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[0:00] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, you guys, my mom's here.

[0:01] Mom, say hi to the listeners.

[0:03] What listeners?

[0:12] Oh my god, did you hear? Did you hear? Did you hear? Oh my god, guys.

[0:17] Hi, Jake.

[0:18] Oh my god, shut up.

[0:23] Oh my god! Oh my god, you guys! What's up, everybody? My name is Jayke Workman, and this is Oh My Pod, you guys, a musical theater and pop culture podcast.

[0:34] You guys, I am coming to you live from the Trixie Motel in Palm Springs, California. And oh my god, I cannot even tell you how insanely beautiful this motel is.

[0:48] For anyone who doesn't know, first of all, you're living under a rock, but um Trixie Mattel is an iconic drag queen and makeup artiste. She's one of my ultimate all-time favorite drag queens, and she on Discovery Plus has her own TV show where she creates a motel based on her name, Trixie Mattel.

[1:10] You know, ergo Trixie Motel, and it is a fully realized, fully like operational motel. And so for Christmas, my mom surprised me with a trip to the Trixie Motel, and we are here. We are staying in the pink flamingo suite.

[1:26] You guys, it's everything. It's like a dreamland. It literally looks like the Barbie movie. I'm obsessed. So shout out to Jenny, hi mommy, for this incredible trip and this uh shout out to Trixie Mattel for this incredible motel.

[1:42] They blew it out of the water. It's amazing. If you ever get the chance to stay here, I cannot recommend it enough. And speaking of drag queens, we gotta dive into this week's Broadway World recap because mama, we got drag queens coming to off Broadway.

[1:59] It was just announced that direct from London's West End, we are getting Death Drop the Musical, an all drag murder mystery, starring none other than Juju B and Willem. You guys, I cannot even tell you how freaking excited I am for this.

[2:17] Willem has been hinting that she's gonna be in New York for quite a while, and everybody has been sort of wondering, like, oh, what's she gonna do? Is she gonna do a show? And so I'm so excited to share that she's gonna be in Death Drop off Broadway in New York City all summer long, and it's gonna feature other New York City drag queens, Sugarcane, Kiki Ball Change, Peaches and Mon Cummings, Wang Newton, and Holly Starr are all gonna join Juju B and Willem in this show.

[2:43] I cannot wait to see it. It's gonna be at New World Stages, and performances begin June 30th, so we gotta check this out, girl. Especially because now more than ever, we need drag representation to remind us that drag is not bad, drag is good, drag is everything.

[3:01] Next, we of course have to talk about the iconic closing after 35 years on Broadway of the Phantom of the Opera. I was so sad to see this show go. I know it's had its incredible run, and all good things must come to an end at some point, but that was my first Broadway show I ever saw, so it was really an incredible milestone and um, you know, a really heartfelt closing for everybody involved.

[3:26] I mean, the show has employed thousands of people over that 35-year run, and so it was really special to see so many people get to come back and revisit the Majestic Theater and celebrate the closing of their show. And a friend of mine, Emily Kowachu, was the closing Christine. It's just it's amazing.

[3:44] So congrats to everyone involved with Phantom of the Opera. I have a sneaking suspicion that we're not gonna be without the show for very long, but um, what an incredible milestone to close that iconic show.

[3:57] It was also just announced that the live capture of Waitress the Musical is going to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival this year, which is so exciting. And I think it's awesome that for anybody who didn't get to catch the show in the two times that it ran on Broadway.

[4:13] It opened, closed, reopened, and closed again. Um you'll be able to see it with this incredible cast starring Sara Bareilles, who obviously created the show. Um, and I'm so excited for everybody involved. How special that they get to have their performance immortalized, and you know, we'll be able to look back on it and watch it forever.

[4:32] And it does feature a friend of mine, Miss Charity Angel Dawson, who was my matron Mama Morton the second time I did Chicago on Broadway. So I'm so excited to see this recording. When I saw the show, I saw Betsy Wolf play Jenna, which was absolutely fantastic, but I was bummed that I never got to catch Sara Bareilles as Jenna.

[4:40] So I'm so excited for this. I think it's gonna be incredible. We also got an exclusive first look at the promo photos for the new play Goodnight Oscar, opening this week on Broadway and starring Sean Hayes and a friend of the pod, who is our very own guest for this episode, Mr. Alex Wyse.

[5:09] So you can check those photos out on the official Broadway World Instagram. And lastly, you guys, it was just announced that Ariel Jacobs is going to lead Here Lies Love on Broadway in the role of the former Filipina First Lady Emil De Marcos. She is joining the previously announced Jose Yana and Conrad Ricamora in the show.

[5:29] And the previews begin June 17th at the Broadway Theater. I'm really excited to see this one. I think it's gonna be really beautiful, and I've heard incredible stuff about the story and the writing and music. So I think Ariel's gonna be amazing in this role, and it's gonna be gorgeous.

[5:46] And you guys, this has been the Broadway World Recap. Oh my god, you guys, I am so excited to welcome my next guest. He is a Broadway actor, a producer, a writer, and an all-around gem of a human, and he is currently starring opposite Sean Hayes in the new play, Goodnight Oscar on Broadway. Please welcome Mr. Alex Wyse.

[6:08] Alex Wyse: Hi.

[6:09] Hey everybody.

[6:10] Jayke Workman: Hi, Alex. How are you?

[6:13] Alex Wyse: I'm good. It's so early. We're recording this so early.

[6:17] Jayke Workman: We really said Goodnight Oscar and good morning, Alex.

[6:20] Alex Wyse: So we really did. Yeah, but I'm happy to say good morning to you. I really am.

[6:25] Jayke Workman: Yeah, so you're calling from New York City, I take it. You've got shows going on.

[6:30] Alex Wyse: Uh-huh. Yep. Uh, we're in previews right now for Goodnight Oscar. I think we had our fourth preview last night. I think it was number four. And you know, as they say, number four is really when it locks in.

[6:42] When you really, when you really, you know, when my performance is finished, no more changes. Shows in the choice.

[6:49] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[6:50] Alex Wyse: The shows, you know, they're still making changes, and I say, no, no, no, no changes. I just had my fourth preview. I'm frozen.

[6:58] Jayke Workman: Well, I cannot wait to see the show. It's already there's such a buzz around this show. I want to hear about it. Can you tell me about um what it was like to to join this show? Did you start from the very beginning with the show? Or um where did you where did your journey with the show start?

[7:15] Alex Wyse: So I started with this really when it transferred to Broadway. There was a whole um run of this that they did at the Goodman Theater in Chicago, and that happens roughly a year ago, around this time, maybe a little more than a year ago. And so most of the cast did it over there, minus two people.

[7:33] Um, and and two folks out of the seven, uh out of the seven cast members, um uh were unable to to do, yeah. Two people were unable to do this iteration of it, and so I am one of the new people to this production.

[7:48] Yes. Um, yeah, I actually I played I'm playing the role that um my dear friend Ethan Slater played in Chicago, and Ethan, as we now know, is doing uh he's doing Bach and the Wicked movies.

[8:01] Yeah, yes, it's really exciting. And Ethan and I, you know, we we have we've had a nice little uh laugh over it because I once played Bach, and so it's kind of like we just switched roles.

[8:11] Jayke Workman: Yes, totally.

[8:13] Alex Wyse: That is so cool. It's nice, it's nice that we're also both very happy for each other and that we can offer each other the kind of support and respect that I think is not often afforded to actors in this business from the business itself, you know.

[8:28] But it was nice that like when I got this part, I could call Ethan and say, like, hey, you know, I want you to know I got this role. I understand this must not be an easy thing to say goodbye to this one thing, even though you have this exciting thing happening, but I wanted you to hear it from me, and Ethan could not have been more spectacular about it and kinder and and more supportive, and so it was it's actually for me, it's a very sweet story about uh about two two friends supporting each other, even though it's a sort of weird little industry shift thing happening, you know?

[9:05] Jayke Workman: Totally. And I think that that um must have been like freeing for you because you get to then take on a sense of ownership over this that maybe you weren't as inclined to before you had had that conversation, you know.

[9:21] Alex Wyse: Yeah, absolutely. You know what's funny too about how I heard about this show is so about a year ago, uh uh Ethan and and Emily Burgle um I met well, I met Emily um on the set of the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. We were all there doing an episode together. Um, me, Ethan, and Emily, and I hunt and the three of us hung out for the day, and the two of them were telling me about this great play that they just finished.

[9:47] And it was really nice to hear about so happy for you both. This is so wonderful. Um, but they're in the back of my mind, I'm also wondering why am I hearing about this? And then I guess the gods were smiling down on me, and when this came my way, I felt I felt like oh my god. Like when when this audition first came, I thought, wait a second, I think this is the the the fates knocking on my door. This feels this feels like more than an audition. This feels like uh the next step I'm supposed to take.

[10:19] Jayke Workman: Wow.

[10:20] Alex Wyse: And so, yeah, I don't know. It was a nice little moment of coming into it for me where I didn't feel um I didn't feel unwelcome by uh by what the universe had in store.

[10:32] Jayke Workman: Absolutely. Well, I mean, it's a stacked cast. Um, can you tell me about working with people like like Emily Burgle and of course King of the Universe, Sean Hayes? How has it been to really is to dive into uh like a rehearsal process and previews with somebody like Sean?

[10:48] Alex Wyse: No, I'm happy to talk. It's very easy to talk about because this has been a very, very happy process. Um, and it has been such a happy process um for so many reasons, because Doug Wright is such an incredible writer, because Lisa Peterson has been a beautiful leader for all of us and has been taken taken us on with such care and craft.

[11:11] But also Sean Hayes, who is um, as you said, well, king of the universe, is one of the funniest and kindest and just warmest, greatest leaders uh I've ever met, I've ever been blessed to work with. Sean sets that tone from the top, and every day every day is full of laughter, and every day is um full of there's no ego in the room.

[11:39] There's so much teamwork and togetherness. I mean, Sean is so funny. All we do is just laugh all day long. And Sean laughs at my jokes too. I make Sean laugh. Sean is so generous and um and and really spreads all of that goodwill through the theater, and it's a very happy place to go to work. I'm never upset to be there.

[12:02] Um, and and everybody is fantastic. The whole cast, Peter Gross, Ben Rappaport, John Zrajewski, Emily Burgle, and who else is in the show? I forget. Oh, and Marshall Davis, my my love, my world, Marshant Davis, whom I love so much. Um, it's just such a wonderful group of people.

[12:27] Um, and uh, yeah, I mean, we're telling this great story about this uh not very well known figure in in pop culture history. Um he's remembered by uh by probably our grandparents' generation, but most of us don't know him. But he was so noteworthy, Oscar Levant for going on these late night talk shows and talking about his breakdowns and his addictions to pills and and the sensors were going wild and and no one knew what to do with him, and he was this funny comic full of these one-liners, and at the same time this virtuostic pianist, and he was just this really interesting figure who pushed the envelope in some new ways for late night uh for late night talk shows.

[13:17] And so this play takes um a slice of that and and takes this event where he goes on uh the tonight show and you know, and things happen. And you're it seems like I again I have not seen it yet, but it seems like your role of Max has a really fun foil to Sean's character on that episode of the Tonight Show.

[13:40] Alex Wyse: Yeah, no, you're totally right. I play Jack Parr, who was like the Johnny Carson or the Jay Leno of his time, Jack Parr. He was the main guy of the Tonight Show, and I play Jack Parr's new intern at the Tonight Show. And I'm this excitable, kind of scrappy kid who's like, you know, very much like RPA Laszlo in She Loves Me. I think my role feels like that. And a lot of the function of my character, I have some interesting things I get to do, but a lot of it is I am just there hanging out with Oscar Levant or Sean Hayes and just saying like, tell me stories. What was that like? You know, and getting him to engage. And so my role is I get to sit there and just be in scenes with Sean and bask in the glory. He's my main scene partner, and I'm just bouncing off of him through the whole play. It's so cool. It's so fun.

[14:40] Jayke Workman: And I'm just so happy for you. I think that you are so clever, not just as a performer, but obviously you are a writer and a producer. I wanna hear about how maybe your being a writer and creator influences the way that you take on acting in a new play.

[15:01] Alex Wyse: Sure. Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that making my own work, like for example, I have this movie that I just wrote and directed with Wesley Taylor. It's called Summoning Sylvia, and you can rent it anywhere now; it's on demand everywhere. So Summoning Sylvia, you should check that out. We can talk about that later if you'd like to. But what's so great about having my own stuff is I'm in a business sense, I'm less reliant now on other people to tell me whether or not I'm chosen that day of the week. You know, we're all in this business, we're all waiting for people to say, "Hey, I pick you," but more and more I'm just like, "Ah, I don't need that. Screw you. I'm gonna pick myself.

Totally, I'm gonna make my own thing." I have my own five-hour writing session today. I don't need your audition for some, you know, whatever. So that's been really freeing and made me feel like so much more of my own provider, which has been really useful to me. But also, you know, within acting specifically, it's been so awesome to learn about all these other disciplines as I'm working, as I'm putting on all these other hats. Like when I have especially these past few years, as I've had my director hat on directing this movie, now as an actor, I'm just so much more sensitive to the roles of everybody else. You know how as actors sometimes we get in this mindset of feeling like the world is against us?

I think that also bleeds in because business-wise, often it does, like the world is against us. You know, we're waiting for casting directors to give us the time of day. And so then you step into a rehearsal room, and it's hard, I think, to get rid of that mentality of like, I still need to prove myself. I still need to, you know, and we still come from this place of a lack of power. It's hard to remember that when you're in the rehearsal room, you actually are there working together with people. It's no longer the dynamic of people working against you or you needing to still prove yourself, but it's very hard to step away from that. Totally. At least that's my experience.

[17:28] Alex Wyse: And I think I used to be really adversarial more toward directors and feel like, well, they're just my... and almost replace a director with my issues about parents. But now as I've been a director and I've actually felt all those different dynamics around me, or like I felt, you know, two people over yonder, they were having an argument. But because I was the director and I might not have even been in the room, it was somehow my fault. And I was like, "Oh wow, interesting." It's so interesting the way that people who are working beneath you are just going to blame the boss no matter what that thing is. And so I'm so much more sensitive to understanding that we're all out here trying to do our best, that we're all people, that the people who are the writers and directors of the world are usually getting blamed the most for a show's success or failure.

Usually, people don't wanna blame actors. You're actually not gonna find a lot of reviews in the world that say, "And this actor sucked." Most reviewers are gentle with actors and are tough as nails on writers and directors. I'm just more sensitive to all of these things and understanding that, for instance, when a stage manager schedules something and then they didn't use you, it's not because that stage manager hates you and wants to ruin your day. They're just trying to balance out the 17,000 other things that are on their plate.

[19:12] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[19:12] Alex Wyse: So that was a long-winded way of saying that it's kind of opened up my vision to understanding the roles of everybody in the room and understanding that we're all there working together and that the more we can understand we're not working against each other in a process, I think the more harmonious the process can be, and the more at peace you can be as an actor receiving their notes or understanding where they might be coming from.

[19:36] Jayke Workman: Absolutely. And I mean, God bless stage managers, ASMs, all the people keeping everything in line because Lord knows we couldn't do it without it.

[19:47] Alex Wyse: Well, you mentioned Summoning Sylvia. Will you tell me about that creative process creating with your good friend Wesley Taylor?

[19:57] Alex Wyse: Yeah. Wes and I had done three seasons of a web series together, a digital series, which I like to say digital series because it elevates it. It must be elevated. It's called Indoor Boys, and it's now streaming on Here TV. And we did that together, and we really wanted to level up and do the next thing together and see what we can do to take our creativity and our production value to the next level. So we basically got really into horror movies once the pandemic rolled around. I think, you know, Wes and I were meeting on Zoom every day during the pandemic and writing many different things. I mean, we've been doing that for several years, but the pandemic we dug in even further because all of the bullshit kind of went away, and we could just kind of focus on the stuff we really wanted to focus on.

So we started, I think it was during Halloween of 2020, and it was when horror movies were just kind of always on the television. And we had already written a couple of other projects, just from our daily writing sessions and just going, going, going, going, you know, as much as we can. It was like a marathon against ourselves. And then we were waiting on these other things to be made. Point is that we got into horror movies, and we basically thought, what if we took our ridiculous queer characters and we put 'em into a haunted house, and then we could figure out what we wanted to say sort of about ourselves, about queerness, about the world? How could we make it as funny as possible? How could we make our haunted house comedy?

And so that's what we started doing. And then of all the projects we had been writing, that was the one that just started flying. And so we followed the breadcrumbs, really. So we went into production, and we filmed it in the summer of 2021. It was the hardest thing we have ever done. It was so hard because we had to level up in so many ways. We had to learn how to manage so many more people. We had to learn all these new departments. It was just so exciting, and it was so cool to get to sit in the driver's seat and be challenged on a daily basis and learn things about digital imaging compositing, as well as learning how to best give an actor a note, as well as figuring out what clothing is gonna best represent these characters and what shot will tell the story of the bigger picture. You know, it was just so cool to be challenged like that every day.

[23:04] Alex Wyse: And so now we have Summoning Sylvia, which has been doing really well, and we're getting good reviews, and we're really proud of what we made. You should check it out. It's with Frankie Grande and Michael Urie, Travis Coles, V. Ann Cox. It's just such a wonderful group of people, and we're so excited that we could take our next step, and we're still gonna work on taking even bigger steps as we go.

[23:34] Jayke Workman: Yes, that's amazing. I mean, it's funny, obviously, that that cast is like full of people who I adore, but V. Ann Cox is one person who I just am in awe of from afar. Like, I don't... she obviously has no idea who I am, but I'm like secretly obsessed, so I can't wait to check it out.

[23:55] Alex Wyse: No, like isn't she the greatest? She's so funny, she's so neurotic, she is so creative and the warmest, most wonderful person who just makes me laugh over and over and over. And also the great Caroline Carmello is on our soundtrack.

[24:18] Jayke Workman: Ugh, I mean, up the Broadway.

[24:22] Alex Wyse: Yeah. We wanted... we love working with the great ladies.

[24:27] Jayke Workman: Of course. You and Wes included in those great ladies.

[24:32] Alex Wyse: We should be so lucky.

[24:34] Jayke Workman: So you obviously collaborated with Wes on that, and you have, I think, sort of created this path for yourself of collaborating with people who you love to work with, one of which obviously is another dear friend of yours, Mr. Ben Fankhauser. And you guys created the show A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet, which I had the pleasure of seeing off-Broadway. And it was absolutely... first of all, it was ridiculous because you guys both sing the house down boots. Just... it's like dumb, but like it's so brilliant and clever. Can you tell me about what that creative process was like?

[25:12] Alex Wyse: Sure, and thank you. I remember when you came; it was so good to see you there. It meant a lot to see you there. Well, I mean, for our listeners, Ben and Jake and I did a show together. We did The Flamingo Kid at Hartford Stage, and that's where we all met. Ben and I, we were friends back in high school. I knew him from growing up in Cleveland. And then The Flamingo Kid really brought us back together in a great way. And so from there, Ben and I, right after that show, we were a little frustrated career-wise about, you know, what are we doing? There's nothing happening for us. We were both just feeling a little... so we started writing this show together, and we wrote it also through the pandemic.

And then it was a show about friendship and about our inner divas and about sort of finding yourself in the midst of this ridiculous thing called show. And we wanted to make it as silly and ridiculous and just fun and heartwarming as possible. And then we were the first new musical to open off-Broadway after the pandemic, which was really cool.

[26:41] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[26:42] Alex Wyse: Scary, and I think I sometimes think that some people came to that show and they weren't quite ready to laugh. But I think that's something that counted against us. And I wonder what would have happened had we opened a year later, you know?

[26:57] Jayke Workman: Sure.

[26:58] Alex Wyse: But I'm really proud of the show. I think... what can I say? We were ahead of our time.

[27:02] Jayke Workman: You were.

[27:02] Alex Wyse: But we wrote... we were so happy to have this show that we wrote together that was just full of jokes and silliness and friendship vibes.

[27:16] Alex Wyse: That was the whole vibe of the thing. It was just like about you know being pals. And so you can yeah, you can I mean you can listen to our cast album now, but it was just so awesome to collaborate. The cast album is ridiculous, you guys. And I have to tell you too, it the show is three people, features three performers. Like it's it's a bit it is a marathon for the people involved. So I was I was like thrilled beyond the moon to to get to see you guys both do that show. It was a comedic masterpiece. It like the singing again was ridiculous. I loved that show. And you guys had an incredible off-Broadway run. I was I was just so proud. It was it went pretty well. I mean, it was just so cool we got to do that. It was just you know, it was such a precarious time in our lives.

[28:08] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[28:08] Alex Wyse: Um like it being nine uh 20, I almost said 19, 2021, and us like just stepping out into the world again. That third person in the show, by the way, I it must be said, is the great Brianna Marie Parham, who was so brilliant playing the title role of Regina Comet. She was so funny and she brought so much to it. We really couldn't have done it without without Brie, and I I just want to make sure that I say that because I I worship her and I think she should have three Tonies by now. That's what I think.

[28:42] Jayke Workman: Correct.

[28:43] Alex Wyse: I think you should all have one at this point. My God. Well, speaking of um you singing the doors off of the place, you have a pretty extensive list of Broadway credits that you uh have racked up, you know, not just in straight plays, but in musicals. And I I really want to hear about um your experience in doing uh Spring Awakening and Waitress. I I would love to hear um maybe the difference in working on a show where you have to be ready to sing eight times a week as opposed to doing um something that's maybe more dramatically difficult.

[29:26] Alex Wyse: Yeah, well let me tell you, God, I love going to the theater and not singing. What a joy. It is the greatest. Oh my god. Right now I feel like never make me do a musical again. Um I mean, yeah, I mean obviously I'll do musicals again. I love them with all my heart. Um, but it is pretty great to not have to sing. Um, but you know, it's funny with both um Spring Awakening and Waitress. They were both at the Lena Horn Theater. Um when I was there was the Brooks Atkinson Theater. And in both of those shows, I stood on a chair and sang. Isn't that fun?

[30:06] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[30:06] Alex Wyse: Um, in the middle of the same stage. Um yeah, I mean, they were very, very, very different experiences. And um, and they were very like big life experiences, meaning full of great adventures and full of huge challenges and full of good times and bad times. Um, but I'm here. You know, yeah.

[30:31] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[30:33] Alex Wyse: Um, I don't know. I mean, I can tell you um about Spring Awakening specifically, that that came at a really interesting time in my life too, because I was um feeling a little uh a little cast aside, a little disillusioned. Um I think at the time I had a broken heart from a failed relationship, and and that show really that show healed me. I I had moved out to LA because you know, we all go west to find ourselves, don't we? Um look to the western sky to quote one green witch.

[31:08] Jayke Workman: Yes, who I will play one day.

[31:11] Alex Wyse: Um but um um uh that show brought me back to New York and it brought me back to Broadway. I mean my first Broadway outing was um Lisa Strata Jones, which was such a major experience for me um being so young and having my dream come true, but then it closing so quickly, and I was just I was so heartbroken at the time, and I didn't know what to do with myself. And I think that heartbreak really lasted through um finally being in Spring Awakening and feeling like I got to have um even though Listrata Jones was so special and like it's nothing against the show. I think the show was a great show. Um it just you know um it it just the timing didn't work out I think. Um but uh it was so great that I got to I got to go back to Broadway and have that dream happen in a way that that made me feel uh well helped me reclaim my self-esteem I should say.

[32:14] Jayke Workman: Sure.

[32:14] Alex Wyse: I think I think when I was young too and and um my show didn't do well I thought that was a reflection of me. Even if I knew it intellectually that it wasn't it was really hard for me to separate those things. I thought oh the show was a flop that means I'm a flop. And it w I had a really hard time figuring out who I was in the in the wake of all of that. And Spring Awakening gave me a chance to kind of reclaim my my uh my strength there.

[32:46] Jayke Workman: That's amazing. So did you start with the show in LA before it transferred to New York?

[32:51] Alex Wyse: I did um mostly but there were two LA runs. There was one that was at a 99 seat theater and then it moved to a larger um venue. And so I didn't do that first production but then I was with it when it um moved to the to the bigger uh theater the Wallace Anenberg and that's when I was there and Andy Mientis and Chris Rodriguez and um a few other people. And so then and then we transferred, and it was just the most unbelievable experience. So I I feel like all of our hearts were just broke open and were broken open in the most beautiful way. Um being thrown into a deaf world and and the deaf cast members being thrown into the world of musicals and trying to figure out what that means for them and their bodies and and how we all can help each other operate together and find this. You know, that's the that was the magic of that show is finding the that midpoint between our our um our worlds.

[33:52] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[33:53] Alex Wyse: And for listeners who um might not be familiar, the the show was created um by the company Deaf West, who who does really beautiful um creations of of shows or reimaginations of shows that feature deaf actors um in roles that they may not have been put in before simply because of the fact that they are deaf. And um I think it's a fascinating um addition to to the theater community, and I I just was in awe of this show. Um but did you guys know when you started? Did you know that you had something that was special enough to to cross the country and and have a Broadway run?

[34:35] Alex Wyse: I mean, you know, it's weird because like you know, I I imagine anybody listening to this for the most part has had some brush with theater.

[34:43] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[34:44] Alex Wyse: And um we know when something is special to us, but that doesn't necessarily mean that anyone out there is gonna care, right? Like, you know, I can uh the number of like songs I've written in my bedroom, but how many people have cared about those particular songs uh is a is a microcosmic way to explain how that feels. I knew that that show felt really important to me because it was introducing me to some major players in my life in terms of friendship and collaboration. And I didn't know how people were gonna take to it. I had no idea. I just knew that it was important. And also, um the people in theater are um, you know, people in theater are like they're they're critics until proven otherwise.

[35:38] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[35:39] Alex Wyse: You know, everybody so at first the buzz was like a revival already. Too soon, get out of here. And then I think once people saw what Michael Arden and Def West and uh and this whole casting creative team had done, I think they were able to embrace the show, but but you know, everybody is um, you know, everyone crosses their arms at first until

[36:07] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[36:08] Alex Wyse: I and I think we're all guilty of it. I mean, how many you know, people are saying, like, oh that show opens, what have you heard? Is it good? And there's just a little bit of like there's uh a little bit of like I'm judging it, should I judge it? Okay, alright, it's good, all right, all right, alright.

[36:22] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[36:23] Alex Wyse: Whatever do you mean? I would never judge a show on this podcast.

[36:28] Jayke Workman: No, not on the podcast, not while we're recording.

[36:34] Alex Wyse: Not on my potty guys.

[36:37] Jayke Workman: That's right.

[36:37] Alex Wyse: Uh uh, well, I mean, that show was absolutely beautiful and um I think i it really that show came at the correct time. That revival may not have felt like it was at the right time, or m it might have felt like uh-oh, like are is this too soon? But I feel like it it blew open the the possibilities of what was gonna be put on Broadway at that time.

[37:05] Jayke Workman: That's really cool.

[37:06] Alex Wyse: I hope so. I mean, I I hope so. It's been very cool to see in the years um in the years following. I think there have been a number of uh a number of opportunities for for deaf um for deaf performers, and now we're seeing more opportunities for performers with other disabilities.

[37:23] Jayke Workman: Yes, absolutely.

[37:25] Alex Wyse: It's just it's so important that we are always challenging ourselves to uh make sure that many different stories and different types of people are getting to tell those stories, and yeah. I mean, I'm not saying anything controversial, we all know this, but it's great. It's it's so great that that um that Spring Awakening could be a part of that conversation.

[37:48] Jayke Workman: Right. I mean, and especially because it's a show that kind of has this cult following. Like if you love the show, you love it. Um so I think that was a really really great like door opener. And speaking of shows that have a rather cult-like following, you got to play Bach in Wicked. Would you tell me about this show, please?

[38:13] Alex Wyse: Sure. I didn't know which direction that was gonna go because my career's been so wild, and you could have said like one of four shows there that have had weird cult followings, and I just didn't know what you're about to say. Um yeah, I loved being in Wicked. I I absolutely loved it. Um I was t I toured with the show in twenty thirteen and 14, and I did it with uh my uh witches were Jennifer DeNoia and Haley Pachoon, both legends.

[38:47] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[38:47] Alex Wyse: Um both incredible in their roles. And uh I mean what can I say? You know, you know what was cool about being in that show is it was it was a hit.

[38:59] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[39:00] Alex Wyse: I don't know, I haven't done a lot of things that were just like a big old hit. Totally You know, most of the stuff I've done is like I've done a lot of cool things, but I've done things that were more on the scrappy side, and and it was cool to look out into the audience and every performance, every seat was filled. And if we saw one or two empty seats, we'd be like, uh oh, you guys. I'm seeing a couple empty seats. We're only in 99 capacity.

[39:27] Jayke Workman: Of course.

[39:29] Alex Wyse: In like McKee's port, Pennsylvania or something.

[39:32] Jayke Workman: You're like Exactly, exactly.

[39:35] Alex Wyse: But I really liked it. I I really loved um that show brought out my inner child in a pretty in a pretty beautiful way. And and even when I got um tired of uh tired of being on the road or you know, being on the road was hard.

[39:49] Jayke Workman: Was that your first national tour?

[39:53] Alex Wyse: Yeah, yeah, that's the only national tour I've done. I've done I've done a lot of like regional gigs um around the country, but never done a tour outside of that. Um well s I guess that's mostly true, yeah. Um, but uh but it was it was an odd experience being on tour, and I don't know if that life is really for me, but I'm thankful I did it. But the thing I could keep connecting to was how much I loved being in Wicked. I loved that. And I could keep connecting to yeah, I could keep connecting to looking out into the audience and seeing these little kids who were seeing their first show ever and and they had stars in their eyes and they and and it was just magic and and so even when I was feeling a little bit jaded, I would always try to connect to those kids out there because I am still those kids.

[40:41] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[40:43] Alex Wyse: We all are in a way.

[40:44] Alex Wyse: Yeah, a hundred percent. And I like it's funny because now as I get older and I get to, you know, be friends with people who are in and out of shows like Wicked, it's like, you know, it gets so much more casual, but at the same time I'm still like you did Wicked, that's so silly.

[41:01] Alex Wyse: Like it's my it's like the biggest fucking dream show of my life. And I even if I just got to like do a twirl in the ensemble once, I would be just I I would be done. It'd be great. I I honestly think you should be Shen Shen and Um Like you'd be a really good Shen Shen and like more clever that would be the ultimate dream. You'd be incredible, and then you'd eventually like, you know, as you get older, then l work your way up to like a full-time morble. Full-time morble, absolutely, longest running at the Grishwin, you know, I mean, you know the state. Well, I had Carrie St. Louis on the pod, and she was also talking about she's a gem. And she was also telling me just about how like, you know, even when even when it gets really hard on when you're on the road and you're you're just like huffin', it you you take a step back and you're like, I'm fucking Glinda, I'm in the bubble.

Like it just shows like that are so wild to me. Um But speaking of other shows, I I want to hear about your experience with Wicked because or not, I'm sorry, not with Wicked, with um Waitress, because you you got to play Ogi and it's such a fun, like silly cutesy role. Can you tell me about that experience?

[42:17] Alex Wyse: Totally. Um well, the best part of that experience was I did it opposite Lena Klingeman who played Dawn, and she's still one of my very good friends, and I just man, she was she was my rock in that show, and uh and I just loved loved being there with her, and I think she's a brilliant actor and artist, and so that was one of my favorite parts. Um, but that was another one where I I also felt like uh I felt so excited that I was in a show that people just like the show, people were there to see that show. Um I've done a lot of new work, and so it's always a little bit touch and go with you know whether or not people are like in the show. Sure. Um but that was my it's funny about the two times that I've replaced uh were in Wicked and in uh Waitress, and those were both originated by the same actor.

[43:16] Alex Wyse: Yeah. Um yeah, I'm hoping I never play another role that he plays though. I'd like to make my own role. Yeah, he can have his corner, I'll take mine. Yes. Um yeah. Um, you know what I uh I also got to do it with Al Roker. Yes, you know he played Old Joe. Yeah, Al was so awesome. He was great in the show, first off. I mean, yes, that's obviously stunt casting, and it's something that we as theater people it'd be easy for us to sort of roll our eyes at that. But Al was great. He was great in the show. And he was so kind. His dressing room door was always open, and the person you see on TV is really the person he is. He was so sweet to all of us. He knew everybody's name. He wanted to know all about you and your family and your life. And was and he was so giddy to be there and to be in a Broadway show. And it was just such a sweet time. It was um it was very special.

[44:19] Alex Wyse: And it also um, you know, I I will say this, I I guess I'm sort of realizing this now, but each of the Broadway shows I've done, I think have come at a time when I uh when I felt like I was at a sort of crossroads in my life when I was having this sort of um emotional transformation, and then the show came. Like uh when when I did waitress, um I had the audition that I I was living in LA again. I've gone back and forth a bit from LA, but I was living there again and ended up having a pretty bad time in LA, and I was coming home uh once again feeling a little bit heartbroken, and the day after I came home was my waitress audition. And and it's so it felt like you know, even though my my heart was hurting so much, it was a it was a way that New York to me was was saying, Hey, you belong here, this is your home. Similarly, um, with the show I'm in now, um I went through I as I think maybe many of us did during the pandemic, I've gone through a lot of uh uh issues with self-esteem.

[45:32] Alex Wyse: Yeah, and uh and had I've had a I've had a really tricky time these last couple of years and you know had some really tough things happen. And and I f and when this audition process came along, and this was the long and for Goodnight Oscar it was a challenging audition process, two months of it. I had to really search within myself to know that I could do this to believe in myself. I was only up against myself and I had to really pull up from within and uh and also release the need to get this role to know that I don't need this to feel good about myself. But I'm gonna be but I'm gonna be the best version of myself that I can be. And then this show happened and it felt like it was a way of that the universe said to me once again, hey, I see you, you know, and you you there's a place for you. I don't know each one of these shows has come at a time when I am coming out of heartbreak. That has happened every time for me.

[46:30] Jayke Workman: Wow.

[46:33] Jayke Workman: I don't know. That's so fascinating. Well and I think it's kind of honestly just like poetic in the nature of being a performer and being um a creative person. It's just like you take what happens to you in stride and it only adds to your experience moving forward with with creation and collaborating with artists and other people. I think that's it's really cool. And I'm I'm just so proud of you. I you work so hard and you do so much. You have your fingers in so many pies and you always it always feels like you have something on the burner but when I saw the cast announcement for for Goodnight Oscar I was so thrilled for you. I mean it's just such a big it's such a big step and such a big leap so I I cannot wait to see it. Um can I ask you about your your experience as an openly queer artist?

[47:25] Alex Wyse: Yeah, absolutely. I wanna know maybe how it informs how you go about being a producer or or someone on the like directorial creative side of a project.

[47:37] Alex Wyse: Yeah. You know, I think uh especially in my early twenties, I was trying so hard um at different points to lower my voice and to pass a straight and to do whatever I could to fit into um what I thought people wanted me to be. And now as I've gotten and and and I've only felt the way that that's held me back. Of course. Yeah, and and and I've had some weird some weird things with that. Like, you know, I I was on a soap opera for a year. I was on the book. Bold and the Beautiful. So bizarre. Yeah, I mean, it's a cool job and all, but but I bring that up because I remember I used to get a lot of um pretty mean messages from uh from fans of the Bold and the Beautiful saying things like, You're gay, we know you're gay, we found you out, like is it things like that, or like we don't believe you, you're gay, you know.

And I was like, What? I and so then I remember on the show I found myself trying to be like, okay, well, I'm just gonna try to talk like this. I'm gonna try to really like bring it down here and try to convince everybody I'm straight. Like, what the fuck? You know, it was it was so it was it really fucked with my head, and I and I I know there's like yeah, we we got there's there's acting, you know. It's okay to like play uh to be a gay person playing a straight character, but but only but but not from a place of shame. Of course, you know, that that's where that was coming from. I was lowering my voice, not because I thought the character had a lower voice, but because I felt ashamed.

[49:21] Alex Wyse: So the way that I have tried to change this for myself is in my writing to be as queer as I can possibly be. With Indoor Boys and now with Summoning Sylvia, and even with Regina Comet, I was writing roles that were just unabashedly gay. And writing these people who have no issues with themselves. And they happen to be gay, and meanwhile they're living other stories. Right. Like you and I, Jake, and so many listeners happen to be queer, some version of queer, and yet we are we are more than our queerness and we are living full lives that are multidimensional.

[50:05] Jayke Workman: Absolutely.

[50:06] Alex Wyse: And that's yeah, that's what I'm trying to do in my writing. And so that's my way of healing from that kind of trauma of feeling like I have to fit in a box. If I can write these things for myself or write these things for other people to express that queerness and to normalize that queerness and to make those kids out there who feel like they don't see themselves in media to give them a place to see themselves, then I think I'll have done something useful with my life, and I'll have helped to heal those wounds within me. When I so often as a kid felt like I don't see myself anywhere, you know. You know, the only place I saw myself was really Sean Hayes.

[50:50] Jayke Workman: I know Will & Grace.

[50:52] Alex Wyse: I was gonna say, it's such an interesting uh thing, too, that you now get to play opposite him because I think that he was one really predominant figure of that type of inner turmoil, and um, you know, playing this like insanely effeminate and over the top um queer man on TV and then struggling with his own identity as a queer person, sort of like behind the scenes and maybe in the closet um for a long time. And so I I just think it's kind of beautiful that you guys get to share the stage together and you know be unabashedly you.

[51:30] Alex Wyse: Yeah, it's thanks. It's a real it's a real blessing that I get to uh be there with him and also you know, and you know, Sean is a person, you know, and and he and he uh and to get to know that person and to see the way that he's worked to navigate all of this and and the way that he wants to celebrate what that you know his his his accomplishment. He also wants to continually reinvent himself like the rest of us. Yeah, he doesn't want to be stuck in one era or stuck in one thing, which none of us do. Totally. Um but yeah, I'm I'm really trying hard to um to make sure I'm making things um um, especially what I'm making with Wes. We have a number of other projects that we have written that um we're gonna be making over the coming years that are all very, very queer. Of course, and uh we love to do that. We just want to just want to make like a lot of really, really gay movies. That's what we want to make. Like really funny gay movies.

[52:30] Jayke Workman: That's fuck yes.

[52:35] Alex Wyse: Well, and you know some some plays along the way too, and and we'll see. We'll see how it all unfolds. I just really hope that I can uh especially for the kid that I was I want to keep giving that kid um uh places to look where he knows he's not alone.

[52:41] Jayke Workman: Hell yeah well Alex thank you so much for coming on the pod can you tell the listeners where they can find you on socials?

[52:41] Alex Wyse: Yeah sure um thank you for having me Jake I completely adore you and I just am I'm so happy to be talking to you really I love ya in in terms of I I love you too and in terms of uh finding me I just don't honestly don't find me um no I mean I'm on Instagram you can find me on Instagram um that's the only social media uh uh thing that I'm on and I'm at alexj wise is my uh name on there and uh you can follow me or you also don't have to whatever's fine um come see Goodnight yes come see Goodnight Oscar we also need to all watch Summoning Sylvia if you haven't seen Indoor Boys you have to watch Indoor Boys it's so fucking funny um and Alex you're just a treat thank you so much for doing this.

[52:41] Alex Wyse: Anything for you thank you so much thank you thank you you guys that's it for another episode of Oh My Pod U Guys don't forget to rate review and subscribe anywhere you listen to the pod and you can follow the show on Instagram at Oh My Pod U Guys also if you liked Alex's interview and want to hear an extended edition you can listen to that exclusively on Broadwayworld.com thanks so much for listening bye bye bye bye bye you guys.