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[0:00] Jayke Workman: And just like that, I am back standing by for Merry Sunshine in Chicago on Broadway.

[0:07] Jayke Workman: Let's paint the town, Beachie's.

[0:13] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, did you hear?

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

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

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

[0:25] Jayke Workman: Oh my god!

[0:26] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, you guys!

[0:29] 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.

[0:36] Jayke Workman: You guys, this is a crazy kooky week for me because by the time this episode comes out, I will have already been standing by for the role of Mary Sunshine in Chicago on Broadway for five performances.

[0:48] Jayke Workman: If you listen to the pod, you already know how special this show is to me, but it truly has become the gift that just keeps on giving because I am often called back in for little stints here and there to either play the role of Mary or to stand by for the role, and I just I love getting the opportunity to revisit the Ambassador, revisit all of these beautiful people in this amazing cast, and get to help put on this show.

[1:12] Jayke Workman: Broadway is truly wild, and I am just honored to be able to say that I get to have a tiny part in it.

[1:19] Jayke Workman: And special shout out to all of my amazing friends at the Ambassador Theater.

[1:23] Jayke Workman: Everyone from the front of house to the crew to the wardrobe, everybody just welcomes me back so warmly and with open arms.

[1:29] Jayke Workman: So thank you. I love you all.

[1:32] Jayke Workman: And with that, you guys, let's dive right into this week's Broadway World recap.

[1:36] Jayke Workman: Brought to you by my amazing friends at Broadwayworld.com.

[1:40] Jayke Workman: Y'all, there have been some crazy kooky updates in the world of Broadway in the last week.

[1:44] Jayke Workman: We have so much to talk about.

[1:46] Jayke Workman: First, you guys, we got the announcement that Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, Starlight Express, will return to London in 2024.

[1:56] Jayke Workman: And if you don't know this show, let me just say, it is about trains.

[2:02] Jayke Workman: And when I say that, I mean individual actors playing individual trains on roller skates.

[2:10] Jayke Workman: Now, one might ask, is this a musical we need?

[2:14] Jayke Workman: And to that I say, no.

[2:17] Jayke Workman: However, if someone asked me if I wanted to be in the West End revival of Starlight Express on roller skates playing a choo-choo train, the answer is a resounding yes.

[2:28] Jayke Workman: I am sincerely intrigued by this announcement, but you know what? I'm just gonna roll with it because Stranger Things have happened, and I am open to a Rollerskatey musical, okay?

[2:40] Jayke Workman: Moving right along to a very pressing matter, you guys.

[2:46] Jayke Workman: We just got the announcement that Carrie Butler and Robin Herder are going to lead the industry readings of the new Smash musical.

[2:56] Jayke Workman: Okay, everyone, please check in on your homosexual friends because we need help.

[3:03] Jayke Workman: You guys, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I mean, this show has been so anticipated for so long, and we are in for a freaking roller coaster because Robin Herder is starring as Ivy.

[3:16] Jayke Workman: I'm dead. And then Carrie Butler is gonna play Karen.

[3:20] Jayke Workman: What? This is like so left field, but I am so about it. What is going on?

[3:25] Jayke Workman: Also, it's being directed by Susan Strowman. It's also gonna star Alex Brightman and Krista Rodriguez as the married composer lyricist duo.

[3:35] Jayke Workman: Vanessa Williams is starring as the show's producer.

[3:39] Jayke Workman: Brooks Ashmankis and Bonnie Milliken are playing the directors.

[3:44] Jayke Workman: I what on earth? I smell a Tony Award.

[3:51] Jayke Workman: Wow, I am on one today. Needless to say, this is the announcement that my little gay heart needed today, and I am over the moon.

[3:58] Jayke Workman: Next, you guys, Broadway World.com shared a wonderful video of Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells taking their very first bows in Gutenberg the musical.

[4:08] Jayke Workman: I am so excited to see the show. Not just because my wonderful friend Sam Hartley is standing by for Andrew Rannells, but they have already been visited by Broadway celebs like Cynthia Erivo.

[4:22] Jayke Workman: I have a sneaking suspicion that this show is gonna be visited by quite a few Broadway stars to make their cute little cameos as the producer in the show.

[4:33] Jayke Workman: I cannot wait. And this video is so sweet. You guys check it out on Broadwayworld.com.

[4:37] Jayke Workman: And lastly, you guys, we got the announcement that the Heart of Rock and Roll is gonna open on Broadway in the 2024 season.

[4:45] Jayke Workman: This is a new jukebox musical inspired by the music of Huey Lewis and the News, and it actually had a previous run in 2018 at San Diego's Old Globe Theater, which actually starred Matt Doyle and Katie Rose Clark.

[4:58] Jayke Workman: Matt Doyle is currently starring in Sinatra, the new show, with Anna Via Fanyer, Friend of the Pod in London, so he's definitely got his hands full, and I'm not sure if he will return to Broadway with this show or if he's gonna focus more on Sinatra, but I'm very excited about the potential of this show, and I think that it could be amazing.

[5:15] Jayke Workman: I mean, come on, it's Huey Lewis and the News. They are set to start rehearsals in April, so you guys, we will just have to stay tuned and get to know the heart of rock and roll.

[5:25] Jayke Workman: And you guys, this has been the BroadwayWorld Recap.

[5:29] Jayke Workman: Oh my pod, you guys. I am so excited to welcome my next guest to the show.

[5:34] Jayke Workman: He is no stranger to the Broadway stage. He's performed on countless TV and film spots, and he is also a TikTok sensation with over two million followers on TikTok.

[5:46] Jayke Workman: Please welcome the lovely Ian Paget.

[5:50] Ian Paget: Welcome!

[5:51] Jayke Workman: Thank you.

[5:52] Ian Paget: Hello.

[5:52] Ian Paget: Hi.

[5:56] Ian Paget: Is it coming through my AirPods?

[5:57] Ian Paget: Um hi, thanks for having me.

[5:59] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, thank you for being here. Can you tell us where you're calling from?

[6:03] Ian Paget: Yes, I'm calling from, well, right now, uh, not so sunny Los Angeles, California.

[6:09] Jayke Workman: Boo, it's not so sunny New York here.

[6:11] Ian Paget: Really?

[6:12] Jayke Workman: Yes, it's apparently just gross everywhere.

[6:15] Ian Paget: Yeah, I saw it was giving rain in all the fashion recosts.

[6:20] Ian Paget: Like seeing Jordan Roth like cover himself and his like crazy outfits.

[6:25] Jayke Workman: A coutraman, of course.

[6:27] Ian Paget: Uh-huh.

[6:28] Jayke Workman: Well, thank you so much for being here. I actually just got back from LA and I hoped that I could see you in person, but I'm so glad that we got to do this OBA video at least.

[6:37] Ian Paget: Wait, and you were did you come just for Beyonce?

[6:40] Jayke Workman: Darling, yes, I did.

[6:42] Jayke Workman: Baby, I'm flying to Seattle on Wednesday to see her for the third time.

[6:45] Ian Paget: Come on.

[6:46] Jayke Workman: Like And you know what's so funny? I uh it's not like this isn't like me, but I saw the concert. I knew I was prepped for that first time. I was like, I'm gonna go see her September 1st show. And then it happened, and it really is like I'm speechless, but like it's it's what I would imagine having seen Michael Jackson felt like where you're in the presence of of of super stardom, and I want to see it as much as I can, and I'm in a place in my life where I literally am like I'm going to give myself that because she's not gonna do this all the time, and this album saved my life this year.

[7:23] Jayke Workman: Like it I just you know, and so I went to the birthday, and that was so fun to be there for that energy, but I was also like, I need to see, I need to see the thighs jiggling in front of me, like super close.

[7:35] Ian Paget: So I'm going to be in Club Renaissance on Thursday.

[7:38] Jayke Workman: Oh my god. Well, I expect a full report of those thighs clapping.

[7:45] Ian Paget: I can't wait.

[7:46] Ian Paget: I can't wait.

[7:47] Jayke Workman: Wow, it's incredible. I was also at the birthday show, and it was it's such a like I mean, people talk about like monoculture and like you know, like the unifiers of like pop culture and music and everything, but like Beyonce is one that you like it's just indisputable, like you just can't argue the sheer talent.

[8:02] Ian Paget: The sheer talent, and I didn't realize because I'm not like a crazy stan for anyone per se.

[8:08] Ian Paget: Maybe like Whitney and Barbara, like these people that I grew up listening to in a way that I'm just like you have to, you know, whatever. Celine, Ella Fitzgerald, like there are those divas, right?

[8:18] Ian Paget: And but but with Bay, I like I I've never just been like, oh, that album dropped, I had to maybe drunk in love album.

[8:26] Ian Paget: Like that album, that was that was a moment for me. Self-drunk.

[8:29] Ian Paget: But like, yes, you know, and they I had never seen her live, and so I was like, oh, like, yeah, I've never seen her live.

[8:37] Jayke Workman: Oh my god.

[8:39] Ian Paget: I know I feel like I was it's so funny that to go from seeing her the one time on September 1st to literally be obsessed with just her, and it's this moment, it's her, it's blue.

[8:50] Ian Paget: I just love everything she represents, and I it hit me. I was like, oh, when the documentary for Coachella came out, I remembered being very affected by that.

[8:58] Ian Paget: Like she deeply deeply like motivated me. It was so inspiring to watch like this class of professionalism, and just that she decided to show it and document it, and like the whole I'm gonna take less money from Coachella, but I'm gonna make more money because I own all my like that whole thing.

[9:15] Ian Paget: Like, I would I get goosebumps sticky but it because I just she's she's such a like she's just a motivating, kind of inspiring woman to me now.

[9:24] Ian Paget: It has always been, and I just realized after seeing it. So anyway, I'm I mean I'm feeling very that.

[9:30] Ian Paget: I feel like this is the first time she's always been an advocate for the queer community.

[9:35] Ian Paget: But this this album and this tour specifically are so like by and for the queers.

[9:42] Ian Paget: Like she is featuring all of these like queer trans, non-binary people of color, like it the the whole like boguing section of the concert was just fucking insane.

[9:51] Jayke Workman: I yeah, it's everything.

[9:52] Ian Paget: I mean, she it's everything.

[9:53] Ian Paget: I guess I should admit I am kind of a Beyoncé stan.

[9:56] Ian Paget: I do have tattoos for her, but not in the way that like you know, uh I don't want to say anything bad about Swifties, but not in like that type of obsession, but you know what I mean?

[10:07] Ian Paget: It's that unifier, unifier for everybody.

[10:10] Jayke Workman: Yeah, we we I the Swifty thing, I like I 1989, that album I like really messed with, like I was it came out and I was like, I love all these tracks, but I've never again, or like we belong together.

[10:22] Jayke Workman: There are these like little like moments where Taylor's obviously been in our life and in my life, but my thing is like grown gay men who are crazy Swifties.

[10:34] Ian Paget: That that to me, like doesn't make sense.

[10:37] Jayke Workman: No, I I that I I I but it's not a read, it's not going like you shouldn't be.

[10:42] Jayke Workman: It's like oh no, no, no. It's just I have genuine I would sit down and have them on my podcast, and I would want to understand explain like it's very that I I would honestly in like some vein, I would like say it's on par with Disney adult in the like this saved me.

[11:02] Jayke Workman: I my my inner child is embraced here, like very much.

[11:06] Ian Paget: And on the one hand, on the one hand, like even after I said what I said and you started talking, I the thought was, but it's adorable.

[11:12] Ian Paget: It on the like it's it's like literally seek whatever it is that brings you joy, and if it has anything to do with your inner child, baby, go do that.

[11:22] Jayke Workman: Like I'm over here trying to play Ariel every time I'm in the water.

[11:25] Ian Paget: So like I am not one to judge. You know what I mean?

[11:27] Jayke Workman: You are playing mermaids, darling.

[11:29] Ian Paget: Yeah.

[11:29] Ian Paget: I think for me, it's like, okay, you can be a Swifty, but like, have you listened to this album?

[11:33] Ian Paget: Like, you need to listen to Renaissance though.

[11:35] Jayke Workman: Like, like, just add, add to the cup.

[11:38] Ian Paget: You know what I mean?

[11:39] Jayke Workman: Correct, correct.

[11:41] Jayke Workman: Well, I mean, we could talk about Beyonce all day, but I am so excited to have you here and to ask you about your like experience as a Broadway performer and sort of the shift from that to this sort of like sensational internet takeover with a platform as big as you have on TikTok.

[12:00] Jayke Workman: I mean, you your journey, I believe, started as a as a Broadway performer. You went to school in New York?

[12:06] Ian Paget: Yeah, I went to school in New York and went to Marymount, Manhattan on the Upper East Side.

[12:10] Ian Paget: Um, it's a small liberal arts college that uh a couple of people we all know are from.

[12:14] Ian Paget: Adrian Warren went there with me.

[12:16] Ian Paget: Uh Annaleigh Ashford also graduated from there.

[12:19] Ian Paget: Um, I guess I shouldn't say like little liberal arts college anymore, because like there are some fantastic people who have come out of there.

[12:24] Ian Paget: Um, but it is small in comparison to like an NYU, or you know, it's not one of those giant programs.

[12:31] Ian Paget: Um and yeah, and I graduated and I I was lucky enough to work in New York on Broadway, and then all of a sudden, you know, I did that for an amount of time.

[12:41] Ian Paget: I was in a couple flops, but I was also in a long running Mamma Mia moment.

[12:47] Ian Paget: Yeah, that was like my Broadway college, um, is what I call it.

[12:50] Ian Paget: Um but yeah, and then after that, you know, I made my way through through like dancing and doing commercial stuff and and movies, blah, blah, blah.

[12:58] Ian Paget: And like I had decided to want to try LA out, and like right before I had like made that jump, COVID happened, and then COVID changed my life because I was in a relationship with Chris, and this whole TikTok thing accidentally just kind of happened, and all of a sudden we amassed, like I have over two million on my on my account, but everything we were doing together was all on his, so like we really had amassed like almost six million together in this way, and it like to even say that is still kind of in insane and ridiculous.

[13:36] Ian Paget: Um and it was just this weird warp hole because so many people were being affected by the pandemic, and there was you know, it was it just was so bizarre to be weirdly doing well or thriving or like creating this like new life when people were literally getting sick and and and there was so much death, like it just was this weird chasm of or of a good thing, but also during a time of like in intense like fear, you know.

[14:08] Ian Paget: Sure, yeah. Anyway, but I think it's like I would also say, like, from a viewer's perspective, it was I mean, we needed it. I think TikTok just happened to fall into the exact correct time frame as like a platform because yeah, we hadn't seen anything like that in you know in the world of social media for a long time. And then of course, when the world shut down, that's immediately what we turned to. And you guys were able to I mean, not distract necessarily, but you offered such like happiness and joy in a time where like we really needed it. And so I think that is part of why people connect so like lovingly to you and continue to follow you and enjoy your you know creative content and everything, because it came out of a dark time and you still maintained that like level of levity and joy for people, which is so wonderful.

[15:03] Jayke Workman: Thanks, thanks.

[15:04] Ian Paget: Yeah. I sometimes I'll like the videos pop up on my feed sometimes. It's like ridiculous, it's bizarre. Um, or someone will send something and I'll look back and I'm like, wow, like we were having some fun. It was like such a fun time, you know what I mean? Um and social media and I have this weird love-hate relationship because it can suck you in in kind of a not a healthy way, and so to look back and to at least be like, oh my god, like the making of that brings up a nice fond memory is great. Like I love that that's what pops up when I look back.

[15:40] Jayke Workman: Totally. Well, I want to hear more about your experience living and working in New York because I feel like there has been a huge shift. I mean, not to say you're older than me, but there has been a huge shift in the last even you know, ten years of what it means to produce a Broadway show, um, to perform in a long running show, like Mama Mia, how you mentioned. And then, you know, I've talked a lot about on the podcast about like what it means to be in sort of like a quote unquote flop, because many people on the pod have been like, I booked this show, I turned down another show to do it, and we ran for seven performances. Like, yeah, what is it like to sort of learn the ropes of Broadway when you are like fresh out of college, hit the ground running in New York City?

[16:29] Ian Paget: I mean, my experience was really kind of um I wouldn't say like silver spoonie, but I was really lucky that literally within you know, I graduated and I had I already knew I was doing the um the European tour of West Side Story and I was gonna go play A-Rab. And that was just so nice to know that right like a month after graduating, I was off to go do work with an amazing group of people. And when I was there, then you find out you're like, hey, Mama Mia Broadway is offering you a contract. And I remember just being like, what? Like, this is wild and crazy, and everything just kind of fell in this truly beautiful way. And what I learned in those two years of being in a long running show will stay with me forever. I learned kind of endurance and just keeping up a show, even if you're even if you've been there forever, you know what I mean?

[17:20] Jayke Workman: Right.

[17:21] Ian Paget: Um, and that that in and of itself is a discipline um that not everyone gets to learn because most shows, if you are lucky, they run a good amount of time. I don't know if they're running like 15 years anymore. I mean, unless you're in Wicked now, but like um then I got tired of it though. Cause then you're like, oh, like I know what this is. I want more. And so there I remembered I was auditioning and I felt at least at the time that I needed to actually like leave the show because energetically that declaration I thought was gonna help um like actually get me a job. Like that, like you know, sometimes yeah, and like when you're in I felt like because people knew I was in the show. I don't know, this is this is literally my making up in my mind, but like I thought that because people knew, and they do casting knows like where you're at.

They give you leeway because you've got two shows that day, so like we'll put you early for your callback. So there's this known way that like when you're on the boards, people know. And I thought, like, well, I don't want to be associated with Mamma Mia, or like that they know that I like well, he's good. I wanted to be like, oh, he yeah, exactly. Like, yeah, to me, that was a narrative, and so I was like, Oh, let me, I'm gonna leave this show, and so that and just you know, so that way when I go in, it's like I really want this or I really need this, and um, and I auditioned for like Leap of Faith. I had I was living in LA, and then like I got it, and it was my first original Broadway cast, and they offered me swing and dance captain, and I was like, Yes, I'll do it.

It was a great, great show. Um, Sergio Trujillo, who was it was choreographing Chris Ashley directing, like it was a dream to be getting the it was amazing, you know. Um, and that was one of my first shows that like I learned what it's like to be a part of something that maybe won't stay open.

[19:12] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[19:12] Ian Paget: Um, and it was it was in the same season of Newsies and I forget what else was playing, but like there were other things that opened that you knew were gonna last for a really long time. And I remembered always feeling a little jealous or envious of that cast or those people who knew that they were gonna have that job for a while and like job security was like something I was wanting um but then we we like opened and we closed like I think I think we did like nine performances like 10 like it was so so short and I still you know I was still like loving and happy I was happy to have had the experience and then it just meant like okay so now I need another job you know what I mean like it's almost like it's almost like making a movie in that you work you work you work you present it and you're just like okay we did 10 presentations on Broadway a lot of people lost some money and it didn't quote unquote do well but like now it's on my resume I will always have that experience.

I'm close with a lot of those people still um and I in that moment in my life I did really want like a bunch of different experiences. Like it closed and I I remembered you know that next day I was sad and I was nervous because you're like okay now work, money like I need a new job but then that's what was so exciting about auditioning for new work is that you're like oh I'm I'm I'm available for it. I can I I literally like could do a new show and I did and I don't know it just it was it's one of the like things that I miss about being a little younger is that like you at least I was very good about like not being too scared about not being um like employed. I always knew I was like I will fill my time and something will come into my life, um, and there'll always be something there, like meant for me.

And there and there was Soul Doctor came, which was like the most random show ever. Um, but it was that circle in the square, and it was another great cast, and and I got to work with like I know I'm jumping around here, but there are these things about the shows that mean a lot to me because I worked with a choreographer that I'd always wanted to work with who ended up he his name was Benoit Swan, um, and he uh was a choreographer for um Cedar Lake Ensemble, and I grew up very, very heavy dance as well as doing theater and acting because it's my dad's in the business. So I've been around this my whole life, but like dance was super heavy for me, and I couldn't believe that all of a sudden at the intersection of Broadway I was getting someone who I would because I wasn't gonna try to be in Cedar Lake dance ensemble or like be a male principal ballet dancer anymore. Commercial dancer, yeah.

[21:53] Jayke Workman: Yeah, and so all of a sudden, like he's popping up in my world, and I'm able to work with him, but I get to still do what I love, which is sing and act, and we're doing this thing on Broadway, and and then even you know, Leap of Faith, I got to do an original Broadway cast and be a dance captain for the first time and learn that like uh I don't know that I really ever want to do that or swing, but the cast itself, like Leslie Odom Jr., Keisha Lewis Evans, who I grew up listening to as Osaka and in Once on This Island, like there was just so many moments of my life that and Alan being in the room with Alan Mencken, who's like talking to me about which one of his is you know his favorite scores, like all of those things are what I remember and keep with me that trump the sentence I've been in flops, but it's also like yeah, I've been in flops, but I have a rich history that has stayed with me.

[22:42] Jayke Workman: Um and has has made it extremely, extremely special. I don't know if that answers the question you asked.

[22:50] Ian Paget: I know it totally does. I think it's so exciting and refreshing to hear people uh to hear you talk about you know what it means to be in a quote unquote flop because I sort of hate that like you know connotation that we have like assigned shows that don't run for a long time because there are so many factors that are completely out of our hands there's just nothing we could do to change it and so like you said I mean like you worked with those incredible people you made all of those beautiful memories you now get to say yes I have three Broadway credits. I I did that already you know like regardless of like if you did it for one night or a thousand nights like that's so cool.

[23:32] Ian Paget: I I I have sometimes felt that way and I it this probably sounds ridiculous because Chicago's like the longest running American musical and by the way congratulations on that like I remembered the journey of like because when I was seeing you on TikTok and then I then I remembered like did you get the show? Did TikTok kind of help you get the show in a way TikTok definitely uh put my name in in more rooms yes I had done the national tour before I see so I knew the brand I knew the producers and everything but um it it took COVID you know for it like I wouldn't have done the Broadway company if COVID didn't happen so similar like vain with the TikTok explosion and everything but um you know I have I've only ever gone in for weeks at a time two weeks here one week here I'm standing by for five performances so even though it is like my it has changed my life and I love everyone in that building I sometimes do feel a similar way of like, well, I did it now, like back to the drawing board, like you know, they it's a machine and they need me when they need me, and when they don't, I'm back on the street doing something else.

[24:43] Ian Paget: And y that is what I I will say, like it's not just all like you know, it's not a fairy tale. Broadway really is Broadway is hard, as everyone on Broadway says. Um and it and and that was another thing is that I learned I was like, oh, I it just became very apparent to me how much work gets put in, and especially if you're in the ensemble and you're trying to like make a name for yourself and you see more for yourself, you have to step away from the bubble because it's so easy. And listen, I'm a really good dancer, I can sing really well. Like, I'm pretty fierce, like I'm a good triple threat, and I know that about myself, but if unless you decide to kind of step away, you you kind of stay like um you're like a cog in someone else's wheel, and I want my own wheel, I want to make my own wheel, and and and stuff like that started becoming really apparent, especially when the pandemic hit, and I was taking a step away, and I realized I was like, wow, like there's something nice about being told what to do, things are taken care of for you, you know what the set schedule is about Broadway, and now you know, I'm in a place where like I get to decide what I want to do, and I don't really miss being um just like a hamster on someone else's wheel, right?

[26:04] Jayke Workman: You know what I mean?

[26:10] Ian Paget: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[26:11] Jayke Workman: Yeah, that's so real. Well, I am very excited to ask you about sort of your um your journey with commercial dance and and what that has looked like for you. But before I do that, you did mention um your dad, and I I do know that you were raised in the UK. And I would love to hear about sort of um how your upbringing has informed and molded you as uh a person, but also uh a performer and a creative.

[26:41] Ian Paget: Oh my god, um uh that's a great question. I am really I'm I'm I'm so thankful that my parents made some of the most random choices ever for their kids. Like I'm so happy my dad was like backpacking through Europe and like ended up just staying in London. Met my mom who was a diplomat and is from Honduras, and they had two kids, and they're like, we're gonna send them to Elisea down the street. So I went to a French school from till I was like 11 years old, and so that was like the official first language I like ever learned in school. I'm I'm speaking English because obviously we're in Britain, and then I'm speaking Spanish to my mom, and they're like, they're gonna take dance classes. Like my dad was just a very he's just a consummate like thespian, and he made us, he kept us busy. We swam Tuesdays, Thursdays, like we just we he I feel very um grateful that uh his love language to us was was providing those activities and things for us.

[27:41] Ian Paget: Like I had a very rich life in that sense. That as you grow up, you go, okay, I don't want to do this anymore, and you're like, eh, I just want to be a normal kid, and that that's super normal. Um but I literally wouldn't be doing what I'm doing if it wasn't for my dad at the obviously beginning of my life, like as a as a kid and a baby. But then when we moved to Miami, um I didn't want to, I just didn't want to dance. I I was I noticed my otherness, and I started to be aware at like that 12-year-old time, you know, you all of a sudden now we've all got as 12-year-olds like opinions and our personalities are forming, and you notice the sort of social um the way just the way groupings and clicking just you're like, oh, this is high school or middle school that turns into high school that turns into adulthood, which is just high school with a paycheck.

So like you're you're like learning all of those things, and I just wanted to be super normal. I didn't want any more attention. I already had a British accent that was like going away, and I was, you know, a flamboyant boy. Um, and so for a couple years, yeah, I was just like, I don't want to do anything. Um, I don't want to do anything that like like you know garners any more attention. And then totally exactly. And then all of a sudden, I think like after middle school, my dad he just he just never gave up. He like found this performing arts high school called New World School of the Arts, which is where I went, and he was like, I think you and Sasha should audition for this, and we were like huffing and puffing, and we didn't want to, but I'm so happy he made us do that because I got in, my sister didn't, and up until that point, my sister was kind of the golden child, she was just better at everything than me.

Like I was dancing and like singing, blah, blah, blah. But like I didn't really get good and start to care about it until high school. Um, and and I I got into the acting program at New World, and like halfway through the year, like someone found out I could sing, and so they were like, You should be in the musical theater program. And so like I moved into that program, and like that is where my love of dance again and love of like essentially like performing um came back, and it it really had to do with the environment. I was seeing people who were allowed to be themselves who were choosing to give you know ask for the attention they wanted and and and just like be um and so I'm where I am today because my dad was like you should ask in for this high school and that kind of changed the trajectory of like Ian being a normal boy and just trying to like fit in to you know discovering myself and and um yeah that school changed my life so wow anyway it's so all that to say that like my dad and having a family that like really supported all of that was huge was is the only reason I'm able to literally say I'm here right now.

[30:41] Jayke Workman: That's amazing that's so so wonderful to hear. And can I ask about was there a time sort of in your like middle school high school realm when your queerness came into play with um being a performer I mean I I know that I thought of myself as a performer um up until I sort of hit the like oh wait but I'm gay so I I have to hide that because I have to be masculine to play this role and I want to be seen as this so I can't have nails and you know what was that like for you?

[31:17] Ian Paget: I deep on the pod.

[31:22] Jayke Workman: Yeah we are getting deep.

[31:24] Ian Paget: I'm just thinking you know like for me I oh god I did a really good job at becoming really, really good at my art. So I knew I was like that. If I was going to because you're still trying to like still be chosen, there's always this feeling of like I need to feel accepted by the group I'm I'm I'm I'm in no matter what. And um I remembered I came out my freshman year at a party with my girlfriends who were in the musical theater program, and like they kind of like outed me. They were like Ian, and like it's it's it's okay if you're this and blah blah because I was kind of like not ready to say it yet, and you know, and and then I remembered at this party, I was like, okay, I guess I am, and I took it back the next day.

I kind of had like a vulnerability hangover, and I was like, no, no, that's I just said it so that you guys would leave me alone, whatever. Um, but that didn't really change anything that people already like thought about me. Um, and it didn't change like the way I was performing or anything like that. Like I've I've never felt like I had to kind of hide my Ianness because I wasn't, I don't know, like I wasn't someone who was like, I want to wear nails, or like I wanted to wear like it didn't go so far there. I was just in this like middle place of like I just want to perform, like, you know, so I didn't I didn't have to hide anything that was too that that was like um like an out an outwardly thing.

I was just like like a visual representation of yeah, yeah, but but then I think the way that I made myself um valuable to people around me or just uh just in my life was like I'm gonna get really good at dancing. I'm gonna get really good at singing, and I'm gonna um I'm going to like be the best at this thing so that I can prove to myself and to anyone who's ever like made fun of me or who you know like the the bullies or something like that. Like I don't know, I I guess subconsciously it's like this will protect me because as long as I have this, I can express myself and you're all gonna pay for it one day. You know what I mean?

[33:33] Jayke Workman: Totally totally. I don't know. That's such a good question. I've I've done a really good job at like trying to assert, but also like hot, you know, you're still hiding a little bit of yourself throughout all of that. I think it's that's always going on, and so now, you know, I I wished I could have grown up in in uh in the 2000s in middle school and 2000s because you're like, wow, the there's such a different way that we're accepting and uh like yeah, just accepting of uh um queer stories and like just your your queerness in general, you know?

[34:10] Ian Paget: Yeah, yeah. Well, you certainly did hone all of those skills and become a fantastic triple threat because you went on to do many a dance gig, and I would love to hear about not only the experience of doing something like Saturday Night Live, but what is the difference for you in terms of booking the job? I I've spoken to a lot of people about you know how they have different reps for theater versus TV film versus like voiceover, and I'm wondering has has the road to booking um like TV and film spots been different for you than it was when you were auditioning for something like Mamma Mia?

[34:53] Ian Paget: I um it ha it was a little different. Like I my kind of breakout into commercial dance kind of started because when I was in Mamma Mia, my dance teacher in Florida texted me and was like, hey, Mia Michaels, who was choreographing the Rock of Ages movie, is having auditions here in Florida. They're only hiring local, and so Angel, my teacher, was like, You should come down if you can, or something. I was like, I'm in a show, I can't do that. Blah, blah, blah. But then, like, by some grace of God, um, Mama Mia gave me like a personal day to go do that. And I went down and I auditioned, and Mia, we like I we have I have a history of just like we knew all know each other, and so she's known me since I was like younger, and it felt like a good fit.

And you're just like, Oh, I'm gonna go do this, I'm not even gonna like think twice about it. And then I got it, and I remember that was kind of the reason why I left Mama Mia. I was like, I'm gonna go make this movie. It's the first time I'm doing a feature film, and it's with Mia Michaels, and like you know, it was so you think you can dance heyday. Oh my god, yeah, it was fierce, it was fierce. And I remember just being like, ah, like you know, because I'm predominantly like a big ballet dancer, at least I was like growing up, and so to and I but and I always thought like the jazz dancers and people who grew up competing were just so much cooler than me, you know, and so to all of a sudden be like, Oh wow, I'm I'm in this grouping right now, and then you know, she ended up hiring like 10 dancers from LA, Tavaris Wilson.

Um, oh my god, Chris Judd, who used to be, I think married to J-Lo. Like, it was just this group of people that I had idolized for so long and revered, and like Brooke Lipton, who's danced for Britney, and like if you saw all these people and you followed Janet or Brittany, you would literally be like, I can't believe I'm working with you guys. It was amazing. Um, and so that so all of that to say, like, there was just this cool moment in time that I got to be a part of this movie, and that started a bit of a oh, maybe I could do this, and Tavaris Wilson, who has choreographed for Janet and became a dear friend after that, um, was like, you should move to LA. You're so good, and like I I think like there's a place for you.

Um, and because I didn't have a Broadway show to go back to, it was like, Oh, like let me go to so I had done like a I think I went and spent three months there, and I was taking class and I was just feeling out what that all felt like. And then I got to work with a bunch of other people, did some cool things here and there, but then I went back to New York and then I did Leap of Faith, but in the middle of that, all of a sudden, like I was doing SNL, and like certain things would just kind of pop into my um universe that I did really have to audition for, but then if I did audition for it, like some things I got, I you know, it just it really just depend depended on the creative team. Um and those were always so fun because I always I just love TV and film, like I love the idea of like making something on television.

It always felt like it's the ultimate thing you want to get to, and even in dance, you're like, this is so cool, like cameras everywhere, and and um yeah, I I started getting an itch for like, oh, I think I want to do this more than what Broadway is giving me, especially because different, you know, we didn't have the Netflix streaming situation that we have now, and you can make residual, and you're like, wow, I can make more money. You can make some money. Yeah, and that was huge. That like I was lucky enough to do certain things that when you're unemployed, and then all of a sudden the universe is like, oh, wait, here's that residual check that you pick up, and you're like, oh my god, like I, you know, it it was really helpful um to have that balance.

Um yeah, and I I love doing both things, I really do. There's some there's there's a different way that my soul is sped when I'm making theater because those projects live forever in a very different way. If that show maybe it doesn't do as well, but all of a sudden you're just thinking about like the original cast of Leap of Faith, or so like that book and that Bible is something that like maybe 20 years down the line you're still a part of because you're from the inception of that, you know what I mean? Of course, but like but then the razzle dazzle of TV film and working on set with SNL and and and Julianne Huff for um uh lip sync battle, like all of those cool things are also amazing, and and those live on television forever. So it's like I don't know, it's just really cool. It's it's it's I want to do both for the rest of my life, you know what I mean?

[39:34] Jayke Workman: I love that. I it's funny. Um I was talking to Barrett Weed about uh like the idea of recording shows because she made a really great point, which I kind of never thought about, but she was like, Why are so many people so up in arms about um recording Broadway shows? Like how it ruins the sanctity of the theater, and it's supposed to be You mean like as an audience member?

[39:59] Ian Paget: Yeah, yeah.

[39:59] Jayke Workman: Well, not necessarily like actually being in the audience, like using your phone, but like shooting a pro shot and like oh creating like a essentially like a recorded version of the shows, and how people argue like you know, it this is supposed to be ephemeral, it's supposed to be just fleeting, and it doesn't last. But like that's how that was like so many people's way into the world of theater was like I I wore that cat's VHS out. Oh my god. So I feel like it's so like it's funny that you know you're you're like, I I want to do both because I feel like there is a world where it's like kind of all the same almost. Like you could book a Broadway show, be in the original cast, and then it's they they film a pro shot.

So now not only does it live with you in your heart forever and that experience, but like you get to go back and watch it, which is so I think that's amazing. I wish I had footage. Are you kidding me? That's a great no, I I think that's a great idea. That because you know, your whole yeah, your whole family can watch it, not everyone's gonna come and be able to see the show that closed in six days anyway. Totally, but you're like, but here's what I made, and you can see it. And like, yeah, I get that. I I think like they should do that. That would be so funny. Behind like a paywall, which is like uh the I mean, you know, we could talk about that for hours too, of like the privilege of like even just being able to see a Broadway show, but like when you can pay $999 for a Disney Plus subscription instead of 400, 800, a thousand dollars a ticket to see Hamilton, that's a different experience.

[41:32] Ian Paget: And it reaches different people and it changes people's lives. So I don't know. Now I'm just rambling, but yeah, no, it's there's a fine line because then you do that and it's like you're giving it to the masses and you want everyone to see it, but then you may maybe there is you run the risk of losing out on, but we want you in the seats, you know what I mean?

[41:54] Jayke Workman: Yeah, and like, but I get both sides, and I wish there was a way to do it so that like well, it closed, so now we put it up so that like there's this knowledge of it out in the world or something, you know. I don't know. Um, but yeah, I see both sides to that for sure.

[42:12] Ian Paget: Totally, totally. So is like TV film acting, like commercial dance, is that something that you're still like actively pursuing in your career?

[42:23] Ian Paget: Yeah, it's definitely, you know, when people say like actively pursuing, it's something that if it sounded like a good fun idea, it's especially in dance, like with commercial dance stuff. Um I'm not pursuing it the same way I was. Like I, you know, auditions are not the same as they used to be. Now everything's a self-tape, and I am in a different place in my life, and most of my reps know that. And so even my dance reps, like they know we're just very specific about even what it is they're submitting me for or what they're bringing to the table to be like, hey, this is happening. Do you want to do it? Um, and I like that because then I get to see and go, you know what, right now I would love to do a VMA performance for this artist or whoever, you know what I mean? Like that sounds so fun.

[43:11] Ian Paget: Um and like because of the whole now being a content creator thing has popped into my head, my active pursuing of something is like, what can I make? And it took it took a while for me to even get to be able to say this, but I was just chatting about this over the weekend that like I'm in a really good place after the two years and just after like um the breakup that happened that like really like messed with me because it was just a lot, and and and now I'm in this place where I feel way more confident and I'm back to feeling like myself, and so my time is really kind of like, oh, what is it I want to make? What is the legacy that I want to leave? I have this amazing platform and this connection with people, like what is it I want people to remember me by?

And right now, consciously, that doesn't always have to do with is a show gonna hire me, what's a performance I can do. But like if there was a last minute call for like to be a dancer for Beyoncé, I the I'll go to that. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? Like I'm like, okay, like I will be does blue need a replacement, I'll replace blue, I'll put in for blue. Does blue need an assistant? Girl, I'll brush her hair. Literally, like, you know, there are moments like that that I would love to obviously like do and and and and have that fantasy moment. Like I've always wanted to dance for like a major artist and like if for a Janet, a Britney or a Beyoncé. Um, you know, so those that's something that like if that popped into my lap, I would absolutely jump at the opportunity to push myself and do that.

[44:53] Jayke Workman: Totally. I love that, and I think that's actually that's a really um sort of like healthy mindset to have surrounding it because you have created such um a beautiful career for yourself, not only as a performer, but as a as a creator, and um utilizing TikTok, Instagram, you know, all of these things that have just been sort of provided to us now, you know, you have taken these things and and run with them. Um, and I'm so excited to ask you. I um when when I first like reached out to you about doing a podcast, I had this idea of asking you about sort of I guess like the words like vulnerability and exposure came to mind because you have a very specific experience as someone who has literally two and a half million people looking at your content every single day.

[45:44] Jayke Workman: And there's a difference between being a performer, uh, you know, that that level of vulnerability and and performing for an audience of 1200 people, and how personal that can be. And I mean, you know, like doing things like Broadway Bears, where it's like, here's my ass, and whatever, and like we all look great, and we're doing this for a fun cause, and so like that's cute, but like the day in, day out level of like exposure and vulnerability. And I mean, you mentioned a little bit about like going through a breakup so publicly, like, has that been a formative experience for you? Like going from not having that level of exposure to just the world seeing your every move.

[46:25] Ian Paget: Um, yeah, it's it really it was like a a a life class that I I really I really wouldn't wish on anyone. I wouldn't want anyone to go through like what I experienced in order for them to kind of feel what it is I feel now. But um, I really do think that everything that happened as hard and as you know, like just it was rough, um as it all as all of that was like I do see it now as a gift because it kind of started this real real look at myself and like my who who am I when I'm when I'm not attached to someone else, who am I when I'm not attached to like COVID happened, it was like who am I without theater and this thing that I that was such a part of my identity, and then all of a sudden I was getting this attention for being part of a unit with someone, and then that ended, and it it it has been a gift because I'm on this like path of like self-discovery right now.

[47:34] Ian Paget: And it's you know, really nice to come back to the Ian that once was like pre-brought, like pre-breakup, all that stuff, but now with the experience I have, and that feels you know, you're like, oh, I really did, I walked through some mud there, and now I'm I'm and I survived it and I'm okay and and I'm better for it, and I feel um, you know, I feel like it happened the way it happened, and I wouldn't change it at all because it's just it is it is what happened, and I hope that moving forward the lessons that I have learned stay with me, and I'm you know, and and um and rather than pushing it away or or being scared of it, it's like okay, I have this thing right now, it's a gift to even still be here in the way that I am, and how can I, you know, uh share myself and still keep a sense of me and like a privacy, and that was another thing, is like you just I learned how just the sharing and over-sharing and and and finding that fine line and and um has been an interesting journey, and now I'm in a place, you know, where I'm like, okay, maybe it's not about like sharing your entire life, but maybe it's about sharing sections of your life that people can hopefully relate to.

[48:57] Ian Paget: Um and it's just and it's at you know, it's forcing me to be kind of creative and like what is the content I want I want to make? Like, and it it puts it it's put on producer, writer, hat in me more than ever. Yeah, and that just wasn't my that wasn't how I was when I was in the relationship with Chris like he was he's such the idea guy and he's amazing at being able to like take a moment and like make something out of it and um you know like I always joke that I was the Lucy and he was the Desi but like now that that show is is done it's like okay so but who you know it's it can't just be that like I am I am because this other person was this it's like who am I by myself because clearly you were there the whole time it wasn't like you were still you and you have created such a beautiful I mean I have followed your journey for like the entire time basically and I love seeing you like your most recent videos of like you doing the like um like psychiatrist like let me coach you through like let's yeah yeah that's and like oh my god it's so funny it took and it took it you know it took this year and just this figuring out to get to a place to feel like comfortable to assert that with them and to ask Michael that I knew he was in LA and like I was like we've never really talked and like we met once and we went to a dinner and you know like a big thing that was popping up for me this year was like oh everyone just loves Chris no one loves me like um we're all just rooting for him and he's just way more successful this isn't your bag like you know just so much of that kind of no one's gonna want to play with you at the in the sand line.

[50:47] Ian Paget: And so like just kind of shutting that that voice down and asking Michael, and he was so he said yes, and then my friend, you know, like there are some some other ones coming down the the pipeline that I think are gonna be really funny. Um, and it feels really nice to create with those people because it feels more like me. It's like, oh, like I'm making something that's like mine. This feels like exactly something I want to do. I want to talk to I love talking to people. I have a genuine curiosity about how it is they got to where they got or like where they are in their lives and and and being um someone they can open up to. I I love that. Like that's kind of a superpower of mine, and so I was like, how can I take that and make people laugh and have it be in you know, engaging in its in its way and and fun for me to do, you know.

[51:35] Ian Paget: So if it's fun for me, it doesn't really matter how it does. Obviously, you want something to like blow up, you're like, oh, I hope, but it's also just fun to be like this is fun for me, and I'm doing this thing with no pressure, you know what I mean?

[51:47] Jayke Workman: Exactly why I wanted to do this podcast was because I love hearing people's ideas and perspectives and thoughts on things, and I was like, I mean, I I've been so fortunate to get to partner with so many wonderful people and have guests like you on, but like I really was like, this is gonna be for my eight friends who just like probably already hear me fucking talk enough, but like I'm like you at least get to and and like enjoy an entertaining guest along with me.

[52:17] Ian Paget: Yeah, but yeah, yeah, yeah. I totally feel that.

[52:18] Jayke Workman: But I also would imagine that there is some level, I mean, you can call it whatever you want, like fame or celebrity, or just like you know, pe people knowing who you are, but like there must be the pressure of of you know, like being recognized in in Los Angeles or or New York, and like I mean, like, did you ever think that you would go to the Oscars?

[52:40] Ian Paget: Like, what the hell?

[52:43] Ian Paget: No, no, oh my god, that's such a gag. No, I I know, I know. It's like yeah, that that's that's what's so interesting about the whole moment is like these cool, amazing opportunities came from such a personal, tangled, complex like part part of my life that had to do with my relationship, and and it's just it's it's it is really wild.

[53:07] Ian Paget: Like it's it it'll make for a great book, let's put it that way. You know, but I I I didn't. I didn't imagine it to be the way it happened. Um but when it's happening, you're like, wow, like I remembered after that moment. I was like, I'm meant to be here. Like this is my this is my kind of I like this, you know what I mean? And I do well in those rooms. Like it's just I don't know if it's just because of my dad or whatever, but like I I just love I love that feeling.

[53:37] Ian Paget: Like I was really I had a moment of being gagged by that. It was amazing. And like, I don't know, it just it's it's those are cool moments, but those moments are also fleeting, and those moments live and and you know, they're they're they will come and go. And so like while that is like a big thing that made me happy and created some joy in that moment, like I have also felt the other side of that, which is like a loneliness in create sometimes creating and being with yourself in this path that no one else is really like with you on. You know, you're all you're you're just trying to make this thing for you, and it can feel um like isolating and and Los Angeles can make you feel a little bit more isolating or isolated, and you know, it's it's yeah, it's it's always a uh I don't know it's just like peaks and valleys you know what I mean totally I know it's just a balance like even even like just living this like bicostal life is always gonna be there's gonna be highs and lows ebbs and flows and yeah and sometimes I I don't I've I don't know if you've seen but like I'm very vocal about like my New York versus LA and like kind of uh just I'm like New York greater than LA um vibe and and and like learning about that and being like oh like yes you're here and you moved here but that doesn't mean anything you can be wherever you want like change the where you are to match the who you are and that kind of thing is like really important and and I is is something I'm like you know learning about um still and um there are moments where I can feel super productive here in LA and it can be this place that like this this grass that I water and if I'm watering I'm like oh I'm watering my grass here and so it doesn't matter that I'm in LA because I am watering whatever grass I'm standing in and I think for a while like I was escaping to New York because I did I just was you know you're I was scared to be here alone I wanted to remind myself like what reminded me of me like all these other things and so now I have this place where I'm like super productive I'm I wonder what I want to make I I it makes me want to be super creative because there's really nothing else to do.

[55:59] Ian Paget: That's that's like kind of the beauty, I guess, of LA is that there isn't that much to do, so you have more space for you to be intentional about what it is you want to make, and or just sit and enjoy the peace and enjoy the doing nothing, and then New York, you know, um, New York kind of like does some other like it it it uh it can itinerary your day for you.

[56:26] Jayke Workman: You can just walk out and all of a sudden a day is unraveling, and you don't really have to be the decider of that, you know.

[56:34] Ian Paget: That's very true, yes. Um, and sometimes I want to feel that, and sometimes I want to be over here, and I like the feeling of productivity, and if I'm feeling good about making something, this feels a this feels like a good place to do it. But then I then there are moments I'm like, oh, I want to go feel like a human again, and then just like now I need to I need to see humans and experience like life so that it helps feed into what it is I want to create later, you know.

[57:00] Jayke Workman: Totally, and I mean you touched on it a little bit, but like the game has changed in terms of auditions and what it means to you know be quote unquote in the room because everything's on tape. So regardless of if you live in Los Angeles or New York or Ohio, you can still be considered for any job at this point, which is yeah, refreshing, but also comes with its own, you know, crazy level of stress.

[57:23] Ian Paget: But yeah, it's it's it's be wherever you want to be, and I guarantee you, you know, just your audition, you'll be like, Oh, I'm feeling fierce today because I am where I want to be, I'm doing everything for me. And then when that audition, that's the other thing is like, and I want to tell this to anyone who's listening who's an aspiring actor who is who who maybe feels like they haven't had that thing yet for them, or they haven't hit it in the way, or they're still seeking or pursuing. Um live your life as much as you can.

[57:57] Because I guarantee you, when something pops up, like you want to feel like you have a sort of sexy indifference, as Jason Bateman calls it, um to the thing you're doing because you come your your life, like find things that you are fine-tuning every day that have nothing to do with the job you're trying to get. So that when something pops up, you're like, oh, oh yeah, oh yeah, that thing that I love to do, that I haven't created a crazy resistance towards because I'm focused on other things, I'm making other things, I'm I'm cooking all the time, I'm playing piano, whatever it is is that thing for you.

[58:34] I build houses, you know, on my like downtime.

[58:38] Jayke Workman: Oh wow, an audition, and then it it it becomes uh a pleasant surprise, and you are not at like you said, the beck and call of an industry that isn't thinking about you the same way you're thinking about them.

[58:50] Ian Paget: Yep.

[58:52] Jayke Workman: So go start thinking about you and go do and make the things you want to make, and then if the industry comes a call in, you'll be like, oh, maybe maybe I'll take the call.

[59:04] Ian Paget: Maybe I'll take it. If if I have time.

[59:07] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[59:07] Ian Paget: Love beautifully said. Well, the time has come before I let you go, Sir Ian.

[59:14] Jayke Workman: Uh, to ask you a series of rapid fire musical theater questions. This is not trivia, these are personal questions just to you.

[59:24] Ian Paget: Ooh, okay.

[59:27] Jayke Workman: Here we go.

[59:28] Ian Paget: Alright.

[59:29] Jayke Workman: Sondheim or Andrew Lloyd Webber.

[59:32] Ian Paget: Sondheim.

[59:34] Jayke Workman: Sweatpants or jeans.

[59:37] Ian Paget: Sweatpants.

[59:39] Jayke Workman: Do you have a favorite musical?

[59:42] Ian Paget: God. Um. West Side Story.

[59:45] Jayke Workman: Do you have a least favorite musical?

[59:50] Ian Paget: Um Diana the Musical.

[59:53] Jayke Workman: Oh, period Pooh, but I gotta say, I loved it.

[59:56] Ian Paget: It's horrible.

[59:57] Jayke Workman: Hated every second of it.

[59:58] Ian Paget: Love every second of it.

[59:59] Jayke Workman: I get that. I hate watch it in the best way.

[1:00:02] Ian Paget: Um, would you ever like to do a Broadway play?

[1:00:06] Ian Paget: Absolutely.

[1:00:08] Jayke Workman: Fantastic. Are you a morning person or a night owl?

[1:00:10] Ian Paget: Morning person.

[1:00:16] Jayke Workman: Could you think of the craziest thing a director has ever asked you to do?

[1:00:22] Ian Paget: Um, oh my god. Uh no, but I did have a director kind of like berate me in front of uh like my cast once. We were doing, I I won't name who it is, even though it doesn't really matter. But we were like doing some sort of choreography, and I was holding a giant light, and it was like shoulder shoulder shoulder, shoulder, shoulder, shoulder, like coming down um a catwalk. And she yelled out, she goes, Ian, she goes, use your shoulders. You build them, use them. And kind of like came for me about like my word. My like fitness moment in front of everybody, but it was just anyway. That's like the um the most I felt like damn girl, you came for me for like what? Like it was bizarre.

[1:01:04] Ian Paget: Um, but that's really it. No one's asked me to do anything cray cray crazy.

[1:01:08] Jayke Workman: Yeah. Lol. Um, golden age or contemporary?

[1:01:13] Ian Paget: Golden Age.

[1:01:15] Jayke Workman: Favorite role you've ever played?

[1:01:18] Ian Paget: Arab and West Side Story.

[1:01:21] Jayke Workman: Love. What about your favorite regional theater you've ever performed in?

[1:01:27] Ian Paget: Oh wow, I may have to take. Sorry, can I take that answer back? I just realized because I was like, wait, I've done I played Paul in a chorus line at the Muni. And so that I would say that was that was like a moment of of like whoa whoa whoa and it was amazing. So that I would say was my favorite thing. Um my favorite regional theater was the Muni.

[1:01:49] Ian Paget: Wow. Just you know, casual 14,000 seats watching crazy the most iconic.

[1:01:55] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, was that with Dennis Jones?

[1:01:57] Ian Paget: Yes, he choreographed and directed that.

[1:02:00] Jayke Workman: Dennis! I love that kookyman!

[1:02:04] Ian Paget: I know. Wait, have you worked with Dennis?

[1:02:06] Jayke Workman: I surely have.

[1:02:07] Ian Paget: We did the flamingo kid together.

[1:02:09] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, I auditioned for that.

[1:02:13] Ian Paget: That was wait, flamingo kid. I auditioned for that.

[1:02:15] Jayke Workman: Was that like COVID time?

[1:02:19] Ian Paget: It was uh like right before time, yeah.

[1:02:22] Jayke Workman: Pre-COVID.

[1:02:22] Ian Paget: I remember that. I was living in in the heights, and I remembered like doing doing those sides. That was really that was fun.

[1:02:29] Jayke Workman: Oh yes. A throwback for the ages.

[1:02:32] Ian Paget: Yeah, no kid. Uh coffee or tea?

[1:02:36] Ian Paget: Coffee.

[1:02:37] Jayke Workman: Same. That is the correct answer.

[1:02:39] Ian Paget: Uh hardest show you've ever done.

[1:02:43] Ian Paget: The Radio City Summer Spectacular. Choreographed and directed by Mia Michaels. Um there was this moment in time where like Derek Huff and Laura Bananti like came and did that. They were doing a summer show. Like Radio City was trying to have not just winter be the set the Christmas spectacular, and they added this whole thing. Warren Carlisle was attached to it to begin with, and then um they did a switcheroo, and they brought Mia in, and she added 10 principal male dancers as her way to like punch up with the girls was her whole thing um like next to the Roquettes and that was one of the hardest shows I've ever done and it was the most rewarding and it was the fiercest I I did like Madonna's Vogue like on the stage of the radio of Radio City it was a true you're like oh it doesn't get any spotlight on me and like the other boys it was amazing you know um and it was that was actually that Miss Mia Michaels was the Ian you build them use them it was that I but I love her she's she's she's a bit much in rehearsals but I you know I she I learned how to to really work my ass off during that and um it taught me how to like be bigger in my body um anyway so but yeah hardest show hardest show I ever did do you have a favorite costume you've ever worn and is it the tearaway thong in Broadway Bears I'm not saying that I've seen the video just ask me that you know that was fun but I actually don't love dancing crazy like half naked because I'm too I I'm a little too self conscious of like of course keeping like the belly in and this and that and I sometimes I just want to live and I like to dance like more clothed you know what I mean and um I'm totally teasing you.

[1:04:37] Ian Paget: No I know I know but like I just think the world thinks like oh that must have been so freeing and it was it was a moment in time that I had I I literally couldn't believe I was like, I can't believe I'm doing a lead strip mite right now. Like it was wild. Um but uh I did this show, which is right behind me called This Ain't no disco, right here at Atlantic Theatre Company. Um and it's the guys who did uh Headwig. That the those costumes and that that show was some of my favorite things to perform in because it was like it was sexy, it was super playful, and Studio 54, like 70s era is just a really it I think is one of my favorite decades of of um like costume to live in.

[1:05:19] Jayke Workman: Hell yeah. That's so fun.

[1:05:20] Ian Paget: Yeah. Um have you ever missed an entrance?

[1:05:25] Ian Paget: Yes.

[1:05:27] Jayke Workman: I care to elaborate.

[1:05:30] Ian Paget: I mean, I know for a fact I missed an entrance in Mamma Mia. I don't remember which one, but there was a moment where I I I'm pretty sure I was like, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, like chat, chat, chat over here, and someone like took my prop on, like took the chair on stage for me. Carly Carmelo's like, where's the chair?

[1:05:50] Ian Paget: Exactly, exactly. And you know, I was like, I'm sorry. Um but then on leap of I mean sorry, on the Saint No Disco closing night uh at Atlantic Theater Fucking Company, there was this section where like we had like uh like railings and it was giving very rent kind of was the set design. Sure. And um I coming out for a vocal of mine missed because I like swung under a railing and I was feeling it. I remember literally being, I was like doing my quick change, I was like, oh my god, the energy tonight is so fierce. Like this is gonna be a lit show. Like I like said it out loud, and then I like went up and I was like, swing. I did a swing that I don't usually do, and then I hit my head on a on a bolt, and I hit it, and I fell back. Like I literally swung, fell back, but like the spotlight wasn't on me yet. But it's such a small theater that like you didn't know what happened, but you did because I'm on my back.

[1:06:47] Ian Paget: And um, and I got up, still have some time until I'm going, and then I like feel like some sweat dripping down my face, and I was like, that's not sweat. And I looked down and I was bleeding, and so I went off stage, and then Christina Alabado, who's coming upstairs for her vocal, looks at me with the crate. She literally like she saw a fucking monster. And so I'm running off stage, and I'm just like, guys, uh, I hit my head, I'm bleeding, and there's this whole moment, and I missed like four entrances because I couldn't do the next number. No, but then we like tended to it and it was fine, and we iced, and I made it for like, you know, I don't know, like two numbers after, and no one knew that I hurt myself, but I had to get stitches, literally. At the closing party, they had to take me to an emergency room, and I got like four staples.

[1:07:34] Ian Paget: They stapled my head, and I still made it back to the closing party. You said ginatonic, please. I was like, it's it is what it is, anyway. So crazy sauce.

[1:07:45] Jayke Workman: Crazy.

[1:07:46] Ian Paget: Oh my god. Well, my last question for you, which I ask every guest, is what is one thing that you would tell younger Ian.

[1:07:58] Ian Paget: Don't worry so much. Don't worry so much. Stop, don't second guess. Just don't second guess yourself at all.

[1:08:05] Jayke Workman: Concise. I love it.

[1:08:06] Ian Paget: Yeah, that's huge.

[1:08:08] Jayke Workman: Totally. Well, Ian, thank you so much for being on the pod. You are my delight!

[1:08:43] Ian Paget: Thank you for having me.

[1:08:43] Jayke Workman: Of course. Will you tell the listeners where they can find you on all the socials so they can keep up with you?

[1:08:43] Ian Paget: Absolutely, dear. Um, you can find me on TikTok at Ian Paget or uh on Instagram at Ian Paget as well. Actually, TikTok is at Ian Paget underscore. Um, and yeah, that's that's where I'm at, I A N P A G E T, baby.

[1:08:43] Jayke Workman: And don't you forget it.

[1:08:42] Ian Paget: Well, thank you, thank you. Thank you for having me, Jake.

[1:08:44] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, this was so fun. 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.

[1:08:53] And you can follow the show on Instagram at oh my hodge.

[1:08:59] Ian Paget: Bye!

[1:09:01] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, oh my god, you guys.