This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Jayke Workman: Alright, girl, to the divas of Washington, DC, I mean this wholeheartedly when I say I love you, but you live in a swamp town.

[0:15] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, did you hear?

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

[0:18] Jayke Workman: Did you hear?

[0:18] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, guys.

[0:19] Jayke Workman: Jake.

[0:22] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, that's what you're gonna do.

[0:27] Jayke Workman: Oh my god!

[0:28] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, you guys.

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

[0:38] Jayke Workman: You guys, you guys, I am currently recording. I'm coming to you live at 11:37 p.m.

[0:45] Jayke Workman: Because mama, I just came from the national tour of Funny Girl The Music Cow at the Kennedy Center, and darling Diva Dear, when I tell you that one friend of the pod, Miss Hannah Shankman, just absolutely wrecked me as Fanny Bryce.

[1:05] Jayke Workman: Where do I even begin? Okay, well, first of all, it was my very first time being at the Kennedy Center ever. So that in itself was cuckoo crazy.

[1:15] Jayke Workman: But then, of course, none other than the dream boat that is Stephen Mark Lucas was on as Nick Duh, Nick Arnstein, incredible.

[1:26] Jayke Workman: Vocals down, dream boat, Daddy Deer. I'm rambling now.

[1:32] Jayke Workman: And you guys, Hannah Shankman as Fanny Bryce. It was sensational. The vocals were absolutely flawless. There was not an ounce of grain or grit. It was pure vocals.

[1:47] Jayke Workman: The comedy, the understanding, the cultural understanding of the Jewish comedy. Everything was superb. She looked the part, she sang down, she acted. I was crying.

[2:00] Jayke Workman: So, special shout out to Steven Mark Lucas and the incomparable Miss Hannah Shankman on a beautiful performance.

[2:09] Jayke Workman: A funny girl at the Kennedy Center. Like, come on, come on. Also, you guys, if you haven't listened to my episode of The Pod with Hannah, you must go back and listen to it because she is just absolutely delightful and hilarious, and just a wonderful angel human being.

[2:25] Jayke Workman: So go listen to that if you haven't listened to it. And you guys, we have to dive into a very short and sweet Broadway world recap because mama, she is tired and she has a show to do tomorrow at the arena stage.

[2:38] Jayke Workman: So we're gonna keep it short and sweet. But of course, I have to keep you updated on all things Broadway.

[2:44] Jayke Workman: So, first, you guys, we got the really, really sad news that the Who's Tommy is set to end its Broadway run in July, and there is a national tour to launch in 2025.

[2:56] Jayke Workman: But you guys, the show was so gorgeous and incredible, and I'm so sad to see it go this soon after the Tonys. But a huge congratulations to all of my pals in that show on an amazing accomplishment.

[3:09] Jayke Workman: The show was beautiful. Next, you guys, we got the very exciting announcement that Boop, the Betty Boop musical, has officially set dates for a Broadway opening in April of 2025, and it is going to play a Schubert Theater, which is yet to be announced.

[3:27] Jayke Workman: Keeping us in the dark, in the mystery. But you guys, this, I mean, we kind of knew this was bound for Broadway, but I'm so excited that it's finally confirmed.

[3:35] Jayke Workman: I'm so excited for the cast that is yet to be announced, but I know a few people. Wink wink, nudge nudge, and I am just over the moon for all of you. So I cannot wait to catch this show in April of 2025.

[3:51] Jayke Workman: And lastly, you guys, we got the very interesting announcement that Christian Borle has now been set to take over the previously announced Andrew Rannells role in the new Tammy Faye musical on Broadway, which is really interesting.

[4:05] Jayke Workman: Um you know, it's always like strange when somebody announces or like a company announces the leads or the stars of a show before negotiations are set, before contracts are fully, you know, settled, and Andrew Rannells kind of came out and said, you know, we couldn't reach an agreement with our negotiations, so unfortunately I had to pull out of the project.

[4:31] Jayke Workman: And while that is really disappointing because I love Andrew, and I think he would be marvelous, you know, in this Broadway iteration of the show. We will get Christian Borle, which is amazing.

[4:40] Jayke Workman: And, you know, who's to say that Christian won't add something fabulous to this show? So we just have to wait and see. Everybody needs to be patient, calm down. You never know.

[4:53] Jayke Workman: But this new musical is set to begin preview performances on October 19th, and it will officially open on November 14th of 2024. So we'll have to just stay tuned.

[5:04] Jayke Workman: And you guys, this has been the oh so brief Broadway World recap. Oh my pod, you guys. I am so excited to welcome my next guest to the show.

[5:17] Jayke Workman: He is an award-winning writer and actor based in New York City. Please welcome Mr. Joel Perez.

[5:26] Joel Perez: Hello. Welcome to the podcast.

[5:29] Joel Perez: It's my honor and pleasure to be here.

[5:31] Jayke Workman: Thanks so much for being here. When I honestly, I was thinking about us chatting on the pod earlier, and I was like, we're just gonna be speaking in Australian accents the whole time.

[5:39] Joel Perez: I don't know what you mean.

[5:41] Joel Perez: What do you mean?

[5:42] Joel Perez: It's but how is Paul? Should we go yeah?

[5:45] Joel Perez: We should outside gonna go outside. A lot of people don't know this about me, like actually this is a podcast exclusive. I actually pretend to be Puerto Rican.

[5:56] Jayke Workman: Oh my god.

[5:58] Joel Perez: Born in Sydney.

[5:59] Jayke Workman: Girl. Okay, so where do we even begin? You guys, we are currently recording on location.

[6:06] Jayke Workman: On location. I would say in our gorgeous dorm room style housing here at the arena stage. It's lovely, it's lovely.

[6:15] Joel Perez: It's Gorgina. We have a gorgeous view of someone else's pool.

[6:18] Jayke Workman: Yes, it's really nice. So lucky.

[6:21] Joel Perez: Um, but our paths first crossed in person officially last summer when we worked on different projects. I was actually working on the one that we're doing now, Wrinkle, at NYSAF, but you were there developing a new play.

[6:34] Joel Perez: Yeah, I was working on a I'm writing the book of a musical with Benjamin Velez, and he and I were at NYSAF just on a writing retreat, and I saw that A Wrinkle in Time was rehearsing right next to us.

[6:49] Joel Perez: So we asked, like, is it cool if we like observe a rehearsal? Is that okay? And it was a very open room that was like, of course, you're welcome to sit in.

[6:58] Joel Perez: So Benjamin and I just like sat in a corner and then my mind was blown.

[7:02] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[7:03] Joel Perez: During that rehearsal, I was like, what is this show? This is music I've never heard before. It's the kind of it's it's very exciting.

[7:12] Joel Perez: And so when the opportunity came around to audition for this workshop, I was like, I jumped on it. I was like, yes, I want to be there.

[7:20] Jayke Workman: Hell yeah. Did you know like when you asked or when you like went to them and were like, I want to audition for this, was it specifically for this track that you're doing?

[7:29] Joel Perez: No. I didn't even say I wanted to audition for it. I just got an audition appointment like a month and a half ago or something.

[7:36] Jayke Workman: Oh my god.

[7:37] Joel Perez: Okay, so you were first for the father.

[7:39] Joel Perez: Oh wow I did the father music and then after I sent that and they're like actually can you look at the man with the red eyes track?

[7:47] Jayke Workman: Work.

[7:47] Joel Perez: And then we are oh I kind of love that. They said actually could you do something a little scale although the idea of me being Mia's dad sounds like God damn it.

[8:01] Jayke Workman: What is it?

[8:03] Joel Perez: Well I have had just so much fun already working on this with you and I am just so excited that I get to have you on the pod because you are the type of person who you are such a multifaceted creator.

[8:18] Joel Perez: Obviously you have a history as a performer not just in New York but all over the place and then also you have sort of created this parallel career for yourself as a writer and I would love to dive into that and ask about like the differences because I think that something that we sort of are told but are we we convince ourselves of is that like if you want to do this, if you want to do the thing you have to do it a hundred percent only that there you can't have any other distractions.

[8:49] Joel Perez: And what I've found in speaking to so many people on the podcast is like how the intersectionality of all of the things that you do just makes you it bigger, better, like a well-rounded artist.

[9:01] Jayke Workman: For sure. So when did you know for sure that art and and being a performer was going to be part of your life?

[9:12] Joel Perez: Um well, I always I grew up singing um in church. My dad is a minister of uh of a Pentecostal of Puerto Rican Spanish speaking Pentecostal church. That's where I grew up.

[9:25] Joel Perez: Um and so I my first exposure to performing was at church singing and I played the drums and my brother plays the guitar and we were the um worship team El Grupo de Adoración of our church.

[9:39] Joel Perez: The adoración and so we would have you know there was a full band and um and I would have like a I would sometimes have like a Madonna mic behind the drum set, like a combra, obviously yes, the pointy cones.

[9:53] Joel Perez: Yeah and then um age twelve. I would sometimes I that's so that was my first exposure to performing, and then like we also did tons of you know, school I mean um church plays and church um a lot of street uh uh ministry that was like a mix of um performing and you know church and discipleship.

[10:17] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[10:18] Joel Perez: Um and so that was kind of my first exposure to performing, but I didn't really do it for real until like later in high school I had uh there were the I was a football player for two years.

[10:32] Jayke Workman: Yeah, super masked.

[10:33] Joel Perez: I was also very straight. That was a that was a whole thing. I mean, I grew up very conservative Christian.

[10:38] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[10:38] Joel Perez: And I had a whole journey about about uh, you know, accepting my self and my sexuality, and and with that is I think that that comes goes hand in hand with like my career as a performer because I felt like um I couldn't go after the things that I wanted.

[10:56] Joel Perez: I had to go after these things that I was told I was supposed to want. You know, and so that was for me that was being uh super conservative Christian, that was being a dude, that was being um a doctor.

[11:07] Joel Perez: Like I started college um as a chemistry major for two years, and I was like pre-med and I was because no one in my family, no one in my like circle were um artists.

[11:20] Joel Perez: Um my parents were immigrants from Puerto Rico, and so they worked really hard for us, and there was no real like I don't know, there was no no one in my family was a working artist, so I honestly didn't really know that that was an option.

[11:31] Jayke Workman: Sure.

[11:32] Joel Perez: Um where were you?

[11:34] Jayke Workman: I was in Massachusetts.

[11:35] Joel Perez: I grew up in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

[11:36] Jayke Workman: Okay.

[11:36] Joel Perez: So Lawrence near Boston. It's about 40 minutes north of Boston, and Lawrence is like eighty percent Latin. Like it's all Puerto Ricans and Dominicans.

[11:45] Joel Perez: It's like a tiny little pocket. And so it's a kind of town that you don't need to speak English. It's it's changed now in the and as um as time has passed.

[11:54] Joel Perez: But when I was younger, it was like all Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and um and I didn't really you know, I watched movies. I I liked watching musical movies and uh Disney movies.

[12:04] Joel Perez: I was obsessed with like Disney movie musicals and and then um in high school I got this job working at a movie theater. I was a concession attendant at a movie theater.

[12:15] Jayke Workman: Love.

[12:15] Joel Perez: And there was this older gay gentleman that was uh who worked with me, his name is Paul, and I think Paul kind of had like a spidey sense or something about me that he was like, I think he might be a gay.

[12:30] Joel Perez: And he like he sings and like he's doing the musical. He's like he's doing the musical in his high school and then he so we got into this um routine where Paul had a giant DVD and VHS collection.

[12:46] Joel Perez: He was like obsessed with collecting movies and he loved collecting movie musicals. So he would work. He would br come to work, give me a movie musical to watch, I'd wa I'd go home and watch it and then sometime when I when we worked together again, we would talk about the movie that I just watched.

[13:03] Jayke Workman: And he's giving you queer homework.

[13:03] Joel Perez: He really did. I mean when I look back on that I was like he really was like one of the people that exposed me to this world that like I wasn't getting at home.

[13:17] Joel Perez: And so like I remember he gave me like the VHS of Sweeney Todd shout out to Paul. I wasn't I mean that shit broke my brain. I remember watching being like what the hell is this?

[13:30] Joel Perez: Um so yeah that's like he he sort of exposed me to that world and uh and I did it in high school um musical theater and plays and truly because I needed extra curricular activities to go to a good college.

[13:43] Jayke Workman: Sure.

[13:43] Joel Perez: I need the credits honey I need the credits I need this is good in my resume. Like yes I need to do this because it'll be good I mean that's what I was telling myself in reality so happy and um and I look back on that time where like in especially in high school when I I still hadn't come out yet.

[14:01] Joel Perez: I was still really like I was frankly like a little depressed but I feel like a thing that I loved about performing was that like when the play starts for two and a half hours, I'm in a world that makes sense.

[14:17] Joel Perez: Like I'm in there are rules. I can just lose myself in this and I don't have to think about all the shit that's going on in my life. It's set for you. Yes, there's just say the words.

[14:25] Joel Perez: Say the words, do it. Then once the curtain came down, I'd be like, Ugh, okay, I guess I gotta, all right, but you know, take off my costume, put on my clothes and be like, All right, back to my fucking life.

[14:36] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[14:37] Joel Perez: That's so real. So then when you sort of came into your queer identity, was that based on your already existing knowledge of the world of art, or do you think that like you opened up outside of being an artist and then they just sort of in tandem are two aspects of your life?

[15:03] Joel Perez: No, I think they would go hand in hand. I think it was like, I think artistry, or at least for me, the art and theater and performing was like a way out of my small town.

[15:12] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[15:12] Joel Perez: Like it was just a way, it was just like a way to like expand my experience a bit 'cause it was so tiny. My world was so little. And then, um, and I guess I'm sort of jealous of kids these days who have more like fluid understandings about like gender and sexuality.

[15:35] Jayke Workman: Right.

[15:35] Joel Perez: I grew up at a time where it's like you're gay or you're straight, right? You know, so there was no like, men used to be men, women, so it's very like, 'cause I still, you know, I did have relationships with women, I had girlfriends, and it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't, I was just always curious about exploration. But it was like, you're one or the other.

[15:56] Jayke Workman: Yeah, you have to decide.

[15:57] Joel Perez: Yeah. Now you need to decide. Um, but I, uh, in my junior year of college, I studied abroad in London. I got into, uh, gorge. I did like a theater conservatory at BADA, the British American Drama Academy.

[16:11] Jayke Workman: Gorgeous.

[16:12] Joel Perez: And that was my first time, first of all, it was my first time leaving the country. So it was bizarre to be in a new place and nobody knew me. No one knew my, no one knew who my dad was. No one knew that I was the pastor's son from this place, no, nobody knew that. I was just sort of a blank slate. And I remember that was a really, like, I was like, Wait, here I can kind of choose to be, I can be who I am.

[16:38] Jayke Workman: Yeah, you know.

[16:38] Joel Perez: And I feel like drama school is so much of that is like tearing you down, like, oh my god. Or your honesty, like if you're honest, if, and part of that requires an honesty with yourself in order to be honest in a performance.

[16:52] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[16:52] Joel Perez: So that was a, during that semester, I was just like, I think I'm gay.

[16:57] Jayke Workman: Well, and we could talk at nauseum about me.

[16:59] Joel Perez: Okay. Unpack this. They're like, could you at, uh, 8:30 in the morning just give us your biggest trauma that you've ever experienced and how that makes you feel at this moment?

[17:10] Joel Perez: It's so ridiculous. But it was great. I mean, yes, it was horrible, but also it pushed me to be like, I need to make some changes in my life. Yeah, like I need to, I need to stop. I like, I don't want to be a doctor. I hate chemistry. I was terrible at it. Oh, it was my absolute worst possible subject in school. I was good at it in high school, but then I went to Tufts University, which is like a really great liberal arts school and great, um, pre-med program, but it's just so hard. I was just like, I don't want to do this. I think I like being at rehearsal more than I like doing chemistry problem sets.

[17:47] Jayke Workman: Well, there's such a strange, it's like, it's so funny. I talk to a lot of people about like when they knew that they were queer or, you know, when they were first touched by art that, you know, inspired them and everything. And I, it's so interesting because I just feel like, and I know it's not true for everyone, but like being a queer person and then being lucky enough to be in environments like rehearsal rooms and in shows and on, you know, TV sets or whatever, there is just this like inherent sensibility about approaching art as a queer person that I just think is kind of untouchable.

[18:28] Joel Perez: It's like this weird, like you can't, like it's not tangible, but like you can just feel it when you're surrounded by the queers who are also, I think queer people are like the arbiters of culture.

[18:42] Joel Perez: Yes. We are the ones who—

[18:42] Jayke Workman: Say it again on the pod.

[18:45] Joel Perez: Like we really do decide, like if you think something's cool, that's because a queer personality, that's because a gay person did it four years ago.

[18:54] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[18:54] Joel Perez: It is exactly that. Yeah, and then of course we're bitter because we're like, don't steal from us. Don't you, we were cool before you were. Actually, that's our culture that you're appropriating.

[19:06] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[19:06] Joel Perez: So ridiculous. But it allows us to tap into something I think that we're just so fortunate to be able to have that in this, just like in our DNA that like the appreciation and the understanding of, uh, of art, specifically musical theater, I think I'm talking about for myself. But yeah, just there's like a strange, and I think that goes, that also goes hand in hand with like humor and like sarcasm and a kind of like sense of humor that I think queer people are forced to have, or like we develop as a, as a like, um, defense mechanism.

[19:41] Jayke Workman: A mechanism, sure.

[19:42] Joel Perez: 'Cause I remember like there was a movie Saved. Did you see that movie Saved?

[19:48] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[19:48] Joel Perez: So Saved is this like satire about a conservative Christian high school, right? And my, my youth group, our youth group leader in my church decided to do like a field trip with the youth group to go see Saved because she thought that she didn't, she didn't know it was a comedy. She thought it was earnest. She thought it was like an earnest, um, movie about Christian high school, right? And I am watching this movie and I am howling. I am laughing my ass off during this movie. I was like, this movie is saying all the things I wished I could say. Like that, yep. And like other people feel this way too. Whoa. And then we left the theater, and I was like walking in the lobby of the movie theater being like, that was hilarious, right, guys? And my youth group leader was furious.

[20:38] Jayke Workman: I'm sure.

[20:39] Joel Perez: She was like, I can't believe we watched that. It was so disrespectful. So pissed off. And I, and like, and then other kids in youth group were mad like she was, and I was like, huh. I think this was, this is hilarious. Right. You guys didn't get that? Like I think I think I don't entirely believe in this the same way you guys do. One of us is not like the others. But who can't put my finger on it?

[21:05] Jayke Workman: Well, switching gears a little bit, I would love to know. I mean, I guess in a similar vein, you have, you have done shows that have, um, sort of mirrored your own experience both as a Latinx person and then also as a queer person. You did In the Heights.

[21:22] Joel Perez: Yeah, that was like my first real job. Hartford Stage, shout out. I love her.

[21:28] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[21:29] Joel Perez: And then also Fun Home.

[21:31] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[21:31] Joel Perez: And so telling these, what, what I, I guess would you just speak to the experience and like what it means to you as an artist to get to tell stories that are sort of reflections of your own identity?

[21:46] Joel Perez: Yeah, I mean, In the Heights was such a like, um, like dream come true. 'Cause I saw that show came out in 2008, or it was on the Tonys in 2008, and that's, I graduated college that year. And I was still, I was like, I just don't know if I can move to New York. I don't know if I'll get a job, like I just wasn't sure if really if, um, a career as an actor was, um, a thing. And yeah, despite my, you know, I'm an artist, so, and I'm an actor, so there is a lot of risk involved in our jobs, and so a lot of it has to be us just like following blindly into the darkness. But I, I like to plan. The things that I can control, I like to control them, and I like to hundred percent the, I, I don't love, I'm not the kind of person to just like, I'm just gonna move somewhere and like see what happens.

Are you kidding me? My Virgo brain? I'm like, I will have a plan for the next ten years. But I saw In the Heights on Broadway, and it blew my mind. I was just like, I can't believe they're telling the story. Like these are, this family is like my family. These are people who are like my people. I don't, I was like, I can move to New York, like I'm gonna move to New York. Um, and then I started just like, um, going to open calls. So I would go to every, I was that kid when I first went to New York. I went to every single audition. I woke up at five in the morning, four in the morning, like get in line. I wasn't equity yet. So I was just like, and I was just so hungry for it at the time. I would never do that shit now. I was like, I am so tired. I was so tired. I'm not waking up that early anymore. But I think you need to have that kind of like, like ravenous drive.

[23:39] Joel Perez: Yes. 'Cause it's just a lot of no's. It's a lot of, it's a lot of putting yourself out there and not getting shit back. Um, but one of those auditions I went to was for In the Heights. And so I, you know, I went, I went there so many times, and then I auditioned for them, and then, um, then my headshot was just like in a pile for like a year and a half, sure. And then I was in, I was in New York waiting tables, and I got a call being like, hey, um, we were auditioning people for the first national tour of In the Heights. Do you wanna, can you audition for it? I was like, yeah. So then I did, I auditioned a bunch, and I ended up joining the first national tour like a couple months into the run because I replaced somebody. Crazy. And it was incredible. I mean, I was like waiting tables, and I was just like, I, the day I quit that job was the best day of my life.

[24:28] Jayke Workman: Absolutely.

[24:29] Joel Perez: I was like, I quit. Um, I'm going to live my dream. I'm gonna, I'm touring the night, I'm touring the world within the heights. Slams the glasses down on the ground, shatters. Happiest day of my life. I was like, nothing's ever gonna beat this. And that's not a fucking easy show by any means.

[24:48] Jayke Workman: No, and I was in the ensemble and I covered three parts. So I was on the show, I was in the show every night, and then I also covered Sunny, Usnavi, and the Piragu guy.

[24:56] Joel Perez: Wow.

[24:56] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[24:59] Joel Perez: Rapping in and out of English. Yeah. Singing. Crazy. Dancing. Yeah. It was incredible.

[25:02] Jayke Workman: Wow. Did you cross paths with Lynn?

[25:05] Joel Perez: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. He, and he did the tour when we were in, um, LA. Uh huh. He did the sit down there. We also went to Puerto Rico. He did it there. Right.

[25:13] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[25:13] Joel Perez: And he's someone, you know, Lynn is great. And I've worked with him several times since. Fantastic.

[25:18] Jayke Workman: Yes, you did Tick, Tick... Boom.

[25:20] Joel Perez: And Tick, Tick... Boom. That's great. I've also sung on, um, he wrote the music to Vivo, which is this animated book, um, animated, um, film on Netflix. I sang on that. Um, that's fantastic.

[25:31] Jayke Workman: Anytime and like, I'm like, dude, anything you want.

[25:34] Joel Perez: Anything you want. Sincerely.

[25:36] Jayke Workman: Wow. Well, that it's funny. I was thinking of like, you know, the projects that you have been a part of and like what we could like go down the list and talk about. But it's my, my very first guest on the pod was Beth Malone. So, and you know, of course, she did Tick, Tick... Boom as well. And so like, it's just so crazy how like our paths have crossed to now at this moment, but there are so many things bef, uh, before this, and then, you know, who knows what will happen after this, but like it's wild that like we really, our world as, as New Yorkers and theater people is just so fucking small.

[26:15] Joel Perez: Oh, totally.

[26:16] Jayke Workman: It is crazy.

[26:17] Joel Perez: Yeah, so be nice, okay.

[26:20] Jayke Workman: So be so just be fucking nice.

[26:25] Joel Perez: Please. Seriously. How anyone continues to work and they're not nice is beyond me.

[26:30] Jayke Workman: I don't know, we're all just playing make believe. Just have a good time.

[26:32] Joel Perez: We're just playing pretends. These kids in a sandbox. Don't be the bullet.

[26:36] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[26:38] Joel Perez: But wait, okay. So speaking of Beth, we have to talk about Fun Home.

[26:43] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[26:43] Joel Perez: Because you were part of that show at the public before it went to Broadway.

[26:49] Jayke Workman: But even before that, I was like, I like, um—

[26:49] Joel Perez: Yes. Tell the story. Tell the story.

[26:54] Jayke Workman: Because I know it's all kind of connected, man.

[26:56] Joel Perez: It's all connected. Because it's funny, like I did, um, In the Heights, right?

[27:01] Jayke Workman: Right.

[27:01] Joel Perez: That show was cast by Telsey.

[27:04] Jayke Workman: Telsey Casting.

[27:05] Joel Perez: Never heard of him.

[27:06] Jayke Workman: Um, never heard.

[27:07] Joel Perez: And then Telsey was the, uh, were the casting directors for this now defunct program, the Sundance Theater Lab. And Sundance, um, they do like the Sundance Film Festival, that organization. They used to have this, um, um, theater development, um, residency program. Oh, and so I got asked to be a part of a reading of a musical called Stuck Elevator. And so I went to, uh, this place in Florida called White Oak, where we were doing workshops during the day of this show, and then there were several other projects that were there too, kind of like New York Station film. And then at night we'd all have dinner together and, um, just get to know each other, where it's everybody's process and what they're working on, and two of the people that were there working were Janine Tesori and Lisa Kron. They were there on their own writing Fun Home.

[27:56] Jayke Workman: Sure.

[27:57] Joel Perez: The first drafts of Fun Home, and I love Janine Tesori. I was like, oh my god, Janine. I was like, Caroline or Change, you're fucking incredible. Um, and then we just got to know each other during that week. There was actually, it was like a three-week residency, and toward the end they were like, Joel, you're great. You should be in our musical. And I was like, sure, okay. I mean, yes, they, I'm very flattered, but you never know. They might just be blowing smoke up my ass. Um, but then Sundance gave them a proper workshop and then they invited me to be a part of it. And we're, it's so funny because then we were like in rehearsals learning some music, and Janine is like, Joel, you can really sing. And I was like, I was like, Yeah, isn't that why you cast me? She was like, No, honestly, Lisa and I just thought you were really fun.

[28:50] Joel Perez: Which actually that's the truth. That's the truth. If you learn anything from this podcast, listen close. Just be fucking nice because you never know. There's so many talented people. But I mean, regardless, they had to have some sort of like sixth sense that you were gonna fucking kill it because it was I mean, what is what a beautiful show. It was so fast. It was like it was such a groundbreaking thing. Yeah, yeah. It was so special and it's so cool to develop new work because they were just writing it around you. Right. That's so nice.

[29:21] Joel Perez: So did you know from when you started that you had something really, really oh yeah, special. From the first reading at the Sundance Theater Lab. Like this was just music stands and like because it wasn't always that configuration of in the room. I wasn't in the round. And when we did it at the public off Broadway, it was a proscenium stage.

[29:41] Joel Perez: So was that just you were like the material is work. Oh yeah. It's like you're you're like, I will go with this. I'll go with that. That's far as it will go. Yeah, because it was just it was just ti I mean, as someone who grew up a conservative Christian and and not being uh authentic, I think this the story of Fun Home really brings to light the sort of damage that can happen when a person isn't allowed to be their authentic self.

[30:10] Joel Perez: Yeah. Like it's that's really what it's about. It's about Bruce not being able and how he hurt the people around him by not being true to his true to himself. And um, so I knew I wanted to be a part of it just because I felt so um like moved by the material and I thought this was and I think musical theater musicals are hard.

[30:32] Joel Perez: Yes. And the the musical work that musical theater work that is artistically like pushing the needle forward and that is like um compelling as a performer to be a part of are so few and far between. Oh yeah. That like when you get one of those, you're just like I wanna 'cause usually you're just like stand at twelve, being a little bit. Sing a little, sing uh belt your face off, and then sit down, you know.

[31:02] Joel Perez: So so to do with something and then be and then to feel from the audience too how I mean it was just so s every night the reactions we get after the show were just so like people crying, people moved by seeing themselves in that way. So yeah, I mean I I I I'll never forget watching that Tony performance because that was the first time. That was a huge risk. The producers were not Oh my god. The producers weren't sure about that.

[31:27] Joel Perez: Yeah. It was just a little girl by herself. Sydney. Yeah, singing into a mic, singing into the camera. And I also remember seeing Beth with her like super short, yeah, a little bush haircut. And I was like, whoa, gay people are doing things. And I was I mean, I knew I was gay and whatever, but I didn't quite understand that like what we could do on the Tonies was it didn't have to necessarily be a little bit more than a few years.

[32:02] Joel Perez: How old were you? Or where were you in your life? Um, well, what year was that? I think I was maybe I was twenty fifteen? Yeah. So I was Yeah, about ten years ago? My senior year of high school. Yeah. So it was like I knew, but then I watching that from the.

[32:20] Joel Perez: You saw it on the pro that was the broadcast. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. And I think the power of the Tonies. I mean, it is together. And I I talked about that with this year's Tonies too, just like how special it is that like we, you know, you could take this tiny town in Minnesota or Kansas or wherever. And, you know, the you don't necessarily have access to the theater.

[32:43] Joel Perez: But then for that three hours, I was glued to the TV every year watching the Tonies. And I was like, that's what I want to do. But that was the first time I remember watching the Tonies and being like, okay, it doesn't have to be palatable for the people in this dumb town.

[33:00] Joel Perez: Like what we are doing. Obviously for New York and we want pe tourists to come because that's what pays for the tickets and everything. But like we're telling stories that need to be told instead of we're doing SuciCol again. Right. To, you know, to appeal to the masses and make sure.

[33:19] Joel Perez: And I think and I think both are both are valid and we need we need those shows. I want the revival of the physical. I don't know if we're going home was playing Daisy. Fun was beautiful. We won all the awards. And here's a lesson. You won all the awards.

[33:28] Joel Perez: Literally, Fun Home swept the Tonies. And then closed. We closed. Girl. And uh Lumpika's just the truth. Closed before the Tonies even fucking happened. Yeah. It's so crazy. I mean, you know, of course, we could speak until the end of time about like the business element of it.

[33:45] Joel Perez: Yeah, because I thought I thought at the time I was like, Well, now I'm a Broadway actor. Yes. You're like, I'm sad, honey. I have not been on Broadway since. And who cares? And that's the reality. It's like then you realize, oh, Broadway's just a job.

[33:59] Joel Perez: Yep. One of the many jobs one can have as a performer. Because also, then you went on to star opposite one Sutton Foster. So like who gives like what? Okay, fine. But that I mean that was that was considered Broadway. But like you won a Lucia Lortel award.

[34:21] Joel Perez: We got uh Which was crazy because that was like, you know, normally that role is not a role. Usually it's like it's right spread out amongst a bunch of ensemble members. So then they had me. You did what five roles? I did four. So I was like Ma I was Max, and then I was Herman, and then I was Daddy Brubeck, and then I was Vittorio Vidal.

[34:41] Joel Perez: So just like, you know, the best parts of it. So just popped in and did all these scenes with them. It was incredible. That is incredible. So when when you booked that job, was it the type of thing where you just it was like a classic you get an appointment or you go to the audition and you just go through the rounds and you book the job.

[34:59] Joel Perez: I went through the rounds. It was directed by Lee Silverman. Um Lee is she's one of my favorite directors I've ever worked with, and she she's really good friends with Lisa Crohn, so she would come to see Fun Home a bunch, and we just be we were also just like friends.

[35:11] Joel Perez: Yeah. We were like very great. Um those connections, maybe just social friends, and so um I think it's funny because like I'm I'm grateful that they turned this role into it into a single person because then it allows me to it it sort of becomes this like Tour de Force kind of track that you have to do a bunch of different things.

[35:34] Joel Perez: Right. But the reality is that it was because it was being produced by the new group, it was the tiniest theater, and they needed to have a tiny cast. Like that's really they're like he's a guy you can do all of it. Nice, let's cast him because then that's we can hire one guy and not four.

[35:50] Joel Perez: That's crazy. Because Vittorio is a big ass role. Like it's not it in the grand scheme of the actual show of Sweet Charity. It's not like you're on stage the entire time. But like in previous iterations of that show, it's been like the stone.

[36:05] Joel Perez: Oh, and too many tomorrow's what a gorgeous song. I knew it. It's it's super indulgent. It was it was so fun because like yeah, I I yeah, um in the heights, Latin music, rapping, you know, that's the sort of style.

[36:20] Joel Perez: Uh fun home. I wasn't I wasn't really singing. I sang a little bit, but it wasn't like we were certainly singing on the cast recording. Yeah, and Raincoat of Love I got to sing once. But then in but with um charity, it was like sort of this, you know, golden age style musical theater that you could really you know, sing and be indulgent.

[36:38] Joel Perez: It was so nice. I was like, Oh, I never get to sing like this. Yeah. So that was fun. And that was, you know, professionally that was also really I think people then saw me a different way that they were like, Oh, he can sing other stuff.

[36:48] Joel Perez: Right. This is cool. Wow. Because I didn't go, you know, I didn't go to a MFA program. I'm uh a BFA program. I didn't go to like one of the top, you know, musical theater schools, so I think it's a good thing. But girl, that voice, that voce, she's buttery.

[37:04] Joel Perez: She's butter. She's rich, honey. She's rich. Well, so when like I guess in in thinking of working with people like Lynn, obviously, like Janine Tessori, like Sutton Foster. Are there moments where you feel like ha I don't know how to approach this or like have you are you ever starstruck in rooms where you're with these people who have you have known of far longer than just you know setting foot in the rehearsal room with them?

[37:43] Joel Perez: Like I would be like, hello, Miss Sutton Foster. I know literally everything about you. Hello, nice to meet you. Yeah, yeah. I mean it was incre uh yeah, I'm starstruck all the time. And then just kind of but then you do the work.

[37:56] Joel Perez: Yeah. And then you just then but I you know, I like being in rooms with people who are who are more talented than I am. Because I'm like, pull up, you know, like pull up. Like, ooh shit.

[38:09] Joel Perez: Yeah. Like, okay. I don't have Laurel to spine. Please. Darling. Okay, but that's but the thing is too that it's not like you're it's not as if your talent isn't at the same level at as them. It's that maybe they just have a bigger laundry list of notable.

[38:30] Joel Perez: Yeah. I you know, I loved Sweet Charity. Not that many people got to see it. Right. Because it was a tiny theater and it's a limited run. And that was a thing that you know, this is this happens all the time too.

[38:41] Joel Perez: It's like if I go on a Broadway, it's going to Broadway. Uh-huh. Get ready. Oh my god, Broadway, Broadway. It never happened. Even though that was something that was you know, that was every the producers were talking about it. Everyone was like, eh, you know, we got the money.

[38:53] Joel Perez: It's sat in Fasta. Yeah. You know? And then something I I actually have not ever said this on the podcast. Well, I've said this. I've said that my sort of like thinking about jobs or about getting jobs is nothing is yours until it's yours.

[39:13] Joel Perez: And even then it's not yours. So just do what you can do and anything else is up in the air. It's not it's not your fault. It's not your responsibility. It's not like you cannot put weight into things uh on like a personal level.

[39:31] Joel Perez: And I learned this the hard way because hi podcast, this is breaking news, I guess it was months old. I was offered the standby position for Rob Madge in My Son's a Queer, which was coming to Broadway, and it was a one person show. I was gonna be Rob standby, and they were moving the set in.

[39:54] Joel Perez: Like it was right. I remember reading about that. And they got the call, the producers were like, Call it off. It's not happening right now. And so that was something where I was like, Wow, okay, I booked my second Broadway show. I it was like a it still is obviously this incredible piece of art, and I'm so glad that Rob is still doing it uh across Europe.

[40:15] Joel Perez: They're they're touring it over there and they went back to Edinburgh and did it again. Um but knowing I I had to make peace with with um knowing that like I got it. I booked the job, I did the work that I needed to do, and regardless of the fact that it didn't happen right then, you know, and if it does eventually happen, that would be magical, mainly because I just want the world and Broadway to see Rob because they are insane and the show is so good.

[40:45] Joel Perez: But yeah, just knowing that like I there was absolutely nothing I could have done. I know. And I but I did it. And you got the job. And it still didn't happen. So it's like nothing is yours until it's yours, and even then, it's not yours.

[40:59] Joel Perez: So just yeah, you just have to own it. And you did like you did Sweet Charity opposite Sutton Foster. So, like, regardless of the thing. I got a fucking Lortel award. Yeah, talk about that, bitch.

[41:11] Joel Perez: Like what how did you because okay, for the I was a dark I think I was a really dark horse. I don't think anyone thought I was gonna win. Please. Well, I it's just funny, like when you're a kid, or when I was a kid, I thought of the Tonies as being like the thing. It was like if you are an actor, a stage actor, if you win a Tony, that's great.

[41:31] Joel Perez: That's what you want to do. But there's no other award. There's no other recognition or anything. Like I had no clue. So then getting to New York and knowing about like the theater wing and the outer critics circle awards and the Lortells and the drama desks and all of it.

[41:49] Joel Perez: It's like there are so many other circles that you can run in and so many ways that you can be recognized. Yeah, yeah. What did you did you know that you were like in the running to be nominated for for a Lortel?

[42:01] Joel Perez: No, not at all. Oh, I mean, I I don't know how that I don't know how that works. You get the Instagram notification. No, I got like an email from like the Lortel organization being like you're nominated, and I was like, Oh, cool. I didn't even know that that was a thing.

[42:12] Joel Perez: That's cool. That's um nuts. And then um yeah, and then there was an award ceremony, and then oh my god. I was so nervous that night. I got I wore this really cute, like um red, kind of like pinkish red jacket.

[42:29] Joel Perez: Um, and I was so nervous. I sweat through my undershirt and my shirt and my jacket. So if you notice, I I post very few photos from that night. Because if you see me accepting the award, I have gigantic sweat stains.

[42:50] Joel Perez: But worth it, honey. And I was oblivious to it. I'm just like, you're like, look over here. No idea it was happening. And then I look back at the photos the next day, I was like, oh my god, I'm gonna get the images, gonna find my picture. And I was like, Getty.

[43:03] Joel Perez: Oh, Miss Getty and her images, she got you. She got me. Getty got it. I got got by Getty. Oh my god. But how could you fucking not? You're literally like uh up for an award and then you win it.

[43:15] Joel Perez: And you're like it was so wild.

[43:17] Jayke Workman: You're welcome.

[43:17] Joel Perez: But you know, I I've always had I've always had to have lots of like irons in the fire. Like that's because you never know. That that was a thing that was like, this is gonna happen for me, and then it didn't.

[43:25] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[43:25] Joel Perez: Like, this is this is gonna be this will be the job that's gonna change my life.

[43:29] Jayke Workman: Right.

[43:29] Joel Perez: And then you're like, uh, no. And then this one is gonna be the one. No, no, no, it's this one. Still not that one. Oh, maybe this one. Oh, and then a pandemic happened.

[43:36] Jayke Workman: Ah, well, girl, you know.

[43:38] Joel Perez: But in that same vein, I would love to know too about your sort of endeavors in the world of writing because that's where you make your own work, literally. You are the one making it.

[43:49] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[43:50] Joel Perez: How do you navigate that while also um you know, continuing your career as a performer?

[43:56] Jayke Workman: Yeah, yeah.

[43:57] Joel Perez: I think there's a lot of um like uh self I'm a real self-starter. You know, you have to have a lot of like initiative, especially with writing, because like literally no one's paying you.

[44:10] Jayke Workman: Oh yeah.

[44:11] Joel Perez: Or no one's like you are you're spending money. I mean, you do get paid eventually if you sell certain things, but you kind of have to have stuff to show for it.

[44:19] Jayke Workman: So that's um and but when I was in college, I ended up when I left being a uh drama major I'm a uh chemistry major, I became a drama major, and I ended up um minoring in screenwriting because at Tufts there was like this making movies class that um essentially this teacher Howard Wolf, he just taught us basic like film theory and filming techniques, and then we just had access to cameras and uh lighting equipment and sure sound shit, and so we would all just like make so I made tons of like shorts.

[44:50] Joel Perez: Um love. Um and so then in when I graduated school, I then was like maybe I'll be a s a ri a screenwriter too, but I was sort of like uh uh I needed to make money first, and so then theater I needed to make money.

[45:08] Jayke Workman: Never heard of it?

[45:09] Joel Perez: So then I was like, well, theater is a way I can I can at least make or or when I b especially when I booked in the heights, I was like, okay, this is the way I can actually make money. Or like and then I just started working more in musical theater.

[45:19] Joel Perez: Um but I was always like writing on the side, nothing nothing nothing super concrete. And I had I did a show at Arsnova.

[45:30] Joel Perez: Um they do this thing called Ant Fest every own show?

[45:33] Jayke Workman: Yeah, yeah.

[45:34] Joel Perez: It's a solo show. But but before that, um I did I did an Ant Fest show with some friends um while I was on tour within the Heights and I remember we had a layoff during uh during the tour so I did an Ant Fest show during that week and I remember having this conversation with um Tommy Cale, the director of um in the Heights.

[45:56] Joel Perez: He was in one of our s towns in one of our cities, um uh putting in like two new principles that came in, they're just like doing some rehearsals and then I was like talking to Tommy and I was like 'cause I was understudying all these parts in the show and I was like, Hey Tommy, I've never done this before and like I'm I don't really sometimes I don't really know how to how to be as a as a as a cover, like when I'm on stage and I want to support like the the person who's in the role but in my mind I'm like breaking down their performance like crazy.

[46:25] Joel Perez: This is how I would do it. I would do it this way, I would do it that way, I would do it this way. And I was like, that felt like a really weird like head space to be in all the time and I was like, is that okay?

[46:32] Jayke Workman: Like I don't know.

[46:33] Joel Perez: And then Tommy was really funny, he was like, Maybe maybe this isn't what you want to do with your life.

[46:38] Jayke Workman: And I was like Excuse me.

[46:41] Joel Perez: Clutch my pearl. And he was like, No, I mean like just doing a big big ol' musical.

[46:48] Joel Perez: Like a big Broadway show is like it's a machine.

[46:51] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[46:52] Joel Perez: You don't you copy paste you get a copy paste, you gotta kinda do the show that's you have to make someone else's choices often.

[46:59] Jayke Workman: Mm-hmm.

[47:00] Joel Perez: You get to make your own a little bit, but you're not you're not creating the character.

[47:04] Jayke Workman: Oh yeah.

[47:05] Joel Perez: And but then he was like, and I know that you're doing the show at Arsnova, and it's like, maybe you should do more of that.

[47:10] Joel Perez: Like that's actually what you want to do. But take advantage while you have this show, save money, get health insurance weeks, like do that, but also on the side, make sure that you keep working on your own stuff.

[47:22] Jayke Workman: And so I c really took that to heart and kinda took a while to figure out what I wanted to do and in terms of writing.

[47:29] Joel Perez: Um and then um I did uh this play, Oedipus el Rey at the public. It was a uh Luis Alfaro play.

[47:40] Joel Perez: It's uh adaptation of Oedipus Rex and um it was an all Latin cast, and it was set in uh East LA and um it was really the the the play was so good and I played Creon, I had a really great part and Gorge.

[47:56] Joel Perez: And then oh this is a maybe this is some tea. Ooh then I was in one of the labs of Moulin Rouge.

[48:03] Jayke Workman: Uh-huh.

[48:04] Joel Perez: As Santiago, the like Argentinian.

[48:06] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[48:07] Joel Perez: And I had auditioned for that show so many times. Like every time they did a workshop, I was auditioning for it, they never got it.

[48:13] Jayke Workman: Did audition again, never got it, audition again, never got it.

[48:15] Joel Perez: And then during there was another audition for this workshop, and I was like, I don't want to I told my agents, I was like, I don't know, I keep on auditioning for this, they don't want it.

[48:21] Jayke Workman: They don't want me.

[48:22] Joel Perez: And but then Alex Timbers was like, um, they saw you in I did a production of As You Like It in the Park and uh for the public.

[48:31] Joel Perez: We saw you in uh in As You Like, oh that's great, we have stuff that we want. Great.

[48:35] Joel Perez: So I go to the audition, I get the part. And so then if you Moulin Rouge is one of my favorite movies.

[48:47] Joel Perez: I think it's such a great movie. It has like a sense of romance, it's really exciting. Gorgeous.

[48:51] Joel Perez: And I think like what you do when you adapt a show, when you adapt something for the stage, you're not literally doing the movie, right?

[48:57] Jayke Workman: No.

[48:58] Joel Perez: And so um they I was just not I just didn't agree with some of the um like choices that were made for that character.

[49:07] Jayke Workman: Because right now he's just sort of like a caricature, yeah.

[49:09] Joel Perez: Very much just like one dimensional, hot headed Latin man.

[49:14] Jayke Workman: Latin man and they cut him being narcoleptic, which like at least that was funny.

[49:18] Joel Perez: Right.

[49:18] Jayke Workman: At least I was like, at least there's a nice bit.

[49:24] Joel Perez: But now he's just sort of like just sitting there, you know.

[49:26] Jayke Workman: Um and I remember during rehearsals, I'd be like, you know, you're not doing the movie uh uh uh verbatim, so like you can maybe make this character look more interesting, or like he feels a little one dimensional, and yeah, like okay, cool.

[49:38] Joel Perez: Um but I I was doing that during the day and then doing Oedipus Rey at night.

[49:47] Jayke Workman: And so it was really interesting to be d doing this one show during the day that was like I'm sort of playing a real caricature of this community that I'm a part of, and then at night doing this s uh play that felt really authentic and really like yeah, you were telling a story.

[50:00] Joel Perez: And I remember having a bit of a like uh like existential crisis because I was like, I'm doing this play at the public that's paying me like three hundred and fifty dollars a week.

[50:12] Jayke Workman: What and that that really feeds me artistically, and then I'm doing this workshop of uh big Broadway musical that's paying me like how was it like twelve hundred a week or something?

[50:21] Joel Perez: Yeah.

[50:22] Jayke Workman: And I was like, what a what a what decision do you make?

[50:27] Joel Perez: Like I w 'cause I also I don't come from a rich family, I don't have anything to fall back on.

[50:31] Jayke Workman: And that's the constant like push and pull that I think you feel as an artist.

[50:34] Joel Perez: But it did sort of activate in me something to be like, I think if you wanna uh you're like you're giving a lot of notes when you're in the rehearsal room.

[50:43] Joel Perez: Like you should maybe just write stuff. Like, I think this would be better if this character did this.

[50:48] Jayke Workman: They're like, do you want to write the play?

[50:50] Joel Perez: I think you should just write it. You know, I was like, hmm, I think you're right.

[50:53] Jayke Workman: I love that.

[50:54] Joel Perez: Yeah.

[50:54] Jayke Workman: Wow, that's wild.

[50:55] Joel Perez: And at least have that as another as another avenue, you know.

[50:59] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[51:00] Joel Perez: Especially as a stage actor. I'm like, we only get paid when you show up and you gotta do it eight times a week.

[51:05] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[51:06] Joel Perez: And it's hard.

[51:07] Jayke Workman: It's I mean, it's just like your whole life is uh is surrounded by it, you know.

[51:12] Joel Perez: Yep.

[51:12] Jayke Workman: I can't go out late.

[51:13] Joel Perez: I can't I can't go on a trip, I can't meet this person.

[51:16] Joel Perez: I gotta cancel this this um responsibility because I gotta watch my voice.

[51:21] Jayke Workman: Yeah, you know.

[51:22] Joel Perez: It really kind of takes over your life in a way that I you know, the older I get, the more I just like I wanna be able to do that for shows that I actually wanted that I that feel worth it.

[51:31] Jayke Workman: Totally, totally.

[51:33] Joel Perez: Well, Joel, I just adore you.

[51:36] Jayke Workman: We could talk for hours.

[51:37] Joel Perez: We could before I let you go. I do have a series of musical theater rapid fire questions that I ask every guest.

[51:45] Jayke Workman: Okay.

[51:46] Joel Perez: Are you ready?

[51:47] Jayke Workman: Prepared.

[51:49] Joel Perez: Sondheim or Andrew Lloyd Webber?

[51:51] Jayke Workman: Sondheim.

[51:52] Joel Perez: Sweatpants or jeans.

[51:54] Jayke Workman: Jeans.

[51:55] Joel Perez: Do you have a favorite musical?

[51:57] Jayke Workman: Sweeney Todd.

[51:59] Joel Perez: Oh, uh do you have a least favorite musical?

[51:59] Jayke Workman: Least favorite?

[52:04] Joel Perez: Yes.

[52:04] Jayke Workman: Oh, okay.

[52:05] Joel Perez: I said it.

[52:06] Jayke Workman: I said least favorite.

[52:10] Joel Perez: I don't know, because even like bad Cinderella people were like, it was it was bad, but like I I was terrible.

[52:15] Jayke Workman: Oh, I was so stoned when I watched it.

[52:17] Joel Perez: I was like, but like whatever.

[52:19] Jayke Workman: I've been Eddie in fucking literate life.

[52:22] Joel Perez: Um would you ever like to do a Broadway play?

[52:25] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[52:25] Joel Perez: Hell yeah.

[52:26] Jayke Workman: In a heartbeat.

[52:27] Joel Perez: Um, are you a morning person or a night owl?

[52:30] Jayke Workman: I'm a morning person.

[52:32] Joel Perez: Ugh, ew uh, how do you do that?

[52:35] Jayke Workman: It's just it's happening.

[52:36] Joel Perez: It all it's it just is happening.

[52:38] Jayke Workman: It happens.

[52:39] Joel Perez: I wish it was.

[52:39] Jayke Workman: It's me being an old man.

[52:40] Joel Perez: Once you get a certain age, then you won't you think of the craziest thing a director has ever asked you to do.

[52:53] Jayke Workman: I was just talking about this.

[52:54] Joel Perez: I was in DC doing this terrible Oh, okay.

[52:58] Jayke Workman: The play was good.

[52:59] Joel Perez: It's called Puerto Rico Fua.

[53:01] Joel Perez: It was this uh gala Hispanic Theater.

[53:03] Jayke Workman: Okay.

[53:04] Joel Perez: Which is a theater company here in um DC.

[53:07] Joel Perez: And this director, his name is Luis Caballero, he was insane.

[53:11] Joel Perez: Um we there was a scene where the people in the cast, we were looking out at the ocean, right?

[53:23] Jayke Workman: Up in the sky when talking about the ocean.

[53:27] Joel Perez: Strange, right?

[53:28] Jayke Workman: Okay interesting, interesting.

[53:29] Joel Perez: Where this is a world where the ocean is in the sky.

[53:32] Jayke Workman: Perhaps this is a choice.

[53:34] Joel Perez: But you're the director, so you're the director.

[53:36] Jayke Workman: And then I was us and then I remember like raising my hand to be like, hey Luis, uh you know, you're telling us to to talk about the ocean, but the ocean is right now in the sky.

[53:44] Joel Perez: Like, what is that on? And he was like, Aun director.

[53:46] Joel Perez: This is all in Spanish. Um director, no sé cuestiona, to a director.

[53:50] Jayke Workman: You do not question a director.

[53:52] Joel Perez: Oh my god.

[53:53] Jayke Workman: I am the one who who's in charge here.

[53:56] Joel Perez: Oh my god.

[53:57] Jayke Workman: When I when my he's like, I could replace you guys in a second.

[53:59] Joel Perez: Like if uh when I when my friends found out that I was doing Puerto Rico Fua, uh uh I could call them here and they'd be here in a second, you know.

[54:07] Jayke Workman: And then cut to the show, i you guys are looking out at the the ocean.

[54:12] Joel Perez: No, we ended up looking at the ocean.

[54:13] Jayke Workman: That's what made sense.

[54:14] Joel Perez: It was just so funny.

[54:16] Jayke Workman: Oh my god.

[54:17] Joel Perez: Power trip.

[54:18] Jayke Workman: Be nice, people.

[54:18] Joel Perez: Just be nice.

[54:20] Jayke Workman: Golden age or contemporary.

[54:23] Joel Perez: Oh.

[54:23] Jayke Workman: I like Golden age.

[54:25] Joel Perez: Me too.

[54:26] Jayke Workman: That's what people sang.

[54:27] Joel Perez: Now it's all about like, don't really sing.

[54:29] Jayke Workman: Don't really sing.

[54:30] Joel Perez: Throw it away.

[54:31] Jayke Workman: Just touch the pitch.

[54:32] Joel Perez: Yeah.

[54:33] Jayke Workman: Um, do you have a favorite role that you've ever played?

[54:36] Joel Perez: Favorite role I've ever played.

[54:39] Jayke Workman: Hmm.

[54:39] Joel Perez: I will.

[54:41] Joel Perez: Does it have to be theater?

[54:42] Jayke Workman: No.

[54:43] Joel Perez: I I play this character named Valentino on Has Been Hotel, which is an animated series.

[54:47] Jayke Workman: It's my favorite.

[54:49] Joel Perez: Yeah.

[54:51] Jayke Workman: And it's on Prime right now, right?

[54:52] Joel Perez: It's on Prime Video, yeah.

[54:54] Jayke Workman: Check it out.

[54:54] Joel Perez: It's a lot of musical theater people are in.

[54:55] Jayke Workman: Voice actor, honey.

[54:56] Joel Perez: Erica Henningson, Julia Vaughn, Jessica Vosk, Daphne Rubin Vega.

[55:02] Jayke Workman: Sickening.

[55:02] Joel Perez: Yeah.

[55:03] Jayke Workman: Oh my god.

[55:05] Joel Perez: Oh my god.

[55:06] Jayke Workman: Everyone.

[55:07] Joel Perez: Yeah.

[55:07] Jayke Workman: All your faves.

[55:10] Joel Perez: All your faves.

[55:11] Jayke Workman: Um, coffee or tea?

[55:11] Joel Perez: Coffee.

[55:12] Jayke Workman: Same.

[55:13] Joel Perez: What is the hardest show that you've ever done?

[55:16] Jayke Workman: A wrinkle in time.

[55:20] Joel Perez: A wrinkle in time.

[55:21] Jayke Workman: Y'all, whenever when you get the opportunity when wrinkle in time comes out, it's going to break people's brains.

[55:27] Joel Perez: Absolutely.

[55:27] Jayke Workman: It's certainly broken mine.

[55:28] Joel Perez: It's broken mine.

[55:29] Jayke Workman: But it's so good.

[55:31] Joel Perez: It's truly the hardest thing I've hardest musical I've ever been in.

[55:34] Jayke Workman: 100%.

[55:34] Joel Perez: I've just been like so fried in a way that I.

[55:37] Jayke Workman: But it's it's isn't that exciting though?

[55:38] Joel Perez: Yes.

[55:39] Jayke Workman: Isn't that actually very like it feels very like refreshing to be challenged?

[55:43] Joel Perez: Yes.

[55:43] Jayke Workman: Like musically and and like mathematically.

[55:46] Joel Perez: Like it is we are doing music science.

[55:50] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[55:50] Joel Perez: It's so cool.

[55:51] Jayke Workman: Well, my last question for you is a question I ask every single guest, which is what is one thing that you would tell Baby Joelle.

[56:00] Joel Perez: Oh god.

[56:01] Jayke Workman: This is your RuPaul moment.

[56:04] Joel Perez: I'm holding up the picture of Baby Joel.

[56:08] Joel Perez: I'd say.

[56:14] Joel Perez: It gets better.

[56:16] Joel Perez: And then it cuts to a picture of you with the tape over your mouth that says no hate.

[56:16] Jayke Workman: No hate.

[56:21] Joel Perez: Yeah.

[56:23] Joel Perez: I don't know. I guess I I'd tell him to just um just just keep keep doing it.

[56:29] Joel Perez: It's gonna lie. Things aren't gonna make sense for a while, but then it'll make a lot of sense.

[56:33] Jayke Workman: Period.

[56:34] Joel Perez: And then at a certain point you just say, fuck it.

[56:34] Jayke Workman: Fuck it.

[56:38] Joel Perez: You're just gonna tell the world you just can move to Australia.

[56:41] Jayke Workman: And live you live.

[56:42] Joel Perez: Live you live.

[56:44] Jayke Workman: This is important live you lawn.

[56:47] Joel Perez: Oh my god, I just adore you.

[56:49] Jayke Workman: Thank you so so much for coming on the pod.

[56:52] Joel Perez: Would you tell the listeners where they can find you on socials to keep up with shenanigans?

[56:56] Joel Perez: Follow me on all the socials at M-I-S-T-E-R-J-O-E-L-P-E-R-E-Z.

[57:02] Jayke Workman: Ooh.

[57:03] Joel Perez: That was sexy.

[57:04] Jayke Workman: Ooh.

[57:05] Joel Perez: Is this this becomes like the one-800 line?

[57:09] Jayke Workman: 1800.

[57:10] Joel Perez: 1-800 wrinkle.

[57:11] Jayke Workman: 1-800 wrinkle.

[57:15] Joel Perez: Oh my god.

[57:18] Jayke Workman: You guys, that's it for another episode of Oh MyPod, you guys.

[57:21] Jayke Workman: Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe anywhere you listen to the pod, and you can follow the show on Instagram at oh mypod, you guys.

[57:30] Joel Perez: Thank you so so so much for listening.

[57:31] Jayke Workman: Talk soon.

[57:31] Joel Perez: Bye.