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[0:00] Eli Tokash: Hello everyone and welcome to episode 72 of Take A Bow. I'm your host Eli Tokash, and we have a very different episode coming at you this week. We've been able to do a few of these recently. Um, so I'm excited because we've gotten great feedback on it. So uh we're gonna have another little series of interviews today. Um it's gonna be surrounding the Broadway Flea Market. These are all interviews that I was able to have live and in person at the Broadway Flea Market in the middle of Schubert Alley. It's very exciting stuff for me, of course. Um that being said, we have some incredible guests on today's episode. We have Jack Feldstein, who was the writer of Falling in Love with Mr. Delamort, which is BPN's newest audio drama play that they have been helping out and producing.

Um it's a very great three-act, three-part mini-series of an audio play that is what is going to be a stage play. You know what? It's all explained. I'll leave it for him to explain it. Um and you should totally check it out on Broadway Podcast Network. It's incredible. It's with James Minuro Eigelhart, Lena Hall, um Jackie Hoffman, Kelly Leoung, Courtney Reed, and it's narrated by Gavin Lee. So um it's amazing. The talent is unreal. Um, and it was really cool to talk to him about um kind of refiguring everything out and uh kind of navigating the whole COVID thing while trying to produce a musical um that was meant for stage and how he had to change it to um an audio format. So it was really cool.

Other guests include Avery and Ryan Cell, and you can now see Avery in Mrs. Doubtfire, but you could have seen Ryan Cell in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as Charlie. We also have Giuseppe Balzeo, who is currently in Hamilton. He's been in several other Broadway shows as well. I also got the chance to interview Andrea, who is the creator of the Broadway Makers Alliance, as well as uh Coloring Broadway, and she was kind of working at a booth, and she's been able to do so much for the Broadway community in raising money and all in an artistic way that uh isn't the performing arts way. So it's been more of like painting and coloring, as in coloring Broadway, and also giving like little startups surrounding the Broadway community a chance to uh succeed as a small business in creating the Broadway Makers Alliance as it was like a group that formed, and so they have a bunch of little startup businesses under all one umbrella.

So it's really cool, great work what she's doing there, and it was cool to interview someone who was working a booth to donate uh a bunch of their products um and raise money for this special organization, Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS, which is what the Broadway Flea Market is all about. Um, we were also able to interview Broadway kids, Skya Lisa Friedman, who was in Annie. We were able to interview Oscar Williams again, who you all heard of before, and he was in Fun Home, and we also got to interview Carly Gendal from School of Rock, um, which is all great stuff. Skye and Carly actually are both um working on some stuff right now that um we could see in the future, um, but we can't announce yet.

So very exciting stuff. Definitely gonna be seeing more of them late. Uh definitely gonna be seeing more of them in the Broadway world soon enough. So uh congrats to them, and I was very excited to talk to both of them. So let's get into the news before we hear from all of those incredible guests.

[4:03] Eli Tokash: Alright, we'll start off by saying happy opening 26 on Broadway, which made their opening the same day of the Broadway Flea Market, which was on Sunday. Also, happy first performances to Chicken and Biscuit to Kill a Mockingbird, which reopened on Broadway. Um we also have first performances from Thoughts of a Colored Man. We also have reopenings from Diana the Musical, Freestyle of Supreme, with a big opening tomorrow from Caroline, or Change. So very exciting stuff going on. A lot of shows are reopening in this month of October. Um almost 75% of the shows are gonna be open from now and like the second week in November. So very exciting stuff. Broadway continues to come back strong, which is great.

And speaking of Thoughts of a Colored Man, who I announced had their first performances this past week, will now open October 13th, moving its opening night date two weeks forward from its originally scheduled date of October 31st. So really they just switched their numbers around from the 13th from the 31st to the 13th. So very exciting stuff for Thoughts of a Colored Man, um who is now going to be reopening even earlier than expected. So that's always a good sign. Um of course, I'm sure we're gonna be seeing a lot more of this with Broadway continue to uh come back fairly quickly. Aladdin had a big COVID outbreak this these past couple of weeks, actually. They've been doing it for about they've been dealing with it for about a week and a half now.

Um and now they are delaying performances until October 10th. So um this is something to keep an eye out on uh because they were actually going to reopen a couple of days ago, but it turned out that that same day someone else came down with COVID. So they were unable to reopen. So it's just uh it's probably gonna be happening a lot more often than we think. Uh now that everything is coming back to normal and fairly quickly. Um although all the shows are taking the same protocols and testing every day and wearing masks and all of that great stuff that uh needs to happen for theater to go on safely. Stuff like this can very well still happen, so it's just something to keep an eye out on.

[6:31] Eli Tokash: Now let's get into the fun news. What's going on in the Broadway world, right? So Lana Gordon will be alternating the role of Persephone with Amber Gray in Hadestown. Uh the producer of Hadestown stated that we are so pleased to be able to support Amber Gray as she balances her needs as a parent of two young children while simultaneously continuing to nourish her artistic self at Hadestown. So it was very cool to see that. I it seems like that's been a trend recently, considering um Jagged Little Pill just announced that they're gonna be doing that with Elizabeth Stanley. Um, so it's great. It's kind of like a maternity, like not leave because they neither of them are technically leaving. Um, they're just uh a bit of um maternity assistance, I guess you could call it.

Um, and I and I love to see it, and hopefully, this is something that we see more of. And hopefully, um, I I love the fact that shows aren't just shunning them for having a kid and kind of just like, oh, you can't do it, and like they're just providing them some assistance and willing to uh help out and be very helpful along the process and being helpful throughout the process of starting a new chapter of their lives. So very exciting stuff. Kudos to Hadestown, kudos to Jagged Little Pill. Um, and yeah, I'm sure we'll see more of that as well.

[7:55] Eli Tokash: After success at the Tony Awards, the musical A Christmas Carol will actually be touring the latest version that was just recently on Broadway. The cast is like incredible. It wasn't even this cast on Broadway. Um starring in the touring production will be Alex Newell, who everyone's heard of from Glee and Zoe's Extraordinary Playlist, and who was in Once on This Island most recently. Um we also see Kate Burton, Bradley Whitford, Chris Hoke, and many more uh joining that production, all like Emmy Award nominated um actors and performers, um, as well as Tony Award nominees and so many more. So it's so cool to see this cast coming together to go out on tour with a show that is A Christmas Carol, uh, which is my first show that ever got me interested in theater.

So that show is very dear to my heart. So it's very exciting for me to see that, and hopefully, I'm gonna go see that show because I saw it on Broadway and it was fantastic, but I'm very eager to see it with this cast.

[9:04] Eli Tokash: Um and speaking of star-studded casts, Funny Girl, the revival that uh everyone's kind of been talking about with uh Beanie Feldstein has found its co-stars and what a group it is. Uh Jane Lynch, Ramin Karimloo, and Jared Grimes are all joining the cast of Funny Girl. Now, they've only announced four performers, but already that is an incredible cast, and I cannot wait to see who else pans out to be in this company uh of this revival. I'm I'm very intrigued already. I was very already intrigued when they casted Beanie Feldstein, and now I'm even more obsessed now that Jane Lynch and Ramin Karimloo are in it. Um very exciting stuff. I cannot wait to see Ramin Karimloo on stage again. I think his voice is one of the best on Broadway for sure, and I think Jane Lynch is absolutely hilarious.

Um so I'm very excited to just to see all of this um and see the dynamics of kind of these uh these movie, these TV and film stars now kind of coming back to Broadway and uh just seeing how that dynamic is.

[10:24] Eli Tokash: So very exciting stuff. Another cool news article that I've seen throughout this week is John Legend became a lead producer in Ain't Too Proud. Now, now it makes sense when I was talking to all of you about uh his performance with Ain't Too Proud on the Tony Awards. I was very confused, but I loved it. Um, but I was confused as to why he was performing with them. But it all makes sense. Uh he's he and his company are now uh lead producers on Ain't Too Proud, and honestly, I wouldn't be shocked to see him up there on a Broadway stage soon enough. I mean, I don't want to spread rumors or anything, so take it or leave it. But I think it's a step that John Legend could be coming to Broadway, starring in The Life of the Temptations, which would be, I think, really, really cool, and a really big ticket seller um for the company.

And uh, I think it would be really neat to see John Legend on Broadway because I loved his performance at the Tony's. Um, and that cast is already just so amazing. They all compliment each other, and uh, I think it'd be really cool to see to see him up there on a Broadway stage, to be honest. I mean, he's been kinda working his way into the Broadway world, being in the Jesus Christ Superstar Live, and now this, obviously.

[11:46] Eli Tokash: So maybe we'll see John Legend on Broadway sooner rather than later. Um, but that being said, that wraps up this week's news, and I want to talk to you all about the Broadway Flea Market.

[12:00] Eli Tokash: Okay, the Broadway Flea Market raised $753,321 in support of Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS this past uh Sunday, just in one day. Uh I wanted to say weekend, but no, it was just in one day. Um, that's incredible. Um, that's kind of like uh that is similar to the numbers that they've been able to get in previous years, so it was great to see the way that the Broadway community came back and didn't miss a beat and they came back strong. Uh last year they had to go virtually, and they raised $315,282, um, which is about half of what they raised this year, which is still an incredible number, and it helped so many people.

[12:47] Eli Tokash: But this year making double is very even more exciting, and it pushes them over the edge to help out more and more people struggling with COVID-19, living with HIV and AIDS or facing other life-threatening illnesses in all 50 states, and it includes Puerto Rico.

[13:07] Eli Tokash: So very good stuff for the Broadway community from the Broadway community, and I actually have a very, very cool story coming at you to give everyone a better understanding of what Broadway Cares truly does, as Giuseppe Balzeo, who is currently in Hamilton, talks about how Broadway Cares has kind of helped him and saved him. So very exciting. Stay tuned for that. I'm gonna continue to talk about Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS because I think that this is a very important organization for everyone to learn about, even with the fan favorites kind of booths missing, like the autograph table, the photo booth, and a bunch of other things. Even though that was online, they were still able to do all of this.

And if you went to the Broadway Flea Market, you didn't see all of those Broadway stars and actors and performances that you usually see, but everyone's just trying to still be safe. The fact that they were still able to do that well, there were a hundred and forty-four record-breaking silent auction sales, with lots of unique memorabilia and live auctions for tickets and other experiences and treasures, which is so, so cool. It was great stuff all around from the Broadway community. And if you missed out on it, it was at Shubert Alley on 44th and 45th Street, and it usually happens every year around September. Broadway Cares also hosts events like the Easter Bonnet, the Gypsy of the Year, and then of course the Broadway Flea Market.

Soon enough, I'm gonna be having an interview with the head of Broadway Cares, Tom Viola, who's kind of started all of this, and he'll talk about how the Broadway Flea Market came to be and all of these fun events along the way to help support not only performers but also just people around the world. It's just a really great organization that you should totally look into, and everything that was seen on Sunday was donated, and a hundred percent of those proceeds from the things that were donated goes directly to Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS. So Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS receives all of that 753,321 dollars, which is just an incredible amount. Over the past couple of years, they've actually been able to raise over 16 million dollars for their organization, which has been just incredible.

Great stuff from the Broadway community, like I said, and they are also the organization you've probably heard of many, many times, especially if you're an avid theater-goer, because they are also the organization that we actually talk about in these interviews that the cast has the speech after their shows and how they explain how they're holding red buckets and donate signed posters from the entire company that you can buy with a donation of however much. All of that stuff raises money for Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS. It's a really great organization. It started as Broadway Cares, and then it paired up with another organization called Equity Fights AIDS, and it merged into one, and they've been working together for the past several years.

So it's just a great organization and definitely worth looking more into and hopefully supporting if you're so able to do so. So check it out, Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS, and let's talk about it some more from our guests on Broadway. Take A Bow live at the Broadway Flea Market, curtain up!

[17:09] Eli Tokash: You don't want me to say, "Oh my God, too good." Are we on? Hello, hello everyone. Okay. My name is Eli Tokash with Take A Bow Podcast on the Broadway Podcast Network. Joining me today, I have the writer of Falling in Love with Mr. Delamort. Very exciting, which is also on the Broadway Podcast Network, by the way, and as well as many other streaming platforms. So welcome, Jack. Welcome to the podcast.

[17:36] Jack Feldstein: Thank you. I'm Jack Feldstein, and I'm so happy to be here.

[17:41] Eli Tokash: We are actually at the Broadway Flea today.

[17:45] Jack Feldstein: Yes.

[17:45] Eli Tokash: And it's amazing. We're recording live outside. Could you imagine? Over the past two years, if you would have told me that we were doing this outside today live, I would have told you you're crazy. But you know what's great about it is the spirit of Broadway's open.

[17:58] Jack Feldstein: Yes.

[17:59] Eli Tokash: So we feel open.

[18:00] Jack Feldstein: Absolutely.

[18:01] Eli Tokash: In a way.

[18:02] Jack Feldstein: Absolutely. That's the beauty of the world. I'm so excited to be here with you today and talking about Mr. Delamort. Talk to me.

[18:09] Eli Tokash: So I usually like to start my episodes with asking my guests kind of how they started falling in love with theater and what made them want to get into the industry. So what was that for you, for someone who's created work for theater?

[18:24] Jack Feldstein: What a great question. There is nothing better than being in live theater. The frisson, and that's a fancy word I just used, but it is the excitement of when something is truth and real in front of you that is a rare experience in life. And that excitement that I felt when I first saw it, I went, this is so brilliant that I would just be honored to be able to offer anything to be part of that.

[18:58] Eli Tokash: Yeah. So what inspired you to write about Mr. Delamort?

[19:01] Jack Feldstein: Falling in love with Delamort. Okay, so I've always been obsessed with love.

[19:04] Eli Tokash: Okay.

[19:04] Jack Feldstein: The reason I'm obsessed with love is because I'm hopeless at it.

[19:10] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[19:10] Jack Feldstein: Hopeless. There were everyone else as an expert, and I, you know, maybe you can give me hints. All my life I've been completely hopeless at it. So that makes me obsessed about it. Constantly fascinated about it and always really quite passionate and interested and fixated, one might say, and never getting it right. But death is the other thing that's universal.

[19:36] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[19:37] Jack Feldstein: So love and death, all human beings experience that. Right? That's what unites us. And so I found they're my two things that I just know that, and I feel I want to communicate that to people and to share ideas and have fun with it, even.

[19:57] Eli Tokash: Right.

[19:57] Jack Feldstein: Which I have had.

[19:59] Eli Tokash: Yeah, I mean, if you listen to it, it's great fun, even as a listener.

[20:03] Jack Feldstein: Speaking of great fun, it's got an incredible cast, which makes it even more fun.

[20:10] Eli Tokash: Yes.

[20:11] Jack Feldstein: Okay, so we have the best people in the universe in it. Working with the best, as I was telling you before, is so exciting and so, well, you know, it just what they do when you work with the best, they make your work look good.

[20:30] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[20:31] Jack Feldstein: And that is the biggest dream that any writer could have is to make their work better. And also they surprise you. That's the other beauty about working with great people. Their interpretations are so surprising that they go, wow, was that in it? Okay, you found that, and you've really surprised me. I'm so thrilled when someone surprises me with my own work. That's what I look for. I look because I know how. Look, I could if they do it just as I did it, as I think it, that's fine. I mean, that's great. But if they give me something I wasn't expecting, oh my God, that's amazing.

[21:16] Eli Tokash: Yeah. Well, talk to me because Mr. Delamort was a staged production, and then you moved it to audio. So what was the, first of all, what was the creative process like in making an audio version of a musical, and then what changes were made from making it a stage adaptation to then moving it to just audio?

[21:36] Jack Feldstein: Another excellent question. And I will tell you, when the producers pivoted to doing an audio, I thought, okay, this shouldn't be too, you know, and they asked me to adapt it to radio. This shouldn't be too difficult. Sure. I thought. And I also, I will now explain that I have had a couple of plays that were chosen for the BBC International Radio Competition. There's a big radio competition every couple of years run by the BBC in Britain. Okay. Worldwide. And if you write for radio, you can send your plays to them. So you can look that up. That's it for any writers out there. And I was commended once and I was a finalist, top three another year. So I felt I could, you know, I had it up my sleeve somehow.

But for Delamort, what I didn't realize, I thought, oh yeah, this will I'll be, I'll do it, no problems, is that so much of theater actually depends on visuals. Even though it's full of words, right, you know, and song and lyrics, it actually is a visual medium. And so going through my own script, line by line, I went, oh, I'm gonna have to actually find a way to not make the exposition boring. Because let's face it, life is boring enough. You don't have to add to the boredom. You know? So what I did is that I included then a narrator.

[23:08] Jack Feldstein: Yes. Okay. To help. Because I didn't want, you know, the cast to be saying, oh, she's coming in and she's wearing a, so cringy. It made me cringe. So, but the narrator is his own character. And it was narrated beautifully by Gavin Lee.

[23:27] Eli Tokash: Gavin Lee is awesome.

[23:29] Jack Feldstein: Oh my God, amazing. I loved it. It was perfect. Now is that something that you would consider keeping?

[23:35] Jack Feldstein: Now, yes.

[23:37] Eli Tokash: Really?

[23:37] Jack Feldstein: Because he worked.

[23:38] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[23:39] Jack Feldstein: Do you know as a character? Right. And he also brought that British something British to it.

[23:44] Eli Tokash: I know.

[23:44] Jack Feldstein: Which is so charming. It was perfect.

[23:46] Eli Tokash: Yeah. Okay, so talk to me about the recording process with everyone being in different locations and you're trying to put on a musical.

[23:53] Jack Feldstein: Okay, so with this, let me tell you, try and do a recording during a COVID time. I'm wishing everybody luck with that. Because it was so many moving parts. Everyone, what happened is that the best equipment, everyone had to really set up an audio studio in their own home. So James was in a closet, we saw him in his closet. Jackie Hoffman was in her kitchen, so that sometimes her husband was like washing dishes or something in the background. We had to sort of say, there are dishes being washed somewhere. Stuff like so, but everyone did that. Specific space and all the best equipment which was shipped into them. We had an audio engineer who could manipulate all that from, she was in LA. Okay.

So she did cricket, she was Cricket Myers, she's brilliant. And she worked out levels and whatever's magic that she does, you know, some sort of like digital magic. And it was, and then it was directed over the, over Zoom. So we were all on the Zoom thing together, and that's how the director Ella did it. Wow. And it we went very slowly.

[25:13] Jack Feldstein: So something that would take like not long at all. I mean, you know, it would take a proper amount of time. It like was a triple quadruple amount of time, basically.

[25:23] Eli Tokash: Well, I also want to ask, so your audio version of Falling in Love with Mr. Delamort is three acts. Is that something that you decided to do because of the audio? Because it's like three episodes, or is it something that was a part of it?

[25:48] Jack Feldstein: Interestingly enough, every play or every musical is three acts.

[25:54] Eli Tokash: Really?

[25:54] Jack Feldstein: Yes. I'm gonna give you a small little lesson now on writing everybody. Any play or any musical or anything is so and three acts only means this: the beginning, the middle, and the end.

[26:10] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[26:10] Jack Feldstein: And that's what three acts are. So in all pieces, that's from Shakespeare to what's on the row, what's down the road there, whatever, Hamilton.

[26:20] Eli Tokash: Yeah, Normans.

[26:21] Jack Feldstein: Yeah, yeah, Book of Mormon. Whatever, I'm looking at all the wonderful things that are on. Moulin Rouge. So everything, that's the basic thing, it's three acts. So you can pretty much, and in the olden days, I think that's what they used to do. They used to like have three acts, didn't they?

[26:37] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[26:37] Jack Feldstein: Yeah. So with two intermissions in the olden in ye old days. But from a writer's point of view, everything really is three acts. So it's quite easy to separate them into three acts.

[26:50] Eli Tokash: Amazing. So is that something we'll see in the staged production, or is it like you'll divide it into two?

[26:56] Jack Feldstein: That's a great question that I don't have an answer to because we haven't really thought about that.

[27:00] Eli Tokash: That's okay.

[27:00] Jack Feldstein: So I loved the three acts. Maybe I did. The third act is just action-packed. It's nonstop. It leaves you on the edge of your seat the entire time.

[27:11] Eli Tokash: Yes, yes, yes.

[27:12] Jack Feldstein: Because it leads to that.

[27:14] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[27:15] Jack Feldstein: Because the show leads to the third act. So I don't know, I may have to have discussions with you about whether to keep it or not, you know, because we're still looking at that when it goes back to production.

[27:28] Eli Tokash: I love it. Well, how long have you had this show kind of like in your parking lot?

[27:31] Jack Feldstein: Okay, so we've been working on it for about, you know. The truth is it takes a lot. Even though you out there must think, oh, this is so easy, it just comes on there. The truth is probably the average show is seven years in development.

[27:44] Eli Tokash: Wow.

[27:45] Jack Feldstein: The average musical, and this is six years or something, six to seven years in development. So what that means is that you have readings and workshops, and you keep going and you keep developing and you keep working on it, and you keep going on a roller coaster with it, and you burst into tears occasionally because it's not working, and other times you're excited, and then but you keep going and you keep going, and suddenly seven years has passed, and hopefully it's in a better shape than in day one.

[28:13] Eli Tokash: Well, I think it's in great shape right now. I mean, I could totally see like I was literally listening to it, and just the way that it was written, the narration of how beautiful, and then the actors, the how they were performing it. I mean, you could literally, I was listening to it on the subway, as one does, and I could totally like envision everything. Like I could totally envision it on the stage. It was just, it was like, it was ready.

[28:35] Jack Feldstein: You know, I felt well it's it's thank you. Thank you very much. And we've worked very hard actually on it. But that's you know, the hard work in the squat is behind the scenes. You're not you know, you're not meant to see the machinations for the audience, for the public.

[28:49] Eli Tokash: Sure.

[28:49] Jack Feldstein: It has to be easy peasy.

[28:51] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[28:51] Jack Feldstein: It's just gotta be a delight. So is the end goal to bring it back to the stage?

[28:56] Jack Feldstein: Yeah, yeah. The end goal is that is to have now to go to production. We're talking, the producers are saying all sorts of things are being floated around here at the moment.

[29:07] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[29:08] Jack Feldstein: Well, thank you so much for doing this. If anyone is wondering and hasn't checked it out yet, it's Falling in Love with Mr. Delamort, it's on Broadway Podcast Network as well as all kinds of other broadband.

[29:18] Eli Tokash: Spotify and Audible and every other thing, probably, you know, sort of, I don't know, YouTube, this thing, I don't know, it won't be on YouTube.

[29:26] Jack Feldstein: Everything.

[29:26] Eli Tokash: No, but it's everywhere, everywhere audio.

[29:28] Jack Feldstein: Yeah.

[29:29] Eli Tokash: Yeah. But this is Jack Feldstein, he wrote it. It's amazing. Go check it out. It also features Courtney Reid, James Monroe, Eigelhart, Lena Hall, Telly Leong, Jackie Hoffman, and Gavin Lee. Star-studded cast, amazing stuff. Thank you for doing this today.

[29:44] Jack Feldstein: Thank you for being surrounded by Broadway with me, and I appreciate it.

[29:47] Eli Tokash: I'm so excited to have done that. I just want to say one thing. Paul Dows did the music, just so you know, music and co-lyricists. And he was, he's also absolutely brilliant. He's in Australia now.

[29:57] Jack Feldstein: Oh my god.

[29:59] Eli Tokash: Send you his regards.

[30:00] Jack Feldstein: Amazing.

[30:01] Eli Tokash: Send him your regards.

[30:02] Jack Feldstein: I mean, back in Australia.

[30:04] Eli Tokash: Awesome. Thank you so much for doing this.

[30:06] Jack Feldstein: Thank you so much.

[30:07] Eli Tokash: Of course.

[30:08] Jack Feldstein: Thank you.

[30:11] Eli Tokash: Hello, everyone. This is Eli Tokash from Take A Bow on the Broadway Podcast Network. And I'm here with Broadway siblings, Avery Cell and Ryan Cell.

[30:22] Eli Tokash: And we are here live at the Broadway Flea Market on the deck of Juniors. Oh my goodness. We are live. We are surrounded by Broadway love. And I'm here with Doubtfire stars, and I'm here with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory stars. So I can't wait to talk about all this stuff with you. What is it like to be out here surrounded by Broadway again?

[30:41] Avery Cell: It's amazing. I mean, Schubert Alley is magical. I love Schubert Alley. It's so cool to see all these Broadway lovers, and I'm so glad everyone's back.

[30:51] Ryan Cell: Yes.

[30:52] Avery Cell: The most important thing. Broadway's back.

[30:54] Ryan Cell: Yeah.

[30:55] Eli Tokash: That is definitely. So I mean, Ryan's an old pro at Broadway. Has he given Avery any advice for like what to expect for your Broadway debut?

[31:03] Ryan Cell: Um, I mean, she's grown up in theater. She's watched me and my sister.

[31:09] Avery Cell: So I mean, I've watched him and my sister, so I feel like I've grown up watching them.

[31:13] Ryan Cell: Yeah.

[31:14] Avery Cell: Yeah, she's probably more of a pro than I am at this point.

[31:17] Ryan Cell: You do get to learn a lot by like just growing up around it, just being able to watch. So that's very exciting.

[31:23] Eli Tokash: Um, okay, talk to me. So, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, you were the star of the show. You are Charlie. Talk to me about that experience.

[31:33] Ryan Cell: That was one of the most magical experiences ever. That was my first Broadway show.

[31:36] Eli Tokash: Sure.

[31:37] Ryan Cell: So, I mean, it was amazing. And to work with Christian Borle and John Rubinstein and all those people like that.

[31:42] Avery Cell: Yeah.

[31:42] Ryan Cell: I mean, it was a once in a lifetime experience. And if I could rewind time and go back, I'd do it all over again.

[31:48] Eli Tokash: Totally, totally. I love that. And now, I mean, you guys both have been really lucky to work with some incredible people. I mean, with your Doubtfire cast, it's star-studded with Rob McClure and Jen Gambatese, Brad Oscar. Very exciting stuff.

[32:00] Ryan Cell: Um, but now, so you, your brother in Mrs. Doubtfire is Jake Ryan Flynn, who was Charlie in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Ryan. So it's very cool to see how like a full circle moment and how small of a community that this Broadway community really is.

[32:18] Avery Cell: It's really cool.

[32:19] Eli Tokash: But yeah, so what are you most excited to see for opening for Mrs. Doubtfire?

[32:25] Ryan Cell: Uh it's gonna be so magical, and I'll try to never forget that moment. I'll try to always remember it. It's gonna be amazing, and I'm so grateful that I get to come back and get to be a part of this whole reopening. I'm so excited.

[32:39] Eli Tokash: Now I know that you're still in rehearsal, but do you have a favorite like number that you do?

[32:47] Ryan Cell: Uh I would have to say the opening number.

[32:49] Avery Cell: Yeah.

[32:50] Ryan Cell: It's super fun, and it's moving a lot, and such there's so many things happening. It's just so fun to watch, and I think it's one of my favorites.

[33:00] Eli Tokash: Yeah, that's awesome. Well, I know that you guys are both Broadway stars, but I also know that you guys are big Broadway fans, and I know I saw you guys at the Lights of Broadway show cards booth.

[33:10] Ryan Cell: I maybe went through every bin, every divider and every person.

[33:14] Avery Cell: Yeah, you went through everyone.

[33:15] Ryan Cell: Yes.

[33:16] Eli Tokash: So did you buy anything? Did you get all of the cards you needed?

[33:17] Ryan Cell: I didn't. I have them in my pocket right here.

[33:20] Eli Tokash: Amazing.

[33:20] Ryan Cell: Yeah. Good stuff. I got some of the people in our cast of Mrs. Doubtfire, I got Brad Oscar and Cameron Adams.

[33:27] Avery Cell: Nice.

[33:28] Ryan Cell: So I may have bought four Charlie cards.

[33:32] Eli Tokash: Oh my god, that's amazing.

[33:34] Ryan Cell: I gotta have extra, yeah.

[33:35] Eli Tokash: In case I don't want to run after.

[33:37] Ryan Cell: Um that's awesome. Do you guys have like a favorite like card or like a favorite Broadway celebrity that you just want to work with?

[33:45] Avery Cell: Uh I really want to work with Ben Platt.

[33:47] Ryan Cell: Oh, okay.

[33:49] Avery Cell: Fair enough. I think I'm gonna say I want to work with Carrie Butler. I just got her card, and I really want to meet her.

[33:56] Ryan Cell: Yeah, we gotta get those cards signed. We gotta work with them, you know.

[33:59] Eli Tokash: I think it's good stuff to look forward to. What else are you most excited about seeing in this Broadway flea market?

[34:07] Avery Cell: Um obviously seeing all the people who love Broadway's fun, all the Broadway lovers and to see all the merchandise. I think there was a Beetlejuice booth back there, which was really cool. Lion King booth, there's lots of playbills, different playbills.

[34:21] Eli Tokash: Okay, what's your guys' what show are you guys most excited to see?

[34:26] Ryan Cell: Mrs. Doubtfire.

[34:27] Avery Cell: Yes, right.

[34:28] Ryan Cell: I gotta see Mrs. Doubtfire.

[34:30] Eli Tokash: Have you guys seen any shows yet?

[34:32] Avery Cell: I saw the first previews because she's in it.

[34:34] Eli Tokash: So no, no, no. Like since Broadway's reopened.

[34:37] Ryan Cell: Oh, no, I haven't.

[34:40] Eli Tokash: Did you want to answer your question about what show you're most excited to see?

[34:43] Avery Cell: Hmm.

[34:45] Ryan Cell: I have to think.

[34:46] Avery Cell: That's kind of a hard question for me.

[34:48] Eli Tokash: I'm sorry. I'm I don't mean to put you on the spot like that.

[34:51] Ryan Cell: There's lots of good shows.

[34:53] Avery Cell: Maybe Tina is fun.

[34:55] Ryan Cell: Ooh six, I want to go see six again.

[34:57] Avery Cell: Yes.

[34:57] Ryan Cell: Yeah, definitely.

[34:58] Eli Tokash: You already saw it again?

[34:59] Ryan Cell: Yes, I saw it once.

[35:01] Avery Cell: Um, but I definitely want to go see it again. I love their music and the songs.

[35:04] Ryan Cell: It's amazing. So much fun.

[35:06] Eli Tokash: Yeah. Oh, I love that. It's actually their opening tomorrow.

[35:09] Ryan Cell: I think it's tonight, actually.

[35:11] Avery Cell: Tonight.

[35:11] Ryan Cell: Or tonight.

[35:12] Eli Tokash: Happy opening to six.

[35:13] Ryan Cell: Happy opening six.

[35:14] Avery Cell: Come on. Way to celebrate it at the day of the Broadway flea market.

[35:17] Ryan Cell: Good stuff.

[35:18] Eli Tokash: Yes. Um well what else? What else are you guys excited about? I mean, is there I know Katie said that you guys wanted to ask like questions, possibly to me.

[35:25] Ryan Cell: I don't know. I mean, you know how it is. When you for boys, once the voice changed, the whole theater scene.

[35:31] Avery Cell: Oh, yeah.

[35:31] Ryan Cell: I mean, it changes a lot.

[35:32] Eli Tokash: So you have to wait longer when you get older.

[35:34] Ryan Cell: And how old are you?

[35:36] Avery Cell: I'm 17.

[35:37] Eli Tokash: Okay.

[35:37] Ryan Cell: So, you know.

[35:38] Eli Tokash: So I learned, 'cause now I'm eighteen that like sixteen and seventeen was like really awkward.

[35:47] Ryan Cell: It's hard because you're still going through that phase where you're like not really old enough to play like a teenager.

[35:53] Avery Cell: And you're still learning your voice.

[35:54] Ryan Cell: Like you know, like your voice completely changes and you're like, what do I have now?

[35:58] Avery Cell: Yeah, it's like bizarre.

[36:00] Ryan Cell: You sound like a fifty-year-old man trapped in this teen's body.

[36:03] Avery Cell: I've absolutely loved listening his voice change and like it's so pretty.

[36:08] Ryan Cell: I'm glad you loved it because it was kinda rough for me, but okay.

[36:12] Avery Cell: Yeah, I know.

[36:13] Ryan Cell: I get it, totally.

[36:15] Eli Tokash: But once you turn 18, there's just like so many opportunities like open back up.

[36:20] Avery Cell: But that also could be with like the pandemic opening back up in the way that it does.

[36:24] Ryan Cell: You know, you start off going to the television and film screen.

[36:27] Eli Tokash: Right. So is that what you're kind of doing?

[36:28] Ryan Cell: Yeah, that's more what I'm focused on now.

[36:34] Eli Tokash: Oh, can you announce it or not?

[36:35] Ryan Cell: Yeah. Um Yeah, it's fine. It's called Armageddon Time.

[36:37] Eli Tokash: Armageddon, totally.

[36:38] Ryan Cell: It's cool, awesome cast.

[36:40] Eli Tokash: So do you want it do you like do you want to come back to the stage or something?

[36:43] Ryan Cell: Oh, totally.

[36:43] Eli Tokash: Okay.

[36:44] Ryan Cell: I mean, Broadway I love Broadway first, but I like the television and film stuff. It's really cool. It's a different like atmosphere, but I would totally honestly put me in a Broadway show today, I'll be happy.

[36:56] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[36:56] Ryan Cell: Right. I wish it was that easy.

[36:59] Eli Tokash: Um what kind of got you guys like what was that first moment that kind of got you into theater in Broadway?

[37:06] Avery Cell: Um like I said, I kind of just watched my brother and sister. I've kind of grown up in the theater watching them.

[37:13] Ryan Cell: I think it I it really I think I just got kind of pushed in a weird way, just got into it. Our parents were in Cats on Broadway and like we were we were raised in a studio because they own a dance studio, so it's kind of all we know.

[37:28] Avery Cell: Oh nice.

[37:29] Ryan Cell: Yeah.

[37:29] Eli Tokash: And you they like you've grown up here basically.

[37:32] Ryan Cell: Well you've been talking about it. We're from Florida.

[37:34] Avery Cell: Oh, okay.

[37:34] Ryan Cell: But we moved here when I got Charlie and then came back from Mrs. Doubtfire.

[37:39] Eli Tokash: Amazing.

[37:39] Ryan Cell: And I love that you guys are both supporting or supporting both of your show's merch.

[37:43] Avery Cell: Yeah, we have to rep the show.

[37:45] Ryan Cell: Yeah, I love it.

[37:46] Eli Tokash: It's perfect. And you got the matching bows and everything.

[37:48] Eli Tokash: It's a great fit.

[37:51] Ryan Cell: She has a pad on Tony too.

[37:53] Eli Tokash: I love it.

[37:54] Ryan Cell: It's perfect.

[37:54] Jack Feldstein: It works.

[37:55] Eli Tokash: Well, thank you guys for doing this. It was a pleasure talking to both of you.

[37:58] Ryan Cell: Yeah, I can't wait.

[37:59] Eli Tokash: Go see Mrs. Doubtfire when I'm gonna go to the house.

[38:00] Ryan Cell: Yes, go see Mrs. Dalfi. Good stuff.

[38:02] Eli Tokash: Um and yeah, thanks for joining us. Enjoy all of the booths and all the fun Broadway stuff that's going on today.

[38:09] Ryan Cell: Yes, totally.

[38:09] Jack Feldstein: Thank you.

[38:10] Ryan Cell: Thanks for having us.

[38:11] Jack Feldstein: Thank you so much.

[38:12] Eli Tokash: Hello, hello, check, check, one, two, check one, seven. There we go. Let's go.

[38:15] Eli Tokash: Okay. Hello, everyone. Uh we are live at the Broadway Flea Market with Take A Bow on the Broadway Podcast Network and on What's Up Broadway.

[38:23] Eli Tokash: Uh I have Giuseppe here.

[38:25] Giuseppe: Yo, what's up, everybody?

[38:26] Eli Tokash: Currently in Hamilton.

[38:27] Giuseppe: I am, yeah.

[38:28] Eli Tokash: Oh my goodness, how is that going?

[38:29] Giuseppe: You have to run to a call time, so we're not going to be able to do that.

[38:31] Eli Tokash: No worries, it's going it's going fantastic.

[38:32] Giuseppe: Okay.

[38:33] Eli Tokash: Uh unfortunately, I missed uh uh opening because I had COVID.

[38:36] Giuseppe: Oh my god.

[38:37] Eli Tokash: But I'm all good now, so you know I can walk around here, I'm chilling.

[38:39] Giuseppe: Amazing.

[38:40] Eli Tokash: And you're like triple vaccinated right now.

[38:42] Giuseppe: Yeah, triple, you know, I'm Superman, I feel like it, you know.

[38:45] Eli Tokash: Right.

[38:45] Giuseppe: Yeah, amazing.

[38:46] Eli Tokash: Well, good stuff. Well, okay, so how has that been with navigating COVID and everything?

[38:50] Giuseppe: It's been good, man. We we've been having to wear uh masks, of course, backstage. Everybody's fully vaccinated. Um most importantly, it's just been so nice to like be back at work, you know what I mean? Like it's a small price to pay, like having to wear masks and all that. Um for just being able to be back at work and like seeing the audience and like seeing everybody smile with their eyes, you know.

[39:09] Eli Tokash: Sure, totally.

[39:11] Eli Tokash: Well, are you most excited to like go see a show or something like this season? Or like yeah, I'm what are you most excited about?

[39:16] Giuseppe: I'm actually just excited to be back in the theater.

[39:18] Eli Tokash: Okay.

[39:19] Giuseppe: Man, because it's such like it's such a safe space.

[39:21] Eli Tokash: Yeah, it's such a like a I want to call it like a religious space.

[39:23] Giuseppe: Okay.

[39:24] Giuseppe: Like you just get to go in there, feel what you gotta feel, you know.

[39:27] Eli Tokash: Yeah, and like see what you gotta see, and like um, yeah, man, it's just beautiful to be like back in the theater.

[39:32] Giuseppe: I'm actually gonna go see Dana H tonight.

[39:34] Eli Tokash: Oh my god.

[39:35] Giuseppe: And I had no idea what it was about, and then like I invited a friend of mine and he was like, Oh, what is it about? And so I looked it up and I was like, damn, I gotta break my tears.

[39:42] Giuseppe: Literally.

[39:43] Giuseppe: It's God helped me.

[39:44] Eli Tokash: Oh my god.

[39:44] Giuseppe: So actually, the girl who like helps with the runs the Broadway Podcast Network's actually producing that show.

[39:50] Eli Tokash: Oh shoot, that's amazing.

[39:51] Giuseppe: Dory is around somewhere, Dory Barrett.

[39:53] Eli Tokash: But yeah, yeah, Dory, I know.

[39:58] Eli Tokash: Well, enjoy, go to your call time. I appreciate you taking your time in the middle of Times Square, in the middle of the Broadway Flea Market.

[40:04] Giuseppe: What by the way, what is Broadway Cares mean to you, and what does it mean that everyone's out here supports?

[40:08] Giuseppe: Broadway cares to me means like family, bro.

[40:10] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[40:10] Giuseppe: Because I've I've been I've been uh in this family since I was 11. You know what I mean? So like I I like half the time I walk around here, and like I look forward to Broadway Flea Market specifically every year.

[40:21] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[40:22] Giuseppe: Because I walk around here and I just see like family everywhere. I just see people that I've worked with that I've like gotten to know so well over the past couple years.

[40:28] Eli Tokash: Amazing.

[40:29] Giuseppe: Um and it it's just family, man. Broadway cares is family.

[40:32] Eli Tokash: And and they like they really take care of their people.

[40:35] Giuseppe: Yeah.

[40:35] Giuseppe: And not just of their people, obviously of everybody. Um but I I remember because I got back surgery when I was 18. I had a tumor in my spine, it got removed, everything's fine, I'm chilling now.

[40:44] Giuseppe: But um Broadway cares really came through.

[40:47] Giuseppe: Um and they they they saved my behind.

[40:51] Eli Tokash: Amazing.

[40:51] Giuseppe: Um yeah, when when I was going through difficult times as well.

[40:55] Eli Tokash: So wow, well thank you for shaking Broadway with us.

[40:57] Giuseppe: Absolutely, of course.

[40:58] Eli Tokash: Thanks, y'all. They they really do great work.

[41:00] Giuseppe: Amazing.

[41:00] Eli Tokash: Well, thank you guys. Thanks to everybody supporting Broadway Care today.

[41:03] Giuseppe: Absolutely.

[41:03] Giuseppe: Peace and love, y'all. See ya.

[41:05] Eli Tokash: Um we are here with Sky Alyssa Friedman, who starred in Annie on Broadway, and she's now at Pace University in the BFA of Acting Program.

[41:14] Eli Tokash: Uh welcome, Sky.

[41:15] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Thanks for watching.

[41:15] Eli Tokash: How is it at the Broadway Flea Market? What is it like to finally be be back with the Broadway community and supporting a wonderful cause?

[41:22] Sky Alyssa Friedman: It's it's amazing. It's amazing to see the community come back together and be supporting this cause.

[41:27] Sky Alyssa Friedman: It's it's amazing energy here. Um just having theater and our people back together after such a long intermission.

[41:33] Sky Alyssa Friedman: It's it's bringing you a lot of joy to see everyone here and and and doing wonderful work.

[41:38] Eli Tokash: Absolutely.

[41:38] Eli Tokash: So like I said, you were an Annie on Broadway.

[41:41] Sky Alyssa Friedman: I was a swing.

[41:42] Eli Tokash: Talk to me about that. What was it like to be in Annie on Broadway and what was it like to be a swing and cover multiple tracks?

[41:48] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Yeah, so I was an Annie when I was eleven and twelve and I covered five roles.

[41:52] Sky Alyssa Friedman: I covered Annie, Duffy July, Pepper and Tessie.

[41:55] Eli Tokash: Amazing.

[41:56] Eli Tokash: So a lot of people. Do you have a favorite?

[41:58] Sky Alyssa Friedman: I would I would I'm a little partial to Duffy because I went on for her a lot and she had a fun green hat and that was wonderful.

[42:06] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Um it's it was it was incredible, you know.

[42:09] Sky Alyssa Friedman: I mean, I look back on that experience now. I was so young, it it feels like surreal almost, it was a dream.

[42:14] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Um the cast was incredible. Faith Prince was our Hannigan.

[42:17] Sky Alyssa Friedman: I became really close to her, she's a wonderful human being.

[42:20] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Um, and I think being a swing taught me taught me so much.

[42:24] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Um I had a wonderful dance captain, David Rossetti, and he taught me how to like color code.

[42:29] Sky Alyssa Friedman: So each character that I did had a different um color.

[42:32] Eli Tokash: Sure.

[42:32] Sky Alyssa Friedman: So like Annie was red and Duffy was green, um, had all these different notebooks.

[42:37] Sky Alyssa Friedman: And I think being a swing is a really interesting opportunity because you have to be able to step into any role at any time.

[42:44] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[42:45] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Um, and and they each have to be distinct characters still.

[42:49] Sky Alyssa Friedman: So um knowing each role in and out and still making them their own people was was a really interesting challenge.

[42:55] Eli Tokash: Sure.

[42:56] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[42:56] Eli Tokash: Well, you were in Annie, like you said at 12.

[42:59] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Yeah, I mean, that's pretty young to be making your Broadway debut and starting on a Broadway stage and learning five tracks and moving from Florida to New York.

[43:10] Eli Tokash: So, like, what was all of this transitioning like, and how did you kind of like how what was like the best way that you found to kind of navigate all of it?

[43:17] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Yeah, it was a really it was a really quick transition.

[43:20] Sky Alyssa Friedman: I think I had a only a few weeks before we had to move up to New York.

[43:23] Sky Alyssa Friedman: So I remember my mom was like furiously trying to find an apartment, like she didn't leave her computer, uh wouldn't even eat.

[43:29] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Like you know, it's it's stressful.

[43:31] Eli Tokash: Um it's it's a very exciting time, but it's also stressful.

[43:34] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Right.

[43:34] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Um, my dad stayed home in Florida, which is which is where I'm originally from.

[43:38] Eli Tokash: Sure.

[43:39] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Um, and we drove up to New York the the 22-hour drive.

[43:42] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Um, I ended up living above the glasshouse tavern, which is right in Midtown and in the heart of everything Broadway's.

[43:48] Eli Tokash: Right next to the Broadway flea market.

[43:50] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Yeah, exactly.

[43:51] Sky Alyssa Friedman: So you're I was immersed in Times Square all the time.

[43:54] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Um which was which was amazing, you know.

[43:57] Sky Alyssa Friedman: It's it's overwhelming in a way, but in the best way possible.

[44:01] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Um I think that the transition was made easier by the cast, and and we had I had a wonderful cast of girls with me too, so we became close friends.

[44:10] Sky Alyssa Friedman: So it felt like I had a support system there, and I was so busy that that the transition felt pretty simple.

[44:16] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[44:17] Eli Tokash: Well, we we're show buddies, right?

[44:20] Sky Alyssa Friedman: So we go see a bunch of shows together.

[44:22] Eli Tokash: We just recently saw Is This a Room?

[44:24] Sky Alyssa Friedman: So good.

[44:24] Eli Tokash: With who's produced by Dory Berenstein.

[44:27] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Right.

[44:27] Eli Tokash: Um so what I mean, first of all, that show was just amazing.

[44:31] Eli Tokash: And we were talking about how excited we are to go see other shows.

[44:34] Sky Alyssa Friedman: What show are you most excited to see?

[44:36] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Oh, that's a good question.

[44:38] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Um, you know, I've been dying to see To Kill a Mockingbird, and now that Jeff Daniels is back.

[44:42] Eli Tokash: And you haven't seen it yet?

[44:43] Sky Alyssa Friedman: I have not seen it.

[44:44] Eli Tokash: Oh wow, okay.

[44:45] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Um so that is definitely definitely one I'm I'm waiting for.

[44:48] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[44:49] Eli Tokash: Okay.

[44:49] Eli Tokash: Yeah, that's like the top on your list.

[44:52] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Definitely one of them.

[44:53] Eli Tokash: Okay.

[44:53] Eli Tokash: And what your your top is is waitress, right?

[44:57] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Waitress with Sarah Borellis.

[44:58] Eli Tokash: Right.

[44:59] Sky Alyssa Friedman: So we have to see that within the next like week or two.

[45:02] Eli Tokash: Yeah, we'll make that happen.

[45:03] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Yeah, yeah.

[45:04] Sky Alyssa Friedman: And then, but like I want to see everything.

[45:05] Sky Alyssa Friedman: I want to see Mrs. Doubtfire.

[45:06] Eli Tokash: Me too, dying to see that one.

[45:09] Sky Alyssa Friedman: We were with he here with the kids earlier.

[45:10] Eli Tokash: Oh yeah, and Annalise, yes.

[45:12] Sky Alyssa Friedman: So um good stuff.

[45:14] Eli Tokash: Um what let um what I I had something else.

[45:17] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Um it's okay.

[45:21] Eli Tokash: We'll come back to it.

[45:22] Eli Tokash: All right.

[45:22] Eli Tokash: Anyways, um the Broadway Flea Market.

[45:25] Sky Alyssa Friedman: What is Broadway care?

[45:26] Eli Tokash: What first of all, did you get anything today?

[45:28] Sky Alyssa Friedman: What was most exciting here that you've seen today, or what did you buy that like you're just excited about?

[45:34] Sky Alyssa Friedman: You know, Eli, I didn't buy anything today yet.

[45:36] Eli Tokash: Oh my gosh.

[45:37] Sky Alyssa Friedman: But I'm gonna I'm gonna go walk around after this.

[45:40] Sky Alyssa Friedman: I will, I will support Broadway cares.

[45:42] Eli Tokash: What does Broadway cares mean to you?

[45:44] Sky Alyssa Friedman: I think it means it it means community.

[45:46] Sky Alyssa Friedman: It means coming together to help to help those who are are part of us support uh I have such wonderful memories of supporting Broadway Care's Equity Fights Aid with my cast.

[45:56] Sky Alyssa Friedman: We would do speeches after the shows and come out with our red buckets.

[45:59] Eli Tokash: Right.

[46:00] Sky Alyssa Friedman: And to see after a show like Annie, where everybody in the audience has just watched a show about like generosity and and and new lives and happiness, it's so wonderful because everybody's in such a great, generous giving mood that everybody in the audience would fill up these red buckets and I would stand there with my red bucket.

[46:15] Eli Tokash: Right.

[46:16] Sky Alyssa Friedman: And it's so heartwarming to see everybody come together and support Robert Cares Equity Fight Saints.

[46:20] Eli Tokash: You're absolutely right.

[46:21] Eli Tokash: And especially like being a kid in the industry, like Broadway Cares was so open to us as they were willing for us to like help out with Broadway Cares and holding those buckets to really make us feel like we were part of it.

[46:33] Sky Alyssa Friedman: I felt like I was such a good idea.

[46:35] Sky Alyssa Friedman: It totally makes sense.

[46:36] Eli Tokash: Yeah, it really yeah, it was so so amazing that they did include us so much.

[46:40] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Like I have such great memories of like holding those red buckets and like doing our speeches on stage.

[46:44] Eli Tokash: Totally.

[46:45] Eli Tokash: Yeah, it really is about community and helping, helping everyone.

[46:49] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Broadway cares is like the rock of the Broadway community in a lot of ways.

[46:53] Eli Tokash: Broadway cares and the actors fun.

[46:55] Sky Alyssa Friedman: So yeah, so we can like see you soon.

[47:00] Eli Tokash: There's something in the works going on with you.

[47:02] Sky Alyssa Friedman: There is something in the works.

[47:03] Sky Alyssa Friedman: On top of all of this college stuff, like it's like you're you're busy once again.

[47:07] Eli Tokash: It's like you're in your Annie moment.

[47:09] Sky Alyssa Friedman: So congratulations on all of that.

[47:11] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Very exciting.

[47:12] Eli Tokash: And how can we follow you to keep up on all this?

[47:14] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Um I'm on Instagram. My Instagram is at Sky Alyssa Friedman.

[47:17] Sky Alyssa Friedman: It's just my name, super easy.

[47:19] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[47:19] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Um I also have a Twitter, it's Skylissa F.

[47:22] Eli Tokash: Amazing.

[47:22] Sky Alyssa Friedman: But yeah, something's in the works.

[47:24] Sky Alyssa Friedman: I'm really excited to to be back in a room again soon and working and have a cast.

[47:29] Eli Tokash: Yeah, do you know how it's gonna work with COVID and everything yet or not yet?

[47:32] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Um I think that it's a lot of rapid tests.

[47:36] Eli Tokash: Okay.

[47:37] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Um when I went to meet with some people I had to take my rapid test and wait 15 minutes and wear my mask.

[47:43] Eli Tokash: Exactly.

[47:44] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Um so we definitely are impacted by COVID, but it's also wonderful that we found a way to bring theater back and keep this community alive.

[47:53] Eli Tokash: Absolutely.

[47:54] Eli Tokash: Well, thank you so much for doing this.

[47:56] Sky Alyssa Friedman: It's good to see you.

[47:57] Eli Tokash: Enjoy the flea market. Go support Broadway Care's Equity Fight Days.

[48:00] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Absolutely.

[48:01] Sky Alyssa Friedman: Thank you.

[48:01] Eli Tokash: Thank you, Eli.

[48:03] Eli Tokash: Hello!

[48:04] Eli Tokash: We are live at the Broadway Flea Market right now, in front of juniors, literally at Juniors.

[48:12] Eli Tokash: Um I'm here with Andrea.

[48:14] Andrea: Andrea.

[48:15] Eli Tokash: Andrea.

[48:15] Andrea: Andrea.

[48:16] Eli Tokash: Oh my god, none of the above.

[48:17] Andrea: Um amazing.

[48:19] Eli Tokash: And uh she is the founder of the Broadway Makers Alliance.

[48:26] Andrea: So about five years ago at BroadwayCon, a bunch of vendors found themselves talking with each other and realized we were all doing very similar things and reinventing the wheel of figuring out how to do a small business all by ourselves.

[48:39] Andrea: And we were like, this is silly. Why don't we work together?

[48:41] Andrea: And we created something called the Broadway Makers Alliance.

[48:45] Eli Tokash: Wow.

[48:45] Andrea: And so it's a small, young scrappy and hungry collection of makers, but we have 65 members now, and they range anywhere from podcasters to journalists to people who have product-based business.

[48:58] Andrea: So scenery bags is a part of the um the alliance, so is coloring Broadway.

[49:04] Andrea: And we have a whole bunch of different vendors across that run the gamut.

[49:09] Eli Tokash: Okay, you mentioned coloring Broadway. I see you're supporting that that shirt that you have on there.

[49:14] Andrea: I am supporting that, and I am also the founder of Coloring Broadway.

[49:17] Eli Tokash: You're just doing everything.

[49:18] Andrea: You founded everything.

[49:19] Andrea: I need a few more projects on my plate, so I figured let's do all the Broadway things.

[49:23] Eli Tokash: Amazing.

[49:23] Andrea: Talk to me about Coloring Broadway.

[49:25] Andrea: So Coloring Broadway for me, I do leadership training in my day job because I can't have enough jobs.

[49:31] Andrea: And I love the blending of mindfulness and musical theater.

[49:34] Andrea: Taking those lyrics that we love and spending a little bit more time with them, thinking about how they resonate with us and why they resonate with us, and being able to, you know, just enjoy them and add a little creativity.

[49:45] Andrea: So we started with a few collections of just hey, let's throw some lyrics into coloring sheets, and now we have over 45 different collections.

[49:54] Andrea: Wow.

[49:54] Andrea: It's a lot now, and stickers and all sorts of random things.

[49:58] Andrea: And this is all under the umbrella of the Broadway Makers Alliance.

[50:01] Andrea: So Coloring Broadway is a member of the Broadway Makers Alliance, and it was myself and Jen from Scenery Bags and Kirsten Rinkel, who runs Entrance Theatre Talk that are the leadership team behind Broadway Makers Alliance.

[50:14] Eli Tokash: Wow, that's incredible.

[50:15] Andrea: And it's just a bunch of Broadway fans, basically.

[50:18] Andrea: It really is.

[50:19] Andrea: It's it's people who took their passion for Broadway and turned it into some sort of business.

[50:23] Eli Tokash: Like Beltline for Broadway, who is over there doing some filming right now. Hello. Hi. Lauren, she is a phenomenal theater enthusiast and a reporter and does amazing interviews, and so she's part of the Broadway Makers Alliance as well. So it's both product makers and other people who take care of it.

[50:42] Eli Tokash: I love that. Well, congrats, that's huge. Um tell me, a lot of that, just making your turning your love to Broadway and making it kind of a business and kind of making some fun out of it, reminds me a lot of the Broadway Flea Market. So how excited are you to be here at the Broadway Flea Market?

[51:00] Guest: This is our fourth year. So we actually launched Broadway Makers Alliance at Broadway Flea four years ago. So this is our fourth birthday.

[51:06] Eli Tokash: Okay, happy birthday. And it's been so great to watch it go from I think we raised maybe like $1,500 or $2,000 the first year. The next year it was like incrementally increased, and I think at one year we topped out at like $5k. So like we're just happy that these little businesses that could, that are doing their thing, are able to also give back and contribute.

[51:27] Guest: Sure. So yeah, that's beautiful.

[51:29] Eli Tokash: Yeah. Well, congrats. And what does Broadway Cares mean to you?

[51:34] Guest: Broadway Cares means we get to have Broadway back. Yeah. Right? Like the fact that Broadway Cares supports our artists, supports our entire theater industry and allows us to help do what we do. And as theater fans who turned their love for Broadway into a business, it wouldn't be here without Broadway Cares. So we wouldn't get to do what we get to do without them.

[51:54] Eli Tokash: Well, thank you for being here today supporting Broadway Cares and kind of giving your time to Broadway Cares.

[51:59] Guest: We love it. I mean, we actually, our vendors have come from, we had some from overseas, so we had someone in London who sent some stuff. So Canadian, I'm from Seattle. Like we all flew in from different places just to be here today.

[52:13] Guest: And oh my goodness, it's so good to see people in person.

[52:15] Eli Tokash: I know.

[52:16] Guest: And some we've gotten to meet each other for the first time in person. So this is like these events are so golden for us.

[52:22] Eli Tokash: Yeah, for sure. Well, that's awesome. Thank you for having us here. Everyone check out the Broadway Makers Alliance. Where can we find that?

[52:30] Guest: So it's BroadwayMakersAlliance.com. We have a whole website where you can see all of the different makers. We have a few things left at the table. Amazing. Come on by. I think there are a few things left. Um and then all of our different makers you can click through from our alliance to their sites.

[52:47] Eli Tokash: Amazing. Well, thank you so much.

[52:49] Guest: Awesome. Thank you for your time. It's lovely meeting you.

[52:52] Eli Tokash: Nice to meet you too. Hello, everyone. We are live at the Broadway Flea Market with Hello, yes, hello. We are at Juniors right now. And we are with the School of Rock star Carly Gendal.

[53:05] Carly Gendal: Hi.

[53:06] Eli Tokash: Hi. How's it going?

[53:08] Carly Gendal: It's going pretty well.

[53:10] Eli Tokash: This obviously isn't your first flea market, is it?

[53:13] Carly Gendal: No, I think the first time I was at Flea was when I was nine. And I had no clue what it was.

[53:20] Eli Tokash: Okay.

[53:20] Carly Gendal: But I was in the city for I think some kind of Matilda audition.

[53:24] Eli Tokash: Oh my gosh.

[53:28] Carly Gendal: And right by the Matilda theater, I was walking, and I saw like all of this stuff, and I bought so much Matilda merch.

[53:37] Eli Tokash: Yes.

[53:37] Carly Gendal: I don't think I've ever seen more Matilda merch in my entire life.

[53:41] Eli Tokash: Carly was in heaven. Broadway was in heaven. So you've been to the flea market as both a fan and a worker with School of Rock. And hoping and helping support the Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS. Right. So talk to me about Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS. What does that mean to you? How like meaningful is it? Like just tell me about it.

[54:00] Carly Gendal: I feel like Broadway Cares just does so much work and helps so many people out. I've always loved um Broadway Flea, but of course, also, oh my gosh, the Easter bonnet.

[54:05] Eli Tokash: Easter bonnet.

[54:13] Carly Gendal: Yes, I love seeing that every year. Yeah. Just do so much great work, and it's so great to see what they do for this community, and I just love it.

[54:22] Eli Tokash: Yeah, it helps out so many artists and so many people in our industry and those struggling with HIV and AIDS and so many more things. Like it's just incredible. They help so many people uh just be able to do what they love and be healthy and everything.

[54:37] Eli Tokash: So um talk to me about School of Rock.

[54:40] Carly Gendal: Oh my gosh. You were a like singer on the stage, and you were like a star singer, um, and you had your like moments on the stage that they were giving you, and you were just like rocking out. Talk to me about it. What was that like for you?

[54:51] Carly Gendal: Um I I don't even know how to like describe the entire experience in words because it was just like a world one I totally did not understand. I was 10. Uh-huh. I was not from New York City, I was from Massachusetts, and my dad drove me to the city in the middle of a snowstorm, and I had a cheeseburger outside of the Winter Garden Theater and auditioned in front of the entire creative team and booked it out of nowhere. And I was not a rocker chick at all. I was a musical theater chick 100% through and through. I thought Led Zeppelin was a person, not a band.

[55:33] Eli Tokash: Right.

[55:33] Carly Gendal: Um, so there was a lot to learn, but um I definitely had a lot of fun. And I think it's something that I definitely took for granted a little bit at the time, but now that I'm older, almost 17, my birthday's in two days. Um now that I see like how much this community means to me and how much Broadway means to me, especially since after the lockdown, I really appreciate that experience a whole lot more.

[55:55] Eli Tokash: Absolutely. Yeah, good answer. I appreciate that. The rocker chick moment was too good. Um, well, what are you most excited about the Broadway Flea Market this year?

[56:06] Carly Gendal: Oh my gosh. There's a lot of oh my gosh is here. I'm not great with this microphone. Um, I'm excited to just see this community finally get back together. It's been a long 18 months, but we're here, we're ready to party. And it's just it's nice to see that like this community is still alive and it's thriving even after all of this time. It's probably the most resilient art form out there. No heat to other art forms, but it's just like, look what we can do even after all this time.

[56:38] Eli Tokash: Absolutely. Yeah. Well, that's so exciting. Enjoy the flea market. Enjoy supporting Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS.

[56:44] Carly Gendal: You too, Eli. Thank you.

[56:46] Eli Tokash: And thank you for stopping by the Broadway Podcast Network booth.

[56:49] Carly Gendal: Thank you. Bye.

[56:51] Eli Tokash: Take a bow, Jack Feldstein, Avery and Ryan Cell, Giuseppe Balzeo, Andrea, Sky Alyssa Friedman, and Carly Gendal. I cannot thank every one of them for stopping by the Broadway Podcast Network booth and their willingness to do some interviews with me, as well as just talk about Broadway Cares, Equity Fights AIDS, and their current shows that they're in or previous experiences in the past. Um it was just a great day catching up with friends and seeing so many lovely people. Uh bro there's gonna be a lot of Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS content coming out on the Broadway Podcast Network app.

[57:33] Eli Tokash: In fact, this is just a snippet of the concert that we as a collected unit, the Broadway Podcast Network, and myself included, um, grabbed at the Flea Market. So much more is much, much, much more is yet to come and will be featured on BPN's newest podcast called What's Up Broadway, which is essentially BPN's new pop culture Broadway podcast. So very exciting stuff going on at the Broadway Podcast Network, and they now have like a Broadway pop culture podcast called What's Up Broadway, hosted by Ayanna and Christian, who are just a bundle of joy and are the perfect people to be hosting such a podcast, and a lot of that content will be featured around there.

[58:21] Eli Tokash: I it was fun. Like I this content didn't even this episode didn't even feature like the hour and a half that I was just roaming around the Broadway flea market talking to random people and stars that I saw at booths and just regular workers at the booth and producers at the booths, um, and so many more fans who were buying stuff and donating to Broadway Cares at these booths. Um so everyone had so many cool things to say, and I can't wait for you to listen to those interviews as well because there is some great, great content in there, and that's all gonna be on What's Up Broadway soon enough.

[59:00] Eli Tokash: I will keep you all posted if you're following Take A Bow on Instagram or even me, Tokash underscore Eli. Um, I will be keeping everyone updated on all of that stuff because I really enjoyed it, and we'll be hearing more episodes, uh interviews that Alan Seales had and that Jory Berenstein had, and uh kind of just a bunch of all the teams at Broadway Podcast Network. Um, so very cool stuff. Huge thanks to everyone who came out to support Broadway and the Broadway Podcast Network, but especially the Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS organization.

[59:35] Eli Tokash: And uh thanks for stopping by our booth to come take pictures, get free swag, uh, ask questions for future episodes, which was really fun. If you didn't make it to the Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS flea market this year, hopefully you'll be able to make it in years to come or even next year. Um it was it's just a great time, and it's truly like last week I said that the Tony Awards are Broadway's biggest day. But the Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS flea market is really the best day for the Broadway community as a whole, from both the performers and the audience members. Uh just to see everyone come together to support this wonderful organization is just really, really cool and kind of perfectly describes and is a perfect example and representation of the Broadway community.

[1:00:28] Eli Tokash: So uh thanks for everyone who came out this year. I know it was tricky to wear masks the whole time outside and kind of navigate it all with COVID still looming and whatnot, but you all showed up and you all like supported like crazy. The booths were literally like sold out by like one or two o'clock. So uh everyone who came out really came out at from the start, came out firing at 10 o'clock, and it was just an incredible day. So I can't wait to do it all again next year.

[1:01:02] Eli Tokash: And with that being said, uh that wraps up this week's episode. I know um these past two weeks, it was just me last week, and this week was kind of a uh a different type of episode as well. But next week we will be coming at you with the standardized uh formats that Take A Bow usually has with one guest and uh one interview to follow along and go for uh a great journey with uh with the guest and I and uh the new segments and uh all of the other segments will be back and uh so I'm looking forward to kind of getting back to normal. But I just had to share this episode because I thought it was some great content, and I thought we were able to talk about Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS, and the more that I'm able to talk about it, the more people that uh kind of learn about it. So I definitely wanted to emphasize it.

[1:01:54] Eli Tokash: So thank you to everyone who listened this week and come back next week for a regular episode of Take A Bow. Bye everyone. Have a great week.

[1:02:03] 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 Seales, 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 Take A 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.