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[0:06] Gordon Cox: Welcome to Stagecraft, Variety's Theater Podcast, bringing you backstage and behind the scenes with stars, creators, and industry leaders on Broadway and beyond.

[0:16] Gordon Cox: I'm Gordon Cox. A few years ago, the hit kids show Blue's Clues returned to TV in a new version called Blue's Clues and You, and it found its host on Broadway. Joshua Dela Cruz came to Blue's Clues after appearing on stage in shows including Here Lies Love and Aladdin. And now he's making his way back to Broadway, sort of, and he's bringing Blue with him. After four seasons and counting of Blue's Clues and You, Dela Cruz stars in a new movie musical on Paramount Plus, Blue's Big City Adventure. In it, Dela Cruz's character, also named Josh, travels with Blue to New York City to audition for a Broadway show. And along the way, he meets theater stars including B.D. Wong, Ali Stroker, Philip Asue, and Stephen Pasqual. Now Dela Cruz is in the virtual studio with me to talk Broadway role models, backstage antics at Aladdin, and why working on Blue's Clues is a lot like acting in a black box theater that's green. Hi Josh, thanks for joining me.

[1:14] Gordon Cox: So it seems to me that in working on Blue's Clues and You, you spend a lot of time acting in front of a green screen, often alone. Um, and then all of a sudden, in Blue's Big City Adventure, you get to work with real people, and you go to New York City and you shoot big song and dance numbers in Times Square and Central Park and you know, just outside Grand Central. How big of an adjustment was that working with all those elements that aren't usually part of Blue's Clues?

[1:44] Joshua Dela Cruz: You know, it's really funny because many things are much simpler and easier because you don't have to imagine so much, but the thing that is always the constant is that you always kind of have to imagine where Blue is. And um, on set we typically get like pieces of tape, and then if we have to be really, really specific, we'll get like a tennis ball, but that's a very rare occurrence. So we typically just kind of like go by feel. I think now that we're going into our fifth season next year, I have a pretty general, like a pretty good idea of like where Blue is at all times, and then the director will adjust eyeline from there. But on set, when we filmed the movie, because we're in a 3D space, the animation department at Boxel, they needed all this information for light.

And so we actually had a blue ball with eyes and like fake ears. I don't actually know if we had ears, like there were definitely eyes that they would walk around with me for one pass just so that they could get the information that they needed. But for me, that was like the biggest help ever because once that left, I was like, oh, okay, that's where that is. Um, but it's a pretty wild experience. It's kind of like going for rehearsing in a black box theater and then going on stage and then getting all the sets and the props and the costumes and everything, only you know, just in terms of having to use your imagination in a different way once you get on stage.

[3:27] Gordon Cox: Right, yeah. And I know there are like, you know, you sing little bits of song in the show and things like that, and there's music and some dance like all throughout, but this feels like the most kind of musical theatery of the work you have done with that show, is that right?

[3:44] Joshua Dela Cruz: Yeah, I think it really goes with the scope of the project because when we're filming the show, we have four days to get it done. And there's typically no rehearsal, so we're kind of doing it on the day and then just kind of going. And our composer PT Walkley is amazing on the show and is able to create these incredible songs in like maybe a 30 second span. Um, and then now we're in a movie, and Steph Fink, the executive music producer, and everyone at Music Box, they have like a minute 30, sometimes three minutes to get this song out. So the scale just grows. Um, it's definitely the most musical theater it's been. I mean, we had so many Broadway dancers that were like daylighting, because I guess they weren't moonlighting and well they're performing at night, and so like they're out in the wild during the day that are in our movie and we're so, so thankful for it. Um, but it's definitely the most musical theater that we're able to be just because we have so much time and so much space.

[5:02] Gordon Cox: Yeah. And how long was the shoot compared? It's four days per episode. Is that what it is?

[5:07] Joshua Dela Cruz: Um, and then how long it's a good one. So it's typically four days an episode. Yeah, and the movie we had 20 days of filming, and um, I think we had something like a week of dance rehearsal. So I mean, you know, if we're comparing Blue's Big City Adventure with I think West Side Story, the Spielberg version, they had um, I think months of rehearsal to kind of get the choreography down and then get all the music right. So once they got on set, it was just like, you know, bam. Um, but thankfully our choreographers, Craig Holliman and Lindsay Bob Bar, they're amazing. I would love to see their work on a Broadway stage just because it's so fresh and just the way that they know how to use the space. It would not be what it was in so short a period of time without them.

[6:00] Joshua Dela Cruz: Um, yeah, it's wild. Not a lot of time. I think Elf was about 20 days. I think they took 20 days to film that as well.

[6:09] Gordon Cox: Yeah, yeah. And how did discussions of the film, you said you've done four seasons, you're going into your fifth season. What when did discussions of the movie come up and was the plot line, was the storyline of it inspired by the work that you had done in the past?

[6:30] Joshua Dela Cruz: Yeah, you know, it's so funny. I knew I think around like season three, and going into season four, I knew that they wanted to do a movie. And I knew that Angela was writing it and uh, Angela Santomero, the one half of our creative team, she was writing it, and she's a huge fan of Broadway. And so when I came onto the show, we were able to nerd out about that. And um, but I didn't know that it was coming so soon. I was actually in Arizona visiting my nephew. They like all the families got together to finally meet our nephew because he was born in February of 2020. Uh, so we were all in Arizona. I was not in any sort of shape. And then I get an email from my agent being like, hey, they're gonna film a movie.

Here's the script. I'm like, oh my gosh, amazing. Wait, is this on location? This is awesome. And I'm like, when is this? They're shooting in like two months. And I was like, oh boy. So it went from like zero to 60. I technically knew about the movie a few years ago, but I didn't know that we were going to film the movie until maybe like two months before. So I had to hightail it back to New York, um, work with our trainer to get back into shape and then work with Lindsay and Craig to try to get the choreography down before we got to set.

[8:00] Gordon Cox: Right. Did you probably don't do a ton of dancing, uh, or at least not like the kind of dancing you do in the film in the show?

[8:08] Joshua Dela Cruz: No, not anymore. You know, it's um, we're turning over 26 episodes in a season, and so, and it's only I think our we have to be like 22 minutes is the running time for our show. Um, so we don't get a lot of time, but those two, uh, those few moments that we do get some time to dance are always super special to me because it's such a big part of my life and my career and why I'm even in the show in the first place.

[8:38] Gordon Cox: Yeah, yeah. You also have some fun guest stars in the film. You've got B.D. Wong and Ali Stroker and Philip Asue and Stephen Pasqual. How much did you get a chance to interact with them? And did you know any of them? Had you worked with any of them previously?

[8:52] Joshua Dela Cruz: You know what? It's so funny because to talk about Ali, I always thought, like, wow, she looks so familiar. Um, and I saw the first time I saw her on stage was in the Deaf West Theater production of Spring Awakening, and I was just blown away. Um, and I was like, Stroker, that is so familiar to me. Like, not from her professional life, but I'm like, I feel like we've met personally. And so we get to set, uh, she's amazing, she's magnetic, she's an amazing scene partner, and we start talking between the scenes. I'm like, you know, I feel like I know you. Where are you from? And then she says, New Jersey. And of course, the follow-up is like, where in New Jersey? Uh, so we lived in uh next door to each other in uh she lived in Ridgewood and I lived in uh New Milford, and um the reason I felt like I knew her was because I went to Paper Mill Playhouse's summer conservatory with her sister, and um so like that's where that connection came from.

And this is like years in the making, ever since I saw her in uh in Glee and in uh Spring Awakening, I was like, I know her from I know. So that was like a long time coming, but you know, having B.D. Wong part of the movie, I sent the list of like dream people that I would love to work with, not that anybody asked, but I was like, you know, for I would love to see um an Asian American play the director in the movie. It's something that is very personal to me because something that I would like to aspire to be in the future is to direct, and I wanted to have that modeled for kids that you know they can aspire to be different parts of the industry, not just actors, but also, oh, I'd love to be a director one day, I'd love to be a producer.

Um, and you know, help with that diversity on the other side of the table. It's getting better, it still has a long way to go on Broadway, but it is getting better. And so when B.D. said yes, you know, I was floored because the reason why I was in theater was because I knew that there was a path via his work. Um, and so that was huge for me.

[11:11] Joshua Dela Cruz: And so I met Steve Pascual on set very briefly. Um and I have a bootleg of Stephen Pascual singing What is it about her that is like on my phone and I listen to it from time to time. He's one of my favorite actors of all time. And the fact that like we just got to share oxygen for a little bit was like the coolest thing to me. And um, I wish I were on set uh when Philippo was filming because she's another uh huge, huge part of my um I guess identity because she kind of set up the contemporary musical theater world for uh Asian Americans, and it's it's it's something that is like that was so impactful to me. You have a deep history uh in theater in in Broadway, and I wonder if you could just talk a little bit more about that. I know you were in Aladdin on Broadway for a few years, is that right?

[12:11] Joshua Dela Cruz: Yeah, yeah, yeah. How long and what is it? I think almost five years. I started in 2014, and um I was an Aladdin understudy, and then I eventually became an Iago understudy, which was a lot of fun, and then um between Adam Jacobs and Telly Leo, I took over for uh a few months, and so the role was mine. Um, and that was a really, really special time to uh get to play like in the driver's seat, not just as uh somebody coming in to cover, and uh, you know, I uh lived a lot of my life uh and learned a lot in that show uh because of everyone that I worked with.

[12:51] Joshua Dela Cruz: Yeah. And were you in Aladdin when you auditioned or got the role for in Blue's Clues?

[12:59] Joshua Dela Cruz: Yeah, we were uh I was I remember when I got the audition, I was in the bunker because uh in the show, um the elevator traffic is just too hectic for uh for all the ensemble people to keep coming in uh up and down the stairs. Um so we're underneath the stage, uh like directly underneath the stage. And uh I remember getting the email from my agents, and I looked back and I was like, oh shoot, Blue's Clues is is auditioning. Dope. And so we're all family downstairs, and so we they helped me get ready for my audition, and then word got around that I was auditioning for Blue's Clues, and out of nowhere, somebody started singing the male song, and then everybody started singing the mail song, and then like during the show, there was like a huge like mail, and I remember over the loudspeaker, our stage manager was like, Quiet in the bunker, please, quiet the bunker. So I was uh I was downstairs during a show, um uh doing Aladdin uh when I was getting ready for the edition when I found out about it.

[14:03] Joshua Dela Cruz: And what appealed to you about the opportunity? What was what was interesting about it to you?

[14:11] Joshua Dela Cruz: Um I I never thought that I would be in children's television. I have to be honest. Like it's not something that I aspired uh uh to be. Um it's not a place that I aspired to be. And when I got the audition, I just treated it like every other audition. I knew it that I was at a point where I wasn't gonna get the official contract to be Aladdin. Um I was a really valuable understudy, and I loved the people that I was working with, and I still loved the job, but there was something else there was something tugging, like I wanted more. And if I wasn't gonna be Aladdin, um, then what is that thing? And I kind of like went back and forth. Well, should I go back to school, get my master's? I really love teaching.

Um, do I I was exploring photojournalism for a little bit, and then when I got this role, I thought, oh shoot, I used to watch this show with my little sister, and um some of my favorite memories are you know, sitting watching the show with my sister on my aunt's pink rug, uh, because she had cable and we didn't. And um those good memories kind of came back to me. And then after every audition and after every callback, I realized, oh, is this the thing that I was looking for? And the before my final um screen test, I went and I saw the Mr. Rogers documentary, uh, like the week of uh the final screen test, and Mr. Rogers is somebody that was so important to me. Uh the lights went down, we watched the documentary.

It was a it was right before a matinee, so I think I saw a 10 a.m. show. Uh saw the show, credits roll and no one moves, and then credits stop and then there's just a collective sniff from everybody. We're just like and it was at that moment I was like, oh yeah, you really, really, really want this job, Josh. And I told my wife, I was like, I don't want to say it out loud because, you know, I don't want to be too disappointed if I don't get it, but man, I really want this job. And uh fortunately everything worked out and I still love this job to this day. I would do it forever.

[16:31] Gordon Cox: I'll have more with Josh right after the break.

[16:43] Gordon Cox: And now here's more with the actor and host of Blue's Clues and You, Joshua Dela Cruz. You are the first Asian American Pacific Islander to host a major children's TV show. Um and you've talked a little bit about your role models in the in the theater space, but tell us about the ways uh your job now is meaningful to you in in that respect.

[17:06] Joshua Dela Cruz: You know, it's it's really, really interesting. Um Leah Salonga and BD Wong were are still so important to me uh to this day. Um but when I was younger they were able to play three dimensional characters uh that had depth they were never the butt of the joke um they were uh, you know, they were able to play real characters that uh I wanted to play. Um and so I knew like, oh, I could do that. I could, I could, I could be in theater. And then once I got to Aladdin and I had worked with some amazing companies, the company of Here Lies Love, which was uh a mostly Filipino cast, uh telling a Filipino story. And then I got to um Aladdin that had a cast that was so diverse, not just in ethnicity, but also in age.

So you have uh the the whole spectrum of of experience that uh like a wealth of knowledge that everybody was like family, and so we could have real conversations and learn about you know what is what is the importance of seeing yourself reflected on screen. And so now that I get to be in this job and I get to celebrate being Filipino, but I was not cast because they needed a Filipino, that's one of the greatest gifts that I could have ever asked for. You know, it's one thing to be cast because they needed to be a Filipino, but then for me growing up as uh a Filipino American immigrant, um, being cast as just Josh, that is also Filipino is was huge to me. And so it always gets me whenever I get texts from friends of uh family friends and friends of friends, or whenever people see me on the street, um, and they thank me uh for representing.

And you know, I I do feel uh I'm so humbled by it. I'm so thankful to be there. Uh, but I also have to acknowledge that I didn't get here on my own. It took a huge community, whether it be my family sacrificing so that I could study and be here, whether it be my um uh my wife uh supporting me emotionally and preparing, helping me prepare for auditions and just being that rock and uh to all the people like producers, um Sarah Landy, uh Angela Centomero, Tracy Page Johnson, everyone that took a risk and said, like, no, this is our guy. Um, even though he's not the traditional um the traditional type, uh, like those people are responsible for me representing in the way that I am now. Um, but you know, it's it's it's humbling.

It's humbling. And I hope that even if you don't see yourself represented uh in whatever field that you love, that you know that doesn't mean that you can't be that person to um open that door for everyone else. And I just hope that kids like walk away from our show with possibility, like to keep dreaming and to uh to work hard to try to achieve those dreams.

[20:24] Gordon Cox: What did you find was most in what ways did you find that working on Broadway prepared you for the work as it exists for Blue's Clues? What what in what ways do they overlap?

[20:39] Joshua Dela Cruz: Yeah, you know what? There, I don't think they're in the entertainment world, uh, in the entertainment world as an actor, uh, a Broadway actor is one of the most hardest working uh um people. There are some of the hardest working people out there. Um, especially if they're in the Broadway schedule, uh, or if even if you're not on Broadway, if you're in regional and you're just working that schedule, um, the schedule is grueling. It's eight times a week. Uh, and when you're not performing, um, a lot of the people that you you're you're watching when you're seeing a Broadway show are either injured or sick, and uh they're giving the performance of their lives every single night, and a lot of people don't uh realize that.

Like, isn't it fun? It is fun for sure. It it's absolutely fun, it's the dream. But the work part is not being able to see your family, because on top of the eight shows a week, you have up to two days of rehearsal, and then when you're not at rehearsal and when you're not at the show, you're at the gym just to make sure that your body is in working order. Um, and when you're not at the gym, you're at physical therapy to get your body into working order, and it's this whole cycle. Um it's it's a pretty grueling, grueling schedule. And because I did that for five years, and we were so fortunate to have physical therapy at the theater. I tore my meniscus um the first year of the show, and then came back from injury and being able to work with physical therapists and talking with other castmates um about how to take care of yourself so that you can do those eight shows a week, like all of that helped me uh continues to help me to this day, do this job because while we do have a better work schedule, we're Monday through Friday.

[22:27] Joshua Dela Cruz: I haven't had a weekend off since like high school, so this is amazing. Like, wow, this is how the world lives. A lot of people in the world live. It's amazing. But you know, I am the only person on set, so I have to take care of myself. So being able to employ that self-care routine into my everyday life, doing this job is invaluable. I could not do this job without that knowledge, and I could not do it as well, especially because, you know, like with the movie, we're in full movie musical mode, and that was pretty grueling. I think I had a hip issue. I definitely my plantar fasciitis got worse for sure. But I think that's also age. And dancing on concrete, I would imagine.

[23:22] Gordon Cox: Yeah.

[23:23] Joshua Dela Cruz: Absolutely. And what was the biggest learning curve for you on your TV work for going into Blue's Clues in particular? It's learning how to use the frame. I think that that was the biggest thing. Whenever I talk to stage actors about what it's like to work in TV, they just talked about, oh, well, you just have to know how to use the frame. And I always heard that phrase, and it's like, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then they're like, well, it's bigger and then it's smaller for film and TV. And it's a very general thing to say, but it's true. But for theater actors that are curious about it, it's essentially a smaller proscenium, right? So like the proscenium is just smaller, so everything shrinks, but it's so much more nuanced.

Especially with our show, because of the eyelines and the way it works. I'm a huge camera nerd, and so I love learning about lensing choices and why things are done in camera this way. So I guess that would be the most difficult part to get used to is learning how to not just act on screen. That's really adjustable. It's learning to act on green screen with an animated puppy and a host of other characters just so that it looks like I'm actually looking at them.

[24:52] Gordon Cox: Yeah.

[24:54] Joshua Dela Cruz: And have you developed a philosophy or a technique around how you talk to and interact with young audiences and how you kind of approach them as an actor? Yeah, it's really interesting. When I first got the job, everyone came up to me, Steve Burns, Donovan Patton, the creators of the show, the producers, they were like, the character at home is the most important character in the show. And we never want to talk down to them, we never want to be pedantic, we want to make sure that we are talking to an emotionally intelligent human being. And so to me, knowing that, it's like, well, how would I like to be talked to? You know, and we have to slow things down just so that things are easily understood and ideas are communicated clearly.

And we have an entire research division devoted to making sure that I do that at every stage of the script and even in post-production. But knowing that, it's kind of just like, well, how would I like to be talked to? And that's the most important thing. You want to feel listened to, you want to feel empowered, you want to be taken seriously. And even when you're being silly, you know, you want to be appreciated. And so a lot of that goes back to that old saying of like treat others the way that you want to be treated, and that's kind of how I talk to the kids on the other side of the camera.

[26:33] Gordon Cox: Yeah.

[26:34] Joshua Dela Cruz: Have you found that there are any ways in which the fans and enthusiasts of Broadway and the fans and enthusiasts of a show like Blue's Clues are similar in any ways? Um, yeah, really, really similar. I think our show is really unique in the fact that the kids that watched Blue's Clues when the show first premiered in '96, a lot of them are adults now. Not a lot of them, but it's something that is a part of their childhood, especially the back end of millennials. And so we have that in common. Like Steve and Donovan, Steve and Joe, they're our Mr. Rogers. So we have that in common.

[27:27] Gordon Cox: Steve and Joe, we should say for listeners who might not be Blue's Clues conversant, are the two previous hosts of Blue's Clues, the original version in the late '90s, early aughts.

[27:42] Joshua Dela Cruz: Yeah. Yeah, sorry. So beg your pardon, go on.

[27:46] Gordon Cox: No, no, no, no. That's so important.

[27:49] Joshua Dela Cruz: Steve Burns plays Steve and Donovan Patton played Joe and plays Joe today. But I think we have a lot in common, especially in the fact that if you're a musical theater actor, and a lot of people ask me, the way that you asked me, you know, what's the difference? What's it like to work on green screen? You know, if you study musical theater, you pretty much don't have any props, you don't have any set, and you don't have any costume. You're wearing like a t-shirt and jeans and sneakers, and that's pretty much what it's like working on Blue's Clues. You're in a green screen, but it's just a green black box theater. And so a lot of that is translatable. But I think we have a lot in common, just in the way that we as musical theater lovers love empathy, place an importance on empathy, learning about different people that we might not agree with in real life.

We love songs, we love dancing. And our show, especially in our run of Blue's Clues, really leans into that. And I think that's why when they decided to make a movie, they were like, well, let's make it a musical. We all love musicals, and Blue's Clues has always had great songs, and especially now that PT Walkley is at the helm of our show, we continue to have great songs.

[29:24] Gordon Cox: Yeah. You mentioned a few minutes earlier that you would do this job forever if you could. When you look ahead, what do you see yourself doing in addition or alongside? Do you see stage working into your career again looking forward?

[29:41] Joshua Dela Cruz: Absolutely. I had the fortune of when I was in New York for Thanksgiving, I've always wanted to direct, and I especially want to direct theater. So that's definitely something that's in my future that I aspire to do. But also, I saw my dear friend Rob McClure in Little Shop of Horrors off-Broadway, and after seeing him just crush in an off-Broadway theater, I hope that New York and the theater community continues to invest in off-Broadway and build it up as a livable place to work for everybody because they're doing such amazing things at the West Side Theater. It's incredible. I would love to have a stint as Seymour. I think that would be a lot of fun.

[30:41] Gordon Cox: I was just gonna ask if your schedule right now working on Blue's Clues, how much downtime do you have between seasons? Like how can you do other things while or in between working on chunks of the show?

[31:02] Joshua Dela Cruz: You know, it's funny. We had the longest break we've ever had because of the movie and because of filming. Just scheduling-wise, we had like an eight-month hiatus, and I'm going back to Toronto in January, and then we'll go in for another huge block and finish up in September. From September onward, I have no plans, but I would love to do a musical or even a short stint or a run. But no, it's something that I thought that I wouldn't miss because I love my weekends and I love seeing my wife and our dog. But being in New York, seeing Some Like It Hot, and seeing A Strange Loop, and seeing Little Shop of Horrors—if you haven't seen Little Shop of Horrors, go see that show. It made me feel like I was a high schooler watching my first Broadway show ever.

I haven't gotten chills at a musical in a very long time, and it was such a special, special moment and kind of like re-inspired me to be like, well, yeah, well, why wouldn't you want to do another show if you got the opportunity?

[32:17] Gordon Cox: Yeah, well, we will look forward to seeing you as Seymour or however else you appear on stage. In the meantime, we can catch you on Blue's Clues and You and in Blue's Big City Adventure, which is on Paramount Plus. Thanks so much for chatting, Josh. It was great to talk to you.

[32:34] Joshua Dela Cruz: Great to talk to you, thank you, Gord.

[32:39] Gordon Cox: That was Joshua Dela Cruz, the host of Blue's Clues and You, and the star of Blue's Big City Adventure, now on Paramount Plus. If you like what you're hearing on this and other episodes of Stagecraft, I'd really appreciate it if you took the time to rate and review us wherever you listen to podcasts. It really helps us grow our audience of folks who love theater as much as you and I do. Or tell a friend about Stagecraft, or give us a shout-out on social media. Find past episodes and subscribe at all the pod purveyors, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and on the Broadway Podcast Network, which is a great place to find more theater for your ears. Until next episode, find me on Twitter at G Cox Variety. Thanks for listening and see you at the theater.