This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:15] Eva: Hello and welcome to My First Show.

[0:18] Eva: We have as a very special guest, the handsome, the lovely, the inscrutable, the mustachioed.

[0:28] Barrett Foa: Hello.

[0:33] Eva: Hello, Barrett. It's so great to be here.

[0:36] Barrett Foa: It's so good to be asked.

[0:38] Eva: It's so great to have you. It um, you know, I've been spending a lot of evenings at home because there's— you have why?

[0:46] Barrett Foa: Is there a reason for that?

[0:50] Barrett Foa: Um, I'm not allowed out of the house.

[0:53] Eva: It turns out yes.

[0:54] Barrett Foa: Oh.

[0:55] Eva: Menace of society.

[0:57] Barrett Foa: Okay.

[0:58] Eva: Same here. Imagine if that's actually what happened. That like it was just a joke on you and me. Everything else is normal, but they're like, we don't want Bear and Eva to leave the house.

[1:08] Barrett Foa: A lockdown for these losers.

[1:11] Eva: Just stay out of society. You're a menace. My point of not being able to leave the house means I've been watching a lot of television.

[1:20] Barrett Foa: Yes.

[1:21] Eva: And in my consumption, in my consumption, has been episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles.

[1:28] Barrett Foa: No, it hasn't.

[1:29] Eva: It has.

[1:31] Barrett Foa: Well, okay, good.

[1:32] Eva: Okay. Great. Thank you. Oh my god, thank you for watching. I'll tell you why. For several reasons.

[1:36] Barrett Foa: One is it runs on the USA Network.

[1:40] Eva: Yes.

[1:41] Barrett Foa: Yes. And the television.

[1:44] Eva: USA Cartoon Express. Anyone? Anyone? Childhood? Make your crying.

[1:48] Barrett Foa: The television in my bedroom doesn't get all the channels, but it does get the USA Network.

[1:54] Eva: Love it.

[1:55] Barrett Foa: So I've been spending a lot of time with Eric Beale.

[1:57] Eva: Oh.

[1:58] Barrett Foa: And that's my character.

[2:00] Eva: It's your character. And I just have some questions.

[2:06] Barrett Foa: I probably have questions too, but I will attempt to answer your questions about a little dorky Eric Beale.

[2:14] Eva: Well, my first question is how different is your character on NCIS: Los Angeles, plug plug, Eric Beale. How different is he from the real Barrett Foa?

[2:24] Barrett Foa: Truly. And I was coming off of doing Avenue Q and Leaf Coney Bear and Spelling Bee and being like the dorky funny weirdo ingenue underdog thing. I sort of realized that if I could be a foil to those sort of alpha male types and sort of be beta and sort of be the go into my Leaf Coney Bear Princeton Avenue Q nerdy underdog thing and sort of play that up, it was a really funny balance with LL Cool J and these kinds of guys. So I sort of leaned into that, and it was, and then the writers would lean into that, and then they understood that I could do comedy and did it, and so they, you know, we kind of progressed together.

[3:43] Barrett Foa: But now I don't, but now I'm 11 years older. I'm 11 years older. That's like I went to high school and then college and then three more years. Like, do you know what I mean? Like and then med school.

[3:55] Barrett Foa: And then med school, exactly. Like that is— it's a long time. And so I am so not the person I— I have grown so much. To answer your question, um, I think I'm less and less like Eric Beale as things go along because I feel like I'm just kind of sort of coming into my own um as a person who's 11 years older. So in essence, Eric Beale and Barrett Foa started in roughly the same place, but diverged over the— diverged, but they did diverge, but Eric is growing into his own too, which is nice.

[4:31] Barrett Foa: It's funny, and it's so weird to think about this kind of thing because you never think about this with theater. Because you're— you don't get 11 years with and you're doing the same show every week once, that's right, you know, eight times a week, and you have to make that journey the same each time.

[4:48] Barrett Foa: And this is just— you can actually grow. Um, it's sort of— that's right, weird and fascinating and not what I'm used to, but it's my new normal.

[4:57] Eva: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's funny, right? Because 24 years could go by, but um the Phantom is still the Phantom.

[5:07] Barrett Foa: He hasn't aged.

[5:09] Eva: It's like a Simpsons cartoon or something.

[5:12] Barrett Foa: That's exactly right. That's exactly right. But um, but on television, it's different, fascinating. And the world changed in March, and then it changed again in June. Um, and that's kind of remarkable that we as artists and as creators and as entertainers and as humans are living such fast lives so quickly and so slowly, all at the same time, um, in these last months.

[5:43] Eva: And your response and experience with this last month is pretty different and kind of remarkable um in terms of how your response was to political and social events previously, right? Can you tell me a little bit about how it's felt?

[6:02] Barrett Foa: Social media is tricky. Whatever it is I think I am or want to cultivate on this dumb and wonderful platform called Instagram, which is sort of the only one that I'm on.

[6:15] Barrett Foa: I was trying to cultivate a certain look, I think, or something. I don't know. It just was like I don't know enough information about it. It doesn't really have to do with me kind of. I mean, you— these aren't— these are things in the back of my head. Suddenly I just wasn't thinking about who any of those people were because I was like, there is nothing more important than getting some of this information out there.

[6:40] Barrett Foa: And the way I think I did it is I kind of couched it in the way I do do it, because I think this is sort of what's worked for me. I don't want to say the way to do it because it's different for everybody. The way I did it was counting it in oh my god, look what I just learned. I'm learning this. Do you want to come with me? Join me. I'm learning, not this is the answer, this is what's happening. We have to defund the police. It's wait, this made me think about this differently. Look at this reframe. And sort of sign of helping massage the fact that I'm going through this journey with you. And maybe you want to take it with me because I don't know the answers either. But these are helpful to me. These, oh, this is what white privilege is. I think I never really took the time to— I got defensive about whatever it is.

[7:36] Eva: Sure.

[7:37] Barrett Foa: And the response has been really wonderful. People want to engage. And I was expecting like a lot of pushback or or or like I think differently than you.

[7:53] Eva: Yeah.

[7:54] Barrett Foa: And instead, I'm getting.

[8:01] Barrett Foa: And then I'm like, thank you so much for writing. Engagement. What's happening? And then I'm actually, but I'm actually like talking to them and not like attacking, and they're not attacking me. And except for literally one crazy lady who is just pure racism and just likes to just attack me and comment. And I just let it go. It's almost funny now.

[8:22] Eva: Did she stop following you?

[8:24] Barrett Foa: No.

[8:26] Barrett Foa: That's what's interesting. He's not that upset. I think usually with social media, I'm like, is this good? Is this gonna be my image? Do I want this to be where what represents me? And when I don't have to think about it and I just trust my gut and just send, that's how you know it's right.

[8:45] Eva: Yeah.

[8:46] Barrett Foa: Yeah. When it's as authentic and as organic as possible, there's no second guessing.

[8:52] Eva: You know whose gut is really good?

[8:54] Barrett Foa: Tell me.

[8:55] Eva: Chris O'Donnell's.

[8:56] Barrett Foa: It's a really cute gut. And you get to see it all the time.

[9:03] Eva: Chris O'Donnell, Chris O'Donnell, Chris O'Donnell.

[9:08] Barrett Foa: I can't even. I think turning 50.

[9:11] Eva: I can't even, which just means the rest of us are old.

[9:15] Barrett Foa: Scent of a Woman.

[9:17] Eva: Scent of a Woman, Circle of Friends, School Ties, Batman & Robin.

[9:17] Barrett Foa: School Ties.

[9:22] Eva: Oh my gosh. It's funny. There are people that talk to me, they're like, oh, Chris O'Donnell. And then there are people that talk to me, oh LL Cool J. I mean, I— we need to get into the questions, which is the purpose of the show. But I just need— I just need the answer. Is LL Cool J as cool as he seems? And do you faint every time you're around Chris O'Donnell? Because that's how I feel about those two men.

[9:46] Barrett Foa: If you saw them every day for 11 years, that some of that magic might go away. Like anything, but they are actually pretty spectacular human beings. Um, Todd is what we call LL.

[9:59] Barrett Foa: Um, Todd. Yes, ladies love— ladies love Cool James is LL Cool J. But his real name is James Todd Smith. Got it. And he goes by Todd when he's on set. So it's kind of like his persona is not with us. It's like the man, the actor. It's nice because it kind of differentiates like what hat he's wearing because he sort of has to wear the Kangol hat and then he takes it off for our show.

[10:23] Eva: Right, right.

[10:24] Barrett Foa: Um, but he is inspirational, and he's like teamwork makes the dream work, and he's a hard worker and he's a great actor, and they're both really pretty fantastic leaders, and our set is not full of divas. And we have a very well-oiled machine, and we go home at wonderful times, and we don't go over, and it's a pretty magical place in the grand scheme of television shooting.

[10:58] Eva: Yeah, not bad for a day job.

[11:00] Barrett Foa: And we have two great— yes, two great leaders.

[11:02] Eva: That's amazing. All right. We ask four key questions to each of the guests here on My First Show.

[11:12] Eva: Yeah, I mean, listen, we both— me and the fans could just hear about you and only you for hours upon hours.

[11:20] Barrett Foa: But we could talk of clearly for hours and hours.

[11:24] Eva: I am— yes, okay. But we do want to hear about your humble beginnings, which is okay, which is what this show is about.

[11:31] Eva: The show is about the love of theater, what made us who we are as entertainers and theater makers, and how we've lived a life based on these early experiences.

[11:43] Eva: So I'm gonna ask you to tell us about the first show you ever saw.

[11:49] Barrett Foa: Okay.

[11:52] Barrett Foa: The first show I ever saw that really is like the one.

[11:58] Barrett Foa: Yeah, Starlight Express.

[12:01] Eva: What?

[12:03] Barrett Foa: Eva, I had no idea what I was a friend's birthday.

[12:07] Eva: How long?

[12:10] Barrett Foa: Okay, perfect.

[12:12] Barrett Foa: Perfect, perfect. And Starlight Express on Broadway.

[12:17] Barrett Foa: I didn't know what it was. I was like, is it, I know skating was involved, but I was like, are they, is it junk? Like I couldn't tell if they were trains, it was just like, you know, the ads were around, but it was like, it was Gerard Jeffrey's birthday, and so you just go because it's Gerard Jeffrey's birthday.

[12:31] Barrett Foa: Actually, I think it's like grandfather owned the Gershwin Theater or something weird like that. I don't really know. You know, that's what, who knows? So we got these house seats and we got like this tour afterwards. What I don't know what I was seeing, but I loved it.

[12:43] Barrett Foa: I came home and just talked about it with my parents, and it was so fun. And whatever it was, they're like, well, why don't you get the recording? I was like, the what? Some by a cast? Someone like press press record, and I can hear it over and over. They're like, yeah, go to the store. You know, I think I really was 10 or 11, and I was, I went to, I think on, I remember going to 86.

[13:10] Barrett Foa: 86. It wasn't even, it was like 86 and 3rd, or it's not there anymore. 86 and 3rd or 2nd. And I walked and was like, Do you love stone? Hi, do you have Starlet Express? It's like after school. I think I walked home. And they did.

[13:26] Barrett Foa: And I put it in, I remember getting a home, putting it in, and everyone was singing in British accents.

[13:34] Barrett Foa: Oh. And I couldn't understand why, because it was this was the course. But I didn't know that. No one is, no one's explained that to me.

[13:42] Eva: Right.

[13:43] Barrett Foa: And then I was like, this song is different than the one I heard, you know, because the different versions and they rewrote it and and I was so confused for so long. And like my parents just didn't have the tools or the language to be like, well, there's the London cast, and I just didn't understand. But I went with it.

[14:04] Barrett Foa: I was dance in My Mirror to a lot of locomotion and all of these songs that are just terrible and so wonderful. I know every word to that thing.

[14:15] Barrett Foa: Oh my God. It I mean, it actually is fantastic. Cut to 10 years later, I'm in London studying uh Shakespeare and kind of all that semester abroad.

[14:28] Barrett Foa: And for my 20th birthday, I went to see Starlight Express that's still playing on the West End. Amazing.

[14:37] Barrett Foa: And um had just like, you know, my 10-year-old brain explosion orgasm like all over again. It was everything.

[14:47] Eva: Did you buy wheelies when they came out because you wanted to have the closest experience part?

[14:53] Barrett Foa: I didn't, I did not. I think I was kind of past my expression.

[14:57] Barrett Foa: That's funny though. I never was into like rollerblading or skating as much.

[15:03] Eva: So what was it?

[15:04] Barrett Foa: Well, I mean, it's a great score. It's Andrew Lloyd Webber, but like what was it about that show that made you turned on so much?

[15:05] Barrett Foa: What was it?

[15:16] Barrett Foa: I mean, that set.

[15:18] Barrett Foa: Yeah. There was a like a like all these ramps and like ways to, it was like a maze and bridges that would just connect different.

[15:33] Barrett Foa: It was, it was it was like um, you know, like a Hot Wheels set, like, you know, come to life with people, and you could like skate around it. It was fascinating.

[15:46] Barrett Foa: And um, and it was also like, I mean, talk about underdogs, it was like an underdog story of Rusty, this train who, oh my god, I'm getting emotional.

[15:55] Eva: That's okay.

[15:56] Barrett Foa: I feel you. I've never like really kind of dissected the story before as an adult, but like Rusty, this train that no one believes in, who's kind of like creaky and old and I can't believe I'm getting emotional.

[16:10] Barrett Foa: I'm like creaky and old about like you know, compared to all like the new technology, and you know, somehow some people believe in him, and he sort of win, you know, gets to win the race, and it's a classic, you know, underdog, but oh Rusty.

[16:28] Eva: I mean, that can do it, right? Like you see yourself in the show, you're inspired to feel differently.

[16:35] Barrett Foa: Uh uh, you know, your eyes are are suddenly open to something they hadn't been before, and that's why something can be that meaningful.

[16:44] Eva: That makes sense to me.

[16:45] Barrett Foa: Yeah, and I think I was I was the underdog. Like I always wanted to. I mean, I was a gay kid, and I always wanted to, whenever we played house, like of course I didn't really want to play dodge ball, I wanted to like kind of play house with the girls, and like I was like, I have a broken arm, you know, like someone take care of me.

[17:04] Barrett Foa: Um like there was always something like that. So I guess I wonder now thinking about sort of the plot of Starlight Express, like, oh, maybe I saw myself in Rusty.

[17:15] Eva: Yeah, yeah.

[17:16] Barrett Foa: Especially with this mustache.

[17:18] Eva: You look like a rusty.

[17:19] Barrett Foa: I do look like a rusty. It's got a little ginger in it, so there is a little rust in there.

[17:25] Eva: First show you were ever in. What was it?

[17:28] Barrett Foa: First show I was ever in was at French Woods.

[17:35] Barrett Foa: Heard of it. I was in, I was cast in uh a production of Little Johnny Jones.

[17:43] Barrett Foa: Little Johnny Jones is um, you know, Yankee, I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy and that kind of uh sort of George M-ish um music.

[17:54] Barrett Foa: And um I played a character, and I want I explicitly wanted to talk about this because the next thing I did was in that same summer I played Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls.

[18:07] Barrett Foa: Um this is eighth grade.

[18:10] Barrett Foa: But the before that I wanted to specifically talk about this because I was the character of Wilson/slash Sing Song. And I'm sure everyone knows Little Johnny Jones, but let me just catch you up.

[18:21] Eva: Yeah, please, please do.

[18:22] Barrett Foa: I'm a little rusty.

[18:23] Barrett Foa: Speaking of resting, I'm a little risky.

[18:26] Barrett Foa: Um Little Johnny Jones, I we don't have to spend too much time on it, but basically Wilson is like a detective, and I think he was sort of drunk and maybe British, I don't know.

[18:37] Barrett Foa: But a little bit one of those, one of those.

[18:41] Barrett Foa: And also I played the role of Sing Song, which is a Chinaman, and I'm gonna say that word specifically.

[18:52] Barrett Foa: He is like well, literally that like old school stereotype of a quote unquote Chinaman who and I had a silk robe on, and sort of getting upset talking about it.

[19:05] Barrett Foa: Now that I think of it and clearly I'm all written, and this is all written in the stage directions, probably.

[19:10] Eva: Oh yeah.

[19:10] Barrett Foa: Yeah. As you grew up and became an aware adult, uh how and and you started realizing the problematic stereotypes that are constantly being portrayed in the American theater, which is a real problem, and we've been talking about for years and talking about very loudly for the last month, you know, couple months.

[19:31] Eva: Um what did your nostalgic memory reflect on and say to you having that experience?

[19:45] Barrett Foa: It's hard because it's not my place to be that person.

[19:54] Eva: No, you're right.

[19:55] Barrett Foa: You're absolutely right. And in the 1980s and early 90s, or you know, whenever I'm assuming you were in eighth grade, that the culture appropriation was happening everywhere, and we had not evolved yet as a society to recognize how wrong that was.

[20:13] Barrett Foa: It's difficult and it's challenging and it's complicated, and um, we're not gonna solve it here today that much of it. But listening is I think that's what it's about. If someone's like that doesn't feel right, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna listen to that.

[20:26] Eva: Yeah.

[20:26] Barrett Foa: Sort of my new thing. And that's what you're doing on your social media, and uh and the good news is it's working for you, it's evolving you, and it's evolving your fans, I'm sure.

[20:30] Eva: I'm sure.

[20:39] Barrett Foa: First paid professional gig. Anything, backstage, props guy, usher, star, you tell me, but what was it?

[20:48] Barrett Foa: Professional gig was making $40 a week at the New London Barn Playhouse.

[20:56] Eva: What?

[20:57] Barrett Foa: We do you know about the New London Barn Playhouse?

[21:00] Eva: Darling, it's where I saw every musical growing up that made me become a Broadway producer.

[21:07] Barrett Foa: Eva Price, what are you talking about? Did you happen to see The Fantastics in 1995?

[21:14] Eva: No.

[21:15] Barrett Foa: I was your Matt.

[21:17] Eva: That summer I was not, I was not there.

[21:21] Barrett Foa: I went on a team tour.

[21:24] Eva: How dare you?

[21:25] Barrett Foa: Yeah, Matt and the Fantastics, $40 a week.

[21:28] Eva: Yeah. Also built the sets and the props.

[21:30] Barrett Foa: You sure did. You lived, you lived behind the barn.

[21:33] Barrett Foa: Um yes, in Cubby Land was what we called it. It was about eight people, eight men, eight guys in a room in these little cubbies that they built for it.

[21:44] Barrett Foa: And each each show started with a cowbell.

[21:47] Eva: Each show started with a cowbell.

[21:49] Barrett Foa: Oh my god, I forgot about that.

[21:51] Eva: Oh my gosh.

[21:52] Barrett Foa: I had no idea that you were part of it. Scott Schwartz directed a show that um that summer.

[21:59] Eva: Oh my god, Scott's Stephen Schwartz's son.

[22:03] Barrett Foa: Wow.

[22:03] Barrett Foa: Wow. I can't believe we all had these. I love Scott. I can't believe we all had these connections to the New London Barn Playhouse.

[22:10] Eva: I love it.

[22:11] Barrett Foa: That's funny. It was non equity then, right?

[22:14] Eva: It was non-equity, but there were like one or two equity people contracts who would come in for each show.

[22:21] Barrett Foa: Right.

[22:22] Barrett Foa: Yeah. But we were the non-equity like interns, which is why they could pay us $40 a week.

[22:27] Eva: Yeah.

[22:27] Eva: And did you love it? Did you know right then you wanted to do the professional?

[22:30] Barrett Foa: Oh my god. I loved it.

[22:34] Barrett Foa: It was that was I was that was my first summer stock, and then I went on to mainstream theater, a music theater of Wichita, and then got my equity card at Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera.

[22:42] Barrett Foa: Like it just I each summer was uh summer stock. Dream role.

[22:48] Barrett Foa: It's dream time. Now we talk about your dream role, dream show.

[22:54] Barrett Foa: No venue is off limits, no role is off the limits. I don't care if someone already played it and did it and won a Tony for it. It's still yours if you want it. There's so many ways to go about this. You know, it's like, do you just want to be in the room? Like, was it like the original cast of Company? Like making that original Broadway cast recording, too. Yes. But all those character actors kind of like, we don't really sing. And when do I cut Bobby? Well, you know, just like that, learning that in like the basement of the Schubert or whatever, like having the most fun and having the, um, there's something about Into the Woods. Also, I saw probably a year after I saw Starlight Express, and there's just something about that prologue.

Like if I was the original Jack, like just to be in that room, that syncopation, that how all those stories weaved together. It just blew my mind when I was a kid. I remember. And then for some reason, like Floyd Collins comes up. I would have loved to be in that. Like, what is that music? I just remember listening to that cast recording, and I've never heard anything like this. Um, I don't know. I feel like I should have a great answer. And then also there's another, like, what's in the future? What's the future thing? Dream role. Like, like when are they gonna turn? Let me hear it. When are they gonna turn like Less into a musical? Do you know that book Less? Yeah, it's becoming a movie first, but yes, I bet it is. Yeah. Um, but like someone start writing that now, and I'll be the right age. Um, then my time it's ready. What do you think?

[24:46] Eva: I like it.

[24:48] Barrett Foa: Less, I like it. Less the musical. I'm blanking on his name. Please remind me.

[24:52] Eva: Arthur Less character.

[24:54] Barrett Foa: Arthur. So you're Arthur in Less the musical Broadway. Because one is writing it. Who's writing it? Is it like a Pascal Paul?

[25:01] Eva: I don't know. It's it's basic and Paul.

[25:03] Barrett Foa: Yeah. Yeah, sure. And you're starring on Broadway and it's 2028.

[25:13] Eva: 23?

[25:14] Barrett Foa: 2023?

[25:15] Eva: Yeah.

[25:16] Barrett Foa: No, no, yeah, 25.

[25:17] Eva: 2025.

[25:18] Barrett Foa: Okay. Yeah. Yeah, we got a few more years on this show.

[25:23] Eva: Good.

[25:24] Barrett Foa: Just squeeze it out, I think.

[25:26] Eva: I love it.

[25:27] Barrett Foa: I love it. I love it. Our final section that we do.

[25:31] Eva: No, wait.

[25:32] Barrett Foa: Forever.

[25:34] Eva: I don't know where it's at.

[25:36] Barrett Foa: Is a surprise.

[25:37] Eva: It's a surprise. You don't know about it. Because we should tell you ahead of time.

[25:42] Barrett Foa: It's um, it's a lightning round.

[25:45] Eva: Oh okay.

[25:46] Barrett Foa: Cool. Where we do a free association of classic Broadway musicals, emotional themes. Because every good classic musical has an emotional theme. So we put 30 seconds on the clock.

[26:04] Eva: Oh shoot.

[26:05] Barrett Foa: Okay. And no time to think. You have to just gut answer. It can be one word, two words, three words. Um, but the goal is to see how closely you and I match up.

[26:18] Eva: And only I know the answer.

[26:19] Barrett Foa: Okay. Love it. Love it. I'm game.

[26:22] Eva: Okay. Ready. Go.

[26:24] Barrett Foa: The Color Purple.

[26:25] Eva: Finding your true self.

[26:27] Barrett Foa: Sound of Music.

[26:28] Eva: Standing up for what's right.

[26:30] Barrett Foa: Gypsy.

[26:32] Eva: Selfishness and loving someone too much.

[26:38] Barrett Foa: Pippin.

[26:39] Eva: Pippin's Pippin and Princeton. They're both trying to find their purpose.

[26:43] Barrett Foa: Funny Girl.

[26:44] Eva: Finding inner beauty.

[26:45] Barrett Foa: Which is also like a Color Purple.

[26:48] Eva: Sweeney Todd.

[26:49] Barrett Foa: Um, obsession, revenge, classism.

[26:55] Eva: Lakageful.

[26:56] Barrett Foa: Oh my god.

[26:57] Eva: Again, finding that inner, that inner beauty, authenticity.

[27:03] Barrett Foa: I think you did really well.

[27:05] Eva: I think we matched up.

[27:07] Barrett Foa: Yes.

[27:08] Eva: Where do we diverge?

[27:09] Barrett Foa: I think authors would be proud, rights holders would accept.

[27:14] Eva: It's interesting how they all kind of there's a lot of overlap.

[27:18] Barrett Foa: Well, what I think, first of all, you're right. There is a lot of overlap. But what I think is even more interesting is that the overlap of these emotional themes are also an overlap to how you view yourself and you view your life and you view your comfort level. You said it 20 minutes ago when we first started. Authenticity is the one thing that makes you feel confident and makes you feel good. And I don't think that's a mistake or a coincidence.

[27:49] Barrett Foa: Oh, so beautiful, Eva.

[27:51] Eva: Yeah that I'm seeing those themes pop out.

[27:55] Barrett Foa: I mean it's I'm doing so much work on myself with therapy and meditation and all the things that I folded into my life to be like, how do I make sense of this world? And how do I, how do we go through it without it, you know, just dragging us down?

[28:19] Eva: Yeah.

[28:20] Barrett Foa: And there's a lot of tools out there.

[28:22] Eva: Yeah.

[28:23] Barrett Foa: And it's easy to be pulled down. And it's also easy to be like, I have tools to help me not do that. And I'm gonna poke around and see what is working for me. And it feels good to come into your own and maybe morph into something that's not the underdog, and to maybe be a leading man, or to be a more confident, authentic man, yeah, not boy, that like listens that can listen to their gut and take action. It it's it's a nice journey.

[29:03] Eva: Yeah, I like that. And you um you played Prior in Angels not long ago. And I'm curious if if this all this theme really resonated there too.

[29:15] Barrett Foa: Oh, I'm so glad you brought that up. Um, it absolutely did. If this, okay, let's go back to Angels in America. Someone gave me that script in '96, and I was like, I don't understand half of the words. This is someone's like, oh, you're gonna be Joe Pitt. Like you one day you'll play Joe Pitt. And I was like, this is for real actors. This is for people who are much better at this than I am. I'm just a XYZ, like musical theater, chorus, boy, whatever I thought that I was, or all I could do at that moment. And then, you know, I'd work on Joe Pitt in an acting class like everyone did. And then I saw revivals and um they affected me greatly. And then suddenly someone's like, we'd like you to play Prior.

And I was like, wait, no, no. I'm sorry. I think that you think that that was this is a wrong offer. I'm more of a Joe Pitt. Let me read it. Let me just read it. Because Prior is um scary. Prior is sharp-tongued. Pryor is ugly and yucky, and he's dying, and he has gross things on his body. And I don't think that's me. I'm the, you know, like it was like, you know, this when you paint with like old old colors. And I read it and I was like, oh my god. Oh my god, I'm I'm Prior. I never saw that. I never thought that. And if this came to me a month, a year, a day ago, I would have been like, nope, I cannot do this. But it came to me at the exact right time where I was like, oh, I am funny enough.

I am fabulous enough. I am vulnerable enough. I mean, that he's the hero. He's the he it is such an amazing arc for that character and a part to play and a world to research. And just Kushner is it was wonderful. We had an amazing um dramaturg. We had um a fantastic theater. We did it at the Repertory Theater of St. Louis with an unreal cast. Um it was a very, very special experience. We did both parts, yeah.

[31:45] Eva: Wow.

[31:46] Barrett Foa: Wow. And I couldn't have done it. It's it's it's the the growth is how that's right. Eric Beale might not have been able to do it, but Barrett Foa can.

[31:55] Eva: Yes.

[31:56] Barrett Foa: That's the difference.

[31:57] Eva: Oh, Barrett, this was such a delight. I wear out of time.

[32:02] Barrett Foa: I'm so sorry. I we could talk for hours, but more lightning rounds.

[32:07] Eva: But the internet is not big enough for us.

[32:10] Barrett Foa: No, it's not for my caffeinated personality.

[32:13] Eva: It's not big enough for the two of us.

[32:17] Barrett Foa: Um, thank you.

[32:18] Eva: Thank you for sharing all this with us today.

[32:20] Barrett Foa: Thank you for being here.

[32:21] Eva: Thank you for being the entertainer that you are and the beautiful human being that you are. And we will get through this time together, and we'll get back to the theater soon enough.

[32:30] Barrett Foa: Oh, I can't wait to see you there.

[32:33] Eva: Me too.

[32:34] Barrett Foa: Me too. Thank you, Eva. This was so lovely and so easy and fun.

[32:39] Eva: Thank you, Barrett.

[32:42] Barrett Foa: Thank you, Barrett, and thanks everyone for listening.

[32:55] Barrett Foa: My First Show is produced by Josh Altman, MEP, Dory Berenstein, and Alan Seales, and is part of the Broadway Podcast Network.

[33:03] Barrett Foa: This episode was edited by Barrett Gunther.

[33:06] Barrett Foa: Special thanks to Leslie Papa and Whitney Holden Gore at Vivacity Media Group.

[33:11] Barrett Foa: For more info about the podcast, visit bpn.fm backslash my first show.

[33:16] Eva: Follow me on Instagram at Eva R. Price.

[33:21] Barrett Foa: Into the woods to Grandmother's house.

[33:25] Eva: It's the woods to grandmother's house. The way is clear.

[33:30] Barrett Foa: The life is good.

[33:32] Eva: I have no fear.

[33:33] Barrett Foa: No one no one should.

[33:35] Eva: The woods are just trees.

[33:37] Barrett Foa: The trees are just wood.

[33:39] Eva: No need to be afraid.

[33:41] Barrett Foa: There's something in the play.

[33:50] Eva: Into the woods without delay, but careful not to lose the way.

[33:53] Barrett Foa: Into the woods, who knows what may be on the journey.

[33:57] Eva: Into the woods to get the thing that they support the journey.

[34:01] Barrett Foa: Into the woods, see the key to sell the cow.

[34:03] Eva: To make the potion to see, to sell to death, to bring to make to make to go to the festival, into the woods.

[34:03] Barrett Foa: Into the woods.

[34:11] Eva: Into the woods, the woods, and all the good.