This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:03] Josh Lamon: Josh Ballos, Josh Ballers, Josh Ballers.

[0:14] Josh Lamon: Just ballers going.

[0:23] Josh Lamon: There's my boy.

[0:24] Gavin Lee: How are you?

[0:26] Josh Lamon: I'm good. I'm so mad at you with all these weird fucking hats that you can just put on yourself.

[0:33] Gavin Lee: You're such a nerd.

[0:35] Josh Lamon: I don't know what you're talking about.

[0:36] Gavin Lee: This old thing.

[0:37] Josh Lamon: This old thing. I just made it this morning in quarantine.

[0:41] Gavin Lee: Oh, that's a rhyme.

[0:43] Josh Lamon: How you doing, babe?

[0:44] Gavin Lee: I'm good. I'm going to go back to the city.

[0:45] Josh Lamon: Can I see your face, please?

[0:47] Gavin Lee: Oh, okay. Uh, there we go.

[0:48] Josh Lamon: There we go. How you doing?

[0:51] Gavin Lee: I'm good. I'm a little stir crazy.

[0:53] Josh Lamon: I'm not gonna lie.

[0:54] Gavin Lee: Yeah.

[0:54] Josh Lamon: Are you holding up okay?

[0:56] Gavin Lee: I'm doing okay. I'm going a little stir crazy.

[1:00] Josh Lamon: Um, my neighbor and his girlfriend went to Nashville where her folks are, and they texted me and they're like, hey, we're coming back next week.

[1:09] Gavin Lee: And I was like, why? Why don't come back here?

[1:12] Josh Lamon: There no, there's nothing for you here.

[1:15] Gavin Lee: Um, but they're like, we just missed the city, and I'm like, okay, bitches, all right.

[1:20] Josh Lamon: I won't see you soon because we're all isolated, but welcome back.

[1:25] Gavin Lee: Um I miss you, dude.

[1:28] Josh Lamon: I miss you too. I cannot wait to just like go sit at a bar and talk about absolutely nothing again.

[1:33] Gavin Lee: That's I was gonna say, I can't wait for you to hold me again and not tell your wife about it.

[1:38] Josh Lamon: Oh, she's putting the kids to bed, so exactly hear me out.

[1:43] Gavin Lee: Listen, I'm not gay or nothing, god damn it. But my wife has the vid, and I'm just and I've got 500 bucks in my pocket.

[1:51] Josh Lamon: Um, and speaking of 500 bucks, I feel very rich because next week's show is gonna be Baller.

[1:57] Gavin Lee: Um, as you know, I'm obsessed with the show A Strange Loop.

[2:02] Josh Lamon: And next Wednesday night at 9 p.m., we have the creative team of A Strange Loop. We have Steven Brackett, we have Raja Feather Kelly, and as of two days ago, Pulitzer winning Michael R. Jackson coming on the show to talk about A Strange Loop and their journey and where it's going. It's gonna be a lot of fun.

[2:21] Gavin Lee: And my cats are sorry if my camera shook. My cats are actively becoming certified Vietnam reenactors.

[2:32] Josh Lamon: Um, but anyway, I want to give a special shout out.

[2:36] Gavin Lee: That is oddly specific.

[2:38] Josh Lamon: It is, but they're doing it. They're like, Charlie. Um I want to give a special shout out to our continued Patreon members.

[2:47] Gavin Lee: And today I'm gonna make a bus song for them.

[2:50] Josh Lamon: So thank you, Roman Columbo, Roman Columbo. You didn't make a no-no, and Rebecca McMahon, you make me thankful for tomorrow.

[3:06] Gavin Lee: Tomorrow, Kathleen Hillen and David Rimmer, oh Rimmer, Josh Layman, you simmer, and Liz Goldenberg.

[3:19] Josh Lamon: I've known you forever, and thank you for supporting me. Josh Harris, I'm slapping my boobies. Ty Williams, I'm getting some cooties and Tiffany Fraser and Sean with no last name.

[3:36] Gavin Lee: My thank you all for joining my Patreon.

[3:43] Josh Lamon: And that's all that I got for you. And I'm really excited to have our first Patreon Zoom party this coming Tuesday. So thank you so much for supporting the show.

[3:55] Gavin Lee: And if you want to, and you don't have to, because life is pretty fucking nuts right now. You can check us out at patreon.com slash josh swallows broadway.

[4:04] Josh Lamon: And for our dear, our show has an assistant and associate producer almost, uh Elizabeth. We love you. Last week I was supposed to shout out to your boyfriend Josh. And I didn't because you forget the name.

[4:18] Gavin Lee: I know.

[4:19] Josh Lamon: Maybe that's why I did. But Josh, I fucking love you. You know that? Watch out, Elizabeth. It's gonna break up your home.

[4:27] Gavin Lee: And speaking of broken homes, there was a certain show that I fell in love with a long time ago, and the home wasn't broken, but it was on their way there, and the kids were acting out.

[4:27] Josh Lamon: The kids were acting out, and the parents were like, I know we need to find a witch and a poor chimney sweep to turn this house around.

[4:49] Gavin Lee: And that's what they did. And I felt did you I remember seeing like this in right after opening, I think, and just sobbing from the minute the curtain went up.

[5:02] Josh Lamon: And um, anyway, without further ado, some of the original Broadway cast of Merry Fucking Poppins. Alan, bring them on.

[5:11] Gavin Lee: All right, here they are.

[5:24] Josh Lamon: Oh, we have Gavin Lee, Vasthy Mompoint, Tony Mansker, and Ashley Brown.

[5:32] Gavin Lee: Oh gosh. Go ahead.

[5:34] Josh Lamon: Oh, yeah. So you it was one of the most magical things I'd ever seen. Um from stop to finish. And now I don't know, I know Ashley and Vasthy know this, but Tony's been one of my best friends uh for, you know, gosh, almost 17 years.

[5:55] Tony Mansker: Yeah.

[5:56] Josh Lamon: Almost 17 years now. I was the best man at his wedding.

[6:01] Gavin Lee: Oh, I love that.

[6:02] Josh Lamon: Yeah, I love that journey for you. And uh, you know, we got to watch each other make our Broadway debuts, and so to watch him make his debut and to sit up there on the chimneys, like all backlit while Gavin was like, hey, welcome, it's London, and oh, the wind's coming in from the east. Hey, me name's bit. Pigeons and popsicles. You can't studying me.

[6:28] Gavin Lee: Well, I'm obsessed with you.

[6:31] Josh Lamon: Well, Gavin, I think it's really interesting that you auditioned to understudy Bert.

[6:37] Gavin Lee: I did. I didn't I didn't know this at the time. I thought I was going in for Bert. But my uh the one of the writers, Anthony Drew, and the choreographer, Stephen Meer had other ideas, and they were getting me in in front of Cameron Macintosh as an understudy. Thinking that they thought I was talented enough to play the role, and they wanted Cameron to discover me, because that's what like Cameron likes to do.

[7:05] Josh Lamon: I went from I went from apparently being seen for the understudy, and then oh, he might be good for the role, and so uh or maybe it was nobody else can play the role. I think it was more like they saw you and they were like, shit, nobody else can do this. We have it, and now Cameron has to think it's his idea. So let's get him in there. Maybe that's how it was.

[7:31] Gavin Lee: That's magical. Well do you remember where you were when you got the phone call?

[7:39] Gavin Lee: Well, I um there was me and another guy that were in the finals uh in London, and so we came in for our final audition, and the girl that played Mary Poppins in London, Laura Michelle Kelly, she'd already been cast, so she was reading with us, and he went in first and he came out all pissed because he only did one scene, and we'd we'd be prepped we'd been prepped with three dance routines and two songs and three scenes, and he only did about this much.

[8:06] Josh Lamon: Um and then he left, and then I went in and did everything about 10 times, and then Cameron walked up onto stage and went, We'd like to offer you the role of Bert. And it was like, What?

[8:17] Gavin Lee: So, yeah, like Tom Schumacher from Disney, uh, you know, Cameron Macintosh, everyone was sitting there, Matthew Bourne, Stephen Mere, the choreographers. It was pretty amazing.

[8:29] Josh Lamon: I mean, what then of course, two years later, I come off stage and I get a phone call in my dressing room after the bows, and it's Cameron in New York City, and he's saying, We have auditioned everyone in the city, and we'd like to offer you the role of Bert. You will be coming to Broadway with a girl you might know or you might get to know called Ashley Brown, and it's like boom, the friendship uh started right there, Miss Ashley Brown.

[8:58] Ashley Brown: She then came to London for a week because she'd never been to London, and Cameron and Disney wanted her to feel English. So she came for a week, and uh we just showed her Buckingham Palace and made a drink tea with a saucer, and that's all and so it only takes a week to become British.

[9:15] Gavin Lee: That's what I love about it.

[9:17] Ashley Brown: There you go. And she was perfect after one week.

[9:19] Josh Lamon: It's like once I had that tea, I was good to go.

[9:23] Josh Lamon: Now Ashley, I know that you started your Disney...

[9:24] Ashley Brown: Wait, can anybody else hear typing?

[9:31] Gavin Lee: I can.

[9:31] Josh Lamon: Alan, is that you typing?

[9:37] Alan Seales: No, you can't hear me because I'm not in the stream.

[9:37] Ashley Brown: I think it's actually uh some sort of bad noise echo cancellation from anyone who's not wearing headphones.

[9:44] Josh Lamon: Oh, okay. Well, anyway, it doesn't matter.

[9:49] Ashley Brown: Yes, yes.

[9:54] Josh Lamon: Okay, well, I don't mind. I find it very it's like ASMR for us.

[9:57] Gavin Lee: I thought it was Gavin's tapches. He was just sitting there tapping nervously, just tapping tap, tap, tap.

[10:04] Gavin Lee: He just doesn't stop. Tap it tapped.

[10:06] Josh Lamon: That's how I got the job.

[10:08] Gavin Lee: And this is how I'm gonna get the next one.

[10:14] Josh Lamon: It's Tony's tapping too.

[10:17] Josh Lamon: Um, Ashley, you went on the road with uh on the record, which was Disney propaganda. And then I I'm just kidding. And then um you made your Broadway debut with Belle.

[10:33] Ashley Brown: So what was the audition process like for Mary Poppins?

[10:37] Ashley Brown: Well, I auditioned like eight times, nine times in a period of about two months. Like I'm like, don't tell equity I should have been paid. Um but um I auditioned so many times because they did their first round and then they were opening Tarzan. So then that then it kind of like went on hold for a minute then I went back in.

[10:58] Gavin Lee: And towards the end I was auditioning with Gavin Creel. And and they kind of did the auditions we were at Playwright's horizons like on the stage like the last week of auditions and I remember workshopping and workshopping workshopping and at that point I'd only done well like I just you know I had only I had not really done this type of process before or gotten this far I guess I should say in a new production and so all that went into it.

[11:23] Ashley Brown: And um so I was just like Gavin I don't know because I didn't see anybody else there but I was absolutely in disbelief like I'm so sure they're not seeing anyone else like hello and I was like what does this mean? And he goes Ashley all I have to say is we're still here and it's good news and so I basically did everything but like fly by myself like I did every part of the show except to fly on my own without wires.

[11:47] Ashley Brown: I was like do you need me to juggle fire next like what else what else we gotta do yeah and um I just was so I was truly thinking I would be an understudy I never thought that they would because I just hadn't done a lot and I knew the other people they were seeing that have done so much more and you know Tony nominated people and so I was like I know I would be a good cover maybe you know and so anyways long story long I'm happy that it went the way it did and I remember you know, playing Belle and Beauty and the Beast at the time, and I was put getting my wig on and it was a blunt, and everybody's like, Tom Schumacher's here, Tom Schumacher's here because he didn't come to that theater a whole lot.

[12:25] Ashley Brown: And I was like, What? And so I was thinking he um I don't know what he was gonna tell me. So he walked in my dressing room, it was April 20th, and he said, I mean, not that I mean I remember like every every detail, and he's like, You know why I'm here, right? And I was like, No, and he's like, We want you to be our Mary Poppins, and I was like, I'm sorry, like I was like, Wait, her? I just got to I was like, her her. And he was like, Yeah, her. Like, all I remember is we said her a lot. Because I was like, You mean like eight shows a week, her, or like sometimes her, you know, like and he was like, No, her, her.

[13:02] Ashley Brown: And he goes, and I was like, Oh my gosh, and he goes, your life's about to change. And boy, was he right? Because he was like, You're leaving the show and to Beauty and the Beast two weeks, we're sending you to London for three weeks. You gotta start prepping. We want to have a break between characters, so there's like not I mean, I was only in Beauty for about eight months, as it was, and they only signed me for six months because they weren't sure I could do it. And I was like, ugh. Wow. They didn't tell me that till afterwards. I was like, thanks a lot for all of the trust. Yeah, I mean, but that's fair, like Finding Neverland and Waitress, you know. Um, do the same thing. They'll be like, here's a contract for three months.

Yeah, we'll see what happens, you know. I guess with Beauty, you know, it was just like you just never know. It was an older show, you never knew when they needed to like throw in a celebrity, you know, to keep it moving. And at that point, like I didn't have that kind of clout. And so anyway, so then I signed, I was so excited. Mary Poppins, I'll sign that year contract, and was I just I still sometimes can't believe it. Like it all sometimes, y'all. Don't y'all feel I'm like, does that a like did that happen in our lives? Even though it was such a big part of it. What was it like meeting Gavin for the first time?

[14:16] Gavin Lee: Well, we have actually by the way, by the way, I can't I can I can't hear a word that Ashley's saying. I can only hear you, Josh. So I've just been I haven't got a clue what she just said. Take out take out your headphones. Gavin to the butthole. It was StreamYard. Leave your headphones in. Hello. It's okay. Are you okay now, guys? You missed the game. Yeah, I I can't hear Ashley. I can't hear I can't anyone uh I can actually can't hear anyone but Josh. Okay. Um can you uh as long as someone's yeah, well, what I just That's okay as long as I can hear you, Josh. Sure. Well, what I just asked Ashley is what it was like meeting you for the first time.

[15:03] Gavin Lee: Well, amazing. Amazing. I mean, obviously. Oh, I can hear you now. I can hear I can hear her laugh. Yay. My castle finally pays off. Disney magic. Yes. Well, exactly. I mean, it was it it it was pretty awesome because I by the time I met Ashley, I'd got through two Mary Poppins already. I'd got through Laura Michelle Kelly and then Scarlett Stralin were playing with I was playing with her on in London. And so when Ash came along, I was like, whoa, because these two other girls were very British, and Ashley, as you can hear, is not naturally very English, I should say. So, but she was just amazing, and we spent quite a lot of time together in London, and I couldn't wait to get to New York and for us to start this journey. And who knew that the journey was gonna go on for so long? In a good way, in a good way. Jeez. No, but the funny thing. And now she lives like 10 minutes away from me. She's followed me around the country.

[16:09] Ashley Brown: I just can't live without him. I cannot live without him. No, but the funny thing is, Gav, do you remember like speaking of things having to be Tom Schumacher and a camera Macintosh's idea? So when we when I was in London, they had this whole like extravagant plan about where we Gavin and I were gonna meet. There were gonna be cameras, it was gonna be a whole thing. We run into each other on the street, and their friend Jamie Forshaw, we're our friend, but I didn't know him as well then. Um Jamie was like in charge of like taking me around and make sure I you know the Southern girl didn't get lost in London. And they we run into each other on the street, and we're like, oh my gosh, it's so nice to meet you.

Whatever and everybody's like, we have to pretend this didn't happen. But we're gonna get told off. We're gonna get told off. I know, oh my god, pretend you never met me. Yeah, and you know, it was a million emails going back and forth about this massive plan for Gavin and I to be introduced to each other, and then we ran through down the street, and we literally that night we were like, Oh, it's so nice to meet you. Yeah, they're really excited about Broadway.

[17:16] Gavin Lee: Yeah. That's so funny. I know. Um now Vasti and Tony Mansker, what were your auditions like?

[17:27] Tony Mansker: Well um, do you Tony, you go. Well, I was so I was uh told by Tara Rubin's office that I was not right for Mary Poppins. So I actually didn't get an agent call. I fought my way from the open call. Um I truly, I I was like, okay, if I'm not right for a chimney sweep, I'm not right for anything. So I uh I did I wasn't about to accept that no as an answer. So I went to the open call and I had to go to two open calls to get weeded into the uh into the into the like the actually big callbacks. And um it was it all happened over the course of a week, actually. Like I think like my first uh open call was on Friday, and then the next call was on Monday, and then it was like Thursday and Friday were like the final callbacks.

It's kind of like it was a week, it was a week long. And uh in the middle of that week, I got sick as a dog. Like fever. Um, I I had like the day before the final callback, I spent the entire day in bed. Um, because I I was sick. I had like the full, I felt awful. And so the day of the final callback, Vasti, I'm sure you were there. It was when all the boys and girls were together. We were in the Playwrights Horizons Theater, the entire creative team was in the house. It was so cool. It was really cool. And we it was there that energy was like we knew it was the day. You know what I mean? It was like it was the final day. And every time I danced, I got dizzy. I was I was like, I just sort of put the sickness away and tried to ignore it.

But I got dizzy every time I danced, about middle of the way through the combination, completely just uh dizzy as a you know, like I was on a road on a roller coaster. Um and then that was Friday, that final callback, and I was um I had a weird go see on the on that next Monday morning, and I was sitting on a bench in the village when I got the call from my agent at the time that I had um that I booked it. So it was like it was like a week and a couple of days, and boom, and that was done.

[19:35] Ashley Brown: Oh, so awesome. I was good for you, Tony. Um I was used to like to fight for like who you are and know what you can do.

[19:44] Vasti Mompoint: Yeah. And you're also right. Like if you're not a chimney sweep, then nothing makes sense.

[19:49] Tony Mansker: Yeah, exactly. Nothing. Um I was at the time doing the hit Tony Award-winning show Hot Feet. Um it was fantastic. And um I also could not get an appointment for the show. I also went to the open call. Um, and I just wanted to get out of, I mean, I loved it. Don't get me wrong. I knew that it was gonna close and um soon, and I just I was I wanted to do it so bad. Mary Poppins was my favorite movies. So um I went through the whole process as well. And I it's still to this day my favorite um audition like final callback experience because I felt like I was in the movie Chorus Line because the final audition was on a stage, and I was like, why aren't all auditions on stage?

[20:34] Ashley Brown: I know and in a fluorescent room with bathrooms that smell like crap because everyone's nervous and just like shit's like.

[20:41] Tony Mansker: I don't know. Auditioning on stage sounds really scary for me.

[20:45] Ashley Brown: Oh, I love it.

[20:47] Tony Mansker: But we didn't have like perfect distance from the people judging you.

[20:52] Ashley Brown: Exactly.

[20:53] Tony Mansker: That's what and that's what people do. We don't want to be all close. So um, so yeah, it was still one of my favorites, and I just remember um being on stage. I danced with a guy named Kevin Yee, who was who also ended up getting it. And I remember he was it's one of my favorite experiences because I remember looking around at this time. This is before Broadway became hashtag woke, which is still got play, it still has places to go, but it was the first time it was like, and I looked around and I remember seeing another black girl in there, and I saw some people of color, and I was like, all right, so I guess my comp because I wouldn't even look at anyone else. I was like, this is when one black person per show was like the thing.

So I was like, all right, there's one other black girl there, so it's either me or her. Ah, she's really good. Well, we'll see what happens. And then um, and then I remember on the first day of rehearsal seeing her there, and I was like, brava, Disney, brava. They just had just a mixture of everything. It was the first show I'd ever been in where I wasn't the token or it wasn't in an all-black show. So it was it was such an that part was amazing. But I also, when I got the call, um, I didn't check my, I never checked my voicemail, so I'd gotten the offer for two weeks and didn't know. And then I was listening to my voicemail and I was that is so you.

[22:00] Ashley Brown: So you didn't check your voicemail for two weeks, and that's and then when you were like, maybe I'll check my voicemail today.

[22:08] Tony Mansker: That's how you found out that you got cast and Mary Poppins.

[22:10] Ashley Brown: Yeah, it was before smartphones and internet.

[22:13] Tony Mansker: They didn't try you again.

[22:15] Ashley Brown: They didn't try you again. My agent called me a few times, and then she thought maybe I was just because I was in tech rehearsal for Hot Feet. So she thought maybe I was just I don't know what she thought. Like it was too hot.

[22:26] Tony Mansker: Your feet were too hot.

[22:27] Ashley Brown: My feet were too hot. And then I had to act like I had to act like it wasn't a call because I didn't want to tell them we all knew the show was gonna fail, and everyone was complaining, and I got the call and I was like, Yeah, guys, man. What a crazy journey we're about to go on, huh? Knowing that I was thinking, but that's my story.

[22:49] Vasti Mompoint: That is hilarious.

[22:51] Ashley Brown: Yeah, no, nobody likes to be that girl when you're like, yeah, we're closing.

[22:55] Tony Mansker: I know that's just awful.

[22:56] Ashley Brown: Yeah. Hi guys, I'm gonna literally across the street.

[23:01] Gavin Lee: So the theaters were across the street from each other.

[23:03] Ashley Brown: Yeah.

[23:03] Gavin Lee: You just like package your dressing room and relax and package.

[23:07] Ashley Brown: Listen, God has a plan for you, okay? It's okay.

[23:12] Vasti Mompoint: Um that's hilarious.

[23:14] Ashley Brown: Um, if you guys, when the Lincoln Center Library opens back up, whoever's listening, go see Hot Feet.

[23:19] Tony Mansker: It's such a treat.

[23:21] Vasti Mompoint: When the Lincoln Center Library opens up, I'm not gonna go see Hot Feet, but I do wish everybody well and hopes they spend an afternoon doing that.

[23:35] Ashley Brown: An afternoon, that sounds terrible.

[23:37] Vasti Mompoint: Anyway, um I think enough of Vosti.

[23:41] Ashley Brown: Uh no, I'm just kidding.

[23:43] Vasti Mompoint: Um, no, I'm not like that.

[23:45] Ashley Brown: I think I'm a little too neurotic to not check my voicemail for two weeks.

[23:50] Tony Mansker: This was when like you this was different.

[23:52] Vasti Mompoint: This was like, I mean, even then, when I didn't have an agent, I would tell the restaurant that I worked at, Petra Santa, for two weeks before I just stopped going and they didn't call me either.

[23:52] Ashley Brown: I didn't have an agent, and I'd be like, uh, my agent just paged me, and I have to go call them.

[24:12] Tony Mansker: And um they'd be like, okay, and I'd be like, I don't have an agent, but I'd still call the imaginary agent and have a very real conversation.

[24:22] Ashley Brown: Anyway, that's my journey, not everyone else's.

[24:26] Gavin Lee: Um, Gavin was Mary Poppins was your Broadway debut, right?

[24:31] Gavin Lee: It was, yeah.

[24:33] Ashley Brown: It was a very big deal.

[24:35] Gavin Lee: Thanks. But was there like an extra sort of pressure when like coming over here that you put on yourself?

[24:45] Gavin Lee: Or I mean, for me, and I hope this makes sense, and maybe Ashley can speak on this too. I always look at my friends that book these Broadway uh Disney, especially Disney leads, and I'm like, oh, it's sort of like being the president in a way. You are now Bert. You are now Mary Poppins. And it's sort of like it might not be in your contract, but you also now have a responsibility, sort of to be that person in the outside world as well. So, what was it like making that shift to New York for you, Gavin?

[25:29] Gavin Lee: Well, I mean, I think um I didn't have so much nerves as just um absolute gratitude that Disney and Cameron could quite easily have cast the whole show uh with Americans from New York. That's certainly the talent. So there was I was just so grateful, but also that because I was the one lucky person from the London cast to come to Broadway, in a way it kind of made me feel like I'm probably I'm really good at this role because when you're the only one doing something right, so uh and also there was the added thing like it was a British show, and so all you poor buggers have to cope with doing a good English accent, whereas like I'm just doing my own accent.

[26:16] Gavin Lee: So had I been coming across to Broadway to open an American show, then I would have had a lot more nerves about the accent. Um, but no, uh, we're talking about it being Disney and talking about, you know, suddenly you're Bert. We have me and Ashley have the added thing of like, well, everyone just thinks of Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. So, and of course, right? The role of Bert will always be Dick Van Dyke's. I will always be number two or number 10. I will certainly never be number one. Um, but the good—well, you're certainly not gonna be number 10 either. The good thing was it wasn't just this carbon copy of the movie that they brought onto the stage. Ashley can tell you, well, Ashley, what is the, um, what’s the—what is the musical? What did they do? I mean, if I had to search, I just feel it's the best of the books and the best of the movie.

[27:07] Ashley Brown: I mean, yeah. Josh, we sound like over our time with Mary Poppins, we must have done between us, we must have done, I'm gonna guess 300 interviews again. And they're like, don't be afraid to do it. Once in every interview, yeah. We always—they said, well, what's the musical about? Well, they took the best of the books and the best of the musical, and they made a new musical for the live stage. Like, we were so sick of saying the same thing. Oh my god. Sometimes an LVC would get the rest niggles. We were, yeah, but the point is we weren't being Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews, we were a new version.

[27:47] Gavin Lee: So yeah, absolutely. Go ahead. This is not even my question. But as someone who did a lot of movies based on musicals, like you two, those two were like the most—like it was just yours. And so it's just like there's the musical and there's the movie, and there's no like watching it uncomfortable and being like, why isn't it that person? Why? Or like when you watch something, I was like, why did you guys do this? Like a movie, but like you guys made it so your own, and it's just so—it's still like just the best. It was brilliant, it was brilliant.

[28:24] Ashley Brown: You both were so hilarious and heartwarming, and they never called out ever.

[28:35] Gavin Lee: How are they growing up backstage?

[28:38] Ashley Brown: She said you never—we never called out. Gavin and I never called out. We were like, we were throwing up, there was a trash can on stage, and you were literally throwing it.

[28:43] Gavin Lee: There was a trash can off stage, and who was throwing up?

[28:51] Ashley Brown: I threw up, Ashley.

[28:54] Gavin Lee: No, you were practically on stage, just like fine.

[28:58] Ashley Brown: No, and like beads of sweat, but it was during previews. So my covers didn't have costumes yet, like they were—I mean, it wasn't their fault, they like weren't—it wasn't time yet. And I just remember waking up and being like, I was looking back, it was a 24-hour bug, but it was like, you know, those turn on and turn off, and that's exactly what happened. But I called our company manager and was like, we have a problem, like I'm sick, like I'll come in and do it. But I was like, I was fine going to bed last night, but I woke up and I'm bombing everywhere. So they took me to the doctor, they gave me some pills, don't know what it was. It did something, and they're like, can you do it? And it was one of those things where I'm like, I'll do it, but I can't make any promises. Oh my god, I was like taking it second by second, bead of sweat by bead of sweat, and flying when I had to fly my first flight, I was like, Cheerio, but keep an eye on them for me.

[29:50] Gavin Lee: And I had to hold it in the cheeks.

[29:53] Ashley Brown: As you're flying away, I had one of those as well.

[29:56] Gavin Lee: Yeah, at the end of Act One. So it wasn't over the audience, but then I hurled everywhere in a trash can off stage. And at intermission, Cameron Mackintosh and Tom Schumacher were like with the ginger ales like, so, how do you think about act two? I was like, oh, my health is fine. Thank you for asking. Sure, I'll do it. She sounded great. It makes no sense.

[30:17] Ashley Brown: Well, you're all superheroes. Gavin, you had the same thing while upside down.

[30:23] Gavin Lee: I do, yes. I um, but mine wasn't because I was sick, mine was because I used to—I stupidly forget in between shows not to eat too much food. And sometimes I'd go and have a big pasta with other company members, which was a big mistake when you're then wearing this really tight harness and then you're tap dancing upside down. Because the harness of where it pulls tight across your belly kind of pushes everything up. And I have one time I was tapping upside down, I sung with it upside down. Tony knows it well because he understudied the role as well, and then you go down and you start walking down the other—look at me using my screen. You start walking! It's like a bear. You walk down the stage right side of the proscenium arch, and that when you're coming down, you're horizontal and you're facing directly downwards.

So when I'm upside down, I'm like, I'm gonna puke, I'm gonna puke. And then when I turn and I'm facing down, I'm coming down, walking like in slow-mo, and Jane and Michael Banks are dancing, stepping time directly underneath me, smiling and looking up, like, look at that. And I'm coming down, and I'm like, I'm gonna fucking puke on Jane and Michael. I couldn't knock. The sick was here, I was bright red. I was like, oh my god, I'm gonna—and thank god I got down to the bottoms and stepped upright and whizzed off stage and kind of swallowed it back down.

[31:49] Ashley Brown: Nice. Um, but that was the most hair-raising.

[31:53] Gavin Lee: Oh my god, I could just see the headlines.

[31:56] Ashley Brown: Oh my god, you would have been a legend.

[31:59] Gavin Lee: That—I mean, I don't wish it happened, but I do. Now that's cool, wouldn't it? If that was on YouTube for life, that would have been amazing.

[32:07] Ashley Brown: I mean, I would have puked on people when they told me I had would have to tap upside down.

[32:14] Gavin Lee: Like, what did you do when they were like, PS, you're gonna tap upside down?

[32:18] Gavin Lee: It was pretty amazing. I was—my jaw hit the floor because they had an aerialist come in beforehand just in the theater to test all the rigging and see whether it could work, and then Cameron was like, can you do that? And I was like, uh, I want to be able to do that, but I don't know if I can do that. And then learning to tap upside down. I mean, it was a whole—it was a whole thing. I mean, it was an amazing illusion trick, and I always say it wasn't—and it used to get rounds of applause and it was just people's favorite part, but I used to say, well, I was just the lucky actor that got to do that really great trick. Emoji land asked me to go down a slide and I told them to go fuck themselves.

[33:00] Ashley Brown: You're like, I was like, no, a slide, fuck off.

[33:00] Gavin Lee: I'll walk on a slide now, Tony, you're having fun.

[33:08] Ashley Brown: No, no, no.

[33:10] Gavin Lee: Tony, you covered Bert.

[33:13] Tony Mansker: I did.

[33:14] Gavin Lee: So tell me what that was like because you were fucking incredible in your track, but you were—I mean, when I saw you go on when you were—when Gavin was on vacation, and I mean the amount of tears that were shed. I mean, I literally drowned three children in the boxes because I was crying so hard.

[33:39] Tony Mansker: One of them was Bobby Cannavale's son. True story.

[33:41] Gavin Lee: Um, was—I'm sorry, Bobby, but it happened.

[33:43] Tony Mansker: It happened.

[33:50] Gavin Lee: Ask Schumacher, it happened.

[33:53] Tony Mansker: Um, Disney C hashtag Disney Secrets. Tony, what was that like?

[33:59] Tony Mansker: Um, it maybe is the one of the most special moments of my entire life is it was going on for Bert and getting to play that role. I played it opposite Ashley and Scarlet, um, and um, it was—it was everything I've ever wanted as a performer wrapped into one package. You know what I mean? It was—I like to bring joy, I like to smile and sing and dance and act all at the same time, and then on top of it to fly, to be at the center of one of the coolest special effects I think has ever been on Broadway. Um, it just—it sort of takes me back. I don't even know—I think about it. I go back there mentally a lot, like when I'm going to sleep because it brings me such joy to remember that that moment in time.

Um, I was just at the New Amsterdam Theater to see Aladdin. I took a—our company, I took a group of kids to see Aladdin and we did a talk back, and as I sat at the New Am, I teared up because I sort of—I was brought back to when we lived there. You know what I mean? When we were there all the time, and I looked up at that proscenium and thought to myself, you know, I was one of the lucky people that got to do that effect and be 25 feet in the air. Um, it was a—it was a really special—it was a special moment for me. Um, you know, and part of it's actually—it's possibly part of why I don't pursue performing so much and so, um, uh, as hardcore as I once did because I'm not sure that anything will come around that will be that special as far as like getting to do everything, getting to sing, act, dance, and be a part of what I thought was a really special story, you know.

Um, people feel some kind of way, I feel like, about Disney on Broadway. There's just this sort of like something, you know, oh, it's just Disney on Broadway. Meanwhile, so many of my friends showed up to the show and said, I can't believe that I was balling at the end of the show. It just—it brought tears to my—everybody said that to me. And so it was like once they saw the production, and I think that the heart, especially at the original company had, we had a lot of heart on that stage. So, um, you know, I look back at the understanding Bert as possibly one of the most special experiences of my entire life, and I'm forever grateful for that opportunity. It really was.

[36:11] Ashley Brown: Well, today I took a trip down memory lane and I watched a lot of your TV performances.

[36:18] Tony Mansker: Oh gosh.

[36:19] Ashley Brown: Um, no, I actually—I almost like pulled clips, but then I was like, no, no, I'm not gonna do that. Um, my favorite though was supercalifragilistic. I don't know how the fuck y'all did all that. Now I did the British boys came over and did Into the Woods in the Park, and that was hard because British P—the choreography is like—and it's like, it's just a mind fuck. But then I watched yours and I was like, I quit. I quit the industry.

[36:54] Gavin Lee: And you learned supercal on your first day of rehearsal.

[36:59] Ashley Brown: Was anybody like this?

[37:01] Gavin Lee: We learned like five letters a day.

[37:02] Ashley Brown: The great thing is Matthew and Steven, the choreographers, put all the letters up on the mirrors.

[37:09] Gavin Lee: Yes.

[37:09] Ashley Brown: Because if you hadn't learned how to spell the word, you were never gonna have to be able to spell it and do the choreography. So you just had—you just had to read the letters and go, what's the position that we're gonna do to match that? And we only learned what, like five letters a day for the first week. So by the end of the week, you'd spend an hour a day on five letters each, and then you put them all together? And I—I call—I don't know about you guys, but I know on my deathbed, if someone says, do the letters, I'll be like, oh yeah, S U P is no way again.

[37:40] Gavin Lee: But it's cool, ever forget.

[37:42] Ashley Brown: I think it's the coolest thing because it's almost like ingrained in my body, like, and I'm—and also doing it fast, so can't do it slow.

[37:49] Gavin Lee: It's gotta be S-U-P-E-R-C-A-A-A-S-C-C-D—That would be so fucked up if a nurse, like when you're on your deathbed, is like, excuse me, I'm a big fan.

[38:00] Ashley Brown: I'm a fan, will you do the letters?

[38:03] Gavin Lee: I'm about to die, bitch.

[38:06] Ashley Brown: I know, I know, but will you please, it's really impressive.

[38:20] Tony Mansker: Um, were you with the show?

[38:27] Ashley Brown: Two years.

[38:29] Tony Mansker: You were with it for two years.

[38:31] Ashley Brown: You all were with it for two years, yeah, in New York.

[38:34] Gavin Lee: Mm-hmm.

[38:35] Ashley Brown: Yeah, well.

[38:36] Tony Mansker: Oh, is that—oh right, yeah. I did two years, then me and Ashley went off on the year and a half, and then I came back actually for two and a half years.

[38:45] Gavin Lee: So I did longer on Broadway the second time.

[38:48] Ashley Brown: I couldn't get enough of it, Josh.

[38:50] Josh Lamon: I can't get enough of it. That's really special, and that doesn't happen so often. It's a privilege to be able to do it.

[39:01] Ashley Brown: Well, I often find that like look at all the Mary Poppins mugs.

[39:08] Gavin Lee: Oh, one of them downstairs.

[39:11] Ashley Brown: Stephen Mirror gave us.

[39:15] Gavin Lee: Steven Mirror with a great deal of love.

[39:17] Tony Mansker: I beat you all.

[39:19] Josh Lamon: Hey.

[39:20] Tony Mansker: I mean, I'm not so sure I just brought wine.

[39:22] Ashley Brown: I didn't bring any.

[39:24] Vasti Mompoint: Oh, there's a margarita in my bedroom, so it's just in my cupboard.

[39:27] Gavin Lee: Yeah. I have some embarrassing pictures of Ashley I can show if she's like, I need photo approves.

[39:37] Ashley Brown: They're here, so like just let me know.

[39:39] Josh Lamon: Well, what's it from?

[39:42] Vasti Mompoint: From different things.

[39:44] Josh Lamon: Why don't you trust me?

[39:45] Vasti Mompoint: I well, we all know why we don't trust Vasti Mompoint.

[39:48] Josh Lamon: Uh that's a loaded question. Um, I want to hear some. What are some crazy shenanigans that happen during Mary Poppins? There has to be some.

[39:59] Ashley Brown: Well, you guys remember during the Olympics when we like doing the Olympics, and we like um every day walking up the stairs, we'd have an Olympic challenge. Do you remember?

[40:07] Gavin Lee: Do you remember? It was so weird, and we would play the song.

[40:11] Vasti Mompoint: All of you, it was weird.

[40:13] Ashley Brown: Can you asking if you remember going up the stairs during the Olympics, and every day was a different Olympic challenge?

[40:22] Vasti Mompoint: Do you guys remember? I have so many videos that I could that I wish I'd change the videos.

[40:28] Gavin Lee: I do. Wow.

[40:32] Vasti Mompoint: I can only hear um Ashley and Josh, so I can't I can't be in with the shenanigans like because I don't know what you're saying.

[40:38] Josh Lamon: Well, what are some shenanigans that you remember, Gavin?

[40:42] Gavin Lee: You are what are some shenanigans that you remember, Gavin? Uh are you a trickster?

[40:49] Gavin Lee: I'm not really a trickster, no. I'm extremely boring and professional when it comes on stage. I will be so large, but um, but I don't tend to start the tricks, and then sometimes if they go on too long, I could be that person is tuting. Like people are paying 150 dollars, you shouldn't be doing that. I'm a what a bit an arsehole like that.

[41:11] Vasti Mompoint: Good for you.

[41:14] Gavin Lee: We were very stage, yes, yes. But on stage, I'm a bit like, oh, you're so boring.

[41:20] Vasti Mompoint: Oh, well, I'm also like I was always kind of I was like Mary's track was like isolation station.

[41:27] Gavin Lee: Yeah. I like did I had I saw the ensemble like kind of during SuperCow, kind of during summer time, but it was like in the bunker when I would be like going to the other side of the stage. But I was like, anybody want to play?

[41:45] Vasti Mompoint: I know just like um, but it was like me and my dresser and her like Team Mary is what I call them, and they were like no dadies. And Jane and Jane and Michael, you were kids a lot. Some great kids, not some not great kids.

[42:00] Ashley Brown: Yeah. Well, it's hard.

[42:03] Gavin Lee: It's hard with kids.

[42:04] Ashley Brown: I often find that it's the parents that drive me the most crazy.

[42:09] Vasti Mompoint: Um, they're either incredible and they become your friends, or like it's like, wow, you had a dream, a dream about you, parent.

[42:20] Gavin Lee: It didn't come true, parent. You know. Um, but there's definitely shenanigans. We had fun, but it was just kind of like I was always kind of hurt about it afterwards, or like we would have fun, like after like we would do Saturday Night Cock.

[42:38] Tony Mansker: Saturday night cocktail party.

[42:43] Vasti Mompoint: Oh, y'all are we doing a Saturday night cock?

[42:47] Josh Lamon: But it was cocktail party. Okay, all right. I was about to kick I was like, hey, Mary Poppins, hey.

[42:57] Gavin Lee: One of my favorite random memories is when uh Harry Potter books got banned backstage because when the new Harry Potter book came out, everyone in the ensemble bought it, and people were like going on like going to their news late. Do you remember that?

[43:10] Ashley Brown: Why is it you remember the boy?

[43:13] Gavin Lee: Backstage. They're like, no one's allowed to read Harry Potter because we were all into it. I think it was maybe it was the half-blood prince or the I have weird memories of where was it just like annoying that people were reading?

[43:27] Ashley Brown: No, we were all it was like the most quiet was backstage. We were all just like, but then we weren't like getting on stage on time.

[43:32] Gavin Lee: So there's guys. You were missing cues because you were reading Harry Potter.

[43:36] Vasti Mompoint: You're like, you do not read anymore.

[43:38] Gavin Lee: You know, like the two. I'm just not having it. I'm going to the company manager right now. I'm not having it. I'm not no reading. We wouldn't do this in London.

[43:53] Ashley Brown: None of us could read in London.

[43:56] Gavin Lee: You know, for real though, there were like there were no easy jobs in Mary Poppins. There was nobody had an easy truck.

[44:03] Vasti Mompoint: One person.

[44:03] Gavin Lee: No, like, who is that one person?

[44:06] Ashley Brown: No, it's a not one person.

[44:07] Gavin Lee: There wasn't there wasn't one. I guess bird woman has a pretty chill. She's a that was a that's a princess track.

[44:13] Vasti Mompoint: Okay. The bird, the bird lady, the bird lady. I want the bird woman job.

[44:17] Gavin Lee: Maybe, you know, maybe Admiral Boom, you know, maybe Admiral Boom has got it easy. But for the most part, 98% of the cats had like, I mean, I had, you know, Boston and I, we had I don't I don't know about you, Bosni. I had seven makeup changes.

[44:31] Ashley Brown: Seven makeup changes.

[44:33] Gavin Lee: I mean, do you guys see how flawless my skin is? It was the worst time my skin had ever looked. We were just we would put it on, then we would wipe it off like aggressively because we had to um and I actually it was the first time that I was like, I'm gonna use my dark skin to my advantage. And I remember going, they're like, Do you have the chimney dust on your face? And I was like, Yes.

[44:58] Vasti Mompoint: Yes, I do.

[44:59] Gavin Lee: And then I never wore it ever again.

[45:02] Ashley Brown: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[45:04] Vasti Mompoint: I have it on.

[45:08] Gavin Lee: There are a lot of makeup changes in the show.

[45:10] Ashley Brown: You lied to them.

[45:11] Gavin Lee: You said oh yeah. They said, is your chimney sweep makeup on? And you just said yes, because you're black.

[45:21] Vasti Mompoint: Because that I mean, I was like, all oppression, all the oppression that my people have faced, all completely. Yes, all the oppression that your people have faced. I think this is a good thing. I was like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna take an L and lie because no, this is reparations. This is this is what it is.

[45:36] Ashley Brown: That makes up for everything everything ensemble member, like 15 years ago.

[45:41] Gavin Lee: This makes up for it. I believe Haiti is gonna make you their queen now.

[45:48] Vasti Mompoint: They're gonna be like, oh hey of she finally got us our good Asian accent.

[45:57] Gavin Lee: Thank you. I worked with you for a long time. Uh my mom just calls it racially insensitive. But I appreciate that you recognize it as an accent because that's important to me.

[46:10] Vasti Mompoint: Um, but no, you you four were all a part of something that really changed things for me. This business can bring us the fuck down.

[46:20] Ashley Brown: Oh yeah.

[46:21] Vasti Mompoint: This business sucks. And um when I saw that show, I was going through a hard time. Tony knows I was I was in the magical musical wicked, and um, you know, that that was a hard place to work, at least at that time.

[46:41] Gavin Lee: And um it might be yeah, it might still be, but um that show well, not right now. That show, uh your show made me remember part of why I moved to New York. It rem it made me remember what excited me about musicals when I was a kid, what what made it go? Oh, this is what I need to do. You all did that for me.

[47:07] Vasti Mompoint: And in times like these, where you know, there's a lot of darkness um for all of us, and a lot of like, you know, just crazy uncertain times. I can look back at those memories. I can re-watch your performances on TV, and I can feel that spark of joy again.

[47:30] Josh Lamon: And um, it's just important for me to tell you for that. Um yeah, I mean that. And I know that life is crazy, but um, you four are really nailing it for me today, and I love you so much.

[47:47] Vasti Mompoint: And um, Gavin, surprise, I talked to your wife, and congratulations. I'm your fourth child.

[48:01] Gavin Lee: I'm already there. I'm making a lunch. I built this this morning.

[48:11] Josh Lamon: Anyway, thank y'all so much. No. It's okay. I'm only needy. Um, no, thank you all so much for coming on the show. Ashley, I miss you a lot. Ashley and I were getting snatched together.

[48:29] Ashley Brown: Uh, we were getting snatched at Mark Fisher Fitness when all this shit went down. We were gym buddies and we were in the same class next to each other on the mat with ready to go, ready to get snatched with pebble.

[48:47] Vasti Mompoint: I did it. Hi, Eddie!

[48:49] Josh Lamon: Hi!

[48:49] Vasti Mompoint: Hi, Eddie!

[48:52] Josh Lamon: Hi, Eddie. He's the best. I didn't know we were out extras.

[48:58] Vasti Mompoint: I don't think that we are.

[48:59] Josh Lamon: He just burst in. No, no, no. I would never interrupt. And speaking of, real real, real quick, Vasti and Tony and Eddie have these great, great companies, Broadway babysitters and the Broadway. Um Balco Broadway Arts Lab Company. Um Balco, please check them out. They're incredible. I've been working for both, and um, it's just amazing.

[49:26] Ashley Brown: But Ashley and I were getting fucking fit and Mark Fisher Fitness when all this shit went down.

[49:32] Josh Lamon: But all two, oh we nailed all two classes.

[49:35] Vasti Mompoint: I know, but we're gonna do it again. We're gonna do it again.

[49:38] Ashley Brown: Are they not online for you guys?

[49:39] Gavin Lee: They are, but it's not the same.

[49:43] Vasti Mompoint: I did it like right before I got Freggies, and I have never felt better. You know, it would just, it's like I was so fit and like healthy and living my dreams, and I got knacked at and it's all gone.

[49:58] Gavin Lee: It's like gone physically downhill from there, if you know what I'm saying.

[50:03] Ashley Brown: No, no, whatever. You're nailing it, but we can we can still do it together if you want to face time, and we can you can lift you can swing the baby and I'll swing the cat. And we'll eat our protein, our yeah, and Gavin. You can read me stories later. I really like the graffalo right now.

[50:22] Gavin Lee: I will read you to sleep, and Vasti. I love you so.

[50:29] Josh Lamon: I'm sorry that you guys talked to the private chat, but the last few sentences are great. I just love you guys.

[50:42] Josh Lamon: Um, thank you guys so much so much for tuning in and tune in next week. Josh Swallows the Broadway. We're bringing you a strange loop, it's gonna be amazing. Have a great night, and whatever you do, you're fucking nailing it. Have a good night.

[51:00] Josh Lamon: Josh Swallows Broadway is produced by Alan Seales, Dory Berenstein, 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.