, Amy, like we would name their character during the song play.

[26:06] Chris Dwan: Like we, you mean yeah, we'd be like Evelyn or Cinnamon, just stripper names, and uh when the when you boys would lift her up and she would fly in the in the nursery, we'd all whisper her name in awe.

[26:34] Ryan Worsing: Just collectively be like, Cinema.

[26:42] Chris Dwan: And I didn't know that.

[26:43] Chris Dwan: I didn't know you did that until probably like eight months into the run, and we're lifting Amy, and I just hear like Alexa.

[26:54] Ryan Worsing: It's like, who is that?

[27:00] Chris Dwan: Yeah.

[27:02] Chris Dwan: I mean, I think that's that is what I just loved about doing that show so much is that there was so much action going on all over the stage, but everyone was like in to play, like in the world, and just these characters became so developed.

[27:17] Chris Dwan: Everybody's little cross story was just insane.

[27:21] Chris Dwan: And I feel like you were on that stage and just see like gold.

[27:25] Ryan Worsing: But I can honestly say, I mean, being swung out to watch and take notes on the show once a week, it was very the energy on stage that we are all having so much fun was truly palpable across the footlights as well.

[27:39] Ryan Worsing: Like it was never anything that was distracting or stealing from the moments of the show.

[27:45] Ryan Worsing: Like the life on stage was so richly built that you could genuinely feel it as an audience member too.

[27:52] Ryan Worsing: It was it was really special.

[27:53] Chris Dwan: I've never seen it.

[27:53] Chris Dwan: You were always such a Neverland head, Ryan.

[27:56] Ryan Worsing: You loved it so much.

[27:58] Chris Dwan: I loved it.

[27:59] Ryan Worsing: I love when you would get strung out.

[28:02] Chris Dwan: Well, I didn't have to go through previews, so uh there was that saving grace for me.

[28:08] Ryan Worsing: Right, right.

[28:10] Chris Dwan: Oh, but I'm so glad that you came in, Ryan.

[28:14] Ryan Worsing: Me too.

[28:14] Chris Dwan: Oh gosh, I mean, the best thing for me was like the love that I have for for you boys is so huge.

[28:26] Chris Dwan: Like the backstage life at um FINDING NEVERLAND, I think was some of the best like backstage life I've ever had.

[28:36] Ryan Worsing: Oh, yeah.

[28:37] Ryan Worsing: Agreed.

[28:39] Chris Dwan: Um, so what was the most dangerous number in the show?

[28:42] Ryan Worsing: Do you think?

[28:43] Ryan Worsing: Well, I um have I experienced some falling scenery at one moment during previews.

[28:52] Ryan Worsing: It was my Broadway debut, and I was like, I will do anything you want me to do.

[28:59] Ryan Worsing: And there was one moment where Diane wanted me in the middle of like a pulley system of ropes, and I like got in it and it fell and it fell off the fly and landed on my foot.

[29:13] Ryan Worsing: So I missed a week of previews, so that was really fun.

[29:16] Ryan Worsing: I have another instant of doing a flip off a table and like breaking my big toe, it still doesn't really bend fully, right?

[29:26] Chris Dwan: What about when you were on the rope?

[29:27] Chris Dwan: Yeah, and you hit your head, and you hit your head on the floor.

[29:32] Ryan Worsing: I first I don't remember that.

[29:34] Ryan Worsing: No, I um there was this really crazy moment where like you know, the the the stage is hollow too.

[29:44] Ryan Worsing: So I went down and I just remember everyone telling me about the sound.

[29:48] Ryan Worsing: Oh afterward, but I got rushed off stage.

[29:51] Ryan Worsing: I sat down, and our vocal painter what's her designer.

[29:58] Chris Dwan: Vocal designer Anne Marie, I believe ran some reiki spells over me and took the concussion away.

[30:07] Ryan Worsing: I believe she gave herself the concussion to spare me the pain.

[30:11] Chris Dwan: I really didn't.

[30:15] Chris Dwan: I do.

[30:15] Chris Dwan: I've really facted work.

[30:18] Ryan Worsing: Um do you guys remember?

[30:19] Ryan Worsing: It's hard to think though about what is the most dangerous though, because you know, like we were saying the whole end of act one was pretty nutty, but then the top of act two was rather dangerous for you, Josh.

[30:33] Chris Dwan: And then we also had the number play, where we were throwing chairs and tables and people the entire length of the stage.

[30:41] Ryan Worsing: So I honestly don't know that we could peg just one.

[30:46] Chris Dwan: Yeah.

[30:47] Chris Dwan: All the put ins, like right before the show, like, okay, we're gonna do play, and be like, oh my god.

[30:47] Chris Dwan: Oh my god.

[30:56] Chris Dwan: Again, it was like Vietnam.

[30:59] Chris Dwan: We worked so hard, and all the rehearsals during the day.

[31:03] Ryan Worsing: Um but yeah, the the top of act two was uh did get a little dangerous for me.

[31:10] Ryan Worsing: A couple times at once, a couple times on that note, Josh.

[31:13] Chris Dwan: Can we just talk about yaba dabadoo?

[31:16] Ryan Worsing: Yeah, let's let's do it.

[31:21] Chris Dwan: Um, favorite FINDING NEVERLAND story.

[31:23] Chris Dwan: So go around.

[31:24] Chris Dwan: To give the audience uh a premise at the top of act two, I would fly.

[31:31] Chris Dwan: And then something went wrong with the machine one of many times, and like it dropped me for like a second, and it it still caught me, but there was a malfunction of like I thought that I was gonna die for a split second.

[31:47] Ryan Worsing: Well, and it happened like in a row, and if you hadn't picked your legs up, I mean it would have crushed your legs.

[31:54] Ryan Worsing: Your knees were like inches off of the floor.

[31:57] Chris Dwan: Oh my gosh, hold a watch.

[32:00] Chris Dwan: Um, and so what I remember is um Tony Yasbeck was back in the show that night.

[32:14] Chris Dwan: And um SJM Barry and stronger.

[32:23] Chris Dwan: Well um, I remember the PSM was in the audience watching Tony Yasbeck.

[32:40] Chris Dwan: And being that I just like almost fell to my death, I was waiting off stage for the PSM to come and talk to me and you know, we'll see what the fuck happened.

[32:54] Chris Dwan: And um there was no PSM.

[32:57] Ryan Worsing: You kept checking your phone, you're like waiting for a text.

[33:01] Chris Dwan: And so finally I had out in the hallway.

[33:03] Chris Dwan: Yeah, finally I texted the PSM and I said, Are you going to come back and talk to me?

[33:09] Chris Dwan: Or is Tony just that good?

[33:17] Ryan Worsing: And um then the next thing I remember is um they were gonna throw a dog and pony show for me the next day.

[33:27] Chris Dwan: Yeah, exact words, exact words there.

[33:30] Ryan Worsing: Yeah, yeah.

[33:31] Ryan Worsing: They were like, Yeah, we have to do a little dog and pony show for Josh.

[33:35] Chris Dwan: And that dog and pony show involved a very petite woman being flown in the air to show me.

[33:46] Chris Dwan: I mean, if she's a toothpick, I'm a sequoia.

[33:51] Chris Dwan: To show me how safe, how safe she feels up in the air.

[33:57] Chris Dwan: And um would anybody else like to chip in to this story?

[34:03] Ryan Worsing: Well, sure.

[34:04] Ryan Worsing: I I mean I was lucky enough to be at this dog and pony show as well.

[34:09] Ryan Worsing: Um and you made your grand entrance and undid your scarf and ready for the moment.

[34:14] Ryan Worsing: And of course, as you walk in, this person is already hanging in the air, as if that is going to prove to you that you're totally safe on this two show day to do this pattern again.

[34:27] Ryan Worsing: But you were not having any of it, rightly so.

[34:31] Ryan Worsing: Um, they brought her to the ground and started to have a conversation, and you were very direct.

[34:36] Ryan Worsing: You just said, what was the malfunction?

[34:38] Ryan Worsing: What was the malfunction?

[34:40] Chris Dwan: And they could not provide you any answers.

[34:42] Ryan Worsing: At which point another stage manager started to speak up, and without even making eye contact, you put your hand in his face and just said yabadabadu completely.

[34:56] Chris Dwan: As if that was going to shut down the whole conversation.

[35:00] Ryan Worsing: Pretty much dead.

[35:02] Ryan Worsing: And then you followed up by saying, listen here.

[35:07] Ryan Worsing: There are a handful of shows that I will die for.

[35:10] Ryan Worsing: A new song musical.

[35:13] Ryan Worsing: A revival of Hello Dolly with Ben Hidler.

[35:18] Ryan Worsing: Or a revival of Once on This Island.

[35:21] Ryan Worsing: Fucking Neverland is not one of them.

[35:25] Chris Dwan: And I think that ended the D Pony show right there.

[35:29] Ryan Worsing: Yeah, I I remember I will not die for finding fucking Neverland.

[35:36] Chris Dwan: Um but hey, then they fixed it, didn't they?

[35:40] Ryan Worsing: Yeah, they did.

[35:42] Ryan Worsing: I happen to cross upstage right as the Yabba Dabba Doo was being said.

[35:48] Chris Dwan: So that's kind of what I walked into.

[35:52] Chris Dwan: And I use it all the time.

[35:57] Chris Dwan: Dabba.

[36:01] Chris Dwan: It says everything.

[36:03] Chris Dwan: It's really everything.

[36:05] Chris Dwan: And also let that be a lesson to you, gentle listeners.

[36:09] Chris Dwan: If you don't say no, nobody else is gonna say it for you.

[36:14] Chris Dwan: And I'm not saying spend diva dollars left and right, don't max out the diva card.

[36:18] Chris Dwan: I'm saying if they drop you when you're flying, you have the right to say yabba dabba do.

[36:30] Ryan Worsing: Whoever is trying to silence you.

[36:38] Chris Dwan: Um sad.

[36:40] Chris Dwan: Yeah, that was fun.

[36:41] Chris Dwan: But also like, Chris, I I really admired you a lot watching you go through all these horrible injuries.

[36:48] Chris Dwan: I learned uh like it was really awesome and cool, just like how professionally you were able to like draw a line and be like, this happened, so this is not what I'm comfortable with, so we can do this.

[37:01] Colin Cunliffe: Totally.

[37:02] Colin Cunliffe: I changed some choreography into the run because I had to do a front flip off of a table, and at one point they extended the legs of the table and didn't tell me, so I like over rotated and hurt my toe.

[37:16] Colin Cunliffe: So I ended up just doing a cartwheel.

[37:18] Josh Lamon: And hey, no one was watching me during that part anyway.

[37:25] Ryan Worsing: Definitely.

[37:26] Jonathan Ritter: So that was definitely like the lesson for me of where's the focus?

[37:31] Colin Cunliffe: I don't think I'm supposed to have it, and then I would change it.

[37:37] Josh Lamon: Until I was the focus, and then I was the focus.

[37:44] Chris Dwan: What is amazing to me is how little I really did in act one. You all like I didn't realize just how crazy it was. You know, I mean, I knew how crazy it was, but I had to just sing off stage and then carry on a plank with Paul while dancing in the dark, in the dark, in the dark step though, Josh. And Paul's like seven, seven feet tall. I'm like a little little bouncing ball next to him. And so, like, try to like make that plank level. Jesus Chris, that was my cross to bear. You all had the hard work, but then I had the plank. I mean, rewatch.

[38:28] Ryan Worsing: But you also brought that plank on for only like last 30 seconds of that song.

[38:32] Chris Dwan: I think it's a good one.

[38:32] Ryan Worsing: Yeah, but it was heavy.

[38:35] Chris Dwan: It was heavy. I remember the Tony performance being like, Why am I here? I don't do anything in this. Why to you're paying me so I can bring on a plank.

[38:47] Josh Lamon: And they did.

[38:48] Ryan Worsing: Yeah.

[38:49] Chris Dwan: Yeah, they did.

[38:51] Josh Lamon: I miss you boys so much. My brain is so many memories of experience. So we also got so close because we never had any time to go to our dressing rooms during the show. So we were pretty much together for two and a half hours every show in that quick change dressing room, eight shows a week. But we certainly made the most of it. I mean, we had to.

[39:19] Colin Cunliffe: And I was like, I was like when like a dressing room space is balanced, like with uh the gays in the straights. That always tends to be where I favor the company. And I just I loved I loved our other boys, like Paul Slade Smith literally working on a play just as everything is happening around him, and we're just screaming and running around like little children.

[39:42] Chris Dwan: Sharika!

[39:47] Ryan Worsing: Oh Sharika. Oh, I miss her. Um I was just gonna say that video you made, Jonathan, at the end of the run.

[40:02] Jonathan Ritter: Yeah.

[40:04] Ryan Worsing: I still revisit that like once in a once everyone.

[40:08] Jonathan Ritter: Yeah, I just watched it like a couple weeks ago, and I was like, oh it's on YouTube, right?

[40:15] Ryan Worsing: Yeah.

[40:16] Jonathan Ritter: Yes. What is it under?

[40:18] Ryan Worsing: It's called Goodbye from Neverland, maybe Broadway.

[40:23] Jonathan Ritter: It's such a beautiful Jonathan gifted us with all this amazing footage of you know, backstage life uh when the show ended. And um one of my favorite moments from Backstage is I I enjoy randomly singing Enya songs because I just think Enya's funny. You know, in a way that she's like a recluse in a castle with 15 cats. And you know, oh sal away, sail I was sailing in vaginos hello way. And all of us jammed out to sail away during the show.

[41:07] Chris Dwan: Yeah.

[41:08] Ryan Worsing: Like they probably heard Sylvia coughing up blood, and we were like, I was genius and away, sail away.

[41:19] Jonathan Ritter: Oh yeah. And it was like a 13-minute number too.

[41:24] Chris Dwan: Yeah, it just kept going.

[41:26] Jonathan Ritter: It's so long, it kept going.

[41:29] Ryan Worsing: Yeah.

[41:30] Chris Dwan: But you can see it.

[41:31] Jonathan Ritter: You can it just kept keeps going.

[41:34] Ryan Worsing: Yeah. No, but you can see it online on YouTube. Um, so everybody should go do that. Um I miss you all so much. I'm so proud of you all. Um, I'm so honored to know you all. And um, I just think that you're all incredibly brilliant. And um, I'm grateful for you guys coming on the show today.

[41:55] Chris Dwan: I love you, Josh.

[41:57] Ryan Worsing: Yeah, we love you too.

[41:59] Jonathan Ritter: Very sorry, I'm sorry, Mr. Swallows.

[42:01] Josh Lamon: Yes, thank you. I'm the Duchess of Broadway.

[42:08] Josh Lamon: Um, well, anyway, let's uh catch up again soon. Let's have another fun Zoom. And everybody at home, thank you so much for listening to Josh Swallows Broadway. Join our Patreon at patreon.com slash Josh Swallows Broadway. Okay, I love you guys. Bye.

[42:27] Ryan Worsing: Bye.

[42:34] Chris Dwan: Cool.

[42:35] Jonathan Ritter: All right, we'll stop there.

[42:39] Josh Lamon: And do we need to download it?

[42:43] Chris Dwan: I'll keep the recording going going so we can do our intro in a same file.

[42:47] Jonathan Ritter: Yeah.

[42:47] Ryan Worsing: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[42:50] Josh Lamon: No, thank you so much for being here, guys. I miss you all so much. Are you are you guys doing okay? I know.

[43:00] Ryan Worsing: Yeah, you guys are upstate, right?

[43:02] Josh Lamon: I'm still in New York.

[43:05] Ryan Worsing: Yeah, totally. And I'm doing the podcast, Josh.

[43:10] Jonathan Ritter: What's that?

[43:11] Josh Lamon: How are you liking doing the podcast?

[43:13] Ryan Worsing: Um, it's it's different this year. I like doing it in person. Um, yeah, you know, but uh we're making the best of it, I guess. Um, but uh, you know, at least we could all get together in the same room for a minute.

[43:30] Chris Dwan: Um, Chris, are you are you at your parents' house?

[43:33] Chris Dwan: No, I'm renting a place in Michigan, so I'm close to my family, but we have our own space.

[43:38] Ryan Worsing: That's fair.

[43:39] Chris Dwan: Oh, cool.

[43:40] Jonathan Ritter: Oh yeah.

[43:40] Chris Dwan: Look, we've got a big old place.

[43:44] Ryan Worsing: Where's the pop?

[43:46] Chris Dwan: Pups at my parents. She would be running around barking up a storm. So whenever whenever we're rolling, she's gotta get out of here.

[43:55] Jonathan Ritter: Yeah.

[43:55] Ryan Worsing: Got it. Wait, Chris, are you neat near Ypsilani?

[43:59] Chris Dwan: Yeah. That's where my brother lives.

[44:01] Ryan Worsing: Cool. You guys should hook up.

[44:03] Chris Dwan: I think we already have, maybe.

[44:05] Ryan Worsing: That's so fierce.

[44:07] Jonathan Ritter: That's I love hooking up with strangers.

[44:17] Chris Dwan: So who cares?

[44:19] Ryan Worsing: Um after two months.

[44:22] Jonathan Ritter: Yeah.

[44:23] Ryan Worsing: Well, no, I still have mine, isn't that crazy? It's like the miracle of Hanukkah. They keep going and going and going.

[44:29] Jonathan Ritter: They keep on giving.

[44:30] Ryan Worsing: Yep. Jonathan, are you at home?

[44:33] Jonathan Ritter: I'm at home. I'm in California.

[44:36] Ryan Worsing: California.

[44:37] Jonathan Ritter: Yeah. In Morro Bay.

[44:40] Ryan Worsing: Good.

[44:42] Chris Dwan: Are you under a big bed?

[44:44] Jonathan Ritter: Yeah, I'm in a bunker.

[44:45] Ryan Worsing: No.

[44:46] Jonathan Ritter: I'm um I've been working at my parents' shirt shop.

[44:51] Ryan Worsing: Can you imagine?

[44:52] Jonathan Ritter: I'm underground. Um I've been working at my parents' shirt shop here at the beach for the past 11 months. So yeah, it's and teaching dance. It's been really fun.

[45:06] Ryan Worsing: Cool.

[45:06] Jonathan Ritter: Yeah.

[45:07] Ryan Worsing: Yeah.

[45:09] Jonathan Ritter: Very cool. So I'm just here in the warehouse. If anyone needs any beach swag, send me your forcing the children to sell.

[45:22] Josh Lamon: Ryan, where are you?

[45:24] Ryan Worsing: I'm home in Kansas uh for a couple more weeks. My grandma turns a hundred in two weeks.

[45:31] Chris Dwan: Wow.

[45:32] Ryan Worsing: Which is nutty. Good for that. But um, yeah, so she's hundreds. So I've just stayed since Christmas so that I didn't have to travel and then come back with the virus and all that, and then all back to the city um at her birthday.

[45:50] Jonathan Ritter: Okay, how's your puppy?

[45:51] Ryan Worsing: Cool. Great. He's asleep on the bathroom floor right now. He made a he made a minor appearance because he heard it by the door, but he's best decision ever made. So you know how that is. And Josh with your cats for sure.

[46:07] Josh Lamon: But yeah.

[46:11] Ryan Worsing: Mine are getting a little, you know, you're touching us too much. And um I'm ready to put him down and start anew.

[46:27] Josh Lamon: I'm just kidding.

[46:29] Ryan Worsing: All right. Just the one, just put the one down.

[46:32] Jonathan Ritter: Just the one. Let the other one know who's boss.

[46:34] Chris Dwan: Yeah, that's have you ever done that with like a roach in your apartment? Like you see a roach and you kill it, and they're like, should I leave it there?

[46:41] Ryan Worsing: Oh yeah.

[46:42] Chris Dwan: As a warning?

[46:43] Jonathan Ritter: No.

[46:45] Ryan Worsing: Should I like leave it there just so it's like oh my god, they got barb!

[46:50] Chris Dwan: They got fucking.

[46:53] Jonathan Ritter: Oh my god.

[46:55] Ryan Worsing: No.

[46:58] Colin Cunliffe: Um there were so many st other stories that I thought about saying. But I think where we would have been appropriate. I mean, honestly. You know what I mean?

[47:09] Chris Dwan: Like you were skirting everybody.

[47:11] Ryan Worsing: Well, as soon as I brought up Mia, I was like, pedal back, pedal back, pedal back, pedal back, pedal back, pedal back, pedal back.

[47:20] Josh Lamon: It's okay.

[47:21] Ryan Worsing: Um, she's not gonna listen.

[47:26] Jonathan Ritter: Are you kidding me?

[47:28] Ryan Worsing: No. She doesn't text me or anything. Um, but anyway, I love you guys so much. Thank you for being here. Let's find a zoom opportunity for us, okay?

[47:40] Chris Dwan: Yeah, and when all this all this COVID crap ends, you guys have to come up here for a visit.

[47:47] Ryan Worsing: I'm planning on it.

[47:48] Jonathan Ritter: Yeah, I'm really sincere. I really want you to come up here and experience this because we're Colin and I are you guys not we're starting business up here. We're we're starting like a name. So we're gonna bring we're gonna we our our goal and mission statement is to bring like entertainment up here, like various forms of entertainment in different spaces. We've already produced two events in during COVID and been really successful.

[48:16] Chris Dwan: So amazing.

[48:17] Ryan Worsing: Yeah, so we really want I mean, beyond just like bringing your talents up here, we really want you to just come and hang out.

[48:25] Jonathan Ritter: We will, and we'll do an immersive seusical.

[48:31] Ryan Worsing: Why the fuck?

[48:32] Jonathan Ritter: Socially distant, immersive.

[48:37] Colin Cunliffe: You can write it down, Ronnie. Brilliant, write it in there. Susical 4D.

[48:41] Ryan Worsing: Except it takes place in a pandemic.

[48:46] Jonathan Ritter: Fucking genius, John.

[48:47] Ryan Worsing: Yeah, yeah.

[48:48] Josh Lamon: Okay, I love you boys. Thank you for being here.

[48:51] Chris Dwan: Love you.

[48:52] Jonathan Ritter: So good to see you guys.

[48:54] Ryan Worsing: Thank you.

[48:55] Josh Lamon: Bye.

[48:55] Ryan Worsing: Bye.

[48:59] Josh Lamon: Josh Swallows Broadway is produced by Alan Seales, Dory Bernstein, and myself, Josh Lehman, with associate producer, Elizabeth Wheless. And special thanks to our Patreon producers, David Rimmer and Josh Harris. You can join them. All you have to do is go to Patreon.com slash Josh Swallows Broadway. Leave a rating. Leave a review. I read them. This is how I continue living. Help me live. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you for keeping Broadway alive. And swallow you soon. Josh Swallows, Josh Swallows, Josh Swallows, Josh Swallows Broadway.