This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Eli Tokash: Hello everyone and welcome to episode 89 of Take A Bow.

[0:04] Eli Tokash: I'm your host, Eli Tokash, and we have an exciting episode for all of you this week.

[0:09] Eli Tokash: We have Antoine L. Smith coming at you in a little bit here.

[0:14] Eli Tokash: Very exciting guest with incredible stories.

[0:31] Eli Tokash: He was really opening up at the end, and the stories that he was telling me were just absolutely incredible.

[0:38] Eli Tokash: I don't know how. I think I was just so excited to talk about Michael Jackson, which you will see here shortly, that I kind of completely forgot to start it out and saying, like, you know, how'd you get started in the industry and all of that fun stuff.

[0:52] Eli Tokash: And funny enough, we actually talked about his Broadway debut last, and I'm actually really happy that we did because I truly believe that we saved the best story for last.

[1:03] Eli Tokash: This Broadway debut story is unlike anything you will ever hear on this podcast from any artist or anything. It was just one of the craziest stories ever.

[1:14] Eli Tokash: You all will definitely enjoy it, and just stay tuned, and it's got some great stories coming at you here.

[1:20] Eli Tokash: But as always, let's turn it over and let's talk about what's going on on Broadway.

[1:25] Eli Tokash: MJ: The Musical opened, which is exactly where our guest is from this week.

[1:31] Eli Tokash: He is currently in MJ: The Musical.

[1:34] Eli Tokash: He was also in The Color Purple, Carousel, and many other shows.

[1:38] Eli Tokash: You all know that I'm a huge fan of MJ. If you guys have been listening to the previous episodes, MJ is a great show.

[1:45] Eli Tokash: It opened last night, therefore, there's no rehearsals during the day. There's no tech. The show is frozen.

[1:51] Eli Tokash: It was a great, great night, a huge success. Got great reviews of the show itself.

[1:57] Eli Tokash: However, there was a little bit of backlash, sharing that they kind of left out some of the most important parts about Michael Jackson's life.

[2:04] Eli Tokash: Which is some of the news that kind of came out more recently when the show was already being worked on.

[2:10] Eli Tokash: Obviously, I think that this show is gonna deal with a little bit of controversy on this matter, in celebrating Michael Jackson and all of that while ignoring some of the most important things about him as a person.

[2:23] Eli Tokash: However, I really believe that this show is kind of celebrating him as an artist and celebrating his music and his legacy that he left for fellow artists who are along the way and how he kind of paved the way for all kinds of different artists, and it kind of changed the game and changed music styles and everything like that.

[2:43] Eli Tokash: So I think that's kind of what they're doing, and critics kind of didn't like that they left out some of the personal things that Michael Jackson had experienced in his life.

[2:55] Eli Tokash: So, nonetheless, it opened, it's open on Broadway, and so now that whatever you go see at MJ is the show, nothing's gonna change now.

[3:06] Eli Tokash: I saw it early in preview, so I'm excited to see some of the changes that they made.

[3:10] Eli Tokash: As Antoine said, there were some changes made.

[3:16] Eli Tokash: That being said, if you are looking into going to the theater, I have some great news.

[3:20] Eli Tokash: Broadway's two-for-one week extended one extra week to February 27th.

[3:26] Eli Tokash: Usually they do like a little two-week kind of promo, which they obviously did, but this year it actually only ran through February 13th, and now they're extending it.

[3:37] Eli Tokash: But usually off-Broadway goes after the February 13th date, so it's usually like the February 14th.

[3:43] Eli Tokash: And then they do their little promotional week, but now this year it seems like they're doing a little Broadway-off-Broadway joint promo so you can get two-for-one Broadway and off-Broadway tickets from February 14th through the 27th.

[4:02] Eli Tokash: Very exciting stuff! It's a great time to go see Broadway, a great time to see a show at a great price, great deal. Take your loved one, take your parents, take a friend, take your siblings, whatever you want to do, go see some Broadway shows, and it's a great time to do it because these deals only happen once a year.

[4:21] Eli Tokash: So if you want to go see MJ now that it's open, go do it. If you want to go see The Music Man or all these other shows out there, go do it. Highly recommend it.

[4:31] Eli Tokash: That being said, and talking about The Music Man, the Broadway production of The Music Man actually did something that is kind of unheard of in their recent years of Broadway. They actually have opted not to invite critics to preview performances, so they're not allowing them to see the show until it's frozen until opening night.

[4:31] Eli Tokash: And honestly, I think it's the way that it should be. I think that critics should come on opening night. However, Broadway's had a long tradition of allowing the critics to come before and in previews, that way they can run their article for opening day, which is kind of weird.

[4:31] Eli Tokash: I think that you would want to have an opening night, and then you would run the article the next morning and just be like, "Oh my god, it opened last night, it was awesome."

[5:26] Eli Tokash: And like if you go to previews, as we've mentioned many times on this podcast, you know, previews are for making changes and doing all these things.

[5:34] Eli Tokash: And The Music Man came out with a statement, and they were like, "Listen, we know it's tough for critics, and they're gonna have to do a short turnaround and all these things, and we apologize, but this is how we want to do it."

[5:34] Eli Tokash: They didn't really mention anything else. That's kind of just what they were saying.

[5:51] Eli Tokash: But I imagine it's that they just want to see their final product of what they're putting out on the stage, and I think it's less pressure on Hugh Jackman, Sutton Foster, the rest of the cast.

[6:01] Eli Tokash: I know they had COVID issues in previews, so they just want their whole cast as healthy as possible, and hopefully they'll have that on opening night and doing it all in one night to have as many people healthy as possible.

[6:14] Eli Tokash: And that way it's not like, "Oh, who's gonna be in this night?" and blah blah blah.

[6:18] Eli Tokash: So I don't know. I think it's understandable. As an artist perspective, I understand. As a critic perspective, I also understand.

[6:27] Eli Tokash: But that's the reality of it. That's going on. It's a big deal in the Broadway community.

[6:34] Eli Tokash: It may not seem like it in listening to this right now, but it's a huge tradition being broken here by The Music Man.

[6:41] Eli Tokash: But frankly, it may be an unpopular opinion, but I get it, and I think that's actually how it should be, is critics go to opening night.

[6:49] Eli Tokash: But anyways, that being said, Oscar and Emmy nominee Taraji P. Henson, who played Miss Hannigan in Annie Live, has joined the upcoming film adaptation of The Color Purple, and she will be playing Shug Avery, which is very exciting.

[6:53] Eli Tokash: Variety reports that Henson will join the previously announced Corey Hawkins as Harpo and her as Squeak.

[7:12] Eli Tokash: If any of you aren't familiar with her work, she's a pop star. She's more musicals and all of that, and it seems like she's kind of had a long-time love of theater and she wants to do a little bit more of it or somehow be involved because I also saw that she's writing a possible new song for The Color Purple.

[7:38] Eli Tokash: So yeah, we'll see how that pans out. I think it's gonna be cool. I think it's a great move. I think it's gonna be an amazing movie, and the film adaptation is just gonna be awesome. I love that show, love the story.

[7:50] Eli Tokash: We talk about that with Antoine, as I mentioned that he was in it. And that's about all the news that we have this week.

[7:56] Eli Tokash: There wasn't that much going on in the Broadway world, but I figured that these were some of the notable things happening and some of the important and interesting things that I thought I could talk about.

[8:08] Eli Tokash: With that said, I am not turning it over to Antoine quite yet. I'm gonna do the drama dictionary before the episode this week because why not? We have some time.

[8:19] Eli Tokash: So this week's drama dictionary word of the week is Front of House.

[8:24] Eli Tokash: And I have Front of House here because this is a pivotal part, and this is a place and a pivotal part of Broadway, especially at the start of performances.

[8:37] Eli Tokash: Hugh Jackman kind of made a social media post about it this week. I thought about it because of the MJ opening night had to open a little bit late because of this.

[8:47] Eli Tokash: Front of House is the box office and lobby area of the theater.

[8:52] Eli Tokash: So the Front of House, usually shows start at like seven or eight o'clock, but usually they don't really start at that time because people are arriving late.

[9:03] Eli Tokash: People are doing all these things, and maybe the box office is running a little late, or with the whole COVID and showing your vaccine, that's maybe slowing down the process.

[9:14] Eli Tokash: There's all these things involved in the Front of House that is kind of an unsung thing or unthought of thing that goes on.

[9:22] Eli Tokash: And really, we just make sure that we get the clearance as artists and as stage managers and as anyone who's presenting the show itself.

[9:32] Eli Tokash: We are waiting for their clearance and saying, "Hey, are we good to go? Are we good to start?" And then they'll let us know, "Yeah," or "Five more minutes, five more minutes," and then that's usually when they call the five-minute call or the places call for the actors to get ready and all of that.

[9:49] Eli Tokash: So that's what the Front of House is. It kind of really works all of the pre-show magic that that's involved.

[9:57] Eli Tokash: They have to clean the theater, of course, they have to check your vaccine, they have to check your tickets, they have to check your bags, they have to get you your tickets.

[10:06] Eli Tokash: You have to do all these crazy things that it's like, "Oh yeah, like I wouldn't even think about that."

[10:11] Eli Tokash: And then people, of course, are like, "Oh, I just finished up dinner because I was running a little late," or "It was further away than we thought," or "The staff wasn't as fast as we thought because they were super busy on a theater night."

[10:24] Eli Tokash: So all these things go into place, and then audience members come a little late, and then all of a sudden we end up starting the show at like 7:10, 8:10, or whatever it may be, just because of how tricky it is to get everyone inside, and that happens a lot for opening nights.

[10:39] Eli Tokash: Opening nights usually start like 20, 30 minutes late because they have the red carpet and they have all of that, so they're trying to get all of that packed up.

[10:39] Eli Tokash: They're trying to get everybody into the theater, into their seats. They have to make sure that the press and everyone is cleared and all of that.

[10:56] Eli Tokash: So it's just a crazy time, and all these things are kind of taking place. And that's really what, so if you see at seven o'clock, they're like, "Oh, well what are we waiting for? Let's start the show so that we can get home quicker."

[11:09] Eli Tokash: But unfortunately, that's not that easy, and that's exactly why we're trying to make sure the Front of House is clear, and so that's what that is for those of you who didn't know.

[11:24] Eli Tokash: That's all I have for this intro. I need to just turn it over to Antoine L. Smith because we have an incredible episode coming to you, and let's just talk about some MJ and all the other amazing things going on with Antoine.

[11:38] Eli Tokash: Without further ado, Antoine L. Smith, curtain up.

[11:58] Eli Tokash: This week's guest is an Emmy Award winner who has appeared in five different Broadway shows. You may have seen him in Broadway's Carousel, The Color Purple, Miss Saigon, or Memphis, and you can currently see him in the MJ Musical as Barry Gordy.

[12:14] Eli Tokash: So everyone, welcome to Take A Bow, Antoine L. Smith.

[12:19] Antoine L. Smith: Hello, hello, hello. Thank you so much.

[12:21] Antoine L. Smith: Was that pronunciation correct?

[12:23] Eli Tokash: It's Barry Gordy.

[12:25] Antoine L. Smith: Barry Gordy.

[12:26] Eli Tokash: Oh my god, what did I say?

[12:28] Antoine L. Smith: Oh my god, Gordon, didn't I? Of course I did.

[12:31] Eli Tokash: Oh my god, Barry Gordy.

[12:33] Antoine L. Smith: I think everyone's familiar with Barry Gordy.

[12:36] Eli Tokash: Yes.

[12:36] Antoine L. Smith: So Michael Jackson from when we're recording just opened last night.

[12:41] Eli Tokash: Last? How are you feeling?

[12:44] Antoine L. Smith: I'm feeling really good. Especially being with the show for as long as I have been, to now have reached our destination.

[12:53] Eli Tokash: Oh my god. So good. How long have you been with the show?

[12:57] Antoine L. Smith: Four years.

[12:59] Eli Tokash: Wow, okay. Wow.

[13:01] Antoine L. Smith: So like readings and everything like that?

[13:04] Antoine L. Smith: Yes.

[13:04] Eli Tokash: Right. Always the same role?

[13:07] Antoine L. Smith: Always the same role.

[13:08] Eli Tokash: Okay, so you've been playing Barry a lot.

[13:08] Antoine L. Smith: A lot.

[13:13] Eli Tokash: Very cool. Very cool. You can tell.

[13:15] Antoine L. Smith: It translates. I saw the show in preview, loved it, by the way.

[13:18] Antoine L. Smith: Thank you.

[13:19] Eli Tokash: What you guys are doing up there is just absolutely unbelievable.

[13:23] Antoine L. Smith: I mean, truly.

[13:24] Eli Tokash: Yeah, I mean, it's hard to pull off Michael Jackson and like y'all do it, so it's crazy.

[13:29] Antoine L. Smith: I take my hat off to Miles Frost.

[13:32] Antoine L. Smith: Oh my god. And to Tayvon, they man, yeah.

[13:38] Antoine L. Smith: They're doing a fantastic job.

[13:40] Eli Tokash: Yeah, truly. So talk to me because I know this is an original show on Broadway and you're originating a role and everything like that, but at the same time, you know, there's some truth because though you're playing actual historic people, especially with Barry Gordy.

[13:55] Eli Tokash: Is Nick a real person?

[13:58] Antoine L. Smith: Nick is, I mean, he's a real person because he's a stage manager, and we all know stage managers exist, but Nick is not an actual historic figure or any kind of real person, so no.

[14:12] Eli Tokash: So, what is that process like as an actor and a performer to especially with Barry Gordy to, you know, have some truth to you, Antoine, and then of course Barry?

[14:30] Antoine L. Smith: Well, of course you want to be respectful of any person that you're playing that is still living. So you want to do as much research as you can on that person to bring their reality to it, but you also have to make it your reality as well because you're playing this person, you want to be as truthful as you can.

[14:51] Antoine L. Smith: And I believe when you're going when you're um trying to become any kind of character, you want to bring as much of yourself to it so you're not doing as much quote unquote acting as you would be if you were just like making up everything as you went. So I try to find as much truth uh between Antoine and Barry Gordy and Mary, those two things together and Nick as well.

[15:15] Eli Tokash: Yeah, and Nick. Well, that was another thing I thought it was so beautiful because you and uh several others in the cast, you know, you guys are playing multiple roles and you're shifting out of that. Like do you is it kind of now like second nature to you, or is it still like, oh, now I'm this one, now I'm this one, you know?

[15:33] Antoine L. Smith: Um it it's kind of second nature now. You still have to make sure that you are concentrating on um making them both different. But at first it was a little, you know, it was a little challenging, but now it's really, really fun to do actually, but you still have to be very aware, you still have to be very focused on what you're doing. Or you can mix the mannerisms right into each other very easily.

[15:59] Eli Tokash: Yeah because it's fascinating because like especially with you like literally all of a sudden you could like turn around and do like a little walk across the stage and you're a different like character.

[16:10] Antoine L. Smith: Yeah yeah it's awesome you and your co-star who who plays um the dad sorry what is yes you and him both are just flip flopping and I'm like blown away I'm my eyes go directly to you guys just navigating all that it's fascinating unbelievable yeah of course um so as I mentioned you you guys are now open congratulations but uh that also is a time to celebrate you know this whole tech and rehearsal process being over how what was that like how is teching a show as significant and and kind of huge as as this um so as you have stated I've been in many shows um on and off Broadway national tours regional Broadway um this was by far the most involved tech rehearsal I have ever been a part of and of course you you've seen it so you can only imagine yeah tech rehearsals like there's so many lights there's so many um costume changes there's so there's so much of everything happening right so we actually had a two month preview and tech period because it needed that and we used every single day.

[17:33] Antoine L. Smith: I think we uh froze the show maybe last week, Thursday. Officially because we were still getting um script changes and things like that. So yeah. You can get script changes literally uh until a week before the show. Right, until it freezes.

[17:55] Eli Tokash: That's crazy. So the tech the tech process was uh it was something.

[18:00] Antoine L. Smith: I can't imagine. I mean, the every lighting queue has to be like so particularly. Because some of the cues are off of a dance move, some of the cues are off of a word, some of the cues are off of uh uh a song. It's man, yeah.

[18:17] Eli Tokash: But every little to the professionals to set that stuff up, right? But you guys can tell you y'all are putting in the work because like it's it's working, you know. It you can tell it it every little detail just makes that show so what what it is really it's extraordinary. Um I literally love the show. I'm such a nerd about it. Uh I don't usually like jukebox, and uh I was like, this one is like sick.

[18:43] Antoine L. Smith: Um you're not the only person that has said that.

[18:46] Eli Tokash: Yeah, right. I know. I don't know what it is. It's just y'all like everyone is committing, everyone's putting in the work, and like it's not just your your typical like fun jukebox, you know. It's like it's some real stuff. It goes where it needs to go.

[19:02] Antoine L. Smith: Yeah, like would you say that's what kind of differentiates this musical to to like uh another jukebox?

[19:12] Antoine L. Smith: I will say that um Lynn Noddage, who wrote our book, wrote a fantastic book, and she wanted to keep it as real as possible. You know, sometimes you go to a jukebox musical and then songs just come out of nowhere, and sometimes they're not tied to what is going on, what is being said, but um she so masterfully has done that. I mean, she's won two Pulitzer Prizes, so it's so true. Everything flows so effortlessly with every song that was like that wasn't written for the for the story, you know. Like they had to fit that in. I can't imagine how challenging that was.

[19:57] Eli Tokash: But was there ever a time in your in your four-year span with the show that there weren't some of these songs in it and some of these changes, or was it always kind of these songs just trying to navigate the story along with it?

[20:09] Antoine L. Smith: Oh no, there were definitely different songs. There were some songs um removed, there were some songs added. Um yeah, so when you have four actually, this process began six years ago. Um Lynn Knotage uh met with the um estate to ask if you know she could have permission to do this, and then um once she got permission, it started from there. So it's really been a six-year process, but the actors, yeah.

[20:43] Eli Tokash: Of course, came in later. Is there like a song that you're just like, man, I wish that one is still in there, or I got to perform it, or something like that?

[20:52] Antoine L. Smith: Um, the songs that are in there now are the ones that fit in the ones that needed to be in there. Is there a song that you're like that you you're not able to perform in, but you're like, oh, I would love to perform it.

[21:06] Antoine L. Smith: Um yes. This uh I'll be there.

[21:11] Eli Tokash: Oh, yeah.

[21:12] Antoine L. Smith: Ayana George sings, just call my name. So good. She nails that song. I w just to sing with her.

[21:20] Eli Tokash: Right.

[21:23] Antoine L. Smith: It would be man, yeah. I mean, I get to sing with her day, but not in that specific moment. She, man, she knocks that thing out of the park every single time. I have never in my life been in a show with someone that every time that I hear the song, I'm still moved as if it's the first time.

[21:47] Eli Tokash: Right.

[21:47] Antoine L. Smith: She just she does something different with it every single time. Now that that song has been in there the entire time, so Oh yeah. I'm sure. And rightfully so.

[21:58] Eli Tokash: Right. Of course, I'm sure those those iconic ones with like that uh thriller, um beat it, you know, all those ones. I wonder that's the one that I would want to perform with Ayana.

[22:11] Antoine L. Smith: Oh yeah, I like it. I like it. It's a good choice. I'm glad it's not just like the oh yeah, like thriller, you know. It's not like uh it's it's a good unique one to choose.

[22:21] Eli Tokash: Right. Totally. I love that. Um now this opening number, I mean it y I first of all, I think it's sick that if you go to the show, you're gonna see you go to your seats and you're already gonna see like the the performers already on the stage. That's so cool.

[22:40] Antoine L. Smith: So cool. Like who first of all, who thought of that? And then second of all, who like talk to me about this process of the opening number? Cause literally that curtain comes up and it goes right into it, and you're like at the edge of your seat immediately.

[22:55] Antoine L. Smith: Well, um, our director, uh, Chris Wilden came up with the idea of us being, you know, as it's it's a a rehearsal, so sure I wouldn't he didn't want to just open the curtain and everybody's just already dancing, so it's really a build up to Michael entering into the space. There were different versions of what that was, and we've finally found a version that worked. So um, we workshop a couple of other different ways, but yeah, this is the way. Um yeah, and he just he just wanted to have that anticipation. And when I call five minutes to Michael or three minutes to Michael, one minute to Michael, it's it's that build-up.

[23:41] Antoine L. Smith: And um the Telawega brothers, uh Rich and Tone, who actually worked with MJ, danced with him, choreographed for him, uh, told us the story about when MJ would arrive to rehearsal or uh preparing to arrive to rehearsal, uh, the security would call ahead and say, Hey, him today's five minutes away, three minutes away, and the tension in the room would just be like, Oh god, we gotta get ready when he comes in. We he can't see us sitting down. So that that was a real thing that happened.

[24:12] Eli Tokash: Wow at the Tallawega brothers uh informed us of that. They had some great stories. I mean, I can't, I'm not gonna tell those personal stories, but it they had some great stories to tell us that gave us a lot of insight into the magnitude of what we were doing and the magnitude of the person that we were representing on that stage.

[24:37] Antoine L. Smith: Yeah, and like how crucial is that in in developing a character? Cause you know, there's only so much research and stuff out there on the internet that having that personal, you know, story and connection really goes a long way. Like do you feel that that's even more helpful than reading a story online or something?

[24:55] Antoine L. Smith: Oh, I think it's way more helpful because you're getting first hand information. When you read a uh a book that someone else wrote that didn't have the the um the first hand information or the first hand experience it it gets a little watered down. So to have it straight from them knowing that they had personal conversations with Michael dance with Michael sweat with Michael cry with Michael Ibs man it was a true true gift.

[25:23] Eli Tokash: Yeah. Absolutely and I can't imagine like the what they've done and worked with uh both Tavon and Miles. Just unbelievable.

[25:34] Antoine L. Smith: Tavon Miles um our uh MJ uh covers Aaron the little MJs yeah Christian and uh yeah it's man Christian and Walter yeah everybody Lamont yeah with all the M I'm just naming all the MJs the little MJ's the middle have had the time with the Taliwaker brothers which was awesome.

[25:59] Eli Tokash: Yeah because I mean just the little like movements like everything that Miles like all of them that you just named every little thing that they do it I was sitting in the orchestra and I was sitting in like row S. So I was pretty far back. So like in a way, I was like, there were times where I literally felt like Michael Jackson just came back from the dead. It's was like performing in front of me. It was unbelievable, just the little things and how far they go.

[26:28] Antoine L. Smith: Right, right. And actually, another uh thing that the Tallawaker brothers told us is how specific Michael Jackson was. Very Virgo. I'm a Virgo, so you know, the perfectionism is our is our thing.

[26:40] Eli Tokash: Oh, yeah. My mom's a Virgo.

[26:42] Antoine L. Smith: So they would tell us that they would they would make up a step, and Michael would spend like six to eight hours on one eight count because he wanted to know exactly where the foot would be, exactly where the hand would be, exactly, you know, the level of the foot, why it was like that. It was so just imagine eight six to eight hours on one A count. And like Michael, we gotta, we we gotta get going.

[27:11] Eli Tokash: Right.

[27:12] Antoine L. Smith: Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, just everything, but even like the the ensemble as a whole and how they're able to like comp no, like you you all have some of the best people in your company. I mean, that cast is just unbelievable. Everyone's complimenting each other, everyone's working together to tell the story, and it's not like you're watching Miles the entire time. Like, yes, he absolutely grabs your attention, but every person has their moments, and they're they're just able to shine, you know, like center stage and they're doing their thing, and they're all helping each other, and it's totally one unit, and it's not so much just the MJ show, you know, or just like the Miles Frost show. Like, like you said, the little Michael has his time, uh, Middle Michael has his time. Everyone's got their time.

[28:03] Antoine L. Smith: You ever have you had yes, everyone has their time. I will say this is, and I'm not being cliche at all, but this is one of the most phenomenal casts I have ever worked with in my life. I wish you guys could have seen them in the rehearsal room. It was just no holes bar the entire time. Because as you can see, those dances are so insane, so athletic and the everyday there there was no room to have Slack any of those dance movies.

[28:35] Eli Tokash: Right. So talk to me because this whole MTV, it takes place in the MTV and it's like the rehearsal room, like you were saying. Is that kind of like like the vibe that was on stage? Is that kind of what the vibe was while you guys were like actually rehearsing, considering it is like a rehearsal room?

[28:54] Antoine L. Smith: Absolutely. I mean, that's what made it feel so real because we're so used, used to be used, okay. We're so easy to be in the rehearsal space, so we understand what it takes to be in a rehearsal, we understand the rigorous rehearsing, you know, doing the number over and over and over, making it correct and making it clean and clear and precise. So, yeah, bringing like again, when you can bring a realistic element into something that you are doing, it it comes off as being realistic. So, yeah, that really helped coming from an actor or dancer background where you know what the rehearsal is like. Sure. And to be working with stars, you know, it's yeah.

[29:45] Antoine L. Smith: So let me ask you, because when I went, I mean, standing ovation for "Thriller," just unbelievable applause. I and ha um most of the musical numbers, but with all of these iconic music uh in the show, uh, and not just Michael Jackson music, there's all kind of Motown music in it and it's awesome.

[30:05] Antoine L. Smith: So, um, because of all of these incredibly like well-known songs, do you ever like find audience members like singing along with you or like this is the most sing-along show? I mean, it's they're Michael Jackson's songs. There's no way that you can just sit back and be like, "Oh, I'm just gonna let them." You're gonna wanna sing. You're gonna and people of course they sing along, their hands are in the air, you know, some people are standing up towards the end of the numbers when the numbers aren't completely done and they're, you know, it's just such a good time. It just feels like you're at a concert.

[30:51] Antoine L. Smith: That's exactly what it feels like.

[30:55] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[30:56] Antoine L. Smith: So that's so you guys kind of feed off of that. That doesn't distract you guys or anything.

[31:01] Antoine L. Smith: No, no.

[31:02] Eli Tokash: Oh, good.

[31:02] Antoine L. Smith: You know, we're before we love it. Like yeah, it what of course it depends on the show, but this show lends itself to that thing.

[31:11] Eli Tokash: Sure.

[31:12] Antoine L. Smith: You know, and makes it not distracting. Now, if it were uh a whole bunch of cell phones and lighters up in the air, like during the like that would be a distraction. And it's you know that there hasn't been the cell phone thing.

[31:22] Eli Tokash: That's good.

[31:25] Antoine L. Smith: I mean a lot a lot of it might have to do with what's going on right now, and people being like, "Get your arm away from me." I don't know. But it's it's been great. We haven't had that problem at all.

[31:37] Eli Tokash: That's awesome.

[31:38] Antoine L. Smith: I it's and people do bring their phones out, but like that's it's the curtain call, whatever. But during the show, we haven't had that problem.

[31:47] Eli Tokash: Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, the show just captivates you the entire time. And I like literally, as a teenager, I will admit I'm on my phone a lot. Uh sorry, I know I'm part of the problem. But not during but like not during the Broadway show, like, because I've been in shows where there's like 30 phones out, and they're like, "Man, we can see from the stage."

[32:11] Antoine L. Smith: Yeah, I totally understand that.

[32:14] Antoine L. Smith: I know that one. Tough, man. It's not not okay. Let's talk about let's talk about you. Let's talk about you for a second. Because we we talk about a lot. We've talked a lot of Michael Jackson, and I was just so excited that I usually start off talking about who I'm talking to here. So what actually started you in this whole entertainment industry and wanting to and what got you inspired to tell stories and all of that.

[32:41] Antoine L. Smith: I have always been a storyteller. My grandmother uh was a playwright when I was younger, so of course she would use her grandkids, her children, nieces, nephews to uh to tell these stories that she wrote. Um so that has been a part of me ever since I can remember. And just growing up, I was always singing and always it it has always been a part of me. I can't think of a time where it was not a part of me or a part of what I wanted to do when I was older. So it's yeah, it chose me.

[33:19] Eli Tokash: It chose you.

[33:21] Antoine L. Smith: And then you just wanted to be in like musicals, and like how did you get all into Broadway?

[33:28] Antoine L. Smith: I wanted to be an opera singer. Oh but not that it wouldn't have worked out for me, but it's just it's it's the opera world is a lot different for African Americans, I'll just say it. Um especially to be leads in operas. It happens of course it happens but not not as as often as it should. Uh so musical theater lent itself to more opportunities um for me which I loved so yeah I still love opera. I still will always but musical theater is where my heart is at the moment.

[34:16] Eli Tokash: Gotcha. It's incredible and uh did you go to school for it? Did you like?

[34:20] Antoine L. Smith: I did I went to the University of South Dakota and studied classes.

[34:26] Eli Tokash: So are you like trained as like an opera singer?

[34:29] Antoine L. Smith: Oh absolutely I mean seeing you in MJ I wouldn't have even realized that.

[34:37] Antoine L. Smith: Right.

[34:38] Eli Tokash: It's incredible.

[34:39] Antoine L. Smith: I got to flex a little bit in uh "Carousel."

[34:42] Eli Tokash: Yes as you should I'm just saying Billy Bigelow come on saving the day.

[34:49] Antoine L. Smith: I love that. So talk to me about "Carousel." What was that like? First of all, that show is just absolutely beautiful. But this revival was just really special in my opinion.

[35:02] Antoine L. Smith: Um so as you know, Billy Bigelow was played by Joshua Henry, the first African American to take on the role. Um it it it's it was a good experience, it was a good opportunity to show people that it doesn't have to be just this one thing, it doesn't have to go this one way. Like there's other uh uh uh avenues, there's other opportunities, there's other, you know, ideas of how things could be. And I'm I'm very uh thankful that the opportunity was given for a black person to step into such an iconic role, Rogers and Hammerstein.

[35:49] Eli Tokash: Right.

[35:49] Antoine L. Smith: Um and just getting to sing that music every single day and getting to hear Renee Fleming sing "You'll Never Walk Alone" every single day, Jesse Mueller, uh just so many beautiful, beautiful people. It was it was it was a nice experience.

[36:06] Antoine L. Smith: It was a nice experience.

[36:11] Antoine L. Smith: Yeah, it was a nice experience. And Justin Peck who choreographed the skin off of for a better term. He man, that man is so immensely talented in the choreography was its own character in the show, and to watch those dancers, now uh the that dancing was completely different from what MJ is, but they were both the same to me because uh it was it was more technical in "Carousel" and this uh MJ, of course, there's technical, but there's also the hip hop, there's the ballet, there's the jazz, the funk. Two different styles, but both man.

[37:03] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[37:03] Antoine L. Smith: I can't even think of the word I want to think of, but totally get what I'm saying.

[37:07] Eli Tokash: Totally.

[37:08] Antoine L. Smith: They all they're all their its own separate entity, you know, almost. One separate entities, but both just as fierce.

[37:15] Eli Tokash: Right.

[37:16] Antoine L. Smith: Yeah. And and they helped tell the story. I mean to tell the story. Justin Peck helped to tell that story through the choreography.

[37:24] Eli Tokash: Yeah, it was it was beautiful. I mean, it was just but you mentioned this wonderful cast that you had of Jesse Mueller and Joshua Henry and Renee Flemings and everything. You've been a part of some incredible cast. And I I've we talked about MJ and now we talked about "Carousel." But another incredible cast that you were part of was "The Color Purple."

[37:43] Antoine L. Smith: Oh man.

[37:45] Antoine L. Smith: Oh man is right. Come on. Like Cynthia Erivo, Jennifer Hudson, uh Danielle Brooks.

[37:53] Antoine L. Smith: Daniel Brooks. It's and then Heather Headley came in. Jennifer Holliday came in. It was that without a doubt is the most spiritual, the most um life-changing professional um experience I have ever had. And even to this day, when I think about it, it brings me just as much joy as it did back in 2015 when we started working on it. And I'm still so close with everybody in the well, not every single person, but most of the cast, uh, because it was such a magical experience.

[38:44] Antoine L. Smith: I mean, the show is magical.

[38:46] Eli Tokash: Yes.

[38:46] Antoine L. Smith: Yeah, that's magical. The story is just unbelievable. Um, it's one I will never forget. I I saw Cynthia and I was like, ballin', you know, the "I'm Here." Oh my god. A force of nature.

[39:04] Antoine L. Smith: Yes. She ran a marathon, the New York City Marathon. And then she came to work and did this show. And the next day, she was at a reading with me. I was like, "What?" She was doing the "Greatest Showman" readings, and I was like, "You're driving yourself crazy." She was like, "I love it." She loves it.

[39:25] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[39:26] Antoine L. Smith: I mean, we would have rehearsals, and um, you know, "I'm Here" is a very hard well, hard for most people. But uh, John Doyle, who was our director, would just say, you know, you don't have to sing it for loud every time. Every time. Full out. Everything. No marking, ever.

[39:47] Eli Tokash: So talk to me about like being in such all of these incredible casts and like learning from them and being able to just like take things from them and them inspiring you. Like how how much better of a person and artist does that make you?

[40:03] Antoine L. Smith: Um, I will say I have grown in every single show that I have been in, whether it was um growing from uh mistakes that people made or growth you from mistakes that I've made, but um every show that I have ever been in has definitely made my experience as a human being as an artist more valuable. Um I am now able to teach other people because of the experiences that I have learned from. Um I can now say, "Oh, you don't want to do this, but you might want to do this, you might not want to say this, but you might want to." So yeah, it's it all works for the good. The more you grow, the more you know.

[40:52] Eli Tokash: Yeah. I mean, and the other thing too with "The Color Purple," I mean, it it it allowed you to experience an incredible like time of awards ceremonies and all of these like accolades, and like that doesn't define a performer by any means, but it's still really cool experience, and now you can say, you know, you're an Emmy winner and all of these things. So, like, talk to me about first of all what it's like to go through all of these award ceremonies while also doing eight shows a week while also like trying to like take care of yourself.

[41:25] Antoine L. Smith: Um go ahead.

[41:27] Antoine L. Smith: Yeah, you know, uh there's always that pressure of you know, because the the award voters come like a month before or two months before whatever the window is. Sure. Um, but and you just want to make sure you're giving that same consistent show each and every time because of course you want to be nominated, of course you want to win because you put so much work behind it, and like people say, "Oh, the awards don't matter," but sometimes they just make you feel good, and you just want to feel good about what you've done. So um it it sometimes can be stressful.

[42:06] Antoine L. Smith: Right.

[42:07] Antoine L. Smith: More stressful if you make it more stressful, but just to be a part of a community when when the awards season comes around, it's just so there's love all the time, but there's just something about the award season that brings everyone so much closer together. And then when you win with your cast, all of the hard work, all of the sacrifice, it just it it makes it makes it better. It makes it okay in a sense.

[42:36] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[42:45] Antoine L. Smith: And and that's the other thing too. Like when you finally when you get that recognition, um, it's just like you know, all of this time and effort and the blood and the sweat and the tears that I put in, yes, is all worth it now. All the sacrifices you've made, everything. And the other thing too about the awards season, some may say like it doesn't matter for you know as a performer and all these things, but at the same time it kind of does because if you don't win those awards, you're gonna get shut down. Like if you win those awards, you have a job for a little bit longer.

[43:13] Antoine L. Smith: You have a job for a little bit longer. Now, I will say sometimes you do win the award and the show still closes, but that's true. But but I will also say on the other hand, when you win, and I have I I have seen this time and time again. I can't think of a time when I have not. When the person that wins, uh best actor Tony, best featured actor Tony, their career literally catapults into something else.

[43:44] Eli Tokash: Right.

[43:50] Antoine L. Smith: She is now a two-time Oscar award nominee, Grammy nominee and winner of Emmy. Like, I mean, it it changes lives. Right. I know people say it doesn't matter, but sometimes it truly, truly does.

[44:09] Eli Tokash: Well, totally. And like the thing is is that you know, she's had that talent all the time. So it didn't change her talent, but she got the recognition.

[44:18] Antoine L. Smith: Yes, to then be able to grow and like do all these incredible.

[44:27] Antoine L. Smith: Yes, absolutely.

[44:35] Antoine L. Smith: She deserves it all.

[44:36] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[44:37] Antoine L. Smith: Um, but so I I have to ask, because we're talking about award season, and I'm I I am very confident that MJ will go through a lot of these.

[44:49] Uh um, what kind of can you take from that experience to kind of you know mentally prepare yourself and physically take care of yourself to to do all of this crazy sleepless nights that you're gonna have to partake in?

[45:05] Antoine L. Smith: Um, I think that it's um it's great to be excited, but then like you said, you have to make sure that you're taking care of yourself because you want to, of course, give the best performances that you can because that's how you get your nominations and your wins are based off of the performances. So it's very important to make sure that you take care of yourself. Um, don't over exert yourself, rest as much as you can. This Broadway, I know a lot of people are like, oh, you get to do what you love to do. It can't be that hard. At the end of the day, guess what it is? A job.

[45:40] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[45:41] Antoine L. Smith: So like any other job, you want your rest, you want your uh your mental rest, your physical rest, your spiritual rest. Uh it it it it can definitely take a toll when you're doing eight shows a week, doing the same show over and over and having to give the exact same energy and performance eight times a week, three hours a show is really hard.

[46:08] Eli Tokash: Right.

[46:09] Antoine L. Smith: So um it it it it not that it gets um easier, but you get more used to it and you figure out the things that you need to do in order to make it easy. So during the awards season, you figure out what you need to do to make it just a little easier to make it through.

[46:30] Eli Tokash: Totally. Um it's it's incredible all of these things, and it's so exciting, of course, to to be going through all this. Something else that's really exciting is uh doing your Broadway debut.

[46:42] Antoine L. Smith: And you made your Broadway debut in Memphis.

[46:45] Eli Tokash: I did. Talk to me about this, because I just had James Monroe Iglehart on, and uh we were able to talk about Memphis a lot. So what was your experience like in Memphis? What how cool is it to make your Broadway debut? Just tell me about it.

[47:00] Antoine L. Smith: Okay, so this I'm gonna tell you the story from the beginning. I'm gonna make it really cool because I know. Uh so it was uh I I I think it was it was about March or April of 2011. Um they were having auditions for the national tour of Memphis at that time.

[47:22] Antoine L. Smith: And I was like, Man, I gotta be, I gotta go in for for the national tour. I wanna be, I wanna be Gator.

[47:29] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[47:30] Antoine L. Smith: On the national tour of Memphis. So the audition process starts. I go in, you know, have my auditions, have my callbacks. I don't know, maybe a month or two of this process.

[47:44] Right.

[47:45] Antoine L. Smith: And then I get the call. Yeah, um we're not gonna, we're not gonna um go, it's not gonna go your way this time, but thank you so much. You're so talented. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm like, well, man, I really thought I was gonna get that job. Uh then uh I wanna say July 1st ish of 2011.

[48:10] Antoine L. Smith: Um they called me back in. I'm like, okay, well, I know the tour, like, the tour is already doing their thing. So what is so I come back in. It was me and two other me and two other people to audition, and I'm just looking around like there's only three people here. What's going on?

[48:36] Antoine L. Smith: So we go in into the audition room. You know, we do our material, sing our songs, um, dance, and they say, okay, you're gonna come back later and we're gonna do um some more movement and read a little bit more.

[48:51] Eli Tokash: So we come back, three of us singing, dancing. I mean, we are giving our hearts because obviously he one of us is about to get whatever this is about to be. So um, we have our audition, we go home. They say, thank you. We'll we'll let you guys know what happens.

[49:12] Antoine L. Smith: They call the next day. Well, my agent calls me the next day and says, Um, you booked it. I was like, Oh the next day. Oh my god. Uh you booked it, but it's for the Broadway.

[49:29] Eli Tokash: What?

[49:30] Antoine L. Smith: What? Because we we did when we went in there, we really did not know what was what was happening.

[49:37] Right.

[49:38] Antoine L. Smith: Um, and this was this was Telsey. Yeah back when they had the original original. I don't know if you know.

[49:44] Eli Tokash: Yeah, yeah.

[49:45] Antoine L. Smith: 43. They had an ar Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh so uh my agent calls and says, Yeah, they they want you for the Broadway. Now it wasn't for Gator, but it was for the understudy of Gator Bobby and Del Ray.

[50:02] Antoine L. Smith: Uh so at that time I was working Coach Egg in the middle of the summer. And you know, you make your money off of tips when you're working with Coach. Listen, sometimes you gotta do what you have to do to survive to be your I was working Coach Egg in the summer.

[50:19] Eli Tokash: Wow.

[50:20] Antoine L. Smith: And uh I started um rehearsal on the 5th of July. I made my Broadway debut on July 19th.

[50:32] Eli Tokash: No way, which was a listen to this part, which was um, which was a Tuesday, Saturday. I went on for Del Ray, both shows and the matinee on Sunday.

[50:47] Antoine L. Smith: Oh.

[50:48] Eli Tokash: No put in at all. Like I this did literally brand new the Broadway and going on for a principal the same week.

[50:59] Antoine L. Smith: Did you even rehearsal?

[51:01] Antoine L. Smith: And let me tell you how this happened. Okay. So you know, you you watched the show every single day you're watching the show.

[51:10] Antoine L. Smith: Right. And I guess unconsciously, what I needed to know and do came into my brand. I kid you not, you can ask anybody that was in the Memphis cast except for James, which I'm gonna get to that in one second.

[51:24] Antoine L. Smith: Okay. This this was a real thing that happened to me. The stage manager called me on Saturday before the matinee and said, Come on, um, it's okay if you say no. We wanted to know if you think you could go on for Del Ray today.

[51:40] Eli Tokash: Uh huh.

[51:41] Antoine L. Smith: Me thinking in my head, oh God, I'm new to Broadway. Do I say yes or no? If I say no, am I gonna not be yes flew out of my mouth? And like I hang up the phone, I was like, wait, what? Did I agree? What did I just say?

[52:01] Antoine L. Smith: So I I gather up my stuff. I get to the theater early because I had never done uh the fight call with Montego Glover or Kimball or Derek Baskin.

[52:14] Antoine L. Smith: So there was a lot of stuff that I had never done that happened an hour before.

[52:22] Eli Tokash: That is unbelievable.

[52:24] Antoine L. Smith: And I went on for Delray for three shows. Now I say James, uh the part about James is because when I joined the cast, um James was was away doing Aladdin when I joined the cast.

[52:43] Antoine L. Smith: So I met him after I had made my Broadway debut he was off doing the uh the I don't know if it was their pre-bro it was in Seattle whatever production they were doing in Seattle before it came to Broadway um so I didn't meet him when I first started Memphis but when I when he came back oh my was he is such a funny person a great person a genuine person I I just actually I was just talking today earlier today um I I love him so I understudied him I understudied Gator and I understudied Del Rey unreal it was that is one of the cool my Broadway debut yeah that's one of the cool and I like I and I like to tell people you know just be ready for anything yeah that is what happened to me is not normal but just you just literally be ready for anything.

[53:46] Eli Tokash: You didn't even like finish rehearsals for for that role.

[53:48] Antoine L. Smith: I had no rehearsal this was my first this was my first week I had two weeks to because I came in as a replacement okay person that I was replacing actually was uh going on the tour as Gator.

[54:04] Antoine L. Smith: Gotcha um I I had two weeks of my own rehearsal when I say two weeks I mean like I would go in for four hours one day four hours another day.

[54:14] Eli Tokash: Right.

[54:15] Antoine L. Smith: Three hours one day five hours it's not really two whole weeks of like eight to ten hour work. You come in as uh replacement as a a replacement as a replacement.

[54:34] Antoine L. Smith: And get the work done. So I was just watching the show, and for some reason the Del Ray songs stuck in my head. I kid you not.

[54:42] Antoine L. Smith: No, no put in, no rehearsal, no, it was just can you do it? And I said yes.

[54:49] Eli Tokash: Hey, and it happened.

[54:53] Antoine L. Smith: Yeah, it happened. Aren't you glad though that you said yes? Like now you wouldn't be able to have that story.

[54:59] Antoine L. Smith: I'm glad I said yes now, but when I hung up that phone, I was like, Right, right.

[55:03] Eli Tokash: Right.

[55:03] Antoine L. Smith: But it's very what a great Broadway debut. That's all I gotta say. To my cast that would they were just they were unbelievable. Rock stars. Unbelievable.

[55:13] Eli Tokash: Yep, for sure.

[55:16] Antoine L. Smith: That's incredible. Well, I I think that's like I I I don't know if there's another story that could trump that. So I really think that's a great place to leave off.

[55:24] Eli Tokash: Antoine. Thank you.

[55:25] Antoine L. Smith: Thank you.

[55:26] Eli Tokash: Dude, unreal. I I love all of your work. I actually I don't know if you even like recognize me, but I actually discovered you on Clubhouse during the pandemic.

[55:35] Antoine L. Smith: And I've been following you along ever since.

[55:37] Eli Tokash: And uh yeah, it's great. You're a great follow follow on uh Clubhouse and Instagram and all those things.

[55:47] Antoine L. Smith: Uh you can reach me at Antoine A N T O I N P L Smith32.

[55:53] Eli Tokash: Antoine L Smith32.

[55:56] Antoine L. Smith: Yes, and honestly, you're like one of the most inspirational followers on social media.

[56:01] Eli Tokash: Thank you.

[56:01] Antoine L. Smith: You're always posting some like unbelievable and motivational and inspiring things that that definitely helped me. I'm just scrolling through my feed and I'm like, wow, I needed to see this today.

[56:11] Eli Tokash: So thank you.

[56:12] Antoine L. Smith: Thank you.

[56:14] Eli Tokash: Yeah, of course. And I appreciate all your work and I appreciate all of your time that you're putting in with me to chat with me today. I know a lot of people listening are gonna really enjoy this, so thank you.

[56:24] Antoine L. Smith: My pleasure. It was great to meet you. Thank you so much.

[56:27] Eli Tokash: Thank you so much. And you take care, my friend.

[56:30] Antoine L. Smith: Take about Antoine L. Smith. That was such an enjoyable episode. Um I really enjoyed all of his stories, including the ones that uh he mentioned about the Tallawago brothers who are uh who worked with Michael Jackson and now are some of the creative teams on MJ the musical.

[56:48] Antoine L. Smith: Um kind of that in person in personal stories that he was able to give the cast really um furthered the the production of uh MJ and all of the little um movements and everything that MJ does and just it it makes the show like so much better and stand out.

[57:06] Eli Tokash: It's just the little details, you know.

[57:07] Antoine L. Smith: Um, but awesome stuff. And then he mentioned, of course, you know, talking about Cynthia Erivo, talking about Carousel, um, talking about his Broadway debut. That was awesome.

[57:16] Eli Tokash: Like I said, you know, at at the end there, he really started opening up and telling some great stories. I know I mentioned that in the intro, but um, I'm just really grateful that he was able to to open up and and and talk about some of that rehearsal process and all of the fun things uh involved behind the scenes that you know people don't always see.

[57:36] Antoine L. Smith: So uh thank you again, Antoine, and I look forward to meeting you in person.

[57:40] Eli Tokash: Um and that was just uh it was a great episode, and I hope you all enjoyed it. Once again, Antoine is a great follow on social media.

[57:48] Antoine L. Smith: He is uh obviously he'll post some updates from MJ and all that fun stuff, and you can track him and like what he has next in the future.

[57:56] Eli Tokash: Um, but of course, he's uh such an inspirational follower. You know, he's always posting funny things, he's also always posting motivational and inspiring messages.

[58:05] Antoine L. Smith: Um, so go follow him if you have if you're not, and uh go follow us if you're not at Take A Bow Podcast.

[58:11] Eli Tokash: Uh, and that's on Instagram, TikTok, um, all the things. And uh, yeah, that's all I have for you folks today. I appreciate you all listening once again, and we have another great, great uh episode coming at you all next week.

[58:26] Antoine L. Smith: Have a great week, everybody.

[58:29] Eli Tokash: Go see some Broadway. For this episode's curtain call, I would like to recognize a few people who also deserve to take a bow.

[58:36] Antoine L. Smith: This podcast would not be possible without the help from Jory Bernstein, Brittany Bigelow, Katie Rosen, Alan Seales, and the team at the Broadway Podcast Network.

[58:44] Eli Tokash: 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.

[58:58] Antoine L. Smith: If you're interested in becoming a patron, go to Patreon.com slash T A B.

[59:04] Eli Tokash: And if you enjoyed this week's episode, don't forget to subscribe on the platform that you're currently listening to this on.

[59:09] Antoine L. Smith: Also, feel free to give us a follow on Instagram at Take A Bow Podcast.

[59:14] Eli Tokash: Take A Bow's logo is designed by Giselle Bustos, and the music is by Nikki Torsha and Cormac Collinon.

[59:21] Antoine L. Smith: Bye everyone.

[59:22] Eli Tokash: Hope to see you next week.