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[0:36] Heather Bedor: I mean, it's so funny, look at this. Even though we just went through that whole thing, yes, we should be fighting crime in the 60's.

[1:16] Heather Bedor: I really think Evie Mux hates me. I'm going to relinquish production power to you. It's happening.

[1:26] Heather Bedor: So now you'll just have to do our show every week and then Broadway Jeopardy every other week. You can handle that, right?

[1:36] Chris Levy: There you go, yeah.

[1:40] Heather Bedor: Welcome to another rousing edition of the Broadway Fan Club Podcast. It's been a minute.

[1:44] Amber Brzezinski: Oh my goodness, look at that timing. Chris Levy taking a full screen here.

[1:48] Heather Bedor: Look at that beautiful beard.

[1:52] Amber Brzezinski: So my boyfriend literally says that Chris looks like David Letterman.

[1:56] Chris Levy: It is very true.

[2:00] Heather Bedor: Really?

[2:04] Chris Levy: Yes, you know that Shane will always say that you are David Letterman.

[2:08] Chris Levy: I wish I was that well paid and funny.

[2:12] Heather Bedor: When we performed at Disney a couple weeks ago, and I was joking about it, the family was like, that's who he looks like.

[2:18] Heather Bedor: Anyways, look at this perfect timing. I have my two favorite boys with me.

[2:26] Heather Bedor: The wonderful and talented and handsome Mark Benanti.

[2:30] Mark Benanti: Oh, I thought you were talking. Oh yeah, thanks.

[2:34] Heather Bedor: You're welcome. And then the beautiful bearded Maestro.

[2:38] Chris Levy: Careful, careful, I think Jason Bailey has got you.

[2:42] Heather Bedor: Okay, the beautiful bearded music master Chris Levy.

[2:46] Heather Bedor: Who just got out of rehearsal and came right here.

[2:50] Chris Levy: I was like, hey bud, don't forget 7 o'clock.

[2:54] Chris Levy: He's like, well, two months ago when we were doing the 8pm shows, I changed rehearsal and I was like, sorry.

[3:02] Heather Bedor: What are you rehearsing? Remind me.

[3:06] Chris Levy: Oh, let's see. Tonight was a cabaret that we're doing Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

[3:12] Chris Levy: Which I will rehearse more on Wednesday after I get through the other cabaret we're doing as a one night only tomorrow.

[3:18] Chris Levy: And then Thursday afternoon understudy rehearsal for the main stage show.

[3:22] Chris Levy: It's a crazy life. I just say, who needs rehearsal?

[3:26] Chris Levy: We don't rehearse, so why do other people need to rehearse?

[3:30] Chris Levy: Oh, I rehearse. I rehearse because I am somehow I have been working as a music director for 50 years or more.

[3:38] Mark Benanti: So when you were in utero, okay.

[3:42] Chris Levy: So, I just make do with what I can.

[3:46] Chris Levy: I didn't even have time tonight to set the room up. My room is a mess.

[3:50] Mark Benanti: Yeah, no, my room is a mess.

[3:54] Chris Levy: I should get in further so you can't see anything.

[3:58] Heather Bedor: Yeah, right.

[4:02] Chris Levy: I had an audition for a game show, so I was like, I'm going to do my makeup and not wear my glasses and have my contacts in.

[4:10] Chris Levy: And I'm not used to seeing myself on the podcast without glasses because I got lazy after the first like 50 episodes. So I'm like, do I look okay? Do I look crazy?

[4:18] Chris Levy: I look crazy. I look tired.

[4:22] Heather Bedor: You look wonderful. I'm still a drowned rat from the Nor'easter because now the Nor'easter is here.

[4:30] Chris Levy: Follow me back.

[4:34] Heather Bedor: Oh, man.

[4:38] Heather Bedor: But yes, for those of you who live under a rock and were not paying attention, we didn't have a show last week. I was in a very rainy New York City.

[4:46] Mark Benanti: It was pretty gross and wet.

[4:50] Mark Benanti: It was a rough day. It was a rough couple of days because they had me change my flight. JetBlue was like, hey, just so we can't see your flight, would you like to have an earlier flight? And I'm like, sure.

[5:14] Mark Benanti: Meanwhile, I'm visiting my boyfriend who's about an hour and 15 minutes away, who lives on the beach. And I'm like, alright, so I guess I'm going to hang here for whatever and then just drive home and pack and go to the airport for a 6 a.m. flight.

[5:30] Mark Benanti: So I left him at like 1.30 in the morning. I got home at like close to 3 because I had to stop for gas.

[5:38] Mark Benanti: I packed and then my mom picked me up at like 4. So that was fun.

[5:46] Mark Benanti: And then I got into the city and hit the ground running. I stayed at, I think I told you both and most of our members knew, I was staying at the Row NYC. I will not go back there.

[6:02] Heather Bedor: Oh.

[6:06] Mark Benanti: It was not great. When you have a Do Not Disturb sign on your door and people continue to come into your room and, yeah, it's not great.

[6:18] Mark Benanti: Or when you find ants in someone else's candy wrappers.

[6:22] Heather Bedor: It's really not awesome. But that's okay.

[6:26] Chris Levy: Who else was leaving candy wrappers in your room?

[6:30] Mark Benanti: Whoever was there before me.

[6:34] Mark Benanti: Oh.

[6:38] Mark Benanti: So I was on two sprained ankles, as you both know. And I thought I dropped my bottle of ibuprofen behind the bed.

[6:42] Mark Benanti: And so I took like a flashlight. That's your first mistake. Don't ever put a flashlight behind your hotel bed.

[6:46] Mark Benanti: And there was like the Hatch Kids wrappers and the Snickers bar wrapper. And I was like, eugh.

[6:54] Mark Benanti: And then I saw the string of ants. So they moved my room.

[6:58] Heather Bedor: But we won't make this a Row NYC bashing episode.

[7:02] Mark Benanti: But I checked in. I got a chance to lay down for all of like 20 minutes and had to grab a train to go meet up with the wonderful Larry.

[7:14] Mark Benanti: And we went over to the Henson Creature Shop for their tour.

[7:18] Heather Bedor: How was that?

[7:22] Mark Benanti: Oh, my God. It was so cool.

[7:26] Mark Benanti: So at the same time, they were doing stuff to celebrate Jim Henson's birthday that day everywhere else.

[7:30] Mark Benanti: The tour was like packed everywhere. I specifically went for that date because our friend Noel McNeil was the puppeteer.

[7:38] Mark Benanti: Like the person who was like, oh, you can meet a real Jim Henson puppeteer. And I was like, oh, cool. I already know one.

[7:46] Mark Benanti: So I was happy to go support. And it was...

[7:50] Chris Levy: What are you doing, Chris?

[7:54] Chris Levy: I'm trying to make my camera feed look better and I'm failing.

[7:58] Mark Benanti: Oh, you're fine. It just looks like a ghost is passing.

[8:02] Chris Levy: Oh, that was my opera ghost, yes.

[8:06] Mark Benanti: Well, that would be Saturday night. And we'll get into that.

[8:10] Mark Benanti: Yeah, so the Creature Shop is literally the working fabrication shop. So they have like the history of and I'll post a lot more pictures on my Instagram.

[8:18] Mark Benanti: They have all these really cool pictures with the history of everything going on.

[8:22] Mark Benanti: And then it has... you go into one room and you're like, oh, this is our photo room. So it's very much like the Insta photo room.

[8:30] Mark Benanti: And they have like the throne from Dark Crystal and all these different Muppets.

[8:34] Mark Benanti: And then they have Fraggles and Sprocket.

[8:38] Mark Benanti: I laugh because Sprocket, the dog from Fraggle Rock, my boyfriend's dog, looks just like Sprocket.

[8:42] Mark Benanti: And then they have the Giants. I can't remember what they're called right now because my brain's not working.

[8:50] Mark Benanti: And they have like... you can take your picture in a storyboard chair and you can do this.

[8:54] Mark Benanti: And you can take your picture with Oscar the Grouch. And it was really cool.

[9:02] Mark Benanti: And then Noel comes out and presents to us and shows us how a puppeteer with Henson with the arm constantly up with little eyeballs.

[9:10] Mark Benanti: So it was fun. And then they take you into the actual workshop.

[9:14] Mark Benanti: And they show you things that are being worked on. It is an active workshop. So it's very cool.

[9:22] Mark Benanti: They have a couple things that you can pass around and feel the different foams and the different furs and the different fabrics.

[9:30] Mark Benanti: So that was really cool. And it was very much like right in the childhood.

[9:34] Mark Benanti: So that was a really great experience. Noel came up for a little bit to hang out.

[9:38] Mark Benanti: And of course I missed his text because my phone was on silent saying, Hey, come back to the lounge. We'll grab a selfie.

[9:46] Mark Benanti: And I was like, I'm sorry. I didn't see this.

[9:50] Mark Benanti: And that was before Venoreaster really started to hit. So it was still decent weather.

[9:54] Mark Benanti: Larry and I leave and it just starts to get gross and rainy.

[9:58] Mark Benanti: So he left. I went back to the hotel to relax for another hour or so because I had the invite to go see the Carnival Activity.

[10:06] Heather Bedor: So cool. How was that?

[10:10] Mark Benanti: Okay. You haven't seen that yet, right, Mark? And I know Chris, you've had no interest.

[10:14] Chris Levy: I have not seen it. Don't spoil anything.

[10:18] Mark Benanti: I'm not spoiling a thing. I will tell you it is one of the best shows I've ever seen. And I'm a musicals girl.

[10:26] Mark Benanti: First off, they play really good 90s alternative rock.

[10:30] Mark Benanti: So I'm really happy with that. Like while you're sitting the August Wilson is just so weird to go back in since it was the Kit Kat Club.

[10:38] Mark Benanti: Like I was there before with Funny Girl, through with Cabaret, and then now it's like, oh, okay, it's back to being a regular theater.

[10:46] Mark Benanti: But everyone was so helpful with my two sprained ankles and access to the bathroom and getting whatever.

[10:54] Mark Benanti: So that's not an easy lobby. I didn't even have to go to the lobby.

[10:58] Mark Benanti: They had me go around the back with the lift.

[11:02] Mark Benanti: I was on two aircasts. I hardly had to walk.

[11:06] Mark Benanti: They were very sweet. I had armed guards essentially walking me into my chair.

[11:10] Mark Benanti: The set is unbelievable. The illusions.

[11:14] Mark Benanti: There are things that you'll have to go back and see multiple times because you're like, wait, did that happen? Am I imagining that?

[11:22] Mark Benanti: It's so good. You don't have to know the movies or the franchise to appreciate it.

[11:34] Mark Benanti: But it's darn good. And what I thought was really cool and it's not a spoiler mark, and I think Chris, you'll appreciate this a lot being a musician, is that in between the set changes because the set's a two story, you're looking at like a slice from the inside of someone's house.

[11:50] Mark Benanti: But they would have to do the set change and it's very quick, but it's pitch black and they have the red lights on both sides of the theater but they play different frequencies of sound.

[11:58] Mark Benanti: Now for anyone that's done any kind of sound therapy, I've actually done a lot of it when I was going through my traumatic brain injury and through different surgeries.

[12:14] Mark Benanti: There are different frequencies that if you're

[12:17] Chris: Scrolling on TikTok or Reels you'll see it. But some of it can calm you. It can take you out of a panic attack. It can pump you up. Like music is, it's vibrational to the body. It's incredible how it works. But they're playing frequencies that I had to ask Larry because he's one of the producers in the show. I was like, I'm a musician. I was like, did they do that on purpose? 100% yes. It is played at a frequency to get your body like anxious. Some people are treating it like Rocky Horror, and that's okay. And with Rocky Horror style, what I mean is in the quietest moments, you hear, don't go in there. You don't want to do that. Oh, no. Like, it's like you're at home watching a horror movie and you're like, don't go up the stairs, run out of the house, you know, that kind of stuff.

And then everyone has that nervous laughter. So you're laughing through crazy stuff that's happening. But I loved it. The illusions are all done physically. Like I'm not spoiling anything when I say they spent an entire day working on getting chairs to move across the stage. So damn cool. I left just happy as could be my little spooky girl heart was a very, very, very happy and very appreciative to have that invite. And I'm again, I'm a musicals girl, it takes a lot to get me to go to a play. Honestly, I think the last play that I saw was Stranger Things. And I would compare it to like, a little bit on Stranger Things, but I felt myself physically getting up and leaning on my knees, like, literally on the edge of my seat to see the show.

So I think Mark, you'll love it. Chris, I know. Y'all have to drag your ass to it. I want to see what does it mean? The African Mean Girls play? Yeah. Well, so I it was either go shopping for our members of Broadway Fleet in a Nor'easter 19,000 steps, 40 block roundtrip, something crazy, or go to see the show. And so I was very happy that Larry became a member of the Broadway fan club media team for us and actually went to see the show on Sunday. And he said it was hysterical, and so well done. And you can tell that the cast was really loving it. Awesome. We got great reviews. It's been getting great reviews. And a terrific cast. Terrific cast. So we'll see how that plays out. But I'm very excited for them.

And yes, I see Jeffrey Cohen in our comments section. We are early today. We're going to start the scene going 7pm on Mondays. Trying to shake it up, do something new. Yeah, shake it up. Be easier on everybody. That way Mark can spend a little bit more time with his family before they all go to bed. And Chris can hang out and I can, I don't know, do the same thing I do every night, which is try to take over the world. Narf. Yes, thank you. Thank you for understanding me. Chris, you'll be sad to hear that Mark was unable to join me on Sunday. It was a bummer. It was such a bummer. Honestly, I was more bummed that I couldn't be there to help you. And you're, you know, for myself, I mean, I was a bit bummed looking at, you know, people's posts and what they got.

But I just when it was happening and all the chaos, I just, it just was not the place I wanted to be. No, um, I will say I love flea. And I've been doing flea 25 years. I did not go to the one that was indoors. Where was that at Rose? Roseland. That was like my first, like, official one I went to. So yeah, I think I skipped that one. Because my mom was in Jersey at the time. So I'd go into the city and go. But I don't know how was that one when you went? It was crowded. But like, it wasn't it wasn't the madness that it was today. It didn't. It wasn't like a young people hangout thing. Now. I mean, it's great that it's so big and people know about it. It was kind of like a little bit more hush hush.

I mean, a little I mean, it was still very crowded and very, very big deal. But it wasn't I don't know. It was a mainstream. This Yeah, like tween girl fan thing that is that shows like, you know, boys and outsiders like it didn't we didn't have those kind of shows that were drawing in that kind of crowd. Absolutely. Well, and I know that Chris, you were, you know, trying to get ready. You were watching videos from Mickey Joe. Yeah, from when he was over here. Right. And then looking at comparing it to the West End, the West End looks so lovely. Mark, have you seen videos from what the West End does? I know they've just started, you know, a few years now doing something similar. I have not looked at it, though.

It's like these lovely little booths with like little decorations and photo ops. And it seems quite like a county fair. But they're in more of a park rather than just setting up on the streets. But I also get setting up on the streets because it's a whole nod to how the whole thing began. Yes. Well, generally, it's on 45th and 46th with Schubert and everything else. But it's massive, but it's tolerable. And like it was on half the street that it was the whole street that was out like back and forth. But you could kind of come and go as you please. So you could go in, you walk around. The Hammerstein was not like that. Um, you guys have seen the videos, everyone online, see the videos if you haven't. Look at them.

Um, people and you know, we love Broadway cares. And I was so happy that I got to see our friend Fran and a lot of the production team, guys, they work their asses off. People lined up doors were at 10. I was like, I think I texted Mark and I was like, I'm going to get there like right before 10 o'clock because I'm very appreciative. Because of two sprained ankles. I was on an ADA list. So I was able to go into a separate area in about a second. But people were queued up for over three hours in the rain before doors were ever opened. It was wrapped around the block. It was bad. Well, yeah, I don't think anyone thought that maybe they wouldn't allow anyone I did. I was like, Oh, they're not gonna even open the doors until 10 o'clock, right?

We have to set up. Yeah, which is what's still the case. Technically, every other year, it's just, and some some tables, you know, they're like back away till 10 o'clock, you don't and then some people are selling stuff. So that's, yes. And that's, well, I'm glad you brought that up. That's how this year was. You could not buy anything until 10. And you could not buy anything after six. I literally had something in my hand from like opening night of boop. And I was like, Okay, this is cool. And I'm handing it over to them. And they rang the last bell. And they're like, we're so sorry. And I'm like, what do you mean? They're like, we can't like they just shut off. And I was like, What do you mean?

What do you mean? I have it in my hand. Like we've been talking for 10 minutes. I'm trying to pay you. She's like, I'm so sorry. I was like, What do you mean? She's like, if we turn the machines back, I said, I have cash. She's like, if they see us taking cash, we'll get yelled at. And I was like, Oh my god, I don't want to do that. But I, I did the first round. I was in the doors at Lost Boys at 10am. And their stuff was priced high. It's all priced high. No, higher than outsiders. They were charging. They know what they're doing. They were charging $500 for the comic book. They were charging $400 for the Yes, seeing a Bryant Park be great. They were charging for the full signed window card 400 for individual legacy like the curtain call cards like the new trading cards 40 bucks a piece until the end of the day they're selling the packs because they were trying to not run out of stuff but they ran out of stuff maybe two or three hours afterwards because those fans are nuts.

I was very fortunate that I was standing there at the right time I bought like a stage to use props like when I tell you 62 pounds of getting stuff home on JetBlue that my mother and I are going to be working on packing today. I have a an orange juice carton that sign Chinese takeout boxes, random stuff. And it was so if anyone's not been to the ballroom or you've heard of it, you're like, why does it sound familiar? It's where Broadway bears is every year. And it's not the most easily accessible building. So there's the basement area and the basement had like two stranger stranger things. The Met little shop of horrors like there was so much stuff. And it was almost impossible to get reception down there.

And then upstairs, they had the stage that had the grand auction going out at the same time and it was super loud. And then they had on the second level up was where the autograph sessions were. But if you were in one session, they had to kick you out about a half hour later. It was just Broadway cares doing this the last minute and doing that last minute shift. I will never use the word pivot but the last minute shift. It was very impressive, but it was absolute chaos. Larry sent me a video of something that someone one of his friends took those like if you've ever wanted to be in a human traffic jam, it was bad. And you had a lot of people stealing a lot of shit. You had a lot of people shoving and getting angry.

And of course, everyone's wet. Everyone's cranky. Everyone's tired. Everyone's in wet clothing. And the biggest problem I had, and again, Krista, I don't want to leave you out of this conversation. I want your opinion. But Mark, big backpacks. Yeah, well, people Yeah. And I had to tell people somebody's hand was just in your backpack, move it to the front of your body. But they were like the big like jam sport or like the hiking ones. Because it's shmigadoon. Yes, they were doing a great job cosplaying. These days where I have like two full bags of like two full Ikea bags of like, yeah. And we're talking like, broomsticks and like things sticking out and I'm having to like try to I mean, like, just in the regular one.

Well, so here, everything's wet. And they have like a really I wish that it wasn't raining because they had window cards for days of like super unique stuff. I'm not saying I was gonna like I was like, I'll go and I'll just focus on window cards. I need to finish off my collection. I was like, Well, I'm not gonna do that in the rain. It was rough. It was really rough. But I will say that I was able to cap our list about 40 members because I was doing it myself until the last round. And I tell you, I went so I was again staying at row, which at that point, if it was in the middle of the street, it'd be in and out of the hotel dropping stuff off the entire time. It's that perfect location. Except like the marquee, which is my favorite property.

That's my home there. And then I was finally able to get a hold of our lovely friend Olivia. And Olivia actually helped me like two full rounds. But it was 10 blocks each way to get to the ballroom and back and it's raining. And I've got

[24:34] Heather Bedor: A big reusable tote and I'm trying to keep everything covered and stuff's getting rained on and I'm like, oh my god, I'm gonna die and I'm gonna cry and I don't know what to do. And the lines for Outsiders was like wrapped around and Lost Boys. Towards the end, it got much easier. There were different booths that at the end were like, oh hey, just you know it's free, just donate. People are like throwing money on the table and grabbing stuff. My favorite part of Flea is what we've talked about before is the like dumpster diving and I was telling Fran about it and I was like, we can't go dumpster diving this year. She's like, what do you mean people don't go dumpster diving? I was like, oh no, they do, but they do.

It's not even dumpster, they just would leave boxes and boxes of stuff. Yes, and um, so you couldn't really do that this year except what was happening is people were taking stuff off their booth and putting it in a trash can and saying or a trash bag or like if you want to go through it and I'm like, I don't even have the patience for it. There was it was like one or two tables. I cleaned up at Aladdin because Aladdin had a lot of Disney on Broadway like tour stuff and everything dropped to like a dollar so that's where I bought things for myself. I found an Alter Boys luggage tag. My dear friend Scott Porter was the original Matthew in that show so it's just like if I ever see something for Spider-Man turn off the dark because of Justin Sargent I will always grab it just for posterity.

Um, so it was like the most random stuff at the end but I'm doing like large heavy bags trying to keep stuff covered. Olivia's got her jacket over stuff we're getting drenched. It took up the entire I was very appreciative I got a suite but it was just like a couch in the middle of the room. It took up that whole room it like went into the bedroom area so I got some really good stuff. The frustrating part becomes like I go over to Lost Boys and he's like yeah we're pretty much sold out except for like the sign stuff. He's like we should have charged more money for stuff and I'm like no charging $500 for a piece of paper is really hard sometimes though. Um, Shmigadoon had really fun stuff. He had rhubarb bar snack bar squares.

Did you get one? Did you try? No, I didn't I well I was like I could get one and eat one or I can go to Schmackary's um but they also had their stage manager um owns a coffee company like a coffee bean company so for anybody that had Shmigadoon on their list um I was able to get them corn pudding coffee. Mmm yum. Weird. I love it um. Did you try it? What is it what's the flavor profile? I don't know because I'm not a coffee drinker. Oh okay. It smelled really good um. I mean you remember we made corn pudding for the Tonys and it was delicious.

[27:34] Chris: You made yes uh Chris made corn pudding for the very first time for the Tonys and it was yummy. I think this is our favorite spread definitely our favorite spread um yeah it was a lot. I was exhausted and I was soaking wet and by the time I got out of there it's like 6:45 and Larry and I had dinner reservations I think at 7:15 at Pick and Cheese um so I dropped everything off I changed out of soaking wet clothes and I went over to Schaefer Hall which is the new food hall um off 5th and 39th and went into Pick and Cheese and it's a cheese conveyor belt restaurant and we had like the I called him my cheese sherpa this guy knew everything on the menu and so Larry and I picked like 12 you have like 35 40 different cheeses 40 different cheese plates and it comes with different pairings some have like a brownie weird or potato chips or caramelized onions um so you're like doing all these weird pairings but this guy knew everything he put them in order and we like filled up on cheese and then they gifted us um it's like a goat cheese stuffed donut with lemon curd and raspberry you both would have been in heaven it was so good and an affogato that had a blue cheese um like a pungent blue cheese gelato in it you're both so quiet I'm glad you enjoyed it that sounds Mark you wouldn't touch that horrific to me there is nothing I detest more than goat cheese and yeah I'm just not a cheese okay good well so Mark you and I will never go to Pick and Cheese I will go but I might skip the blue cheese gelato they had um a brie cheese that was split in half with cream cheese and truffle it's my mother texting me I told her don't do it in the middle of the podcast split with cream cheese and truffle and looked like a cake served with potato chips it was so good oh my god um I'm hungry I'm going to all you can eat sushi later don't judge me I haven't eaten really so that means you don't want to go tomorrow for lunch huh oh I'll go tomorrow for lunch too okay good.

[30:01] Heather Bedor: We just have to get Marked in a while we haven't been so there's a place around the corner from my house called Sushi Yama it's all you can eat sushi for like 30 bucks and lunch it's like 20 bucks and the last time we were there I'm allergic to cilantro and we would never have thought that they would have put cilantro in sushi and it was in something that they were like no there's no cilantro and Chris learned how very allergic I was anyways um so after I'm soaking wet I feel like I'm just chatting my face off tonight guys sorry um you're the one with the interesting I didn't do anything interesting well so Sunday so after Pick and Cheese Larry is helping out September L Davis's apology tour and so we went over to Studio Seaview I've never been over there very cool venue very intimate venue and the show was so freaking hysterical I'm sure oh my god uh September L Davis is a mastermind and I'm sorry to hear but she has this huge feud with Anna Gosteyer um because I think they'd be best friends but I'm sitting there and you know it's really it's intimate but like it's not small so like it feels like new world stages like you don't feel like there's a bad seat in the house um very accessible and then at the end of the show well Larry and I sit down and he goes um hey Cinco Paul's right over there I've never met him though and I was like Chris has met him and uh I was like that's cool and he's like an Anne Harada's there and I was like yeah and it was like a who's who of like the upper echelon of Broadway and it was so lovely to see them come support the September L Davis apology tour um and then afterwards I was very happy to be introduced to both of them and then um got to see Anna and hang out with Anna for a hot second and then I got to see um Mark somebody that you might know uh show Bway show oh I love show um so saw show and then saw um Caitlin uh from Tea Time so lovely we had like a meeting of the minds and it was well and I know Anne and I know Cinco they're friends of mine okay fine you know everybody there and you weren't there how dare you nobody gave me a free ticket uh you were invited you just had to deal with your daughters that's true um but it was it was such a nice like wrap the weekend of just like this is why we do what we do theater is important no matter if it's on a big Broadway stage or if it's in a 200 seat theater or in a small cabaret or a piano bar or kids performing in the middle of a living room it's so freaking important.

[33:02] Chris: Um so important and then Monday I was like you know what I haven't done touristy stuff in a while and boyfriend had requested something from the 9-11 memorial and I was like I haven't been um so I hopped on the train I mean hobbled on the train with two sprained ankles um and I went over to the World Trade Center um and had like a moment I wasn't expecting to hit me like it did um I didn't go into the memorial like the to the museum but the memorial was so beautiful but I wanted to punch people in the face because it's TikTokers and influencers they're laughing and they're dancing and I'm like read the room like read the room um so went through there went through the oculus went through the original you can actually see the original 1970s architecture above the e-platform right there and then um and they have like a timeline of the structure building of World Trade Center and then what the plans are with the oculus which is this massive mega mall um which is very cool so I got to explore a little bit there and then um I went to a venue that I now love Les Poissons Rouge and Chris you've been there before yep and it but it's so cool yeah like so cool the whole staff is nice but I went because the rescues were performing with guest appearances from Lost Boys so I was like and our friend Kendra over at Stranger Things she was coming with and so I went inside early because again very accessible friendly making sure I'm not you know in pain on two sprained ankles and falling over and dying um but I was texting Gabe Gabriel Mann uh the piano player slash vocalist from the rescues who's a friend of mine and I was like I'm here hopefully I'll be able to give you a squeeze and like two seconds later he walked in the door from a coffee run so that was nice I got a moment before the chaos and then was escorted down around the back so I don't have to go downstairs very nice they set me up a seat which was awesome met some really fun new friends from aka marketing shout out to them um and watch this super intimate crazy show of Lost Boys fans who were now becoming the rescues fans the show was spectacular a performer by the name of milk opened up the show she is actually collaborating and writing a musical of her life so she did some of those songs it was so nice to see live music and to see the shift of the Lost Boys fans getting to actually hear what the rescues do and it was so beautiful and I have so many videos I'll wind up posting on our YouTube but it was just such a beautiful moment and like so much of the cast came out um LG Binet was out there um you know Maria Ruiz like so much of the cast came out just to perform on stage and show off but you could tell that they love each other so much um it was just nice and I got to see Jimmy for a hot second so um and then of course in this industry we can all relate you kind of forget when your friends are famous so you have stanchions and a whole bunch of people like 30 people deep all the way through the venue lined up to meet the rescues or to say hi to the cast who are trying so hard to get out of there because it's like stage but crazier and you're kind of locked in and I wanted to say bye to Gabe so I like go over to the side security guys like this and I was like hey Gabe I'm leaving he comes over and you just see everyone's eyes shoot darts and I'm like I'm so sorry I'm so sorry um you weren't sorry I was I was sorry.

[36:51] Heather Bedor: But yeah, it was like such a chaotic moment and I get home and my flight's on time, my luggage is like the second bag out, my best friend picks me up so quickly, I'm home, I pass out an hour later, and then the next day I'm visiting the boyfriend. I was like, I haven't stopped moving! What a weekend! That catches you boys up, but there's so much stuff that we have to catch everybody else up on.

[37:21] Chris: Yeah, I mean, there's so much Broadway news stuff going on in your lives. Oh, what's going on on Broadway? I know you're chomping at the bit; you have your list tonight.

[37:39] Marc: No, I came to rehearsal; I haven't prepared a thing.

[37:47] Chris: Well, first, that's why I figured we have lunch tomorrow. You can catch me up on that.

[37:51] Heather Bedor: That's fair. I know "Heather's" and "Spelling Bee" both closing this weekend.

[38:05] Chris: "Heather's" and "Spelling Bee" are closing? I don't think we've talked about "Six" making the announcement that they're closing.

[38:10] Marc: Oh, that was weeks ago.

[38:17] Chris: Yeah, I know, but we haven't talked about it because we had... probably did? Maybe I don't remember. And "Juliet" made the announcement today. And then, of course, "Two Strangers" made their announcement, but today "Gatsby" announced an extension, and "Masquerade" announced an extension. And I don't know, "Operation Mincemeat" has extended for an 11th time, right? That was yesterday saying it's an open run.

[38:44] Marc: I mean, I think, and Mark, you might be able to touch more on this being up there, I think that they have to for rights. I don't know, like British thing versus a U.S. thing.

[39:04] Chris: Go ahead.

[39:05] Marc: Yeah, you're right. I think in the West End, they just say, "This is our run," and then they say, "Oh, it's popular; we're going to extend," and that's just how they're used to doing it there. So, new block of tickets on sale for this date. Nothing's assumed to be open.

[39:24] Chris: Yeah, and in recent years, Broadway has sort of taken that on to say, "New block of tickets now open till this." I think it's just another excuse to put out a press release marketing. I think it prevents sales from being spread out so much. You know, if you just say it's open-ended and you open a year's worth of tickets, and then you only have a half house sold for a year, as opposed to saying, "Everybody get it in before this."

[39:54] Marc: Well, what's happening with "Just in Time" is that it was just announced as well, but Jeremy Jordan's last performance is the middle of this month.

[40:05] Chris: Oh, I feel like we knew that. Did we not know that?

[40:10] Marc: We did not know that. Oh, 'cause they weren't tickets past that. Well, they're still... the show is running still. I think the show is running until... I think ticket blocks are in sale to February, but Jeremy is doing all the tour stuff and all this cabaret stuff. But it was announced, but a lot of our "Just in Time" members are like, "Wait a minute, I had tickets for the end of the month," so they're getting refunded. But then Matthew Morrison is coming for two... you don't want to see it with Matthew or someone, or Matt, or... sorry, there was a loud bang at my door; that was weird. It's a ghost!

[40:53] Chris: Um, but I don't know. I mean, Matt Magnuson is incredible, but Matthew Morrison's also very good, and a lot of people went for Matt Morrison, but now our group is all a Twitter because it's like, "Who's taking over?" You know who my vote is, right?

[41:10] Heather Bedor: Hmm, since... let's all put out our dream casting here. Since before Jeremy was announced, I have been fighting for Derek Klena.

[41:25] Marc: He's busy playing ball, and the banana ball playoffs are... the finals are gonna be done in the next two weeks.

[41:31] Chris: Okay, it's a little too convenient. I don't know. Who would you guys cast as the new Bobby D?

[41:37] Marc: Am I stunt casting? I'm gonna say cast at your own will. If I'm stunt casting, I'm calling Michael Bublé.

[41:47] Chris: You know, he's exactly who I was thinking about too. It's like, who would I want to see? I want to see... but can he pull... I want to hear him sing it. I don't know if he acts, or that's just... I don't know if anyone remembers Matt Dusk. He was big about 20 years ago as a hotshot newcomer, and he was on this reality show. They were going to completely renovate a Vegas hotel and casino as a reality show, and he was the entertainment. And it was, you know, the drama was, "Oh, will they use him? Will his show get done in time? Will it become a success?" And, but he's had a couple of albums, and he's a terrific singer.

[42:34] Marc: I'm curious, they're gonna pull a "Maybe Happy Ending" because did you guys hear what's happening at "Maybe Happy Ending"?

[42:41] Chris: Yeah, Gail... Gil... no, Jill.

[42:44] Marc: Jill Della Cole, yeah.

[42:46] Chris: Okay, but Jill Brent Lee's a fictional character, Bobby. Rosalie Craig and say now we're female Bobby.

[42:55] Marc: Oh my god, that's right, Mark! I did think that when I did it during... is leaving or not leaving, but you know...

[43:02] Chris: I will be Bob Derrick.

[43:04] Marc: Okay, I would listen to him sing the phone book.

[43:09] Chris: Okay, Mark, I subscribe to that, but I mean, that's not stunt casting, certainly.

[43:14] Marc: No, oh, fantastic, amazing. Amazing does is amazing.

[43:22] Chris: Yes, I see Olivia's comment in the section. Oh, you know what, Jeffrey, that's not a bad suggestion either. Darren Criss.

[43:30] Marc: This is Darren Criss? That's the villain from Ant-Man who turns into Mohawk in the third one.

[43:36] Chris: Oh my god, nerd!

[43:38] Marc: Olivia says Aaron Tveit would be a great choice as well, but I don't know if he's got the Bobby D going. That sounds inappropriate when I'm saying if he's got the D going or not. But Olivia had said something about Megan Hilty coming back to Broadway, and that's another announcement from this week. It's a weird enough radio play. Yeah, the live radio play, "It's a Wonderful Life," is gonna... in just the holiday, Megan Hilty, Andrew Rannells, I love him, Titus Burgess, Lisa Brennan, and Harry Hamlin. Weird, but okay.

[44:22] Chris: They also... Jeffrey, you made the connection of correction. I know, I'm sorry, I just... Darren Criss is a Marvel character. I had to.

[44:30] Marc: You're a nerd, you're a nerd.

[44:32] Chris: Sorry! They also announced who's gonna be playing Dolly in "Dolly: A True Original," so you've got Katie Rose Clark and Carrie St. Louis who are reprising their roles from Nashville, so that's all really exciting as well. And then "Book of Mormon" became the ninth longest-running Broadway show in history as of this week, so there's a lot of cool, crazy stuff happening right now.

[45:00] Heather Bedor: But I want more! I feel like Veruca.

[45:05] Chris: I think that brings up the age-old battle that we keep having. Are shows meant to be... like, this is something that a friend of mine posted on socials a couple of days ago. Like, shows keep closing so quickly, and what show would you bring back that you would want to see run longer? And I'm going, but Broadway was never meant to have 30 years of "Phantom of the Opera" or, you know, five years of "Six," what just happened this week or whatever. Like, that's not how shows were intended to be.

[45:34] Marc: And I don't know if it's a more recent thing because post-COVID, that seems to be the more like shows are running for that long, or is it the new tradition because of streaming services? Everyone always wants to watch their favorite show over and over and over again.

[45:49] Chris: Because "Chicago," "Lion King," the '80s, you know? I just think it's a thing that goes way back, and then the question becomes, would you rather have a show that's making money, a lot of money, stay in there or boot it out and take a chance with a new show that statistically doesn't have, you know, a hundred percent chance of running?

[46:09] Marc: No, right? Well, now talk about a show for both of you. What shows that have run would you want to see come back and have a longer run?

[46:17] Chris: You mean a revival or what do I think should have run longer? What should have run longer or what do you think needs a revival? That's two different questions.

[46:26] Marc: I know, me personally, I would have loved to see "Slept Away" run longer.

[46:33] Chris: Really? I'm the only one in the room?

[46:35] Marc: I wish "Dead Outlaw" had run longer on my list.

[46:39] Chris: Yes, but then we wouldn't have had Andrew Durand as Brad in "Rocky" and his tiny whiteys, or as Seymour, or possibly as Benjamin Button, but we'd have had him as... wasn't Seymour? He was the dentist, was he?

[46:54] Marc: Orin, yeah, I don't know. I didn't see it.

[46:56] Chris: I haven't... pretty much, I'm sure he was. I'm pretty sure he was Orin. The last time I saw that, it was Hunter Foster and Terry. He was so good and so nice at the stage. I saw it on Halloween night 2004; that was so much fun.

[47:12] Marc: Oh my god! And you know what? We forgot another big announcement: "Little Shop's" new casting. I think... did you guys not see the new casting?

[47:20] Chris: Yes, with her night and Hannah Cruz.

[47:23] Marc: Oh yeah, yeah. I'm bummed that I didn't get to see Ethan Slater and Betsy Wolfe because I love my Betsy, but I love Ethan. But it's gonna be really interesting. You know we had Hannah on the podcast, yeah, well during the first act of "Chess," and it's gonna be really interesting to see Tiara Knight step into that role as well. And everyone's like, "Wait, so why do we go from like..."

[49:09] Heather Bedor: That's a Brad Oscar role. He could have gone into Hadestown as Hermes.

[50:13] Chris: Yes, I would love to see it. I am very excited because you guys know I'm going on the Broadway cruise next year. Norbert is one of the guests, and Kerry St. Louis is one of the guests, and Eden Espinosa.

[50:39] Heather Bedor: Norbert in the show called Thou Shalt Not. I thought it was amazing. I thought it would be good, including the tight white pants club. Come on, how do you not love that?

[50:57] Chris: This is 2001. Take me to the Space Odyssey.

[51:05] Heather Bedor: Yeah, that's not what I remember. I enjoyed it. I think I was the only one in the field. I was very young in my theater-going.

[51:17] Chris: Shoot my brain.

[51:19] Heather Bedor: He wrote it. He wrote it. Harry Connick Jr. I have to tell you, that's all that he said. That makes you and my wife.

[51:30] Chris: You can't hear my phone blowing up right now, right? Because it's all the notifications of the Yankees game starting in three minutes.

[51:43] Heather Bedor: You've notifications on your phone about a sports event? That's another new announcement.

[51:50] Chris: Dan Yankees.

[51:54] Heather Bedor: But what happened to Rob?

[51:58] Chris: It's like I picked it up right for you. What did you say? What happened to what?

[52:03] Heather Bedor: Rob McClure starred in it pre-Broadway, and he is not starring in this revival. It is Neil Pedro Paris starring in the revival.

[52:13] Chris: Neil Pedro Paris?

[52:14] Heather Bedor: Yeah, and Jordan Donica's gone.

[52:17] Chris: Oh yeah, all of them are gone. Julianne Hough is the girl and some guy I don't know.

[52:24] Heather Bedor: Austin Scott.

[52:25] Chris: I don't know how I feel about Julianne Hough.

[52:36] Heather Bedor: I love Neil Pedro Paris. I do, but I don't think that's the right role. I have the same problem with this as I had for Sutton as Mary. I can picture their performance right now, exactly how they're going to read every line, and it's just, I don't know, it's not interesting to me.

[52:58] Chris: Austin Scott, I know we don't know him, but he was in & Juliet and he originated the role of Joe Scott in the original Broadway cast of Girl from the North Country. He also was two years in Hamilton on Broadway and the national tour.

[53:16] Heather Bedor: I got friends with him. You know he's got to have a voice. He was also on Pose.

[53:22] Chris: Oh yeah, whenever there's an announcement of the two-star, it's like three stars announcing. I don't know one of the names. I figured, okay, they're going to be the best one, right?

[53:35] Heather Bedor: So interesting. But yeah, I mean there were a lot of announcements for stand-up announcements. Speaking of announcements, I know we're running towards the end of the show, and I rambled most of it. Chris, you know what? We're going to give away something. I'm going to let you guys both choose.

[53:46] Chris: So one of the incentives for purchasing one of our mystery shopping experiences to help support Broadway Cares at the Broadway Flea, which by the way, we donated over eight thousand dollars, which was amazing.

[53:59] Heather Bedor: Oh my God, it's weird to spend that much money when it's not your own. My bank kept saying, "Heather, are you sure this is not fraud? Is this you?" Yes, it's me. We're good.

[54:10] Chris: But our wonderful friends over at Act One Frames, and I'm going to pull up my little shop because it's the one closest to me. These beautiful babies.

[54:20] Heather Bedor: But one of our perks of signing up, besides doing something good, is for everybody that signed up and made payment before time expired was entered to win a frame. So we had forty people. Instead of putting on the prize wheel and doing something crazy because we're both lazy, Mark and I were like, "We're just going to pick numbers."

[54:42] Chris: So I'm going to have you each pick a number from one to forty, and that number coincides with where they are on the sign-up sheet, and then those are the people that will win. So Mark, do you want to go first?

[54:57] Mark: I am picking the number five.

[55:01] Heather Bedor: Number five, alright. One, two, three, four, five. That is Amy Baronek.

[55:09] Chris: Amy Baronek, a fan of Hadestown, just in time, and Moulin Rouge.

[55:15] Heather Bedor: We'll reach out to Amy and let her know that she gets a choice of one of the three beautiful colors from Act One Frames: Moulin Rouge in that red frame. Oh my God, beautiful! Or the black one, honestly, or how the Hadestown one looks like because I put it in the brown frame because I was like, "You know what? I'm going to get greenish." It looks bomb too. Alright, Chris, what number are you picking?

[55:37] Chris: Twenty-six.

[55:38] Heather Bedor: Number twenty-six, let's see. Number twenty-six is Mark Trowendel, who is a fan of Les Mis and Lost Boys. I thought it was really sweet because he was actually having me purchase something because his very first Broadway show was The Lost Boys, and he wanted to buy something nice for his friend for taking him to his first Broadway show.

[56:03] Mark: Aww, that is amazing. I love it.

[56:08] Heather Bedor: So I'm going to reach out to both of them. Congratulations to you guys! That also means if you'd like to be part of any of our upcoming contests, stay tuned. Make sure you're subscribing to our Instagram. Instagram is super easy. It is @thebwayfanclub on Insta, @thebwayfanclub. You can stay up to date with all of our fun stuff with www.thebroadwayfanclub.com. If you want to listen to me not ramble as much—well, that's always a lie—you can listen to any of our previous episodes directly on Broadway Podcast Network at www.onlybroadwayfans.com. If you want to check out our friends at Act One Frames, you can go right to Act One Frames, and you'll be able to see all of our stuff. Make sure you use our special promo code tbfc10a1f for ten percent off your order.

[56:56] Mark: As I'm done rambling, where can people find you when you are not here listening to me drone on?

[57:02] Chris: I have a Jellicle with me.

[57:05] Mark: You do have a Jellicle?

[57:08] Chris: They can find me over on YouTube at I Am Broadway by Ghostlight, where I do game shows sometimes if I can get my stuff to work. I had to delay this week's episode. It was very frustrating.

[57:23] Mark: Well, it was a nor'easter, and you had stuff going on with the kids. You're fine.

[57:26] Chris: Yeah, so that'll be out tomorrow.

[57:29] Mark: Love that. Would have been out tonight, but I'm here with you fine people.

[57:32] Chris: Well, thank you for delaying for everybody else.

[57:36] Mark: You know, whatever.

[57:37] Chris: And don't forget to mention your Substack newsletter with the games in it.

[57:42] Mark: Oh yeah, I do. I'm really enjoying that. I'm so glad. Thank you for playing. Yes, I am the editor—I'm not the author—but I'm the editor for a fun Broadway-themed games Substack called Broadway Play.

[57:56] Chris: Love that! I think you need to search Broadway Play on Substack. I think we're just going to make you start doing that for us too.

[58:05] Mark: Why not?

[58:08] Chris: Because you've got nothing better going on.

[58:12] Mark: And Chris Levy, where can people find you when you're not sitting here listening to me drone on and on?

[58:16] Chris: Usually rehearsal at the Winter Park Playhouse.

[58:20] Mark: That's right. You know I have an Insta that I don't keep up with. It's Levy in Life.

[58:27] Chris: It's there on the—you can see it right there.

[58:30] Mark: I am so bad oriented to the camera.

[58:38] Chris: Someday there'll be a full website that goes with it.

[58:45] Mark: I think someday there will be, and then all the ancillary stuff I do will be there, and it'll link to this and the Broadway Play newsletter and all the fun Broadway things.

[58:59] Chris: Theater games, theater.games is another one.

[59:04] Mark: I do. I have a big fan of theater games.

[59:10] Chris: Although how do you get on their DM leaderboards? I've gotten in there a few times.

[59:13] Mark: I think they're rich.

[59:15] Chris: Oh, I don't know. I just get it. I play every morning, and I get what I get.

[59:20] Mark: Yeah, on Instagram, every once in a while, every week they post like last week's top ten in each category.

[59:27] Chris: Anyway, I'm very proud of it.

[59:29] Mark: I'm so not on Insta. I just have one. I'm going to go look at that and see if I've ever made it.

[59:33] Chris: Well, and don't forget everybody, you'll be catching us here every Monday at 7 PM Eastern. New time, not new day.

[59:41] Mark: And I will say that we just confirmed a new guest to come and join us. It will be on November second. We will have the lovely Rachel Potter.

[59:55] Chris: Rachel Potter, recently in Evita.

[59:59] Mark: Yes, Adams Family, Wicked, The X Factor, Legally Blonde: A Search for Elle Woods. She's going to come on the show to talk about her upcoming projects for the fall and the winter, which is going to be Adams Family Live in Concert, along with Frozen at the Nashville Rep, and her new vocal project, Triple Threat, which features somebody that Chris and I know, Omar Codona.

[1:00:22] Chris: Yes, we're very excited to get her on the show on November second, and we'll be updating more guest appearances coming soon.

[1:00:30] Mark: Do ask her about the Search for Elle Woods.

[1:00:32] Chris: Oh, I will be absolutely. The three of us will just ask her all the questions all the time.

[1:00:41] Heather Bedor: But I'm so glad that we got to catch up. I hope I made you guys feel like you were in the craziness with me.

[1:00:46] Chris: My ankles felt sprained right along with you.

[1:00:50] Mark: That's for another show.

[1:00:59] Heather Bedor: Love it, love it, love it.

[1:01:02] Mark: Alright boys and everybody else, we look forward to seeing you next Monday at 7 PM. Don't forget, every Monday when Broadway is dark, we keep the ghost light burning, especially Mark, who is the Broadway ghost light.

[1:01:12] Chris: Broadway by Ghostlight for the win.

[1:01:14] Heather Bedor: Alright, bye everybody! Now I'm gonna go watch the Yankees destroy the Bays.