This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Jayke Workman: You guys, this is breaking news.

[0:04] Jayke Workman: Barrett Wilbert Weed is on the pod.

[0:06] Jayke Workman: Barrett Wilbert Weed.

[0:14] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, did you hear?

[0:16] Jayke Workman: Did you hear?

[0:17] Jayke Workman: Did you hear?

[0:17] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, guys.

[0:21] Jayke Workman: Oh my god.

[0:26] Jayke Workman: Oh my god!

[0:27] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, you guys!

[0:30] Jayke Workman: What's up, everybody? My name is Jayke Workman, and this is Oh My Pod, you guys, a musical theater and pop culture podcast.

[0:37] Jayke Workman: You guys, this week we are wasting zero time.

[0:40] Jayke Workman: We're diving directly into this week's Broadway World recap.

[0:44] Jayke Workman: Brought to you by my amazing partners at BroadwayWorld.com.

[0:47] Jayke Workman: Y'all, first we gotta talk about Miss Eva Noblazata playing her final performance as Eurydice in Broadway's Hadestown.

[0:58] Jayke Workman: I cannot even tell you, Eva's performance as Eurydice in this show was unlike anything I have ever seen, truly.

[1:07] Jayke Workman: She is one of the most incredible actors and vocalists, I think Broadway has ever seen.

[1:14] Jayke Workman: And she worked her ass off in this show.

[1:18] Jayke Workman: She did it for I think five years in total, and she was met on her final performance with an incredible ovation from the audience.

[1:28] Jayke Workman: All of the cast members and previous cast members from the original cast all came on stage to celebrate Eva departing the show.

[1:36] Jayke Workman: It is such a special video. You can see it on Broadway World, and I'm just so happy for her.

[1:41] Jayke Workman: She gets to go on now to work on the Great Gatsby at Paper Mill Playhouse.

[1:46] Jayke Workman: And before that, she better take a nap or something because this girl is working.

[1:53] Jayke Workman: But congratulations to Eva Noblazata.

[1:56] Jayke Workman: And congratulations to her replacement, Miss Celia Pfeiffer.

[2:00] Jayke Workman: Next, you guys, it was just announced that the role of Dorothy in the Broadway revival and the revival tour of The Wiz will be played by Michelle Lewis.

[2:11] Jayke Workman: This is Nichelle's Broadway debut, and what an incredible debut it will be to have the opportunity to play one of the most iconic roles, Dorothy, in such a beautiful show, The Wiz.

[2:24] Jayke Workman: This will just absolutely launch her career.

[2:27] Jayke Workman: She gets to go on the tour, which is being done before the actual Broadway production.

[2:32] Jayke Workman: So people all over the country are going to be able to experience her brilliance before she brings it to New York City.

[2:38] Jayke Workman: So congratulations, Michelle. I just am so excited for you, and I can't wait to see the show.

[2:44] Jayke Workman: Next, you guys, in a bit of sad Broadway news, it was just announced that Broadway lyricist and librettist Tom Jones has passed away.

[2:52] Jayke Workman: Tom Jones is best known for writing the lyrics to I Do I Do, One Ten in the Shade, and The Fantasticks.

[2:59] Jayke Workman: He left a huge stamp on the world of musical theater, and his legacy will absolutely live on through the iconic and incredibly beautiful productions that he helped create.

[3:09] Jayke Workman: So rest in peace, Tom Jones. You will absolutely be missed.

[3:13] Jayke Workman: And lastly, you guys, in a really exciting bit of Broadway news, it was just announced that Jason Robert Brown's newest musical is going to premiere next summer in Chicago at the Goodman Theater.

[3:25] Jayke Workman: The show is called Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and it has a book by Taylor Mack and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, and it's based on John Barrett's iconic original nonfiction book, which was also turned into the 1997 film of the same name starring Clint Eastwood.

[3:43] Jayke Workman: And you guys, I am a huge Jason Robert Brown fan. I'm so excited about this.

[3:47] Jayke Workman: I'm so glad that he is still so excited to write and create.

[3:53] Jayke Workman: And the show is set to open on June 25th, 2024 in Chicago.

[3:58] Jayke Workman: And you guys, this has been the BroadwayWorld Recap.

[4:03] Jayke Workman: Oh my pod, you guys. I am so excited to welcome my next guest to the show.

[4:07] Jayke Workman: She is a star of the stage and screen and an absolute gem of a human.

[4:13] Jayke Workman: It is Miss Barrett Wilbert Weed!

[4:17] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Hi.

[4:18] Jayke Workman: Welcome.

[4:19] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Thank you.

[4:19] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Thank you for being here.

[4:21] Jayke Workman: Yeah, thank you for being my new friend.

[4:22] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I know.

[4:23] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I'm so excited that we finally got to meet our mutual friend Rachel Scher, friend of the pod, who has been on the podcast.

[4:30] Barrett Wilbert Weed: We love her.

[4:31] Barrett Wilbert Weed: She introduced us.

[4:32] Barrett Wilbert Weed: It's about damn time.

[4:34] Jayke Workman: And you just happened to be in New York City.

[4:36] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Truly.

[4:37] Jayke Workman: So we got to meet in person, which is so fun.

[4:39] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But thank you for being here.

[4:41] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Oh my pleasure. Thank you for having me.

[4:43] Barrett Wilbert Weed: My pleas.

[4:44] Jayke Workman: Anytime.

[4:45] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Thank you for sitting in my bedroom.

[4:47] Barrett Wilbert Weed: This is so personal.

[4:48] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I love it.

[4:48] Barrett Wilbert Weed: As I look around, I'm just seeing so many artifacts.

[4:52] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Love it, just loving it.

[4:54] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Feeling warm.

[4:55] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Saying welcome.

[4:56] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Feeling flamingo, flamingo mom watching us.

[4:59] Jayke Workman: Absolutely.

[5:00] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Liza and Judy watching us.

[5:01] Jayke Workman: Liza and Julie presiding.

[5:03] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Trixie.

[5:04] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Trixie Mattel Barbie.

[5:06] Jayke Workman: Hello.

[5:07] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Everyone is getting a great book.

[5:08] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Everyone's here.

[5:10] Barrett Wilbert Weed: The gang's all here.

[5:11] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Everyone's here.

[5:12] Jayke Workman: Oh my god. Well, since getting to know you, 24 hours ago.

[5:18] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah.

[5:19] Jayke Workman: I have, of course, done my extensive research on you and your incredible career.

[5:26] Jayke Workman: So I think that we should just start from the very beginning.

[5:29] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Sure.

[5:30] Jayke Workman: Because I'm so impressed by your like arc from childhood in Massachusetts.

[5:38] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Walnut Hill.

[5:39] Jayke Workman: We're going this far back.

[5:41] Jayke Workman: We're going way back, darling.

[5:43] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Strap in.

[5:44] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Just going.

[5:46] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Just doing the reverse roller coaster.

[5:50] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[5:51] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But you've come so far.

[5:52] Barrett Wilbert Weed: You're bi-coastal.

[5:54] Barrett Wilbert Weed: You apparently.

[5:55] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah.

[5:56] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Accidentally.

[5:57] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Accidentally on purpose.

[5:59] Jayke Workman: But before all of that, what was your start, your introduction to the arts?

[6:04] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Have you always been a performer, an artist? What led you to this career?

[6:10] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Um, I think, yeah, so my parents were both artists.

[6:15] Barrett Wilbert Weed: So my mom, they both kind of had like nine lives, I think, in terms of like career stuff.

[6:21] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But my mom, her main thing was she was a ceramicist for a long time.

[6:27] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Oh my god. Isn't that funny?

[6:28] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah. When I think about it now, I'm like just so funny to think about Joanne just like at a wheel, just like hurling clay, and like just making she makes these like, she doesn't do it anymore because it's very labor intensive, but she made like these giant pots that was like she was doing sculpture as well, but like the ones that are in our house are just like these huge, beautiful, like very 80s watercolor abstract kind of like gigantic pots, and she's like, she's in a museum in Brockton, which I'm very proud of.

[6:59] Barrett Wilbert Weed: She like never talks about it. I'm like, Oh my god.

[7:01] Jayke Workman: Casual, yeah.

[7:03] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Actual artist.

[7:04] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Casual. Mama.

[7:05] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Also, like, who's who is like, oh yeah, I was like a professional ceramicist. I couldn't even spell that word for you.

[7:10] Barrett Wilbert Weed: So it's like when you go to a restaurant and you see like a handmade like plate, that's like someone's entire career.

[7:18] Barrett Wilbert Weed: That's wild. Is that wild to think about?

[7:19] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[7:20] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But yeah, so that's what she did for a long time, as well as like a bunch of other careers.

[7:23] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And then my dad was, I think his thing, he passed away when I was younger, so I never got to have a conversation about it with him.

[7:30] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But he was a sculptor, and he was mostly, of course, like just like could he be more of a boy? Just like big metal sculptures, like I think that's what it was.

[7:44] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And then he got licensed to do like skyscrapers, which is hysterical.

[7:50] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Oh, what the hell? Never did that, but then just like opened up.

[7:54] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I think I came into the picture and then they both were like, okay, let's like try other stuff, and then he just like became like a contractor or whatever.

[8:01] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I'm so but definitely not like yeah, I did not have anybody like on the straight and narrow in the family, so I think it was just like I just started singing, and both of my parents were like, Great, this is it, good for you.

[8:16] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Cool. How do we like find ways for her to sing outside of the house?

[8:23] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Sure. Where it's not just like I have a show for you, mom, sit down, I have a show for you.

[8:29] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[8:30] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Oh my god, as everyone after dinner, yeah, performance.

[8:34] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yes, I used to make my sister hold the flashlight as the spotlight for me as I came down the stairs, and then she's a really good sister.

[8:43] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Oh no, she would go okay, it's my turn, and I'd say, Well, the show's over.

[8:47] Barrett Wilbert Weed: So, sorry.

[8:48] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah, I don't do that.

[8:49] Barrett Wilbert Weed: No, I don't do ooze and uh I don't excuse me.

[8:53] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I don't do it.

[8:54] Barrett Wilbert Weed: No, I'm not here for you, you.

[8:56] Barrett Wilbert Weed: You're here for me.

[8:59] Jayke Workman: No, but God bless her. She has a fantastic sister.

[9:01] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Do you have siblings?

[9:02] Jayke Workman: No, it's just me.

[9:03] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Wow, just you.

[9:04] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I know.

[9:05] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Oh my god. Amazing.

[9:06] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah, and it's just been since my dad passed away a long time ago, it's just been me and my mom for a long time.

[9:13] Jayke Workman: Wow.

[9:13] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But yeah, that was just I think they just were like, let's find some kind of performance opportunity for Barrett to do.

[9:22] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I was in like a neighborhood. They called it the Boston Children's Opera, but it was like a neighborhood child.

[9:28] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Can you imagine? It was a child opera company.

[9:31] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Literally the tiniest baby voices.

[9:35] Barrett Wilbert Weed: The performances were, I believe, three and a half hours long.

[9:38] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like every single one. Everybody because everybody had to have a solo.

[9:41] Jayke Workman: Oh boy.

[9:43] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I know. Bless all the parents in the back.

[9:45] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Just so 90s, all the parents in the back with like the giant, like the camcorders on the tripod.

[9:50] Jayke Workman: On their shoulder, like a fool box.

[9:51] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah, 100%.

[9:52] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[9:54] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Love that.

[9:55] Jayke Workman: Well, you made it out alive.

[9:56] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah, as so did my mom. Like, so did all the parents.

[10:00] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[10:00] Barrett Wilbert Weed: So and bless like bless all the family friends who like they came to every opera.

[10:05] Jayke Workman: Oh.

[10:06] Barrett Wilbert Weed: They came to opera.

[10:07] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Lobo M Jr.

[10:08] Jayke Workman: 100%.

[10:09] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I think they were like wasted in the back row, just like smuggling in wine and coffee cups, being like, how much longer?

[10:15] Jayke Workman: That's the correct way to do it.

[10:17] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah.

[10:18] Jayke Workman: So then when you went to Walnut Hill, tell me about that entire experience.

[10:23] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Is that all four years of high school for you?

[10:25] Barrett Wilbert Weed: No. So I was in a horrible, horrible prep school that shall remain nameless for middle school.

[10:32] Barrett Wilbert Weed: That like I'm I'm still I'm I'm a full-blown adult and I'm still working on those wounds.

[10:39] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[10:39] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah the middle school wounds.

[10:41] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Um and I just got I got really depressed because there was no it was a hardcore prep school they there were really like no performance opportunity.

[10:49] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I auditioned for the musical my freshman year of high school and they said no no not for you and I was like okay cool.

[10:54] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Okay.

[10:55] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Um and my mom was like oh if she can't like do something if she can't even like if she can't even like open the open the curtain for a for a musical but my kid's gonna like shrivel up and die.

[11:08] Barrett Wilbert Weed: So she I was just very very lucky that we didn't even really know Walnut Hill existed and my mom found that school for me to audition for and it was a good fit and like and I went there and had a great time for three years.

[11:22] Jayke Workman: Amazing.

[11:23] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah I'm still it's so funny I'm still like very close friends with the theater director of Walnut Hill.

[11:28] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like he's become he and his husband have become like part of our family.

[11:33] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like I was just home and we all went out to dinner and we're like I was like it's so weird to like be drunk with you in public.

[11:40] Jayke Workman: It's so that was completely normal to totally now we don't have to hide it anymore.

[11:46] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Just kidding um he wouldn't Joe would literally never like just the most appropriate the most appropriate man in the world.

[11:54] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Really good with boundaries um but yeah that's that and then I wound up at Elon I applied to like 13 schools and I got waitlisted at Juilliard and I got rejected from every other school except for Elon which at the time I apparently now it is like extremely difficult to get into it is very like cute like uh like people are like oh Elon like oh my god like so cool.

[12:22] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like only like the really cool tent school there I'm like no when I was there it was like the island of misfit toys and there were like uh there were a bunch of like really like um it's like Taylor Trench was in my class who's been in a billion things yeah it's so so so talented amazing as well as like a bunch of other um I don't know if you know who like Chris Wood is or like Grant Guston like they're like they were we were all just like do I don't know making faces at each other and being idiots sneering yeah exactly just like learning tap routines at eight in the morning like what are we doing?

[12:57] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Pretending to be a dog pretending to be a dog really just like doing repetition exercises in Meisner class absolutely provocative questioning just doing blader honey and like making up uh we had a lot of theme parties at Elon because it's in the absolute middle of nowhere and I think there's a lot more to do now but at the time there was not so it was just that's somebody would throw a theme party every weekend and we would spend the entire week getting ready for the theme party.

[13:23] Jayke Workman: So bum though very god yeah so you knew from high school that you wanted to actually pursue musical theater.

[13:32] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I yeah well I I I guess like um it just kind of happened that way because I like had a huge interest in vocal performance and a huge interest in acting and like that's how it overlaps I think for a lot of people because it's you're either double majoring in like vocal performance and and drama or you're doing a musical theater program.

[13:54] Barrett Wilbert Weed: So it just happened that like most of the programs I was applying for had like solid um training in both areas.

[14:03] Jayke Workman: Sure.

[14:04] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But then yeah.

[14:04] Jayke Workman: Well you hear me.

[14:05] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I mean I was so like impressed by you because um I obviously we just met public.

[14:12] Jayke Workman: It's the truth.

[14:14] Barrett Wilbert Weed: You you have such a broad like scope of what it means to be a an actor as well as a person and I love that about your perspective because um I never thought about it that way.

[14:26] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Well it's really it's so easy.

[14:28] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like so many people just fall into the trope of like I am a musical theater performer and I could never do anything else.

[14:34] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And I love that you do not have that mentality.

[14:37] Barrett Wilbert Weed: You don't project that like within an audition room or or a the theatrical experience.

[14:44] Barrett Wilbert Weed: You are still like sure I also have elements of my life that I enjoy outside of this.

[14:50] Jayke Workman: Sure which I think is refreshing.

[14:53] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah I didn't know like it's totally I tot that is completely correct.

[14:59] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I didn't realize that that is um weird like I and really until I moved here and then I was like oh wow oh okay so we're going to dinner and we're gonna talk about the current Broadway season TM.

[15:13] Jayke Workman: Yep and there will be no other topic of conversation.

[15:17] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Thank you.

[15:17] Jayke Workman: Uh-huh thank you.

[15:19] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yes thank you.

[15:20] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And I was just kind of like I there's like a show that I want to talk about every maybe three years and that's like that's no shade to anything.

[15:32] Barrett Wilbert Weed: It's just what's pulling my interest.

[15:33] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[15:34] Barrett Wilbert Weed: In the same way that like I LOL my friends wrote that movie but I've told them this to their face.

[15:40] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like the trailer for Lala Land came out and I remember see sitting in the theater and just going No.

[15:48] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like why would I see that?

[15:52] Jayke Workman: Why would I wait?

[15:53] Barrett Wilbert Weed: So you know.

[15:53] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Not to be rude, but I'm just like, why would I see that?

[15:56] Jayke Workman: Are you do you mean um basketball?

[15:58] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Benjamin Justin.

[15:59] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yes, amazing.

[16:00] Barrett Wilbert Weed: They're the best.

[16:00] Barrett Wilbert Weed: They're so sweet.

[16:01] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But it's like I don't and everything they write.

[16:04] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful music.

[16:05] Barrett Wilbert Weed: They've written it all.

[16:06] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[16:07] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Espe I mean, especially Love You Bench, but especially Justin, his music is like it it hits me in a deep, deep way.

[16:15] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[16:15] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah.

[16:16] Barrett Wilbert Weed: For sure.

[16:16] Jayke Workman: That's crazy.

[16:17] Barrett Wilbert Weed: That bitch can that bitch can write up anybody.

[16:20] Barrett Wilbert Weed: So honey.

[16:22] Jayke Workman: Have you worked with them on music?

[16:24] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah.

[16:25] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Um, it's so funny that I had forgotten that Snow White was happening.

[16:29] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I did the I did the demos for I forget how many songs because it was a while ago.

[16:34] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I did the demos for Snow White.

[16:36] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And I did what else did I do?

[16:39] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Um and I oh, I helped them put together um uh Dearvin Hanson.

[16:45] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I was in like the first couple like development, like the I think the first reading.

[16:49] Jayke Workman: Oh, that's right.

[16:51] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Or the first two readings or something.

[16:53] Barrett Wilbert Weed: As Zoe.

[16:54] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[16:55] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah.

[16:55] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Cool.

[16:55] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[16:56] Barrett Wilbert Weed: During yeah, during that time it was much more of like an ensemble piece.

[17:00] Jayke Workman: Uh-huh.

[17:00] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And then like everybody realized, like, oh sh shit, Ben can really like tear this up.

[17:07] Jayke Workman: Honey.

[17:07] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah.

[17:08] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah.

[17:08] Barrett Wilbert Weed: So then I was like, hmm.

[17:10] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like I l I love you guys and I want to be part of this, but I'm also like, again, no shade to people who can who can do like the ingenue thing.

[17:18] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[17:18] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But that's I'm not good at that.

[17:20] Jayke Workman: Right.

[17:21] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Well and when there was more, like, you know, when there were more scenes and more stuff to work with, it was a good fit.

[17:28] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And then when it got when the role got really condensed, I was like, oh, I mm.

[17:32] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I don't think you want me for this.

[17:33] Jayke Workman: Not the same.

[17:33] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I think you want Laura.

[17:34] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[17:35] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And Laura was amazing.

[17:36] Jayke Workman: Phenomenal.

[17:37] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah.

[17:37] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah, yeah.

[17:38] Jayke Workman: That's so cool.

[17:39] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Well, since you brought it up, I'm I'm so excited to talk about your sort of like alternative um character journey.

[17:47] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I mean, sure, you are you obviously we have to talk about mean girls, which we'll get to, but you did Bear, which is so I remember being in high school and being like, ah, this hurts my little gay heart.

[18:05] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But I can't tell anybody.

[18:08] Jayke Workman: And here we are.

[18:09] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah, of course, as if people didn't fucking know.

[18:11] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And then uh you also did the role of Veronica in what I probably I would say the like most popular cult classic musical, Heathers.

[18:24] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like when people think of musical theater.

[18:26] Jayke Workman: Wild.

[18:27] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I'm just glad people like that show as much as I like it.

[18:29] Jayke Workman: Oh my god.

[18:30] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Well, it's so good.

[18:32] Barrett Wilbert Weed: So there's also I think it was like one of the first shows that really like utilized recording, and like there is so much video footage of it and of you, obviously, in the show.

[18:46] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah, and so like or they just didn't shut it down.

[18:48] Barrett Wilbert Weed: They could have gone and flagged all those videos and been like take the shock the internet.

[18:53] Jayke Workman: Yeah, but they didn't.

[18:54] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And why would they?

[18:55] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Because it completely blew the roof off of the place.

[18:58] Jayke Workman: Oh, 100%.

[18:59] Barrett Wilbert Weed: You were at New World Stages.

[19:00] Barrett Wilbert Weed: 100%.

[19:01] Barrett Wilbert Weed: The b the Heather's bootlegs, I think, are responsible for like why I have any name recognition whatsoever.

[19:08] Jayke Workman: Well, I mean, truly, like, that's I remember it only ran for like a couple months.

[19:12] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But still, like, and that's the thing too about like the movie is like it has that effect where it's like, is this even good?

[19:18] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And then you're like, Yeah.

[19:19] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah, by the time you get to the end, you're like, Right.

[19:23] Barrett Wilbert Weed: When when Underwriter Rider is like uh just covered in filth and is smoking a cigarette and goes like cool, I need what does she say, like, uh, you know what, babe?

[19:31] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Cool guys like you out of my life.

[19:33] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like that's and you're like, I I don't know what's going on, but I am disturbed and excited and moved, and I love this.

[19:42] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I like I truly remember getting to freshman year of college.

[19:46] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Oh my god.

[19:47] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I was not I have always loved theater, but I was not like in the contemporary world.

[19:52] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I didn't know what was going on.

[19:53] Jayke Workman: Sure.

[19:54] Barrett Wilbert Weed: So when I got to college and there were those people, yeah, like you don't know Heathers?

[19:59] Barrett Wilbert Weed: You don't know Barrett?

[20:00] Jayke Workman: Well we bitch.

[20:01] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And so like now to have you sitting in my bedroom is hilarious because freshman year Jake would be like, what no, I don't know who that is.

[20:09] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like I have no idea how iconic this is, but like I mean it's wild.

[20:13] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But you get to play these fucking fierce, like grungy people.

[20:18] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[20:18] Barrett Wilbert Weed: What is every once in a while, yes.

[20:21] Jayke Workman: And is that like yeah, what you love most?

[20:24] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I do.

[20:25] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah.

[20:26] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I I think that's um I think that's a part of my uh I think it's like a separate person that lives inside of me that is not really present in my daily life.

[20:42] Barrett Wilbert Weed: It's like the little monster that lives inside of me that's like, ah, the somebody left the door open.

[20:48] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[20:49] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And now we get to come out here and like swear and like simulate sex on stage and kill people and tell people to fuck off, and gener generally just kind of like provide a some kind of definitely not intentional, but some kind of contrast to what else is going on in musical theater.

[21:09] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[21:10] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Totally.

[21:11] Barrett Wilbert Weed: We're not doing camelot, honey.

[21:13] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Well, not today I would do it if they would let me like would let me do it I would Barrett weed is gonna be a win I can't imagine although like it's very funny now that I've changed my hair color people are like oh genu classic and I'm like no I'm still the same I'm still the same person my hair's just a different color like totally it changes your type though I'm like no I don't I don't think I have one okay we I don't think I must talk about type because that was a term used I mean it still is used but like especially throughout my time in school and I'm sure yours as well it's so wild and I think it like it makes sense from like a curricular perspective because it's like what how do you help people and teach people in the same way.

[22:06] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah but everyone protect them right how do you protect them like how do you how do you try to help them comprehend like an industry that's coming from a place of need how do you help young people right fill fill a need.

[22:20] Jayke Workman: And like for listeners who might not even be familiar with this sort of like this your type is like what what you would look at someone and think they would play.

[22:33] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Right.

[22:33] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Which is first impression first impression.

[22:36] Jayke Workman: But also like when you apply that to like you know Broadway the great white way it's it's the whitest it's the whitest space that exists, at least that I'm aware of that exists in entertainment.

[22:51] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yep.

[22:51] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like you I've never seen people so white as like some of the people on Broadway.

[22:56] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[22:57] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like I joke about this with some of my friends who are like they grew up Mormon or they're like formerly Mormon.

[23:01] Jayke Workman: Uh-huh.

[23:02] Barrett Wilbert Weed: They're like, oh yeah, there's a lot of us here because like we literally there's like it's a it's a type of Caucasian that exists mostly in Mormon lore.

[23:13] Jayke Workman: Right.

[23:14] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like that's just precisely super Aryan, just like transparent, so problematic.

[23:21] Jayke Workman: Yep.

[23:22] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Just like a very specific style of singing.

[23:27] Jayke Workman: Yep.

[23:28] Barrett Wilbert Weed: That makes everybody else extremely self-conscious.

[23:30] Jayke Workman: Because it's like, who who is this?

[23:32] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Right, right.

[23:33] Barrett Wilbert Weed: It's not a type of person you would encounter in reality at all.

[23:36] Jayke Workman: No.

[23:37] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And it's so we're just so stuck in it.

[23:41] Jayke Workman: Well, no, I mean, of course, it's like my biggest dream.

[23:43] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like Broadway is what I love to do.

[23:46] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And but it's still like we're we're just rooted in this sort of like George M. Cohen, uh all white Americana musical theater.

[23:54] Jayke Workman: And it's like, why are we and it's also completely made up?

[23:57] Barrett Wilbert Weed: It's completely made up.

[23:59] Barrett Wilbert Weed: The whole thing, auditioning, producers, it's all made up.

[24:05] Barrett Wilbert Weed: So the fact that we're having so it's it's such a hard time sh breaking these things is like Yeah, well, we're not having a hard time.

[24:14] Jayke Workman: Well, well, right.

[24:15] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But like anybody anybody who like takes the subway in New York City is not having a hard time like imagining different kinds of people on stage.

[24:23] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[24:23] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah.

[24:24] Barrett Wilbert Weed: We're not having a hard time.

[24:25] Jayke Workman: Uh-huh.

[24:27] Barrett Wilbert Weed: That's like my friend group.

[24:28] Barrett Wilbert Weed: That's like the that's the people I talk to on a daily basis.

[24:32] Jayke Workman: Right.

[24:32] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Those are the people who like, those are my talent reps.

[24:35] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Those are like yeah.

[24:37] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But it's yeah, it's just wild.

[24:38] Jayke Workman: Totally.

[24:39] Barrett Wilbert Weed: It's wild.

[24:39] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But also, like you'd be amazed how many people will like hear, hear me say that and immediately interpret it as like the worst possible interpretation of it.

[24:48] Barrett Wilbert Weed: It's like, oh okay Barrett oh you think you're not white. It's like no I never that's never not a word that ever came out of my mouth. Oh you're just you're better than this you're better than musical theater then you don't want to buy into it. Yeah I get it. I see what you're saying. I see what you're saying. Right. And I'm like I can see that you don't I can see that I see that you don't but I also can see that I I'm not probably doing a very good job of articulating myself if that's what you're getting at. No but that's so real. Oh God. Well I must ask you about sure mean girls.

[25:19] Jayke Workman: Yeah sure sure because this I feel like is a show that changed your life.

[25:24] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah a little bit probably and you worked on it for so long totally workshops and out of towns and whatever. And so like that's a different experience than you know being put into a show or like working on something that's like a three week and up kind of thing. Right. So tell me about what it was like to get the call that you're gonna be the original Janis in Mean Girls which is already this insane cult movie.

[25:52] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah. Um and then you know to to know that you're gonna be in the room with people like Tina Fey. Yeah. Like what is yeah what's going through your head when you're like okay we're gonna start this journey.

[26:03] Barrett Wilbert Weed: It's just wild like sometimes you get um or at least I should speak for myself sometimes I get a feeling about like you hear something that's gonna be adapted or you hear about something that's like coming down the pipe, and you just get a feeling where you're like, Oh, that would be a great fit. Yeah. I get that character. I get I get that character. I can do that if they're gonna write the music in the style that I think they're gonna write it in. This is gonna be a good fit all around. Um, but yeah, but the audition process for that was crazy. Um at first, they were trying to pull like uh an original cast of Spring Awakening, and they were trying to cast actual teenagers in the role, which I am sure that teenagers exist who are funny enough to carry off Tina Fey's writing. I just don't think they found them in that casting process.

[27:07] Barrett Wilbert Weed: So then they were like, oh whoopsie, like we might need people who've like we might need people who've like watched an episode of Saturday Night Live, like in their time on Earth, yeah. Um, but yeah, but they still they didn't want to bring me in for it. Um, like they really they just said no. They were like that they didn't want to bring me in for it. And I just said no back and my and my reps also said, are you out of your mind? Which I was like, that's very sweet. But no, one of my one of my reps had to call uh Tel C and Company and literally threatened to burn the building down, which is very out of character for him. Like he's a very mild-mannered, like just a southern bell, like just he's just a sweet boy. Uh-huh.

[28:11] Jayke Workman: Oh, he's mad.

[28:09] Barrett Wilbert Weed: That's power mama. Mama. Mama. That's a shark. Mama. That's power mama. Um, no, Clay's, yeah, um a sweet sweet boy. But so they were like, uh, okay, somehow that like worked. Didn't get you wouldn't recommend somehow that somehow that worked. Um, and then I walked in, and it was like the first appointment was all people I've worked with before. It was like the uh it I was just like, oh, like I remember being super nervous and like over prepared and brought like a bunch of different because it'd been so hard to get the appointment. So I was like very working very overtime to make sure that everything was like perfect, and then I walked in and I was like, Oh, it's you guys. Oh, oh great! What was you worried about? I could just like actually calm down.

[29:00] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Um so yeah, so I had a first appointment, and then uh, and then Gray Henson and I kind of knew each other socially. We had some friends in common, and I had thought of him, and he had thought of me for these roles, and so we got in touch, and then when we got into the callback process, I was like, we should probably read together because I think we're probably gonna end up reading together in the room, or we should just again I was being crazy, like we should just overprepare and just like be straight A students and just yeah right.

[29:31] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Um, and so we did, and I remember during like the final callbacks, he was like, I've heard that I've heard that Tina Fey, she likes to cast people who kind of like are the characters. So I think like let's we're gonna just like sit just like sit by me in the waiting room, and then we walk in. I'm just gonna grab I'm gonna grab your hand and then we'll walk in together. And I'll just say something funny to you to make you laugh. I remember I was like, okay, crazy. Okay, crazy. Yeah, I was like, finally someone on my level of insanity. Great.

[30:06] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah, we I remember we walked in together, and Casey Nicola was like, You guys don't know each other. And he was like, Yes, we do to Casey. And Tina was like, Do you really? And I was like, Yeah, we I was like, he's being silly, but yes, we do know each other. We have a lot of friends in common. So yes, we we know each other well, and I saw them kind of like look at each other and I was like, oh, Gray was right, that's okay. So that happened, and then yeah, I he was the only person I read with. Um I think it was like in the last waiting room, it was like me, Ariana DeBoes, and Rebecca Naomi Jones, and he read with everybody else, and I was like, I'm not getting it. How am I not getting this? I'm just I've worked so hard, I feel like I really understand the comedy, I feel like I really get it. How am I not getting this?

[31:02] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Um yeah, and then I we everybody went home and then I didn't hear anything. And now I'm gonna tell you a part of the story that I usually omit. But I feel like you will gossip on the pot. But it's uh because it's a wild story, but um, I didn't hear anything, and then I got a call from my manager that was like, um, so Tina and Casey wanna have a meeting with you before they make you an offer. And I was like, Oh, wait, grate, why? Yeah. And my manager was really pissed, and he was like, I I just had like an hour and a half long conversation with I don't know who he was talking to at Tulsi. Um, but he was like, um, there is a rumor going around that I was not aware of that you were fired from Heather's for physically assaulting someone backstage.

[32:01] Barrett Wilbert Weed: What? Okay. What do you even say to that? Like what just describe my face. I was like literally just frozen. Uh okay. I just remember like my hands went numb. I think I dropped the phone. Yeah. First of all, I was definitely not fired. I just like, yeah, I was just like, it's I'm exhausted. The working environment on that show was um not great. Less than brilliant, not ideal. I was the third principal to leave. Uh-huh. And I think like you can make your own draw your own conclusions from there. But that somehow made its way literally too. And I know who I know who made that up. Wow. Bless their I know who made that up. Um, and that is a completely made up thing.

[32:58] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But even now when I'm talking about it, I'm just like, I can feel my heart rate. Like, yeah. So I literally had to go have a I was like, what do I how do I what? Like, what am I supposed to go in and say? Be like, I didn't do it. Yeah, and like also to someone like Tina Fey, you're like, I don't know. My an idol of mine. Right. Like, what? What? So yeah, I had to go I had to go have this meeting. And I'm I try to be very like lol, which is such a joke. I'm like sitting here spilling my guts, but I'm like, I try to be kind of like, you know, I try to be reserved, um, and just try to like, you know, be an adult, be a mature, be like, how can I help you understand that like that's not something I'm personally capable of?

[34:12] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Right. And I was like, Jeremy, what do I do? Like to my manager, and he was like, I think you just Jeremy's like, I literally, these are my these are my reps at my manager's office. I have like a Southern Belle, uh huh, like is my manager's assistant, and then my manager is like everyone's like Jewish mom, just in a gay man's body. But I was like, what do I what do I do? And he was like, Well, Barrett, I think you just go in and you just say, I know what you've heard, and what can I what can I do to what can I do to make you happy to make this happen today? And I was like, that's not so that's not something I can say to either one of those people, and I was like, mm-hmm, okay, I'll do my best.

[34:56] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And I just went in, and I think I literally was just like, I mean, I went in and sat down at Tulsi, like at a table in a one of the casting rooms, and there was like a box of tissues on the table, and I was like, Oh, okay, so we all know why we're here. Oh my word. They literally sat there and I was like, um, I just want to tell you like how uncomfortable and like humiliated I am to even be like sitting here. I don't know how this happened, and I I just I don't even really know what to say.

[35:28] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Right. And the conversation started off with um with Casey just with both of them just being like, Look, we don't know what happened, but how we like to work, like that's just not something that's gonna, it's just not gonna happen. And then I just burst into tears and I was like, Yeah, I mm-hmm, me too. Like, I didn't do that. Right. And I don't know how to like I can't prove to you that like I in a meeting that like I'm not a person who I don't even remember the last time I like smacked somebody. I think I was like 11. Like, I don't or no, I think it was like a rude boy said something horrible to me in middle school, and I like slapped him in the face. And then I got pulled in their into their principal's office, and they were like, he's the worst, but you know you can't hit people, right? And I was like, Yeah, sorry. Like I won't do it again. I'm sorry.

[36:16] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But I mean, literally, that's I don't I just it's not uh my impulse is to like yell at people when they're like scaring me or being awful to me. But also it's like in what world is there something like that that happens where there isn't like a legal proceeding or like something actual to for them like tangible to for them to actually hold this meeting with you, right? And be like, we could choose to not hire you because of this. Like that also is insane. Neither of them were like that. They were just like, We love you, you're perfect for this. We are going to hire you. We just like we have to have this meeting with you before we hire you. Well, and so then, but I remember I was like, I it did not happen. It's not I've I've never been fired from a uh an acting job ever in my life.

[37:10] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And now that I'm thinking about it, I don't think I've ever been fired from I've never been fired work ever. I have quit like non-theater jobs many times. Or I've asked to be allowed out of a contract, but I've never I've never been fired. I've never really like quit anything ever. Um, like uh I don't know. Wow. Maybe my one retail job where I was like, this is the worst. But I just left and I never went back. I don't think I even really quit.

[37:36] Jayke Workman: Right.

[37:37] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But um, but I remember them looking at each other and being like, Oh god, what have we done? Like, we've like pulled the we pulled Barrett in here, she's sitting at a table sobbing, and like, and I just remember sweet Tina was just like she I just remember they both like kind of turned like red, or like Casey's more like the color just drain drains out of his face when something like that happens. Like, I think he went white, she turned red, and they both just kind of looked at each other and were like I think they were both thinking about like who greenlit this meeting, like who said this wasn't gonna be all of us in here.

[38:14] But I was just like, it was and then I just ended up like word-vomiting like my entire experience on that show, and I was just like, it was extremely difficult, and it's the hardest job I've ever had, and like I literally was eating like one meal a day, sleeping for the rest of the day, and I was warming up for like two hours before every show, and like I wasn't not only was I not drinking, I wasn't like talking during the day, so it's just it's it's unfathomable that I would even have had time or space or energy to do anything like that type of thing.

[38:43] And it's also just complete antithesis to any of my values, like you know, put your hands on people.

[38:48] Jayke Workman: Right.

[38:49] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But I mean, like pretty much no matter what they do, unless they're like going to kill you, like that's you know, and and it would be different too if you were like the you know, because I but they're both very sweet people, and they were like immediately were like, oh god, oh god, oh god, oops, and Tina was like, Is there is there a world in which like somebody just got confused and like they saw something that they thought that's what happened, and I was like, I I really I can't speak to that.

[39:19] I just I know where I know the source of this. Uh-huh. I know the person who's responsible for making this up, and I I can only speak to my personal experience with them and their mental health, and like, and honestly, from the very adult place that I'm in right now and like my own journey with mental health, like I like I know that that person really earnestly believes that that happened.

[39:50] Happened.

[39:50] Jayke Workman: Yeah, it's they but they believe that I hit them.

[39:54] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Wow. And I and there's nothing I can do to change that. I can only just like go to my other castmates and be like, can you believe that our castmates at the time be like, Can you believe this? And they're all like, What?

[40:06] Jayke Workman: Yeah, well, of course.

[40:07] Barrett Wilbert Weed: When like I I remember I told um Jessica Keenan Wynn about it, and she was like, Honey, when would there even have been time for you to slap somebody?

[40:18] Jayke Workman: Why are you that?

[40:20] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Well, it's just crazy because there are so many instances I'm sure of actual like 100% abuse, assault, like sexism, racism, all of that.

[40:29] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[40:32] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Rampant.

[40:32] Jayke Workman: Of course, rampant.

[40:33] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And that is bullshit. So the fact that like people have been sexually harassed on every show I have ever worked on ever. And so the fact that like I I guess what my point is is like I understand that holding a meeting like that for something that actually happened.

[40:51] Jayke Workman: Well they really they thought it had actually happened.

[40:53] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Right. But yeah, it's not crazy.

[40:55] Jayke Workman: It is crazy.

[40:56] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And it's so it's such proof that this industry is psycho.

[41:03] Jayke Workman: It's psycho, and it's also the size of a fucking pee.

[41:07] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like, I know everybody one person could say something and everybody just believes it.

[41:12] Jayke Workman: It's insane.

[41:13] Barrett Wilbert Weed: 100%. It can literally infiltrate casting rooms. Like that is bizarre.

[41:18] Jayke Workman: It's not just like the sort of like backstage shenanigans that you have to deal with sometimes.

[41:23] Barrett Wilbert Weed: It's like this is this one. And then of course I was like spiraling about it for like months. I was like, is this why I haven't had a job for like a few years?

[41:33] Jayke Workman: Uh-huh.

[41:34] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like, is this is this why? And I still get weird comments from, you know, I mean, casting directors who I've essentially like grown up with at this point.

[41:42] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[41:43] Barrett Wilbert Weed: That are like, oh, I mean, you just matured so much. You've just really grown as a person.

[41:48] Jayke Workman: And I'm like, ah, what have you heard?

[41:52] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like, what did you mean four years ago? I'm unaware of the prison sentence I possibly served for my god attempted murder.

[42:03] Jayke Workman: It's crazy.

[42:03] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But it really, I think it goes to show that you have to have to take all things with a grain of salt and know that like anything I ever hear about anybody, I'm like, well, okay. Who am I hearing it from?

[42:15] Jayke Workman: Yeah, consider this.

[42:16] Barrett Wilbert Weed: That's my mom always says consider you need to consider the source.

[42:16] Jayke Workman: Consider the source.

[42:21] Barrett Wilbert Weed: When you're hearing things like that, you need to consider the source.

[42:24] Jayke Workman: And that's the tea.

[42:26] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah, but it's wild.

[42:27] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[42:28] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Woo! My god. I'm glad I told you that. But literally, I mean, literally, like I know it's wild.

[42:34] Jayke Workman: It is wild.

[42:35] Barrett Wilbert Weed: It's wild, but it is like a it's a, you know, and I and I will I think the reason I don't I haven't talked about it super openly is because like that um they were so uh like I'll die on the hill of like I love Casey and Tina because they were so if they really thought that was true, and if somebody really told convinced them that that was true, right?

[42:57] Jayke Workman: Um they're were so gracious to me to have that meeting, yeah.

[43:04] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And to and to also uh believe me when I told them that did not happen.

[43:09] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[43:10] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And then like as we were leaving, and I was like literally like wiping mascara off my face. Tina was like, I want you to know that if you are gonna work on this project, we are never gonna talk about this again.

[43:22] Jayke Workman: Ever again.

[43:23] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Incredible. It's a clean slate. We will we are gonna get to know you as a person, and I don't want you to think that we're gonna go into a rehearsal treating you like a criminal, like I'm not gonna, or a violent, a violent offender.

[43:39] Jayke Workman: Yeah, like that's not it's you you tell me who you are, and that's that's who I believe you to be.

[43:47] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Well, thank you so much for for being so open about that because I hope that just felt it was a good time.

[43:52] Jayke Workman: It is, and I it really like there have got to be you cannot be the singular instance of something like this that has happened.

[44:00] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I've heard unbelievable. I've heard unbelievable stories about people who then become friends of mine, and I'm like, do I need to like tell them that I've heard right, right?

[44:11] Jayke Workman: Like reputations preceding you and everything.

[44:14] Barrett Wilbert Weed: It's so it's so crazy. But it's that's what people will believe. And I also think that's very um character, I guess like rumors that then affect how people um perceive you and perceive your your character and like your moral compass.

[44:31] That affects people's careers in musical theater and in theater and in Broadway, like way more than it does in music or film or television.

[44:42] Jayke Workman: Right.

[44:43] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like sometimes to a fault, like in either direction. That it's like sometimes people are so talented. I mean, we've literally just seen that happen with like you know the rise of Me Too and like people, you know, being like, actually, like this person did like the something unforgivable to me.

[45:00] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[45:00] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Um, excuse me, but I mean, sometimes like people are so talented that we just let it go.

[45:06] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[45:07] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Um, but I think that the inverse of that, I've only seen that happen, and I've only personally experienced that in the in the quote Broadway community.

[45:20] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[45:21] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Community where people are like, oh, she's she's this, she's that, so we're not gonna hire her.

[45:35] Jayke Workman: That's crazy.

[45:35] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah, it's really crazy, and it happens so constantly, it's constant.

[45:41] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[45:42] Barrett Wilbert Weed: So then it's weird. What switching gears a little bit? I would love to hear about just drove a train right through her interview.

[45:51] Jayke Workman: I loved it.

[45:53] Barrett Wilbert Weed: But I want to hear about your experience with TV and film then and how it's totally different.

[45:58] Jayke Workman: Different it is.

[45:59] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah. I've never I've been on many a set.

[46:03] But I have not actually acted in front of the camera.

[46:06] Jayke Workman: No, you will.

[46:07] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Oh long.

[46:08] Jayke Workman: Oh you will. I'll be on an episode of Blue Bloods and the Bible.

[46:11] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yes, you will, along with the rest of us.

[46:13] Jayke Workman: Yes, absolutely.

[46:15] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Um yeah, it's completely different. It's um I find it to be extremely relaxing. I think a lot of my my friends who really like they they live, they like bleed theater are like, don't you hate like the hurry up and wait? And I'm like, no, that's my favorite part.

[46:31] I want to get there at 5 a.m. and I wanna sit down, and I want somebody hand me a script, and I want to sit there for four and a half hours looking at my lines and having a little cup of coffee in a tiny room by myself with the door closed.

[46:50] Air conditioning blast.

[46:52] Jayke Workman: That's what I want.

[46:53] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Correct. That's what I want. And then I I want to like be given literally like a like a caged animal. I want to be given a snack, and then I wanna like I want somebody to lead me by the hand to the hair and makeup room where I don't have to think about that.

[47:08] No, somebody else does it for me.

[47:10] Jayke Workman: Yep, some a lovely person does it for me.

[47:13] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah, and I don't have to think about it. And then I want them to go put me in front of a camera where I meet the other people in the scene. Ask usually because I'm I'm usually the furthest down on the call.

[47:25] She asked them if they would like to rehearse and like just and knock it out and go home.

[47:33] Jayke Workman: Fierce.

[47:33] Barrett Wilbert Weed: That's one day's work.

[47:35] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[47:35] Barrett Wilbert Weed: It's very like intimate and private. And you don't have to worry about like are people am I talking loud enough? Are people seeing me?

[47:44] Jayke Workman: Right.

[47:46] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Are people like I have huge eyes, but like are they are they see like is that enough of a face or do I need to be like from the back or do I need to like ramp up into the face I'm making.

[48:00] Jayke Workman: Right.

[48:01] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Right. Yeah, do I need how hard do I need to like how hard do I need to make this face to get the laugh.

[48:08] Jayke Workman: Yeah. Totally.

[48:09] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Well it's interesting too I think um just sit there. You and be we were chatting yesterday about how like the accessibility to you is so different in theater.

[48:22] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[48:22] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like people's access to you when you are on TV or in movies or whatever is so different.

[48:29] Jayke Workman: It couldn't be more different.

[48:30] Barrett Wilbert Weed: You essentially like you said if you have a Wi-Fi connection you can find Barrett weed.

[48:36] Jayke Workman: You can find my face on a TV show.

[48:37] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Absolutely and and I haven't even been on that many. And the paywall alone of Broadway and theater prevents people from knowing yeah who you are and what you do.

[48:47] Jayke Workman: The way it's currently set up yeah yeah.

[48:49] Barrett Wilbert Weed: So and you know you're you're either singularly doing it in New York City in one theater.

[48:55] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[48:55] Barrett Wilbert Weed: In a basement or you are on a national tour which is a whole other thing.

[49:01] Jayke Workman: It's it's just so interesting. I I loved that um that point you made about like people's access to you.

[49:08] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Right.

[49:09] Jayke Workman: Is just so different. And it it also goes for social media and you know what you're willing to post and share on online.

[49:17] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I mean even like with the a podcast like this and what you're willing to share. It's like people's access to you and who who you actually are is so skewed in the world of musical theater.

[49:31] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah, well, because I mean, if you think about it, you have to buy a ticket to see these performances.

[49:36] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[49:37] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And you have to buy a ticket that like at this moment in my life, three years post-pandemic, I can't afford like most of these tickets.

[49:47] Jayke Workman: No, I can't.

[49:48] Barrett Wilbert Weed: No.

[49:49] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I need to buy a plane ticket back to LA so I can't.

[49:53] Barrett Wilbert Weed: So I can make more TV.

[49:56] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah, so that I can maybe afford something eventually. But I mean, it's I mean, one of the things that I everybody is so sick of hearing me talk about it, but I just think like we can't talk about it enough. Like film these shows. Film the shows. Film record shows, record the shows and in a good way with some amazing production quality.

[50:25] Jayke Workman: Yep.

[50:25] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Record them as well as Hamilton was recorded.

[50:29] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[50:29] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Put them out and let people buy a five dollar ticket to watch it. What to rent it. What musical theater person didn't grow up watching the recording of Into the Woods with Bernadette Peters? Like this. That only makes people I think the biggest misconception that I don't even know if it's producers or if it's theater owners or if I don't know who it is, but the I think the biggest misconception that people have is that if you record a show and you put it out and you make it available to people, that it makes people want to come see the live version of that less.

[51:02] Jayke Workman: Right.

[51:02] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And I, I, it is the polar opposite.

[51:06] Jayke Workman: Correct.

[51:07] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Like we were talking about this yesterday, but it's like, how did you come to musical theaters? Did you just how'd you come to musical theaters? How did you come to how did you come to musical theater? Was it because you had like a rich uncle who took you to see a show?

[51:23] Jayke Workman: Right.

[51:23] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Or was it because you got a hold of a recording? You watched the VHS of Cats every day.

[51:30] Jayke Workman: For four years.

[51:30] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I'm not speaking from experience at all.

[51:32] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[51:33] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Or if you're me, you were watching The Sound of Music on a loop for your entire childhood.

[51:37] Jayke Workman: A hundred percent.

[51:38] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And listening to albums. Right. Like that's as accessible as it's been. So I mean, you gotta figure this out. What's the difference between recording a cast album, which you have to do for Mean Girls?

[51:51] Jayke Workman: Right.

[51:52] Barrett Wilbert Weed: People know you, and you did it for Heathers too. Like people know you in those roles because of those.

[51:59] Jayke Workman: Right.

[52:00] Barrett Wilbert Weed: So what is the difference then between recording the video? It makes no sense to me.

[52:04] Jayke Workman: I totally agree.

[52:06] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I didn't even think about that correlation of like it's the same thing.

[52:10] Jayke Workman: Yeah, the access to you.

[52:12] Barrett Wilbert Weed: It's the same thing, and I, I, I know there's like a lot of there's a lot of fear in the atmosphere about like what is the future of commercial theater, especially in New York? What's the future of Broadway? And I'm like, okay, well, we are in control of that.

[52:27] Jayke Workman: Correct.

[52:28] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Please start filming your shows and putting them out.

[52:31] Jayke Workman: Ding ding.

[52:32] Barrett Wilbert Weed: People want to see it.

[52:33] Jayke Workman: Absolutely.

[52:34] Barrett Wilbert Weed: People are willing to pay to see it.

[52:37] Jayke Workman: Well.

[52:37] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Just not four hundred dollars.

[52:39] Jayke Workman: Just not that much.

[52:41] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Before I let you go. What's happening?

[52:43] Jayke Workman: I do. There's been a shift.

[52:46] Barrett Wilbert Weed: There's been a shift in the air.

[52:47] Jayke Workman: There's a shift in the room, darling.

[52:50] Barrett Wilbert Weed: There's a breeze.

[52:55] Jayke Workman: Oh yes.

[52:57] Barrett Wilbert Weed: It's not trivia.

[53:00] Jayke Workman: Like the actor's studio.

[53:02] Barrett Wilbert Weed: It's very that this pod is the actor's studio.

[53:04] Jayke Workman: Very James Lipton. Alright. Are you ready? Short.

[53:06] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Son time or Andrew Lloyd Weber?

[53:09] Jayke Workman: Sound time.

[53:10] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Sweatpants or jeans?

[53:11] Jayke Workman: Sweatpants.

[53:12] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Do you have a favorite musical?

[53:15] Jayke Workman: I think I just answered my question.

[53:17] Barrett Wilbert Weed: No. Do you have a least favorite musical?

[53:20] Jayke Workman: No.

[53:21] Barrett Wilbert Weed: You a hard no.

[53:23] Jayke Workman: A hard no.

[53:24] Barrett Wilbert Weed: A hard no. No least favorite musical. They're all bad.

[53:27] Jayke Workman: They are.

[53:29] Barrett Wilbert Weed: They all have merit.

[53:31] Jayke Workman: I love that.

[53:32] Barrett Wilbert Weed: You can find something to enjoy about any of them.

[53:35] Jayke Workman: Love that.

[53:36] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Do you would you ever like to do a Broadway play?

[53:39] Jayke Workman: Absolutely 100% dying to.

[53:41] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Some begging. Begging on a daily basis, please.

[53:47] Jayke Workman: Just let me talk.

[53:48] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Don't make me sing. Just let me talk.

[53:50] Jayke Workman: Talk.

[53:52] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Um, are you a morning person or a night owl?

[53:55] Jayke Workman: Both.

[53:56] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Ah, so you're wise and you have worms.

[53:58] Jayke Workman: I'm not a good sleeper, yeah.

[53:59] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Okay. I'm up all the time. Unless I've taken an edible, and then I'll be out for like 15 hours.

[54:05] Jayke Workman: Absolutely. Goodbye. See you in two days.

[54:07] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Um, what is the craziest thing a director has ever asked you to do?

[54:18] Jayke Workman: You gotta give me a category.

[54:19] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Well, I would say m either. Craziest thing they've ever said to me, or craziest thing they've ever asked me to do.

[54:27] Jayke Workman: Well, can you share a crazy thing that someone said to you on the pod?

[54:32] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Okay. This was in an audition room, and this was recent. And a director said to me, okay, um, Barrett, just remember that for theater, with this, like with the hands and the face, the eyebrows up, for theater, speaking is just as athletic as singing.

[54:53] Jayke Workman: I just looked at them and I was like, can you not hear? Are you having a hard time hearing me? Kind of I'm a low talker. Did you want me to because we're recording, we're taping it? Did you want me to speak loudly so that the tape can pick it up? Say lo speak louder. You can just tell me that.

[55:10] Barrett Wilbert Weed: That is, I'm sure there are crazier things, but that was the one as athletic as that was the one that made me homicidal. I was like, I have to get out of this room right now.

[55:19] Jayke Workman: Okay, golden age or contemporary?

[55:22] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Contemporary.

[55:23] Jayke Workman: Do you have a favorite role you've ever played?

[55:26] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I mean, I love them all. I mean, I think it'll always be Veronica.

[55:33] Jayke Workman: Veronica.

[55:33] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Hell yeah. That show was like my first love, like falling in love for the first time. Love.

[55:39] Jayke Workman: Coffee or tea.

[55:41] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Oh, darling, I'd love to say tea, but it has to be coffee.

[55:45] Jayke Workman: I don't fancy a couple.

[55:47] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I won't. I want caffeine. I want the v. I want the drugs right into my blood suit.

[55:53] Jayke Workman: Intra Venus.

[55:55] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Um, do you have a favorite costume you've ever worn?

[55:59] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Oh, yeah, that little blue suit. Little blue suit baby. I will say shockingly comfortable. I lived for the Janice costume.

[56:07] Jayke Workman: Thank you.

[56:08] Barrett Wilbert Weed: It was pretty fierce. Thank you. I get to wear a lot of shorts in my shows. I guess because I went that's what I wear to rehearsal, and so they put me in shorts. Love it. They said the Janice wig, that's my favorite wig.

[56:20] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[56:20] Barrett Wilbert Weed: That was pretty fierce. That was unreal. I remember when I put the I everybody had their costumes getting their costumes on for the first time. And I was the last one down because they were working on my they couldn't figure out how dark they wanted to do my makeup, so they were big finishing my plot and they were like, well just do it really heavy for today. So it took a little bit longer than I was the last one to come down. And it like I remember people were like, I literally did not recognize you.

[56:41] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[56:42] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I was like, yeah, I didn't recognize me either. I feel like I look I feel like I look really cute. Like a quarter of the head shaved, like rocker chick hair. It was so fierce. It's also just like, what 17-year-old is allowed to look that good? Nobody looks that good in high school.

[57:00] Jayke Workman: Well, and like what parent is like, this is a good one. Go to go to school.

[57:04] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah, no parents. No. No parents. It didn't seem like Janice or Damien had parents at home.

[57:10] Jayke Workman: They were living by they were emancipated.

[57:13] Barrett Wilbert Weed: They were living by themselves. Um, have you ever missed an entrance?

[57:18] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Oh, I'm sure. Oh, I uh one oh I'm sure. I can't think of any one specific probably every show I've ever been in. I'm sure. Every single one. I just I just don't like to come on stage. So hundred percent. Love it. Oh, I'm not I'm the worst. I'm never in my light. There was a time where I forgot to put my microphone on during Bear.

[57:43] Jayke Workman: That's happened to me.

[57:44] Barrett Wilbert Weed: I'm all over the place. I'm in my own little world.

[57:48] Jayke Workman: Oh little do you have any pre-show rituals?

[57:57] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Um, I guess not. I can't think of anything. Uh, I try to get I try to get there early. I think that's really all it is.

[58:04] Jayke Workman: I do too.

[58:04] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Try to get there early, try to put my phone away.

[58:11] Jayke Workman: Ah.

[58:12] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Which is hard. The longer you get into a run, the harder it is to not be on your phone.

[58:18] Jayke Workman: The candy crush.

[58:19] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Absolutely. Yes. And Barrett, my last question for you is what is one thing you would tell younger Barrett?

[58:28] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Younger me, um. I think every just everybody likes you, don't worry about it. It's not worth your it's not your business to worry about. You can't control if people are gonna like you or not. Period. You can just control if you like you or not. So worry about that.

[58:48] Jayke Workman: Love that.

[58:48] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Don't you think?

[58:49] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[58:50] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Love. Days when I don't like myself very much. I'm very concerned about what everybody else thinks of me.

[58:58] Jayke Workman: And you're like, that's not the same.

[59:00] Barrett Wilbert Weed: That's not the same. They're not the same.

[59:02] Jayke Workman: Yeah, the outside, um, outside validation is um, although it's very tempting, it's definitely uh it's a cheap high.

[59:12] Barrett Wilbert Weed: It doesn't work.

[59:15] Jayke Workman: Yeah, only the like the unconditional positive self-regard that you cultivate for yourself will actually make you happy.

[59:25] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And that's true for performing as well. Performing is not gonna make you it's not gonna make you happy. The validation that people give you from that.

[59:34] Jayke Workman: Damn.

[59:34] Barrett Wilbert Weed: You know, have you ever seen All About Eve?

[59:37] Jayke Workman: Of course.

[59:38] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Who are you talking to?

[59:40] Jayke Workman: Talking to.

[59:41] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Remember when she just like lights around nobody's home and she's like, oh, that love, the waves of love rolling over the audience, like through the theater, and you're like, that impression is so good. You're just like, if you're me, you're sitting there being like, oh yeah, you're crazy.

[59:55] Jayke Workman: Because that's not love.

[59:56] Barrett Wilbert Weed: She's all about I do. She is a all Eve is all about Eve. Let me tell you.

[1:00:03] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, well, Barrett. Thank you so much for being on the pod.

[1:00:08] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Thank you for having me.

[1:00:09] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Freaking ridiculous. I just adore you. Would you tell the listeners where they can find you on social media so they can keep up?

[1:00:15] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Sure. Um, mom got on TikTok. Period. Yes. I've have a gram total of I think like six videos. So you're welcome. Good news. Just kidding. I'm probably not very good at it, but I'm on TikTok. I'm on Instagram. I think Instagram is Barrett Wilbert Weed. I think TikTok is Barrett W Weed.

[1:00:35] Jayke Workman: Fabulous.

[1:00:36] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Because somebody took Barrett Wilbert Weed.

[1:00:40] Jayke Workman: Oh, yeah.

[1:00:40] Barrett Wilbert Weed: If you have it, if you're listening to this and you have Barrett Wilbert Weed, I would love to get it back and I'll give you a gift. I'll give you a gift. I'm not gonna tell you what it is. No, I'm not gonna tell you. It'll be nice. It'll be I mean, Pottery Barn Teen.

[1:00:56] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[1:00:59] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Okay. Fun fact, I do actually own a lot of things from PBT. They have good stuff.

[1:01:04] Jayke Workman: They do.

[1:01:05] Barrett Wilbert Weed: And it's a lot less expensive than Pottery Barn regular.

[1:01:07] Jayke Workman: Anthropology home.

[1:01:09] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Um, she's fancy.

[1:01:11] Jayke Workman: She's bougie.

[1:01:13] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Yeah.

[1:01:13] Jayke Workman: Do you have anything Anthro home in here?

[1:01:15] Barrett Wilbert Weed: No.

[1:01:15] Jayke Workman: Are you kidding me?

[1:01:17] Barrett Wilbert Weed: My body just shriveled up.

[1:01:18] Jayke Workman: I was like, oh my god.

[1:01:20] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Oh my god.

[1:01:24] Jayke Workman: Thank you for having me. This has been a delight.

[1:01:25] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Charmed, I'm sure.

[1:01:27] Jayke Workman: Charmed, I'm sure. Title of episode.

[1:01:32] Jayke Workman: You guys, that's it for another episode of Oh My Pod, you guys. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe anywhere you listen to the pod.

[1:01:39] Jayke Workman: And you can follow the show on Instagram at oh my pod, you guys. Thank you so much for listening. Talk soon. Bye.

[1:01:47] Barrett Wilbert Weed: Oh my god.

[1:01:48] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, you guys.