This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:01] Eli Tokash: Hello everyone and welcome to episode 179 of Take A Bow. I'm your host, Eli Tokash, and this week, folks, it's just me. We have so much to talk about, and my schedule this week did not time up with so many people's schedule. We had a few guests lined up and I just could not make it happen this week. Crazy week for me. Sorry about that. No guest this week. But I actually will say we do have a couple of appearances coming in throughout the podcast.

[0:38] Eli Tokash: As you all know, the Broadway flea market was this weekend, or yeah, this weekend, this Sunday. I got to chat with a few people there, a lot of the fans that were roaming the tables, I guess you could say, of the flea market. It was so great to meet so many of you who listen. It really makes my day when you all come up to me and let me know that someone out there is listening, or you're a fan of the show, or you've seen me in a show. There's truly no better feeling than that, or you're the reason I like musical theater. Hearing those things is the best.

[1:16] Eli Tokash: Anytime someone came up to me, I would try to be like, "Oh, you want to do an interview?" So today I'm actually going to be featuring two of those interviews on the podcast. They're short little two-minute questions about the flea, questions about Broadway, you know, what's your favorite musical type of things. It's a way to hear from you, the listeners and the fans. These interviews are actually already on social media on the TikToks and things. If you want to watch those, feel free to head over to Take A Bow Podcast on TikTok, and you'll see that there.

[2:00] Eli Tokash: But before we get into that, I mean there's literally so much news that I have to get through. So in a way, it's great that we have no guests because I don't think I would have had time to go through all of this with you. I have to break it down. This week, since the last time I talked to y'all, I've seen two shows. Those two shows happen to be arguably the two hottest tickets on Broadway right now in Merrily We Roll Along and Gutenberg. Both I was very just loved.

[2:36] Eli Tokash: I'm going to start out with Merrily We Roll Along and then I'm actually going to end the episode with a review of Gutenberg. Yeah, we'll see how it goes. So stick around if you want to hear the Gutenberg review. If not, stick around till time allows. So Merrily We Roll Along, I have to talk to you about it. Y'all, Merrily We Roll Along, I'm obsessed with the show. First of all, I knew nothing going into the show. Honestly, take away my theater card, whatever, I'm sorry, but I just like to do that.

[3:11] Eli Tokash: I know all of these famous shows and all these things, but we see these shows get revived all the time. I don't even want to learn about them until I see them. I want to go into every show just cold. Sometimes it doesn't happen, but it's fine. So Merrily We Roll Along, I went in completely cold, had no idea. I knew songs like "Our Time," "Not a Day Goes By," I mean the classics. Come on, guys, I am somewhat of a Broadway person.

[3:42] Eli Tokash: When you're in shows, you just hear the songs, or you hear someone singing it for an audition or whatever it is. So I had a little bit of insight, but I didn't realize it was about writers. I didn't know that it was written in reverse chronological order. Oh my god, there's the word. So yeah, that was like crazy. First of all, I walked into the Hudson Theater, right, which is where Merrily We Roll Along is being played, and I immediately walked in and was like, "Oh my god, this is like a California apartment or like a house."

[4:25] Eli Tokash: And sure enough, that's what was going on. It was so simple, but the way that the set was crafted, they then went to a newsroom, I don't know what that's called, where they filmed the news. The way that they were able to still use that apartment and turn it into a newsroom or the court or whatever it was, it was brilliant. Their set was absolutely brilliant, and it made total sense. You kind of got to see the orchestra from the set on the roof, you know, like on the roof.

[5:13] Eli Tokash: So it was really, really cool. I loved what they did. I thought Merrily We Roll Along as a whole was brilliant. I heard that they rewrote a lot to make it all make sense as it didn't do well in its first stint. I'm so happy to see that they figured out the kinks, happy to learn that they figured out what works, what didn't work, because right now they really have a tight musical up there that's so brilliant and it keeps you invested for the whole two and a half hours.

[5:43] Eli Tokash: There is an intermission, and I'm going to tell you what, these three on stage, Daniel Radcliffe, Lindsay Mendes, and that list goes on, everyone's doing incredible work, but those three in particular, you have to see it. It's one of those shows where you can't even describe it. It's one of those shows that Reeve Carney is about to leave Hadestown. You need to see these people in these roles. These roles were almost written for these people.

[6:14] Eli Tokash: Granted, Merrily We Roll Along is a revival. However, it was kind of rewritten for these characters, for these actors and actresses. I absolutely loved everything I saw. I've never seen Daniel Radcliffe in a musical, so to see him in a musical, because obviously I didn't get to see him in How to Succeed, because I wasn't even in New York at that time. I didn't even know Broadway was a thing until I was on Broadway, which is super awkward.

[6:42] Eli Tokash: Daniel Radcliffe blew me out of the water. He had one song, and that song alone could win him a Tony Award. It was just absolutely astounding. What he does, it was weird too to see their dynamic. I'm always one to root for Daniel Radcliffe, but I didn't expect to. I always think Jonathan Groff's just going to play the sweetheart. Obviously, someone has to be the bad guy, and I wasn't expecting it to be Jonathan Groff, but in this musical, it was Jonathan Groff, and I was just like, I hated hating Jonathan Groff.

[7:31] Eli Tokash: Is that bad? I don't know. It was just like a weird out-of-body experience. I didn't like to see Jonathan Groff being this obnoxious kind of jerk of a human being, you know, and it was just so weird. Nonetheless, he did it beautifully, obviously, and he successfully did that. It was also interesting because it was one of those shows where it's like, "Oh, the bad guy turned into the good guy."

[8:01] Eli Tokash: Because the way that the show is written in reverse chronological order, you leave and everyone's like this nice guy, and yet none of them are famous yet. Then you realize, leaving the theater, you're like, "Oh, they're friends," and blah blah blah. But then you realize at the start of the show, they're not friends anymore because he's such a jerk. It was just a complete mind contortion. It was just so bizarre, and it totally makes you think, and it's amazing.

[8:36] Eli Tokash: I just really loved the show and it was so entertaining. It was about writers, and it was just so new. It felt new and fresh and real, you know. It's interesting because I'm going to make a similar connection to Gutenberg, but I'm not going to do that yet. I also wanted to shout out that something that's special about Merrily We Roll Along. I was looking at the Broadway grosses this week, right?

[9:03] Eli Tokash: First of all, oh my god. Y'all, I'm so sorry. I am all over the place right now. It is one o'clock and I'm recording this and it should have already been released, but that's how this week has gone. Apologies. I can't think of words. The energy is not there as it usually is, and I'm all over the map. Things just keep popping in my brain. I saw the Broadway grosses this week, right?

[9:33] Eli Tokash: I saw two shows that are doing very, very well, very successful shows. Two revivals, which is not surprising, but also surprising, if you know what I mean. It's Merrily We Roll Along and Sweeney Todd as two of maybe the top four shows selling on Broadway right now. Interestingly enough, those two shows have seven shows a week. I think that this is something that could be more of a trend.

[10:11] Eli Tokash: Doing seven shows a week, I think that this is something very smart for the actors, but I also think that it's very smart from a producing business perspective because seven shows a week will allow longevity. It will increase the capacity on a weekly basis because those shows aren't spread out. People coming in or whatever, they're not going to have that extra show to space out the theater.

[10:42] Eli Tokash: These shows that we see performing eight times a week at a 60% occupancy, well, maybe they would want to consider doing seven because that would help the capacity go up. Those audience members would only have one less option to choose from in that week. This doesn't mean, like I know seven shows a week, people may be like, "Oh, well, then you'd have to raise the rent and everything," or raise the ticket sales. Not necessarily, I think.

[11:14] Eli Tokash: I think if you can keep it the same, it'll balance over time. We see the continued success that Sweeney Todd is putting up on a weekly basis. We see what Merrily We Roll Along is doing. It's not moving in terms of capacity. I think that's just something very interesting, and I think that everyone could literally benefit from it. You wouldn't have to pay your stagehands for eight shows; you'd pay them for seven. Same with the actors.

[11:43] Eli Tokash: It's just an interesting thing to think about here. It's more of a normal thing because then it would average to like one a day as an actor doing a performance instead of one point whatever it is because you're doing eight shows a week in six days, which is absolutely bonkers and extremely exhausting. But hey, that's Broadway, and that's what we're used to. We see these new trends trying to come about.

[12:14] Eli Tokash: Something interesting to keep an eye out moving forward. I mean, those two are trying it out, and it's very successful. I don't know why they're trying it out, but it seems to be working, so why not?

[12:27] Eli Tokash: Um, okay, moving on. Uh, Anne Juliette over at Angelia, we haven't talked about Anne Juliette for a while, and so I'm excited to see that it was back in the news. Ariana Grande went to Anne Juliette. Y'all, I don't know if you saw these videos of Ariana Grande at Anne Juliette, but she was literally like so. First of all, it was very, very sweet. She was very, very sweet to the entire company. Um, she took the time to go backstage afterwards, and she was telling them, you know, like, thank you for your time to like, you know, stay extra after the cur after the show ended to like meet me. Meanwhile, she's like Ariana Grande. Um, but very, very nice nonetheless. But she was literally like, can you sign my thing?

And like referring to her playbill. Like, girl, first of all, you came from Broadway. You are you are a Broadway baby, okay? Just like me, it's okay. So it you were in 13 when you were like 12. So you know what a playbill is, right? You're playing Glinda, you're playing the one of the most iconic musical theater like women in of our like history. How do you not know what a playbill is? So that was like so bizarre to me, but I don't know. That was like a little rant. I was just like, you know it's a playbill, girl. What what are you doing here? I don't know if she was shy. I don't know. Um, but I was like, you gotta know it's a playbill. It literally says it right on the right on the the playbill, the thing.

Um, but uh wild stuff. Anyways, so so great to see Ariana Grande at uh at a Broadway show. I think that does great. I mean, we see what Taylor Swift's doing with the impact in the NFL, um, or or just like in our economy as a whole. Um, say, hey Taylor, you want to come to Broadway, you know, get some get some of those uh, you know, capacity up at uh at Broadway, um, maybe for a show that's suffering. You know, they should honestly like pay Taylor Swift to go see like some like it hot or beautiful noise that are like currently selling in the 16% just to see if that would boost their ticket sales. Oh my god, that would be wild. Uh, but I wouldn't put it past them because like honestly, like, whoa, she goes to a Broadway show, then it's like, oh, what's the odds she goes to another Broadway show?

Let's go try to see a Broadway show and see if she's there. I don't know. It's something cool. Um, anyways, that's that was that. Ariana and Juliette, wild times. Um, and then the Tony Awards. So the Tony Awards, okay. This is real news, y'all. Uh, the Tony Awards are going to be June 16th this year. Uh, obviously, well, not this year, but 2024. Um, but it is for this coming season and the season that we're in, and it has a new home. We are no longer at Radio City, we are no longer up in the heights. We are at Lincoln Center. I love this. Why haven't we been doing this from the get-go? This just makes sense. It's like in the Broadway area, but it's not, you know, it's far enough removed to where it's like a little less hectic and not as much traffic going down Sixth Avenue to try to get to Radio City and a giant bus, all 30-something shows who have to like perform and go in their costumes and everything.

Like, it's just craziness. So it just makes sense. I don't know what happened to Radio City. Like for so many years it seemed to be like the home of the Tony Awards, and now all of a sudden they are trying and testing these new venues. So I I don't know. But to to see it at Lincoln Center, it's it's exciting. And um obviously it is broadly related. I was shocked because I felt like Lynn was also just gonna like continue to try to boost his theater up. Um, but I excited to see that, you know, they're they're trying places and trying to find a new home for the Tony Awards. I really see this as a um solid fit and something that we could start to see like the new home of the Tony Awards is gonna be at Lincoln Center.

I think it makes sense. I mean, like, isn't like I don't know. I don't want to misspeak, but I feel like the Met Gala is like Lincoln Center. Well, that's a yeah, like the Metropolitan Opera. So it's like up in that area, right? So um, yeah, I I just feel like that area is is it makes sense for like celebrities and like all these things. I don't know. That's that may just be me. But I I feel like it there's a solid fit here. There's something here.

[17:43] Eli Tokash: Um, okay. Moving on. Reeve Carney, I just talked a little bit about this. Reeve Carney has announced it's his final performance in Hades Town. Y'all, I am so sad. But we had to see this coming, right? So even Nova Zada obviously left Hades Town. Soleil Pfeiffer is killing it over um in Hades Town right now and uh at the Walter Kerr Theater. And um sh so after Eva left, it was kind of a shock that Reeve didn't leave with her. So I kind of assumed he was gonna not be there for too much longer, but I didn't know how long and how soon it would be. It came a little sooner than I thought. Um, but nonetheless, his final performance is going to be November 19th as Orpheus in Hades Town, and I'm hearing that um now this is a legit.

Like all of this stuff, there's no I don't know how much credibility this has, but I've heard it from a couple people, so I'm gonna like say it. I'm hearing that Jordan Fischer may be replacing him and coming back to Broadway um as Orpheus in Hades Town, which with that voice, are you kidding me? I would be all for that. I I I would like literally take my money right now. Um I would be there like day one, night one, opening night for Jordan Fischer. That would be insane. But I do feel like, you know, I in a way they do have to like stunt cast this show. I mean, we see right now Betty Who's in the show, uh, playing Professor uh Profess Professor Persephone. Um so like maybe they don't have to do all the roles at once.

It's kind of like a Roxy Hart thing where you kind of can you you can get away with doing like one or two roles at at a time um in Chicago. Um, but I I do think that having a name would help a Hades Town because the show itself is solid and I feel like people would continue to go see it. But at the same time, this show m kind of I I mean solidified I would say, 'cause they were already like stars. It's not like they had breakout roles, but it kind of solidified Eva and Reeve and like Amber Gray and all of them as like the greats, you know, as as in that tier of like, you know, you can be an individual fan of his and and if he goes to do it and Eva, you know, she's doing her next show, Great Gatsby.

Everyone wants to see Great Gatsby because they're a huge fan of Eva. Like, you know, it's kinda like that. And like if Reeve were to do another show, like people would now go see Reeve. But they were going to see like Hades Town and they were gonna go see Andre DeShields and Patrick Page, who happen to be like Broadway's superstars, you know. It wasn't it well, it was kind of like Eva Nobozato with this up and coming and Reeve did like Spider-Man, but it w I don't know. I I feel like now it's like these folks are stars now, and it's like you want to go see them in that show, and it's only them, and we only know Hades Town is them. So, in a way, you kinda have to carry that torch or or carry that um, I don't know, weight in with a new cast.

Um, so it'll be interesting to see uh, you know, if they do get someone like Jordan Fischer who could sell tickets, or if they go a different route and they bring in somebody completely new and fresh and raw, and we'll see what happens. Um, but I'll be interested nonetheless, and uh huge congrats to Reeve. I wouldn't I wouldn't say that Reeve is moving on to a new project anytime soon. I think Reeve need is gonna have a little bit of a break here. Umsually, like as of late, I've been like, oh, this person's leaving the show, look out for this show or whatever. But uh I I do think Reeve is kind of just gonna support Eva for a little bit and check out Great Gatsby, and then they'll they'll both take a little break in between Great Gatsby transferring to Broadway from paper mill, probably. Um, so yeah, that's what's going on there.

[22:12] Eli Tokash: Um, and now I have like a flea market recap. So I I guess I'm going to break up the news section this week, uh, because there's so much we have to get to still. Um, and I'm gonna talk about the Broadway Flea Market. So as I mentioned earlier, the Broadway Flea Market was this week. It was amazing. It went so well that it broke records in raising money for Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS, which is what the flea market is all about. It's about a bunch of uh performers coming together to donate, you know, their signatures, their their um their set pieces, their costumes, whatever they have, their show merchandise, their opening night presents, you know, like whatever it is to uh you know, raise money for Broadway Cares.

They they're not expecting a dime, they're literally donating it for uh to help everyone that Broadway cares support, um, which is millions of people. So um, shout out to Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids. Um, but yes, they wrote they did record breaking numbers raising 1,237,179. Um I am so thrilled. I was so thrilled to be there. It was so wonderful to see a normal flea. You know, like last year it was great, and they did really well, and you y'all raised a lot of money. Um, however, it just like I don't know. There wasn't that like sense that it was fully back yet. Even Broadway Con this year was like, are we fully back? This is the first time this Broadway flea market that I felt like Broadway is fully back and we are okay, you know.

Um there was so many people at the Broadway Flea this this week, um, this past weekend, and so many familiar faces, which is so great to see, and so many actors who obviously last year were just like that is completely off limits. I cannot get sick, I cannot do this. All of them showed up, showed their support. It just felt like it was it it was back, you know. Um I can't say that enough. And it was great. Like Amber Artolino was at like her booths uh at like Back to the Future. Um Eva Noblazada, who's not even in Hades Town right now, obviously, she's rehearsing for Great Gatsby, was at the Hades Town booth. Philip Boykin was at the Hades Town booth. Um I'm trying to think of like other shows. Um we had uh Anne Juliette cast members come out, uh multiple of them.

[24:54] Eli Tokash: We had multiple Kimberly Akimbo cast members come out, and it was just like everyone was there, they were doing live signings for an extra donation, whatever it was, and this isn't even at the photo and autograph booth which did really well this year in helping raise money for the weekend and the charity. So it was just great. It was great to see, and I hope that it is a positive sign moving forward that we are back and these next events here are gonna be like they were pre-pandemic. And that was like peak Broadway. So I'm excited to see what the future holds because this flea was pretty incredible, y'all. I'm not gonna lie. I just loved it. It's literally like Christmas for the theater community.

Like the flea is Christmas, the Tony Awards are like the Super Bowl, and like I don't even know. Like Gypsy of the Year and Easter bonnet is like Easter and like whatever. I know I'm doing Christian holidays, and I'm sorry, but um, or like Catholic holidays. So anyways, those are just what's coming to mind.

[26:11] Eli Tokash: So the top tables that raise money at the Broadway Flea Market, for anyone who's curious, there is inner competition within the Broadway community. Listen, as much as we say that the Broadway community is not competitive, and you know, like we don't pin each other, like I don't know. We are all like very supportive of one another, and it's difficult to audition and not think of it as a competition, but it's not. However, it is still very competitive, this community in this industry. So of course the tables and the shows, and this is all for bragging rights, by the way. But there is a competition, and they do care like who raises the most money. And the top tables this year happen to be the Schubert organization, which is like a newer booth.

They started like two, three years ago at the flea, like right before the pandemic, I feel. And it's wonderful. They're right outside Shubert Al, well, like their theater, and they have shows like all of their Schubert organization shows. They have memorabilia from all of it, and the Schuberts own so many theaters, probably like 30 plus theaters, on Broadway. So there's a ton of stuff. So they were the top table that raised the most money.

[27:41] Eli Tokash: And then it was Hadestown, and I have to say that that was large part thanks to Eva Noblezada who was there signing live, including myself crowding the table, getting a signed playbill or flower or whatever it is from Eva. And then it was TDF pick a ticket, which is my personal favorite booth. I was able to win. So okay, pick a ticket, right? You have to do it like the first thing you get to the flea because it does not make it past like noon, maybe one o'clock. Like once the matinees start, you will not get a pick a tick. So for anyone that does know, it's like a raffle ticket, and they're stapled together, and then you rip open the staples, and if it has a stamp on it, you're a winner, and if not, you're a loser.

So you gotta keep picking your raffle tickets, right? And you have to keep seeing if you got a stamp. And when you get a stamp, you give it to the worker, and they like grab an envelope, right? And they have no idea what they're grabbing, it's just like in a box, and they give you tickets, and in these envelopes, it has two tickets to a random show, and it could be Broadway, off Broadway, whatever. So it's awesome.

[29:03] Eli Tokash: This year, I was me and my sister both did it. We were able to win four shows, which is super exciting. We didn't win all of these shows, but we then traded for these shows. So we ended up at the end of the day with Ja Ja's African Hair Braiding, Shucked, Perfect Crime, which happens to be like apparently the longest running off Broadway show, but I've heard it's absolutely terrible, so very weird. And The Play That Goes Wrong. So we ended up with those four shows, which is very exciting. We can't even make some of them, but it's fine. And because they obviously give you like certain performances and whatever. But we ended up winning like Kimberly Akimbo and Aladdin, and so like then we were like trading and helping people because they wanted to see that show, and I was just like, yeah, go for it. Like, if you want to see that show, see the show. I'll see it eventually, hopefully.

[30:07] Eli Tokash: So that was number three. Sweeney Todd was four, and then five was the United Scenic Artists, who I feel like was a brand new booth, and they were doing very, very cool stuff where it was literally like doing designs, like drawings of like sets and costumes and all these things. I've never seen anything like it. And the fact that they were auctioning off, I thought it was very, very cool. So all the stage managers, like the people who are in college going for stage managing or whatever, it was awesome to kind of see them geek out over their people, you know, and get their signature because they signed their designs or whatever it was. It was really cute, and it was a cool little booth, and that was great to see.

So out of the shows, the top two were Hadestown and Sweeney Todd. Honestly, a little bit of a shock for me. I really thought I didn't see Shucked have a booth, which I thought was interesting, but I really thought, you know, like a booth like &Juliet with those hardcore fans, or even a booth like Kimberly Akimbo, like I know they have some hardcore fans. I thought they were gonna be up there more.

[31:18] Eli Tokash: But Hadestown and Sweeney, they really brought their A game with these donations and people were digging it. So shout out to them and shout out to all the shows and the whole community for coming out and donating and shout out to all of you for using those donations as a tax-deductible. Yeah, it was awesome. And I will say this year I actually, it was the first time I like watched the grand auction, which I don't know I'm more of a guy that likes to walk around and see what's going on, but also I've like helped like sell things and like volunteer and work at a booth or whatever. So I've never really enjoyed it the way that I did this year, and I think that that had a big reason as to like why I'm feeling the way I feel about it. But it was fun to watch the grand auction this year and Todd Bonapani, who's a friend of mine, was like co-hosting the auction, so it was always fun to see him talk and kind of be like an auctioneer. It was super cute.

[32:22] Eli Tokash: So but it was really great. It was really great and I saw this crazy, the highest bid of the day of the whole event, and it was a Lin-Manuel collection thing where it was like a signed Lin-Manuel CD poster of Hamilton and then like he hand wrote like the musical sheet music of one of the songs. I think it was "Wait For It," but I'm not a hundred percent sure. Or it could have been "My Shot," and it was like the music bars and then like a staff and then the notes and then his signature and the lyrics. So it was just really cool. I actually posted on my Instagram for anyone that wants to see it and ended up going for like $13,000, those three things. It was crazy. And I was like, the video, it's so funny because like I was standing right in front of the guy that was like going back and forth on the bids.

And every time he would raise his hand, it would like block off my video, so you could totally know who did it. And it was very cool to see and witness. Everyone's reaction was like every time he would continue to go. It was very impressive.

[33:42] Eli Tokash: So yeah, it was great to see. And the grand auction itself almost raised half a million dollars alone. So shout out to like Lin-Manuel and Michael Crawford and like all of those legends who like donated their personal belongings and like their treasures so that they could share it with the community and fans of Broadway. It's really great to see. They did exactly $493,500, so that's just $6,500 short of half a million dollars, $55,500. So very impressive stuff. All right, so I'm gonna stop talking about the flea because I literally talked about it all for the whole episode, and I'm gonna turn it over to our fabulous interviews. We talked to two people that I'm gonna feature at very short interviews, and it's about flea finds and Broadway, and here they are. Thanks for participating, y'all.

[35:16] Eli Tokash: So many reasons. But this poster is even better. Okay, great. You just let me know. I'm ready whenever.

[35:26] Interviewee: Okay, first of all, first of all, I need your name. My like your Instagram.

[35:30] Bex: Okay, my name is Bex. My Instagram is Rebecca Marlar.

[35:33] Interviewee: Okay.

[35:34] Bex: And what about the TikTok?

[35:35] Interviewee: So that's the.

[35:36] Bex: Also Rebecca Marlar.

[35:37] Interviewee: Yeah.

[35:37] Bex: Tag you in all the things.

[35:38] Interviewee: Thank you.

[35:39] Bex: Yes, of course. So we're at the Broadway Fair's Flea Market, okay, and we're making donations to Broadway Cares.

[35:44] Interviewee: We are, we sure are.

[35:45] Bex: That's the most important. But we also got some goodies.

[35:47] Interviewee: We sure do.

[35:48] Bex: What is this?

[35:50] Interviewee: This I just paid 20 big ones for this.

[35:53] Bex: Oh my god.

[35:54] Interviewee: Okay.

[35:54] Bex: And I consulted my roommate, and we're going to put this up in our living room.

[35:59] Interviewee: You got this.

[36:00] Bex: Wait, do you need help?

[36:01] Interviewee: Oh.

[36:02] Bex: No, it's upside down.

[36:03] Interviewee: Oh my god.

[36:04] Bex: Not on the floor.

[36:04] Interviewee: Not on the floor.

[36:06] Bex: We're not doing that.

[36:07] Interviewee: It's a giant Audra McDonald.

[36:10] Bex: And it's going in the living room.

[36:13] Interviewee: Behind the couch, everybody.

[36:15] Bex: And I'm obsessed.

[36:16] Interviewee: From Ohio State Murders.

[36:18] Bex: This has to be the buy of the day.

[36:20] Interviewee: It truly is.

[36:21] Bex: $20, folks. I've been browsing. I came across this bad boy.

[36:25] Interviewee: And I had to have her.

[36:27] Bex: Yes, absolutely. And they're getting signed Audra McDonald playbills. Y'all, this is crazy. I'm obsessed with her.

[36:34] Interviewee: We love the Broadway Cares Equity.

[36:35] Bex: If I say flea market.

[36:36] Interviewee: Happy Broadway Cares set.

[36:37] Bex: Yes. Merry Christmas, theater kids.

[36:40] Interviewee: Thank you so much.

[36:41] Eli Tokash: Um so we're here with my new bestie Lexi.

[36:45] Lexi: Um hey.

[36:46] Eli Tokash: Um talk to me about this jacket we have going on.

[36:49] Lexi: Well, I got this jacket two years ago at BroadwayCon.

[36:55] Eli Tokash: Very exciting.

[36:56] Lexi: All her fate.

[36:58] Eli Tokash: Do you have a favorite musical?

[36:59] Lexi: Well, obviously, one that was obviously right now is Kimberly Akimbo.

[37:03] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[37:04] Lexi: Love.

[37:05] Eli Tokash: Obviously.

[37:06] Lexi: Obviously.

[37:08] Eli Tokash: Oh my god, amazing.

[37:09] Lexi: Yeah.

[37:10] Eli Tokash: Did you get anything fun here at the Broadway flea market?

[37:13] Lexi: Oh gosh, let me tell you, I got a Scorrock War bottle, I got a Matilda sweatshirt, a Jared Hanson jacket, and the original Annie playbook from 1997.

[37:25] Lexi: Very cool.

[37:26] Bex: Yeah, you heard me in 1997.

[37:29] Lexi: Is that your favorite one?

[37:30] Bex: Yeah, and then a bunch of other like pins and I got like the about me stuff from Kimberly Akimbo.

[37:39] Lexi: I got that.

[37:40] Bex: So yeah, I just been trying to get like all the freebies and also I've been volunteering with Bra Makers Marketplace.

[37:48] Lexi: And I, yeah, and it's more I helped out with Broadway Cares.

[37:51] Bex: So thank you for doing that, and thank you for volunteering.

[37:54] Lexi: That's very good.

[37:55] Bex: Of course. Amazing.

[37:56] Lexi: Um, and did you say that your favorite buy of the day was the Annie playbill?

[38:01] Bex: Maybe. I'm not sure.

[38:03] Lexi: I also got an Annie poster from the tour.

[38:05] Bex: Oh wow.

[38:06] Lexi: For one of the tours out of many.

[38:10] Bex: Wow.

[38:11] Lexi: That's awesome. Well, I hope you enjoy the rest of the flea. I love the jacket, love the haul, and uh yeah, thank you for doing this.

[38:19] Bex: Thanks for interviewing me, Eli.

[38:21] Eli Tokash: Yeah, of course. So nice to meet you.

[38:23] Bex: Nice to meet you too. Thanks.

[38:25] Eli Tokash: So sweet. I love it. It's great. I love the pins and everything.

[38:29] Bex: Yeah, like I've been a fan of you for a while, but they did like finally like meet you.

[38:33] Eli Tokash: Yeah, it's awesome. Thank you.

[38:35] Eli Tokash: Alright. Take a bow, Lexi, and Bex. Um, what a fun group of people, you know, that we see at the Broadway flea market. It's always so cool to see uh the different, you know, favorites of the Broadway community of the fan clubs and all the things.

[38:57] Eli Tokash: So thank you so much again for uh you know taking the time to chat with me while you were also like rushing to not like have your favorite thing be bought by someone else. Uh um, so yeah, then now I'm gonna take it back to the Broadway news.

[39:15] Eli Tokash: Um, I'm gonna close it off, and then I'm gonna actually well, I'll close it off with like my review, but I'm gonna close it off with uh the rest of the Broadway news I want to talk about. So, Six is having a sing-along performance, which is so brilliant.

[39:31] Eli Tokash: I don't know why more shows aren't doing this. The sing-along performances of Broadway shows, I feel like would be an absolute hit. Don't you can't tell me that you're listening to me this right now and telling me that you're not going to Hamilton singing these songs in your head, or you're not going to Six or Anne Juliette, or whatever show you're gonna like you're trying to see, or whatever show you're seeing for the 15th time.

[39:56] Eli Tokash: You are singing those songs and you're tapping your leg, you're tapping your foot, whatever you're doing, you're singing along with the performers. Now, y'all get to do it like out loud, and you're allowed to do it. It's not like you're trying to hide it, right?

[40:11] Eli Tokash: And sing it in your head or hum it quietly so that no one can hear you. Y'all get to like belt like you're in the shower. Like Broadway needs this. This is so smart. We're all doing it anyways. Let us jam out with our favorite queens, you know, six queens, um, on um on a Broadway stage and let us sing the songs.

[40:37] Eli Tokash: I feel like Anne Juliette should be doing this. I feel like Sweeney Todd should be doing this. The ones with the popular scores should absolutely be doing this. It's a great way to get people that already have seen the show. It's a great way to bring them back so that you can kind of feel like you're performing with these stars, with your favorite uh performers.

[40:59] Eli Tokash: Um, I think it's a great, great, great uh marketing tool, and I hope that more people do it. Even like the Niel Diamond's musical, like these pop kind of, you know, the Angelette's the Niel Diamond's, the jukebox musicals of like people know these songs, like let them sing along.

[41:17] Eli Tokash: You let them sing along to Sweet Caroline, but what about all the other ones that they know? So um, I love this idea so much. Shout out to Six for making that happen and just you know, driving, you know, more people into your theater and more traction on your show and bringing people back and keeping them engaged.

[41:39] Eli Tokash: Um, I think it's brilliant. So uh hope to see more of this on Broadway. I don't know. So the next piece of Broadway news I want to talk about is a bit of a shocker for me.

[41:50] Eli Tokash: Um you all know, if you're listening to me, if you've been listening to me since the Tony Awards season, you all know that I love me some Like It Hot. And unfortunately, this week it announced that it was closing on December 30th.

[42:07] Eli Tokash: Again, I just I am shocked. I am so sad. I wonder, I don't want to put this on them, but I wonder how much Jay's Jay Harrison G I wonder how much their industry uh their industry, oh my god, their injury played a factor in the ticket sales.

[42:35] Eli Tokash: Obviously, it was their big Tony Award winning performer, Jay Harrison G's the first unlike it hot. I think that was like the biggest award that they won. So not having that in a show, I wonder how that impacted sales, leading to a closing.

[42:53] Eli Tokash: Um, but you know, unfortunate things happen and things happen for a reason. And um, you know, I think that you know me. You have two months to see the show that is the definition of Broadway right now.

[43:08] Eli Tokash: Um simply put, if you want Broadway, see Some Like It Hot. Um before literally any other musical on Broadway right now, I think it's that brilliant. And Casey Nicholaw is capturing Broadway greatness in this show.

[43:28] Eli Tokash: So I'm a big Some Like It Hot fan. I will say it just proves like the weight that the Tony Awards has on a show's success. Um Kimberly Akimbo is a wonderful show, but it definitely helps having, you know, best musical of the season from the Tony Awards or whatever that they c they're advertising it as, you know, and it's just a great marketing strategy, and the people, the tourists um can be like oh well let's go see the best one on Broadway right now and right now that's Kimberly Akimbo according to the Tony Awards.

[43:40] Eli Tokash: So um it goes to show how how detrimental that can be um to a show's success so um heartbreaking to see because I really do feel like Some Like It Hot was one of the stronger shows of the season and um you know it's obviously the first one that didn't get that was nominated but didn't get the award um to close to announce closing because Anne Juliette, Shucked, uh obviously Akimbo they're all still going so uh interesting to see um you know what comes of it I'm shocked that Some Like It Hot is still is closing and Beautiful Noise from our um knowledge uh is still going which is great because I love Beautiful Noise too so I hope it continues.

[43:40] Eli Tokash: Um, but for a show that didn't even get nominated for a Tony Award it's like hmm it it's interesting to see you know what the audiences continue to um to see and again it could be a better easier sell to the tourists too because you know Niel Diamond's you know everyone knows who that is and Sweet Caroline and everything.

[45:20] Eli Tokash: So um, I don't know it very interesting and speaking of A Beautiful Noise I'll actually mention that Will Swenson is going to be playing his final performance as Niel Diamond's in A Beautiful Noise on Sunday, October 29th.

[45:38] Eli Tokash: So y'all have three weeks to go see uh the wonderful um the wonderful Will Swenson in as Niel Diamond's on Broadway. And let me tell you something. So at the flea market, I saw Will Swenson, right?

[45:52] Eli Tokash: And so I took the liberty to walk up to him and just be like, hey, we did a podcast together many moons ago. Um it was digital over Zoom. I just want to introduce myself in person, blah, blah, blah.

[46:04] Eli Tokash: And so we got to talking, and I was just like, okay, so like I saw the announcement, and this is like I'm not trying to like get any information out of you. I'm like genuinely curious.

[46:16] Eli Tokash: Like I'm a big fan of yours, and I hope look forward to seeing you on uh always performing. Um so I was just wondering, you know, you have anything lined up or what?

[46:26] Eli Tokash: And I hate this question as an actor, so I hate that I even asked him it. But he was such a professional, and he just said, No, I'm taking this time to sit on my couch, be with my family, and play with my girls.

[46:41] Eli Tokash: And I was just like, You are the ultimate professional, sir. And I thank you for everything that you do on Broadway and your performances. You give it your 100% every night that you're on a stage.

[46:56] Eli Tokash: So it's just absolutely remarkable and admirable uh what you do. Admirable, admirable, oh my god. So yeah, I mean, we had uh a nice little uh nice little chat, and you know, I wouldn't expect an announcement, like you know, some performers may say that because they have they it's they sign NDAs or whatever it is, but I really don't think we we'll be expecting an announcement for Will Swenson here soon.

[47:26] Eli Tokash: Um, in the sense that I do think he's gonna take some time and and maybe I think the next thing for Will is maybe he goes back into Griswold's Broadway vacation.

[47:39] Eli Tokash: Uh we talked to Ken Davenport, the producer of A Beautiful Noise, um earlier la this year, maybe last year, um, and he talked to us about how you know he was literally casted for Clark Griswold in your Griswold's Broadway vacation, and then he like started doing a Niel Diamond's impression, and that's how he got this role.

[48:07] Eli Tokash: So um, who knows? Maybe he hops back into that show. I don't know. Um, but you know, I uh just applaud Will for another great performance.

[48:17] Eli Tokash: I mean, he's been doing this role of Niel Diamond's for the past four or five years, I wanna say, and he's put in a lot of time to the show, a lot of energy. So the fact that he gets to go out on a good note, um, is just thrilling.

[48:34] Eli Tokash: And I do think um they haven't announced like a replacement or anything yet, but I do think his alternate Nick Ferdinini will um take over kind of maybe um all eight shows a week. Right now they're kind of splitting right now.

[48:54] Eli Tokash: Um kind of doing four and four, I believe. Maybe it's a six and two moment, but uh Will is not doing all eight shows right now, and um Nick is, I've heard, wonderful. I've heard nothing but great things.

[49:08] Eli Tokash: He's American Idol, um, all of the things. So um wouldn't be surprised if he kind of just takes over long term and and kind of doing it every show. Um and then they kind of find a replacement to stand by for him, really.

[49:24] Eli Tokash: Um, so I don't know. We'll see. It'll be a very uh interesting announcement. Again, like I said, you know, A Beautiful Noise is not one of those shows that's like selling out every night.

[49:35] Eli Tokash: So are they gonna stunt cast it? I don't know, or are they just gonna keep it, you know, kind of how it's going, and uh it'll be interesting to see, so definitely something to keep our eye on.

[49:51] Eli Tokash: Um, Betty Boop musical. I can't believe this is happening, y'all. These musicals nowadays are wild. Um, Betty Boop musical is going to star Jasmine Amy Rogers as Betty Boop, and joining the Boop cast, Boop the musical cast, I guess we can call it, is Faith Prince, Eric Bergeon, and Anastasia McCleskey. What a cast. I mean, that is just bonkers, and it's directed by Jerry Mitchell, and this is just gonna be a show to see. Like, honestly, like Betty Boop the musical, you can't tell me that doesn't pique your interest. Like, how are they gonna do that? What are they gonna do with that? This cast, Faith Prince, say less, you know, like what are we doing? And I don't know. I just think it's gonna be pretty interesting and one to see.

I don't know what's gonna happen. I don't know if it's even something that like I'm excited about in the sense of like, oh my god, I think I'm gonna love it. I'm saying it in like a sense of like it should pique everyone's interest. Everyone should be curious about this musical. Um, so um, you know, we love just another bit of news that I thought I'd mention on the show. Um, all right. So that's all the news I have for you folks this week. I've talked way too long, and um I'm gonna talk about Gutenberg now.

[51:26] Eli Tokash: Gutenberg. So Gutenberg, I absolutely loved Gutenberg when I literally just came home from it. Um, and so that's kind of why I'm also recording late because I wanted to talk about Gutenberg as well. So um, absolutely love the show. It is hilarious. It is everything that you think it's gonna be. You know, you have Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells in a Broadway show together. It's gonna be slapstick comedy, it's just gonna make you laugh for two hours straight, and that's exactly what it does. It's a, it's the comedy is not quite the play that goes wrong, but it is at the same time. Like it's just like a thoughtless, funny that you kind of just have to just like sit and laugh and your cheeks hurt from smiling the whole time, but then it does get like okay, okay.

I see where we're going with this. Is this gonna be that for two hours? And it is, and sometimes it's like, oh boy, are they overdoing it? And sometimes they're like, oh my god, this is brilliant. So I personally am in the party of like, oh, this is brilliant, and this is hilarious. The way that they do this, right? It's a two-man show, and without giving too much of the story away, right? Because it is kind of history, but it's not at the same time. So um, Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells, similarly to Merrily We Roll Along, are composers and writers of a show. Like, uh, they're trying to write a musical, and they write a musical about Johan Gutenberg, and these two are just on a stage, it's just the two of them, it's a two-man show, and they're doing a musical and presenting it to the audience as if we are the invest like potential investors, and they are doing the two of them are doing a full-fledged musical of like a cast of like three people, and they're being all of them.

[52:34] Eli Tokash: It is absolutely hilarious. The way that they do it, the way that they legit stay, like become 40 different people in a matter of two minutes, the way that they do that without changing costumes or anything is so brilliant, so funny, it does not get old. The way that the set is designed so that you literally feel like there are 40 people on that stage when it's just the two of them, but yet they make you envision it and make you feel like you're watching like a full-on Broadway musical, like it is pretty, pretty incredible and brilliant the way that this is being done right now. I don't feel like many people could pull this off, but obviously, the two of them, like I turned, so I went with a friend of mine, Mitchell Sink, who we'll have on the podcast here very soon, and I looked at him and I was just like, Mitchell, I could not imagine being an understudy in the show.

Like, it's one of those shows, first of all, where it's like Andrew Rannells, Josh Gad. First of all, you have to follow them and follow their brilliance. Second of all, they don't leave the stage. They literally have their water bottles on the stage and are literally talking to us drinking water because they have no other time to drink water. It is, uh, like I don't know how they're doing it eight times a week. I simply, it's blowing my mind. It is one that you do not want to miss. It opens officially October 12th, so right now they're technically still in previews. So I am curious to see if they will change anything, but I really don't think they will. I also think that every night is a completely different show because like it's just the two of them.

They've they're definitely improving some of that stuff. They were breaking on stage, people in the audience were shouting things out, so like obviously that's not gonna happen every night, and if it does, it's gonna be something different and in a different way, and they're gonna have a different reaction. And so, like, I feel like it's one of those shows that you could go see again and again. It's one that you don't want to miss. These two geniuses um on stage together reunited.

[55:55] Eli Tokash: And the fun thing is, too, is that they have this part at the end where they bring on like celebrities and they bring in friends to you know kind of wrap up the show. It was brilliant. For my night. Not every night it happens, I believe it was one of the understudies, but I can't tell because in the playbill, the headshots are their baby pictures, which is so funny and so great, and I love that for so many reasons. But I couldn't tell who like our like person who ended the show was. Um, but they have in the past had like Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Cynthia Erivo and Annaleigh Ashford and all of these amazing people. So um, you never know who may pop up, Nikki M. James. Uh, you never know who may pop up at Gutenberg, and hopefully you get lucked out and it's like your favorite person in the whole wide world, and you see it on an incredible night, and you have the best time in the world because I really think it's a musical that is literally like revolutionary for our the future of musical theater.

It's something so new, so original, and I just want to see more of that. Like that's the stuff I crave, and it's literally artistic genius. Like the way that it's done, Alex Timbers, the way he directed it is so brilliant. The set design was brilliant. The performances, I mean, I could go on and on and on.

[57:20] Eli Tokash: So um, everyone go see Gutenberg, go see Merrily We Roll Along too. They were both so good. Merrily We Roll Along's gonna make you cry a little bit, maybe. It's a little bit more, it's a little bit more real and craziness. But if you want a night out and like you want a night of laughter and just like mindless thinking, Gutenberg is the musical for you right now on Broadway. It really is. There's no other musical like it on Broadway. I mean, Shucked is kind of similar, but um, I would say the musical and the music in Shucked is better too. Um, but I just think like it's hard to miss these two and I don't know. I think that you just, it's one that you just can't miss. It's so good. It's so funny.

Um, so everyone check out Gutenberg, everyone go, everyone go check out every show on Broadway. You know, just do yourself a favor. Musical theater solves all your problems. Um, temporarily I guess for two hours it does. And then you go back outside to the streets of New York and reality sets back in.

[58:27] Eli Tokash: Anyways, so um, that's all I have for you folks this week. It was a long episode. I had so much to talk about and I really wanted to get through all of it because I've had such a great week. I've also had a great week full of um press opportunities and um, you know, we did some things with the Garden of Annuncia cast at the Lincoln Center. That content will be out very soon. I got to chat with old uh Pippin castmate uh Priscilla Lopez and I got to talk to some Take A Bow family members and uh Andrea Burns and um Tally Sessions and I got to meet Idan Espinosa and it was just a great, it was a great great weekend and there was a lot happening. So uh sharing that all with you soon but I wanted to make sure that I got to talk to you about the week and about the shows that I saw and about the flea market and all the things and also feature some of you which I haven't done on this podcast before so uh I thought this was a perfect opportunity to do so.

[59:31] Eli Tokash: So uh, as always, thank you so much for listening to this week's episode. I hope that you enjoy my ranting of Broadway and what's going on. Um, I apologize for all of the rants and uh all the things, but uh, you know, I always have a blast coming on here, and it's like Broadway therapy for me. So uh thanks for listening. And uh we'll have a more um, I don't know, like we'll we'll have like a regular episode. There it is. A regular episode uh next week and uh with a performer. Um, and I'm very excited for it. We will definitely make it happen. Next week is not as crazy as this week uh with exams and everything this week. It was just it was there was no opportunity. So um shout out to y'all for listening.

And hopefully, like when we do these like recaps again, we'll get like another person on to just have a little bit of banter, and those people will be like previous guests. Um, so y'all know will know who it is, and I won't have to ask them about their career because y'all already heard it. Um, and we can just kind of talk Broadway. Um, all right. So that's all I have for you folks this week. Come back next week for another great episode, and until then, I hope you all have a wonderful week, and uh yeah. So bye everyone. Have a great week.

[1:00:53] Eli Tokash: For this episode's current call, I would like to recognize a few people who also deserve to take a bow. This podcast would not be possible without the help from Lori Barrenstein, Alan Seales, Kimberly Garris, and the team at the Broadway Podcast Network. Next in line to take a bow are our fabulous editors, Jessica Warren, who edits the audio of the podcast that you just listened to, and Tessie Tokash, who edits the videos and visuals for this podcast. And how about a bow for our executive producer, Chris Grimer? And our final bow are extra special to the patrons Brian Thompson, Pat McMara, the listeners of PCC, as well as all of the other patrons for their continued support. If you're interested in becoming a patron, go to patreon.com slash TAB.

If you enjoyed this week's episode, make sure to subscribe on the platform that you are currently listening to this on, or go check out our YouTube where you can watch the episode. You can also subscribe, like, and comment on there as well. If you're more into the regular social media and want to follow us, you can do that at Take A Bow Podcast across all social media platforms. The music of this podcast was made by Nikki Torsha and Cormac Collinon, and the logo was created by Giselle Bustos. And that wraps up this episode's curtain call. Thank you all again for listening to this week's episode, and I can't wait to see you next week. Bye everyone. Have a great week.