This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:20] Amber Brzezinski: Love my little dance.

[0:23] Heather Bedor: Hello, happy Monday.

[0:25] Heather Bedor: Mondays are my favorite days because we are here.

[0:29] Amber Brzezinski: Yay.

[0:30] Heather Bedor: Well, you're here.

[0:31] Heather Bedor: I'm here.

[0:31] Heather Bedor: And this handsome gentleman below us is the one and only Justin Sargent.

[0:36] Amber Brzezinski: About time you're doing the show, buddy.

[0:37] Justin Sargent: I'm so excited.

[0:39] Justin Sargent: Yeah, thanks for having me.

[0:40] Justin Sargent: I'm so excited.

[0:41] Heather Bedor: And you're doing this from your car because you love us that much.

[0:46] Heather Bedor: So for those of you who don't know, Justin is currently starring in Hamilton, the Angelica Tour.

[0:52] Justin Sargent: So excited.

[0:53] Justin Sargent: It took everything for me to not give away that secret when you had found out, and I was like, we'll not say anything.

[0:59] Justin Sargent: Um, but you're actually on travel day right now.

[1:02] Justin Sargent: So it's fantastic, and you're currently sitting in a car.

[1:04] Justin Sargent: So thank you for doing that.

[1:05] Justin Sargent: Appreciate it.

[1:06] Justin Sargent: Right.

[1:06] Justin Sargent: Here in Charlotte, North Carolina, ready to do a whole month of shows.

[1:10] Heather Bedor: That's awesome.

[1:12] Heather Bedor: Super excited about it.

[1:13] Heather Bedor: That'll be really fantastic.

[1:15] Heather Bedor: And uh yeah, so if you're in the Charlotte area, please please go see the show because you're gonna see something unlike anything you've ever seen before, even if you've seen Hamilton 500 times.

[1:24] Justin Sargent: 100%.

[1:25] Justin Sargent: It's true.

[1:26] Heather Bedor: But um, well, uh just like any other Monday, we're gonna do our Broadway Fan Club podcast, Broadway news, and Justin's gonna sit in on that.

[1:33] Heather Bedor: So open table, cursing is allowed, um, crying is fine.

[1:37] Heather Bedor: We've made you know Jeff Calhoun cry, which made me sad.

[1:41] Heather Bedor: But um, yeah, so we're just gonna get right into it, and then we're gonna get down and dirty and ask all sorts of questions from your like incredible career.

[1:52] Heather Bedor: It's been so cool to watch you, bro, man.

[1:54] Justin Sargent: It's been awesome.

[1:55] Heather Bedor: Thank you.

[1:56] Justin Sargent: You're welcome.

[1:57] Heather Bedor: So we'll get right into it.

[1:58] Heather Bedor: Amber, how are we doing with our Broadway news?

[2:00] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, I'm starting.

[2:01] Amber Brzezinski: It's me.

[2:03] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, it's you.

[2:04] Amber Brzezinski: All right.

[2:04] Amber Brzezinski: Um problem, it's you.

[2:07] Amber Brzezinski: So we do have some news this week, as you know.

[2:11] Amber Brzezinski: Um, the Louis Armstrong musical A Wonderful World is launching a special fundraiser in conjunction with our friends, Broadway Cares.

[2:24] Amber Brzezinski: Um, and this is to support the victims of the January 1st vehicular attack in New Orleans, Louisiana.

[2:31] Amber Brzezinski: Such fun to start the show off.

[2:33] Heather Bedor: I know, right?

[2:34] Amber Brzezinski: Um because the show has such um deep ties with Louisiana, they decided to put on this fundraiser, and Broadway Cares has pledged an additional ten thousand dollars added in addition to whatever the musical will raise itself.

[2:49] Amber Brzezinski: So that's pretty nice.

[2:50] Amber Brzezinski: I I've always loved like Broadway and some sort of like craziness going on.

[2:56] Amber Brzezinski: And I'm like gonna veer off course for a second because Justin has a tie to doing something that was like a crazy thing.

[3:03] Amber Brzezinski: Um and I'm sure you remember very very much like I do.

[3:07] Amber Brzezinski: Um, the very first From Broadway with Love, right after the Pulse shooting.

[3:12] Justin Sargent: Yeah, yeah.

[3:13] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, so especially being from Orlando, excuse me.

[3:18] Amber Brzezinski: Um you know, uh the Pulse Night Club was the first nightclub of any kind that I I've been to, you know.

[3:25] Amber Brzezinski: And you know, being being in a musical theater program and um being surrounded by by you know, mostly uh um, you know, gay students and and and faculty members, and you know uh this is back in the early 2000, well the you know like 2007-ish 2003 to 2008 really and um the you know Pulse was was really one of the only places that that we could go where like my my my castmates felt safe and they felt exactly welcome and so it was I have vivid memories of that place and so that was uh that was a very hard thing to come back home and to do that uh that that benefit um for a community that had kind of given me so much and and also um had had such a horrible tragic thing happen to us.

[4:16] Justin Sargent: Yeah and I I was sitting in the audience and the and I'm I have the video of your performance by the way it's queued up.

[4:23] Amber Brzezinski: Um, you're welcome.

[4:24] Amber Brzezinski: But sitting in like the sold-out house at the Dr.

[4:30] Amber Brzezinski: Phillips Center, it was like the very first thing they had done there, and being the site supervisor for the volunteers after the shooting as an ally, and like my friends are like, we're gonna go to this, and I'm like, okay, like Broadway literally like heals the soul.

[4:44] Amber Brzezinski: And the minute they were like, We're little hometown boys, not just as hard.

[4:50] Amber Brzezinski: Like as you come out on stage, like the entire crowd loses their ever loving minds.

[4:55] Justin Sargent: And but it was so nice, it was like a good homecoming for you too, I think.

[5:00] Justin Sargent: I tell you what, I've never I've never been more nervous to sing in front of a group of people, and it was it was so nerve-wracking.

[5:07] Justin Sargent: I I it was I was it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

[5:10] Amber Brzezinski: I uh well, clearly, I mean, under those circumstances, yes, but you pulled it off.

[5:14] Amber Brzezinski: Here, let me show a little bit of this video clip so people can see little baby Justin Sargent.

[5:19] Justin Sargent: Actually, I have older videos.

[5:21] Justin Sargent: Oh, don't worry, I've I've got some old school stuff for you.

[5:24] Justin Sargent: I told you, it's gonna be a great time for us.

[5:27] Amber Brzezinski: Oh my god.

[5:28] Amber Brzezinski: Let me see.

[5:30] Amber Brzezinski: Gotta get this one queued up.

[5:33] Amber Brzezinski: I think this is the one.

[5:34] Amber Brzezinski: Stand by.

[5:39] Amber Brzezinski: Nope.

[5:40] Amber Brzezinski: That's a surprise one.

[5:44] Amber Brzezinski: Surprise!

[5:47] Amber Brzezinski: Here we go.

[5:48] Amber Brzezinski: All right.

[5:49] Amber Brzezinski: Let me get this play on everybody's.

[6:00] Justin Sargent: Like Justin Sargent, this is your life.

[6:03] Justin Sargent: Yeah, right.

[6:04] Justin Sargent: And such a rager, too.

[6:06] Justin Sargent: Like such a good song.

[6:08] Justin Sargent: But just like it's gorgeous.

[6:11] Justin Sargent: You know, it's so funny because I was I was uh almost in here.

[6:18] Amber Brzezinski: I'll pause.

[6:19] Amber Brzezinski: Oh my gosh.

[6:20] Amber Brzezinski: You were singing so amazingly.

[6:22] Amber Brzezinski: Yes, go ahead.

[6:24] Justin Sargent: No, just like it.

[6:25] Justin Sargent: It's just such a thing about having to be so um uh you know the night was full of Broadway stars.

[6:33] Justin Sargent: Yeah, there was you know, like there was it was it was just Peter Rivera, there was Brian Stokes Mitchell.

[6:37] Justin Sargent: I mean, you name it, no really old buttons Darren Chris, and everybody was doing these, you know, incredible number of Broadway shows, and here I am doing Journey, and I was just like I felt I felt a little out of place um and nervous, and it was it was definitely songs of Ranger, and everybody was out of their like depression and like just sadness for a brief moment because everyone was singing like everyone is singing gorgeous songs and and whatnot, but like when you came on, you put a whole new sense of spirit into that show.

[7:06] Amber Brzezinski: It was emotional for sure.

[7:07] Justin Sargent: It was emotional, yeah.

[7:09] Justin Sargent: Yes, but well, that was that was the first start of it.

[7:12] Justin Sargent: So, yeah, I mean, I just I love that Broadway in general will always and Kenny Howard helped arrange that.

[7:19] Justin Sargent: Um, but like I really just love that Broadway has kind of aligned itself with like being the giant like hug to make sure that the community is no matter who is in the community, is someone that's just kind of it's really a lovely thing.

[7:34] Amber Brzezinski: It's been a safe haven for for a long time.

[7:36] Justin Sargent: Yeah, absolutely.

[7:38] Justin Sargent: I um I remember after COVID, and like I hadn't seen a show in like two years, three years.

[7:43] Justin Sargent: And I was talking to one of my friends after going to like a musical Mondays thing locally, and uh my friend Amy was like, You sound like a totally different person.

[7:52] Justin Sargent: She's like, I really was thinking about it in like theater, like it filled that hole that you were missing.

[7:57] Justin Sargent: I was like, Wow, okay, I won't I won't cry.

[7:59] Justin Sargent: Um, but it's true, it's really true, and it speaks to everybody, both as fan and like helping bring the communities that you know what we can do.

[8:07] Amber Brzezinski: So all right, moving on before I start crying.

[8:11] Amber Brzezinski: That's great.

[8:13] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[8:13] Amber Brzezinski: Next up, Broadway news.

[8:15] Amber Brzezinski: Well, it's not good news, it's all sad news.

[8:15] Amber Brzezinski: All sad news.

[8:19] Amber Brzezinski: We had some show closings, we had three shows closing this weekend.

[8:24] Amber Brzezinski: We had Elf, which was a limited run seasonal, you know, for the holidays.

[8:29] Amber Brzezinski: We had Back to the Future, which was felt like it was running for forever.

[8:35] Amber Brzezinski: It's gonna be so missed on Broadway.

[8:38] Amber Brzezinski: I don't know how it closed, but I'm interested to see what's gonna go over there.

[8:42] Amber Brzezinski: And we had SUFS that closed and Teeth also closed, and Teeth also closed off Broadway.

[8:50] Justin Sargent: Yeah.

[8:51] Amber Brzezinski: Now, Justin, I know you've been touring for a while.

[8:53] Amber Brzezinski: Have you gotten a chance to see any of those shows?

[8:55] Justin Sargent: You did Back to the Future, right?

[8:57] Justin Sargent: I did go see Back to the Future, yeah, yeah, because KC is a good buddy.

[9:00] Justin Sargent: Um good in the show.

[9:02] Justin Sargent: Really I really enjoyed it.

[9:03] Justin Sargent: I'm I'm a massive uh fan of the movie.

[9:07] Justin Sargent: And um I really really I I really had a good time at that show.

[9:12] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[9:13] Amber Brzezinski: Well it it's all of the shows, it's it's and and again, I'm gonna leave this open to you guys.

[9:19] Amber Brzezinski: It's been kind of a weird couple of seasons because it's like shows are coming and then shows are going so quickly and it just kind of boggles my mind.

[9:28] Justin Sargent: Well, you know, I will I will say that this is that that's it it's kind of like it's almost like we're returning to the Broadway of old.

[9:34] Justin Sargent: I mean, in a whole different way, and the model is different, right?

[9:37] Justin Sargent: But but Broadway shows didn't they didn't last for years and years and years.

[9:42] Justin Sargent: Right.

[9:43] Justin Sargent: I th I feel like that really changed in the eighties and nineties with the Cameron Mackintosh productions, right?

[9:47] Justin Sargent: With these big sweeping musicals that that that stayed and became Broadway staples.

[9:52] Justin Sargent: But for for I mean, since its inception all the way through like 60s and like really the 70s, I mean Broadway shows, you know, they they ran for a year or so and then they went away and they made room for new shows.

[10:03] Justin Sargent: And so it is very interesting to that that we're kind of going back to that, but for different reasons, you know, for because now that's just not sustainable to have a show on Broadway for a long time, unless you're selling out every single performance at Maximum T.

[10:15] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, I read something I read an article earlier that they're calling it the $30 million Broadway shows now, $30 million musicals.

[10:21] Justin Sargent: Yeah, it's insane.

[10:23] Justin Sargent: Like the minimum.

[10:24] Justin Sargent: It's insane.

[10:25] Heather Bedor: Right.

[10:26] Heather Bedor: And I I agree, Justin, like, and Amber, I'm sure you agree too.

[10:29] Heather Bedor: Like when we were younger and we're seeing shows, like it was a special moment that was captured just then and there.

[10:35] Heather Bedor: And you remember that, it becomes a core memory.

[10:38] Heather Bedor: Yes, now I've seen Phantom 12 times and Wicked nine and whatever, but that's because they're still there and I can still enjoy them.

[10:44] Heather Bedor: But I think it almost makes it less special at times just to keep going, but we go for different reasons and it's a different kind of way of enjoying shows for sure.

[10:56] Justin Sargent: Absolutely.

[10:58] Amber Brzezinski: All right, so everything's closing, everything people are everything's closing.

[11:03] Amber Brzezinski: However, um, with regards to SUFS, they were acquired for licensing by the Music Theater International.

[11:14] Justin Sargent: Yep.

[11:15] Justin Sargent: So Shana Taub said, I'm so thrilled that SUFS has found such a wonderful home at the legendary MTI.

[11:22] Justin Sargent: It has long been my dream that this show been made accessible to schools and theaters everywhere.

[11:28] Justin Sargent: I hope new generations find empowerment and inspirations and getting to tell the story themselves.

[11:34] Justin Sargent: I encourage productions to create ensembles where as many different people as possible get to participate.

[11:41] Justin Sargent: For example, while on Broadway the male characters are wonderfully portrayed by women, I'm excited to see theaters open those roles to boys and men as well.

[11:51] Justin Sargent: And all performances were uh and all performers regardless of gender.

[11:56] Justin Sargent: Everyone gets to be a SUF.

[11:58] Justin Sargent: The show now belongs to the future, and I can't wait to see how it lives on.

[12:03] Amber Brzezinski: Nice.

[12:04] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, so beautiful.

[12:06] Amber Brzezinski: I think it's a great plan for that.

[12:08] Amber Brzezinski: And I know I'm I'm curious.

[12:11] Amber Brzezinski: Like that was like a very good direction that they went.

[12:13] Amber Brzezinski: What do you think, Justin?

[12:15] Justin Sargent: I think that that's the exact exactly the kind of show that should be done everywhere in the country.

[12:23] Justin Sargent: And um, I think that that making it more accessible for for people all all over the all over the country, regional theaters all all over the country, is um a very important and valuable uh like theatrical asset to our culture.

[12:40] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, it's just much more like at your hands reach, like it's you don't have to worry about going to New York or watching a slime tutorial of it, it's right in your backyard.

[12:49] Amber Brzezinski: So I agree, good movements.

[12:51] Justin Sargent: Yeah, no, I totally agree.

[12:53] Justin Sargent: I if any show should be doing this, it should be SUFS.

[12:57] Justin Sargent: I mean, I remember when I was in New York and it was still in previews, I think, and I'm going, all right, Amber, do I go see SUFS or do I go this?

[13:05] Justin Sargent: She's like, I don't know, go see SUFS.

[13:06] Justin Sargent: And I'm like, I just I don't know.

[13:08] Justin Sargent: It's like the female Hamilton, and I don't know, I don't know.

[13:11] Justin Sargent: And I walked into the because I'm like, I'm not a politically driven girl, but I enjoy Hamilton, but like, is it gonna be just like this?

[13:18] Justin Sargent: I just I didn't know.

[13:19] Justin Sargent: I called her during intermission, I was like, oh my god, you need to see the show as soon as possible.

[13:25] Justin Sargent: And I loved it.

[13:26] Justin Sargent: It was great.

[13:27] Justin Sargent: Yeah, it didn't need anything fake, fancy, and splashy, it just got to the point.

[13:32] Justin Sargent: Plus any show that has a song called The Great American Bitch, I'm here for.

[13:36] Amber Brzezinski: Right, exactly.

[13:37] Justin Sargent: Yeah, yeah.

[13:39] Amber Brzezinski: Exactly.

[13:40] Heather Bedor: I don't know if that was the weekend that I visited you, Justin, when you did Sign of the Times.

[13:44] Justin Sargent: It might be.

[13:45] Heather Bedor: Yeah, it might have been.

[13:51] Amber Brzezinski: That was a fun show to watch you in.

[13:51] Justin Sargent: Yeah, that was a fun it was a fun show to do. I mean, yeah, that was a good thing at New World Stages. Went back to the 60s for a little while. It was definitely a fun little jukeboxy thing, but it was great.

[14:05] Amber Brzezinski: And it was like a good it was a good easement into you going on tour too. You got to spend some time at home too.

[14:10] Justin Sargent: Yes.

[14:12] Amber Brzezinski: All right, what's next, Amber?

[14:16] Heather Bedor: Next is that we've gotten some information regarding the production of Real Women Have Curves. Um, as previously announced, it will be playing at a Schubert organized theater. Um, but as now we will know that previews will begin on April 1st ahead of an April 27th opening night.

[14:36] Amber Brzezinski: Now, is that gonna be a limited run or is that an open run? Excited.

[14:39] Heather Bedor: Um, you know, I didn't really see either way, but um I, you know, I'm just excited to see what that show brings to the table because, you know, I'm excited to see the full-figured ladies. We've got some friends on Broadway that are full-figured right now, and they are kicking some ass, so I love it.

[14:58] Justin Sargent: Right, exactly. More representation the better, right?

[15:03] Amber Brzezinski: Exactly. And my last bit of Broadway news is that on Drag: The Musical, we have Jimbo joining the ranks as Kitty Galloway starting on January 13th up until February 7th.

[15:17] Heather Bedor: So Alaska will be leaving.

[15:20] Amber Brzezinski: Um, and Jimbo will be stepping in as Kitty Galloway, so that will be very exciting.

[15:25] Justin Sargent: And you've skipped over my Broadway news. I'm very upset with you.

[15:27] Amber Brzezinski: I was letting you say it.

[15:32] Justin Sargent: Um, the saddest news to come.

[15:34] Amber Brzezinski: No, it's not the saddest.

[15:36] Justin Sargent: Um, officially, as of last night, uh Sleep No More, the immersive production at the Metatrix has now closed.

[15:43] Amber Brzezinski: I don't even believe it.

[15:46] Justin Sargent: And Heather, I'm sure you've had an eye on it too, but for over a year, they kept saying our final extension, our final extension.

[15:54] Amber Brzezinski: Well, they it's like they kept teasing it for years, and then I was like, well, it's never gonna happen. And then here we are.

[16:01] Justin Sargent: Here we are. It actually happened. And they put together this beautiful um like video on TikTok and Reels. And they just ended it as I really can't believe you're all here. I dreamt last night. I went back to Manderley again. Would you like to go for just one more time?

[16:17] Amber Brzezinski: So we don't know. Um, but they did have this really awesome opportunity for people in attendance to take a photo of the entire massive cast, which we posted. I'll send it over to you, Justin. It was so cool to see everybody, they're all in costume.

[16:30] Justin Sargent: So right now, the only immersive company um is going to be Life and Trust over at Commonwealth Coffee. Um, so that'll be that. But then we're still waiting for more news from Masquerade, um, which is uh the next installment of Phantom of the Opera, but it will be an immersive experience.

[16:51] Amber Brzezinski: So that I am going to lose my ever-loving mind doing five.

[16:56] Justin Sargent: I'm gonna turn it to my friend Chris Frost, who I think he literally just spent all weekend at um Sleep No More, like again coming from California. I think he did four shows.

[17:06] Amber Brzezinski: Oh wow.

[17:09] Justin Sargent: I will show you guys pictures because he's also like a woodworker, he creates display boxes just for the masks, but he like has stacks, stacks of masks. It's incredible.

[17:21] Amber Brzezinski: That's pretty cool.

[17:23] Justin Sargent: Hey, Shreyan just joined us, so oh hey.

[17:26] Amber Brzezinski: But yeah, did you ever do stage, Justin?

[17:30] Justin Sargent: As a performer?

[17:32] Amber Brzezinski: No, I mean just as an attendee.

[17:34] Justin Sargent: Oh, yeah. I mean, I would have been fascinated if you performed in it.

[17:38] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, yeah, I've been many times.

[17:41] Justin Sargent: Uh three times, yeah, three times, same.

[17:44] Amber Brzezinski: And did you have a special part like that you enjoy the most or the candy store, the little candy shop, yeah.

[17:49] Justin Sargent: Hell yeah.

[17:51] Amber Brzezinski: Did you steal candy from the candy shop though?

[17:52] Justin Sargent: Yes, of course I stole candy.

[17:55] Justin Sargent: I always got my Butterfinger there. I would always be sent on missions from like the players in it, going, oh, can you get me a piece of this? It's my favorite. And I'm like rushing through trying to find them, and I'm like, here's your candy, and then nothing happens. It's awesome.

[18:09] Justin Sargent: But yeah, no, just like having that immersive experience. I just absolutely loved. So I'm sad to see it go, but I'm excited to see the next installment if there is one.

[18:18] Amber Brzezinski: But for Broadway News.

[18:21] Justin Sargent: That's it for Broadway News.

[18:22] Amber Brzezinski: Such a small part of when I tell you I like wrote out my list, I was like, wow, that's it. There's not a lot of news. I mean, we do have a very special guest in attendance that we're gonna just put out the spotlight on, so it's gonna be great.

[18:37] Justin Sargent: Yeah.

[18:37] Amber Brzezinski: He's got the light from the car acting as like a follow spot.

[18:40] Justin Sargent: It's gonna be a lot of like a spotlight, yeah.

[18:43] Amber Brzezinski: Well, before we move into just asking you all the questions, I'm gonna give you the opportunity to introduce yourself to our followers. Um shame on them if they don't know who you are, but if they don't know who you are, you give them your rundown of who you are, what you're doing, and why you're on the show.

[19:00] Justin Sargent: Okay, oh my goodness. So um hello. All right, here it is. Uh my name is Justin Sargent. I am currently on tour with uh Hamilton, uh playing King George. Um which has been an absolute a very small, small role. Yes, right. It's been a uh truly wonderful experience. I absolutely love this company, this show. Um touring's been tough, but you know, it's um it's been a good kind of uh life moment. Um but yeah, I've been I've been uh you know lucky lucky to have been a uh a working actor since I moved to the city in 2010. Um I started as a uh an understudy in Rock of Ages, understudying Constantine Maroulis as Drew in Rock of Ages, and uh then took over for the role um when it moved to Helen Hayes on Broadway in 2013. Um before that, actually actually before that, I was understudying Bonnie and Clyde on Broadway.

[20:00] Amber Brzezinski: And um and you were understudying like almost every male role in that show, correct?

[20:06] Justin Sargent: Yeah, I mean primarily Clyde and Ted uh and Buck. But um and then so I sorry in 2012 actually is when I took over the role of Drew in Rock of Ages. Did that for about a year and eight months and then left uh to go replace Reeve Carney in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark as Peter Parker and did that uh for the last seven months. Also a very small role.

[20:27] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, also very small, yeah.

[20:29] Justin Sargent: So much fun though. Um and uh, you know, I've done uh quite a bit of TV and film, you know, near Law and Order and Mr. Robot, and you know, this kind of like these, you know, USA and TNT dramas and um a few films here and there. Uh we did Jesus Christ Superstar Live on NBC. I was the uh standby for John Legend and uh you know was able to uh to play Jesus for the rehearsal period while he was out touring, which is a lot of fun. Was also a featured ensemble member in that live production. Um been working on a lot of you know shows in development ever since, including a show that's phenomenal called uh Mozart, uh Her Story, which is all about uh the relationship between Mozart and his sister Nannerl, which is so good.

[21:16] Amber Brzezinski: And Emperor Nolina is kind of doing some stuff with that too.

[21:19] Justin Sargent: She has done a few things, yeah. We did this big Carnegie Hall presentation of it last year. They just did a presentation of it in London, so very excited to see the future of that show. Another show I've been working on called Super You, um, written by Lords Lane, uh directed by Joanne Hunter. It's been a working on that one for a while.

[21:37] Amber Brzezinski: Yep, since right before the pandemic.

[21:39] Justin Sargent: Um so yeah, a lot of shows in development, a lot a lot of things coming down the pipeline, and for now we're just uh you know, kind of um ruling the uh ruling the kingdom uh here in Hamilton on tour.

[21:51] Amber Brzezinski: And which is funny because my father just said, hi girls, love you, dad.

[21:55] Justin Sargent: So far, very interesting. I've never heard a king speak, so just Niz Royalty.

[22:01] Amber Brzezinski: Um well before before you like made it and forgot about us little people, um you did what you kind of already saw that sneak peek of. Um, which I think I'm gonna play a clip of for people because I think this was 2007. What was this?

[22:15] Justin Sargent: Oh, I'm gonna show you. Hold on.

[22:19] Amber Brzezinski: Oh no.

[22:20] Justin Sargent: Oh yes.

[22:22] Amber Brzezinski: Here you go.

[22:25] Justin Sargent: Uh yes.

[22:28] Amber Brzezinski: Let's go.

[22:37] Justin Sargent: Hello, hello.

[23:03] Amber Brzezinski: Yep.

[23:04] Justin Sargent: You're welcome.

[23:05] Amber Brzezinski: 2007?

[23:07] Justin Sargent: So good.

[23:08] Amber Brzezinski: 2007, 2008. I did that for two years. Uh that was Riff Raff from the Rocky Horror Show at Universal Studios. We did a live 45-minute version of the movie on stage at the Beetlejuice Theater. It was fantastic. One of my favorite experiences of my entire career. I absolutely loved doing that. Um I got the opportunity to play Riff Raff again at the Bucks County Playhouse with Nick Adams as Rocky and oh god, uh Kevin Cahun as Frankenfurter.

[23:39] Amber Brzezinski: And they're Drag: The Musical.

[23:41] Justin Sargent: It was so much fun. I often say that if I could play one character for the rest of my career, it probably would be Riff Raff in Rocky.

[23:49] Amber Brzezinski: So it's really funny. So before the show, Amber and I always go over like questions of like, you know, what should we ask, or do you want to ask this? And I was like, there's like the, you know, what role would you go back to? And I'm like, oh, I could probably answer that, but I'll let him. Because I remember like I think that was right on the time we met, like very briefly. But I remember every single time you'd hit that like crazy ass note.

[24:12] Justin Sargent: Now that theater was an outdoor theater, people would pile in. You guys did that show like three times a night.

[24:19] Amber Brzezinski: We did it uh on peak nights, we would do it six times a night, and on non-peak nights, we would do it, I think four.

[24:26] Justin Sargent: Yeah, it was crazy, and you did that shit every time.

[24:26] Amber Brzezinski: Every time.

[24:31] Justin Sargent: It was great.

[24:32] Amber Brzezinski: But yeah, no, now that was I that was like before you actually started to do the Broadway stuff. But was there ever a time? Obviously, you've done this for quite a while, but was there ever a time where you were like, this is it, this is what I'm gonna do? I know you were doing musical theater in school, but was there a moment that you can remember back to and be like, this is the time, this is when I decided I want to do Broadway and I want to perform?

[24:56] Justin Sargent: Yeah, I was doing community theater back in my hometown when I was in high school.

[25:00] Amber Brzezinski: And his hometown being where I live.

[25:03] Justin Sargent: Newport Richey, Newport Richey, Florida, yeah. And I just I fell in love with it and um I just I just knew that this uh I this is what I want to do. This is how I want to make a living, and um God, I've been so lucky to be able to have done that. It's been crazy.

[25:19] Amber Brzezinski: And you're just you're still going, and that's the best part.

[25:24] Justin Sargent: That's absolutely best part.

[25:25] Amber Brzezinski: I know Amber has like a bunch of Hamilton questions she's been dying to ask you, so I'm gonna let her.

[25:25] Justin Sargent: Not necessarily true.

[25:38] Amber Brzezinski: Okay.

[25:38] Justin Sargent: They're not all Hamilton, they're just mostly Hamilton.

[25:43] Amber Brzezinski: Mostly Hamilton, yes. And also for all of our friends watching, um, and Justin, I always forget to warn like our guests, the numbers on our side mean nothing because you we usually about have 3,000 to 4,000 people live with us.

[25:54] Justin Sargent: Oh yeah, so um it the comments will pop up if we see something that someone wants to ask. You guys are absolutely more than welcome to ask or say something or say hi to Justin, just keep it nice um and complimentary and we'll be good.

[26:09] Justin Sargent: So um Amber, that's not to you. If somebody is an asshole in the comments, you can totally be an asshole back.

[26:14] Justin Sargent: It's I'll have to I'll have to yeah, I'll I'll get I'll get into it with him for sure.

[26:18] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, cool, absolutely. I permit that.

[26:20] Amber Brzezinski: All right, go on, Amber.

[26:22] Amber Brzezinski: All right. So you're playing quite a historical figure. Did you do like any historical kind of research for the role?

[26:31] Justin Sargent: Or did you just kind of go in?

[26:35] Justin Sargent: I did actually. I did quite a bit because um I wanted to I wanted to respect what came you know before, but also wanted to kind of put my own spin on this character, which has been very um uh welcome with this company. They are very interested in seeing you know your version of this character, which is very different from a lot of shows. They want to they really want you to stick to what was done before to what was it in the original versions. Um and you know, the one thing that I had I learned about uh old Georgie is that uh is I you know I actually didn't realize that he lived, he actually lived to be quite old.

[27:12] Justin Sargent: Um I think he lived to be in his 80s. Oh yeah, um so this is a very this is this was you know this this kind of 25 year span that happens in Hamilton was a very um kind of like focused part of his life and his man depressive his you know they think he actually now he would have been diagnosed as bipolar, uh which is why it was called you know you know the the the tyrant king and the mad king and all this kind of stuff and right that's interesting. He would have these fits of rage followed by fits of elation, like just he would he would be he would be the sweetest man ever and then throw a tear across the room, you know. And and um, so I really wanted to bring some of that kind of buttoned up, you know, um subtle, you don't know what he's gonna do, and then when he explodes, it's just so unexpected and just kind of uh uh uh you know abrasive.

I wanted to kind of bring bring some of that back into uh this uh the the role or into the role, I guess. Um and what ended up happening, and and I've gotten this from a lot of different people that have seen the show, including people that have been in various companies of the show, is that they they keep saying oh you're you're kind of bringing this like Freddie Mercury vibe to the character which is very different than what I know right because Jonathan's version is very much this like you know especially vocally and and the style the the style this the song is written like a Beatles song almost like kind of like all you need is love and you know this kind of like yeah and um so I you know I've had some friends go oh you you bring this kind of like really cool Freddie Mercury vibe that has this like little little bit of danger to it you know and I and um that was not intended uh specifically to be my goal but um I'm I'm glad that's how it's being kind of received because I think it I think it works really well and I think it's unique and different from people from what people have seen um before yet still fits within the realm of the character that's yeah that's very cool actually now Cheyenne just asked two questions if you don't mind asking answering them so she has two questions for you what show really spurred your love for musical theater yes that would be famous the opera for sure never heard of it no clue yeah never um and uh was there is there a role that you haven't played that you would love to play yeah I would love to play Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar that'd be a great role um that's a dream that's a dream role right there that's awesome that would be very fun and I mean you could pull it off for sure you already know the show which is great that's right.

[29:46] Amber Brzezinski: All right, Justin, what's next?

[29:49] Justin Sargent: All right.

[29:50] Amber Brzezinski: So obviously you have a very comical part in Hamilton. Do you ever get like what's your favorite moments of like the audience reacting to your part? Do you is there anything that kind of stands out to you? Have you had a good reaction from somewhere?

[30:06] Justin Sargent: I I would I it's it's kind of a cheap way, you know, kind of a cheap answer here, but I would have to say every all three all three songs. I mean, I just I just I get to have such a great kind of personal relationship with the audience because I'm the only one on stage. Right. And they're the only people that I'm talking to. You know, there's nobody else there. There's the one moment with the century who's played by me, um uh uh um who's played by Miriam and who's fantastic, and you know, she she comes out to kind of like whisper something in my ear, and we have a fun cute little interaction. We we kind of play off, she's very tall, so we kind of play off like her height, which is fun. But um, but other than that, it's just me and the audience and and and I've never been in a role like that before where I I don't have other scene partners.

So right, where you just are kind of breaking the fourth wall there. Yeah, so it's been very very cool to to have that experience, and I just have to, I mean, I can't pick up I can't pick apart. They're all they're all kind of equally as um interesting and fun and challenging.

[31:07] Amber Brzezinski: And do you love wearing that fancy outfit?

[31:10] Justin Sargent: Oh yeah, yeah. I I would like the yeah, the crown, it's all oh my god, it's amazing. The only part that's kind of a pain in the ass is that it's so fancy and so expensive that whenever I come off stage because I have so much downtime between songs, I they actually make me get out of the costume. Wow. So then I don't wrinkle it or spill something on it. You know, they then they provide you with you know these fun little boxes and stuff to wear, but you know, it's um yeah, I have I have to take it off every single time I got on stage.

[31:40] Amber Brzezinski: That's crazy. And now how long do you found in between like how long do you actually have to get out of it and then relax the back?

[31:49] Justin Sargent: I I think between the opening of the first song is about 20 minutes. Between the first song and the second song is about 30 minutes. Between the second song and the third song is about I would say an hour. So you're the laziest show a star on the show, so it's great.

[32:04] Amber Brzezinski: No, um I I just I'm trying to imagine because you know, doing costuming for a long time too. Is it an extensive setup or is it pretty simple?

[32:18] Justin Sargent: It was a little a little more involved. It takes me getting used to, yeah. I mean, but basically I just stand there and they put it they they put it on me, you know, and gotta love a good Broadway dresser for sure.

[32:31] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, yeah. For sure. All right, Amber, what's next?

[32:35] Justin Sargent: Um next up.

[32:39] Amber Brzezinski: Well, Cheyenne took my dream role question. So that's all my that's all my questions.

[32:46] Justin Sargent: Well, easy enough. Um all right, well, I'm gonna get into some more of the nitty-gritty then. You ready?

[32:51] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, let's go.

[32:52] Justin Sargent: Okay. Um we'll step back in time. Um talking about Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark. Um, which I tried to find my calendar that my friend Shauna got me, and I could not find it because I really wanted to show it to you.

[33:06] Amber Brzezinski: Well, I think I was not involved in the calendar.

[33:10] Justin Sargent: No.

[33:11] Amber Brzezinski: No.

[33:12] Justin Sargent: Um, but I just wanted to help bring back some memories. Um what was the most rewarding part about playing that performance? Like playing that role, but also being part of that show because and we've talked about it before. There's such negative connotation around all sorts of stuff that happened with it. I don't think it got the life life the life extended that it needed to. Sorry, the concussion brain is still happening, so sometimes the words jumble, but I feel like I feel like there needs to be more from that show, but there's been so much hate after that show, and I don't understand why. Like there was such a good show.

[33:50] Justin Sargent: I feel like people are are were a little frustrated by the ambition and the you know kind of commercialization of of Broadway and you know, comic books movies were such a big deal at the time. So I think Broadway was trying to separate itself from that kind of like I said, the commercialization, the st studio, you know, kind of feel of Hollywood. Um that being said, you know, people really enjoyed that show. People had a really good time and it had a really good uh a good connection with it. And yes, there were some, you know, unfortunate, you know, accidents that happened and um, you know, and some of them were were quite serious. Um that's that's awful, of course, but um but I had a very positive experience.

I I I, you know, growing up as a massive nerd and a geek and getting to kind of, you know, getting to be this hero that I had always dreamed of, you know. Uh and and kind of taken lessons from and grown from and learned from and getting to sing some of the best, you know, kind of rock music that's ever that's been on Broadway. Like, you know, what's your favorite song from the show?

[34:56] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, the uh boy falls from the sky a billion times is is okay. Um Fair enough. And uh yeah, so I mean I you know, getting to meet the kids after the show that were just so enamored and getting to I was gonna say Yeah, getting to kind of have those moments in the uh in the audience with with the kids was th that was really really special.

[35:16] Justin Sargent: Did you do the best stage door in the entire world?

[35:21] Amber Brzezinski: It was amazing. I can't imagine. Um did you need do anything to physically prepare or emotionally prepare for that whole other show or other roles?

[35:30] Justin Sargent: Yeah, they had a um I had to go through a six-week training course for for um you know mobility mobility and um flexibility and all all you know like the the all all of the uh the different uh um spidey moves.

[35:46] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, what are they called?

[35:47] Justin Sargent: The um like the um the the contraptions you would sit in the the these like uh uh with the straps everything. I can't remember what they're called. Like the fly wires and stuff?

[35:55] Justin Sargent: The the wires and the rig the rigging, yeah. So the rigging it was a six-week program for that. Um so yeah, that was quite that was quite a bit of preparation. And then for roles now, I mean I know that you're always like in the gym hustling, but do you find that you do like do you have a specific regimen going into a show or that like we've had people go, Oh I go get Chinese food before every show.

[36:18] Justin Sargent: Wow, okay. Uh before every show, um no, I mean I just you know, I like to have little moments by myself and you know, I kind of I I take with me on stage some some special memories and some special people that have passed, you know, this kind of thing like like kind of like honor them and remember them. But no, uh I you know, I would say it's to prep for a specific role. I do a lot of research, I do a lot of you know, uh reading and you I I like to know as much as I can about a role before I d before I then decide to put my own spin on it, you know.

[36:50] Amber Brzezinski: Um fair.

[36:52] Justin Sargent: And uh so I yeah, I like I like coming from a place of uh accuracy before I, you know, kind of make it my own.

[36:59] Amber Brzezinski: But yeah I mean that makes sense like you want to have your spin in it but still respect the original content of it.

[37:05] Justin Sargent: Absolutely. Yeah I remember I was um part of a debate panel at Broadway Con last year and they were asking like would you rather perform the original lyrics the way they're supposed to or would you be okay with performing lyrics that were changed to be more inclusive and that was a big debate too. So it's always interesting you know you want to respect the original concept but you also have to not forget I don't know what would you say would you say that you would perform the original lyrics or would you be okay performing turn lyrics.

[37:35] Justin Sargent: I think no I I honestly think that um I think it it I it depends on the show. It depends on the circumstances I think that for instance if you're gonna do a show like carousel or something that's a little more of that that kind of quote unquote golden age I think that it's just as valuable to look back on the faults of of some some lyrics that are maybe not be so inclusive. So I think it's more I think it may be more valuable to look back on them and to and to to feel the impact of the of thinking oh that doesn't feel right than it then it would be to change them to to make them more inclusive to to today's that I feel like that's probably more useful as a society to move on from those things that we used to believe and used to have as part of the the zeitgeist you know as opposed to changing them and ignoring them.

I I you know it's kind of like the the whole thing with Florida not wanting to teach people like teach kids about you know slavery and and their they're wanting to change textbooks and all this kind of stuff. It's like, well, that's that's not really how you do this. You don't you you learn from the past, you don't try to erase the past and and make it seem so fluffy, you know.

[38:47] Amber Brzezinski: I agree. No, I 100% agree. That was pretty much my argument too.

[38:51] Justin Sargent: Um, Amber got an earful day when I was done.

[38:54] Amber Brzezinski: Um, and I ask because there's been quite a commotion online. Have you had the opportunity to see the new cabaret yet?

[39:02] Justin Sargent: I have not, no.

[39:03] Amber Brzezinski: Okay. Um, I'm sure, and maybe you're not, but there's a song, and um the MC is dancing with a performer in a gorilla suit, and it's it's I don't care much.

[39:16] Justin Sargent: And then um she wouldn't look Jewish at all is a line at the end. And it's supposed to be a big ooh, yeah, as somebody who's Jewish, like you're like, ooh, like it's still a sitback thing, and more times than not, people are like raucously laughing, and they're not realizing it.

[39:37] Justin Sargent: So Adam Lambert at this point has just been staring people down if he sees somebody as like uncontrollably laughing because it's a it's a heavy moment. I'm always curious about other performers and how they feel.

[39:52] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, yeah, good for Adam, yeah.

[39:55] Justin Sargent: No kidding.

[39:56] Amber Brzezinski: Um, all right.

[39:57] Justin Sargent: So speaking of difficult things and challenging things, has there been a role that's been the most challenging for you to perform?

[40:06] Justin Sargent: The most challenging. I know everything comes easy to you, but there's gotta be something.

[40:15] Justin Sargent: No, I mean God, that's tough. I mean, um no, because I really do find a lot of enjoyment in every role I perform, even even the ones that are are a little more like involved. I think the challenging part for me is is um especially being on tours being away from my daughter.

[40:40] Justin Sargent: It's it's you know, like being on tour is challenging for me. So like as as far as like roles are concerned, no, I've I've really I've really been able to to enjoy even the challenging moments, you know. So um uh no, I I think when it comes to roles, I I've I've pretty much really really enjoyed and uh um been very happy and um content with with those those roles. It's I think it's more of a circumstantial thing.

[41:06] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, no, I completely understand. And you do a really good job about balancing your family life and your personal life with your performances. So it's uh it's it's passively taxing, but it's rewarding and it's just wonderful to see that because a lot of people forget that performers have families have lives at home.

[41:27] Justin Sargent: Yeah.

[41:28] Amber Brzezinski: Don't call it you guys too bad. Um, are there any lesser known roles that you perform that hold a special place in your heart?

[41:37] Justin Sargent: Ooh, lesser known I'm gonna go with the hard-hitting ones, why not? I mean, they'd have to be roles roles that are, you know, in development. Um you know, I I think that so for instance Mozart, I think is my favorite role that I that I've been working on the last few years. Um there's just so much there. He was such a pioneer and a rock star and a genius and also so completely flawed as a person. He was a drunk and a gambler and uh womanizer and uh loft and um but but at the same time you know completely you know uh um brilliant and and and uh you know kind of anointed in a way, you know. Yeah, really, really love playing the character, and I'm very excited to see uh where that that that that show goes.

[42:33] Heather Bedor: Yeah, it's gonna be really exciting, and we'll be keeping an eye on that for sure. I mean, every everything that you've been attached to seems to have a cult following the swords though, I noticed it does. Think about it like Spider-Man and then Bonnie and Clyde has like the most ridiculous cult following.

[42:50] Justin Sargent: Yep.

[42:50] Heather Bedor: Yeah, we just sold the Bonnie and Clyde bracelet.

[42:54] Justin Sargent: Oh, nice. What were you gonna say, Justin?

[42:56] Justin Sargent: I mean, Rock of Ages, you know.

[42:58] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, yeah, I mean and and the Hamill fans too are just nuts.

[43:04] Justin Sargent: Oh, yeah. But I enjoy you'll post every once in a while, or people will share it, um, of like the stage door, and it's like some little kid dressed like King George. It's so cute.

[43:13] Amber Brzezinski: Those are the best.

[43:16] Justin Sargent: Yeah. Um, do you think it's something about like the show itself, or do you think it's the way that the company comes across that develops this cult like following? Like I think about swept away, which I know you also enjoyed. Um such a cult following between Avid Brothers, but also just the show itself. Like, do you think with the shows that you've been part of and the shows that have these cult like followings like Rocky Horror, even what do you think makes them have this like following of of a of a cult like fan base?

[43:49] Justin Sargent: I think it's very unique. I th I think it's unique to the show because there are there are some shows like like you said, Bonnie and Clyde, even Rocky Horror, you know, swept away. But I think the cult following comes in the briefness of time that they were actually in front of audiences.

[44:04] Amber Brzezinski: That makes sense.

[44:05] Justin Sargent: You know what I mean? And then there are shows like Hamilton where I mean obviously it's it's it's the most popular show in the world now. I mean maybe wicked and that's it. You know what I mean? Those are the two biggest shows in the world.

[44:15] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[44:17] Justin Sargent: Um I don't know. I think I think if if a show j if a show speaks to people, if it really if it just resonates with them in a in a way that is uh unique and all and yet also universal it's a very rare thing and I think that that's something that that a lot of those shows accomplish.

[44:35] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah no I think that's a great answer. It keeps the conversation going.

[44:38] Justin Sargent: Yeah. It's just it's it's an ongoing thing. Amber I know you wanted to ask about uh your favorite thing to always ask everybody about a backstage story.

[44:48] Amber Brzezinski: Oh I do love are there any like fun moments backstage any fun memories from any show. It doesn't have to be like any show it doesn't have to be Hamilton that you can think of like any backstage moments with the cast or like rituals that you can think of that you guys

[44:56] Justin Sargent: Yeah so during Hamilton during um during the uh oh god what's this song the song when um you know Burr and and Madison and uh Jefferson are confronting Hamilton about his embezzlement is quote unquote embezzlement. Um oh god what is that I forget but but during that song I am actually off stage and I am dancing in the wings, trying to get um both uh Miriam uh and our uh um uh Angelica who are across the stage. So I'm trying to get some them to laugh. So I'm doing a little goofy dances and stuff and I love that. It's something I do every single night. It's a ritual, and uh it makes me very happy.

[45:50] Amber Brzezinski: I was like, that does not surprise me in the least, but it's the best. I think it was oh god, what show is it? Oh no, it was um um my brain, I want my brain to work. So I'm like it hot. And Christian Borel was like doing crazy stuff like in the wings to the point where he was like bringing props.

[46:09] Justin Sargent: Fantastic.

[46:09] Amber Brzezinski: I mean we're gonna miss JJ's infamous eight count and back to the future. I mean, I I think a common misconception though is that again, Broadway performers are there, they're performing nothing else. That they're there, they're on the stage, they're performing their lines or singing their songs, and then they're there, they're gonna have to stage door, they're gonna have to do meet and greets. And people do forget that it's actually a human being on stage, it's wonderful, but they have that like magic and mystique and fantasy of like this is this performer, this is this actual, like this is King George III. Like, that's cool. But it you have people doing crazy things backstage. We talk about our friends at cabaret that always do like change a letter in a song to make it a different way, like really fun crazy antics.

[46:57] Justin Sargent: Um and I always gripe about this, and Justin, I don't know if you've heard my gripe, but the people expecting performers to stage door. Have you heard my gripe?

[47:10] Justin Sargent: Yeah, I get that. My my feeling is uh specific specifically with Hamilton, um, those people pay a lot of money. So I usually I I I've in fact I've I've yet to not use not come out the stage towards to do autographs. So I will always come out, yeah.

[47:28] Amber Brzezinski: And that's amazing and I think that's wonderful I I don't like the way that the fans can act if somebody doesn't stop or take a picture and they like I've talked about this in the show numerous times. I went to Hadestown last year for a couple of times my friends were cosplaying because we were talking to Philip backstage and this lady walked up to my friend Kara and like tapped her on the shoulder and said she's leaving a bad review of the show because Jordan Fisher didn't come out stage for that's terrible that's terrible.

[48:00] Justin Sargent: Are there any misconceptions that you think that people generally have about like the Broadway performer or even you specifically?

[48:00] Justin Sargent: About me specifically God no I told Amber I was like he's one of the nicest people you'll ever come across like truthfully. I think I think a big misconception is is uh a lot of people think oh you know they're on Broadway they must be so rich you know I mean like that like it's like it I don't think people understand that it's you know you make your money when a show is running and then when you are done with that show you could go a year two years three years whatever it is without making good money. So when you when you when you are making that money you keep on you hold on to it you know it's like you know I've got you know friends who come to visit me you know that I haven't seen in in years and years and years and they'll come and visit in the in the city and you know I like always feel like there's like the expectation to pick up the tab and I'm like bro you don't like you don't know you know like you you have no idea like it's not it's not a glamorous it's not a glamorous lifestyle you know no it's working your ass off. Like you really don't have much downtime when you're at a show.

[49:08] Justin Sargent: Yeah, and not just that, but it's also you know, you know, we we're um we're compensated well for the times that we're working, and then but but you know, but there's there's actually there's actually a majority of time when you're not working, you know. You only really get to see when people are working, and and and you know, you don't really recognize the times in between when they're not, and it's you know the majority of it. Like your travel day, you just traveled how long have you been on the road today?

[49:36] Justin Sargent: Uh we left at like 11 this morning.

[49:38] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, and you're getting to your next city, which is awesome, but like people don't see that. You just magically appear. It's like being a Disney World and Mickey Mouse magically appears in Epcot and then magically appears in Magic and then they don't think about the in-between time.

[49:52] Justin Sargent: Right.

[49:53] Amber Brzezinski: I just compare you to Mickey Mouse. How did I do that?

[49:55] Justin Sargent: Yeah, but I'm very Mickey Mouse, Justin.

[49:58] Amber Brzezinski: Uh talking. I have another one. I have another question.

[50:01] Justin Sargent: I do, yeah.

[50:04] Amber Brzezinski: Amherst read it now. This is great. So you've done like a hip hop musical, like Hamilton, you've done like rock musicals, you've done like traditional kind of musicals. How do you adjust your vocal techniques when it comes to all these different types of roles?

[50:22] Justin Sargent: It's all fake. It's just a button he pushes, and it's I definitely I I say that I I probably will always lean towards the rock and roll, um, even in a more traditional musical theater sense. I have had to do, you know, like I played Tony and Wesai's story at Sacramento Music Circus and you know, some of these other more traditional musical theater pieces. Those I would say I'm definitely having to really focus on technique and really focus on, you know, not adding that my in my natural kind of rock vibe to the situation. It's my go-to. But I I have been fortunate in that the shows that I've done, I've been able to really use my you know kind of inspired rock and roll sound yeah um it's not like you've done any queen songs or anything recently right yeah no I have my I have my own queen show that I've been touring with a little bit and that's been really successful and we kind of do things uh you know there's there's a lot of queen tribute shows out there and um I I knew that developing this with you know what I did not want to do is another queen tribute show or someone slapping on a mustache is Freddie Mercury and going out there and being like wea queen you know no no I want I wanted to do me as a fan presenting the music of Queen in a way that was you know honoring their legacy yet also um not copying it.

[51:43] Amber Brzezinski: Right I mean do you think there's pressure like for you or on the band or at at all with the performance from the fans like do you feel pressure to like do it justice or you're just there you're a fan obviously you've got the vocals for it.

[51:56] Justin Sargent: Um I feel like as long as we're carrying the energy that that yeah Freddie that Freddie Mercury had and that Brian may have you know as long as we're carrying carrying that energy into the performance that no that that pressure kind of goes away because as soon as people realize you're not doing an impersonation they go cool exactly he's not saying he's as good as Freddie Mercury. He's saying he is here to honor his work.

[52:20] Amber Brzezinski: Right you're you're not I'm Freddie Mercury played by Justin Sargent you're like I'm just a surgeon and I am admiring and honoring fucking love Freddie Mercury and here's the proof damn right.

[52:31] Justin Sargent: Damn right. Exactly.

[52:33] Amber Brzezinski: Um, oh, Rachel said, when fans are rude to a staff, when a star calls out, it's unacceptable. It's not the star staff staff's fault. Unfortunately it happened at Cabaret when Adam called out.

[52:42] Justin Sargent: It did. And it also happened, Rachel, um, at Gypsy when pretty much they canceled the show several times this past or like a week ago.

[52:52] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah. That's hard.

[52:54] Rachel: Um, Justin, I think I know the answer to this one. Justin, have you seen Adam perform with Queen?

[53:02] Justin Sargent: I have not. I have to go. I have to see them. He actually he came to see Rock of Ages uh right when he started singing with Queen and we got to have a really cool chat. He's a really nice guy. Um, but no, I have not seen him perform with Queen yet. I really need to.

[53:14] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah. I I think it'd be really interesting. I just want like a duet between the two of you. I think would be and again, I think that what's what's really phenomenal about about what Adam does is that he's he's not being Freddie Mercury, which is why it's Adam Lambert and Queen, you know, or Queen teaching Adam Lambert. I think they that's that's a brilliant move because it's not you're seeing Adam Lambert do his thing, but it fits so well in in the in the Queen, you know, Queen of Sphere, if you will.

[53:40] Justin Sargent: Queen of Sphere. I love it.

[53:41] Amber Brzezinski: Rachel responds, you do, and then yes. Rachel is our um like biggest cabaret fan ever.

[53:51] Justin Sargent: Cool.

[53:52] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, she won our costume contest. It was very cute. Um, I'm gonna ask you a more I don't know, hard hitting question, more more emotional question. How do you hope that your work impacts audiences and both the theater community and the community alike?

[54:07] Justin Sargent: So I mean, I have a daughter, I have a five year old daughter, and um these these two like the the two shows that I mentioned before, Mozart and uh Super you.

[54:16] Justin Sargent: They're both shows that are about empowering women. And I'm, as a father of a young girl, I think that it is, you know, my hope is that the work that I do is reflected onto my daughter as, you know, somebody who's watching these shows and saying, "No, I deserve to have a voice, I deserve to be me and be loud and be whatever I want to be and feel powerful." And so, as a woman, you know, that has been something that's been a very important mission of mine.

[54:48] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, seems to be a big driving force of yours.

[54:51] Justin Sargent: Like, I can't imagine you taking on a role that would be anti-feminist in any sort of way.

[54:58] Amber Brzezinski: So I think whatever, even if the roles are anti-feminist, the message of the show...

[55:03] Justin Sargent: Right, fair enough.

[55:04] Amber Brzezinski: Definitely, yeah.

[55:05] Justin Sargent: That's fair enough. If you could swap roles with anybody on Broadway, either today or yesteryear, who would it be?

[55:17] Amber Brzezinski: Sorry.

[55:20] Justin Sargent: You know what? Um, God, that's a tough one.

[55:24] Amber Brzezinski: That's what I'm here for.

[55:26] Justin Sargent: This is another dream, uh, I think another dream world question, isn't it? So yeah, you know, um, I think, uh, you know, a role that I would love to play is I'd love to play Burrs in the Wild Party.

[55:35] Amber Brzezinski: Okay, okay, that's a good one.

[55:38] Justin Sargent: That's a deep cut. Um, I do love it. Um, did you have one, Amber?

[55:45] Amber Brzezinski: No, I was gonna say the Wild Party was supposed to come to City Center.

[55:50] Justin Sargent: No, but they canceled it.

[55:53] Amber Brzezinski: I know. Sorry, here in Orlando at David Jane, Ride the Cyclone for like four months. It's great.

[55:58] Justin Sargent: Yeah, it's fantastic. I'm gonna ask one song because, or one question because we're creating another Spotify list for our groups and our followers. Is there a song or a song from a show that will always lift your spirits or even one that you listen to when you're at the gym?

[56:17] Justin Sargent: Any show or any musician?

[56:25] Justin Sargent: Um, a tough one. A song for a show that always lifts my spirits, like gets you hyped. I mean, "Having Other Minds" will always get me hyped. Um, God, that's a tough one. I mean, I'll get back to us. We'll add a couple. Just like "Living in Paradise," you know, from Rock of Ages is always such a good one. Um, "Don't Stop Believin'," of course.

[56:59] Amber Brzezinski: Of course.

[57:00] Justin Sargent: Um, but no, I'm a nerd. When I'm at the gym, I'm either listening to talk radio or I'm listening to like some movie scores, like John Williams or Hans Zimmer or something.

[57:11] Amber Brzezinski: That's awesome. I'm gonna ask you one very last question, and then I'll let you pimp yourself out for the next four minutes of our show. Um, is there a question that you always wanted to be asked when being interviewed that you've never had the opportunity to answer?

[57:25] Justin Sargent: Wow. It's my favorite question to ask people.

[57:30] Amber Brzezinski: Oh gosh.

[57:32] Justin Sargent: Um, that's a really tough one. Um, if it's, if is there a question that I've never been asked that I wish somebody would ask? Um, I mean, I've done quite a few interviews and I've really enjoyed the questions that involve, I guess, like my personal life. Like, you know, what things are you into that don't involve the theater or, you know, that kind of thing.

[57:57] Amber Brzezinski: Well, tell us that! We love learning!

[58:12] Justin Sargent: I'm a big Star Wars fan, I'm a big Lord of the Rings fan, so I do, you know, I love video games. Right now I'm playing through Battlefront 2, um, Star Wars Battlefront 2, the campaign right now.

[58:24] Amber Brzezinski: Um, what console?

[58:27] Justin Sargent: On Xbox. I'm an Xbox guy. Uh, I love theme parks, I love Disney, you know, especially taking my daughter to Disney. I love it so much. Um, roller coasters, I'm a big fan of roller coasters. Um, yeah.

[58:41] Amber Brzezinski: You just want people to treat you like a regular human being. You just don't want to be put up there on the pedestal, but I love that.

[58:47] Justin Sargent: Which is hard to do when you're coming out with a, you know, like a two-foot crown on your head every night.

[58:51] Amber Brzezinski: So, I mean, it's okay though. Like we always want to respect that, but like our followers do always, like Amber and I pride ourselves on creating communities on socials. Right now we have, I don't even know if you know, we have like half a million followers, which is nothing.

[59:04] Justin Sargent: Oh my gosh, congratulations.

[59:05] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah. Thank you. Um, but we always want to create like a safe haven and like a safe community that, you know, people can be able to ask questions or get to know somebody without making them feel unsafe. So we always just want to respect everyone's privacy and do whatever we can to make sure that, you know, everyone's happy and safe, especially because you have, you know, your own little family and your daughter is adorable. Um, but it's just, it's always great to guys look Justin up on socials. He really is just one of the nicest people you'll meet and extremely talented.

[59:45] Justin Sargent: Oh my god.

[59:46] Amber Brzezinski: If people want to follow you on socials, how can they follow you or the Hamilton tour right now?

[59:52] Justin Sargent: Yeah, so you can follow me on Instagram at Justin M Sargent. That's just J-U-S-T-I-N-M S-A-R-G-E-N-T. Uh, you can follow our tour of Hamilton. Um, it's the Hamilton Angelica Tour. Um, if you just look, we, if you just go to the search tool in Instagram and look up, you know, Hamilton Angelica Tour to find it. Um, that's pretty much it. I'm not really big on extra Twitter or, you know, threads and everything like that. I don't think anybody has Instagram and I gotta get better at TikTok, but um, but yeah, no, I'm definitely, well, the tour's been doing some cute little reels, which are nice to see.

[1:00:31] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, yeah.

[1:00:32] Justin Sargent: Yeah, but yes, if you want to see like fun behind the scenes stuff and backstage stuff, and I usually will post like something crazy at least a couple of times a week.

[1:00:41] Amber Brzezinski: So yes, yeah, for sure. But everybody just respect Justin. If you're following him on social, please don't hit him up and ask him for an introduction or an autograph. We know our followers are better than that, but I always have to put that out there. But um, please leave your car, go check on your Airbnb.

[1:00:56] Justin Sargent: I feel so bad.

[1:00:57] Justin Sargent: I'm ready.

[1:00:58] Justin Sargent: I think I'm good.

[1:00:59] Amber Brzezinski: Yay! Yeah, I'm so glad you could do the show, dude. It won't be the last time you're gonna be required to come on. And how long do you have left of the show, of the tour?

[1:01:10] Justin Sargent: Uh, I think till August.

[1:01:12] Amber Brzezinski: Okay. So, um, if you don't have your tickets yet, go find them, go say hi to Justin, be like, "I heard you on the Broadway Fan Club Podcast."

[1:01:19] Justin Sargent: Yay!

[1:01:20] Amber Brzezinski: Yay! All right, buddy. Well, thank you so much, and thank you, everybody, for tuning in. Um, and if you thought of a question that you'd like to ask Justin, just send it over to us and we'll make sure he gets it. So thanks again. Go get some rest, dude. Have a great show week, and we'll talk to you soon.

[1:01:36] Justin Sargent: All right, cool. Thanks for having me.

[1:01:38] Justin Sargent: Bye.

[1:01:39] Amber Brzezinski: Bye.

[1:01:40] Justin Sargent: Hi.

[1:01:42] Amber Brzezinski: And Amber, thank you for joining us always and being the best co-host ever.

[1:01:47] Justin Sargent: You'd be back.

[1:01:48] Amber Brzezinski: Oh jeez. I, you know, it's really cool to like see a friend just succeed and like do something that makes them happy. So that's awesome. I think I've been asking Justin to get on the show since April. So it was really nice to finally get him on the show. Um, yeah, my word salad today with the concussion stuff is like a little out of it from the chiropractor. So it's super fun.

[1:02:11] Justin Sargent: You know what I just thought of?

[1:02:14] Amber Brzezinski: Did you just think of a question for Justin?

[1:02:17] Justin Sargent: No.

[1:02:18] Amber Brzezinski: Uh, the gorilla moment. The, uh, the moment I got that same feeling at six during the, um, the pink girl song.

[1:02:37] Justin Sargent: All you want to do, are you talking about?

[1:02:40] Amber Brzezinski: Wait, what?

[1:02:41] Justin Sargent: I, the pink girl song. Is that what you're just saying?

[1:02:44] Amber Brzezinski: Oh yeah, that song's bad. It's all about like, it's great, but yeah, no one's up. Um, like at the end, like I feel like rape.

[1:02:53] Justin Sargent: Yeah, I feel like you, I like don't know whether like to clap or like...

[1:02:53] Amber Brzezinski: Yep, it's, uh, are you on a delay?

[1:03:06] Justin Sargent: Oh, so weird.

[1:03:07] Amber Brzezinski: I think so.

[1:03:08] Justin Sargent: Yeah, yeah. I think you're gonna delay. It happened a couple of times. Um, yeah, no, I think there's, there's like what we were talking about with Justin, like respecting the content, but also like, you know, presenting in a way that people should, like people should feel like assholes if you're laughing at something that you shouldn't be laughing at, but they just don't know.

[1:03:27] Amber Brzezinski: They just don't, and I was like, why did I just have that same moment? Like three times in the last week.

[1:03:34] Justin Sargent: Oh, because I just saw six three times in the last week.

[1:03:37] Amber Brzezinski: For those that don't know the song, it's "All I Want to Do," but she's talking about how like all of the men in her life have pretty much like sexually assaulted her. And like every time she thinks that she's falling in love and she's gonna have this wonderful life, including with the king, um, she's just assaulted. Um, I can say much worse words, but the song is peppy and poppy and kind of like, but I think the important part is like she's singing it, so it's kind of embracing and taking back the power, I think is what that's supposed to be. Um, but yeah, sometimes there's really hard words to listen to in different shows, um, or like cringing, like really like the she wouldn't be, she wouldn't look Jewish at all. Like I am Jewish, I don't have a Jewish nose, which is what they're implying. Um, I hate that, but I think when I sat when we saw the show a couple weeks ago, I was like, wow, nobody laughed. It was like an accomplishment.

[1:04:32] Justin Sargent: But people on Reddit have been posting that the last couple of days, it's gotten so bad that Adam is literally like walking up to the people laughing and just staring them down. Whether they're doing that for the attention of VMC or not, it's just not the right thing to do.

[1:04:46] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[1:04:48] Justin Sargent: So it's fun. Um, and I forgot to ask Justin, and I meant to mint to see this is that he was supposed to be on the Broadway cruise last year. He was doing it with his band Roman of Broadway Rockers. And then because of the Hamilton tour, he wound up having to cancel. And then we got the Barricade Boys. So I forgot to ask if he was gonna be trying to come back for another Broadway cruise. But I'll be there in a couple of months. I have two cosplays I'm building right now.

[1:05:14] Amber Brzezinski: Woo!

[1:05:17] Justin Sargent: Scared.

[1:05:18] Amber Brzezinski: Um, I'll send you the sketch of the one I just made. But yeah, um, I'm so glad that we had Justin on. Next week is gonna be crazy. Do you remember who we have on next week?

[1:05:29] Justin Sargent: I do.

[1:05:30] Amber Brzezinski: Is it you think?

[1:05:33] Justin Sargent: I think.

[1:05:35] Amber Brzezinski: Okay.

[1:05:38] Justin Sargent: Do you want to tell people or no?

[1:05:41] Amber Brzezinski: Because I think I might be wrong.

[1:05:43] Justin Sargent: Oh no, I don't like that.

[1:05:44] Amber Brzezinski: You tell people, and then I'll confirm if I think I'm right.

[1:05:51] Justin Sargent: Next Monday, right here at 8 p.m. Eastern time, we are gonna have Tomasco Stanza.

[1:05:56] Amber Brzezinski: Okay, I was right and co-creator of Drag the Musical. Um, he is also a certified platinum record producer and songwriter and owner of the Killingsworth Recording Company. He has co-written and produced, this is amazing, and he is such a great guy, um, 12 Billboard number one albums, composed music for multiple TV shows, and licensed over a thousand song placements. Uh, sync credits include brands such as Apple, Galaxy, Ford, Google, Amazon, Target, TJ Maxx, Zillow, and Tropicana, as well as promos for NBC, ABC, CBS, HBO, Showtime, Netflix, AGT, Marvel, WWE, and Call of Duty. And his scoring credits include networks such as CBS, Comedy Central, Disney, Viceland, and Discovery. TV shows include Ocean Mysteries with Jeff Corwin, Huang's World, which is a great name, Hood Adjacent with James Davis, the Henry Ford Innovation Nation, Lucky Dog, and Hidden Heroes. But he is a co-creator and producer of Drag the Musical. And we're so extremely fortunate and appreciative to have him on the show next week.

[1:07:01] Justin Sargent: Yeah.

[1:07:01] Amber Brzezinski: So we cannot wait. Um, so tune in next week, right here at 8 p.m. Eastern time, and uh, we'll see what Tomas is doing now. But he's back on the West Coast, so it'll be really fun.

[1:07:14] Justin Sargent: Perfect.

[1:07:14] Amber Brzezinski: I'm excited for it. I apparently my father says, "Wow, Amber speaks," so that means I've talked too much. Sorry.

[1:07:21] Justin Sargent: Uh, and I'll talk to you guys later. But just remember we're blending Broadway is dark on Mondays and we keep that ghostly burning. We'll see you guys next week.

[1:07:32] Justin Sargent: Bye, guys.

[1:07:33] Amber Brzezinski: Ciao for now.

[1:07:34] Justin Sargent: 18 days. I'm trying, you know, I'm considering it. So shh, don't tell anybody.