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[0:00] Eli Tokash: Hey everyone and welcome to episode 59. However, this is our first ever two-act show. Literally, it's so long. Um, but anyways, I'm your host, Eli Tokash, and boy do we have an incredible episode for you all this week and also next week. So I was able to uh have the pleasure of chatting with an old friend of mine, Ryan Worsing, who was in Finding Neverland with me, but he's also been in like six other Broadway shows. I don't know, ever heard of them? It's called Hello Dolly, they're called Shrek, they're called Chicago, um, all of these incredible shows, and literally uh some of the most iconic Broadway shows ever. Uh he and he's been able to be a part of them all. The share show as well. Um, and uh I'm missing one more.

Oh, Finding Neverland, uh, and White Christmas. So this guy has done it all from being an ensemble member to being a featured role to being a swing to being a dance captain, and he is a true triple threat and was able to bring us so many wonderful stories and memories from his experience in the industry, and we get to talk a lot about Finding Neverland. So, any of you Finding Neverland fans listening, this episode is for you, and you're gonna hear Finding Neverland mentioned in both episodes because we just couldn't stop talking about it. Um that being said, we have a full two-act show basically, these next two weeks, and yes, we had to split them into two because we sat down for about two hours and 15 minutes talking, and we got lost in talking.

Uh, but but Ryan's storytelling is amazing, his energy's so contagious, and you guys are gonna love it all. So, before we turn it over to Ryan, we're gonna talk about some Broadway news happening, and I just want to say it feels so good to be a podcaster this week because Christopher Siever came on our show, and he told us a little story that company could be pushed up in the release date, and that's not something that happens very often.

[2:30] Eli Tokash: So, very exciting stuff. The very grateful that he shared that with us and the listeners and everything. And it is in fact true that company is pushing up their release date to begin November 15th and open on December 9th, where originally they were not gonna even start previews until December 20th, and then open January 9th. So they legit moved their whole plans up an entire month, so that's very exciting, especially for me, someone who deeply deeply wants to see this incredible gender-bent revival of company. Uh, it's gonna be historic. I know I say it every week, but it's just so true, and I'm so excited for it, and I'm so thankful for Christopher Sieber for dropping that little hint. It just gives some more reasons to love that episode uh that I enjoyed so much.

Uh, and that being said, there's tons of other news going on as well. Um, Andrew Barth Feldman, I'm trying to make this quick because I know it's a long episode, so bear with me. Andrew Barth Feldman has been doing a concert at uh 54 Below, it's his solo concert debut, and it's been doing so well, and it's called Park Maps, and it's just stories of and sharing his expertise on Disney Parks.

[3:53] Eli Tokash: And by the way, Andrew Barth Feldman, who was a previous guest on Take A Bow. So if you haven't uh listened to the episode yet, go check it out. It's one of our first ever episodes. He's a gem, and we kind of geeked out about Disney, but like very briefly, and we didn't really didn't get into detail. But this concert, he totally lets his uh knowledge on Disney just explode, and he sings all kinds of Disney songs as well as a few of his own songs. So he has actually today released three new EPs that he's released, and uh they're out today, so go listen to those, go support Andrew, and if you want to do even more to support him, you can watch these 54 Below concerts that he's singing Disney songs and high school musical and his own songs and stuff on July 11th, and that's this Sunday, July 11th, and you can stream it on your computer or your mobile devices, and you can stream it for $12.

[5:00] Eli Tokash: So it's really not that expensive, it's so cheap comparing the 54 Below prices plus the food and beverage minimum when you're there, but you're literally basically at a show, so like what's better? Um, I know I will absolutely be watching, and I think you all should too, and I know you're not gonna regret it if you do. So go check that out. That's this Sunday, July 11th at 7 p.m. Oh my god, 7-Eleven at 7 p.m. Love that. Um and one more thing before we turn it over to the drama dictionary. TrevorTheMusical is currently holding virtual open calls seeking 12 to 16 year olds of all genders and ethnicities for leading roles. So if you're interested in any of that, if you're interested in auditioning and you want to be in a show and whatnot, go to TrevorThemusical.com slash casting for more information.

Please go check it out. I know that uh not a lot of people know about it, but this show is very dear to my heart. It means the world to me. I'm so excited because I officially have tickets to go see it.

[6:14] Eli Tokash: Um I cannot be more excited. It's on opening week. It's gonna be so amazing. And um, yeah, so if you're interested, this story is going to needs to be told, and it's going to be told so beautifully because I know a lot about it, and I have an interview coming out after these episodes with Ryan that uh one of the cast members join us to talk all about it and all of the other shows that they have been in. So I'm very excited for that. And uh, yeah, if you're interested, go to TrevorThemusical.com slash casting. You're not gonna regret it. You wanna be a part of the show, you want to work with this incredible cast and this incredible creative team. Go check it out. So now that that's out of the way, let's turn it to the drama dictionary, because I think this has been a repeat, but if anyone has forgotten, or if we have some new listeners listening who haven't listened to previous episodes, this is gonna be a helpful drama dictionary word of the week.

[7:12] Eli Tokash: So this week's drama dictionary is going to be the word trailing. And this is important because it shows up with Ryan several times because a lot of his tracks and a lot of his roles has allowed him to do a lot of trailing and he refers to that and tells stories about trailing. Um so trailing is in my own words and experience, the part of your track that uh is offstage. So it's part of the it's your character's track throughout the show when behind the scenes and when no one's watching. Uh and it's incredibly p important because people think, oh, you know, like we just have to learn what we do on stage and we have to learn the choreography and dancing and everything like that. But little do they know, we actually have a backstage track.

[8:05] Eli Tokash: Like we have a very it everything, there's so many people and there's so many set pieces and there's so many crew members and all of these things that everything has to be down to a science. So when we're not on stage, we still have choreography. And uh that's basically our choreography off stage, and we call it trailing. And what we do is we do it when we are joining a show or if we're understanding a uh a character and we want to know more of its off-stage track because we are comfortable enough with the on-stage stuff, and um, so those people we we will watch someone do their role and follow them around for the night and uh get to know their track a little bit more so that when we go on, when it one of the persons goes on and someone calls out, or we're taking over their role, we want to make sure that we're doing it right and we're not in the way of anybody or anything, and the show can continue to run smoothly and uh efficient as possible.

[9:01] Eli Tokash: So that's what trailing is. And uh if you so if you didn't know what it was before this, now you know, and now you have some knowledge for this episode. So with that being said, Ryan Worsing, curtain up.

[9:33] Eli Tokash: Oh my goodness. Today we have a six-time Broadway show veteran joining us this week. He has been in multiple original Broadway casts. He is a triple threat who literally has been like a dance captain, a swing, a choreographer, has the voice of an angel, and is a drama graduate of NYU. Yeah, you know. Um welcome to Take A Bow, Ryan Worsing. Thank you so much for joining me this week.

[10:00] Ryan Worsing: Hi, Eli. Hi, everybody. Thank you so much for having me. I'm thrilled to be chatting with you again.

[10:07] Eli Tokash: Oh my god, this is this is too good. I literally haven't seen you since we did Neverland together. Um I I saw I did see Hello Dolly, so like I did see you, but I don't I don't believe we actually ended up seeing like each other.

[10:21] Ryan Worsing: I don't know.

[10:22] Ryan Worsing: And that that backstage experience was uh its own its own nightmare, as as was the stage door. So it was it was always uh a bit of a guessing game.

[10:32] Eli Tokash: Oh, I'm sure.

[10:33] Ryan Worsing: Yeah. I mean, with that iconic cast, I mean, I'm sure it was it was difficult. I will say we had more safety procedures in place for that show than uh any I've done since either.

[10:43] Eli Tokash: So oh wow really that's intense but we also we also uh I'm I'm obviously we had a lot of people that we really needed to take care of on that show but right but uh it was just the time period and everything you know uh and we also had some very vocal uh company members as far as uh their politics and so on and so forth so it was just where uh where security had to work uh a little extra hard on our show but we were always very grateful for the work that they did very very as they should that's amazing um okay so I usually like to begin episodes asking everyone how they got into theater what was your journey through all of this

[10:43] Ryan Worsing: I was uh fortunate to grow up with parents who loved to put me in front of the live made for television Mary Martin Peter Pan um or I grew up in Kansas we watched the Wizard of Oz a lot um as well as you know those great late 80s early 90s you know Alan Mencken Howard Ashman Disney movies um of course frequently as a kid I had a little red microphone and I would perform uh right on the hearth for any neighbors who would would be sucked into my living room that afternoon um and would put up with whatever rendition of I whatever I could come up with.

[12:09] Ryan Worsing: Um then I was very fortunate as uh as so many of your guests have said in the past to have a teacher who saw a little something in me and knew where it needed to be directed. My elementary school music teacher was a remarkable woman named Marga Harris, um, who just loved music and knew that it would be important in my life too. She also uh had polio when she was a kid, so she retired as my elementary school music teacher when I was in sixth grade. But again, she was just one of those teachers who knew her purpose and and thought that I could be a part of that purpose.

[12:49] Ryan Worsing: So she approached my parents and offered to teach me piano. So this remarkable woman, uh, who really turned on the switch for my love of music and the arts, um, made sure that she stayed a part of my life and could kind of shape and direct these early, early stages. Uh, got me my first audition for a community chorus production, uh, of Oliver, which then introduced me to a whole bunch of other people to become instrumental along my journey to this career and passion. Oh my god. Yeah, so Marga Harris was, uh, a huge, a huge part of that journey for me. And then I just kind of stuck with it. Um, that being said, it wasn't anything that I thought I would study in college or necessarily do professionally.

I was also lucky that growing up in Kansas, we had amazing arts opportunities. I mean, the extracurriculars for kids in general were great, but especially in the arts. And some of the people who had were a couple years ahead of me, uh, had gone on to have successful careers. One of my best friends to this day left our middle school when we were in seventh grade to be a standby in a Broadway revival of The Sound of Music. Oh my god. A couple kids, you know, that I grew up going to, uh, the dance studio with, then went on to CCM and to make their Broadway debuts. Um, and so I had these little blips along the way of people who showed that success was possible. Um, I didn't really know if that would be my journey until my senior year of high school.

I took a trip to New York and visited NYU and Columbia. Um, and while I had gotten into a school in New Orleans and was gonna study architecture, I kind of convinced my parents that if I had gotten into NYU's musical theater program that that would be where I would want to study. I'd get a double major in something else if it would really put their, uh, minds at ease. Right. But that that would be the path forward. And I was fortunate enough to get into the program. Um, Cap 21's musical theater program, which used to be affiliated with their Tisch School of the Arts, no longer. Oh, but I studied music theater at MIU. Um, and then yeah, different programs now. Um, but, uh, I had great teachers while I was there.

I also had great roommates who forced me to go to my very first New York audition and helped me book my first New York job. And from there, the rest kind of just became possible for the first time. That light of the possibility became, oh, I maybe I could actually turn this passion into some longevity. Right. So what was your first sense? I love it. Oh, I mean, clearly it's worked out, I would say, right? I I've that I'm very grateful for where it's led me. Yes, that's great. Um, what was your first like New York audition gig? Oh goodness. Well, you will appreciate this because you booked from your very first audition as well. However, my audition was also one of my most embarrassing auditions.

Um, but it's going to come very close to home because it ends with Mia Michaels. So we're gonna get it. No way. Yes, it does. My very first audition in New York City. My college roommate's sophomore year was going to an open call for the Paper Mill Playhouse. His father had designed, or pardon, his uncle had done sound design out there before. Um, and he knew of each open calls, and it was like, hey, I'm going to this this afternoon. You want to show up with me? Absolutely. In Hello Dolly out of Paper Mill. This was the summer of two spring summer of 2006. Um, it was they only needed two guys, so they just started cutting. There were probably two hundred and fifty guys there, and they had us in the room, uh, in five lines of ten, and they would look at our resumes and look at us, and then maybe they would keep five to seven of us of the group of fifty.

Um, they got to my resume and they said, Ryan, uh, we'd like you in the group to stay, but also could you just come up to the front? We'd like to talk to you for a second. Oh my god. I was 19 years old. This my first New York City audition went right up. They said your resume's embarrassing. Uh, I was struck silent. They said your resume is an embarrassment. We see that you're at M L don't they teach you anything better than this at NYU? Oh my god. I said that's more of a third year, uh, back of study where I'm only a sophomore. Right. Oh my god. They found that, uh, amusing at least enough to keep me around. So I got kept, went through the auditions that day, then into final callbacks. So Mia Michaels, in one of her theatrical choreography debuts, was choreographing this production of Hello Dolly.

So we had to go dance for Mia. It was the first time I ever danced for her. She was very, very choreographed for Celine in Vegas. So everyone was very concerned about dancing for Mia. I think it was also the, I think it was also the second season of So You Think You Can Dance. She was she was a big deal. Yeah, it was intimidating. I showed up for my call back that day, utterly terrified, and realized that I had danced for her with my pants on backwards. Oh. Um, I had also like picked up a really like a big gulp of tea that morning just in case they made us sing, and it got spilled all over the audition room. It was just I was like, this is not gonna go my way. In the best robes, this won't go my way.

And I ended up getting that show. But so that was my first, uh, professional performing experience, and I did it between my sophomore and junior year of college, which was a great wake-up call for me. It was a great show to be a part of for a thousand reasons. I learned a lot on that show. Um, but also to have that kind of professional experience between my sophomore and junior year of college really allowed me to reassess how I wanted to spend my last semesters in college, um, with a little professional experience, uh, know-how under my belt. Oh my god, that is incredible. First of all, I mean can you imagine Mia's choreography hello? Oh my god no well that's drink that in for a second. That's like that's another thing though like first of all the full circle moment with Mia Michaels but also your first like New York gig is your most recent Broadway show.

Or no was Cher after that right almost but yes exactly yeah that was it was my first original Broadway company though. So that that felt really I mean really perfect. Yeah my first professional job and first original Broadway company with the same show. That's pretty cool. It's so cool. I love that so much oh my god and what a perfect story because literally like I don't know what it is like if I could go back to my first professional like audition and just like see like the rawness of like that audition compared to like now I feel like it would just be like embarrassing to look at now but like it obviously worked out so I guess like it's great. You can't be too mad at yourself exactly the things that I said and did in those aud those early auditions really isn't hard.

You definitely get so much better at it. It's never fun but you do get better at it. So what was the whole like ordeal with your resume? Like was it more of like a format thing or just the fact that like there wasn't a lot? It was it was that I was 19 years old and trying to make them think that I was somebody who had more credits on his resume than community theater and high school performances. There was this thing at the bottom. My my dad had formatted the resume. Blessed, it was still good at stuff like this, but he'd written something at the bottom that was like, for more credits, please ask for complete resume. They didn't need my complete resume. They didn't need the production of The Three Little Pigs that I did in the first year.

Like I was already so much onto a resume to make them think that they should take me seriously. Oh my god. They saw right through it. Right. I love that. I love that. It's genius. It was it was a great try. Like at least it like everything was in it was in like an eight font. You couldn't even make sense of it, which was on purpose. But whatever. I can't then then you start to put the real ones and replace it. Right. Right, right. So let's talk about your Broadway debut. Okay, so like first off, you're like in school, right? And then you're like you have this huge passion and then you finally get the opportunity to step out on a Broadway stage. Like what was that moment like before we even talk about Shrek?

Gosh I don't even know where to begin. You know you dream of this thing for so long and and you I was lucky to get to do it at 22. That's younger than a lot of people. I mean we did Finding Neverland with people who didn't make their Broadway debut until they were 40. Right to have achieved that goal that I'd had for almost 20 years at that point. I mean ever since I was three I dreamed of that goal. But when that finally happened, oh man. I had been surrounded by great people in my life who had achieved that success and saw the joy that it had brought them, but at the same time saw that it was no different than the work that you know I had been doing regionally, or you know, that ever plenty of people had doing on national tours, but there is just something about that moment when you do my final callback for Shrek was on stage at the Broadway Theater as well.

No way. So like that added a different layer to things on top of it. To this day, I have never had another audition or callback on a stage. But my final callback for Shrek was on stage at the Broadway. I was the only one there. I had to read scenes for our director and our stage manager, and then I had to go down to Wardrobe and try on costumes. So that was just like a complete different level of okay, what is this goal? What are we getting at? Basically, like get the job already on your final callback. Well, what I came to find out later was that I had pretty much gotten the clearance from the powers that be on the creative team. I had initially been in the show when they were originally casting it right after I'd graduated.

I was in, uh, final callbacks for the White Rabbit track. Oh did not go my way. But when they were back in New York right after they'd opened the costumes, this was the trick of it. This is the lesson that I will tell to my dying guy. The costumes were causing, uh, injuries amongst the cast members. So they had two female swings and two male swings at the time. The ensemble had 18 people in it. Oh my god. So the swings were on for like six weeks straight, and what they were doing was adding a male swing track to the show. Gotcha. So I had been cleared by the, um, creatives and producers, but after I had been signed off by the reading, they needed to make sure the clothes fit. And if the clothes didn't fit, I wouldn't have gotten the job. No way. So I went down to Wardrobe and they had basically said this wardrobe that the clothes need to fit, or else we need to move on to the next guy.

[25:34] Ryan Worsing: It ended up being like the third choice on the list, who was supremely talented, but it ended up being further down the list simply because the costumes for that show were so specific, they didn't fit a headpiece.

[25:49] Eli Tokash: Wow.

[25:50] Ryan Worsing: And so the first choice didn't necessarily get the job because the costumes didn't fit. Which is so important to remember, at least for me, I have had to tell myself, you know, there are going to be plenty of jobs and opportunities that you don't get.

[26:07] Eli Tokash: Right.

[26:08] Ryan Worsing: And while it is so easy for us to think that it is a reflection of our talent or what we're bringing to the room, it could literally be that your head is too small. That could be the one thing that keeps you from your Broadway show. So it takes the personal out of it for me.

[26:27] Eli Tokash: Right.

[26:28] Ryan Worsing: And that was a very good lesson for 22-year-old Ryan to learn. Oh my god, it's still something that I have to learn and get over, you know, it's hard to remove our own stuff from what we do. What we do is so personal because it's so tied to passion. At the end of the day, you have to remember that that's not always what the business decisions are being made on. Totally. It literally comes down to if the pig costume fits.

[26:28] Eli Tokash: I love it. Wait, so like what is it? Is it just the fact that like it's so particular and they can't like make a new one in time or like they can't make a new one at all?

[26:28] Ryan Worsing: It was that it was timing, but it's also, you know, it's expensive. Oh right, I hate to say this, but like they I spent um nine months working on Shrek. Um wow, no that's not true, I'm sorry, it was seven months, but they didn't build me certain costumes until I'd been with the show for about four or five months. But then we got our closing notice very shortly after that, and I did that to go do Irving Berlin's White Christmas. So when they finally paid to build me a pig costume, it was like a thirty, forty thousand dollar costume I never wore.

[27:25] Eli Tokash: My god.

[27:25] Ryan Worsing: So yes, they got to send it on tour and stuff like that, but again, it's the business side of it. You know, yes, they could absolutely build you something that fits, but that costs a lot of money, especially depending on the show. Some of those costumes can cost a lot of money.

[28:14] Eli Tokash: Yeah, for sure.

[28:15] Ryan Worsing: Especially in a show like Shrek. I mean those costumes were insane. And there were a lot of them. I mean it was very, again, I was a swing on that show, but it was frequent for me to have 10 complete hair, makeup, and costume changes in the course of a single performance.

[28:32] Eli Tokash: Oh my god.

[28:32] Ryan Worsing: And we were constantly jumping around and those costumes weren't cheap.

[28:36] Eli Tokash: That's right.

[28:37] Ryan Worsing: That's also why they won the Tony Award.

[28:38] Eli Tokash: So exactly, exactly, it all works out in the end, right?

[28:43] Ryan Worsing: Yeah, that was how many tracks did you cover in Shrek?

[28:46] Eli Tokash: Okay.

[28:47] Ryan Worsing: So the rules, the coverage rules, the coverage rules have changed a lot since then. Oh, but there used to be a rule that you could cover a lot, all ensemble rules that were not gender-specific. Now fairy tale creatures, there was a lot of leeway on gender specificity. So there were nine men in the ensemble and nine women in the ensemble. More often than not, I would go on for about seven of the nine men's tracks.

[29:24] Eli Tokash: However, there was one night, the first time I went on for a woman in that show, I went on for three women in a single performance.

[29:31] Ryan Worsing: No my, oh you thought we had some bad shows of five and everything, we had one night at Shrek. At this point, we had five women call out of the show one night and one of our female swings, we only had two female swings, one of our female swings was out of town and our Dave Tapton was lying back from Germany.

[30:00] Eli Tokash: So we—

[30:00] Ryan Worsing: Oh my god, we had three swings, two of them male, to go on for five women that night.

[30:09] Eli Tokash: Unbelievable.

[30:11] Ryan Worsing: But it was just kind of one of those things that thankfully, you know, we had a really great team on that show. Um and everybody took their jobs very seriously and knew the kind of stage pictures so that we could fill in the hole and very generous to those of us male swings that had to do some strange debuts that night.

[30:32] Eli Tokash: I almost got to go on for a dragon that evening.

[30:35] Ryan Worsing: No way!

[30:36] Eli Tokash: That would have pushed it a little too far, but it almost happened.

[30:40] Ryan Worsing: That's sick.

[30:41] Eli Tokash: Oh my god.

[30:42] Ryan Worsing: I was 22, I still could have fit into the dress.

[30:45] Eli Tokash: So uh almost worked.

[30:48] Ryan Worsing: I love that.

[30:49] Eli Tokash: Oh my god. I'm a huge, I love Josh Prince.

[30:54] Ryan Worsing: Okay.

[30:54] Eli Tokash: Yes.

[30:55] Ryan Worsing: He is the best.

[30:57] Eli Tokash: We he choreographed or is choreographing, I guess, Trevor. And um literally, I can't. That man is like he's the way that he is able to figure out just the way he, his mind works and just the way he's able to figure out all the nuts and bolts and everything, like to learn from Mia Michaels and Josh Prince in your first, like professional, in one of your first professional shows, I guess, um is just so cool.

[31:23] Ryan Worsing: Like you got to meet work with some of the coolest people, especially in your field, like dance.

[31:29] Eli Tokash: I've been super spoiled in that regard.

[31:32] Ryan Worsing: Yeah. Um, yeah, Josh, his sense of humor that he was able to bring, oh my god, to that was the thing that impressed me, I think, about all of the creatives on Shrek. Um, it was something that could have been so silly and frivolous. Um, and everyone took such care to make sure that, you know, 10, 20 years from when it played on Broadway, it would resonate still. Um and be bigger than just the film franchise itself. I obviously I'm partial, it was my Broadway debut, but like I still sit back in awe some days and think of the beautiful work that Janine and David did on the music and lyrics in that show. It was a really special experience. Um I'm just so grateful to have gotten to watch all of that.

I was not an original company member, which you know can have its own baggage, but they were so hands-on with that show. I remember so specifically just being in the finale on certain days, and you'd look stage left, and Janine would be dancing in the wings with you. Um it just created a really, a culture of positivity um for the whole show.

[32:51] Eli Tokash: Sure.

[32:52] Ryan Worsing: Sure, sure, sure.

[32:54] Eli Tokash: So you, since you brought it up, let's transition to White Christmas.

[32:58] Ryan Worsing: It's okay.

[32:59] Eli Tokash: We love dogs.

[32:59] Ryan Worsing: We're gonna have a podcast.

[33:02] Eli Tokash: Thanks.

[33:02] Ryan Worsing: Good.

[33:02] Eli Tokash: Hank will make an appearance there.

[33:04] Ryan Worsing: I have no idea.

[33:04] Eli Tokash: Of course.

[33:05] Ryan Worsing: Oh my god, you're right.

[33:06] Eli Tokash: Fred Oscar.

[33:07] Ryan Worsing: Oh my god, here he is.

[33:09] Eli Tokash: So adorable.

[33:10] Ryan Worsing: This is Hank. He's my uh Australian Shepherd poodle mix.

[33:15] Eli Tokash: The cutest little guy.

[33:16] Ryan Worsing: I got him about three months before the pandemic started.

[33:19] Eli Tokash: So great timing.

[33:21] Ryan Worsing: Does not know how to be away from me yet. But we're working.

[33:25] Eli Tokash: How old?

[33:26] Ryan Worsing: He's a year and a half now.

[33:28] Eli Tokash: Oh my god.

[33:29] Ryan Worsing: He'll be so cute.

[33:30] Eli Tokash: So you got him when he was really a puppy.

[33:32] Ryan Worsing: I did. I got him uh the day after Thanksgiving, 2019.

[33:36] Eli Tokash: I love it.

[33:39] Ryan Worsing: Yes.

[33:40] Eli Tokash: Yes, that's so good.

[33:41] Ryan Worsing: That's so true. I'm so glad. Um, let's talk about White Christmas because this is so cool. Like, as you said, you had to leave Shrek to do White Christmas, right?

[33:53] Ryan Worsing: And before, so you opened it uh the 2009 production on Broadway. Um, but you also like did it on tour beforehand, right?

[34:03] Eli Tokash: So like—

[34:05] Ryan Worsing: I did.

[34:05] Eli Tokash: What was that experience like going from like a tour to Broadway and like finding your new pieces with of the same show with new people? Like, I don't know.

[34:15] Ryan Worsing: It was fascinating. I had never done anything like that. My Christmas uh was so lovely because it really came like your holiday family. Um I only had the good fortune to do it for two years. You know, I know people that at this point have done it for over a decade. Yes. And you just get to kind of come back and revisit the show that we all love with choreography and staging that we all admire so much and spend the holidays with the same people every year.

[34:42] Eli Tokash: Right.

[34:42] Ryan Worsing: Um so it really does become a family, not to mention, you know, some free who are performing or at the very least rehearsing on Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's every year. The first year I did it was right after I graduated college. I um booked the St. Paul Minneapolis Company.

[35:02] Eli Tokash: Oh, okay.

[35:03] Ryan Worsing: Um, it was my first year. Your first year in the show, they put you through what they call boot camp, where basically everyone who has never done the show before has 72 hours to learn everything.

[35:15] Eli Tokash: What?

[35:15] Ryan Worsing: And then they bring in the rest of the company.

[35:17] Eli Tokash: Oh yes.

[35:18] Ryan Worsing: Oh, it's amazing. It is the efficiency, uh, the organization, the just sheer knowledge that that uh choreography team is able to hold and teach, um is like the gold standard. It is the gold standard.

[35:38] Eli Tokash: Um, but we were doing it's Randy Skinner's choreography. Kelly Barkley was his associate at the time, who is one of the, to this day, one of the most incredible dancers and dance I have ever had the good pleasure of being in their company. Um but yeah, you learn the show in three days. It is fast, it is furious. You don't even know what the show is about at that point, but you turn into computer mode, and I've never learned a show so well. Um, but then they brought the rest of the company in. Um, and that's really fun to kind of get folded into these groups of people who have done the show with various companies in various cities. Um they get to kind of share and impart their experiences and build on yours. Um and then we got to St. Paul. I was covering the Danny Kay role um in the St. Paul company, and it was my first year, and I went on very surprisingly with about three and a half hours notice one day.

[36:44] Eli Tokash: Uh oh.

[36:46] Ryan Worsing: Which was terrifying. Luckily, the girl who was my dance partner in that show, her name is Sarah Edwards, who I've I've had the really great opportunity to work with a number of times since, um, was understudying the Judy, the role of Judy as well. Um, and she was going on that night. We were already in rehearsal for her that afternoon. The girl who was Maradavi was playing the role, Maradavi Gaines was playing the role and had flown back to New York for an audition. Well, the guy who was playing Phil had actually the same audition but had not gotten his connected flight.

[37:16] Eli Tokash: So we were at intermission in rehearsal for Sarah's put in when we found out that I was gonna have to go on that night.

[37:25] Ryan Worsing: Oh no. They literally painted shoes on my body. I was trying while they fed me pizza and I was running lines with all the principles. It was just, it was something that I would not wish for my worst enemy. But again, there's something about the White Christmas family, um, and their ability to come together and support their holiday family. I will forever be grateful to the company taking such good care of me that night, so that we could, you know, keep the curtain up because that's basically all I was doing out there. Um, but it was just, it's moments like that that when I think back on my time with White Christmas, I'm like, oh yeah. It could have been a nightmare. But the people were so special and we all believed in the show so much that it made it all worth it.

[38:19] Ryan Worsing: They literally were painting shoes on you.

[38:22] Eli Tokash: Yeah, my shoes were still wet when I danced that night.

[38:25] Ryan Worsing: What?

[38:26] Eli Tokash: Like it was I mean, it was no understudy had ever gone on in that show.

[38:31] Ryan Worsing: In limited runs, you've experienced well in limited runs, you know, people never call out.

[38:37] Eli Tokash: Um for any number of reasons, but it was it was just not on anybody's radar, even in the years past.

[38:44] Ryan Worsing: I think this was like the sixth or seventh year the show had happened, and usually they did three companies a year, and still Phil and Judy had never missed performances.

[38:54] Eli Tokash: So nobody thought it was gonna happen until it was.

[38:56] Ryan Worsing: Oh my god.

[38:58] Eli Tokash: That it's mind-blowing.

[39:00] Ryan Worsing: It was a lot. It was a lot, but it was again the company cared for me so well.

[39:07] Eli Tokash: Yeah, so it turned it into a positive instead of a truly terrifying experience.

[39:14] Ryan Worsing: I did have to sit down on the floor of my shower and cry at the end of that evening.

[39:18] Eli Tokash: No, but my god, I'm sure it was amazing.

[39:22] Ryan Worsing: Yes, that is right. That's all that matters.

[39:24] Eli Tokash: So did you have to go on like one thing that like if you've seen White Christmas, the top of act two starts with basically an 11-minute tap production number.

[39:33] Ryan Worsing: Yeah.

[39:34] Eli Tokash: That is just Phil and Judy for basically the first six or seven minutes.

[39:38] Ryan Worsing: I'd rehearsed about 40 minutes of that choreography before.

[39:44] Eli Tokash: Again, wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, but we all survived.

[39:48] Ryan Worsing: We all survived. That that's really all that matters.

[39:52] Eli Tokash: I mean, there was a show. There was a show.

[39:55] Ryan Worsing: Um then when the opportunity presented itself, you know.

[39:59] Eli Tokash: I we finished that production in St. Paul, and about two months later I got the call to join the company of Shrek.

[40:04] Ryan Worsing: Um, so I was working on Shrek when we knew White Christmas was gonna have a second season on Broadway.

[40:12] Eli Tokash: They had debuted on Broadway in 2008 when I was in the St. Paul Company, and then they were gonna bring it back for a second year in 2009.

[40:21] Ryan Worsing: Um and they called engaged interest, and of course, I loved the show, right?

[40:29] Eli Tokash: So I had gotten a leave of absence from Shrek to go do White Christmas, and at that point I was gonna pop back over to Shrek was closing, so I had gotten a week and a half before I left Shrek is when we got our closing notice that Shrek and White Christmas would both be closing on the same day.

[40:43] Ryan Worsing: Oh not only I closed my first two Broadway shows on the exact same day.

[40:49] Eli Tokash: That's so cool.

[40:50] Ryan Worsing: I wouldn't recommend it.

[40:52] Eli Tokash: I wouldn't recommend it.

[40:57] Ryan Worsing: Wait a second. One thing to lose your one Broadway show, but to lose two of them in a single day, that was pretty devastating for about a month afterwards.

[41:06] Eli Tokash: Were you like able to like be there for Shrek? Like were they able I I left the show and with um White Christmas, we were because it was a holiday schedule, we were basically doing nine show weeks.

[41:21] Ryan Worsing: So I remember when we on closing day, I was able to like go to a little bit of the Shrek closing party.

[41:29] Eli Tokash: Oh, okay. But so that was that.

[41:32] Ryan Worsing: So I would also go back. We had a great poker game between shows on Saturdays.

[41:45] Eli Tokash: Oh my god, that's sick.

[41:47] Ryan Worsing: We had a pretty good poker game going on, so I'd go back and do the same thing.

[41:52] Eli Tokash: Oh, I love that. I'm glad that you were able to at least do like something, you know, like to keep it alive, make you feel like a part of the fan still and everything like that.

[42:01] Ryan Worsing: I probably I probably was around the Broadway theater a little too much after I left, but you know, again, I was so young and loved it so much.

[42:10] Eli Tokash: It was so hard to leave and then know that I wasn't back.

[42:13] Ryan Worsing: Um entertained me. They were they were nice.

[42:17] Eli Tokash: I love that. Well, I want to talk about how we met.

[42:21] Ryan Worsing: Okay.

[42:21] Eli Tokash: So we let's talk about Finding Neverland.

[42:24] Ryan Worsing: Whoa, first of all, lots to talk about. Where to begin?

[42:28] Eli Tokash: Uh how much can we say? Do you want to talk about like a family?

[42:33] Ryan Worsing: Like that show, I feel like there were like nights where I feel like I was like doing it for the like everyone else around me.

[42:43] Eli Tokash: You know, like it was like everyone had each other, and it seemed like we were just one unit just doing it and our giving it our all literally every night for one another, even when we had rehearsals every day, especially you.

[43:00] Ryan Worsing: Okay. We had a lot of rehearsals on that one.

[43:04] Eli Tokash: Even a lot of rehearsals.

[43:08] Ryan Worsing: Um yeah. Yeah, I don't know what it was. People ask me this frequently about Finding Neverland, and I've never been able to put my finger entirely on it, but it was the closest company that I have ever worked with across the board.

[43:26] Eli Tokash: And I mean, I'm including the you know young actors as well as our animal actors. Like it was truly the most adoration I have ever experienced amongst a company for one another.

[43:42] Ryan Worsing: Um I think that there are probably a number of reasons for that. I think it was uh you and I you and I joined late, so we had the good fortune of not having to develop the show.

[43:52] Eli Tokash: Um I think that there were a lot of uh roadblocks along the way that presented bonding experiences for the company absolutely.

[43:52] Ryan Worsing: Um that I also no go ahead I also believe just because like of how many rehearsals that we've had like we were together more than we usually would so like those rehearsal times I mean as much as we had it we we figured we had to make it fun like the way that we did like pajama rehearsal day and like all of these things like we were always doing something we made them super fun and always like a place that if we're gonna be here let's really enjoy ourselves obviously we weren't sacrificing professionalism along the way because we had a lot of work to get done but we trusted each other enough as a company to uh entertain ourselves along the way.

[43:52] Eli Tokash: I mean I loved going to put inside that show we always.

[45:42] Ryan Worsing: I did too oh my god and I got to get out of school.

[45:46] Eli Tokash: Well there's yeah there was that added bonus you guys right I was like making it truly um but we it just it was fun the group of people we had a good stage management team you know your wranglers and dressers were always lovely to be with um our carpenters were super fun the whole team across the board we really lucked out on that one it could have been a lot more difficult than it was and it was oh yeah plenty difficult plenty of the time but um the company was always so concerned with looking out for each other um that it made the whole experience super special for me.

[45:56] Eli Tokash: I loved going to work every day.

[45:58] Ryan Worsing: There was also something special about culture that was built on stage.

[46:04] Eli Tokash: Yes, we all loved each other and adored our time like in the quick change booths together offstage.

[46:10] Ryan Worsing: But Diane Paula director had gone, and she does this with her companies. I think it's very smart. Um she had built such a rich life for the characters to play in on stage, um, and had asked that each company member take responsibility for the work they were doing on stage, that it made a world that we all wanted to go play in every night.

[46:36] Eli Tokash: Right. Um I just remember, especially some of the some of the on stage scenes when we would be backstage at the rehearsal hall.

[46:45] Ryan Worsing: Oh my god. The things that we would be doing on stage, they were not inappropriate, they weren't unprofessional, but they added texture and life to the work that was happening on stage in a way that wasn't distracting from the scenework and where your attention needed to be focused, but was elevating the life of the play.

[47:05] Eli Tokash: Oh, yeah. And I was and was not like choreographed or anything, like it was not put into the show. But it was one of those things everybody on stage was agreeing to play these theater games with each other eight times a week.

[47:17] Ryan Worsing: You know, it's very often that you will get into a process where you'll work for a team where they want to see the same show eight times a week.

[47:26] Eli Tokash: Yes.

[47:27] Ryan Worsing: And there's absolute merit in all of that. Um it was so nice for us to have the freedom to enjoy the storytelling every night, especially on Finding Neverland, because that's that's what the whole show was about, you know, sharing these stories, and to be a part of building those stories every night and and making sure that even a year, year and a half into our run, the heart of what we were trying to do was still there.

[47:56] Eli Tokash: It that was so much a part of it.

[47:58] Ryan Worsing: Yeah, and that's what that's exactly what I say. Like when people ask me about the people and just Finding Neverland as an experience as a whole, like that's what I always come back to is that I feel like everyone set their egos aside, no one was hypocritical, and we practiced the story that we were telling every night, like as a company, and we were literally together and we were playing, and it was a family, and it was um we were using our imaginations, like everything that you saw on the stage during the story, between the actors, whatever it was, was just how it was, you know.

[48:39] Eli Tokash: And I thought it was completely authentic and genuous, yeah.

[48:42] Ryan Worsing: Absolutely, and I also think that again, even if there were shortcomings, um especially that last 10 minutes.

[48:52] Eli Tokash: That the 10 minutes of the nursery scene is the most magical 10 minutes I have ever seen on stage.

[48:57] Ryan Worsing: I I spent a year and a half dancing next to Beth Middler.

[49:00] Eli Tokash: Right.

[49:01] Ryan Worsing: Oh my god. Those 10 minutes of the nursery scene are the most magical I have ever spent on stage, and I will never, never take that for granted.

[49:10] Eli Tokash: I don't think any of us took it for granted over the course of Google.

[49:13] Ryan Worsing: The parts that that show got right were writer than anything I have ever done before or since.

[49:20] Eli Tokash: It was it was so special.

[49:22] Ryan Worsing: And we all believed that. Even on hardest days, we all believed that, and we owed it to each other as well as the audience to really see that through.

[49:32] Eli Tokash: We were also, I'm certain you will agree with me. Uh we also had the good fortune of being led by some of the greatest company leaders I've ever had the opportunity to work with on that show.

[49:45] Ryan Worsing: Um really all of them, but total standouts. Matt Morrison and Laura Michelle Kelly.

[49:49] Eli Tokash: Oh my god.

[49:52] Ryan Worsing: By far.

[49:53] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[49:53] Ryan Worsing: And of course, Jamie and Julius too.

[49:58] Eli Tokash: Like they were yeah, they were in working towards the greater good on that show.

[50:05] Ryan Worsing: So yeah.

[50:06] Eli Tokash: Absolutely. We were really lucky in that regard.

[50:09] Ryan Worsing: Really lucky.

[50:10] Eli Tokash: Yeah, exactly. And yeah, that's that's exactly what I was alluding to, like putting our egos to the side.

[50:15] Ryan Worsing: You know, Laura Michelle Kelly and Matthew Morrison just could have came in and we're like, what is happening? Like this is not how what I want to do, blah blah blah. And they were like parents to especially us, like, and I mean I'm sure everyone else too.

[50:29] Eli Tokash: So and out of every show that I have done, it is the one that I have recognized touched people the most.

[50:39] Ryan Worsing: So many people that lost family members to cancer or whatever it may be, um, you know, had difficult relationships with their own parents. The way that show was able to provide catharsis for people. Um, um still, I mean, what six, seven years later, it still means a lot to me that that show was able to help people in that regard.

[51:06] Ryan Worsing: Absolutely. You know, so often we can be disconnected from what our shows do, and sometimes our shows don't do anything at all. But I will never forget, actually, it was the first time I saw the show. They called me to offer me the position in the show. Um, and it was a Friday night, and I couldn't see the show that night, but I could see the mat the next afternoon. Uh-huh. And I was sitting on the edge of the aisle, right house right. Um, and there was a moment, you will remember this moment well when the boys fly in the nursery scene. Oh, yes. Um, for the first time. Oh, okay. Chill's just thinking about it. Um, there was a woman and her daughter who were sitting down the aisle from me, and I noticed both of them like choose away at that moment.

So I was like, I'm just gonna kind of check in on them throughout the rest of the show. We got to the end of the show, and we got to the curtain call, and it was still very early in the run. This was June of the run. Oh, so uh huge standing ovation at the end of the show, except for this woman and her daughter. Oh, just kind of I I was again at the end of the aisle, and I just kind of leaned over and looked. I was like, where do we lose them? Where between the boys flying and the finale did we lose them? Right. As I stared at them, I realized we hadn't watched them. They weren't standing because they were crying and hugging each other. Oh wow. They were so affected by the end of the show that they couldn't return that gratitude to the actors.

They just had to have a moment together. And right, we don't have that opportunity in a lot of shows that we do. So that was a great reminder for me early in the run of like, okay, this show is gonna touch people. This show has a power over people, and we really have a responsibility to honor that.

[52:54] Eli Tokash: Yeah, absolutely. Well, you touched on the nursery scene and how magical that was. But I also I I want to talk to you because of course, like two of my favorite numbers were the two that the kids weren't on stage for in Stronger and Play. And I just have to ask what it was like to build a ship seriously out of nets and benches and all of these crazy things, and then of course, play where you're just playing on stage. Like, I just I want to hear all about it.

[53:27] Ryan Worsing: Okay, well, let's start with Stronger. So Stronger has a bit of a lead up, yeah, which makes it torture if I'm totally honest. Um Stronger comes immediately after um live by the hook, which comes immediately after Circus of Your Mind. Oh, yeah. So we had a little the ensemble um had a little bit of time off stage after the boys flying scene, but then basically the last 20 minutes of the first act was a slog. We used to call it crossfit the musical because as soon as you would get suited up for circus of your mind, you had these big brass circus poles that you would carry around the stage and then have to vault yourself from one angle to the other, or you'd be picking Matt Morrison up by the pole and moving him to the other direction.

Right. As soon as you finish that number, you immediately run off stage and have basically a 25 second quick change into your pirate costume, so you can sneak on upstage for live by the hook. Then you enter live by the hook, and if you're not carrying Matt Morrison around on a very heavy metal bench, you're using these crossfit ropes that look like the waves. So then the second you have ended the number with him over your head on the bench, tipping out, you carry the bench off stage, and then immediately have to run all the way to the back of the house, run down the house aisle, and then hook up my rig line so that I can climb 20 feet into the air and then do the Spanish web tricks. Oh yeah.

It was a lot of work. Oh yeah, I bet. I don't know that I would be physically capable of doing it again, but um, it was also one of those things like just don't think about it, just have fun. Because by the way we did get up on those ropes. That was something I never thought that I would be doing on a Broadway stage. We're doing you don't train for that and you're being at MOU. Right. Um so that was just one of the things that it terrified my mother, but I loved doing it every day. Oh, yeah. It was so much fun to just be up, throwing your body around on those rat lines, screaming at people in the front row, um, and just really kind of getting them into the spirit and excitement of that number was totally one of the highlights of that show.

Play was fun in its own way. Play was treacherous because there were so many moving pieces at all times. There were tables dance captain bring remembered because there were four tables on stage. There were four tables on stage. There were 12 chairs. There were four bar stools, and then a couple other things that came in and out flying on flying off. And they they didn't stay in place, obviously. We had to be sliding them and running. Why would we do that? Tossing them over the bar, as well as girls being tossed over the bar. Oh yeah. But that was the number every night where um the ensemble really just kind of got to live in that world that we were talking about that was uh texturing some of the scene work, but we got to bring it into our musical performance work.

Um we just had so much fun. I will never forget, you know, every night you just stand up there and listen for whatever name Josh Layman was gonna call Melanie Moore that night. Right. You never knew. It was always again. Oh my god. But uh it was um it was a number where everyone had to be paying such close attention because everyone's safe was in jree. But because everyone was paying such close attention, it meant you could have a lot of fun with it too. You knew everyone was paying attention, and everyone had to be so engaged that it had life percolating through at each performance. Um it was super fun to do, always exhausting when it was over, but it was a really fun number to do.

[57:23] Eli Tokash: I know. I'm sorry, I definitely picked the hardest ones to do, but like you know, like you know, there are perks from like joining the cast a little late because you get to watch it, and like I feel like some of the people that like haven't had the pleasure of watching that show from the audience, just like may not have like realized how special that is. Like it's the hardest thing, but visually it's the most beautiful.

[57:50] Ryan Worsing: Yeah, that joy, that joy was rarely, if ever, contrived. We also in that number had such um we had such fun men who played that role. Um, you know, everybody from Anthony Warlow, Kelsey Grammar, Mark Couder to Terry Mann. I mean, it went the whole spectrum. Not only just like theater legends, I never thought I'd had the opportunity to work with Anthony Warlow, but also people who were just really fun and wild in the role. And vastly different. Vastly different. Um that playing in in their world of that number every night was also super fun.

[58:31] Eli Tokash: Yeah. Well, that that's awesome. So now I do have to add, I know this is like I I just have to say I'm finding Neverland. I mean, it's just too much to talk about. Um, so you were like, you were originally like you got the role in Neverland to like be in the ensemble, right?

[58:48] Ryan Worsing: And then you not even, not even. Oh, I was not even I was a medical replacement.

[58:53] Eli Tokash: Oh, right.

[58:54] Ryan Worsing: I was only supposed to be there for three weeks.

[58:57] Eli Tokash: Oh my god.

[58:59] Ryan Worsing: Well, that changed shocking. So exactly. This is this is just kind of another lesson of like, okay, you know, what what you think may be not. Right. The way I actually got the Gotha Show in the first place was also slightly different from any show I've ever done. I was uh in Final Callbacks for the original company The Swing, but again, just like Shrek, didn't go my way. That being said, they had the creative team approved me uh at that final callback for uh basically a short list when they would start hiring new people in the future. At Tony Awards, someone got injured, tore their groin at Tony rehearsal. Oh my god. And then was out of the show for a few weeks. Um, which is why they called me. So I basically got a phone call that was like, Hey, can you come be in Finding Neverland for three weeks? Based on my audition from seven months prior.

[59:58] Eli Tokash: So you didn't even have to re-audition.

[1:00:00] Ryan Worsing: Nope. Literally just they said, Hey, hey, we we need you. Can can you please be there tonight? I was like, I get there tonight, but I'll be there tomorrow afternoon. Oh my god. So I went in, they were gonna teach me the show over two weeks. I think actually you were in rehearsals at the same time. You had just started like a week or two before me. Um it was like a month after it opened. Exactly. Like the tech yeah. Um, yes. Uh, and so they were gonna teach me the show in two weeks, but I knew that if I could learn it faster and get on stage faster, hopefully I could you know be of a little more value to the company um and free up their swing coverage. Um, so there was like maybe five days into my rehearsal.

I think we had Anthony Borlo put in. And our stage manager at the time was like, Well, you're gonna hear a rehearsal anyways, why don't you step into the track? So I did everything I had learned up to that point, which was everything except for maybe the finale and one number. And this was a Thursday afternoon. I I'd been rehearsing for four days at that point, I think. Um and she said, Okay, great, you make your debut on Tuesday. So I ended up doing two weeks of performances, but then the guy I was in for for his medical leave needed to extend his leave. So I did about I think six or eight more weeks for him, at which point another company member was leaving, so they moved me over to his track.

Then another company member was leaving about four months later, and they were able to bring the old guy back. So they just kept allowing me to jump around to stay with the company, but also you know, bring back people that uh that were loved by the company and had been original company members. So I was very lucky that they uh they didn't kick me out the door.

[1:01:49] Eli Tokash: No, never.

[1:01:50] Ryan Worsing: Well, so they they did the opposite, actually, and they kept they kept just uh moving you up to the uh assistant dance captain, and then you were the dance captain for quite some time. But anyway, we I feel like the majority you were there with us, right?

[1:02:04] Eli Tokash: The majority.

[1:02:09] Ryan Worsing: I think I took over as assistant dance captain three months after I started, which is crazy to think about that. Um then about four months after that is when they bumped me up to dance captain. Um then I was the dance captain through the rest of the run.

[1:02:29] Eli Tokash: Okay.

[1:02:29] Ryan Worsing: So it was a blast. It was my first time dance captaining uh on on Broadway. It was work because we were constantly rehearsing. We were bringing in uh new boys, or we were bringing in um new principals frequently. Um frequently, frequently light word frequently, maybe more frequently than we needed to, but um, and then we also had you know people who were taking leaves to do random projects, so I would have rehearse uh their vacation swings. So we rehearsed that show a lot.

[1:03:07] Eli Tokash: Yeah, but that was that was a show I didn't mind rehearsing.

[1:03:11] Ryan Worsing: I don't know.

[1:03:11] Eli Tokash: Yeah, exactly. Maybe it was the first. I never minded going to those rehearsals. We always had a great report.

[1:03:16] Ryan Worsing: Right.

[1:03:18] Eli Tokash: Okay, but I need to ask, like, you were no ordinary dance captain. Like usually dance captains kind of just are the dance captains, and they don't have to perform every night all the time. But you were doing like 18 shows a week.

[1:03:34] Ryan Worsing: Like, what? Like, what was that like?

[1:03:37] Ryan Worsing: That was it was strange. Um, because you know, like you say, you normally a dance captain is an off-stage swing. And lots of times that's the way the creative team wants it, so they can be out to note the show as well as then they generally have a solid understanding of most of the tracks because they cover and have performed a lot of those tracks.

[1:03:57] Ryan Worsing: That was not my story on Finding Neverland. Um for any number of reasons. But um so I was uh on stage performing in one of the three tracks that I ended up doing over the course of the show, um, but then would get swung out once a week to watch a note show. Or if I needed to be in rehearsals, um, one of the swings would go on for me as well. Uh so it was again exhausting because as we've stated, the show is uh no no delicate performance. So to be in rehearsals all day and then have to perform the show at night was was a lot. But that being said, I think I only missed I only called out of one show in the 14 months I was there because I just loved the show so much. I know that sounds so stupid and silly, but like I didn't want to miss.

I loved being there. I loved working on that show every night. Um but yet dance captaining since it is much easier to be off stage because you can watch the whole show. But it did there was also plenty of insight that I was able to have by being on stage with the performers every night that you know on offstage dance captain would always have as well. Right. And I thought it allowed me to kind of um there were a lot of moments in uh finding neverland where we needed like little fixes or solves within the show um because people were out so frequently and our coverage was limited on that show. Um so it allowed me to kind of internally swing the show. I could do my track as it was because I was on stage every night, but if I needed to jump around, like at times where I would go on for Paul Slade Smith or uh Josh Layman, I didn't cover those roles, but because I knew the parts and because we were short of coverage, I could do my normal track, but still jumping features without causing too much drama with mics and sound or the costume worker department, all of that. Right, right, right, right.

[1:06:04] Eli Tokash: That’s amazing. Did you ever think you were gonna like fly in a show when you were gonna cover Josh Layman?

[1:06:10] Ryan Worsing: No, no, I did not. Oh my god. No, I'm one of the many blessings provided by Neverland. Yes. Oh my god, that's too funny. So I have to ask, like, do you have like a favorite role that you like were able to teach? Like during during any run, really, like, did you ever find yourself being like, oh my god, yes, I can't wait to teach this role?

[1:06:41] Ryan Worsing: That's a good question. Um on spot finding Neverland specifically or just in general?

[1:06:46] Eli Tokash: Just like yeah, like in general, okay.

[1:06:50] Ryan Worsing: Right after Finding Neverland, um the the wonderful woman who became my assistant dance captain on Finding Neverland Um was assisting Josh Goss on his off-Broadway production of Sweet Charity. Oh with Sutton Foster and Shuler Hensley, um directed by the wonderful Lee Silverman. Um to get to teach Sutton's version of charity was really special. I think that maybe maybe that's kind of the broader answer to this question. What I love so much about what we do is the history, the whys and the hows of you know, why why does the phantom do that arm gesture? Or why does you know so and so pop out of why does Edna pop out of the Harrispray can at the end of Harris Bray? You know, like those little details that you know so many of us take for granted, but there's a reason, there's a rhyme and a reason to all of these things.

Right. And as a dance captain, you uh get to be a part of that heritage and and sharing those moments. Um getting to watch someone like Sutton develop the role and then work with the the other people and say, obviously, bring your own thing, but these are maybe some ways in, um especially that will benefit you in this version of the production or this staging of this show. Um we also got to do quite a bit of that on Finding Neverland. And again, it was because the creatives allowed us enough freedom to play in whatever talents each individual was bringing to the role.

[1:08:36] Ryan Worsing: Um that I loved working on with Finding Everland was um Madame de Morier. Like I remember so specifically the world that Carol Lee brought. Um my god. She was so good in that show. And Sally Ann came in, and Sally Ann has this her own wealth of talents that is completely different from Carol Lee, even though they have played so many of the same roles. Right. Um, but it was so that for me as a dance captain is really rewarding to be able to be like, okay, these are the hints, these are the little textures and and moments that you might want to that have worked for people in the past, but also let's find your version of those things. Right. And when you have that uh freedom from a creative team to test those things out, you can open up a whole new world.

Like everyone was so sad to see Carol Lee go. Everyone loved Caroline on that production, but then we were able to open up so many new moments between Laura Michelle and Sally Ann, or Sally Ann and the boys, that were just that only Sally Ann would be able to bring to the role. So to be able to mine those moments along the way when you're in rehearsal with people, that's that's my great joy.

[1:10:01] Eli Tokash: That's so cool. I love that.

[1:10:02] Ryan Worsing: I love that you get to because that's like, for me. I find like the whole building the show as like one of the coolest things about being in a show. And so like the way that you're able to do that with everyone, every individual person is so so cool. I love that.

[1:10:24] Ryan Worsing: Yeah, but it also um you know some people feel restricted by that. Um yeah. Some people feel like they, especially if they're replacing, they just want to bring what they bring to the role, and they don't want to necessarily honor what the person before them has done. And while I understand that, it you also want to honor the performances that everyone else has been giving with that person and the work that they have built together. It's a very fine line, of course, but you you want you don't want to throw your co-stars into a world where they are completely off of their thing after they have developed a performance over months, years at a time. And when you get to look with again, I'm just gonna harp on her because she's wonderful.

When you get to work with people like Sally Ann, who of course honor and have reverence for what was, but will bring their own special joy to the project, and those things can kind of meet in the middle and match. That's when it's super exciting for me. I love those moments.

[1:11:34] Eli Tokash: Yes, of course. Curtain down on Ryan Worsing, and I am not saying take a bow if you noticed, because we are not at the end of the show yet. So uh curtain down on act one for Ryan Worsing. I cannot tell you how excited I am for you all to listen to uh act two, and uh it's gonna be so funny. So, what you just listened to were just stories from just three of his Broadway shows. We only were able to cover three Broadway shows in an hour. Yes, I know, I'm sorry, but we got way too distracted and sidetracked, and while I was there, like I was like, oh my god, an hour is past, but like I want to keep talking to you, and I want to hear uh all the other shows that you've been in and everything like that.

So I I kid you not, you wanna tune into next week's episode. He we talk about uh so this week we talked about Finding Neverland, we talked about Shrek, and we talked about White Christmas. But next week, oh boy, we talk about some more Finding Neverland, but not as much. Um, and of course, Hello Dolly, The Cher Show, and Chicago. And those are so iconic for so many reasons. He talks about what it's like to work with Bette Midler, he talks about what it's worth like to work with Taylor Trench, Beanie Feldstein, who we've had on the podcast. Um, he talks about working with Cher and how big of a diva she is, and he also talks about Chicago, which he's been in so many productions of and has had to change it all the time.

And literally the stories he is able to tell about all three of these shows are just stories that you don't want to miss. So this was totally the fan kind of show of Finding Neverland and hearing stories and everything, but next week it's it's it's entertaining. I'm excited for you guys to listen to it. Um, so yeah, that's what's happening. Ryan, can't thank you enough for joining us this week and giving us so much of your time. I know these stories are literally gonna be everybody's favorite. I cannot wait to pick out videos to post on the Instagram for these stories because there's way too many. But just his insight and being a swing and a dance captain and how he got his Shrek audition and all of these crazy things.

It really gives you such insight into the industry by just telling stories of his own experience. And I think that's the beauty of uh interviews like this. You know, like it could be just stories but you can learn so much of them. And they're stories of just Ryan but it happens throughout the entire industry and if it's happened to someone else it could totally happen to you. So these are very good things to know about very good things to learn about. So I appreciate you all tuning in and I hope you all learn stuff this week and I promise you that next week you're just gonna absolutely be amazed by next week's episode and it's gonna leave you laughing and it's gonna make you feel all the emotions.

I cannot I cannot tell you how amazing it was to reminis the memories of finding neverland with him. He is someone who was very close to me in that cast. I appreciated him teaching me so much and uh all of my most of my roles and everything like that. Uh honestly it was just just to talk about finding neverland again and in like a perspective that I hope was inclusive enough but also uh in inside enough so that we could uh really give you raw emotions of how we felt about it while also including you in along in the story. So I hope you all enjoyed this week's episode, and I cannot wait for next week's episode. So until then, please, please tune in to next week, and I hope to see you there. Until then, have a great week, everyone.

[1:15:38] Eli Tokash: For this episode's curtain 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 Jory Berenstein, Brittany Bigelow, Katie Rosen, Alan Seals, and the team at the Broadway Podcast Network. Next in line to Take a Bow is Tessie Tokash, who edits the audio and all the visuals for this podcast. A special thanks to patrons Brian Thompson, Pat McNamara, the listeners at PCC, as well as all the other patrons for their continued support. If you're interested in becoming a patron, go to Patreon.com slash T A B. And if you enjoyed this week's episode, don't forget to subscribe on the platform that you're currently listening to this on. Also, feel free to give us a follow on Instagram at TakeA Bow Podcast. Take a Bow's logo is designed by Giselle Bustos, and the music is by Nikki Torsha and Cormac Collinon. Bye everyone. Hope to see you next week.