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[0:00] Nella Vera: Good evening, everyone. Welcome to The Fabulous 54 Below. Before we get started this evening, just a polite reminder, please take this moment to silence your cell phones, and also there is no flash photography, please.

[0:16] Nella Vera: Welcome to The 54 Below Podcast. I'm Nella Vera, the Club's Director of Marketing. Our guest today is the incredible Jasmine Forsberg. After making her Broadway debut this summer in Here Lies Love, Jasmine will be making her 54 solo debut before heading back to Broadway in December for SIX. Jasmine, welcome to our podcast.

[0:37] Jasmine Forsberg: Nella, thank you so, so much for having me. I'm so happy to be here.

[0:42] Nella Vera: We're so excited for your 54 Below debut. I know everybody talks about like their 54 Below debut, so it's funny and a little bit of a joke, but it's also kind of awesome.

[0:55] Jasmine Forsberg: I'm truly thrilled. I remember being a student at Penn State University. I went to their musical theater program. And the seniors of the program would always do a 54 Below show of the work that was commissioned to be written for them. And every time, every year I would go to New York, I'd be like, oh my gosh, Gaga, Gugu, all over that opportunity. And I remember I got to make my 54 Below actual debut, not my solo show debut, but my actual debut in If It Only Even Runs a Minute, the Hal Prince edition. And that was a dream come true. And Jennifer Tepper invited me to be a part of that one. And I'm such a Jennifer Tepper fan. So I'm just excited to be able to share my whole story with everybody. But yes, who isn't a Jennifer Tepper fan?

[1:50] Jennifer Tepper: So if you went to Penn State, then you must be familiar with the works of Joe Iconis because he does a lot of work there.

[1:59] Jasmine Forsberg: That's exactly it. My first opportunity meeting and working with Joe actually was when he did one of those said commission projects for the Penn State musical theater program. And we ended up fully producing one of his works as one of our main stage productions that my freshman year. It was called Love and Hate Nation. And so that's how I met Joe Iconis. That's how I met Jennifer Tepper. But then that is how I met Jennifer Werner as well. And that's how I was able to make my foray into the New York City theater scene. And I did Broadway Bounty Hunter with them that following summer. And so I'm excited. I actually get to talk about Joe a little bit in the show. And so I'm really excited to share that with everyone.

[2:41] Jennifer Tepper: So I read the description for your show and it talks about the music that made you, you know, who you are. Can you tell us more about that? And what inspired you to create this particular show? And what do you think audiences, you know, what can they expect?

[2:55] Jasmine Forsberg: Yeah, well, I've only seen a handful of solo shows at 54 Below before. I've seen my friend Jonathan Savage's show, as I like to call him, as many people like to call him. And I've also seen Mauricio Martinez's solo show. And when Jennifer Tepper asked me to do this show, actually, almost four years ago to the day of my concert is when I first got an email from Jennifer saying, girl, if you really want to do your own 54 Below show, let's make this happen. Jennifer Tepper said that. And four years later, I finally get to make it happen. But over earlier this summer, we revisited that exact same email thread. And she said, hey, if you're in town, let's make this happen. You're back from tour. Let's try and see if there's a date that works for you.

And when I thought about what show I wanted to do, I was kind of like, oh, oh, snap. And then there were a lot of deadlines to the materials for 54 Below that I had to get. And so I was kind of just very quickly going through my brain of like, you know, even though I've done New York, I've done shows in New York City before, at the time that I was developing the show, I was making my Broadway debut. And I knew a lot of people would be seeing that show. But I haven't been able to introduce who I am to New York yet. They don't really know who I am. And so I figured what better way to have a special introduction into the cabaret scene and just show the community who I am than to kind of take the audience on a ride of what got me to exactly where I am today.

And so it really is a collection of songs and stories that have shaped my love for theater, my love for just singing period, because I know, yes, well, 54 Below loves to host musical theater cabarets. My love is so much broader than that. It's for music. It's for writing my own music. And so I'm excited to share that with everyone.

[4:52] Nella Vera: Speaking of, you know, you went to Penn State, how did you get into performing? I can't imagine that that's a popular major for a Filipino family.

[5:07] Jasmine Forsberg: I mean, normally, I do understand during my time at Penn State University, I was a part of the Filipino Association at Penn State, and most of the majors were nursing, I will say. But that being said, when I was growing up, I vividly remember my Lola, my grandpa, singing with the Magic Sing, which is our little Filipino karaoke machine. And it's a microphone where there's a keypad on the microphone, and you can put different chips, different data chips, I suppose, into the microphone, and you punch in 95431, and Billy Joel's Just the Way You Are will play on the TV. And I have such fond, vivid memories of that, because singing and music has always been a part of my life and my culture. Now, I don't have, I don't necessarily have performing artists to look up to within my direct family line.

However, I was born in Chicago, and dance is what started it all. I remember my mom naturally kind of was just like, I don't know, we'll put you in something. And so I was two years old, and I was taking my first dance class. And on my father's side, my cousin, Rebecca, was always such an inspiration to me in that sense, because she was like the big dancing cousin of our family. And then it was piano lessons, and I was three, and my hands are still kind of tiny to this day. But imagine a little three-year-old's hands trying to play the piano. And when we moved down to Orlando, singing became a part of the mix. So I had dancing, I had music, I had singing, that was kind of just a natural trajectory towards doing my first show.

And when I, we lived in Orlando, Florida, growing up, my mom is still there. That is where I call home. And she said to me, I remember I was six years old, maybe, maybe seven years old. And she was like, Jasmine, there's a community theater nearby, they're doing 101 Dalmatians. This was Magic Curtain Productions. Do you want to be a part of it? You want to do it? And so it was one of those theaters where you sign up, you actually pay to be a part of it. And I was like, yeah, let's do it. And, you know, it just clicked. I never complained when I went to rehearsal. Like, you know, when you're a kid, and sometimes you're like, I don't want to go to school. I don't want to go to baseball practice or whatever.

I loved going to rehearsal. And slowly but surely, I just got more and more involved. And I'm so grateful that I never looked back. Like it was always a part of my life. And there was a time when I thought I was going to maybe not be a nurse, I thought I was going to be a doctor. And my big brother, Trevor, is well on his way to being a doctor right now. But I remember being maybe 15 or so thinking I had still had those doctor dreams. I was like, okay, like, yeah, this is my passion. This is my hobby. But like, I'm going to pursue something else. And I got back home. It was over the summer of my senior year going into senior year of high school. And I got back home from doing the Penn State University music theater intensive.

It was the first summer doing it. I remember getting home back to Orlando from Tallahassee. And I was like, guys, I really want to do this. Like I want to pursue this. And I told my parents and it wasn't, you know, it wasn't just like, all right, let's do it. There was still a little bit of pushback. Because as we all can see, musical theater can be an inconsistent career at times. But it's a journey that I really wanted to go on. And I'm so grateful to this day, I have the support of my family to pursue my dreams.

[8:44] Nella Vera: How wonderful, that's so great to have supportive parents like that, you know, so important. And it's, you know, I find that also, if you don't, if you're not exposed to the business, you have no idea how to break into it. And you don't think that it's a possibility. You know, when I went to college, I did not think working in the theater was a possibility. It was the furthest thing from my mind. I thought you had to know people and have an in. And, you know, so I was like, I guess I'm gonna go to law school. And then, by chance, you know, ended up getting a job at a theater. And it's like, Oh, this is how it's done. And then going to grad school, and meeting people that way. But you know, if you don't have a person who kind of guides you and helps you, and I think the great thing about your generation is that we have the internet.

And so people are very helpful. And you can reach out to people on social media. And you can see people thriving. And there's great examples. And, you know, there's a representation happening and all of that. It's so much easier now, I think for people to follow that dream if they really have it, than you know, when my generation, we just thought you can't do that, like you have to, you know, get like a proper job and like, go to med school or law school. And it's this is not something you can pursue if you don't know how to do it already. So yeah, it's that's so inspiring.

[10:01] Jasmine Forsberg: Yeah, I couldn't agree more on having the world at your fingertips with the internet and the connections of social media. Now social media, you know, has its pros, and it does have its cons as well. But I remember being on tour with SIX, and I would get so many messages in that show. I was the only Asian queen, I was the only, specifically Filipino, but I was the only Asian queen of the six of us, but it was an all women of color cast. So that was really beautiful. But I would get messages from people saying like it is, you know, you are such an inspiration to the AAPI community. Little did I know that I'd be making I would be a part of history being made in the first all Filipino cast on Broadway.

And so it's just amazing to be asked for advice for up and coming musical theater artists for young artists who are auditioning for colleges and anything that I can do to share those little tidbits of hopefully little golden nuggets of wisdom that I have hopefully acquired over the years. It's really special when people want to ask for my input. It means a lot to me.

[11:08] Nella Vera: So speaking of SIX, it was just announced that you're going to join the cast of SIX on Broadway in December. Congratulations. I'm so excited.

[11:12] Jasmine Forsberg: Thank you. Queen, I played on tour and I will continue to play Jane Seymour, the only one he truly loved.

[11:26] Nella Vera: Amazing. Yeah, the only one he truly loved, right? Everything. Okay. So how does it feel to be returning to the show? And you're joining? Are you joining the is the whole cast, the same cast that you performed with?

[11:40] Jasmine Forsberg: Wonderful. I am so thrilled because that community like, you know, before I started rehearsals for SIX, you know, when you watch reality TV, when you watch The Bachelor, and you see like these women competing against each other and tearing each other down, I subconsciously was buying into that idea that I was like, Oh, you know, I'm not sure how this is going to be being on tour specifically, like being in a little bubble with all these powerful women who clearly like, you know, deserve to be here and have earned their place here. And I swear within the first two days of rehearsal for the tour, so this was back in February of 2022. Yeah, 2022. All of those question marks completely dispelled, because everybody showed up so secure in who they were and what they brought to the table that we could just be together and create something magical and create this beautiful community and sisterhood with one another.

And so it just it like, what made the show special, of course, was the people who I was on stage with, but also the entire company, because when you are on tour, you are in this little bubble and you go, you know, you go to, I remember having plans to go to try and go to a zoo or an aquarium in each city that I went to with some of my tour mates. And it's just beautiful that the experiences that you get to create and the memories that you get to create with these people. And so I'm grateful that we already have such a strong foundation, the six of us, to just, you know, transfer over to Broadway and hopefully bring a very similar, if not the same, beautiful communal energy to the stage. And I'm so excited that New York and tourists and anybody who comes to the show gets to see it.

[13:35] Nella Vera: Of course. So was it was SIX your first like big gig? Like, you know, Broadway?

[13:43] Jasmine Forsberg: Yeah. And so do you remember like how the auditions were and how it felt or when you got the call that you had the role? Nella, I remember this vividly. And it's actually something that I get to talk about in the show a little bit. So I'm really, really excited for that. But my first experience auditioning or even hearing about SIX, I was a student at Penn State University, as I said before, and the theater program, the theater department would always do this thing called gay prom every year. And so one of my professors, Jay Austin Iyer, who no longer teaches at Penn State, but is the head of his own program. He did a number, a drag number to get down, which is Anna of Cleves' big number in the show. And I was like, Oh, my gosh, what is this? I need to know what this is, because SIX had yet, you know, SIX, I think...

[14:34] Jasmine Forsberg: I think we really gained a lot of popularity on TikTok and things like that. So I didn't really know that much about this. And one of my friends, Jessa Ortiz, was very, very like, "Jasmine, you have to listen to this, you have to be in it." And I was like, "Oh my gosh, okay." And you know, little did I know that right after graduating school, I would be auditioning for the national tour. And so my first audition was at the end of August. And it was the day before I left to do a contract at Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut. And so anytime I got called back for that, I had to take the Amtrak, whether it was an Amtrak that got in like a cute little red-eye moment, or it was something that I had to wake up super early to come back.

Luckily, I lived very close to Penn Station at the time. So I could just, you know, even if I did get home at two o'clock at night, and I had the audition at 11 o'clock the next morning, it was okay, I was still getting a little bit of sleep. But that audition process, I remember, you know, it took about three months. And every time I went in, I was called back for various queens. I read for four of the six queens in total. And by the time we got to the final callback, it actually taken Jane Seymour off the table. My final callback, I went in for, who was it? It was Catherine of Aragon, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr, the Catherine trifecta. And I was, you know, I, when I was going through that process, the way that they described Jane Seymour is that she was matrimonial, like that was one of the key words in the character description.

And I was like, "That's not really me. Like, I don't feel that way." Little did I know matronly doesn't, doesn't, matronly doesn't necessarily, yes, like, I guess on paper, it means like having a child, perhaps, but like, but in my eyes, when I envision my mother, I think of loving, caring, open-hearted, you know, selfless in that, in that love and generosity for somebody else or for another life. And when the final callback happened, I thought, you know, okay, we'll see, TBD, unclear. And then I get a call from my agent saying, "Hey, so they actually want you to go back in." So I had to go back in after the so-called final callback for another work session. And it came down to Catherine Howard and Jane Seymour.

And two of the two of them, I think, the way that I played it, perhaps they could be a little bit similar. But I feel like all of the six plays are quite different. They're quite very specific in their lanes that they stay in energetically. And when I got the call, I did the work session, I felt really solid about it. But when I got the call, I actually thought it was going to be leaning towards Catherine Howard. And I remember my agent, who I love to call him the best teammate ever, his name is Ross. My agent said, "So you're going on tour, but get this, they want you for Jane Seymour." And I, I wish we were on FaceTime at the time, because my look on my face was actually one of like, so excited, but also like confusion.

I was like, "Wait, what? I'm not, I'm not matronly. Like, this doesn't really make sense to me." But, you know, over the course of the year plus that I was on tour, and now, you know, getting to revisit the role, I do feel confident that there's no queen that actually makes the most sense. Because the way that I found Jane is one of, you know, she makes the mom joke, she's a little bit of a goober, she just enjoys life. And sometimes, which is ironic because she is the one who died, but some of the queens use her as like the butt of the joke. But honestly, she's just, she's just there smiling, having a good time. And it has really brought my connection to my mom. I've always had such a deep love for my mom.

She is probably the most important person in my life. And being able to channel that love, that parental motherly love in her and in my relationship with my mother is so special. And I'm really grateful that I get to revisit it starting in December.

[18:59] Nella Vera: I absolutely love that that is who you're playing. Because, you know, if I was casting you, I'd be like, "Oh my God, definitely Anne Boleyn, definitely Kate Howard," you know, like, right? And the fact that you're doing this totally unexpected, kind of, it's slightly against type in a way, like from the previous actors that have played that. It's so awesome. And I think that's going to be so fun for the fans who have not seen the touring cast, you know, to see different queens who are slightly different, but still very true to the intent and the writing and everything. I think, oh, that's so exciting. How do you think this is going to be different than, you know, touring with the show?

[19:38] Jasmine Forsberg: You know, I think that, like I said before, touring, you're in this bubble. And I think it'll be really nice to have a home base because one of the things that I, one of my castmates, JG Nakapugai in Here Lies Love, asks people on their birthday, she'll always ask them, "What's, you know, one big thing that you've taken away from this year? Like, what's one lesson you've learned?" type of thing. When JG asked me that question this past September, I had to think about it. And one of the biggest takeaways of this past year for me is that multiple things can exist at the same time, there's a duality to life. You can be so grateful for the circumstances or one area of life while also realizing how much you're sacrificing in other areas in order to make that thing that you're grateful for happen.

And that was being on tour for me. Being on tour was a dream come true. But it also meant I was away from my community, like my people, not just the people that I've been asked to go on tour with, but I was away from my community and my family while like, during the holidays. And I'm so lucky that my big brother, Trevor, the future doctor wanted to come visit me while we were on tour in Boston for Christmas. So we got to spend time together. He slept on the couch in my studio apartment, bless him. But you know, being on the road is tough. And it's tough mentally, it's tough physically, you know, we were very lucky on the Aragon tour that we got to stay in cities for quite some time. So we got the lay of the land.

But other tours don't have that luxury. They're moving. You know, it might be every night, it might be every few days at the, you know, sometimes the golden tour is like every couple weeks, you're moving. And so I'm very lucky and fortunate that we had like three months in Chicago, we had two months in DC. And so, so all that to say is that I think it'll be different from being on tour because we get to choose our community. And after the show, we get to go home and we get to hang out with our friends separate from work. And hopefully just come into work, feeling the energy of each other. And we can hang out with each other as much as we want outside of work. But ultimately, we know that we can have a bit of consistency and a bit of stability and picking up and moving and having to learn a new city every couple weeks or every few weeks at this point.

So that's something that I'm really looking forward to. But I will say being in New York, having been on tour for a year and then being in New York, well, the immune system, and like the amount of people that you see on the street, and when you're taking the subway, that has its effect too. So you know, who knows, who knows? Yeah, my body's still getting used to it, that's for sure.

[22:28] Nella Vera: And of course, Six has a very intense fan base. Were you prepared for that when you went on tour?

[22:35] Jasmine Forsberg: We were primed for it on our first day of rehearsal. They did tell us, you know, anything that you don't want, because the Six community, a lot of the Queendom is the tween, teen age range. They were like, if there's anything online that you're not really, that you don't want the community to see, the Queendom to see, take it off, make yourself private, you know, like do what you need to do. But I will say the love and support that I feel from the Queendom is so real. The amount of beautiful artwork and fan mail that has been sent to various theaters across the country is so beautiful. And I still remember one of the most beautiful fan experiences. At this point, it feels like a friend. His name is John Ryan.

Ryan, though, is his name, really. He saw Six in Miami. And I remember, I think it was like opening night in Miami. And we were only there for a week. But the most beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful bouquet of flowers that I've ever seen in my life arrived at my door. And with the most beautiful note attached to it, his penmanship, beautiful. His chef's kiss is what I just did. It was just saying like, "I'm so grateful to be looking up to a Filipina queen" because he is Filipino himself. And since then, he's come to support Here Lies Love. He catered a whole lechon, a whole pig for our company. And I know, I know, like the most generous, generous soul. And I think that is truly in the Filipino spirit is sharing love through food and through generosity and whatnot.

But like, the amount of beautiful experiences that I've been able to have with people who support the show in the Queendom on tour, I'm really looking forward to having that support back for something that is so beloved like Six on Broadway this time.

[24:21] Nella Vera: So incredible to me that, you know, people assume it's like all tweens. And it's actually not because it's so funny. I first saw it in London. I saw it a couple of times. And who took me was a friend my age, you know, who had gone six times with friends her age. And it's amazing. Like, I'm not a tween, obviously. And so it's just like all the women my age love the show as much as young women. And you know, I can't wait to bring my niece who's 12. She's gonna lose. It's on the list, but I was gonna wait till you're in it.

[25:00] Jasmine Forsberg: Thank you.

[25:01] Nella Vera: Really, you know, has a wide range of just people who love it. And then the lyrics are so clever that people just love it because the lyrics are amazing. You know, it's just, it's so smart. It can reach so many people, I think, as a fun, amazing experience, you know, very uplifting. Let me ask you about, so you made your Broadway debut in Here Lies Love. We could talk for hours about it, I'm sure. So what was it like? Broadway debut in a show like this? You know, it's not a traditional, you're not in the Music Man. It's like, this crazy, groundbreaking, different show that has people dancing, you know, like all around you constantly through the show.

[26:47] Jasmine Forsberg: People can't see me, but my mouth is slightly agape because I'm just like, thinking back to first seeing the space that was our playground, beautifully designed by David Korins. And I'm just, I'm still in awe of this show. I am just still in awe of this show. Making my Broadway debut, I've always, it's always something I've had dreams of doing. Never in a million years did I picture it being in a production like this. Also, never in a million years did I picture it being part of an all-Filipino cast. Like, that is just, I'm so grateful. And Alex Timbers gave us, and the entire creative team gave us this gift to just work on this material that is so meaningful. Night after night, we get to sing this song called God Draws Straight, the thesis statement of that song, God Draws Straight, but with Crooked Lines.

And it's a, where I am blocked in that particular moment, I'm on this catwalk at the very back of the stage, kind of up and on looking, not only my entire cast, but also the entire audience. I get to see them because the lights, not the house lights are on, but the lights are very much where like, you can see a lot of people. A lot of people. And I, in that moment, particularly when I made my Broadway debut back in June, but also just night after night, I get to look around and be filled with so much gratitude for what I get to experience in the story that we get to tell every single night. Because as a Filipino person, my own knowledge of even Ennardo Marcos and Ferdinand Marcos was limited.

And then, because of martial law, a lot of what is online is very censored or is very much like what they said could be released during martial law because the government in the Philippines was in control of everything. And my grandparents, they left the Philippines before the Marcos' even came to power. And so being able to connect with my culture night after night is an experience that I never take for granted. And I hope that we can continue making and telling stories that re-envision what a Broadway show can be, re-imagine what it can be, and just continue to push the boundaries of what theater experiences can be. Because it doesn't have to be your traditional Music Man. There's always places for Music Man, but what can we do to change it? What can we do to elevate the landscape? And wow, I think Your Lies Love really has done that.

[28:21] Nella Vera: I mean, this is just, the show is, what I love about it is that every time you go, it's a different show for the audience, even if the actors are doing the same thing, because of where you can stand and see and move. And sometimes you see from a different angle, and it changes your perception of what's happening. And sometimes you're like, right in there, in the, you know, right in the thick of things. And I haven't seen it from the mezzanine yet. So I'd like to try it, you know, one time up there, but it's just so much fun to be on the floor. So I always go to the floor first, right? But even in the floor, like you could be right, like for the funeral scene, you could be right up on the platform, or you could be on the side, and it just really changes your relationship to the show.

[29:08] Jasmine Forsberg: It even blows my mind that Alex could even envision this show, because I remember the very first workshop where there was one platform, and it was at The Public, and he's like, "Now, come see what we're doing. It's just a couple of, I think he said, not the first act, but the first part of it. We only have one platform, but we're going to work with platforms." I was like, I don't know what that means, but I'll come up and look. And just the idea that he could envision, I just don't even know how somebody can put something like that together. I mean, he's a genius. Everything he does, he has a vision. But just the idea that he could kind of put these pieces together and move this set around. I mean, it's just really, and give you a story like that, that thematically, it makes sense for you to be in the thick of things, because you understand how this whole country got caught up in this couple's plan.

But it really is fantastic. And if people haven't seen it, I hope they see it soon. And it's a show you can go back many times, because it is a different show. And it's just so much fun. How was it the first time that you met David Byrne?

[30:27] Jasmine Forsberg: David Byrne is the sweetest. Oh my gosh, I was gonna call him a sweet little nugget. No, this man fully has had a past slash present as a rock star, like rock star. And yet here he is in rehearsal with us every single day. We rehearsed at the same venue that the Rockettes Christmas show rehearses. And so in the bathrooms, it's all like, "Rockettes can like do something for 20 seconds, you can wash your hands for 20 seconds." All this to say is David Byrne would constantly be sitting at his little desk in the back of our rehearsal room. It's not little, very large rehearsal room. Because as you've seen with the set, it is quite expansive. And so we needed the space to have a literal life-size creation of that set.

But he was there every single day. He rode his bike to work. He left on his bike at work. He was always trying to envision how to make his show better. Very, very limited changes, I would say, in terms of the musical landscape and the lyrics of the show. Which is amazing, because I mean, the show has been in development for n plus years now. So it was amazing to see just the community that this, this was a, every single person on this creative team, Alex and Justin Levine included have, they, those two specifically have said, this is the most fulfilling favorite project that I've worked on. And so to hear that from people who you greatly admire just gives you this, this like, I can't even describe it, there's a feeling in my tummy that just makes me so proud.

And even if it wasn't their favorite, their favorite thing that they've ever worked on their favorite project, I would still have that feeling of pride, immense pride. But to know that they truly stand by the art that they're making, and the entire company stands by the art that we're making, is really special, for sure.

[32:26] Jasmine Forsberg: Can you do you have like a favorite moment with this show, like, either on or off stage that has happened over the past few months?

[32:36] Jasmine Forsberg: There's so many, there's so many little miniature backstage moments that make my show so fun night after night. But I think one of my favorite on stage moments that actually you probably can't see because we're very dimly lit in this moment is during "A Perfect Hand" when Ferdinand Marcos, Jose Lana is singing directly to the camera and various people from the audience are being pulled up and he's, you know, interacting with them. While we're all observing Marcos in that moment, while we're all observing Jose, the various ensemble members are kind of strewn about the audience with the rest of the audience members, and we get to walk through them. And I love having mini conversations with my cast members being like, "Are you going to vote for him?"

Or like, "Who is that?" Or, "Oh my gosh, he's cute," moments like that. But it's just authentic, like we're still in character, but we're also not at the same time. And it just feels like this particular moment in the show where there's like, this vibe of inspiration and hope. And during history, that was the energy that the Marcoses were giving, specifically Ferdinand Marcos before he even met Imelda was giving off this vibe of like, "I can change the country, I have so many plans." And so to kind of in real time, be inspired and have that hope and joy with my fellow cast mates, it feels really good night after night.

[34:03] Nella Vera: Oh, how wonderful. Congratulations with all of that. It's so spectacular.

[34:08] Jasmine Forsberg: Thank you.

[34:11] Nella Vera: You know, you're a performer, but you're also a songwriter. Can you talk a little bit about, you know, your songwriting process? And, you know, what is it that you like to write?

[34:25] Jasmine Forsberg: I was looking on Spotify the other day at the new music playlist. And a lot of these new artists have these buzzwords that they attach to their music, like, like, I don't know, something like, "warm and fuzzy" or something, you know, it's just, they're able to capture it very well. And I will say my songwriting genre, it's all still in process. I think, generally speaking, it leans into singer-songwriter, pop singer-songwriter land. But I like to think of journaling as my personal diary entry, my way of processing what I'm going through. And so a lot of my music is inspired by the things that just, you know, the music that made me this is the music that made me and the music that I made. And it's, it's, yeah, a personal journal entry of sorts of, and I love looking back at my music over the years and seeing, being able to put myself exactly in that situation when I wrote it, and thinking about who it's about, or the feelings that I was experiencing at the time.

I was just in a voice lesson with my voice teacher, Jared Trudeau, the other day, and he said, "Pop music is, like, the function of it is to capture emotions, like, that's what it's about. It's not necessarily, you don't have to make it about storytelling. Sure, there might be a story that influences the song, but it's just really cool to be able to revisit each song and think about exactly who it was about, because, oh, I've written some songs about some people, that is for sure. But lately, um, it's, you know, it's me honking around on my guitar. I don't have a piano in my apartment. One day, one day, that's a dream. But, um, I'll just put on my voice memo, voice recorder, and I'll start with maybe a guitar melody.

I think the, some people say the music and the lyrics, like, it's always the lyrics first, and then they put it to music, or sometimes it's the music and melody first, and then they find lyrics that fit it. I feel like mine is very much an interweaving of both. There isn't one that takes precedent over the other, because I think both are necessary, um, to capture exactly how you're feeling. And so I, I can't necessarily write out a poem or a phrase. Now, that being said, I'm catching myself here, because sometimes I'll think of something, and I'll just put it in my notepad, and then I'll revisit it later, and let that particular sentence or phrase, like, inspire a song. So it, it really depends.

You know, I am one of those songwriters, some people have their process thought out, it's emphatical, they do it every single time. Mine is really just, uh, it is ebb and flow. And something I have to be better about in life is going with the flow. I'm a planner, I'm a Virgo, so I give off that, like, I like that type of energy. But for songwriting, it is not type A, it is very much whatever I'm feeling in the moment.

[37:15] Nella Vera: What advice would you give to sort of aspiring performers who are looking to make their mark in the industry?

[37:21] Jasmine Forsberg: Something I love to say to others, and I wish I could say to my younger self, is not to let anybody put you in a box, or don't, you know what, people are going to do that, because people like to label people and things. They like to compartmentalize and put something somewhere, put something another place. Free yourself of that burden. Don't label yourself, don't try and put yourself in a lane. Yes, specificity is good. Yes, I agree with that. However, so many people are going to try and put labels on you for you before you even have a chance to define and come up with the idea of who you are. So release yourself of that expectation, because I didn't think for a second I'd be Jane Seymour. And here I am being on Broadway as a queen who gets to stand in her power, take up space, stay in center stage as still as can be, and just sing and tell a story.

And I didn't think that was my track. And here I am getting to do it on the biggest stage in America and potentially the world. And so, and so, you know, just free yourself of that and allow yourself to ebb and flow and go with the flow of what art making is and what creativity is, because there's no right and wrong. And I think that's, that's what I wish I could tell my younger self, because I loved to seek out advice from other people. And I would love to be like, "What do you see me as what, you know," and gather that information, but don't let it define you. Just have it in your little file folder, your little collection.

[38:53] Nella Vera: Yeah, yeah, no, that's great advice. And, you know, I find also that young people, you have more options, like you can be more than one thing. You can be a songwriter, you can be a performer, you can be an actor, you know, a singer. And it's so great. Like I see there's so many multi-hyphenates, you know, these days, just across all media. And that's so great. Well, you've already played, you've had two, you're so young, and you've had two incredible parts already on Broadway, or will have by the end of this year. Do you have a dream role that you've always, you know, thought about? I would love to play that part? Or there are projects that, you know, are in the back of your mind that one day, when you're done with six, you know, or even 10 years from now, when you know, you're the age for a part, like, is there something in the back of your mind that you've always wanted to do?

[39:47] Jasmine Forsberg: You know, I was walking with my castmate, Melody Bucciu, from an interview, and I was, and she had just started a, she was just getting ready to start a Stephen Schwartz workshop that is currently going on. I believe it's about the Palace of Versailles or Versailles, I don't know the exact word. But, but nonetheless, she is a part of that. And I was like, how did you form your, you know, like, she kind of, I kind of asked her that exact same question of, you know, how she, I'm going, I'm ebbing and flowing here, as has been the theme of this conversation thus far, of like, how she kind of maneuvered her trajectory. Because she's not based in New York, she's out in California right now. And so, so when she comes to New York, it has to be for projects and whatnot.

And I was so curious. And she said, you know, I didn't base it on the rules that I wanted to play. I wanted to base it on the people that I wanted to work with and the creatives that I wanted to work with. And that's advice that I would love to take with me going forward. There's so, there's a laundry list of names. I don't, I don't want to single anybody out because I, I, there's just too many. I'm manifesting all of them. But that said, I think they're, in this moment, they're, I, you know, I've always thought, but when I was younger, I was like, Kim and Miss Saigon, of course, I really looked up to Laysa Longa. Working with her in Here, That's Love was a dream. Even Noblesada as well. Even Noblesada as well, like my respect for these Filipino women is just so strong.

But, you know, like, they, they are the blueprint. But like, I think I was limiting myself with Miss Saigon because like, that's, you know, that's just the, that's the show that every Asian young actor kind of wants to envision or be in. Or maybe not every, but that's a general. Nonetheless, all this to say is, I think my dream show hasn't been written yet. I think the possibilities are endless. Maybe I'm a part of the writing process as a singer myself. Maybe, maybe I'm in the room. My dream, though, truly is to be with something and build a character from the ground up, because I want to be the person that on the original cast recording that people get to look to and, you know, build that blueprint for all the other people who get to attempt the role, because I have so much respect for Abby Mueller and Natalie Paris, who created these Seymours.

And I'm grateful that my own take on the role has been so respected and admired and received by the community. But I want to, I want to be the part who, the person who builds something. And maybe that show doesn't exist yet. So TBD.

[42:26] Nella Vera: Exactly. I'm not, I'm, I have no doubt that that's going to happen. Absolutely zero doubt that's going to happen. So we look forward to having you originate amazing parts on Broadway. So it has been an amazing pleasure to have you on this podcast today. And thank you so much for taking the time to join us. I know you're so busy between two Broadway projects. So we're so thrilled that you could join us. And we can't wait to have you at the club.

[43:01] Jasmine Forsberg: Thank you so much, Noah. I'm so, so excited for my show on November 19. Please come. 9:30 PM. Tickets are very, very, you know, going super fast. And there's still a few left, but not many. So if you're interested in seeing it, tickets information at 54below.org. So again, November 19 at 9:30, you can catch Jasmine's show. And we'll see you then everybody. Thanks again so much, Jasmine.

[43:20] Jasmine Forsberg: Thank you. Thank you so, so much.

[43:28] Nella Vera: You've been listening to the 54 Below podcast, part of the Broadway Podcast Network. Subscribe and read us on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app. To find out more about our upcoming shows, visit us at 54below.org.