This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Eli Tokash: Hey everyone, welcome back to episode four of Take A Bow Podcast.

[0:03] Sydney Lucas: I'm Sydney Lucas.

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

[0:07] Sydney Lucas: We can't ignore the events that have occurred in our country, and we need to address it.

[0:11] Eli Tokash: Thank you for understanding our decision to take two weeks off in solidarity of what has transpired in the past couple of weeks relating to the Black Lives Matter movement.

[0:20] Sydney Lucas: We couldn't divert or distract from the conversation at hand.

[0:23] Eli Tokash: This is not a trend. This is not just a moment, it is a movement that is going to take persistence and action.

[0:30] Sydney Lucas: As a community, we must continue to educate and have the difficult conversations.

[0:35] Eli Tokash: We must listen to those affected and share information needed to continue helping the spread of this movement.

[0:41] Sydney Lucas: The fight is not over, and we will continue to use our platform to spread love.

[0:46] Eli Tokash: For more information on the Black Lives Matter movement and how you can help, click on the link in our Instagram bio at Take A Bow Podcast.

[0:54] Eli Tokash: So, everyone, a little over a month ago, we recorded a bunch of episodes, one being with the incredible Ciara Renée.

[1:01] Sydney Lucas: She was playing Elsa in Frozen on Broadway.

[1:03] Eli Tokash: However, soon after we recorded this episode, they had announced they were closing.

[1:08] Sydney Lucas: But without further ado, let's turn it over to the incomparable Ciara Renée.

[1:28] Eli Tokash: Okay, so on today's episode of Take A Bow, we have an absolute fierce and virago of a woman.

[1:35] Sydney Lucas: She was my Elsa before anyone else's. Welcome to the podcast, Ciara Renée.

[1:41] Ciara Renée: Hi!

[1:44] Eli Tokash: I think that might be the best intro I've ever been given.

[1:47] Ciara Renée: Oh, good.

[1:48] Eli Tokash: What was that word you used?

[1:50] Ciara Renée: Virago, yes, I know.

[1:52] Eli Tokash: I was thinking of like a word that I could use that would be kid-friendly because the word that I had made...

[2:02] Ciara Renée: Yeah, bad butt.

[2:03] Eli Tokash: Um, bad butt.

[2:06] Ciara Renée: Okay.

[2:08] Eli Tokash: But I was like, there has to be some words. So I was doing some research, and here is what Virago says.

[2:15] Ciara Renée: It says a Virago is a woman who demonstrates exemplary and heroic qualities. Female warrior, heroic maiden.

[2:23] Eli Tokash: So I was like, yeah, that works.

[2:27] Ciara Renée: I think I'm gonna change my Instagram profile tagline to heroic maiden.

[2:31] Eli Tokash: That's right.

[2:33] Ciara Renée: Yeah.

[2:35] Eli Tokash: We were texting, and I was like, is it okay if I say like that word? Like bad, bad arse, but um, British accent, it's fine that way.

[2:45] Ciara Renée: Um, yeah, I was like, yeah, for sure. And you were like, No, I got another word in all caps. I appreciate the research.

[2:53] Eli Tokash: Of course, you've always been a smart cookie.

[2:56] Ciara Renée: Oh goodness. I'll take it. I mean, I definitely had some help from my family, but yeah.

[3:05] Eli Tokash: Oh, thank you.

[3:05] Ciara Renée: What can I say?

[3:08] Eli Tokash: Ciara, we're so happy to have you on, and we're so thankful for you and your time. But we want to get into a little bit about you and about your career.

[3:17] Sydney Lucas: Um, you've had a crazy cool and like exciting one for sure. So currently, Ciara is playing the lead role of Elsa in Frozen as the first woman of color to, I guess, full-time do it, because I believe an understudy has done it.

[3:34] Eli Tokash: Um, so talk to us about that and how exciting that is.

[3:38] Ciara Renée: I mean, it's super exciting. It's a little sad that I don't get to do it in the present moment, but um, you know, I had about a month on before everything went wacky. And I mean, look, it's a dream come true. I've always been a big Disney fan. Um, this is my return to Disney. I did Hunchback before. And you know, it's a big loving family. Everyone was really supportive because it's look, it's not an easy role, and it's not easy coming into a show that's been running for several years, you know, but everyone was really welcoming, and uh, you know, we also it was an interesting process going into the show because we also reimagined it. That was like the term you're using. Um, the Disney term of reimagining the show where they um cut some songs, added a new song. You know, we got to do a lot of really cool work with the cast before we came in, which isn't always the case, um, which you would know. Um, and so yeah, no, I mean it's it's a dream come true.

[4:38] Sydney Lucas: That's awesome. I know you say it's like a hard role to just step into, especially like how demanding it is vocally and everything like that. What do you do to like help your voice and your body and all of that?

[4:52] Ciara Renée: Um, yeah, you know, I was still kind of in the process of figuring out exactly what I needed to do day to day to like stay on top of feeling healthy and feeling my best so I could give my best. But you know, a lot of it comes down to just putting in the practice day by day, being really disciplined and consistent with that. I work with a vocal coach, Susan Icorn Young, who's fantastic. Um, and I just started working with her for this um project, and it's been so helpful. You know, getting good sleep, eating well, not eating chocolate at night, which is a hard one for me. But yeah, I mean it's it's kind of all the stuff that I feel like people do inherently know. It's just you have to be pretty like disciplined and consistent about it because you don't want to belabor something that's already really difficult.

It's like I'm wearing like 30 pounds of dresses, running around a stage, belting really high notes, you know, it's not easy, and I wanna be able to do it to my best of my ability and not hurt myself because you know we do it eight times a week, so it just comes down to being really consistent about self-care.

[6:01] Sydney Lucas: Absolutely. Self-care is so important with stuff like this.

[6:04] Ciara Renée: Yeah.

[6:05] Sydney Lucas: You're also you're like a triple threat, actually, probably a quadruple threat in like every sense of the word, or two words term I guess. You're an actress, you're a singer, you're a dancer, and you're a model. Which one caught your eye first? And also, how do you maintain all of that? Like that's a that's a lot of work to maintain, you know, your singing abilities and your dancing abilities, your acting abilities. Just how? How man.

[6:34] Ciara Renée: Well, first of all, I just think you're being very generous. Um, I'm definitely look, I won't say that all of my skills are a hundred percent and equal and on the same level because they're not, uh, truthfully, and it's a rare person if that they are. It really does take a lot of discipline and consistency to keep all of your skills going at the same time. And honestly, I haven't found in my own life that it's really possible to keep up with all of your skills all of the time. There's a lot of stuff that's expected of performers, and it's cool stuff. We love it, obviously, but it's like it, you know, there's only 24 hours in a day. I definitely know that singing caught my eye first. I didn't know any I didn't know about musical theater.

I didn't know about like modeling. I didn't know these things were like careers. I just thought that they were like fun things to do as a younger person. But singing was the thing that I like came out doing. Like before I could speak, I have a tape somewhere. Before I knew words, I was singing along to songs. Like I was like scatting and like coming up with syllables that kind of sounded like words. Um, yeah, I've always been singing. I always thought I was gonna be like a uh pop star or whatever until I did the musical in high school, and I was like, oh, actually I want to do this, just changed course. So I had never danced before college. I had never like really like at all. I did a couple of shows kind of like in community and regional theater before I went to college, but like it was really like fast and furious, just throw yourself in there and do your absolute best, and that's kind of what I did, and I made a lot of mistakes at the beginning, and I still do.

I never thought, you know, I worked with Eli in Pippin, and I just like never really thought I would ever do that kind of like difficult dancing professionally. I was like, I can do some dance, but not like that. So it was kind of mind-blowing, you know, it just takes work. I put a lot of work into that audition. I trained with people who worked with Fosse. Like I was like, I'm just gonna take as many lessons as possible, you know. So it's constantly just re-upping and learning new things. I think as performers, our job of learning is never over.

[8:50] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, true. For sure.

[8:51] Eli Tokash: So you and I, you met through Pippin, right?

[8:54] Ciara Renée: Yeah.

[8:54] Eli Tokash: That's a very acrobatic show.

[8:57] Sydney Lucas: Yeah. Did you have to do uh because I never saw I never got to see Pippin. I really wish I did. I know Eli, you said you had to like balance on a ball. Is that right?

[9:07] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[9:08] Sydney Lucas: That's kind of insane. Did you, was it like an acrobatic show for you?

[9:12] Ciara Renée: Yes, very much. The first thing that I started rehearsing before learning any of the material or anything like that was uh the trapeze.

[9:20] Eli Tokash: Oh my gosh.

[9:21] Ciara Renée: Which was really difficult. And honestly, it was really difficult. And I learned like a twentieth of a percent of like what a real trapeze artist would need to know. Um, and I still do trapeze because I love it. Like I go and I do it at um, uh New York Trapeze School. I because I just think it's so fun and like invigorating, but I like remember sitting on this trapeze bar for like three or four hours and it like digging into my my butt, my arse and uh just you know how sore my arms were and you know we put a lot of work into that because you know, no one in musical theater is like I don't we don't just like know this. This is like something we train for at school necessarily unless it's like a hobby of yours.

[10:13] Sydney Lucas: Right.

[10:13] Ciara Renée: So yeah, um, and there was a lot of like magic tricks and hula hooping and all sorts of stuff going on, yeah.

[10:22] Sydney Lucas: Wow, yeah. That's a lot of preparation and hard work.

[10:26] Ciara Renée: Wow, yeah, it's crazy, especially what you guys are doing, like there. I know what you're talking about with like the bar digging into your butt because luckily all I had to do was just sit on it, but you guys don't you were doing like actual stuff.

[10:38] Eli Tokash: It was crazy.

[10:39] Ciara Renée: It was so cool. Um, but yeah, my Broadway debut was Pippin, and thank you to her she actually had one under her belt and had been with the show already so your Broadway debut was Big Fish, right?

[10:40] Sydney Lucas: Okay, so um talk to us a little bit about that like because you say that you were in high school and you had that realization so talk about how when you finally like made it to New York on the big stage and what that feeling was like for you.

[11:04] Ciara Renée: Yeah, so I mean quickly after realizing that I wanted to do musical theater like my junior year sophomore year maybe of high school I went to college I went to Baldwin Wallace um in Ohio and I got my bachelor's in music and so from the start of starting up Baldwin Wallace we knew that we were going to showcase in New York and so I was like alright I'm moving to New York can't wait going there getting on Broadway first year gonna do it. I really believed in myself which it worked out. Um yeah and then I like auditioned nonstop literally the day I moved to New York I didn't even walk the stage uh for graduation because you have to like stay like a week after like finishing your last class and I was like no I moved the day that I had my last class in the morning at 8 a.m and I got all my stuff in my car and I went home and then I moved I got on a train and went to New York.

[12:03] Ciara Renée: And uh that that day I got in it was like four no not even it was maybe like two thirty and I dropped all my stuff off of my new apartment. I had nothing in there like at all. It was just like a bed, no sheets. I had like two bags, literally like two bags, my guitar and my laptop. Wow. And I dropped everything down. I put on my my face and and clothes and I went and I did an audition that day. That's amazing. Oh my god. I was like, well, if I'm gonna be here, I might as well just start with the thing. And I literally did I wanna say like four to six auditions a week for a couple of weeks. Wow. And I ended up booking my first thing in the city, which was a reading of Bull Durham. And then after that, I booked three Broadway shows in the same week.

Wait, I'm sorry, what? Wait, hold on. Yeah, and then like I put like You said that way too casually. NVD guys, NVD. Hi there. Yeah, no, it was it was truly crazy. Cause I I mean I'm I'm a little bit of a nuts person because I was like, it's been a month, it's been like two months since I've been here. Why am I not on Broadway yet? Like that's which guys, that's nuts. Okay, most people's stories do not work out this way, and I'm very aware of that and so so grateful. So I was just like, All right, pedals in the metal, we gotta get this. And so I was auditioning for Lay Miz, uh Big Fish, Lay Miz the Revival, Big Fish, and uh a show called After Midnight. And so I booked after midnight, that was the first thing, but I hadn't like committed to it yet.

And then I booked Big Fish and They Miz the same day. I was I was literally going back and forth between callbacks that whole day. That's crazy. It was nuts. Literally by the end of the day, I was sick and I was like laying in my bed, like feeling like I had some kind of like sinus infection or something. Like I was like so just done. And my agents called and they were like, So you've got two things to choose between, plus, you know, um, after midnight. And then I was like, look, you know, I wanna originate a role, so I got to originate The Witch and Big Fish, which was like so exciting for a 23 year old, 22 year old, 23 year old in the city after two months. Yeah. So two months you were working for two I mean, you were working hard.

Like first of all, you were just you're insane. But so you're in the city for two months. Yes. You're like, ah, I should it should have gotten something. And then within just a few days of each other, you book three Broadway shows that you have to choose between. What? That was me trying to wrap my head around. I'm so sorry. That's so I've never heard anything like that. It I I only like as I've gotten older, realize how sort of ridiculous that situation was. But in the moment I was like, Yeah, finally, peace. Like just like the the hubris of being a young person. So believe in yourselves, guys. Wow, that's amazing. Big Fish is such a like incredible show. I I never saw it. I don't think I was like in New York at that time.

Um, but I never saw it in recently I go to a performing art school, so I'm a junior and they're getting us ready for our college auditions. And um one of the music guys, like they were like, I think Big Fish would be like a really nice musical for you to like sing. And when I started listening to the songs, I mean, the songs are so incredible. The writing is so beautiful and the and then you put the music to it and it's like just brilliant. I yeah. So that's like such an amazing show to be a part of. Yeah, and it's Andrew Lippa who I was really obsessed with. I don't m because because I was so late to to getting into musical theater, I like didn't know who Sondheim was. I like didn't know, like I really didn't. So people were like, yo, you're auditioning for Susan Strowman, that's amazing.

And I was like, who is she? Um never tell her I said that. But I mean, truly, like, I I just didn't really know. The only person I really knew was Andrew Lippa because I did the wild party, um, his version of the wild party in college, and I just was obsessed. So going into the room to sing for him and to sing his incredible music, I just was like, Oh, I'm so excited. I'm like nervous and excited, and it's so amazing. And he, of course, is just an incredible human and very very talented. So, yes. So you have been in Big Fish, Pippin, and Elsa on Broadway, and that's not even including you're in Hunchback in Notre Dame at the uh Paper Mill Playhouse, right? Yeah, yeah. Currently, for your current role in Elsa, which um we're in quarantine right now, so I guess it's it's not like a you know a current thing.

But do you have any memorable stage door experiences where you have met fans who have been impacted by your role as Elsa? Well, I I I have to say getting to interact with the audience is my favorite part about what I do. Um, and I say that often because you know, we've done a lot of talkbacks, even in like this first month of just being in the show. Um we you did talk backs with a lot of different groups, and they always ask like what's the best part about your job, and I'm like, it's honestly interacting with people and getting to hear how what we're doing is affecting them. That's always been my favorite thing, you know. Like I I really am somebody who doesn't I don't really like being famous or known or anything like that.

I'm not that kind of person. I but I really like being able to interact with a lot of different people and hear their story. Um and that's something even when I was just a singer like people would come up to me and say that song really like broke my heart or it made me feel this or it opened me up to this and like that was always for me like the best validation of like what I'm doing. And I would say every stage door is incredible at Frozen because honestly the audience is really varied. There's people from all over the world consistently people who don't even speak your language at all which is incredible and like so there's the language barrier but you can tell how excited they are because frozen is just it's like such a big thing.

It's everywhere everyone really knows it and loves it. And there's so many adorable children dressed up dressed to the nines who just want to tell you about how much they love Elsa and Frozen and Olaf and ask you all the questions and so I I think every night is so fun. I wish I could spend more time there but there's literally so many people every night that it's like impossible to do. But I do I do love it. I I love interacting with with folks and I actually had a a young woman who I believe was a fan of mine already from previous productions he cried to me I would say probably like two weeks before Broadway got shut down she was she just was very moved by the performance and you know really felt connected to Elsa and the struggles of Elsa which I think a lot of people do and why I'm so excited to do this role as well as is just knowing that I think there are a lot of women and just people in general who really understand feeling afraid of their own power and uncomfortable with them in their own skin until they like have these moments of these epiphany, these understandings of themselves, and they feel like it's okay to be their their most powerful self and step into their power.

So having you know a young woman say, like I I feel stronger after having seen that is that's the best feeling. Wow. No, I know you I know you said that you you know, you know, you're not really the type of person to care about fame or or being you know popular or whatever, but you have created a platform for yourself and and through looking at your social media I can really see that you're using your platform to spread positivity and uplifting messages. Do you do you kind of feel that responsibility to use a platform that you've made to I guess fight for what's right and spread love? Yes, a hundred percent. I mean, if I if you know the byproduct of like doing what I do very well is to have a platform, then I feel and and to be, you know, out in the public eye, then I wanna use it to the best of my ability to do some good in the world, which is what I ultimately think we do as performers, you know, we hold up the mirror to the world, we expand people's hearts and minds.

And so I think that my you know, Instagram and social media and presence is hopefully an extension of what I'm also doing as a performer, which is you know, offering a different perspective maybe than people would get, or just bringing some lightness, especially now during the pandemic, during quarantine, everyone's I think feeling a lot of stress and anxiety and overwhelm and boredom and fear and all sorts of you know negative emotions that don't feel great, and I feel them as well, truly, you know, but I also you know, I I always remember that I want to focus on the things that I want and not the things that I don't want and so I try to you know use my social media platform as a way to manifest in my own life and hopefully in the lives of others you know the positive things that I I I want I want joy I want to have fun I want to laugh you know and I also want to grow and I want to challenge myself and others and so you know again my social media is just kind of an extension of those thoughts that I'm having throughout the day of like you know we should talk about this subject or I'm feeling really low what can I do to feel better you know and let's talk about that and be honest about it.

You know, I really liked what you said about as performers our job is to kind of hold a mirror up to the world and that's so true. I've actually never heard it been put that way. You're talking a lot about uh manifesting and also on your social media you talk a lot about growth personal growth and love and light and all that stuff. Are you a spirit would you consider yourself a spiritual person? Yeah yeah you know this is always an interesting it's kind of a new frontier for me I would say I grew up I guess you would say religious um I grew up as a Christian um my mom and I went to church almost every Sunday my mom still goes to church and I'm not in any way like bagging on church at all. I still do online sermons with Agape International, but for me I'm beginning to understand like people's disconnect with like the word religious and spiritual like spiritual because of you know we've seen that religion can lead to a lot of dogma or people kind of going in some negative ways um and I feel like spirituality is something that can happen with religion and without it and so for me that's like the baseline core of like everything that I feel I do in my life which is connecting to uh a higher power um whatever that means to you is fine just as for me it's like there's a there's something bigger than us and then also that we're all one being right we're all one thing there's a collective consciousness there's a collective understanding energetically or psychically whatever you believe it is but we're all connected um and we're all really one being so like for me that is kind of like my core baseline of everything which allows me I think a lot of peace when I am dealing with so many different people all the time you don't always agree with people right you don't always sit on the same wavelength and especially with people you're working with like as actors and performers we're around so many different people um and I feel like yeah being spiritual and thinking we're all the same we all deserve the same we're all worthy of love all that you know it just helps you connect with people and be kind and you know work with integrity.

[24:09] Eli Tokash: I really love that. Yeah, that's so pretty. I know, right? So well put. Yeah, of course, many of you may or may not know, but Ciara is not only a Broadway star and veteran, but she's also a veteran to the TV. Guys, she played a superhero! Like, come on! You can see her as Hawkgirl in DC Legends of Tomorrow season one.

[24:34] Sydney Lucas: Oh my god. I mean, that is where I got Virago from because like watching you in that is like, it was literally like you because you're just so strong and like Sydney said, you always stand for what's right, and so I love that. And seeing you in that role, it was like you in like an altered universe, I guess. I don't know, like life imitating art, art imitating life.

[24:59] Ciara Renée: Yeah, for sure. I mean, thank you. I don't always feel like a superhero in real life, but I definitely want to play one in the TV world.

[25:10] Eli Tokash: That's awesome. So do you prefer Broadway over TV? Like not prefer, I guess, but like there's different aspects. So what are your thoughts on those? The difference and stuff.

[25:22] Ciara Renée: Yeah, I mean, I think because I really enjoy interacting with the audience, for me, live theater is my preferred medium, but I see there is still so much importance to being able to reach an audience that is as big as, you know, TV audiences are or like film. I think that they're still really important. For me though, it was difficult because it's, you know, you're filming five days a week, sometimes six, depending on how behind you guys get. And you're doing that for a couple of months to get, you know, a couple of episodes done before you even start airing. So you have no idea how this is impacting people, you have no idea what people think, you know, so many different things go into that, but it's just it's not, I guess I don't get like the gratification of like actually feeling people's energy as I'm performing and like getting to talk to them afterwards because me how it affected them. So like for me, I miss that during computing TV and film.

[26:27] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, it makes sense. I mean, yeah, it's hard because I mean everyone loves live theater because of the fact that it's live. Like there's it's an adrenaline rush that you don't get from TV and it's and like you said, just you you may get direct messages or something like that on Instagram after it's aired, but it's different from that human interaction where you can really feel see the person when how they're feeling like you're present with them and you can actually look them in the eye.

[26:35] Ciara Renée: Yeah. Also PSA, if I may, live performances are meant to be live. So you should never ever record them.

[27:09] Eli Tokash: It's really just so unfair and we had a little bit of that going on before we shut down Broadway and I was so really, yeah, because I mean here's the thing I'm doing it eight times a week. Eight. That's a lot of times to be doing a big and heavy show. It's a lot of times to do any show to be honest. It takes a lot out of you and you want to do your best every single night and it's just also not possible. You don't have any redos. It's live. So if you mess up and someone records that, then it lives forever and that's not necessarily fair because when you're watching something live, yes, you will see mistakes, but what you're gonna remember most is how it affected you and like the piece as a whole, right?

And I think that's how it is meant to be viewed. It's true as a whole, not as a snippet and you get to poke fun at, you know, whatever mistakes get made. Not to mention, this is the most important part. Your iPhone or Droid or whatever has terrible film quality and terrible. So it's just not fair. So PSA, don't record live.

[28:21] Ciara Renée: That I, you know what? I've never even thought about it that way. The fact that like all of us have messed up on stage. All of us have, you know, done, you know countless times. I, there was a time where I completely forgot like an entire chorus of "Ring of Keys." Um, and it was humiliating. And I and and it genuinely impacted like I forgot the, I opened up the show and I completely forgot the beginning while Neil Patrick Harris was in the audience. And I went back and I was like crying so hard. And um my Wrangler Vanessa had to, I think it was our Easter performance. It was, we, it was a two-show day. It was a matinee and an evening show. And I went in and I screwed up the matinee and I was like, Oh my gosh, that's, I, I was crying and I had my Wrangler Vanessa, she had to like kind of pep talk me, and then I went out for the evening show when Neil Patrick Harris was in the audience and I messed it up again.

And it really impacted me. And I can't, I can't even imagine if that was like filmed, if that was, if that was, you know, right. You're right. That it isn't fair, but it is live, and also I think it's important to, you know, just accept that and forgive yourself for messing up because you for sure. Like you said, you're doing it like eight times a week. That's an insane amount of times to do it.

[29:36] Eli Tokash: Yeah. And I've definitely messed up in my life. I think my biggest mess up was actually in Pippin. I don't remember if you were there or not, Eli. Because I think it was pretty early on, because you came later in my run, right?

[29:52] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[29:53] Ciara Renée: Yeah. So I don't, I don't think it, I don't think you were there. But so I think I believe it was my second week, maybe, and I was like starting to understand my track, you know, your backstage track of like, okay, I have 15 minutes here to chill, I can go back to my room, or I don't, or I do, you know, whatever my time frame is. And I in my head flip-flopped two of my chunks of time.

[30:16] Eli Tokash: Oh no.

[30:17] Ciara Renée: So I thought I had 15 minutes and I had two and a half. Oh, so I took myself upstairs to my dressing room to play with Barnum, the dog. He was invited to the house. Um, and so I'm playing with Barnum, and I'm like, Dog, you're the dog, you know, doing like little songs to him. And all of a sudden I hear on my door.

[30:45] Eli Tokash: No.

[30:45] Ciara Renée: And I'm like, what is it? So I go over and they're like, Yeah, I'm stayed. They're yelling at me, like, but through whispers, and I was like, No, I'm not. And I'm like, listen, and I hear there's nothing going on on stage.

[30:59] Eli Tokash: Oh no.

[31:00] Ciara Renée: Oh my god. And so I'm like trying to run, but like also be quiet down the steps. And I don't know what happened to Barnum. I left the door open, everything. It was just a mess. So I'm and then um I get, I get up to the entrance, and I don't know where we are. Like I'm like, oh my god, I don't actually have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing. And this is the moment in the show where the leading player comes in and interrupts the ingenue and Pippin as they're like together, and I, I say, you're supposed to say it naggingly, and I like make her say the line again. Keep in mind, this is also an understudy that's on right now for the—

[31:42] Eli Tokash: Oh my gosh.

[31:44] Ciara Renée: This poor girl. She handled it fabulously though, because I got in there and I'm standing between the curtains and I'm literally like, I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do, I don't know what this is. What moment is this? And I hear her go, you know what? I remember the leading player said I was supposed to say this naggingly, so I guess I'll say it again. And she says the line naggingly and moves on as if I hadn't wasn't supposed to go in at all. And like I talked to people afterwards, and they had no idea that anything had happened. She like really covered it so smoothly and like made a joke out of it. And I just, I backed up out of the curtain and I turned around and the stage manager is just like, and I was like, I don't know. And he just threw his hands up and just walked away because there's nothing to be done.

[32:30] Eli Tokash: That's what I think. I completely missed that.

[32:33] Ciara Renée: I miss all this awesome. That's a nightmare that I have sometimes going on.

[32:39] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, do you ever have a this weird? I feel like this is something that's common in the theater world. Do you ever have a weird nightmare where you've already left the show, but then you have a you have a dream where you go back to the show, but it's completely changed?

[32:52] Ciara Renée: Yes, and you have to like kind of guess what your new everyone's mad at you, like you're not getting it right. I didn't know you changed the show.

[33:02] Eli Tokash: I also have the dream where I go into shows that I've done before, and I'm playing a different role. Normally it's like a male role or something like that, like that I wouldn't really know, but I kind of know, and I'm like, okay, well, I'll have to take the script out with me. And they're like, it's fine, just go on, we need you. Just go on. So, like, I'm playing, uh, what's his name we ran? Uh, Roger, instead of Mimi, you know, and so I'm like, okay, I kind of know it because I sing some stuff with Roger, so I'm like playing Roger in like a leather jacket in my dream and like having to like make things up and like go through the like that's a dream of mine all the time.

[33:36] Ciara Renée: We need to make this happen.

[33:41] Ciara Renée: Make all my nightmares come true. You like, well, I mean, like, I've like lived that in a way because like when I was in *Finding Neverland*, I played literally all four boys, but like I played the two the most. But it was funny because Chris Richards and I, we had similar tracks where we'd cover multiple guys and we would always forget which character we were playing. And like, because like Peter goes on stage on a different side of the stage or at a different time as everyone. I mean, I couldn't tell you how many times I've screwed up my entrances, screwed up just switched character lines and stuff like that.

[34:23] Ciara Renée: It was a mess, but it was good because we always, like you said, like it's so good about having that live aspect and having that chemistry with your cast because they're always able to jump right back in and like nothing ever happened, so it's cool to see that.

[34:39] Eli Tokash: No.

[34:40] Ciara Renée: Oh, for sure. And I I also recently like the first week that I was on as Elsa, I was sort of flip-flopping lines. I was like, I knew them, but I was like putting them in the wrong order. And so I did that in the big scene where everyone where I accidentally revealed my magic. And uh afterwards, I I went over to all my castmates like, I'm so sorry, I messed up all the lines. They were like, Did you? And I was like, because they just covered. They covered really well and just kept going.

[35:05] Ciara Renée: And I was like, Oh, okay. But I was like, I'm so sorry, guys, you had to cover for me. And they're like, We didn't even realize it. Because like you just go, you know, you just keep you don't want to keep the ball rolling, so you just keep going, whatever happens.

[35:16] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[35:17] Ciara Renée: For sure. I love that about theater people. They're so on it. They're like, this almost gone.

[35:22] Eli Tokash: Yes, exactly.

[35:23] Ciara Renée: Yeah. Yeah. There are also like funny mishaps that happen on theater. Like, it's not it's not always like super scary and like humiliating. They're just like maybe there's like a technical difficulty that happens. For example, in Fun Home, there there were a lot of like trap malfunctions. Some of them were scary, but some of them were like genuinely like really funny, where we stopped the show and just started like talking with the audience until they could get the trap to start working. Do you have any like technical mishaps like that?

[35:50] Eli Tokash: Oh yeah.

[35:51] Ciara Renée: Um Big Fish, we definitely had a lot. Because that was a really it was a pretty tech heavy show, and there were a lot of moving parts, a lot of cast members. I mean, there were giant elephant puppet butts that had to be made manipulated. Like there were so many things backstage, I can't even tell you, like whole like circus and this thing, and so much stuff. But I do remember one of my favorite things that ever happened. Ryan Andy's played the giant, so he's a really big guy, he's like 6'5 or something, and then he had stilts on.

[36:22] Eli Tokash: Oh my god.

[36:23] Ciara Renée: Yeah, he's huge. Um, and so they had like this, I think like this big desk for him, and uh Angie Ashore is sitting there with like legs and stuff. Anyway, uh but he's playing the giant and he's talking to Norbert Leo Betts, who was playing the lead in Big Fish, and he was like, Well, Norbert, I'm so saying and Norbert just went, uh Ryan.

[36:53] Eli Tokash: And everyone just starts laughing, and there's everyone's laughing for like 10 minutes, and we're all in the background, just like, well, okay. And then they got back on and he said, Well, okay, and then we've done that's awesome.

[37:08] Ciara Renée: Yeah.

[37:09] Eli Tokash: Sierra, do you have like I don't I don't know about you. I know I'm pretty superstitious when it comes to pretty much anything. Um I'm always in a show, like I have to make a handshake with someone. And I remember in Pippin, we had our own little handshake and so yeah, because we had we had about like a two-minute break with each other on like basically like trapped with each other because it was like a short break and it was just us being on that side of the stage.

[37:39] Ciara Renée: And um, so we would always like make jokes, and that's where the that's where she became my Elsa before anyone else's. Um because we loved Frozen and she called me Eloh.

[37:50] Eli Tokash: And um, so yeah.

[37:53] Ciara Renée: Um yeah, so I know, right? Isn't that so cute? It was all her idea. Anyways, and then the the best part is you gave me an iPhone cover that had Olaf on it, because Olaf is my favorite character for sure.

[38:06] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[38:07] Ciara Renée: Um, and you gave that to me, and it was so sweet. I kept it for so long, it's so easy.

[38:13] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[38:14] Ciara Renée: So do you have any like superstitions when you're in shows or even just during Frozen, like pre-show rituals or something like that that you do, I guess.

[38:25] Ciara Renée: Um, I'm not really superstitious, I would say. I think maybe I was when I was uh a bit younger, definitely uh maybe during Pippin, I tried to do some of the same stuff, but mostly because you know, I know that my body needed that to be prepped and ready to do what we had to do every night. But now I I try to just take it day by day because we don't show up every single day the same person to the show that we were yesterday and so I take that into account you know some days I'm like really not feeling up to snuff you know and I am nicer to kinder to myself in that moment I try to you know stretch and do everything but I don't like do like a full workout before because then like I'm already tired you know I try to fuel my body or whatever but no I don't feel like there's any like specific thing that I have to do and as I've been learning the show because I'm still I mean honestly I'm I was just getting into feeling like I had it under my belt there was still like a lot of like backstage stuff that I was figuring out um because again there's a lot of people in this show there's a lot of moving parts really big scenery um there's like dangerous things that pop out of the ground that you could trip over that are you know there's a lot of stuff to to keep in mind and I also have big dresses that I can't let drag all over the ground and like you know and I have someone who helps me with that but it's still like a lot of things to be thinking about but it was really nice you know I started to find the moments where I could interact with people backstage and like have a couple moments of joking around or you know there's one one moment where one of the ensemble men Harris he would put this big like tube in front of his face and the air coming out of it like he would like pull it out of the space to cool down.

[40:09] Eli Tokash: But you know so we're I was starting to like find these like fun moments um backstage and stuff but there's no for me I every m every day is different.

[40:18] Eli Tokash: Yeah, makes sense.

[40:20] Ciara Renée: It's kind of the beauty of it.

[40:21] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[40:22] Ciara Renée: I guess it's scary about it too.

[40:24] Eli Tokash: Uh-huh.

[40:25] Ciara Renée: Yeah, I kind of so we talked about all these crazy things that you've done. But another thing that you've done, you were in one of the developmental projects of Hamilton.

[40:38] Eli Tokash: Yes.

[40:38] Ciara Renée: Wait, what?

[40:40] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[40:41] Ciara Renée: No way. Did you do it at Paper Mill?

[40:44] Eli Tokash: Is that where or I mean not Paper Mill Public?

[40:46] Ciara Renée: Yeah. I I did the lab. I did a reading, maybe two readings. I don't remember. I did it like the readings in labs right before they did it at the public.

[40:56] Eli Tokash: Um but I booked what did I book?

[40:58] Ciara Renée: I booked something else and decided to do that. And I knew full well that Hamilton and I s my you know, one story from the first reading when I finally heard the whole thing through. I went up to Lynn and I was like, You understand this is gonna change the face of musical theater.

[41:13] Eli Tokash: Oh yeah.

[41:14] Ciara Renée: And he was like, Oh, no, no, no, I was like, Don't be humble, just don't. So like I I full well knew what it was. I was playing Peggy Mariah.

[41:23] Eli Tokash: Um but I also I think it I I want to say it was the TV show where I was like, you know, I get to be the lead of a TV show, I'm gonna go do that.

[41:35] Ciara Renée: So I makes sense. I'm you know, very happy with the choice. Everything happens the way that it's supposed to, and I'm still very close with a lot of the ham fam, which is lovely.

[41:45] Eli Tokash: Um but yeah, no, it was it was definitely special hearing all of that, and especially since you know uh Lynn's music has been really important for me when I finally I only finally got to see my first Broadway show my junior year of high school.

[42:02] Ciara Renée: And then I saw my second Broadway show, my senior year, and it was in the Heights.

[42:09] Eli Tokash: And you know, before then I I knew that I loved musical theater, but I didn't necessarily know that there was a place for someone who looked like me in musical theater.

[42:18] Ciara Renée: And seeing in the heights and seeing uh contemporary music that I really enjoyed. I was like, oh yeah, I could do that.

[42:27] Eli Tokash: That's for me.

[42:28] Ciara Renée: I can do that. So that was really really important uh moment for me. So to get to work with Lynn again then on Hamilton was amazing.

[42:35] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[42:36] Ciara Renée: Yeah.

[42:36] Eli Tokash: And that's what has to be so incredible for while you play Elsa like to inspire all of these even like not just young future actresses and actors or whatever, but also adults that like you said when they're in high school or even in college that you're like wow I can actually do this.

[42:57] Ciara Renée: Yeah.

[42:57] Eli Tokash: So it's so cool what you're doing.

[42:59] Ciara Renée: At least for you.

[43:00] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[43:01] Ciara Renée: Yeah, no worries.

[43:05] Eli Tokash: Okay, cool. Um so that's it. Thank you so much for coming on. We really appreciate you and your time.

[43:10] Ciara Renée: Uh I miss you dearly.

[43:12] Eli Tokash: I miss you too.

[43:14] Ciara Renée: But it was so great to catch up with you again.

[43:17] Eli Tokash: And uh I guess we can do our curtain call now.

[43:20] Eli Tokash: So take a ball Sierra Renee.

[43:22] Ciara Renée: Woo Take a Bal Sierra Renee.

[43:28] Eli Tokash: Thank you so much for coming on. We had so much fun.

[43:32] Ciara Renée: Uh we had a few technical difficulties but so many technical difficulties.

[43:37] Eli Tokash: But she was so nice about it and um she's the best. I mean in Pippin I loved her so much and I'm glad that we've been able to stay in touch and then she was able to come on and talk with us for a few minutes.

[43:51] Ciara Renée: Uh and so we're very thankful.

[43:53] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[43:54] Ciara Renée: I loved what she had to say.

[43:55] Eli Tokash: Yeah, and she has such an interesting career.

[43:57] Ciara Renée: And the story that she had about like off getting offered three Broadway shows at once, like that's absolutely crazy.

[44:04] Eli Tokash: Dude, that's crazy.

[44:05] Ciara Renée: Honestly, and I know this may sound cliche, but truly, like, if anyone deserves it, it's hers.

[44:11] Eli Tokash: Like, she's just the kindest human being, and uh, you know, I I love her and she's so talented.

[44:20] Ciara Renée: Yeah, so um I know.

[44:22] Eli Tokash: I'm so mad now that Frozen's closed because I was never able to see her as Elsa.

[44:28] Ciara Renée: I know.

[44:29] Eli Tokash: It it's so sad.

[44:31] Ciara Renée: And that's another reason why the actress fund is so important, everyone.

[44:35] Eli Tokash: Just example, Frozen being closed, you know, people are losing their jobs, and the actress fund can help them with that.

[44:43] Ciara Renée: So don't forget to donate.

[44:45] Eli Tokash: Yeah. We just wanted to say that we encourage you guys to continue to show your support and to sign the petitions and to email and call and do whatever you can.

[44:56] Ciara Renée: And go to protests if you can.

[44:58] Eli Tokash: It's yes, but stay safe.

[45:00] Ciara Renée: Yes, yes, yes.

[45:01] Eli Tokash: Um I've attended protests. I know Sydney's been trying to call and uh yes, my family and I have been signing a bunch of petitions and calling state and local leaders.

[45:11] Ciara Renée: Uh it's interesting, my mom and I last night were uh going down through a list for people to call for justice for Brianna Taylor, and we discovered that uh in certain cases they made it really hard to call who you needed to call.

[45:26] Eli Tokash: So like we we would call the number, but then you would we would have to jump through a bunch of hoops.

[45:31] Ciara Renée: However, that should not deter you at all from calling.

[45:34] Eli Tokash: What matters is persistence.

[45:35] Ciara Renée: You have to be persistent.

[45:37] Eli Tokash: Yeah, and take the action that's necessary because it may not seem like you're helping, but a little bit goes a long way, you guys.

[45:46] Ciara Renée: Yeah.

[45:47] Eli Tokash: We love you. Stay safe. Fight for what's right. Black lives matter.

[45:56] Ciara Renée: Sick beat him, alright?

[45:57] Eli Tokash: Special shout out to Nikki Torcia and Cormac Collinon for our amazing intro and outro music.

[46:04] Eli Tokash: Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of Take A Bow. We hope you enjoyed it.

[46:09] Ciara Renée: Feel free to subscribe and leave a rating on whatever platform you're listening to us from.

[46:13] Eli Tokash: And tune in next week for another episode. This podcast wouldn't be possible without the help of Dory Barrettstein, Alan Seals, Brittany Bigelow, and the team at the Broadway Podcast Network.

[46:23] Ciara Renée: To learn more about this podcast, visit BPN.fm forward slash take a bow and follow us on Instagram at take a bow podcast, where you can contact us with any feedback, suggestions, or questions, and keep up with all things take a vow.

[46:38] Eli Tokash: See you next week.

[46:40] Ciara Renée: Bye everyone.