This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Eli Tokash: Hey everyone.

[0:02] Sydney Lucas: Welcome to our very first episode of Take A Bow.

[0:05] Eli Tokash: I'm Eli Tokash.

[0:06] Sydney Lucas: And I'm Sydney Lucas, and we are so excited to start this journey with you and give you all some weekly entertainment, especially during this time in quarantine.

[0:15] Eli Tokash: Yes.

[0:15] Sydney Lucas: We want to be able to give you all a new source of insightful yet fun entertainment between Sydney and I, as well as special guests that we bring on.

[0:24] Eli Tokash: Please bear with us as this is a bit of a learning experience for us, and we're just starting out.

[0:29] Sydney Lucas: We're so thankful to be teamed up with Broadway Podcast Network and can't wait to get this thing rolling.

[0:34] Eli Tokash: Get ready to take a peek on what really happens behind the curtains.

[0:53] Sydney Lucas: So hey everyone, I'm Sydney Lucas.

[0:56] Sydney Lucas: I was in Fun Home for three years on the lab and the Off-Broadway run and the Broadway run, and I was also in an AMC TV show called The Sun.

[1:05] Sydney Lucas: And once upon a time, when I was 11, I was nominated for a Tony Award, and I'm still reeling from that.

[1:13] Eli Tokash: Um yes, uh, I'm Eli Tokash, and I was in Finding Neverland on Broadway, Pippin on Broadway, A Christmas Story at Madison Square Garden, Mary Poppins on tour, um, as well as the TV show Forever, John Glazier Loves Gear, and a few other things.

[1:29] Eli Tokash: Oh, uh, I also was in the um out of town tryout of Trevor the Musical, which is making its Off-Broadway um opening sometime soon after this crazy time in quarantine.

[1:43] Eli Tokash: So Sydney and I came together to form this podcast, and I've been listening to podcasts for a while, and one day I had messaged her.

[1:53] Sydney Lucas: Well, I posted something on my Snapchat and was like, oh my gosh, like I think something exciting is gonna happen, blah blah blah.

[2:00] Eli Tokash: Yeah, like a very cryptic message, like, oh, exciting things are in the work.

[2:05] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, and so Sydney swiped up on it and was like, What's going on?

[2:09] Eli Tokash: And I was like, Oh, I'm starting a podcast, and Sydney was like, Ooh, that's like so cool.

[2:15] Sydney Lucas: Like, I love podcasts and stuff like that.

[2:18] Eli Tokash: And I was like, Wait, you like podcasts?

[2:21] Eli Tokash: So I was like, Give me a second, and like ten minutes later, I had talked to my parents and like called my manager and stuff, and was like, What if I have Sydney Lucas be a co-host on the podcast?

[2:35] Eli Tokash: And uh everyone like was super excited about it, and so I called her and was like, Hey, do you wanna do this with me?

[2:42] Sydney Lucas: And of course I was like, For sure, of course.

[2:46] Eli Tokash: So here we are.

[2:48] Eli Tokash: Um we've been best friends since I was in A Christmas Story, um, which was about probably seven years, would you say?

[2:55] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, six or seven years ago.

[2:57] Eli Tokash: Um I was in A Christmas Story with her brother.

[2:59] Eli Tokash: We both shared the role of Ralphie, um, and she was in the I believe Off-Broadway production.

[3:05] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, that's right.

[3:05] Eli Tokash: Yeah, Off-Broadway.

[3:07] Sydney Lucas: Yes.

[3:07] Eli Tokash: So um, yeah, and then we happened to be in the same middle school together, and um, you know, we just became closer and closer as the years went on, and here we are starting a podcast together.

[3:21] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, there you go.

[3:22] Eli Tokash: That's pretty much the rundown of why we're here.

[3:25] Eli Tokash: So the goal of Take A Bow will be uh just having a weekly hour episode of just talking about Broadway and entertainment and all things that can happen behind the scenes as well as trying to get to where Sydney and I are in our careers, I guess.

[3:47] Sydney Lucas: And we'll be talking we'll be talking about our own experiences and cool behind the scenes stories, and we'll also be bringing on guests to talk about their own experiences.

[3:58] Eli Tokash: So that should be really fun, and we're really, really excited about it.

[4:01] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, there's some crazy stories that are gonna be told.

[4:04] Eli Tokash: Oh, yeah.

[4:04] Sydney Lucas: Um, but we're very excited to share them.

[4:07] Eli Tokash: So, Sydney, let's talk about your story and how you kind of got to Fun Home and what led to The Sun and Tony's and stuff like that.

[4:19] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, for sure.

[4:20] Sydney Lucas: Okay, so when I was about five.

[4:20] Sydney Lucas: For sure.

[4:25] Sydney Lucas: For sure.

[4:25] Sydney Lucas: That's something that Eli says so much, and I've kind of picked it up.

[4:29] Eli Tokash: No, it's insane.

[4:30] Sydney Lucas: He says it like every other sentence.

[4:32] Sydney Lucas: So when I was about four or five, I remember the first uh for people who know Fun Home, my first ring of keys moment.

[4:40] Sydney Lucas: And if you don't know that reference, I would suggest listening to the cast album of Fun Home.

[4:44] Sydney Lucas: When I was four or five, I would see kids in commercials and I would see kids in Broadway shows, and I just knew.

[4:51] Sydney Lucas: I knew in my heart of hearts that that is what I wanted to do.

[4:54] Sydney Lucas: And my older brother Brock, he did community theater where we live, and I would always go and see his shows and watching him just absolutely ignited a fire in me.

[5:08] Sydney Lucas: And ever since then I begged my mom.

[5:11] Sydney Lucas: I was like, please, please, please, can I do this?

[5:13] Sydney Lucas: And obviously being like four years old, she was like, Okay, let's just hold on, because it's probably like a phase she's probably gonna like, you know, grow out of and be into horses tomorrow or whatever.

[5:23] Sydney Lucas: But two years by I was still begging to do it.

[5:26] Sydney Lucas: I still really, really wanted to do it.

[5:28] Sydney Lucas: So when I was six years old, she started doing some research and I auditioned for a manager along with my two older brothers and we all got managers and then we started going on auditions one of which my first audition for Fun Home was when I was eight years old and yeah I went in for the audition and it was for not even the Off-Broadway, it was for a developmental kind of lab of it.

[5:52] Sydney Lucas: It was the first time that Fun Home was actually being stood up in front of an audience.

[5:56] Sydney Lucas: And I got it and that was quite the insane experience what would happen is they would they would change like pages and pages and pages of the script in the morning and then we would perform it at night.

[6:07] Sydney Lucas: It was pretty insane but it was so much fun and then after that they kind of carried me along to the Off-Broadway run.

[6:14] Sydney Lucas: They're like we're going to Broadway you're you're coming with us.

[6:16] Sydney Lucas: I was like awesome and and then the Off-Broadway run is around the time that I met Eli so I was around nine or ten then and then I remember the the moment Janine told me that it was coming to Broadway.

[6:28] Sydney Lucas: I I was singing at this benefit thing that Janine was at and and I was like so is this thing going to Broadway and she's like oh yeah and yeah it it didn't it almost because I kind of like got carried along throughout the entire ride a lot of the cast members were saying this it was almost as if you know it wasn't like this like oh huge like Broadway debut just it was almost as if we had been on Broadway this entire time.

[6:51] Sydney Lucas: But yeah so we went to Broadway and it was very successful and I I got nominated for a Tony crazily enough when I was 11 years old, and that's still absolutely and utterly insane to me.

[7:05] Sydney Lucas: And I have a lot of stories from the Tony days.

[7:08] Sydney Lucas: And I finished my run in Fun Home on October 4th, 2015.

[7:15] Sydney Lucas: And then about the next year, I got cast in AMC's The Sun with Pierce Brosnan.

[7:22] Sydney Lucas: It's a really, really cool TV show.

[7:24] Sydney Lucas: I would go and check it out.

[7:26] Sydney Lucas: It's on Hulu.

[7:27] Sydney Lucas: It's S-O-N, The Sun.

[7:29] Sydney Lucas: And I had I did that for two years and I had an absolute blast.

[7:34] Sydney Lucas: And pretty much ever since I was eight, which was um like oh eight years ago.

[7:40] Sydney Lucas: That was half of my lifetime ago.

[7:42] Sydney Lucas: I've had a half of a lifetime of incredible once in a lifetime insane experiences.

[7:50] Sydney Lucas: And I'm ready to start a new journey with Take A Bow, and I'm super excited for this podcast, and I'm super excited to see what it brings.

[7:57] Sydney Lucas: That's my story.

[7:59] Eli Tokash: Yeah, that's awesome.

[8:01] Sydney Lucas: Yeah.

[8:02] Eli Tokash: Your story is like really interesting, and like it actually seems like I think your story is very, very interesting.

[8:08] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, I mean, my story wasn't meant to happen, but it did.

[8:12] Sydney Lucas: I mean, it was meant to happen because like here we are, but um it's like unpredictable.

[8:17] Sydney Lucas: You would have never like guessed when when you first started that this is where you would be now.

[8:22] Eli Tokash: Right.

[8:23] Eli Tokash: Um yeah, so my story, I'm not from New York, and I'm from West Virginia, which is about 30 minutes west of Pittsburgh, and I played ice hockey on a traveling team where I was traveling to Canada and Buffalo and all these like crazy places to um be in tournaments and stuff like that.

[8:43] Eli Tokash: And on my way home from one of my tournaments, my sister was doing a show for the Pittsburgh CLO called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and what they did was it was the national tour.

[8:54] Eli Tokash: And so on the national tour, they would find local kids to play the orphans.

[9:00] Eli Tokash: And so when it they were in Pittsburgh, my sister had auditioned and saw this ad in the newspaper, and she always loved to sing.

[9:07] Eli Tokash: And we would do like SNL skits and like sing all the time at home.

[9:11] Eli Tokash: So we always knew that was kind of part of her.

[9:14] Eli Tokash: And then she ended up getting it.

[9:16] Eli Tokash: And I saw her on an opening night.

[9:19] Eli Tokash: We just made the show and then me my brother and I come back super sweaty because both of us were playing ice hockey.

[9:25] Eli Tokash: And um we saw it and at intermission those lights went back up.

[9:31] Eli Tokash: And I looked at my mom and I was like, I kinda wanna try this.

[9:36] Eli Tokash: Like this is kinda this is kinda interesting.

[9:39] Eli Tokash: And um my sister during the process absolutely fell in love, and even though it was like a week or two with the cast in Pittsburgh, she got like super close to a couple of the people, and so we asked some of the people that were doing it how should we um go about doing this, and they were like, Well, get yourself into some local things, and they recommended the Pittsburgh CLO, which is where we ended up kind of doing summer camps at and doing classes and stuff like that there.

[10:11] Eli Tokash: Van Kaplan, who's a Broadway producer who produced like An American in Paris and stuff like that.

[10:16] Eli Tokash: Uh, we were able to meet him and the principal of the CLO, Miss Patty, um, recommended me to audition for A Christmas Carol, which they do in Pittsburgh every year because she saw me in the summer camp and was like, he needs to audition because he he would be perfect.

[10:34] Eli Tokash: So I auditioned and I got it, and I actually played it three years in a row.

[10:40] Eli Tokash: I mean, not for three years straight, uh, it was a seasonal show.

[10:44] Eli Tokash: So I did play three.

[10:46] Eli Tokash: Yeah, you get the gist.

[10:48] Eli Tokash: Um and I got to work with Joey Serafini, who was like a big deal in Pittsburgh, who was a kid who was my age, and he was kind of like my role model, and he's now in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series as Seb, but like plays Sharpay.

[11:03] Eli Tokash: Um so yeah, and then I was Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol, and an agent in Pittsburgh saw me, and they were like, We want to represent you, like we'll help you out and find new things for you.

[11:17] Eli Tokash: So I was doing voiceovers and stuff like that, and I eventually landed a short film called Anywhere But Here.

[11:22] Eli Tokash: So that I kinda like had with me, and my music director Bruce Barnes, who uh from A Christmas Carol, uh told me to just go to New York and like here are some addresses and agents' names that you should go check out.

[11:38] Eli Tokash: And it was around the winter time, and so the offices weren't even open except this one. And I was going around to offices just sliding them under a door. This short film that I brought, just sliding them under doors, whether they were open or closed. And I gotta appreciate the hustle, man. I didn't need to go crazy. I mean, we didn't know any better. Like people like looking back on this now, I'm like, this is absolutely insane, and like I can't believe this like actually happened because this is so abnormal. But um, it did, and so um we I this agent saw this little DVD slide under the door and was like, you know what, I'm gonna give it a watch. And uh about 20 minutes later, we were at a pizza parlor, and we got the call saying, Are like, did you just slide this under the door because we left our phone number?

And we were like, Yeah, that was us, and they were like, Can you come back real quick? Like we wanna see you. And so they saw me, they interviewed me and like made me sing for them. And so a couple days later we went back home to West Virginia, and when we went home, we received an audition for Mary Poppins the National Tour. And when I was doing that, I had to go back and forth from West Virginia to New York to audition, um, because we had to audition 'em multiple times. And before my first audition, I actually saw Mary Poppins on Broadway, which was my first Broadway show, which is such a great first Broadway show. I'm so happy that it was.

[13:10] Sydney Lucas: Oh yeah, definitely.

[13:13] Eli Tokash: Yeah. Uh so then I was in Mary Poppins, and then I met people and stuff like that, and then they were able to help me out and how to do the next steps and get a manager, blah, blah, blah. Uh, and then I got a Christmas story, and then after a Christmas story, I went from one thing to the other, and I got Pippin, and then during Pippin I was doing labs and readings and Pippin in school, and uh I was actually doing this TV show called Forever, and then uh after Pippin closed, Diane Paulus was like come to Neverland, and then I was in Funny Neverland, and yeah, so it was craziness, and we just decided to stay because of how much we were working, and now my whole family is up here and we're all five doing well, I guess.

[14:05] Sydney Lucas: That's very like one after another thing. Once you finish something, you start another Broadway show.

[14:10] Eli Tokash: Yeah, it was crazy. I'm very fortunate with how everything's played out thus far. It was upsetting though because like when I was in Pippin, I actually got the call to like do this movie that I actually had to turn down because I was in Pippin and we like couldn't figure it out and they wouldn't let me do both. Um so I turned it down and then like it was almost I don't know, kinda like uh here, like you missed this opportunity, but we're gonna give you something else, like something better almost.

[14:41] Sydney Lucas: Wait, was it was it that are you allowed to say which movie?

[14:45] Eli Tokash: Um to be honest, it was called something else and I would have to ask I would have to check out which one it is. Oh, it was it's it's very popular, right?

[14:55] Sydney Lucas: Which one is it?

[14:56] Eli Tokash: It's the one that you knew the song to, right?

[14:58] Sydney Lucas: Oh oh no no, it wasn't that it wasn't great a show.

[15:01] Eli Tokash: No, it's not?

[15:01] Sydney Lucas: No.

[15:02] Eli Tokash: That was that was all during Finding Neverland.

[15:05] Sydney Lucas: I was about to say if you turned that one down.

[15:07] Eli Tokash: No. Oh my god, never.

[15:09] Sydney Lucas: Um that was that was something that we'll get into uh later.

[15:15] Eli Tokash: Alrighty. I I have to ask, did you did you have any vocal training or acting training before you did Mary Poppins? Or did you just like go straight from hockey and do, yeah, let me start doing this and just have the incredible voice that you did and do have.

[15:33] Sydney Lucas: First of all, Eli had an incredibly crazy high voice in middle school. We we had to we had to sing 'cause it was a performing arts middle school. But he had a higher voice than every last person in the entire group. We just had the highest possible voice. And I remember saying I don't I can't even imagine Eli with a with a changed voice, but here he is with a change of voice. But did you have any training?

[15:59] Eli Tokash: Um I actually had none. Uh and I still had you that is insane. I didn't have anyone until Finding Neverland in the middle of it I was kinda like I need to learn songs for these auditions because they're not sending me tracks and like I have to figure this out.

[16:20] Sydney Lucas: For sure.

[16:20] Eli Tokash: And to be honest, like I I've just recently through my changed voice have actually had vocal lessons because all my lessons until then were just to learn songs for auditions.

[16:32] Sydney Lucas: Right. I I can't remember the first vocal lesson that I had I think I was seven when I had my first voice lesson. Shout out to Baiting Magaziner who is one of the best vocal coaches out there.

[16:43] Eli Tokash: Yeah I consistently went to acting lessons and vocal lessons. But it's very interesting the two different perspectives of how you you started off just like not you know you pretty much went straight from from the w is it called an ice hockey court what is it called rink?

[17:01] Sydney Lucas: Rank yeah.

[17:02] Eli Tokash: Called a rink, sorry. Good you're good. So it you pretty much went straight from the rink to the stage.

[17:06] Sydney Lucas: Yeah.

[17:07] Eli Tokash: Like without even any you just skated over onto the stage and that's where you stayed.

[17:07] Sydney Lucas: Yeah honestly um I miss it so much and I like try to skate as much as I can especially because like Bryant Park will uh they have free skating and stuff like that. So I have my own skates and I can just like go over and start skating and it's awesome. But uh I'm so happy with the decision I made because like these past couple years have been absolutely incredible. I mean, it was rough because I was it brought me away from my family for a bit. They were still in West Virginia while I was in all these shows, and then uh actually a year and a half ago, I've been up in New York for about six years now. Um and about a year and a half ago, my family decided to move up, my mom and my siblings. So I'm glad we're all together now.

[17:56] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, it's that's that's just kind of what part of the business. Um like for example, uh for a Christmas story that that you did with my brother Jake, Jake Lucas, who is in a Christmas story and The King and I. I while I was doing off Broadway fun home, my dad stayed with me here in New York, and my mom went with my brother to go tour with a Christmas story. So it definitely does take sacrifice from the entire family.

[18:18] Eli Tokash: Yeah, for sure. If you want to do this, like you can be separated for months at a time. When it when I did the Sun, I had to go I went with my mom to Austin, Texas for six months, and I didn't see my my brother or my dad for pretty much six months at a time.

[18:33] Sydney Lucas: You know, uh during a Christmas story, Jake and I were able to work with um Dan Loria.

[18:40] Eli Tokash: Oh yeah.

[18:40] Sydney Lucas: And he's been in several things, and uh he was the dad in the wonder years, and he told me something that has stuck with me forever. Uh he said, in this business, you have to there's no I'm trying to say this in a clean way. Um half butting it.

[19:00] Eli Tokash: I guess you could yeah, like y doing yeah, not you have to go if you want to do this, you have to go full force. It's gonna take a village and it's gonna take a lot of sacrificing.

[19:14] Sydney Lucas: Yeah.

[19:15] Eli Tokash: But honestly, like you have if you love it and that's what you want to do, then you have to go full out because otherwise sometimes it takes sacrifices.

[19:24] Sydney Lucas: Yeah.

[19:25] Eli Tokash: Sometimes it it takes an unbelievable amount of hard work. Like s you'll work harder than you ever thought was possible of yourself and you'll push yourself harder, but it's worth it is so unbelievably worth it if you love it.

[19:38] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, and that's kinda why we started this, because you know, I was doing a lot of research on podcasts be and there weren't many kid podcasts out there, especially on the topic of Broadway. And the topic of Broadway is completely different uh perspective between kids and adults.

[19:57] Eli Tokash: And um we'll be able to one hundred percent.

[20:00] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, and we'll be able to kinda give you that those two different perspectives on one podcast. So we're very excited about that.

[20:08] Eli Tokash: Yeah, we'll talk about this in in future episodes, but like for example, one thing that a lot of people ask about or a lot of people don't necessarily realize is children have to balance school along with a a full time job.

[20:21] Sydney Lucas: So yeah, we'll talk all about that in in future episodes with our different guests.

[20:26] Eli Tokash: Yeah, and keep in mind like not only like another job, but it's also we're still auditioning and we're s doing other little jobs like commercials and little labs that we can do during the day. So it's it's bit it's kinda crazy. I mean, but also for adults, you know, they have to take care of themselves more, uh as far as like their bodies and stuff like that. So it's very different the things that the adults and the kids have to worry about and it's kind of very interesting and fun to let you guys think about.

[20:57] Sydney Lucas: I also think you and I, Eli, that we have an interesting perspective just, you know, becoming adults right now. We are young adults now and transitioning.

[21:07] Eli Tokash: Exactly.

[21:07] Sydney Lucas: So we can talk about the differences between and you know, we're not fully engrossed in the adult acting world, but we're almost there.

[21:16] Eli Tokash: We're pretty much I mean, once we turn 18, it's it's gonna be a different story, but we can speak on the the experiences of kids and adults because it's all completely fresh in our minds because it just happened like yesterday.

[21:30] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, for sure.

[21:31] Eli Tokash: And we can also talk about the voice changing and going through all that phase as well, which is um something that will hopefully benefit everyone.

[21:41] Sydney Lucas: Yeah. Currently, we are in the middle of a pandemic, and so Eli and I are recording this remotely, but this pandemic has really devastated the theater community, and some people have taken their last bows without even knowing it. There are some people who in the theater community they don't even know where their next meal is coming from or their next rent payment, and it's it's it's pretty crazy.

[22:07] Eli Tokash: And some clothes some shows are d are just closing.

[22:11] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, Beetlejuice announced that it there will no longer have performances. So the entire cast um didn't know they had their final vows. Our friend of ours who was in fun home with Sydney, Zel Silmarrow, actually took his final bow in Harry Potter before he was supposed to, um, scheduled to, I guess you could say. And Presley Ryan, who was also in fun home with me, also took our Lats Bows and Eel Juice.

[22:36] Eli Tokash: Right.

[22:37] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, I mean, this time has been very scary for a lot of people. There's been a lot of actors who have come out to having COVID and being COVID positive. And it's very inspiring to see how everyone has kind of reacted and come together during this community uh in in this Broadway community, as far as you know, Broadway Podcast Network has been doing a lot of things with their live town halls and just being more interactive with people and giving them more content for people at home to keep up with all Broadway stuff.

[23:13] Eli Tokash: I just wanted to let you guys know a few of the actors who have come out as COVID positive. Um Denny Burstein, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Laura Bell Bundy, Max Clayton, Sarah Borellis, Patty Mirin, they've all had scares on top of many, many more. Especially we want to give a special shout out to Nick Cordero. He was in Bronx Tale, Bullets Over Broadway, Raitress, Rock of Ages. He is currently unresponsive. And there's a big hashtag going out right now saying, Wake up, Nick. If you want to follow along with that, you can follow his wife on Instagram at Amanda Klutz, A M-A-N-D-A, K-L-O-O-T-Z. She's been giving frequent updates and it's just I've been praying every day for Nick, so is my family.

[24:06] Sydney Lucas: Yeah.

[24:07] Eli Tokash: And they recently they have a little baby too.

[24:10] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, they have a little bit and I never even met Nick, but I mean, first of all, if one person in the Broadway community or the theater community is hurting, the entire Broadway community hurts. That's how close-knit we are.

[24:21] Sydney Lucas: For sure.

[24:22] Eli Tokash: So please, please pray for Nick and his family.

[24:26] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, like Sydney said, I don't know Nick personally, but I have a lot of friends that know him, and I've heard all good things about him. So we're thinking about him and our thoughts, our prayers are with him and his family.

[24:38] Eli Tokash: Yeah. So the Broadway community still doesn't have an exact time to fully open back up because we've postponed several times and we just don't want to give out more false information. But it seems like we will be back the first two weeks of June. So we're excited about that. And I've seen a lot of posts lately from friends and podcasts, even on the Broadway Podcast Network. It's true, they say whenever Broadway is shut down due to a crazy event, we've always come back better and we've always come back stronger, and we've always come back together and with a new appreciation, and we're just reminded of why we do this because we love it and we're able to help so many people, and it's been amazing to see how everyone has turned to the art during this time in quarantine because I mean art inspires so many people and will give you new hope and it'll help you clear your mind.

[25:40] Sydney Lucas: Absolutely.

[25:41] Eli Tokash: And it's also really beautiful to see just it's just another reminder of how close knit the theater community is from the fans to just absolutely everyone in the theater community is so close knit, and we truly do have so much love and care for each other, and it doesn't even matter if we know each other or not.

[26:01] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, exactly.

[26:02] Eli Tokash: So we'll make it through. We're strong and we all have each other.

[26:06] Sydney Lucas: Yeah.

[26:07] Eli Tokash: Well put.

[26:08] Sydney Lucas: Thanks.

[26:10] Eli Tokash: Um, don't forget though, I know we're in quarantine and Broadway is shut down, but there are still ways to watch Broadway from home on your couch and stuff like that.

[26:20] Sydney Lucas: Yeah. You know, you can watch it on PBS. There's a couple on Netflix, Amazon, Broadway HD. Bandstand actually did a thing that you could live stream it. And I think it was like a seven dollar charge or something, and all those proceeds went to the actors fund. So that was very cool.

[26:39] Eli Tokash: So keep an eye out for those. There's going to be a Disney sing along on April 16th, which will which is tonight, but that will be after the podcast aired. So I hope everyone enjoyed that. And then you can look out. I mean, Jimmy Fallon's been doing his shows from home, which have been super cool and creative.

[26:57] Sydney Lucas: Um SNL, I believe, is gonna start doing that weekly. I believe they actually had their first episode last Saturday with Tom Hanks as their host, and it was actually first of all, genius choice of host. It was absolutely incredible. I wish there was more of him though, because he only did his monologue, and then the rest was kind of all the cast, but it was still I'll tell you what though, it was one for the history books.

[27:23] Eli Tokash: For sure. I just kept thinking, wow, it is so insane. Everybody here, they're acting as their own directors and videographers and makeup and hair people, and they just came together and created something to make people laugh. It kind of blew me away.

[27:37] Sydney Lucas: It really did.

[27:38] Eli Tokash: For sure. I mean, everyone on my social media was going see there's his for sure again. Everyone on my social media was like, Thank you, SNL, and we're so happy that you're doing this and stuff like that.

[27:51] Sydney Lucas: So um you can tell it actually had like a really big impact because at this time, like we could all use some laughs, and during this quarantine they were actually able to make fun of it, so that's always hilarious.

[28:03] Eli Tokash: Yeah. And then there's other things. Uh Global Citizen is having a concert from home on April 18th. Ben Platt, Leslie Odam Jr., Jennifer Hudson. There'll be some Broadway names on there. So you can check that out. John Krasinski has been doing a lot of videos. I think it's once a week, and it's his little fake news, but I mean it's real news, but like fake news channel.

[28:26] Sydney Lucas: Right.

[28:27] Eli Tokash: And it's called some good news. And on the news right now, we're not seeing the good, you know? So he's kind of shining a light on all the good and how everyone's coming together to support all the frontline workers and everything like that. And that's really something quite inspiring to see how everyone's coming together once again.

[28:48] Sydney Lucas: Absolutely.

[28:49] Eli Tokash: And also, isn't there a way via the Broadway Podcast Network? Isn't there a way that people can donate to Broadway Cares, the Actors Fund?

[28:59] Sydney Lucas: Yes. Um everyone you go check out the Broadway Podcast Network.com or you can go to their Instagram page at Broadway Podcast Network. They'll have the link in their bio, and you can donate to the Actress Fund and you can donate to Broadway Care's Equity Fights AIDS. So anything's helping, you don't have to donate, but if you do, it's very helpful and it just shows how everyone is truly coming together during this time.

[29:27] Eli Tokash: Every little contribution helps, seriously. If everyone chips in even a little bit, all of that will add up and that will help people so much.

[29:35] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, for sure.

[29:36] Eli Tokash: For sure.

[29:37] Sydney Lucas: Hey.

[29:39] Eli Tokash: I know I know.

[29:40] Sydney Lucas: No, I love it.

[29:41] Eli Tokash: Never change.

[29:43] Sydney Lucas: I'll try.

[29:44] Eli Tokash: Sorry. You're I'm gonna tease Eli mercilessly.

[29:48] Sydney Lucas: Oh, for sure. There'll be a lot of teasing on the for sure. Especially when we have like guests on, because when there's guests on, there's gonna be a lot of teasing and a lot of Oh uh. Um no, this is gonna be the highlight of my life um to tease Eli weekly. It truly is. I can't wait.

[30:10] Eli Tokash: Hey.

[30:14] Sydney Lucas: Um we also wanted to thank Broadway Podcast Network for bringing us onto their network and helping us out and helping grow us. And we're excited to be on your team and on your family with all the other amazing podcasts on their network.

[30:29] Eli Tokash: Yes, thank you so much. We are so excited. Guys, that's also another source of entertainment during this time in quarantine. If you want to listen to more podcasts, there's a bunch of podcasts on there.

[30:40] Sydney Lucas: Uh there's Broadwaisted, Broad's way, which is about girls on Broadway talking about Broadway. Um Josh Swallows Broadway with my dear friend Josh Laman, uh, Little Me with Mark Trumanelli, uh from Broadway Workshop, uh The Hang with Ramin Teramlu. There's a bunch of great podcasts on there that you won't wanna miss.

[30:59] Eli Tokash: Definitely go check those out.

[31:01] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, special shout out to all you and all your work during this time. Uh it's great.

[31:06] Eli Tokash: Oh also for like welcoming us so so warmly.

[31:10] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, for sure.

[31:11] Eli Tokash: For sure.

[31:12] Sydney Lucas: Uh oh We love you.

[31:17] Eli Tokash: Um there's also live town halls is what they're calling it that you can watch so you can actually watch kind of a podcast, but it's also just gonna be people hanging out and you can watch them zoom and stuff like that. So that's always fun.

[31:33] Sydney Lucas: Oh yeah. And we want to thank our parents, obviously, for helping make this happen and you know, support us in all the things we do.

[31:42] Eli Tokash: And Tessie.

[31:42] Sydney Lucas: Oh, yes, and Tessie.

[31:44] Eli Tokash: Teddy's been a huge help.

[31:45] Sydney Lucas: And thank you to Jazz. So Jazz is my sister's friend. They go to college together at Marymount Manhattan. And she's been helping us with our logo. And so the logo that you see for Take a Bow was actually designed and kind of I mean, we helped out a little bit, but we just gave our feedback. But she designed the whole thing. And so we wanted to thank her very much on such an amazing and cool concept that you created for us. Incredible job.

[32:13] Eli Tokash: Yeah. Thank you so much for tuning in to our first episode of Take a Bow. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Before we end, Sid and I just want to say we hope you all are practicing social distancing and staying safe at home.

[32:26] Sydney Lucas: We would also like to take a moment to express our immense gratitude to all of the heroes, frontline workers, healthcare workers, and essential workers, making sure we still have access to all of our essential items.

[32:37] Eli Tokash: Yeah, for sure. Um thank you for all your bravery and selflessness. You guys are really the rocks during this pandemic.

[32:44] Sydney Lucas: It's kind of crazy.

[32:45] Eli Tokash: Yeah, and thank you to Eli's mom.

[32:47] Sydney Lucas: Yes, she works at uh New York Presbyterian in Brooklyn, and uh just seeing her and the photos that she sends us every day and the stories that she tells us when she gets home. It's it gives you a new appreciation for all of the workers out there who are dealing with working during this pandemic. So thank you guys for everything, literally.

[33:11] Eli Tokash: Thank you so so much. I mean, really what's important is that everyone really just needs to come together by keeping their distance in order to flatten the curve.

[33:21] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, totally. Uh, we love you all. Thank you guys for listening. Tune in next week for our next episode, and it'll be our very first guest, which we're so excited about.

[33:26] Eli Tokash: So excited.

[33:33] Sydney Lucas: Um, one last thing. Uh, you can follow us on Instagram at takeabout podcast or Twitter at Take About Podcast. We'll mostly be on our Instagram.

[33:41] Eli Tokash: And in our bio, you can actually email us to send us any feedback or like guests that you have you'd like you would like to.

[33:50] Sydney Lucas: Even questions.

[33:51] Eli Tokash: Yeah, and send your questions and all of that, and we can answer personally, or you can be featured on our podcast.

[33:58] Sydney Lucas: So, yeah.

[33:59] Eli Tokash: Absolutely. Thank you guys.

[34:01] Sydney Lucas: Thank you, everyone. Stay safe.

[34:03] Eli Tokash: Yes.

[34:04] Sydney Lucas: Bye, everyone.

[34:05] Eli Tokash: Bye-bye.

[34:05] Sydney Lucas: Oh, and thank you to Nikki Torsha and Cormic Collin for our awesome intro and outro music. You guys are the best.