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[0:00] Jayke Workman: Are people born wicked? Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them? Somebody let me see this damn movie already. Oh my god, did you hear? Did you hear? Did you hear my god, guys? Oh my god, oh my god, you guys! What's up, everybody? My name is Jayke Workman, and this is Oh My Pod, you guys, a musical theater and pop culture podcast. You guys, we have so much to dive into in this week's BroadwayWorld Recap brought to you by my amazing pals at BroadwayWorld.com. You guys we just celebrated the 28th anniversary of Chicago the Musical on Broadway, Broadway's current longest running show. And it was such a special night. And Broadway World shared the beautiful photos that they captured of the bows and of the little speech that Queen Dilise Croman gave on the stage celebrating 28 years and 11,000 performances of Chicago on Broadway.

You guys, it's been over 35,000 performances worldwide. Millions of people have seen the show, and so, you know, I've already spoken about it on the pod, but to know that I have had a hand, a teeny tiny hand in this legacy is just amazing, and it will never be lost on me how special it is to be a part of the show. So wishing everyone all over the globe who has been a part of this show a huge congratulations. Um, because it really is a family, and it's so amazing to see, you know, the number of people and the outpouring of love for this show year after year after year. And um, yeah, it was a really, really special night. It was so cool. I honestly can't believe that it's been running for so long.

Um, it's been a part of my life for six years now. So um, yeah, just really, really wild. Next, you guys, Broadway World shared the very, very beautiful first look photos at the new production of A Wonderful World on Broadway, starring James Monroe Eigelhart as none other than Louie Armstrong. You guys, these photos look absolutely beautiful. I'm so, so excited to see the show. Friend of the pod, Mr. James T. Lane, is the alternate Louie Armstrong, which is amazing. So I guess I'm gonna have to see it multiple times to be able to catch both of these incredible men in this role. Um, but I'm so excited. It just looks absolutely stunning. DeWitt Fleming Jr., baby boo, you better be tapping down.

He looks incredible. Um, so yeah, be sure to check out these amazing photos on Broadwayworld.com. And a huge congratulations um and happy opening to everyone involved in A Wonderful World. Next, you guys, Broadway World shared the very exciting announcement that Lucy Jones, West End star, is going to take on the role of Jenna Rink in the Broadway-aimed 13 Going On 30 musical. You guys, what a fucking dream of a show. I cannot wait for this. But oh my pod, you guys. Lucy Jones, star of the West End, she's been in Alphabet, she was in Mean Girls, she's an incredible vocalist. But imagine taking on such an iconic role, originally created by Jennifer Garner in this, you know, ridiculous movie. I love this movie and this story so much, and I cannot wait to see what Lucy Jones brings to the role.

Um, I kind of don't really understand the timing of this show or like the trajectory of like when it's going to be seen on Broadway, but I will be sure to report back as soon as I know everything because I truly am so excited about this show. Next, you guys, we got a very special Broadway World first look at the opening night red carpet of Tammy Faye on Broadway. You guys, I want to see the show so bad. Elton John was there to give a speech and introduce this new show. I've heard amazing things about the technical design. Obviously, this cast of stars is going to be incredible. But Tammy Faye is such an intriguing and like sort of mystical figure, specifically to the world of the queers and how she stood for them.

So um, I'm really excited to see this show. It looks beautiful, and you guys should check out all of the gorgeous red carpet coverage because everyone looks uh missing. And a huge congratulations and happy opening to the entire cast and crew of Tammy Faye on Broadway. And lastly, you guys, Broadway World was on the red carpet at the New York City premiere of Wicked the Movie. I know I have spoken ad nauseum at this point about Wicked on the pod, but you guys, it just feels so crazy. Like seeing the coverage from across the globe, you know, they've been in Australia, they've been in Asia, they've been everywhere. But to see them, to see Ari, to see Cynthia with the, you know, original cast members Kristen and Adina and everyone on the red carpet, well, like, or the green or pink carpet, um, in New York City at the premiere.

It's just so surreal. I like I always forget that celebrities are, you know, also just existing somewhere in the world, and they just so happen to be in the same town as me last night. So while I celebrated 28 years um of Chicago the musical, they were celebrating the world premiere uh in New York City of Wicked and they look exquisite. I'm just so beyond thrilled to see this movie. I wish I had been invited. Shout out to whoever dropped the vault on that. I did not get to go to the premiere, but you can bet your bottom dollar I will be seated for the premiere for the opening day of Wicked the Movie. And you guys, this has been the BroadwayWorld Recap. Oh my pod you guys, I am so excited to finally welcome my next guest to the show. It has been a hot minute it's been a long time coming. Star of the stage and screen and one of truly one of my favorite people, the most hilarious that I know, Mr. Phillip Taratula.

[6:26] Phillip Taratula: Thank you so much for having me.

[6:28] Jayke Workman: Thank you for being here. I'm so excited we have so, so much to talk about. You made the glorious uh grand caravan trek from your home to be here to here to be in the studio today. I can't thank you enough. I think these things are always better in person anyway.

[6:45] Phillip Taratula: I agree. It's anytime someone is like excited and willing to come in person I'm always excited because it just there is that weird wall when it's done virtually where you're either waiting for someone to finish a point or whatever you're like nervous to interject and I know you're not nervous to interject, so this ought to be a great conversation.

[7:09] Jayke Workman: Yes, exactly, no pressure. But I thought we should of course just talk about how we first met ever, which was working on um a developmental workshop of A Wrinkle In Time. Tell me your path to that show and sort of your connection to the material, but also though that creative team because you had worked with multiple people who worked on that project.

[7:32] Phillip Taratula: Yes. Um, Lee Sonday Evans, our brilliant director of that piece, and I were in the same theater company for many years called Collaboration Town. Yes. And I did about five or six shows with Lee and that group. So I've known Lee for a long time. And I knew Heather Christian as well, the composer, genius composer. Queen. Um, because we had worked on a piece she did that was an adaptation of a Gertrude Stein children's book called The World Is Round. Cool. And that was really, really fun. I did that with Amber Gray and April Mathis, and it was like, you know, just casually dropping those lovely ladies' names. Um and that was great.

[8:11] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[8:11] Phillip Taratula: So I knew them both. And Lee, so it's interesting, like at the time of the theater company that we both worked in, that's what there was for like all of us out of college, coming here, wanting to start our careers. There were tons of theater companies. Rachel Shavkin had a theater company, the team, Alex Timbers had a theater company, Frereus Coupousier, Lila Neugebauer had a company. So we were all doing those shows and kind of all have still known each other from that, really. And now that all these people that we've all moved along now and kind of know each other from fancier gigs, I guess. You know, it's like we still knew each other when kind of thing. And and there's still that like spirit of I like playing with you. Let's play together on this.

[8:56] Jayke Workman: 100%.

[8:58] Phillip Taratula: Yeah. That's so cool. So you and I both got like, you know, wrapped up in that project at New York Stage and Film Festival. Um, which was so fun. I'd never done anything like it, not only, you know, material wise for A Wrinkle In Time. I've always loved the book, but you know, learning that kooky crazy music by Miss Heather Christian. Yeah. But in also in that sort of like little artistic bubble and in that like time frame. Like we had what, 10 days, I think.

[9:29] Jayke Workman: What's that?

[9:29] Phillip Taratula: Yeah. To like fully basically stage a reading of it for an audience. And it was pre like we didn't even have all of the music done yet. It was very, very like early days. Um I actually had the the pleasure of getting to revisit it this past summer.

[9:45] Jayke Workman: Right.

[9:45] Phillip Taratula: In a, you know, bigger, more developmental um capacity. But had you worked on projects like that before that are the sort of like newborn baby that is yet to walk?

[10:01] Phillip Taratula: Yeah, definitely. And I feel like uh New York Stage and Film was great because they weren't kidding. They were like, this is developmental. We like read the lyrics, you know, yes for people and their audiences expect that and accept it sort of were like cool, this is where you're at in the process. Um yeah, I had done workshops, developmental things out of town before. There was one in Martha's Vineyard, I think it was called Art Farm for a while.

[10:27] Jayke Workman: Ooh, that was Martha's Vineyard.

[10:29] Phillip Taratula: That was cute. That was fun. And that was a play my friend Matt Wilkes wrote, and we went for he was like writing all week, and we were just like, we would like meet from like three to five to just like read what he wrote, and then we're like, okay, back to the beach. Bye. Going to dinner.

[10:44] Jayke Workman: Oh my God, that's amazing.

[10:46] Phillip Taratula: That was fun. Martha's Vineyard. I worked, I haven't worked at um Cape Playhouse, but when it was still a thing, I did um a summer season at a theater called Monomoy, which was on Cape Cod in Chatham. And oh my word. I can't like nothing beats fucking Cape Cod and those like Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard. Like that is so great.

[11:07] Jayke Workman: I did a play in Wellfleet in the city.

[11:09] Phillip Taratula: Oh yeah.

[11:10] Jayke Workman: Oh my god.

[11:10] Phillip Taratula: That's great.

[11:11] Jayke Workman: How did you get to the Cape?

[11:13] Phillip Taratula: Oh God.

[11:14] Jayke Workman: Physically, you mean?

[11:15] Phillip Taratula: Yes.

[11:16] Jayke Workman: How did Tell me your journey?

[11:19] Phillip Taratula: Every job I had. Seriously. I think how did I get to the Cape? I think I took a train to Boston and then a bus from Boston.

[11:27] Jayke Workman: Are you a train person or a bus person?

[11:29] Phillip Taratula: A train.

[11:30] Jayke Workman: Me too.

[11:31] Phillip Taratula: Oh, and because we remember when we took the train to see our dear friend Robbie, friend of the pod. Yes. To see Assassins. Brilliant production of Assassins. It was stunning. Also, Jane Fonda was casually there. Which was great.

[11:40] Jayke Workman: So bizarre.

[11:42] Phillip Taratula: But we took the train, thank God, because I was like, I cannot take a bus to Philly. I'm so sorry to say I'm not that girl.

[11:50] Jayke Workman: No.

[11:50] Phillip Taratula: Have you ever taken trains in Europe? Like I took a train from Amsterdam to Cologne last year. First of all, it was 20 euro, and it was three hours, and I had an assigned seat, and the Wi-Fi was lightning crap.

[12:03] Jayke Workman: Frisk.

[12:04] Phillip Taratula: Oh my god. 20 euro.

[12:06] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[12:07] Phillip Taratula: To go to like another country. Sure, casually. Meanwhile, it's 155 dollars to go from here to Washington, DC.

[12:13] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[12:14] Phillip Taratula: On a train that will take five hours.

[12:17] Jayke Workman: And we'll probably be late.

[12:18] Phillip Taratula: Ah!

[12:19] Jayke Workman: Oh my God. Um, okay, so we must talk about your show that just closed. I'm so so mad at myself that I didn't get down there to see it out, honey.

[12:29] Phillip Taratula: You were sold.

[12:30] Jayke Workman: I did try to look into tickets, and I was like, Well, I missed my opportunity.

[12:33] Phillip Taratula: It's all good. Tell me the show.

[12:35] Jayke Workman: It was called The Beastiary.

[12:37] Phillip Taratula: The Beastiary, okay. And it was talking about companies. It was another theater company on the rocks, which is Christopher Ford and Dakota Rose, and Ars Nova commissioned them to develop this piece for the past three years.

[12:51] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[12:51] Phillip Taratula: I jumped in for a workshop of it earlier this year with no idea that this fall production was happening.

[12:59] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, it was delightful.

[13:01] Phillip Taratula: And then this summer they were like, Do you want to do it? So it really like came out of the blue, as sometimes things do, thankfully.

[13:10] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[13:10] Phillip Taratula: And it was just an amazing experience. So great. Love. And we closed this weekend, and like, you know, we were full, and it was so bold. Original was like this dark medieval comedy about the end of the world. And uh with puppets, and we had a live Theremin player on stage.

[13:28] Jayke Workman: Oh my god.

[13:29] Phillip Taratula: Cornelius Lloyd, who's brilliant. And Ellen Winter was our brilliant uh orchestrator, arranger with music. The whole play was underscored. So it was great. I'm really, really hoping it has a second life.

[13:46] Jayke Workman: There's smoke in the air.

[13:48] Phillip Taratula: The apartment's burning down.

[13:49] Jayke Workman: Oh, great.

[13:49] Phillip Taratula: Thank you.

[13:51] Jayke Workman: We woo we will.

[13:52] Phillip Taratula: Yeah.

[13:52] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, I can barely breathe.

[13:53] Phillip Taratula: Um, I so wish I'd seen it. You described it to me a couple of weeks ago when we were working on a 29-hour reading together.

[14:00] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[14:01] Phillip Taratula: And you were like, it is one of the hardest, craziest things you've ever done because it was so involved, like you were doing a million and one things.

[14:11] Phillip Taratula: There were five of us, and if you weren't in a scene, you were operating a puppet, or you were—and we had these lightning-fast transitions that we perfected over tech, but because it was so well rehearsed, doing it was so fun.

[14:24] Jayke Workman: I'm sure because you just wrote it, you know, the momentum carried you along, and the actors were so great.

[14:30] Jayke Workman: So, did you have experience puppeteering before then?

[14:33] Phillip Taratula: I had a little bit.

[14:34] Phillip Taratula: Okay.

[14:34] Phillip Taratula: I had a little bit. You gotta do it all, but you're kind of like, sure, I can—I’ll do it.

[14:41] Phillip Taratula: You want me to ride side saddle? Absolutely. I'll figure it out later.

[14:45] Jayke Workman: Right, it is so amazing.

[14:47] Phillip Taratula: Yeah, that in Skin of Our Teeth, we had a three-foot, three-story high slide on stage that Adam Rigg, genius set designer, made.

[14:56] Phillip Taratula: And you know, I was like, I'll go down the slide, I'll do it.

[15:00] Phillip Taratula: That was what—when I talked to Janine, and she was telling me about how Jerry Mitchell was like, Can anyone—does anyone want to do this lift? You have to jump off a 30-foot thing into men's arms.

[15:11] Phillip Taratula: And Janine was like, I'll do it.

[15:12] Jayke Workman: Yeah, sounds fun.

[15:14] Phillip Taratula: Yeah, wait, we—okay.

[15:16] Jayke Workman: So we must talk about Skin of Our Teeth.

[15:17] Phillip Taratula: Sure.

[15:18] Jayke Workman: This was your Broadway debut, incredible at 39.

[15:22] Phillip Taratula: It's never too late.

[15:22] Jayke Workman: And what?

[15:23] Phillip Taratula: No, I live for that.

[15:25] Phillip Taratula: And that was like something that I was excited to ask you about because you have been so open and excited to share about your sort of road to there.

[15:35] Phillip Taratula: Um, and I love it because it really is a true testament that there is no—this is nonlinear, there is no simple trajectory for anyone.

[15:44] Jayke Workman: Yeah, um, but you made your Broadway debut at Lincoln Center, yeah, at the Vivian Beaumont.

[15:48] Phillip Taratula: Yeah.

[15:48] Jayke Workman: Casual.

[15:49] Phillip Taratula: In the post-pandemic season.

[15:52] Jayke Workman: Right.

[15:52] Phillip Taratula: Which was wild.

[15:53] Jayke Workman: Tell me about—were you involved before the pandemic, or was it everything came afterward?

[15:59] Phillip Taratula: Let me tell you, it was interesting.

[16:02] Phillip Taratula: Uh, I have to back up a little bit because of all—the dis—I'm gonna say this was December 2021.

[16:11] Phillip Taratula: I got an audition to replace as an understudy in the national tour of What the Constitution Means to Me.

[16:18] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[16:19] Phillip Taratula: And that was very exciting to get that audition.

[16:23] Phillip Taratula: Yeah.

[16:23] Phillip Taratula: And I was like, oh, and I'd seen that show.

[16:25] Phillip Taratula: I actually saw it the day of the Kavanaugh hearings, and Heidi Shrek—oh, it was so intense, and Heidi acknowledged that at the top of the show, and then it seamlessly just then did the show, and it blew me away.

[16:38] Phillip Taratula: I saw it at New York Theater Workshop, and I was like, I feel like I'm seeing something that only happened once.

[16:42] Phillip Taratula: It felt so great.

[16:45] Phillip Taratula: And so I got the audition, and—but it never occurred to me that I was like saw Mike Ibison's part, and like, oh, that's a great part for me.

[16:51] Phillip Taratula: I just was watching the show.

[16:53] Phillip Taratula: So when I got the audition, I was like so excited.

[16:55] Phillip Taratula: It's two big, big monologues, but they gave me a lot of time.

[17:00] Phillip Taratula: They gave me like eight days to work on it.

[17:03] Jayke Workman: Oh wow, okay.

[17:04] Phillip Taratula: And it was an in-person audition too, and it was like my first in-person audition since pre-pandemic, which felt like a million years ago.

[17:11] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, yeah.

[17:12] Phillip Taratula: So I remember that audition, and I was going, and it was still the time where everyone was in masks, and you took the mask off right before you went in the room and did something for a room full of people wearing masks.

[17:23] Phillip Taratula: So it was then, so I just remember being so nervous at that audition, and it felt so huge because of course I hadn't done one in so long.

[17:33] Phillip Taratula: So anyway, I got the job, and then that—I got the offer, I was gonna like join the tour right after the holidays.

[17:41] Phillip Taratula: This is like mid-December.

[17:42] Phillip Taratula: And then I got days later an audition, a Zoom call back for Skin of Our Teeth.

[17:49] Phillip Taratula: I was like, oh, that's cool.

[17:50] Phillip Taratula: That's Lincoln Center, that's great.

[17:51] Jayke Workman: Oh, that's fun.

[17:53] Phillip Taratula: And cute, see.

[17:54] Phillip Taratula: Meanwhile, Omicron came out.

[17:56] Jayke Workman: Uh-huh.

[17:57] Phillip Taratula: And remember that week where like literally everybody you know got COVID?

[18:00] Jayke Workman: Yes, that's the week that I made my Broadway debut because they had no one else because of Omicron.

[18:06] Phillip Taratula: They were like, Are you alive and are you in New York City?

[18:10] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[18:10] Phillip Taratula: You a lot.

[18:11] Phillip Taratula: I remember that week vividly.

[18:13] Phillip Taratula: If you can—if you pass this COVID test, you can make your Broadway debut.

[18:16] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[18:17] Phillip Taratula: Oh, it's so funny.

[18:18] Jayke Workman: Yeah, so that was that week.

[18:20] Phillip Taratula: And then that was a Zoom callback.

[18:22] Phillip Taratula: I think it was gonna be in person, but probably someone got COVID.

[18:25] Phillip Taratula: I don't know.

[18:26] Phillip Taratula: It was on Zoom.

[18:26] Phillip Taratula: It was five minutes long.

[18:28] Phillip Taratula: I remember it was like days before Christmas.

[18:30] Phillip Taratula: I think I flew to see my family the next day.

[18:33] Phillip Taratula: And then I was like, oh well, that was fine.

[18:35] Phillip Taratula: I got—but you know, I know I'm joining this tour that I'm so excited about.

[18:38] Jayke Workman: Sure.

[18:39] Phillip Taratula: Joined the tour, fade out, fade in.

[18:41] Phillip Taratula: Like a few weeks later, my agent's like, you got Skin of Our Teeth.

[18:44] Phillip Taratula: So I was like, oh my god.

[18:46] Phillip Taratula: So then I had to leave the tour a month early so I could come back to New York to do rehearsals.

[18:53] Jayke Workman: Wow.

[18:54] Phillip Taratula: And I'd never left a job before, and I had a lot of like nerves about that.

[18:58] Jayke Workman: Sure.

[18:58] Phillip Taratula: Well, especially in a circumstance where it's like we literally just didn't work for two years.

[19:02] Phillip Taratula: And I'm gonna give you this like production tour, and I'm like, I'm like, I'm sorry.

[19:06] Phillip Taratula: And in such a special show.

[19:09] Phillip Taratula: Like Constitution was one that like really changed the back sphere.

[19:14] Jayke Workman: She should.

[19:15] Phillip Taratula: Yeah, really.

[19:16] Phillip Taratula: And I never went on, which was a shock because of Omicron.

[19:20] Phillip Taratula: I was like, oh God, I'm definitely gonna go on.

[19:22] Phillip Taratula: Didn't go on.

[19:23] Jayke Workman: But was the position a standby position?

[19:26] Phillip Taratula: Yeah, understudy to the—uh, Mike's part.

[19:31] Jayke Workman: Okay.

[19:31] Phillip Taratula: Yeah.

[19:32] Phillip Taratula: He was leaving the tour and his current understudy was taking over, so I was gonna be the—

[19:32] Jayke Workman: I see.

[19:37] Phillip Taratula: Okay.

[19:37] Phillip Taratula: Yeah.

[19:37] Phillip Taratula: And then when I left to do Skin of Our Teeth, there was only like a month left of the tour anyway.

[19:42] Phillip Taratula: So it wasn't too much of a—you weren't throwing somebody away that you never got to do.

[19:48] Jayke Workman: No, but then I went into rehearsals for Skin of Our Teeth, which was amazing.

[19:51] Phillip Taratula: Liliana Blaine Cruz is just the best.

[19:55] Phillip Taratula: She's an amazing director and so funny, and so like her energy and she's so smart and like got everyone to fall in love with this gnarly, difficult but brilliant play, you know?

[19:55] Phillip Taratula: Yeah, and energized the room constantly, and it was great.

[20:16] Phillip Taratula: And it was a huge show.

[20:17] Phillip Taratula: There were like 30 of us.

[20:17] Jayke Workman: 30, yeah.

[20:22] Phillip Taratula: And three.

[20:24] Phillip Taratula: And it was like we were in previews for like a month.

[20:24] Phillip Taratula: It was like a lot, but she would keep everyone's, you know, spirits.

[20:30] Jayke Workman: That's amazing.

[20:31] Phillip Taratula: So how long was that experience for you?

[20:34] Phillip Taratula: Um, I think—I mean, it was like a limited run to begin with.

[20:38] Phillip Taratula: I think we ran, ended up running like two and a half, two months or something.

[20:41] Jayke Workman: Oh, sure.

[20:42] Phillip Taratula: Yeah.

[20:42] Phillip Taratula: So enough time for it to like really sink in for you and have it be like your day in, day out, your eight shows a week.

[20:51] Phillip Taratula: 100% vibe.

[20:52] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[20:52] Phillip Taratula: Wow.

[20:53] Jayke Workman: It's just so interesting to me too because I have never—I mean, I've done plays here and there, but not to the extent to which you have.

[21:01] Jayke Workman: Um, and my approach to things, um, rehearsal processes and projects and readings, um, is so rooted in the musical element of it.

[21:14] Phillip Taratula: Yeah.

[21:14] Jayke Workman: And I'd love to know about sort of like the Venn diagram for you of like the world of music and musical theater and how strong you are as an actor outside of that.

[21:26] Jayke Workman: Because I think I've spoken to a lot of people on the podcast about how people are most often trained to be really, really good at one thing, or to be like the best singer.

[21:39] Phillip Taratula: Yeah.

[21:39] Jayke Workman: And then like everything will fall into place, or like the best dancer, and then it's like, you know, you'll get the job and then you can figure out the rest of it later.

[21:45] Phillip Taratula: Right.

[21:46] Jayke Workman: But like your background as an actor is so sort of like intrinsic to you, and you're so good at what you do.

[21:53] Jayke Workman: Even just like the few things that I've gotten to either see you in or watch you work in as like a coworker, I'm always so like just enthralled by what you do because you are such a chameleon.

[22:06] Phillip Taratula: You're so fucking funny.

[22:08] Jayke Workman: So did you know—like this is such a long-winded question.

[22:11] Phillip Taratula: What else is new?

[22:12] Jayke Workman: Welcome to the podcast.

[22:13] Phillip Taratula: No, no, no, sorry.

[22:14] Jayke Workman: But it's full of compliments, so I'm really enjoying it.

[22:17] Phillip Taratula: You're like, no, no, no.

[22:18] Phillip Taratula: This is absolutely fine with me.

[22:20] Jayke Workman: Um, did you always know that like being an actor and being a storyteller was for you?

[22:26] Phillip Taratula: Or was it—did you start in the musical world?

[22:29] Phillip Taratula: Like, no, I—I was—it's funny you say chameleon because I was like that little kid who would like run around by himself in the playground pretending to be somebody.

[22:41] Phillip Taratula: Of course.

[22:49] Phillip Taratula: Like I—or like I would pretend to—I that I was like dying or something.

[22:55] Phillip Taratula: Like, you know, I would like make up stories and just like alone.

[22:58] Jayke Workman: Oh, just alone.

[22:59] Phillip Taratula: Of course, completely.

[23:00] Phillip Taratula: So like the idea of theater—I didn't really start doing theater until high school, and I didn't start seeing theater until I started doing theater.

[23:11] Phillip Taratula: And I lucked out.

[23:12] Phillip Taratula: I went to a public high school that had a really, really excellent theater department.

[23:16] Jayke Workman: Where was that?

[23:17] Phillip Taratula: It was in Claremont, California.

[23:19] Jayke Workman: Okay.

[23:19] Phillip Taratula: So suburb of Los Angeles.

[23:21] Phillip Taratula: And we did eight shows a year.

[23:23] Jayke Workman: Oh my God.

[23:25] Phillip Taratula: Yeah.

[23:25] Phillip Taratula: Wow, that's amazing.

[23:27] Phillip Taratula: We had this amazing teacher, Krista Carson Alhe.

[23:30] Phillip Taratula: She was extraordinary.

[23:32] Phillip Taratula: And you couldn't just be in shows, you had to know how to do the crew as well.

[23:36] Phillip Taratula: You had to learn how to put on makeup, you had to learn how to, you know, do everything.

[23:41] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[23:41] Phillip Taratula: Uh, hang a light, you know, everything.

[23:43] Phillip Taratula: I mean, so cool.

[23:44] Phillip Taratula: It was great, great, great, great training.

[23:47] Phillip Taratula: And that's when I like scarily slowly started doing musicals, but I actually mostly did plays.

[23:53] Phillip Taratula: Sure.

[23:54] Phillip Taratula: And then I went to college, then I went to like a traditional acting conservatory.

[23:59] Phillip Taratula: And then after school, I learned like, well, if I really wanted to work, so I was like, maybe I should audition for musicals too.

[24:08] Phillip Taratula: And then I studied voice for like two or three years really seriously.

[24:12] Jayke Workman: Sure.

[24:13] Phillip Taratula: With a teacher here in the city, and I got much, much better.

[24:15] Jayke Workman: So I mean, it's so wild to me that you didn't initially have that training because you do have just such the inherent like natural vocal ability.

[24:25] Phillip Taratula: And it's so resonant.

[24:26] Jayke Workman: Like I think that also probably comes from knowing how to be an actor and use your instrument.

[24:32] Phillip Taratula: But, um, you know, cut to us working on the Wrinkle in Time music at some point.

[24:32] Phillip Taratula: I played piano growing up too, so that helped me musically, and I always had like a pretty good ear for things.

[24:42] Phillip Taratula: I like—and that helps as well.

[24:44] Phillip Taratula: So like—and it's interesting with Wrinkle in Time and Heather's music in particular, the piece I did with her, she just—we all just sat around the piano and she just sung our parts for us.

[24:55] Phillip Taratula: So it wasn't on the page, so like that seemed less in—I think maybe if I saw the music on the page, I'd be more intimidated by it.

[25:04] Phillip Taratula: Yeah, but I was just listening to it, and so it felt—I wasn't so scared, yeah, you know?

[25:04] Jayke Workman: A hundred percent.

[25:11] Phillip Taratula: But, um, yeah, and then I started—then I started getting work in musicals, and I was like, oh geez, I guess I can do this, and then like I started like kind of dipping into them, and it's usually character roles or someone who sings a little.

[25:26] Jayke Workman: Uh-huh.

[25:26] Phillip Taratula: You know, I'm never gonna be fucking Jean Valjean.

[25:31] Phillip Taratula: But like, you know, it's the—those someone like Danny Bernstein, you know, who's a great singer, but like you're kind of always also—he's in the kind of musicals that are like, okay, these are, yeah, more book heavy or story forward or whatever.

[25:45] Jayke Workman: Sure.

[25:46] Jayke Workman: Well, so you just did a production of La Cage.

[25:49] Phillip Taratula: I did, which I would love to hear about.

[25:51] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[25:51] Phillip Taratula: Um, and I think in tandem with talking about the show, I would love to ask you if you would be so willing to talk about your experience as a queer person, yeah, and as an artist and how those things intertwine.

[26:05] Phillip Taratula: I—it's not often I think, or at least it hasn't been for me that the projects that I work on get to necessarily tell queer stories.

[26:15] Jayke Workman: Right.

[26:15] Phillip Taratula: Um, obviously what we bring to a project as a queer person just can't really be separated all that much from the material, but um, I'd love to know like your experience in doing that show and others that you know really honor the queer experience.

[26:29] Phillip Taratula: Like, how did you—have you done that show before or was that your first time?

[26:32] Phillip Taratula: That was my first time.

[26:33] Phillip Taratula: Amazing.

[26:34] Phillip Taratula: And it was the gayest show I've ever been in.

[26:36] Phillip Taratula: And it was so joyous.

[26:38] Phillip Taratula: I loved—I loved the cast so much.

[26:42] Jayke Workman: Who did you play?

[26:43] Phillip Taratula: I played Jacob the House Boy.

[26:45] Phillip Taratula: Yes.

[26:45] Phillip Taratula: Which in the script he's in his twenties.

[26:48] Phillip Taratula: So I was—when I got called in for it, and I knew the director socially, Mike Donahue, but we hadn't worked together.

[26:55] Phillip Taratula: Um, and so I was like, um, are you sh—this is this correct?

[26:59] Phillip Taratula: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[27:00] Phillip Taratula: He's like, I think it would be kind of fun and interesting if Jacob was like more of a peer of George and Alban.

[27:06] Phillip Taratula: I love that.

[27:06] Phillip Taratula: And so they have more—maybe a little bit more of a history and more.

[27:09] Phillip Taratula: Yeah, more of a rapport.

[27:11] Phillip Taratula: Um, yeah, yeah.

[27:12] Phillip Taratula: And I—so that was fun to just like—and he was really open to reinventing the part a little bit, and I—and I um, I did add a lot of lines.

[27:22] Phillip Taratula: Not a lot, but I did—I did try out a few things that I remember.

[27:31] Phillip Taratula: I did because it we were I don't know, it was like a short run, and I'm like, Well, I don't know. Maybe we'll get a cease and desist from both of you, but we shall see. But there were a few that would that was really fun to just kind of add and uh that's so fun.

[27:45] Jayke Workman: Yeah. So was that th your sort of like first real moment getting to do a a gay play?

[27:53] Phillip Taratula: A gay play for sure, but years ago I did this web series called The Outs that had this huge following. Yes, yes. And that was definitely like I don't know, s well, it became a phenomenon in the moment. Like I I I was so I just thought I was doing this little, I'm like, oh, this will be good practice to be on camera as an actor. And then it found this enormous audience. And there was like a period of time where people would just like come up to me and be like, oh, I love the out so much. I love you on it. And I was like, am I famous? This is crazy. Am I famous? But I'm not, I'm I'm going, I'm on my way to my day job right now. It's just like such a weird.

[28:33] Jayke Workman: Very that. Someone like comes into the fucking back room at the J crew and is like, I love you on the outs.

[28:39] Phillip Taratula: Right, right, right. How dare you? Oh my god. Recently I was headed to JFK and someone I was at someone came off the train and was like, that show meant so much to my childhood. And I was like, oh Lord. Read me for filth bitch. No, it was it was lovely, but I was sort of like, oh yes, time has passed. So I guess that was that was the first thing I felt I felt like I was part of something important as a queer person.

[29:07] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[29:07] Phillip Taratula: That was not that that was not sort of um stereotypical. I think that was the big thing about it. It's like the characters were more just like people you knew. Just existed.

[29:19] Jayke Workman: Right.

[29:20] Phillip Taratula: Yeah. And written by queer people.

[29:21] Jayke Workman: Totally.

[29:22] Phillip Taratula: So it was it it resonated, I think, for those reasons.

[29:25] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[29:26] Phillip Taratula: For sure. Did you always know that you were queer?

[29:29] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[29:30] Phillip Taratula: Yeah. For sure. I think I truly remember being like three years old. And being like, I'm gay.

[29:36] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[29:37] Phillip Taratula: I didn't know what gay was. And obviously I didn't know what sex or anything was, but I was like, oh. I just I think there's like an even and maybe it's like just a fake thing that I've convinced myself is real, but like the the super power of being gay. You just we just have this different sensibility about the world.

[29:56] Jayke Workman: Totally.

[29:57] Phillip Taratula: Totally. And my parents had a gay couple they were friends with. And I would go over to their house, I remember and play.

[30:03] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[30:03] Phillip Taratula: So it didn't seem so strange to me. And I have to also say I went to an acting school where unlike a lot of my friends and uh their and their experiences with their schools, no one at school was ever like, you're not gonna work 'cause you're gay or you shouldn't, you should talk like this or you should walk like this, or any there there was no sh there was not any shaming of that at at well and I went to Boston University and there and the ever from everyone in the faculty was like you you be yourself. You know, find who you are.

[30:37] Jayke Workman: Fantastic.

[30:38] Phillip Taratula: And so dashing that was really great. And then I I you know post college you'd I'd hear these like horror stories from people who had very abusive teachers.

[30:49] Jayke Workman: Sure.

[30:49] Phillip Taratula: You know, so I I think that's less so now but at the time I mean I would hope so but at the same time it it is you know there are those programs that are going to in in some way or another sort of hint and nudge at the like if you want to be successful you could try this. And it's like we have got to move past these like archaic ideas of like what it means to be like the leading man.

[31:15] Jayke Workman: Yeah the ingenue the character actor whatever that means I'm like are we not all playing characters?

[31:20] Phillip Taratula: I don't understand.

[31:21] Jayke Workman: Right.

[31:22] Phillip Taratula: Uh but yeah that's so amazing that you that you had that experience. That's great. That's just so rare.

[31:29] Jayke Workman: Rare so good for very rare did you was there ever a point like I mean I guess this is like such a broad question, but like who were your divas?

[31:39] Phillip Taratula: 'Cause we of course, and a we will talk about Miss Yes. We have to talk about Elaine and we have to talk about uh never Yo Carol Channel.

[31:49] Jayke Workman: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[31:50] Phillip Taratula: Sure. I like again going back to the this like idea of like the gay superpower of just like we just know we have this connection on like a different level about these like people who just every gay man has their diva.

[32:02] Jayke Workman: Of course.

[32:03] Phillip Taratula: It it's ch I'm sure it's a thing.

[32:05] Jayke Workman: Yes.

[32:05] Phillip Taratula: How did you come about like knowing who these people were? Like your exposure to Carol or Elaine or Patty or like any of these like you know, sort of titans of the queer.

[32:17] Phillip Taratula: My diva just recently left us though.

[32:20] Jayke Workman: Who?

[32:20] Phillip Taratula: Maggie Smith.

[32:22] Jayke Workman: Oh yes, I forgot.

[32:24] Phillip Taratula: She's she was really I mean, I was uh I I came late to musical theater.

[32:30] Jayke Workman: Sure.

[32:30] Phillip Taratula: Kind of frightened me a lot as a teenager. I was like, oh, this is really intense. I'm getting that gay. Not bad. I just didn't know. I just didn't know. My parents didn't know it. I didn't go to musicals. I didn't know. But I then I like loved, you know, then it was like it was actually really great to deep dive at uh being in my twenties, kind of, and I was like appreciated it maybe a little bit more than I I I had, and I'm like, oh, these shows are dark. Cabaret in Chicago, I like loved so much. But yeah, Maggie Smith, Meryl Streep, uh Judy Davis, Diane Weist was a big diva.

[33:07] Jayke Workman: Diane.

[33:07] Phillip Taratula: Seeing her in Bullets Over Broadway when I was a that was.

[33:10] Jayke Workman: Oh my god.

[33:11] Phillip Taratula: Oh yeah, yeah. So those were I loved actors who were different from role to roll. That was like, I was like, ooh, I want to be like that.

[33:19] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[33:20] Phillip Taratula: You know, and people who could be funny but also dramatic. I loved that.

[33:24] Jayke Workman: Yeah, we just um I the other night they dimmed the lights for for day maggie Maggie I know and I was in wonderful London as a student and Judy Dench and Maggie Smith were in a play that I think wasn't supposed to be very good but they were in a play together and I was with uh my friend and we were in it was sold out and we were at the front of the cancellation line they're like well I have one ticket and my sweet friend turned to me and goes Phillip do you want it and I was like no let's just go to dinner we should we both can't go biggest pouty lips and long lashes Phillip Taratula bamboozling their way into so we did and now now looking back I was like oh why didn't I just take the ticket and see Maggie I'm sorry Maggie or wherever she is she's not mad.

[34:14] Phillip Taratula: She's not she's like who are you oh my god so uh switching gears a little bit because I know um that you've worked pretty pretty extensively in the world of TV and film and and had lots of different experiences I want to know like the main difference if someone who is coming up in the world of acting asked you like what is the biggest difference between working on stage and working on TV and film for you.

[34:43] Jayke Workman: God that's a good question.

[34:44] Phillip Taratula: I think it's sort of being they when they say rehearsal for TV it's it's not really rehearsal. It's not a rehearsal it's kind of like this is these are your this is where you need to be this is where you need to move but you gotta be like ready to go, really when you're when you're showing up. It's it's kind of like opening, you know, and you're like opening night. You're like, okay, this is this is it, this is the the performance. So but you also have to be very flexible. You have to be really kind of like, oh, this is not the vibe I thought it was gonna be, so I'm gonna reconfigure maybe my performance or okay, respond to whoever I'm working with. I've been really lucky though. I've had like really good directors when I've worked on TV, and I've also had really great directors of photography who let me like see the monitor so I know what the frame of the shot is.

[35:34] Jayke Workman: Sure.

[35:35] Phillip Taratula: And that's a big part of it. But um, yeah, I would say that's kind of the main difference. But I also I think it's informed how I rehearse in theater now too, because like I've found showing up in rehearsal, knowing my lines, I don't know what I'm necessarily gonna do, but like showing up, knowing my lines, yeah, and being ready to truly play and truly try things out, has been like really, really a game changer for me.

[36:02] Jayke Workman: Have you ever been surprised um by something that makes it into like a final cut of um a show you've done?

[36:10] Phillip Taratula: Like have there been things that you've like just thrown into the ring and been like, we'll see if they keep it or not, and 100%. When I did high maintenance, I played Martha Stewart's assistant in this episode.

[36:19] Jayke Workman: That's insane.

[36:19] Phillip Taratula: So I spent like 12 hours with Martha Stewart. That's insane. Which was great. I mean, who is exactly like you think she's she's like fantastic and so formidable and like so that was wild. And the director was like, Phillip, just get Martha talking, just ad lib, just improvise. So I think some of that ended up in the final episode. It was great.

[36:41] Jayke Workman: So when you are auditioning for things like that, do you take any liberties? Or like are there, you know, like when you receive sides and they have like a very limited description of who this person is.

[36:52] Phillip Taratula: Yeah, do you just sort of decide, like, okay, I'm gonna do it this way. If they wanna ask me to do it a different way, yeah, that's that's up to them like how do you navigate that I I I try to remember especially for comedic things it is an audition so there's kind of like um if there's like a final button I could do or something physically I could do I will always do it. And sometimes that's a little a little ad lib in there with dialogue but for the most part I try to stick with the script but I but I but I'm not afraid I added a lot of lies that was an example I was given permission.

[37:28] Jayke Workman: Yeah teasing but but um with and I when I did end just like that I remember I had this really funny part where it was like this man pushing a stroller with his child in it and then he like almost gets hit by a car but like not really and then I scream the script says he's screaming and beating on the car and I'm screaming at Karen Pittman and Leroy McLean. And I I was like I remember my friend taped my self tape and he was like it's very it's very big what you're doing. I was like well I was like listen I'm a New Yorker like if someone is physically beating on the car and they've really lost it.

[38:12] Phillip Taratula: Yes they've bec they have become unhinged. Or it's a Tuesday morning and they are they live in fidee and they've had enough yeah yeah I'm like this man had enough so it was it was when you say I have a child I have a toddler that was the laugh that is so amazing.

[38:31] Jayke Workman: Yeah, it was great. It was really fun. But I think that I mean, just knowing you now, like that, that just speaks to your level of like wanting to play. Like, there's never a moment where you're like, I don't know, I'm not gonna really find anything else in this.

[38:46] Phillip Taratula: Like, there's always always something that you could mine. I um I just I I because I just love it. I love finding the the things to play and things to do.

[38:56] Jayke Workman: Of course.

[38:56] Phillip Taratula: And I'm always kind of like, oh, is there something in this moment here? And the show like I just closed. Like we were still definitely like finding things doing new stuff as we as we went along within the within the structure of it. I had this like monologue where I'm coked out of my mind and and I'm just speaking really, really fast. And then I was just like figuring out where to add like all the little sniffs and everything. I'm like, that's fun. That's my idea of fun.

[39:22] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[39:24] Phillip Taratula: Screw your Friday night. I'm gonna do a monologue.

[39:28] Jayke Workman: Yeah. I mean, even just the way that we would play in rehearsal for this previous workshop we did, and then also um when we did wrinkle the first time, the the references because we also had the pleasure of living together for that amount of time, which was such in dorms in dorms, literally on like cots, basically, like creaky little things. I wouldn't have traded it for the world. It was so fucking fun.

[39:54] Phillip Taratula: It was, it was summer camp, and we would we would you know be in rehearsal, giggle gaggling, but then immediately just go home and be on the and continue giggling.

[40:05] Jayke Workman: Yeah, and your uh when we watched the compilation video of um why am I blinking on Carol, um Carol Channing, that was like one of the like I've never laughed harder, truly, than you going, yeah.

[40:23] Phillip Taratula: No way, it's so insane.

[40:27] Jayke Workman: It's it it is insane.

[40:29] Phillip Taratula: She's she was crazy.

[40:30] Jayke Workman: She was crazy.

[40:31] Phillip Taratula: She's larger than life. I think I told you this already, but she had a connection to my grandparents. My my grandfather, I believe was dorm roommates with her husband.

[40:43] Jayke Workman: Okay.

[40:44] Phillip Taratula: In college. Right. And then like for years after, they would receive Carol Channing's Christmas card and it would just be on their fridge.

[40:52] Jayke Workman: Isn't that insane?

[40:53] Phillip Taratula: That is insane. Like how random. In Kansas of all places?

[40:56] Jayke Workman: Right.

[40:57] Phillip Taratula: What? Apparently she never ate at restaurants and she always brought her own food in like Ziploc bags.

[41:08] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, she's like, she was like organic before organic was a thing.

[41:08] Phillip Taratula: Oh my god, she's like, I'm not poisoning my body with that shit.

[41:10] Jayke Workman: No.

[41:11] Phillip Taratula: I have a show to do tonight.

[41:15] Jayke Workman: Okay, well, I think this is a perfect segue into a world that I am dying to ask about, which is a character that you have created.

[41:25] Jayke Workman: I had the absolute pleasure of coming to her birthday party.

[41:28] Phillip Taratula: Yeah, that was fun.

[41:30] Jayke Workman: Um Miss Pam.

[41:32] Phillip Taratula: Pam Goldberg.

[41:33] Jayke Workman: Pam Goldberg. We I have many questions. Number one is the inception of this character. Where do you know where she came from?

[41:41] Phillip Taratula: She just kind of dropped in.

[41:43] Jayke Workman: Okay.

[41:43] Phillip Taratula: I will say tracks. Well, I were I will say that that I got the idea for it after doing like back to back to back to back regional gigs that were great, but maybe not paying so much. Not great.

[41:55] Jayke Workman: Right.

[41:56] Phillip Taratula: And I sort of had this moment of like being like, Well, I'm I loved these shows, but I am so broke. And is this how am I just gonna be like 80 and still doing doing this?

[42:11] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[42:12] Phillip Taratula: And the answer is yes. But so that that came into it a little bit too. And just like I've worked with a lot of older actors who and I'm big, I'm I this is totally gonna be me too, who like gives so much unsolicited advice. So I feel like Pam's in that vein too. And and the and these videos started on Instagram where I would just like think of things to tell someone about like here's what to bring to tech, you know, or like and here's how to not fall, or here's how to fall properly. Because like Pam's worked in every regional theater in the country multiple times, and has also injured herself in every show she's done.

[42:55] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[42:56] Phillip Taratula: So it kind of just I don't know, I just came, and then my friend Kevin Zach was like my cheerleader, and he's like, No, no, no, keep going with this. Yes, this character's really funny. So then cut to you're doing like an actual staged show.

[43:10] Jayke Workman: Yes, all like entirely as Pam.

[43:12] Phillip Taratula: Yes. How did you go about was it like actual like writing sessions for you and like scripted stuff?

[43:20] Jayke Workman: Yeah. Because you had also some really formidable, amazing guests who got to come and play with you. So there was like a certainly a level of improv and the vibe, you know, with the audience of like we don't know what she's gonna say, which was the thrilling part of it is like how hilarious it is.

[43:37] Phillip Taratula: Right. So, how much of it is like a planned thing for you?

[43:41] Phillip Taratula: That show was a mixture of both. That show had like at Green Room at Green Room, yeah, the birthday party show, because that was kind of like a this is your life. So uh my friend Kevin hosted it, Kevin Zach hosted it. Yes, and it was the idea is that Pam was getting this surprise birthday party and would be visited by people she had done shows with in the past, and they were gonna like get up and do a number that they did. So we it was like a little loose, but we had a structure.

[44:06] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[44:06] Phillip Taratula: Before that show, I did an interview show with Kevin where he just was asking me questions. I did that at the duplex, and then I did it at Arsnova.

[44:15] Jayke Workman: Love where where that was entirely scripted.

[44:18] Phillip Taratula: Okay. And now I've taken that and turned it into a one person play that I did at Arsnova earlier this year that I'm now it will happen again, and I'm just working out I'm just figuring out where and when and with scheduling and stuff.

[44:35] Jayke Workman: Sure.

[44:35] Phillip Taratula: Lee is directing it.

[44:37] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, Lisa Nana!

[44:39] Phillip Taratula: So this is more of like instead of an interview, it's like a play where Pam is understudying a play called The Secret That Is Revealed at Dinner. That's a very Tony Broadway play, and she's under studying like a very, you know, like elegant leading lady.

[44:56] Jayke Workman: Oh, and the whole play takes place in her dressing room, and which she has to share with the other understudy who's much younger, who's named Claire.

[45:05] Phillip Taratula: So I'm talking to the audience the whole time as if they're Claire. And there's all these false alarms where Pam thinks she's gonna go. Go on.

[45:12] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, this is fucking brilliant.

[45:15] Phillip Taratula: Yeah, so I've had the character, and I'm I I'm I'm I was kind of like deciding because I knew I wanted to do like a one person show as her, but I just couldn't figure out the right form or the right container for it, and then I came up with that idea. I was like, oh, that's good idea.

[45:27] Jayke Workman: Oh, it's brilliant.

[45:29] Phillip Taratula: Yeah. So have you done a one-person show before that like you didn't have a hand in creating? Have you ever done like a buyer and seller type situation?

[45:34] Phillip Taratula: I did fully committed.

[45:38] Jayke Workman: Oh.

[45:38] Phillip Taratula: Right after Skin of Our Teeth.

[45:40] Jayke Workman: What Summerstock.

[45:41] Phillip Taratula: Okay. So it was like we rehearsed it in nine days. So I arrived with as much of it, and it's something like 30 characters. It's crazy.

[45:51] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[45:52] Phillip Taratula: Um you were fully committed on it.

[45:54] Jayke Workman: I was fully committed. No, the play takes place in a high-end restaurant's reservations office, and this out of work actor is um playing all the people, both at the restaurant and the customers calling, demanding tables. It was kind of like and it was written at a time when that that was like really the thing.

[46:13] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[46:13] Phillip Taratula: Um so I did do that, and that was that was wild.

[46:17] Jayke Workman: Wow. And did you say it helped you figure out like or informed how you then went about creating your own one-person show?

[46:24] Phillip Taratula: Yeah, it must have. And it and just like it's also just very difficult to do. I think everybody should have a go at doing it. There's no it's all you, you know, it's I mean all your energy. When I got uh when I booked my son's a queer to be the standby for that one person show.

[46:45] Jayke Workman: Okay, cool.

[46:47] Phillip Taratula: But you booked it.

[46:49] Jayke Workman: But I but I got the jar, damn it.

[46:52] Phillip Taratula: Um, and I I was thrilled, of course. And then I once it had all settled in, I was like, oh, if they don't go on, yeah, it's me.

[47:02] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[47:03] Phillip Taratula: And only me.

[47:04] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[47:05] Phillip Taratula: That is so insane. And that was the type of thing where because it it was a story that Rob had created of their own life using actual home video of them as a child projected up on the back wall. So I would have been being me, being Rob.

[47:21] Jayke Workman: Right, but in a one-person play with music.

[47:25] Phillip Taratula: That I just, yeah, that that thought was so daunting. So I my hat is truly off to you and anyone who can do it. Not only as like the creator of it, but just the the actual act of doing it.

[47:37] Jayke Workman: Well it's also interesting because you you you sort of have to do double work because you're missing listening to it. You know, and so much you get from listening to your scene partner.

[47:48] Phillip Taratula: Right.

[47:49] Jayke Workman: And responding. Yeah. I mean like a lot of times you'll just respond and you're like oh I didn't always want to respond that way. So that's helping me form my performance.

[47:56] Phillip Taratula: Sure.

[47:57] Jayke Workman: And you don't have that so much. So it makes it it's like a different challenge. Like are they kind of the scene partner?

[48:03] Phillip Taratula: They help they certainly help like let you know when things are landing or when they're with you and everything. But but you sort of have to like imagine sometimes someone speaking to you or or asking you a question to prompt what you're wow.

[48:19] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[48:20] Phillip Taratula: So it's it's in it's an interesting form but I I like the format I came up with for Pam because it's it's really active and she's constantly like doing things and you hear the play over the loudspeaker and then you hear you hear her dresser knocking on the door and so it does feel kind of realistic in that sense.

[48:40] Jayke Workman: Yeah that there are other people in the building and around.

[48:43] Phillip Taratula: That's so cool. Oh my God I'm so excited for that. I'm like I want it now.

[48:46] Jayke Workman: I do too give me the play.

[48:49] Phillip Taratula: I do too. You heard it here first ladies and gents. We need dollars and we need them now.

[48:56] Jayke Workman: Thank you. Okay well Phillip I have I'm so excited to ask you to do this.

[49:01] Phillip Taratula: Yes.

[49:02] Jayke Workman: But um before I let you go, I have a series of musical theater rapid fire questions that I ask every guest. But I thought it would be very exciting if we had Pam.

[49:11] Phillip Taratula: Miss Pam.

[49:12] Jayke Workman: Pam Goldberg.

[49:13] Phillip Taratula: Pam Goldberg. Right. I'm not in her in her full look.

[49:17] Jayke Workman: But she's in you.

[49:17] Phillip Taratula: But she is in you.

[49:19] Jayke Workman: Okay. I've already hunched my anticipation.

[49:23] Phillip Taratula: Okay. Here we go, Pam. Are you ready?

[49:26] Pam Goldberg: Yes.

[49:27] Jayke Workman: Sondheim or Andrew Lloyd Weber?

[49:29] Pam Goldberg: Sondheim.

[49:30] Jayke Workman: Sweatpants or jeans?

[49:32] Pam Goldberg: Sweatpants.

[49:34] Jayke Workman: Do you have a favorite musical?

[49:36] Pam Goldberg: One where I'm in.

[49:39] Jayke Workman: Okay. Do you have a least favorite musical?

[49:42] Pam Goldberg: One that doesn't have a part for me.

[49:44] Jayke Workman: Uh would you ever like to do a Broadway play, Pam?

[49:47] Pam Goldberg: I sure would. And I I and I'm available.

[49:51] Jayke Workman: Are you a morning person or a night owl?

[49:51] Pam Goldberg: Night owl.

[49:56] Jayke Workman: Why?

[49:57] Pam Goldberg: I don't sleep.

[50:00] Jayke Workman: Um could you think of the craziest thing a director has ever asked you to do, either in a rehearsal room or an audition setting?

[50:07] Pam Goldberg: Uh I think it was to jump out the window.

[50:14] Jayke Workman: Um Golden Age or Contemporary.

[50:17] Pam Goldberg: Contemporary, it's all we have.

[50:20] Jayke Workman: Do you have a favorite role you've ever played?

[50:23] Pam Goldberg: I think uh I think Nightmother, because I never had a daughter.

[50:29] Jayke Workman: So it was interesting to imagine both having a daughter and then uh her wanting to kill herself.

[50:36] Pam Goldberg: That would be interesting.

[50:38] Jayke Workman: Uh coffee or tea?

[50:40] Pam Goldberg: Both.

[50:42] Jayke Workman: At the same time?

[50:43] Pam Goldberg: No, intermittently.

[50:44] Jayke Workman: Okay. Uh Caffeinated.

[50:48] Pam Goldberg: Could you think of the hardest show you've ever done?

[50:51] Pam Goldberg: Uh it was a farce called Let's Try the Other House. And I played a Swedish landlady, and I had to jump and fall and roll, and I broke my hip and my arm.

[51:05] Jayke Workman: But it closed quickly.

[51:07] Pam Goldberg: But it also injured me just as quickly.

[51:14] Jayke Workman: Could you name all of the Broadway theaters that you've performed in?

[51:17] Pam Goldberg: The Imperial, the Lyceum, the Music Box, the Booth, the Martin Beck, now the Hirschfeld.

[51:25] Jayke Workman: Wow.

[51:27] Pam Goldberg: Do you have a favorite costume you've ever worn?

[51:29] Pam Goldberg: Uh yes. I wore uh I was dressed up as a giant bear for an industrial once.

[51:39] Jayke Workman: You don't know what these are, but they were a thing that you would get hired for for companies.

[51:44] Pam Goldberg: Uh usually training videos for employees. And I was a Christmas bear saying it's so good that we have a new computer this year.

[51:57] Jayke Workman: It was for IBM.

[52:00] Pam Goldberg: Wow. Um could you think of the silliest actor that you've ever worked with?

[52:07] Pam Goldberg: I can think of him, but I don't want to say his name.

[52:09] Jayke Workman: Oh, okay.

[52:11] Pam Goldberg: Son of a bitch.

[52:12] Jayke Workman: Do you have any pets?

[52:14] Pam Goldberg: No. I'm on the road too much.

[52:16] Jayke Workman: Oh, oh, that would be too hard.

[52:18] Pam Goldberg: Too hard.

[52:18] Jayke Workman: If you had a pet, what do you think it would be?

[52:21] Pam Goldberg: I like snakes.

[52:24] Jayke Workman: Oh, wow. Um, have you ever missed an entrance?

[52:28] Pam Goldberg: Yes, and it wasn't my fault. It was because of a quick change. And it was because of a dresser who was incompetent.

[52:35] Jayke Workman: Would you like to name them on the podcast?

[52:37] Pam Goldberg: No. They've left the business.

[52:40] Jayke Workman: And I think this earth.

[52:41] Pam Goldberg: Right.

[52:43] Jayke Workman: Uh do you have any pre-show rituals?

[52:47] Pam Goldberg: Uh-huh. I do my tongue twister, I do some yoga, um, and I don't eat anything with acid in it.

[52:54] Jayke Workman: Anything.

[52:55] Pam Goldberg: No, tomatoes, orange juice, kind of nothing with acid.

[52:58] Jayke Workman: Wow.

[52:58] Pam Goldberg: Nothing.

[52:59] Jayke Workman: Oh.

[53:00] Pam Goldberg: Noted.

[53:01] Jayke Workman: Uh breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

[53:03] Pam Goldberg: All if I can afford them.

[53:06] Jayke Workman: Um, do you have a crazy special skill that no one knows about?

[53:11] Pam Goldberg: Uh, I think it's uh the well, I don't know how crazy it is, but I think if people knew how much of my body was fake, they'd be surprised. My hip, my elbow, my shoulder, things like that.

[53:28] Jayke Workman: Uh do you have a dream role?

[53:31] Pam Goldberg: I I have I do have a dream role. I i it it it's someone who comes in at the end of the show but is talked about an awful lot throughout.

[53:40] Jayke Workman: Sure.

[53:41] Pam Goldberg: And then comes in for a very effective but very brief scene at the end.

[53:46] Jayke Workman: Love that. Well, Pam Goldberg, what an amazing honor it has been to have you. My last question for you is a question I ask every guest, which is what is one thing that you would tell baby Pam?

[54:01] Pam Goldberg: Get out of Michigan.

[54:04] Jayke Workman: Ah.

[54:06] Pam Goldberg: Anything else? Or is that and that it's gonna be okay.

[54:12] Jayke Workman: Beautiful. Beautifully said.

[54:15] Phillip Taratula: Oh my god, Phillip, I just adore you.

[54:18] Jayke Workman: I adore you. Thank you so much fun. Will you tell the listeners where they can find you on socials and find Miss Pam?

[54:24] Phillip Taratula: Mm-hmm. I'm on social media under P Teratula. And official Pam Goldberg has her own page.

[54:33] Phillip Taratula: Period. Official. And don't you forget it.

[54:37] Jayke Workman: Yeah. Oh God, I just adore you. Thank you so much for being here.

[54:41] Phillip Taratula: Thank you.

[54:43] Jayke Workman: You guys, that's it for another episode of Oh MyPod, you guys. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe anywhere you listen to the pod. And you can follow the show on Instagram at OmyPod, you guys. Thank you so, so much for listening. Talk soon. Bye.

[54:57] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, oh my pod, you guys.