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[0:21] Marc Tumminelli: Hello, I'm Marc Tumminelli, and welcome back to the Little Me Podcast. If you're not following our charming little Instagram, stop everything and head over to Instagram and follow at Lil Me Podcast. I'm so excited that I get to welcome someone I've known for many years. He's a big old Broadway star and a Drama Desk nominee who made his Broadway debut at the age of 10 in WEST SIDE STORY and went on to star on Broadway in The Mystery of Edwin Drood and She Loves Me and in the City Center Encore's production of Big River. He's appeared on TV in Bull, How to Make It in America, Greenport, and as Austin on the Backyardigans. And he is the world's greatest Charlie Bucket in my production of Willy Wonka at the Random Farms Kids Theater. Please welcome Nicholas Barasch.

[1:03] Nicholas Barasch: Yay!

[1:04] Marc Tumminelli: Hey, Nick.

[1:05] Nicholas Barasch: Hi, Marc, how are you?

[1:06] Marc Tumminelli: I am good. Thank you for having me.

[1:08] Nicholas Barasch: I'm so excited to have you. Um, also, do you know that you have a Spanish Wikipedia only?

[1:15] Marc Tumminelli: No, but some I thought it was Italian.

[1:17] Nicholas Barasch: All right, maybe I'm just really bad at languages.

[1:22] Marc Tumminelli: It's uh, it's actually Portuguese, Marc.

[1:24] Nicholas Barasch: No, I don't know. Well, I, you know, I was Googling you today, and I was like, I can't understand any of this.

[1:30] Marc Tumminelli: No, I won't pretend that I haven't Googled myself yet. But we're gonna get you an American, good old-fashioned American Wikipedia.

[1:37] Nicholas Barasch: That's right. I'm gonna work on that for you.

[1:39] Marc Tumminelli: Gosh, gosh darn it.

[1:40] Nicholas Barasch: Yeah.

[1:41] Marc Tumminelli: Um, let's jump right in. We're gonna go a little out of order because I want to keep you on your toes.

[1:46] Nicholas Barasch: Oh, okay.

[1:47] Marc Tumminelli: All right. Um, okay, a couple of weeks ago, She Loves Me was on PBS again.

[1:51] Nicholas Barasch: Yeah.

[1:52] Marc Tumminelli: And it was so fun to re-watch that, and it made me like love theater again. It was just like, oh god, it's such a good production. But you played the role of RPA opposite the greatest performers ever, Laura Benanti and Zachary Levi and Jane Krakowski. Let's talk about that show because it's had such an amazing life, and your performance in that show is pretty brilliant. So tell me about how that came to you and all that fun stuff.

[2:17] Nicholas Barasch: Oh gosh. Well, so I had worked with Scott Ellis before on The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and he directed She Loves Me. And I think it came through on Backstage, and my mom was doing her due diligence and looking out for the parts for me on backstage.com. Thank you, Lynn. And she came across She Loves Me in RPA, and she said there's a role out there, and there's a show called She Loves Me. And so I was doing a show regionally at the time, Because of Winn-Dixie at Delaware Theater Company. Uh, shout out, and I started looking at the song and the show and who RPA Laszlo is and all of those things. And I actually was prepared to send an email to Scott Ellis asking him if I could audition for the part because I didn't know if I was gonna get an appointment.

Um, and I didn't have to. I ended up getting an appointment. I auditioned. Uh, he actually, I don't know if he knows this, but he hugged me in the room and said that's all I need to see. And I took that as, oh, there's no way I'm getting this. Meaning really all he needed to see. I'm not getting this. He hates me. Um, and I got the role five days later. I was heading into my Spanish final in my junior year of high school. Uh, and then I got to do the production. It was the most insane, dreamy cloud of an experience. Um, that cast, I mean, it was ridiculous. I was magic.

[3:48] Marc Tumminelli: And you didn't, you defied like kind of every rule about being a teenager on Broadway, having done this role of RPA and also The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which we'll talk about in a minute. Because teens don't normally work on Broadway.

[4:01] Nicholas Barasch: Right.

[4:01] Marc Tumminelli: For you to do two big musicals at the Roundabout on Broadway, it's kind of a big deal. Um, so you've like carved out a little world for you. And I say to my students all the time, I'm like, it only happens with Nick Barasch, it doesn't exist. It's really hard to be a—and I mean, well, Rachel Resha, I was just listening to her episode.

[4:19] Nicholas Barasch: Um, yeah, no, I did kind of define, I also I think I just look old. I've looked older from when I was 13. I, you know, I don't know. I think puberty happened and I just became a different human. Um, no, but I was really lucky and I turned 18 during She Loves Me. I kind of I became an adult during that time. And yeah, it but I definitely had some years in there that were awkward, but more than my fair share of luck for sure.

[4:48] Marc Tumminelli: So talk to me about the rehearsal process of She Loves Me a little bit, because being a younger person and being in the room with these like kind of giants of musical theater and Scott Ellis directing the show and the Roundabout producing it, how comfortable do you feel to be trying things and to be playing around as if you were in your high school show or doing a show of probably workshop? How does that feel being a teenager among, you know, those huge stars?

[5:12] Nicholas Barasch: Yeah, that's a good question. I well, I mean, I remember the first day it was the meet and greet, and I literally we were standing in a circle and we were all going and saying our names and who we were playing. And I just remember I didn't know where to put my hands. I was like, do I put them in my pockets? Do I put them behind me? Do I put—and so the whole time I had no idea what anyone was saying because I was so worried about how I looked to anyone. Anyway, um, but your question was about yeah, trying things. Uh fortunately, I've had amazing acting coaches throughout my childhood and teen careers. One of them is Joy Soprano. Um, but at the time I was working with someone named Dana Smith Kroll.

Um, we really would try out things in her living room before going into the rehearsal room. So I never felt like it was all on me. And I think there's, you know, a misconception about doing things on your own and not asking for help. And that's, that is, you know, separates the true artists. But the true artists do ask for help and they workshop things with their friends or with coaches or whoever. So I was really lucky to have people around me who would listen to me and I would try things. But in the room, uh, Scott Ellis was super open to all sorts of different choices. So he never made me feel like there's one way or um, or it's his way or the no way.

[6:32] Marc Tumminelli: And how welcoming was that cast for you? Were they very supportive? Did they come around you?

[6:38] Nicholas Barasch: Absolutely, yeah. I mean, Zachary Levi, I had a conversation with him in the elevator on the way up in that first day of rehearsal, I'll never forget. And Jane Krakowski, I was definitely starstruck. I would just binge, yeah, I just binged 30 Rock, and all of a sudden we're like sitting on the same couch, like learning lines, learning the lyrics to a song at the end of the show. And she was like, Okay, let's run it one more time. And I was like, Oh, okay, Jane, like one more time, we'll run it. No, but they were so welcoming, and Laura and Jane actually both started around 18, 19. They were both teen performers and were on Broadway at a very young age, so they were so welcoming. Couldn't have been more.

[7:16] Marc Tumminelli: Watching Laura Benanti's performance in that show is mind-boggling. The things, I mean, obviously she's very talented, but the acting choices, like she just spins everything on its head and approaches it in a way that no ingenue ever would. And it makes it so fun to watch. What was that like being in the room to watch that brilliant sort of spark?

[7:36] Nicholas Barasch: Oh, it was incredible. I mean, she's just so funny, I think, and her the lens through which she sees the world is very sharp and um funny. And I think everyone had a different kind of humor. You know, Zach's was kind of this goofy humor, and Jane was this, you know, her quirky, amazing genius humor, and it all kind of melded together in this beautiful way. And I watching the PBS version a couple weeks ago, I did, I did realize that it was kind of this larger than life show. It was the first time I was like, wow, this is kind of like almost fantastical in a way. It's kind of um, I think people described it often as like a uh an ice cream flavor or a, you know, deluxe kind of and I did feel that way. So everyone kind of brought their own brand to it, and it just worked.

[8:26] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah. What who made the decision about the filming? How did that come up? Because obviously you've been in multiple Broadway shows, none of them filmed for television. So um, having this big moment where they're saying we're gonna film this for PBS or future broadcast, how did that come about?

[8:42] Nicholas Barasch: Well, I remember, I don't know the exact details, but I remember you don't know about the contracts, but I do know that Broadway HD was a new, relatively new venture at that point, but they had never live streamed a show. And so that I remember was the big thing. Like, we're gonna live stream this, which in retrospect, every performance of theater is live. But for some reason, the fact that it was live streamed made me so incredibly nervous that the version of the show you see is me just in total fight or flight fear mode throughout every—I missed like two or three lines. I almost ran my bike into the set. I—it was like watching a train wreck through my eyes. I mean, no one would know, I don't think I would hope, but I was so nervous.

And so that didn't film that live. That's like a—the version that's on Broadway HD is a live performance. Most of it because we did—we did three or four other shows that were filmed, but then there was also the Lincoln Center version. There, it was like a succession of weeks that we were just filming a lot. Filming She Loves Me, filming She Loves Me. Uh, I remember there's a different makeup team for PBS, like so you know, my makeup was usually just pretty pretty light, but I remember it was kind of orange for the filmed version. I was like, wow, this is this is TV. Welcome. Here we go.

[10:01] Marc Tumminelli: Here we go. Um, no, but it was a great experience, but also terrifying.

[10:07] Marc Tumminelli: What do you think when you watch it now?

[10:10] Nicholas Barasch: Oh, I just think, oh, look at that kid having fun on a bike. No, I truly have the greatest memories. And I was texting some of the cast during um during the stream of it, and it was just it was just wonderful. And I think I I'm giving myself more credit as the 17-year-old that I was. I think at the time I was very hard on myself. Um, and just trying to be the best try me, you know.

[10:38] Marc Tumminelli: Um, well, your performance of "Try Me" is amazing, and thank you. You know, now all these theater kids, you know, around the world try to do it at auditions. Um, because it's a great song. I sang it for a hundred auditions and failed miserably every time.

[10:51] Nicholas Barasch: It's actually it's a great—it's hard, especially in an audition room because it's so out of context. There's lots—there's lots of things going on. So I give people a lot of credit when they do that audition.

[11:01] Marc Tumminelli: Um, and of course, you got to make a Broadway cast album, so that lives on forever. And your beautiful performance of that show is really like frozen in time. And you have a cast recording and it's beautiful, and you have this, you know, live film version. So yeah, everybody watch it if you haven't watched it or listen to Nick sing "Try Me" on the cast recording.

[11:20] Nicholas Barasch: Gladly grow a mustache if you'd like, Mr. Maricek. Try me.

[11:25] Marc Tumminelli: Oh, I would even think of giving up my bike, Mr. Maricek. Try me for first-class clerking and conscientious working, Mr. Maricek. Why not try me?

[11:43] Nicholas Barasch: Um, and riding a bicycle on Broadway seems terrifying to me.

[11:49] Nicholas Barasch: It was terrifying. I remember in tech, Scott came up to me because I was having trouble with my launch out of the wings. And he came over to me. Oh, yeah, my launch, and he came over to me and he was like, You do know how to ride a bike, right? And I said, I said, Yeah, Scott, I do, but I'm having trouble because there's a small aperture. I don't think I used that word, but there's—first of all, I'm very proud. You go to Columbia, I'm very impressed with aperture. There was a small opening to get through on my bike. So what ended up happening is we had this wonderful stagehand, Khaki, give me just a little nudge, just a little push, so that I wouldn't, you know, be flailing my arms everywhere and crashing it. But no, it was terrifying. And like I said, the live stream version, you see me skid because I'm going so fast with my feet. It was—could have been a disaster.

[12:41] Marc Tumminelli: That set was so incredible. It's the most beautiful, probably set I think I've ever seen. Maybe like that in Sunset the first time, but so gorgeous, yeah.

[12:49] Nicholas Barasch: So impressive. So you got a Drama Desk nomination, an Outer Critics Circle nomination, and you won the Theater World Award for that performance, which is like kind of a big deal. And then you got screwed out of a Tony nomination because of Hamilton.

[13:04] Nicholas Barasch: Yeah, still holding a grudge. Stupid Hamilton.

[13:08] Marc Tumminelli: Um, but yes. Did you feel like with all these nominations? Was that day like, oh god, this is gonna happen?

[13:16] Nicholas Barasch: I definitely did. Well, I first of all, we had so many amazing supporting players that I literally it crossed my mind maybe once because someone made a comment backstage and they were like, you know, they said I was gonna win an award. I—it didn't occur to me until the Outer Critics nominations came out, and I was like, hmm, why am I on the—like I literally I was like, what? Um, and so yes, you get some of that stuff in your head, but I think the Theater World Award was so special because it really celebrated newcomers and lots of fresh faces. So it was all an incredible. It's all really special thing.

[13:51] Marc Tumminelli: Can you tell everyone this story about your prom?

[13:54] Nicholas Barasch: Yes. Okay, so I had a prom, as many do at their high schools, and I was going to be performing that night, which it didn't for me, that wasn't a big deal. I was like, I'm on Broadway, it's okay. No, but um, but I apparently just the cast got wind of it, and especially Gavin Creel and Jane Krakowski who decided to throw me a prom backstage. It is really the sweetest, most generous, wholesome thing that's probably ever happened to me. But Jane went out and got booze and balloons, and Gavin rallied the troops and got everyone to wear their prom best or worst and surprised me backstage. And the stage manager, right after one of our performances, Scott pulled me aside and said, uh, hey Nick, we have to talk about rehearsals for the Tony Awards. And I was like, okay. And so he brought me downstairs, and they were all there waiting, and they went, happy prom. But I was so shocked. And it was also my birthday that week.

[14:57] Nicholas Barasch: So I was like, what are we celebrating? And who what's happening? My parents were there. It was so incredible, but also shocking. And it was the greatest. And then I ended up going to After Prom after. Why? I don't know. Nothing could top. I mean, nothing's gonna like top Jane Krakowski throwing you a prom. Oh, yeah. I slow danced with Jane Krakowski. I mean, that that was in the basement of Studio Kiwi. In the basement of Studio 54. Doesn't get better than that, kids. Oh my god, that is top. So you did get to perform at the Tony's. Um even though you weren't personally nominated, the and you should have been. Um, the uh any other year, Nick, any other year. Like you and Benanti would have walked right home with that.

Okay. So um so you get to perform at the Tony's. Tell us about that experience because that's very cool thing. It was very cool, very special. We were at the Beacon Theater on the Upper West Side. Um, and I just remember the day of our our dress rehearsal. We got to watch uh the cast of Shuffle Along perform right before us, and we were so I mean, all of our jaws were just like on the floor. We're like it was just incredible. And you know, there's they set up tents outside on Columbus Avenue, and you get to see all the different casts and their different costumes. I remember Audra McDonald walked by, and you just know when she's gonna be walking by because you like hear you hear the reactions like from the um and I was like, oh that there she goes.

That's Audra McDonald. Um, no, it was so cool. I mean, but also stressful. I mean, that that curtain went up and I had to hold a box, and then I had to turn a uh a stairwell case thing that Gavin and Jane were standing on for the end of the number, and I had to make sure that they didn't fall. So that was stressful, but so fun. It's just like so terrifying to me to imagine me personally being a senior in high school if everyone's like, and now you're performing at the Tony Awards. Like I was a mess, like I couldn't find pants to match shirts. Like I don't it shocks me every time when I, you know, these star kids, you have these experiences. Is it just sort of like I gotta just do it? And you can't get in your head about it.

Yeah, exactly. It's like I gotta do it. This is a show. And I think, you know, it helps when the other cast members don't know what they're doing as well. You know, I mean, not that they, I mean, they're amazing Broadway stars, but there are moments where they're like, I don't know, what do you guys think about this number or what what's gonna happen when we do you know there was some um camaraderie and I didn't feel they didn't make me feel like a kid, but I I did have to push those counters backstage into the wings to make way for the next number, and I had never done that before. That was an added thing for the Tonys, and they were glass, and I was scooting them around Laura Benanti, who was warming up on a bed.

It was just, yeah. Well, I'll go back and watch that Tony performance and watch Nick moving, being moving furniture. Um, what would you say is the thing you've you took away from that experience? Wow. Uh I mean the whole shebang. The whole shebang. I think um uh to ground yourself, uh, find ways to ground yourself. Luckily, I had and have an amazing family who keeps me grounded um because there's just a lot of buzz, and I think you can kind of skate along uh in this dream uh state. Um, but it's work and you show up and you gotta stay healthy and you have to. I think it's it's the first time I really had a job and it was a big job, and they were depending on me to deliver every night, and I felt that um in more ways than I had before.

Um I think I also just learned to give myself credit where credit is due. Uh in retrospect. At the time, I was it felt like you were having the best time. When I saw you in the show and we were hanging out after, it just felt like you were like, this is great, and this show's good, and I'm proud to be in it. And it felt like you were having so much fun, yeah, and you were aware of how lucky you were to be in the spot you were in. Um, and you've always been such a nice kid and not obnoxious. So I hope so. Thank you. Thank you to your parents. Okay, so in 2012, you're also on Broadway as a teenager. Yeah. Annoying every 20-year-old, every young looking 20-year-old in New York, um, in The Mystery of Edwin Drood playing uh the deputy.

Uh talked first of all, can you explain Edwin Drood to the people and me? Because I have a very hard block. I have like a mental block with that musical, and the production was amazing, and you were great, and that cast was brilliant. But please explain that to me. It's a it's a hard one to wrap your head around. I don't think I can explain it, but basically it's a show within a show. And so you have the English music hall. Oh, here we go. You're already, you're already you're already tuning me out. You see me fall zoned out. I started like answering emails. So basically it's it's the English music hall aspect, which is 1880s, right? So it's like a community theater troupe of actors putting on a musical version of Charles Dickens' The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which has never been done before.

And um, so you go through the plot of the mystery of Edwin Drood, and then all of a sudden it ends because Charles Dickens died writing it. So the latter half of the show, um, we asked the audience to determine who killed Edwin Drood, who is the mysterious datchery character in disguise, and who do the lovers get to be at the end who walk off into the sunset together, which is a total that's Rupert Holmes spinning his spinning his own version of it. So who is there normally a teenage boy in that show? I don't know how what the age range is like I said, Marc. And it's not like, you know, our pad is a teenage boy who's working in the shop and he's like 16 or 17. You know, we get it, but I don't remember teenagers playing this part.

So I no, I don't think I would say young, early 20s, teens. In the book, however, he is supposed to be like 12. All right. So they went older for the production. But um, yeah, I was as shocked as as you were that that I did that appointment just come to you. Like, did you have to get the job? Yeah, uh, went into audition for the team. I think there were three auditions. I had to do a uh a private, which was lucky, a private dance call for Warren Carlyle. I've seen you dance. So oh yes, oh yes, it's a it's a sight. And um, there was some there was some shoulders, there was some bell kicks, there was some, and they told me in the room that I got it, which is another kind of Cinderella lucky story.

Um, and I remember my knees kind of buckling. I was like, what? Um so that was that was pretty cool. And so in that show, you started with Stephanie Block, Will Chase, Andy Carl, Jessie Mueller, and many other people, and the Queen Chita Rivera, yeah, you became very close. Yeah, tell me about your connection with Chita and how that all came together. Well, I think she just, you know, I mean, she's just such a lovable, loving human, and um she she kind of took me under her wing, I would say. She was just very giving, and and I think you know, also she knew I was in WEST SIDE STORY as a young kid, so I think that tickled her because here I was this 14-year-old, and we had done a show to you know, the the same show, um but no, but she was she was incredible.

She was my secret Santa, which I always bring up that story because she would deliver me little gifts, and I didn't know that it was Chita Rivera, and then they told me it was Chita Rivera, and they later told me that she requested to give gifts to me because and that's the only way she was gonna do it. Um, because I was a kid and she wanted to get gifts for a kid. That's fun. So what did she get you? She got me, which oh, do you see it's actually behind me? That is we had to write I can't get through that. We had to write out a questionnaire of like our interests and what we like. So I wrote Lord of the Rings apparently, and she got me a Gollum, like a Gollum action figure. Oh my god. I don't know.

Should we just end it now? Like this is I think this is gonna be my most streamed episode. Um, she also got me some candy, but her handwriting is kind of you can't read it. It's it's very messy. And so I thought it was like, I don't know, a crew member, or I don't know who I thought it was. But it was Carl. It was downstairs in the basement. It was Chita Rivera. Anyway, how did we get on this? What did you ask me? Okay, I'm so obsessed with you because I saw you in the show. She came over, she wanted to meet me. She told me I look like Matt Damon, which I'll never forget on my thinnest day. I don't, but I'll take it. Um, I was fine with it, but she just went on and on about how much she loved you, how much fun it was to do the show with you.

And uh well, I think it that started when we when we were chosen for the lovers a lot. So I was uh an eligible bachelor to get chosen with either Jessie Mueller, Betsy Wolf, or Chita Rivera. Take your pick. Um was that the real was the audience did they really choose the yeah, like they summed it up and they were like these are the winners tonight? Yeah, so for the datchery uh component, we actually counted votes in the audience. We went out and we counted people raised their hands and we counted, and then for the lovers and yeah, for the lovers, uh, it was by applause. But me and Chita somehow people are perverse. They want to see a 14-year-old with an 80-year-old woman become the lovers. Um, yeah.

Tell me some stories about doing that show and being out in the audience and having so many variables to deal with every night. Oh I mean, I was improving with members of the audience at 14 years old asking them to be my assistant in holding up cards that said the numbers of the murderers for my section. It was a lot to get out, and I was also speaking in a cockney accent. So I I had people refuse to get up. I had people who were asking me to repeat things, and meanwhile, there's like the vamp behind me. And I know that we have like 30 seconds to get these votes, and I have a clipboard and I'm writing down all the yeah, it was a little hairy. And I had a wonderful Wrangler, Felicia, and she, you know, would hold my my clipboard before I had to do it and bring me.

She was she was at the she was at the back of the house waiting for me. So I had I had moral support from all sides. Um but uh no, that was that was nuts. And also improving on stage with Chita Rivera. I I was I got paired with her the first preview, and she told me on stage to dip her. She whispered that into my ear. She said, Dip me. And I was like, what? And she said, Dip me, hold my back. So I held her back and she did a full dip down like her hair brushing against the stage, and the rest of the cast like closed in because they were afraid I was gonna drop her. And I was afraid I was gonna drop her. But then every, you know, every time we got paired after that, she would she made it a bit and she would dip and I would dip her.

I don't know, is that the the term she would dip? I think that's I don't know another term, but neither one of us are dancing. Um so there might be something else here. What a wild experience. Wild. Um also that cast is so incredible. Who else did you connect with doing that show? Well, I mean like nothing, they're horrible people. Exactly. What if I said that? Well, I think they were all just goofballs and uh but extremely talented goofballs. I mean, Stephanie J. Block, just the example she set, singing writing on the wall every night and belting her face off. Jessie Mueller was just so chill and relaxed about everything and just brought that component to it. She'd just be like humming a tune right before heading on stage.

Just so I've never seen someone so nonchalant about walking on stage and being a star. Really does. Um, so I was always like, hmm, look at her. Um, no, they were all incredible. I mean, and I think the older folks especially were were really fun to work with because of the breadth of their experience. Jim Norton was is a legend. And yeah. Now, you again were the only young person in that cast. Your understudy was an adult, I'm assuming both of these times. Kyle Kaufman. Yep. Yes. Now, um was like uh balancing being an actual real life kid in this experience. Was that did that feel very different than what their adult adult experience was? It's kind of creating a musical where that every night the ending is gonna be different.

Where were people taking care of you? Did you feel like? Um in the cast is what you're asking. Yeah, kind of. Yeah, I think again, my family friend, you know, they were supporting me. I actually had the time of my life because I was being tutored uh during freshman year of high school, as opposed to going to school during the day, doing the show at night. So I had tutors come to my apartment where I was living with my parents at like noon, and I would show up basically in my PJs and we would read for a couple hours, and then I would go to the show and there'd be no homework or tests. It was like ridiculous. I mean, I my dream. It was it was ridiculous. And then I'd come home after the show and play video games.

I was living my best life at 14. Um, which is so rare. But I think in in other situations where I've had to really balance a school workload, it was it was more difficult. Um, and you said you had a Wrangler in that show. Did you have a Wrangler in She Loves Me? No, I was I the the threshold. So I think it's 16, where you don't need a Wrangler anymore. Uh so I was 14 and Drood, but Felicia, I mean, she'll be the first to admit it. She was basically my my personal assistant. She didn't really need to wrangle me. I'd be like, Hey, can you get me my chapstick? Hey, can you get me some water? And she couldn't really refuse. So, like, we we all need a Felicia Wrangler. We all need Felicia. She would also yell at me to put my mic on because I was notoriously late.

And at one point we had to talk to the stage manager. It was a bit of a thing. Did you not want to do it? You're like, I don't need that. No, I would I'm just a late person. I show up late to think I'm a chronic, it's just a bad habit. Uh so it would be places, and I didn't have my jacket on, my mic on, my chapstick, my the dirt I had to put on my face to make me look like a grave digger. So I was the same way when I was an actor, I was like, they give you a place's call so you can get dressed. That's what it's time to get ready. Yeah, the show's about to begin. Were you in the dressing room with like adults? No, I had a I had my own dressing room and it was actually the same dressing room for She Loves Me, which was pretty wild.

Yeah, I mean, don't get used to that, Nick. Um believe me, no. Um, what a cool experience to get to do that and learn. I bet you learn so much. So that's like more than you could ever learn in four years of a BFA program.

[29:56] Nicholas Barasch: I think so, yeah. Um, so in we're going way back, we're going all backwards today. I'm turning this podcast on its head.

[30:03] Marc Tumminelli: Right. In 2009, you made your Broadway debut as kiddo in WEST SIDE STORY, a role that normally is not in WEST SIDE STORY.

[30:10] Nicholas Barasch: No, it is not. Um, and you sang "Somewhere" in the middle of the dream ballet. Um, and also made that beautiful cast album, which I listened to in preparation for our you sound what a sweet little angel voice you had.

[30:24] Marc Tumminelli: Thanks. Um, okay. So tell me about WEST SIDE STORY. It was your big Broadway debut. How did that come to you?

[30:30] Nicholas Barasch: Uh, I got an audition. I was pretty new to auditioning. Uh, Lisa Pitliak, who we both know and love, um, my manager, and it was probably the second or third Broadway show I had auditioned for at age nine. I had auditioned for Mary Poppins, I think. I was too tall. You know, I kept going out on them. And um, the audition was funny because my mom forgot my picture and resume. So we got kind of outed by the casting assistant, and he said, "You don't have your picture and resume," and all the mothers with their perfect, you know, headshot and resume on their laps, all were throwing daggers at us, and it felt, you know, it was a lot of pressure. So, but when I got in the room, it was lucky for me.

Arthur Laurents had just walked in at, you know, 91 years of age to sit in on auditions. They had to ask me about myself because they had nothing to read in front of them. So they asked me what shows have you done. And, uh, I didn't mention the one professional credit that I had to my name at that point, which was my voiceover role on the Backyardigans. I mentioned Willy Wonka Jr. at Random Farms Kids Theater.

[31:36] Marc Tumminelli: Excellent. Directed by me.

[31:38] Nicholas Barasch: In that, yeah, I said exactly that. Um, and they laughed, I think. And um thought that was cute, and I sang the one verse of the song with my hands shaking. I didn't even love the song at first. I remember hearing it and being like lukewarm about one of the greatest songs ever written for the theater. Um, I don't know. It's not my thing. And then I got the role two hours later. These are just all very unique, rare experiences. I want the people to know that it's not the way it goes. There's a lot in between. So that is a huge adjustment on a whole family. When you're a kid booked the Broadway show. Did you do all eight a week too?

[32:20] Nicholas Barasch: No, so I did six. I did six a week. Kyle, um, my alternate did the other two.

[32:26] Marc Tumminelli: Got it. Um, and so were you just in the Summer Ballet?

[32:31] Nicholas Barasch: Yes. Well, but in Washington, DC, the out of town, they tried to incorporate this character more into the musical. Like a ghost. Like a, like we don't know. I still don't know to this day. I was in the prologue for a bit, hanging out, hanging out behind a fire escape, kind of looking at the guys rumbling. The detective help me out.

[32:53] Marc Tumminelli: No, not Shrank.

[32:55] Nicholas Barasch: Yes. Shrank comes out, and I got to punch him in the stomach, which I don't think anyone saw because it was upstage. It's like back reflex. And there were a lot of hot, great dancers doing other things downstage. So I don't think that that registered. I was also in the rumble. I got to watch from a, from a, uh, not a fire escape, it was a ramp. And anybody's was watching there, and I got to watch next to her. So I was like anybody's squared too.

[33:26] Marc Tumminelli: Okay.

[33:26] Nicholas Barasch: Anybody's two.

[33:27] Marc Tumminelli: Anybody's brother?

[33:28] Nicholas Barasch: Anybody's brother.

[33:30] Marc Tumminelli: Just anybody's brother.

[33:32] Nicholas Barasch: Okay. Just anyone.

[33:35] Marc Tumminelli: Anyone.

[33:36] Nicholas Barasch: Okay. Um, and so did that all get cut?

[33:39] Nicholas Barasch: Um, some of it got cut in Washington.

[33:42] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah.

[33:42] Nicholas Barasch: So I think I no, but I still had the prologue on Broadway and the rumble.

[33:46] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah.

[33:47] Nicholas Barasch: Yeah, they just glimpses of red hair flash across the back of the stage. So, what does a 10-year-old do for three hours every night that he's mostly not on stage waiting to sing at like 10:40?

[34:01] Nicholas Barasch: We would do a lot of Bananagrams, uh, a lot of spit the card game.

[34:07] Marc Tumminelli: Oh, yes.

[34:07] Nicholas Barasch: Uh, we again I had a fantastic Wrangler, Libby, um, who really really gave us art projects to do, me and Kyle. So we'd always be up to something. I did get into a little trouble because I started to sing. I started to practice my high note as a habit just every few seconds. I would I would hit the F. Can I do it now? No. I'm not warm, but I would just hit it just once every few seconds. And the people to our left in the dressing room thought there was a bird in the in the roof of the Palace Theater. The people to the left thought it was a video game that we were playing that was really loud and annoying. So there was a discussion that had to be had. They called me the pitch pipe stage manager. I had to have a conversation with my parents, and they were like, "We're so sorry. He's just obsessing over this high note." Nick has to stop.

[35:02] Nicholas Barasch: Someday. We'll find a way off for Kitty. Something. No, I learned a lot in that show because it was also musically like so advanced and heady. And I think I learned the most just by absorbing and hearing it on the monitor every night while playing Bananagrams.

[35:42] Marc Tumminelli: Did you work with Sondheim a lot on it?

[35:45] Nicholas Barasch: No, I only saw him once. He was in the booth for the cast recording. Uh, I don't think I ever met him. Um, but uh, Bernstein's son was there. Um, and of course, Arthur.

[35:57] Marc Tumminelli: Well, tell us about working with Arthur Laurents.

[35:59] Nicholas Barasch: Well, you know, I had a good experience because I was 10 and he had to be nice to me. No, doesn't have to be. No, I mean, look, I did hear some stories after the fact that shocked me. Um, but a lot went over my head back then. But no, I mean, he's a genius. Um, I know there are, you know, a lot of stories out there that tell other stories, but no, he was great. I mean, he I remember him a genius and be like horrible to actually sure, sure. They're two totally separate things.

[36:30] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah, yeah. You'd be a genius and a serial killer.

[36:34] Nicholas Barasch: He won he okay. That's a different podcast. No, but we um, he gave me one note, I remember one time, and it was to run off stage when the sirens go in the rumble, and I couldn't hear him because people were talking on stage, and he walked all the way down up the stairs to the stage to deliver this note to me through the kind of barbed wire that was down during tech. I know it sounds scary, but it's actually it was very sweet. And um, he really wanted to have FaceTime with me and um and pay attention to me. So my experience was good. Um and so cool to have him in the room. I mean, it's a history that you can't repeat. It's very cool to get to do that with and was the cast very uh receptive of having a kid in the show to sing this big number?

[37:25] Nicholas Barasch: I think so. I think so. I mean, Josefina Scaglione, who played Maria was 21. She's younger than I am now. Uh, so looking back, I can't imagine she was also from Argentina. It was her first show in New York. I can't imagine what she was going through, but she was so sweet to me, and she would kind of um give me a little shoulder massage as I sang "Somewhere," you know, often that was very cool and friendly and consensual. Um, no, but it was very sweet. I think there was a huge divide because I was 10 and the rest of the cast was in their 20s. So I didn't really see them. There wasn't a lot of cast bonding that involved me.

[38:06] Marc Tumminelli: Um, but you weren't invited to the party.

[38:10] Nicholas Barasch: I wasn't invited. No, yes out for drinks. So for your parents to see their kid, you know, on Broadway in the for the first time in West Side. Have you ever talked to them about what that experience was for them?

[38:22] Nicholas Barasch: Yeah, I just talked to my mom about it the other day. I mean, she had to basically leave my sister and my dad behind and drive me. I mean, my dad did some of the driving too, but um it would it kind of did split up our family a little bit. Um, everyone was on board and supportive, but she my mom, my mom got hives when she found out I booked WEST SIDE STORY. She literally broke out in hives for a couple days because her brain was like, "Wait a minute, my 10-year-old's on Broadway, what does that mean?" Like, uh, we live an hour north from the city, like she couldn't wrap her head around it. And there was a lot of driving and a lot of sacrifice and a lot of waiting around. It's really hard. I know a lot of yeah, and they so they made huge sacrifices for me that I'm only now I think starting to uncover and realize.

[39:10] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah, and your mom's the performer, which is how this all kind of sparked for you, right?

[39:14] Nicholas Barasch: Yeah, I did a community theater production with her, The Music Man when I was eight years old. Familiar with The Music Man, um, it's a show. Uh, and she played Marion and I played Winthrop, and that was my first taste of theater. Um, and then I started doing Random Farms and so what was it about you doing The Music Man that your parents were like, "He loves this, we have to do more of this for him"?

[39:38] Nicholas Barasch: Well, I think it was well, I would sing every day since I was an infant in the house. So I think that was always on the in the back of their minds. But after The Music Man, I just loved I loved the applause. I loved my little soft shoe I got to do on stage. I just loved it. I just ate it up and Anya Wallach saw that production um of The Music Man and she scooped her right up. We got scooped me. So I started doing Random Farms, but she had also recommended Lisa as a manager, and so that kind of jump started everything, but I just loved doing theater. I was eight, nine, having the best time.

[40:20] Marc Tumminelli: So special, such a cool thing. How hard is it to go back to school after you do a year in WEST SIDE STORY?

[40:24] Nicholas Barasch: Um, it's like doing a year in jail, and then you're like, wait, now I'm back into real life. Um, how hard was it to readjust back to being a normal kid?

[40:32] Nicholas Barasch: So hard. I well, I remember after Drood in particular, I was doing it my freshman year. I came back to my public school, regular high school in Westchester. And I remember I wrote my college essay about it. I remember because the paradox that going from signing playbills at the stage door to then sitting on the getting pushed into lockers literally like in gym class, like alone in a corner, like at 8:30. I was like, wait a minute, hold on a second. I really liked what happened two days ago. Um, so that was tough. And also I think people had already formed their cliques and their groups, and I was just out of the loop. But I think I also used that to my advantage of like, you know what? I am doing this other cool thing. I don't have to um I don't have to be here all the time and make these lifelong friendships right now. I think I had the perspective to be like, this is temporary.

[41:31] Marc Tumminelli: And did you do any of your school musicals?

[41:34] Nicholas Barasch: I almost did. I auditioned for a production of Rent that I did not get into, um, which is another story for another time. But I tried. I tried, and then in when I went to Professional Children's School the last two years, we moved into the city um so I could complete school there. I did do a play. I did Almost Maine, um, which was really fun, but there were no guys in the class. Um, so I had to do four or five different huge scenes.

[42:03] Marc Tumminelli: Um, which is a lot of things.

[42:05] Nicholas Barasch: Listen, you're getting a lot of bang out of your buck.

[42:07] Marc Tumminelli: There we go.

[42:08] Nicholas Barasch: There's a lot of Nick Barasch on that. Um, were you doing The Backyardigans all through your childhood years? Like it feels like it's a long it's a lot of episodes.

[42:17] Nicholas Barasch: Well, well it was I only did one season. So I did the last season. I started doing it in '08 and then I did it through WEST SIDE STORY and around when WEST SIDE STORY ended is when The Backyardigans ended too. And that was such a huge show. I feel like so many kids were so obsessed with the Yeah.

[42:32] Marc Tumminelli: Oh no Broadway meant nothing if The Backyardigans was in the same, you know, sentence it was like that was it but also so incredible learning experience for me.

[42:42] Nicholas Barasch: To do voiceover and kind of do voice over yeah and get I we I would get the song like two days before I would have to learn it and they were complicated rhythms and time signatures and they they changed they had different genres for each episode. So there was like a salsa Spanish episode and then there was like an English music hall kind of episode and then a you know it so prepared you for your life mariachi band oh totally um you're also a pretty incredible musician um you play piano you sing like where did all that come from um well I I started taking piano lessons at age six um with this incredible teacher um Alice Finger and uh up uh uh up in Westchester and um she definitely gave me the tools uh to read music and so much more um and that kind of prepared me but I I've always been singing and and um I mean you're like the king of Studio 54 below like there is three thousand videos of you singing there.

[43:47] Marc Tumminelli: There's one too many.

[43:49] Nicholas Barasch: I would say it's great. You're such a great voice. I listen to you sing all day long.

[43:52] Marc Tumminelli: Thanks.

[43:53] Nicholas Barasch: No, uh yeah the it's always been a part of me, and definitely my mom being a singer, songwriter. Um, it's always just been we've we're big music appreciators in the house. You love it. Um talk to me about doing some film and TV stuff, which seems to be uh like a big focus of what's going on right now. You have a movie called Low Tide that is on Amazon Prime, right?

[44:14] Nicholas Barasch: Tell us about that. Um, so fun. Well, I after high school I got to kind of dip my toe into into that world. And I, you know, of course I'd been auditioning, but uh Low Tide was a a cool kind of first venture as a my first feature film. I got a fun little scene as a bully in the 80s. We got to wear a polo shirt. It was great. Um, we filmed on a Jersey beach on a hot day. It's very fun. I also got to do got to do Bull, which was also great. But um, yeah, they're different mediums and I'm still learning. I love both. Um I think that you know, if you're a theater creature, I think that the transition to TV and film is a little easier than vice versa.

[44:57] Nicholas Barasch: But it also takes work because it's just a different, it's a different skill set. Um, but yeah, I'd love to do to do more of that. Um and I have sending it out of the universe, sending it out. Brilliantly saw you in Big River at City Center Encore, which seems to be like the scariest thing that a performer can do. Like be the star of a musical that you don't really get to rehearse and you have to do in front of 5,000 people. Tell me about Big River, just so I have some inside scoop. Also terrifying. I feel like every other word out of my mouth is nervous, scared, terrifying. Um during this podcast. But that was that pushed me in ways that I didn't I didn't know that things could be that hard.

I lived a very huge part privileged sheltered life. Yeah, it was a huge part, and I was sick for a lot of the performances, which was kind of a nightmare. But the role and the show and what that meant and working on it was the most challenging and fulfilling thing I've ever done and might ever do. Um it was a huge workload, but uh the director Lear de Bessanay and the stars, Kyle Scatliff and Lauren Worsham and David Petou. It was just Chris Receiver, it was another crazy starry learning experience. And um, yeah, and we only had 12 days of rehearsal. It was truly insane. Um and I showed up off book the first day of rehearsal because people were telling me if you do an encore show, you have to show up off book.

So I listened to them, and people were like, Are you off book? And I was like, Yeah, isn't that what you're supposed to do? And they're like, Oh, okay, okay. So then everyone else got off book and it turned into kind of a full-fledged production. I don't know, but so grateful for that experience. Um I'm so sad that it that it ended when it did. I just wanted to do it. I wanted to explore. I wish they made a recording board.

[46:50] Marc Tumminelli: Me too, yeah.

[46:50] Nicholas Barasch: Oh, you should demand the Nick Barish. Like, no, I do musicals, I get filmed, I do a cast album. It's the only one TBS, that's the only way.

[46:57] Marc Tumminelli: That's only talk to me about college. What are you doing? How have you balanced all of this?

[47:02] Nicholas Barasch: So for me, so I took a gap year. The college audition process and application process was during She Loves Me. So I definitely put it on the back burner. I didn't spend a lot of attention on it, but it was good because I ended up taking a gap year. I was going to go to Columbia full time, but then I just I was I was kind of kidding myself because I, you know, come from a very educated college pro-college family, and I think that a lot of people around me kind of expected me to do it. And I expected myself to go. I did end up going after my gap year part-time at Columbia, and uh so that I could also audition and work when possible. And I think it just it became uh this it became a little hard because I was auditioning.

I had to pull out of a semester because I was shooting a pilot, I had to pull out of another semester because I was doing a show at Irish rep. And I think I got a little burned out in high school of the balancing act. I was like, I could do this balancing act for six, eight years, do this part-time, or I could do one of the other. And for me, it was career. Um, so I think in another life, in another life, I would have gone to it for your college and had that experience, but I didn't want to stop. I was fresh off the heels of She Loves Me. And I think I just wanted to keep growing and learning in that sphere and not go away and come back. But that's a personal decision and not for everyone.

[48:24] Marc Tumminelli: And that was you have to do what's right for you, and for you know, people who are listening to remember that, you know, there's no one path to what you're supposed to be doing, and totally um, you know, you getting into a good school like Columbia is great, like you're a smart. Um, but you know, it's like balance and where your energy it's hard work being an actor who auditions, and yeah, you know, it's really big part of the job is that you have to be available and have the time to put into it. But Nick, you are so brilliant. The world is like so lucky to have you on Broadway on film and all of the magic that you make happen. Um, and so I'm very thankful that you're here today to share your story. You're such like a true joy.

[49:02] Nicholas Barasch: Oh, this is so fun.

[49:04] Marc Tumminelli: No, it's so great. Okay, so we have to do obsessed, and we have to do Brabby Workshop quick fire questions. So, Nick Barish, what are you obsessed with right now? What is like your thing? What do you want to tell the people about?

[49:15] Nicholas Barasch: Okay, well, Game of Thrones. We started, we started in April. We're on season eight. Me and my family. It's so addicting, but also so brutal. So I won't plug Game of Thrones, but it's been Game of Thrones. Um, I just started season six of Schitt's Creek. It's the best thing ever. Um music-wise, I'm really into Ider right now, this band and Joseph, both both fantastic. Um yeah, and then we've also just been trying to catch up on documentaries. And um, we just did the John Lewis documentary, and I knew next to nothing about him. And after that documentary, crying throughout it. It was pretty incredible. So highly recommend. It's called Good Trouble.

[50:00] Marc Tumminelli: Great. Um, I am going to plug two great things. Um, McMillions, which is a documentary on HBO. Have you watched it?

[50:10] Nicholas Barasch: No, it's about the McDonald's Monopoly scheme, and it was this inside thing where this guy was selling all the winning prize tickets. It's like five or six parts on HBO. It is so good.

[50:23] Marc Tumminelli: Okay. Give that a watch. And I'm also obsessed with Gaslighter, the Dixie Chicks, now called the Chicks new album.

[50:30] Nicholas Barasch: Oh, I gotta check that. I love that.

[50:32] Marc Tumminelli: So good. I listened to it on repeat all day long. It is like brilliant. So try to write the chicks, the chicks, you know, making changes.

[50:40] Nicholas Barasch: Let's yeah, let's take down some statues and rename our bands.

[50:43] Marc Tumminelli: Heck yes. It's like not that hard. Okay.

[50:46] Nicholas Barasch: Braby Workshop Quickfire Questions. Are you ready? This is a list of questions put together by myself and a list and a small group of Brady Workshop students, past and present.

[50:54] Marc Tumminelli: Okay.

[50:55] Nicholas Barasch: They're very easy. Go with your first thought.

[50:56] Marc Tumminelli: Great. Favorite holiday?

[50:57] Nicholas Barasch: Christmas.

[50:59] Marc Tumminelli: First Broadway show you ever saw?

[51:02] Nicholas Barasch: I think Tarzan.

[51:03] Marc Tumminelli: Why I'm laughing.

[51:05] Nicholas Barasch: I don't know.

[51:09] Marc Tumminelli: No, but I know well, yeah.

[51:11] Nicholas Barasch: I was down to the wires. Me and Zach Landis, I think, for when it came to New York.

[51:16] Marc Tumminelli: Oh, and then it never came to Yay.

[51:18] Nicholas Barasch: There we go. All right. Um, did you have braces?

[51:22] Nicholas Barasch: No, I was lucky.

[51:23] Marc Tumminelli: Um, one memory from Willy Wonka.

[51:26] Nicholas Barasch: Oh, uh, I missed my entrance one time, and it was like I was supposed to be talking to Willy Wonka, and Willy Wonka was left on stage with his cart. And I just remember I did a quick just I just did a little sprint out to him, and then I delivered my line. I hope that's on video.

[51:43] Marc Tumminelli: Um, first audition song.

[51:45] Nicholas Barasch: Uh probably, oh, what's that song from Nine? Nine the musical. Um Getting Tall.

[51:48] Marc Tumminelli: Getting Tall, Amelia De Mayo.

[51:51] Nicholas Barasch: Oh, it's a great song. That's what I sang.

[51:54] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah, little kids under 10, little boy sopranos, please sing getting tall.

[51:58] Nicholas Barasch: All right. Singing Guido, you're not crazy. It's all right.

[52:01] Marc Tumminelli: Oh, so good. Favorite thing about being a ginger.

[52:05] Nicholas Barasch: Uh just I guess being being a ginger.

[52:09] Marc Tumminelli: I don't know.

[52:10] Nicholas Barasch: I guess I'm recognizable, recognizable.

[52:12] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah.

[52:12] Nicholas Barasch: Good and bad.

[52:13] Marc Tumminelli: What level of SPF are we dealing with at the beach?

[52:16] Nicholas Barasch: Oh, 80 plus or plus.

[52:18] Marc Tumminelli: It can't be like 50 is like on the pack.

[52:22] Nicholas Barasch: No.

[52:22] Marc Tumminelli: If you can go back in time to do one performance of anything you've ever been in, what would it be?

[52:27] Nicholas Barasch: Probably Big River.

[52:29] Marc Tumminelli: If you had a yacht, what would you call it?

[52:31] Nicholas Barasch: The Nixter.

[52:33] Marc Tumminelli: Yikes.

[52:35] Nicholas Barasch: If we just delete that, you won't.

[52:38] Marc Tumminelli: No, it's great.

[52:39] Nicholas Barasch: Um, do you need time to think about it?

[52:41] Marc Tumminelli: Um, yeah, no, no, no, it's the Nixter Colon Yikes.

[52:46] Nicholas Barasch: That's right.

[52:48] Marc Tumminelli: Did you see the Cats movie?

[52:50] Nicholas Barasch: Nope.

[52:50] Marc Tumminelli: Okay, give that a watch.

[52:52] Nicholas Barasch: Okay.

[52:52] Marc Tumminelli: Um, what is your what would be your superhero power?

[52:56] Nicholas Barasch: Flying.

[52:57] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah.

[52:58] Nicholas Barasch: Fill in the blank. My Wranglers were dedicated.

[53:04] Marc Tumminelli: Your most recent probably audition.

[53:07] Nicholas Barasch: Uh my uh Broadway audition. Uh I I don't oh, uh uh oh uh well, the Ferryman was a recent one because I love that place so much.

[53:17] Marc Tumminelli: That would have been good for you.

[53:19] Nicholas Barasch: Sorry.

[53:20] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah, thanks, Mark.

[53:22] Nicholas Barasch: Um, okay.

[53:24] Marc Tumminelli: In the music man, do you think Winthrop is Marion's son or brother?

[53:29] Nicholas Barasch: Well, in my production, son.

[53:32] Marc Tumminelli: No, they're they're siblings.

[53:33] Nicholas Barasch: Oh, is there is there a controversy about that?

[53:35] Marc Tumminelli: There's a big controversy.

[53:36] Nicholas Barasch: It only makes sense. Like that that is her son with the the guy who owned the library.

[53:41] Marc Tumminelli: I don't know. We can talk about it.

[53:43] Nicholas Barasch: I don't know about the guy who owned the library, but you know, Madison Gymnasium, Madison Library. If you guys have questions about the music man, comment below.

[53:52] Marc Tumminelli: It's a fan fiction, yeah.

[53:53] Nicholas Barasch: There's nowhere to comment.

[53:54] Marc Tumminelli: Um, all right. What do you want on your bagel?

[53:58] Nicholas Barasch: Uh lox, cream cheese, capers, onions, and tomato.

[54:02] Marc Tumminelli: Don't go near you after that.

[54:03] Nicholas Barasch: Pre-show.

[54:04] Marc Tumminelli: You have a pre-show ritual.

[54:06] Nicholas Barasch: Uh Altoids, like winter green altoids, just shovel a lot of them in your mouth.

[54:11] Marc Tumminelli: Strangest stage door interactions.

[54:14] Nicholas Barasch: Um, someone once told me that I use my my hands a lot and during She Loves Me. And I so for the next week I was like on stage like a robot. Like, I don't know what to do with them. Sounds a little strange.

[54:25] Marc Tumminelli: So rude.

[54:26] Nicholas Barasch: One thing about Laura Benanti.

[54:29] Marc Tumminelli: Um, her voice is magical, but everyone already knew that.

[54:32] Nicholas Barasch: Um your go-to album for a car trip.

[54:36] Marc Tumminelli: Oh, also about Laura.

[54:38] Nicholas Barasch: She would always laugh at me because I had to carry this huge piece of furniture out for the Christmas scene. And it I had to balance boxes on it, and it was so heavy. And she would say to me in the wings every night, don't you drop that, which would of course make me laugh and made it 10 times harder.

[54:52] Marc Tumminelli: Okay, what's the next one?

[54:54] Nicholas Barasch: Um favorite go-to album for a car trip?

[54:57] Marc Tumminelli: Uh right now, probably Muna.

[54:59] Nicholas Barasch: Their their album. It's it's uh, I don't know what it's called, but Muna.

[55:03] Marc Tumminelli: I'll check it out.

[55:04] Nicholas Barasch: Dreamroll.

[55:05] Marc Tumminelli: It used to be Jack and Into the Woods, but now I'm thinking like a song time, like Sunday in the park.

[55:10] Nicholas Barasch: Well, Into the Woods is also Sondheim.

[55:13] Marc Tumminelli: Well, but don't you think I'm a little well, whatever.

[55:15] Nicholas Barasch: Well, you can still do it.

[55:16] Marc Tumminelli: Um what best opening night gift?

[55:20] Nicholas Barasch: Uh probably um uh you can cut out some of this time.

[55:28] Nicholas Barasch: Oh, I'm gonna say Alison Simmet has a wonderful tradition where she gives little marbles, like these magic marbles, um, to the whole cast, and it's just so sweet.

[55:38] Marc Tumminelli: So that I'm gonna say, are you getting at oh she's I was thinking she just sent me this little card with this little tiny recipe in it?

[55:45] Nicholas Barasch: She's just yeah, they threw out the mold.

[55:49] Marc Tumminelli: She is incredible.

[55:50] Nicholas Barasch: She's so incredible.

[55:51] Marc Tumminelli: And I got to see her play Jane Krakowski's part in the world.

[55:54] Nicholas Barasch: Oh my god, wow.

[55:56] Marc Tumminelli: I want blank movie to be a musical.

[56:00] Nicholas Barasch: Uh the first thing I thought of was terms of endearment, which would be a horrible musical.

[56:07] Nicholas Barasch: But I think it might be like a West End musical.

[56:10] Marc Tumminelli: I'm like What role should Patti LuPone play in She Loves Me?

[56:14] Nicholas Barasch: Um, Mr. Marichek.

[56:17] Marc Tumminelli: For sure.

[56:17] Nicholas Barasch: What is your favorite app?

[56:20] Marc Tumminelli: Uh message message, like for texting people.

[56:26] Nicholas Barasch: One role you'll never get over not being cast in.

[56:30] Marc Tumminelli: Uh Jack and Into the Woods, the movie.

[56:32] Nicholas Barasch: Oh, yeah.

[56:33] Marc Tumminelli: Oh, yeah.

[56:34] Nicholas Barasch: Not that I had a chance, but I know, but still.

[56:36] Marc Tumminelli: Weirdest experience as a child actor.

[56:40] Nicholas Barasch: Um, probably when an unnamed choreographer dropped a pen and said, beat me, beat me, beat me while dropping it.

[56:48] Marc Tumminelli: And I was confused as to why he was so angry about it.

[56:51] Nicholas Barasch: Anyway.

[56:52] Marc Tumminelli: Okay, I'm I'll call you when this is over.

[56:54] Nicholas Barasch: Um, can you name two real housewives?

[56:57] Marc Tumminelli: Absolutely not.

[56:58] Nicholas Barasch: Sydney and Courtney.

[57:00] Marc Tumminelli: If you can go back in time and see any Broadway show, what would it be?

[57:05] Nicholas Barasch: Uh, it would be uh one of the Rogers and Hammerstein.

[57:09] Marc Tumminelli: So like Oklahoma, the original or something.

[57:11] Nicholas Barasch: Have you ever left a show at intermission?

[57:14] Nicholas Barasch: Never.

[57:15] Marc Tumminelli: Uh nope, that's not true.

[57:16] Nicholas Barasch: I have with my mom once in a community theater production, we left an intermission and we got trapped because there was a gate.

[57:23] Marc Tumminelli: It was like a private property, and we couldn't leave, and someone from the show came out to our car.

[57:29] Nicholas Barasch: Oh my god.

[57:30] Marc Tumminelli: Oh, it was a mess.

[57:31] Nicholas Barasch: So that's the only one.

[57:32] Marc Tumminelli: Um that sounds fun.

[57:33] Nicholas Barasch: Um, what movie can you watch over and over again?

[57:36] Nicholas Barasch: Um, probably uh Freedom Rider, Freedom Writers Titanic too.

[57:42] Marc Tumminelli: One thing people don't know about being a kid on Broadway.

[57:48] Nicholas Barasch: The discipline. I think people don't really know the discipline.

[57:51] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah.

[57:52] Nicholas Barasch: Tell me something about Leap of Faith.

[57:55] Nicholas Barasch: I was just talking to a cast member about this. Um, Lee but when I did Leap of Faith in LA, it was a wonderful experience. And I played tennis every day because we lived at the Oakwood Toluca Lake complex. And I got to do tennis. I was so in shape. I was belting my face off Alan Mencken ballads. I was having the time of my life. That's all I'm gonna say about it.

[58:17] Marc Tumminelli: All right. Did you see it on Broadway?

[58:19] Nicholas Barasch: I did.

[58:20] Marc Tumminelli: Um, that is a great way to end our episode. Nick Barish, tell them people who they can follow and find you and watch you sing and all that fun stuff.

[58:29] Nicholas Barasch: Uh well, you can follow me on Twitter at Nick Barish and on Instagram at Nick underscore barish.

[58:35] Nicholas Barasch: So it's a little bit of a I think there was a find. It's another find. There was, I think a kidney surgeon in the area who that was taken Nick Barish. But anyway, you can find me there.

[58:45] Marc Tumminelli: Um, awesome. Nick, thank you so much for doing this with me.

[58:48] Nicholas Barasch: Thank you for today. It was actually the most I've laughed in a very long time.

[58:51] Marc Tumminelli: So I hope you all listen to it at home. And you can see how wonderful this young man is. And I can't wait to see him back on Broadway and on my TV and everywhere else. Um guys, if you like the Little Me podcast, please remember to review it and rate it.

[59:05] Nicholas Barasch: That's five-star rating only.

[59:06] Marc Tumminelli: Don't try to knock in any three, four stars. I'm not interested in that. Uh-uh. Uh-uh. Give me five stars.

[59:12] Nicholas Barasch: Follow me at Marc Tumminelli and follow LittleMe Podcast at LittleMePodcast.

[59:16] Marc Tumminelli: Thank you to everyone at the Broadway Podcast Network, and we'll see you next week.

[59:21] Nicholas Barasch: Thank you, listeners. This podcast is produced by Alan Seals, Dory Barenstein, and the Broadway Podcast Network.

[59:28] Marc Tumminelli: And edited by Derek Gunther. For more information on the Little Me podcast, go to bpn.fm slash little me.

[59:35] Nicholas Barasch: And follow me on Instagram at Marc Tumminelli or on Twitter at thatTuminelli.

[59:39] Marc Tumminelli: And for more information on workshops, classes, and everything Broadway Workshop, go to Broadway Workshop.com.

[59:45] Nicholas Barasch: Thank you for listening.