This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:20] Amber Brzezinski: I really miss our bouncy jam, but that's okay. It's kind of growing on me though a little bit. I was like, oh, am I feeling this a little bit? Matt, you're gonna have to write us new music. That's it.

[0:31] Matt DeAngelis: Sure.

[0:32] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, I'll have to learn how to write music first, but yeah, sure.

[0:35] Heather Bedor: Well, you can at least play what five instruments at this point.

[0:38] Matt DeAngelis: That's true. That's true. I can play you something.

[0:40] Heather Bedor: There you go. Well, there you go. You can play. We'll have someone write music and you can play.

[0:44] Amber Brzezinski: Well, hello. Happy Friday. I hope that you have bourbon in your cup.

[0:47] Matt DeAngelis: I might um I have beer right now. I'll be switching to bourbon in a minute.

[0:51] Amber Brzezinski: Okay, fair. Fair. Well, everybody, please welcome Matt DeAngelis to the show. Um, this has been like a work in progress for a couple of months. Uh between your schedule, our schedule. It's crazy. Um, but yeah, we're so happy to have you here, and we're having a special feature all on you because you are just truly a powerhouse. I just have to go and fangirl for a second and say you really are, but you're also one of the nicest people I've ever encountered in my entire existence.

[1:19] Matt DeAngelis: Oh, that's that's a strong way to start.

[1:21] Amber Brzezinski: All right. Well, no, but it's true because you're quite humble. Um, and I Amber and I talked about it, like stage drawing swept away, like every single person was just so kind and genuine, and you've just maintained that across your group. So we're happy to have you.

[1:35] Matt DeAngelis: You're welcome. Thank you. I'm happy to be here.

[1:37] Heather Bedor: Good. Well, we're happy you're here. And this is we're gonna keep doing this happiness, happiness. Um, but do you want to kind of give our listeners, viewers, um volunteers, whatever they want to call themselves at this point. Do you want to give them kind of like your elevator pitch, who you are, what you do? Um don't have to stay too humble for it. It's fine.

[1:56] Matt DeAngelis: Sure. Well, it's helpful sitting here for anybody who's watching can see my resume behind me on the wall. Right. That's a great way of doing that. Just take a picture with it. I don't need to submit anything. Here you go.

[2:05] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, exactly.

[2:06] Matt DeAngelis: Uh I'm Matt DeAngelis. Hello, everyone out there. Um, I'm from Boston, Massachusetts originally. Um, I'm married to the brilliant and incredible Christine Dwyer. For any Wicked and Waitress fans out there. Um I've been in a bunch of Broadway shows. I made my Broadway debut in Hair in 2009. Um, and then uh I went to the West End with Hair, did the National Tour of Hair. Um, then I did Waitress on Broadway, tour Broadway again, tour again, uh Swept Away. I've also done the national tours of, like I said, Hair and Waitress, American Idiot. Once um off Broadway, I was in Secret Life of Bees at the Atlantic Theater Company, and I was just in Ortheus Descending. Yes. Uh at BAM, uh, which was cool. Um, I say just it was like a year and a half ago. Life is crazy. Um, but yes. Um, and I'm the founder um and host, MC, executive producer of the Janice Jam Broadway for breast cancer.

[3:07] Amber Brzezinski: That's incredible.

[3:08] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah, you have an extensive resume. Um, but the thing that most people might not really know because it's not a Broadway show, but the man behind Janice Jam, and um, he did that in honor of your late mother, right?

[3:20] Matt DeAngelis: Yes, yes. We lost my mom. She had metastatic breast cancer stage, well, I guess it was past stage four, but metastatic breast cancer in uh June of 2022. And um, you know, we didn't really have uh much of a celebration for her, sort of family-wise. We we kind of had like a stuffy ceremony at our church, and they pronounced her name wrong. And I was like, Oh, this isn't this wasn't the we'll we'll get it. We can have a whole other podcast on how church sucks, but whatever. Um, but that's not the memory you want to take away from. And so I wanted to channel, I don't even know if the first year I like really fully grasped what it means to be in the cancer space. Okay, like as a philanthropist or a fundraiser or a whatever. I just sort of wanted to throw a party to celebrate my mom.

[4:10] Amber Brzezinski: I love that.

[4:10] Matt DeAngelis: My mom is literally in the other room right now. I'm at her house right now.

[4:14] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, amazing.

[4:15] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah, my mom was like, I mean, she makes me look shy. She she was the queen of everybody gets a Valentine, you know. She was just the best. And so um, I wanted to find a way to celebrate her. And then, you know, the the first domino that fell after just throwing the party, and like I think we raised like 30,000 gross, like maybe 22,000 net the first year, something like that. I just kind of asked a bunch of friends to come do some stuff, you know.

[4:42] Amber Brzezinski: Sure.

[4:43] Matt DeAngelis: Um, and one of the things that happened in that initial concert that we did was I met a woman named Tammy Eagle Bowling, who's now become a co-executive producer with us and um is our keynote speaker. She was given like three months to she was got her first mammogram or second mammogram of her life at 41. No history of breast cancer in her family, and they found stage four metastatic breast cancer.

[5:06] Amber Brzezinski: Oh.

[5:07] Matt DeAngelis: And she was given like she had kids who were two and four, and she was given like three months to live. She's been alive for eight years.

[5:15] Amber Brzezinski: Bless her heart.

[5:16] Matt DeAngelis: Holy shit. And now she's and now she's a motivational speaker and a professional cancer space fundraiser, and we work very closely with both MetaVivor, which is uh an organization where a hundred percent of the proceeds go to metastatic breast cancer only, and we work uh with breast cancer research foundation, where our money that we raise at our concerts is specifically earmarked for survivors and thrivers and metastatic breast cancer research.

[5:41] Amber Brzezinski: That's incredible, Matt. That's really what what a way of celebrating your mom and helping other people.

[5:47] Matt DeAngelis: Um unfortunately, I think Amber can also attest to this. Like in in both of our families, there's been cancer or you know, my my dad's a radiation therapist. My you know, it's just it's it's really incredible to like see the journey that people go through, whether they're surviving or the family is the one surviving.

[6:05] Amber Brzezinski: And it's hard.

[6:06] Matt DeAngelis: So um now, what would people expect like when they attend Janice Jam?

[6:11] Matt DeAngelis: Well, it's in uh in true Matt DeAngelis fashion, it is over the top for sure.

[6:17] Amber Brzezinski: Um I would have never known.

[6:19] Matt DeAngelis: We have uh we have magicians and tap dancers and burlesque performers and uh what else do we have? Sword swallowers, uh jugglers, and then just the best Broadway lineup you've ever. I can't reveal who the lineup is quite yet. It's coming back.

[6:39] Amber Brzezinski: That's okay.

[6:39] Matt DeAngelis: She's there Wednesday, but last year we had well. Last year we had Casey Levy, we had John Gallagher Jr., we had Adrian Blake Ensco.

[6:47] Amber Brzezinski: Why is there an ad?

[6:48] Matt DeAngelis: I was using this as a white screen to show my face.

[6:52] Amber Brzezinski: Um now I'm in the dark again.

[6:54] Matt DeAngelis: Um, warm lighting, it's fine. So uh yeah, so uh that was you know Talia Suskower, obviously my wife, Omar Cardona from The Voice. Uh just he's a local Orlando boy, by the way.

[7:09] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, he's a beast.

[7:09] Matt DeAngelis: I've known him for almost 20 years. Um so yeah, I mean, it's just been really wonderful, I think, uh to know that I have that many people in my life who when I put up the bat signal will show up.

[7:24] Amber Brzezinski: Yep.

[7:24] Matt DeAngelis: And I think that's a really um, you know, you were mentioning being humble before. I think I think it's a testament to me and what kind of friend I am to other people. But I also think I also think really it's a testament to my mom because a lot of the people who did that, like Casey Levy specifically and Shoshana Bean and Norm Lewis and some of our friends.

[7:47] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, hell yeah.

[7:48] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah, yeah, I saw that. Well, so they both knew my mom well, and you know, separate from me were friends with my mom. Um and I mean Norm Lewis was at our wedding, and our favorite picture that we put up at the Janice Jam every year is my mom and Norm dancing. Like she was just the best. And so, you know, it's also a testament to her.

[8:08] Matt DeAngelis: And I also think the the one thing that's been so interesting too in the cancer space, you know, lately, is that it, you know, is is forcing myself to be a political because Republicans break get breast cancer too.

[8:22] Amber Brzezinski: Sure.

[8:23] Matt DeAngelis: And um, at least on May 5th, we care about everybody.

[8:27] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[8:28] Matt DeAngelis: No, that's it. And in the in the spirit of what I'm trying to do, I do care about everybody every day. But the idea is that like with what's happening in women's health care, you know, we're lucky to work with an independent funder of breast cancer research, number one, because it's it's largely it's not unaffected, but it's large it's it's more unaffected than other charities um based on what's happening with the NIH and all kinds of stuff.

[8:49] Amber Brzezinski: So absolutely we are we are very, very lucky uh to have the kind of uh cooperation and um engagement from the Broadway community, obviously, but also you know it sells out fast and people donate a lot of money because cancer does affect everybody, everybody knows somebody, and um it is not some disease that you read about somewhere. It like it it's it's right around the corner for everybody, and so we're trying to be a place where everybody can come together and have an awesome time.

[9:21] Matt DeAngelis: We do have a little bit of a of a not in memoriam, but like a little thoughtfulness moment in the middle of every show.

[9:28] Amber Brzezinski: I love that.

[9:29] Matt DeAngelis: And but it's never focused on like who we've lost, it's right try to focus on who we still have here.

[9:36] Amber Brzezinski: I love that. That's such an important message too, because so many people focus so much on the negative stuff, and then the event becomes so somber. But when you can kind of create that liveliness and you know, celebrating even just the lives of those that were that have passed, but continuing on their memory in a happy way because our loved ones wouldn't want us to sit and be sad for them.

[9:56] Matt DeAngelis: No, and and if in I know if my mom was around, I think she'd be honored that people were helping others in her name.

[10:02] Amber Brzezinski: So I think she'd be honored that you were helping other people.

[10:05] Matt DeAngelis: I think so. You're good, you're good boy.

[10:08] Amber Brzezinski: So the outer, what a cool party it was.

[10:10] Matt DeAngelis: Like from what you were describing about your mom, she sounds like a blast.

[10:14] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, yeah.

[10:15] Matt DeAngelis: She would love just the whole concept of oh, you know, you know that lady is there and partying along with everybody.

[10:23] Amber Brzezinski: And the out the outfits alone, she would have loved the carpet looks for sure.

[10:26] Matt DeAngelis: Oh my god. Well, I we cannot wait to see and talk more about it. Um, the event this year you said it was May 5th, but May 5th.

[10:33] Amber Brzezinski: We can't say with who and can't say when.

[10:35] Matt DeAngelis: Nope, that's okay.

[10:37] Amber Brzezinski: Totally fine. But we will definitely be posting up information the minute that we have access to it. Matt's gonna send it over.

[10:43] Matt DeAngelis: That way you guys can see it, attend, celebrate life, go look at some sword swallowers and burlesque dancers.

[10:49] Amber Brzezinski: It'd be cool.

[10:50] Matt DeAngelis: I've seen sword swallowing burlesque dancers before.

[10:52] Amber Brzezinski: That always was it was it Jen Minsky?

[10:55] Matt DeAngelis: No.

[10:55] Amber Brzezinski: That's who that's who we get.

[10:56] Matt DeAngelis: She's awesome.

[10:57] Amber Brzezinski: That's amazing.

[10:58] Matt DeAngelis: Amazing.

[10:59] Amber Brzezinski: I've seen all sorts of weird stuff.

[11:01] Matt DeAngelis: Um, but I love it.

[11:03] Matt DeAngelis: It's so well we have we've become very I've become very close, and we as an organization have become very close with stage time. PJ Adsim is organization that's down at the slipper room.

[11:11] Amber Brzezinski: So we have access to the best nightlife performers in those cities.

[11:13] Matt DeAngelis: Great.

[11:14] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah.

[11:15] Matt DeAngelis: Well, and it's also it's in in its infancy. It's only been a couple of years even doing this, right?

[11:19] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, that's the thing.

[11:20] Matt DeAngelis: I mean, once you see the venue that we have for this year, it's we're we're pretty proud of what we've made in two and a half years. Like most most organizations don't get to this venue this fast, and we're very, very happy.

[11:29] Amber Brzezinski: That's incredible.

[11:30] Matt DeAngelis: It's a testament to you and to your support system.

[11:33] Amber Brzezinski: So thank you everybody for supporting Matt and Sam.

[11:36] Matt DeAngelis: Um we'll see. Look, we got the hard stuff out of the way, but that's like the heartfelt stuff.

[11:40] Amber Brzezinski: All right, everyone can go now.

[11:42] Matt DeAngelis: But um, well, let's let's dig into you.

[11:47] Amber Brzezinski: What did you say?

[11:48] Matt DeAngelis: Oh, Amber's still sharing.

[11:49] Amber Brzezinski: Yes, Amber will have the uh the thumb look because she's sharing to I think we're at a hundred different fan communities.

[11:56] Matt DeAngelis: Cool.

[11:56] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, you're back in the light.

[11:57] Matt DeAngelis: There you go.

[11:58] Amber Brzezinski: Um, including the ever-growing Swept Away fan group.

[12:04] Matt DeAngelis: Holy cow.

[12:05] Amber Brzezinski: It's been awesome. I mean, so we actually were we have ours, and then somebody also created like the pre-Broadway show um group.

[12:14] Matt DeAngelis: So that's been fun to kind of watch.

[12:16] Amber Brzezinski: Um, but everybody's so nice and kind, and those A Sailors are nuts.

[12:21] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah.

[12:23] Amber Brzezinski: They're the best.

[12:23] Matt DeAngelis: There, it's it really is like, you know, I've been very lucky. The Hair fans were great.

[12:27] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah, you know, the American Idiot fans were great.

[12:30] Matt DeAngelis: One Once didn't have like super fans as much, at least not on the tour.

[12:33] Amber Brzezinski: That surprises me.

[12:34] Matt DeAngelis: I mean, I think they did on Broadway, but you know, they were supportive, but like it wasn't it wasn't a traveling group of people, you know.

[12:40] Amber Brzezinski: Sure.

[12:41] Matt DeAngelis: Um, and the Waitress fans were phenomenal. I mean, they were so great, and um, and so many of them still follow along and come to everything.

[12:48] Matt DeAngelis: And but these Swept Away fans in the short time that we had with them was really phenomenal.

[12:53] Matt DeAngelis: It was incredible, and they're still so engaged and they're just the best.

[12:57] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, I mean, I will be there on the 28th of April.

[13:02] Matt DeAngelis: I got my spoiler announcement came out. People we well, we were all chomping at the bit. So I was sitting there waiting. So then we got in the idea, like the announcement was coming at nine, and then like the whole thing like spun into this, like, and then it didn't come like right away. We were like, what's happening? Everyone was freaking out.

[13:27] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, we're pretty, we're pretty geeked about it.

[13:29] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah, especially because the first one sold out. You guys had to open up a second one. I wish I would have known, but there would have been the later one. I'm like, I would have gotten to the later one.

[13:37] Amber Brzezinski: I know it's gonna be fun.

[13:38] Matt DeAngelis: Oh my god, it's gonna be nuts. Um, are you guys prepared for it? Are you prepared?

[13:43] Amber Brzezinski: No, we're not prepared at all.

[13:45] Matt DeAngelis: Well, that's the thing. That's the thing that's gonna be so wild about it. Is like, you know, I'm sort of helping in all my free time, which I don't have.

[13:52] Amber Brzezinski: You have so much free time. What are you talking about?

[13:54] Matt DeAngelis: Uh, I'm sort of helping Stark Sands, who's mostly producing the event. Like, just wrangle the guys, right? Just like just keep every Stark gives me the information, I make sure everybody has the information. I'm not doing much. Stark's doing all the heavy lifting, but um, he was saying, like, basically what it's gonna be for us, he's like, listen to the CD, everybody, because we're gonna get in the room at like noon, and we're gonna run through every song like twice. And then we're gonna do the show. And that's it. Just it's like uh listening to the cast recording live. That's pretty much it.

[14:25] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, but I will say that, and please don't take this the wrong way. And I'm sure you guys have heard this. I think a lot of the fans really gravitated once they realized it's a lot of very attractive men that are also very talented.

[14:38] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah. I know you guys know you're banking on that too. But it's it's fascinating too because the lead up and the storyline and how many years it took to get to the long anchor, and then just this craziness, and it was like in and out, but still Tony talks about that show.

[14:58] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, I mean, I have my thoughts about that that I don't want to say on that's okay, but I nope, nope, that'll that's okay. We'll reserve that for a bourbon drink program.

[15:08] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I here's what I hope for as far as recognition is concerned. Yeah, I have my estimations on that too, which I will also keep to myself. But I do hope I do hope after the five or so years and multiple other jobs that would have paid him a lot more money, and with how goddamn good he was, yeah, John Gallagher Jr. deserves a nomination. 100%. Awards are arbitrary, and uh it doesn't really matter, except it does, and he deserves it, and he worked his ass off, and he gave up, like I said, a lot of stuff to stick with us and to make the thing go. And and uh I just hope that the nominators, if any of them are listening, yes, everyone should listen, yeah. I hope the nominators give him his due. I mean, I recognize that when a show closes as quickly as ours did, that a lot of the nominations that we thought for some people or for some things maybe won't come through. But John deserves his.

[16:12] Amber Brzezinski: I agree. I mean, I think first off, I think every single category could be nabbed very quickly by the show. Um and Johnny's dad is actually in our group and like very adamant about everything all the time.

[16:25] Matt DeAngelis: Oh yeah. Which is really so sweet. Um, but yeah, I mean it's also fun because you guys all did American Idiot.

[16:32] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, yeah, we had a lot of idiots, and even the creative team too.

[16:34] Matt DeAngelis: Oh, it's incredible. And we had Gina Duvall on the show a couple weeks ago.

[16:38] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, yeah. We we love we love the idiots, it's fantastic.

[16:42] Matt DeAngelis: It's also one of my favorite shows.

[16:43] Amber Brzezinski: So yeah, me too.

[16:44] Matt DeAngelis: I saw it nine, I saw it nine times in New York before I booked it on tour.

[16:47] Amber Brzezinski: Really?

[16:48] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah. You were just like that obsessive. Were you at one of the things?

[16:51] Amber Brzezinski: No, I I knew the girl who used to it was used to in the days of the paper lottery.

[16:54] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah, oh yeah. I knew the girl who pulled the tickets, so I would just fold it into funny shapes and I would just get to go to the show.

[17:00] Amber Brzezinski: That's the trick.

[17:01] Matt DeAngelis: That was the trick back in the day. Oh man, the paper lotteries were my favorite.

[17:04] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, like origami suddenly released in the company.

[17:07] Matt DeAngelis: Oh yeah. Or like put a sticker on it so it was slippery. You were like, what is this? Oh, okay, you win.

[17:13] Amber Brzezinski: Um, yeah, no, it's it's crazy how much that's changed.

[17:17] Matt DeAngelis: Oh my wild, yeah. So okay, besides besides Johnny getting obviously that Tony, um I think Amber and I very much have been push pushing towards stuff design.

[17:28] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, for sure.

[17:29] Matt DeAngelis: I mean, it what it's the craziest. It was like that, and reviews don't matter either, but I think it was the post was like, Oh what? This set just goes up and down. I was like, shut up.

[17:41] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, exactly. The New York wind and shit in your face in the theater. Like New York Post can get effed.

[17:48] Matt DeAngelis: I think a clip from it stumbled across my Instagram feed like the other day. And I just like sat back and was like it's insane. It was insane. I mean it was that moment. It was insane. What was it like to be on that stage with that set?

[18:08] Matt DeAngelis: Well, largely I didn't get to experience the cool parts. To be honest.

[18:12] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[18:19] Matt DeAngelis: Um, so I got to do it all in costume, crawling under the thing, hopping up into the boat, devil pulls the string, or Satan pulls the strings going around in the thing. Yeah, like it was pretty wild. And like I I called Johnny or I texted him, I think. Maybe I voice memoed him from his dressing room after. And I was like, dude, I was like, how do you do that? I was like, I did that one time, and I feel like I have to go to the fucking hospital. I was like, I don't know how. I was like, that was insane. It was the most like as an actor, yeah, that was the most overwhelming. And I've never really been that kind of actor who like gets lost in a thing. Like, I don't, I'm not really that kind of guy. I'm I'm more of a meat and potatoes kind of actor.

[19:04] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[19:05] Matt DeAngelis: Um, but I was so overwhelmed. It was it was just one of the most incredible experiences of my whole life. It was wild.

[19:13] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, I mean, it's like choreo that not a lot of people are gonna see the choreo of, and making sure you can get safely to one place to the other to the other.

[19:20] Matt DeAngelis: Well, yeah, and it's also what it was too is like there was so much pressure to like it was also very emotional because I was nervous. It's a huge, it's the biggest. I know I've I've played some cool parts, and I know I'm a good actor, but like it was the hardest lift acting-wise that I've ever done by a million miles.

[19:42] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, sure.

[19:45] Matt DeAngelis: Well, sure, but it was just a it was just a I mean overwhelming is the only word I can think to use. It was just it was insane. Yeah, it it was a beautiful moment, and you know, uh talking to Josh Breckenridge after the show, because um had the pleasure of speaking with him a lot during Carter Rock and Roll, and just seeing the physicality of like the guys in the back and watching him, like it's nuts. That thing with his foot is just like Yes!

[20:11] Amber Brzezinski: It's sick, it's so sick.

[20:13] Matt DeAngelis: So I I think I'm gonna petition for all the the original Choreo to go to the Bowery. Tell Spark it has to be only original Choreo just around the tiniest little venue. Done.

[20:25] Amber Brzezinski: We're all over it.

[20:27] Matt DeAngelis: Okay, cool. Yeah, he brought me on, he was doing an Instagram live, and like I was just rambling, and he was like, Oh yeah, come on. And he like brought me into the live, and I'm like, oh blah blah blah blah. And then it was over, and I'm like, all right, cool, dude. Um, but he well, he too, like one of the most genuinely nice.

[20:44] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, he's so nice.

[20:45] Matt DeAngelis: Stark is so so nice. But that whole group of people, I mean, I honestly, I mean, like it's it's the best, it was my favorite job I've ever had. I was thinking the brotherhood that you guys all really made was so evident, like not just the brotherhood themes within the show, but you could really tell how it was carried over into the case.

[21:05] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, yeah.

[21:06] Matt DeAngelis: No, yeah, it's a really special group of guys. Like, we love each other very much. But that also comes from like your upbringing through the industry as well, you know, beach Wayne American Idiot and once and waitress and hair. Like I think the maturity level, you guys all come from so many different things, and then pull that like thread together.

[21:24] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, it was wild.

[21:25] Matt DeAngelis: The youngest, the youngest person in the show was 31 years old.

[21:28] Amber Brzezinski: That's crazy.

[21:29] Matt DeAngelis: Which, like, no knock on the people who come out of college and get a Broadway show, but like it was pretty cool to have a bunch of even the ones who had never been on Broadway before weren't weren't amateurs. No, there was a different level of maturity, and it's just like they were like, I know how to do this job, and then we all just went to work and did the job. Like it was really wild. It's not showing up and expecting to be a celebrity.

[21:49] Amber Brzezinski: Um I heard somebody say something at the stage door at Outsiders um a couple weeks ago, and it was really fascinating. And but it's something that we always talk about here is if Broadway is your like ultimate end all be all goal, you're in the wrong industry.

[22:04] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah, you mean for fame and like notoriety?

[22:07] Amber Brzezinski: For fame, notoriety for a big paycheck.

[22:09] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah, I mean, there's so many other things. You've been on tour. You just did the once reunion, which we'd love to talk about.

[22:16] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, yeah.

[22:16] Matt DeAngelis: There's so many things, and it's just really incredible that some people are like, Oh, Broadway, that's the only place I want to be. And you're like, Cool, but like look at every other option too, because tours are huge. Uh, my dear friend Justin Sargent, he's doing, I'm sure you know Justin. He's doing Hamilton.

[22:34] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, I've known that's another Orlando boy. We had a show a couple months ago.

[22:39] Matt DeAngelis: I met Justin when I was dating Rachel Potter.

[22:42] Amber Brzezinski: Okay.

[22:43] Matt DeAngelis: Years and years and years. It would have been 2000 seven, probably.

[22:50] Amber Brzezinski: Okay. Was that before or after Spider-Man?

[22:53] Matt DeAngelis: After what?

[22:54] Amber Brzezinski: Was it before or after Spider-Man?

[22:56] Matt DeAngelis: Turn off the dark.

[22:57] Amber Brzezinski: Before, way before.

[22:58] Matt DeAngelis: I literally met him when he was living in Orlando in line. They had a local Orlando audition for Wonderland with Frank Wildhorn.

[23:07] Amber Brzezinski: Oh yeah.

[23:08] Matt DeAngelis: And I went with Rachel and Justin was in line, and the card that's where I met the Cardonas for the first time.

[23:14] Amber Brzezinski: Okay.

[23:15] Matt DeAngelis: That's funny.

[23:16] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, I mean, I love it.

[23:19] Matt DeAngelis: Um, but you can tell that like that's like the the bloodline that you come from. It's like everyone just really cool and everybody has like a good familial feeling to it.

[23:29] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[23:30] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah. Well, so what would you say as far as you just did the reunion for once? I want to hear about that because in that show, five instruments, is that right?

[23:40] Amber Brzezinski: Count guitar, mandolin, banjo, ukulele, percussion, drums.

[23:48] Matt DeAngelis: Well, percussion is drums, isn't it?

[23:50] Amber Brzezinski: Well, yeah, but the drum kit and then you did a thumbs up and it made a thumbs up on your screen. We've never seen that before. Sorry.

[23:56] Matt DeAngelis: Amazing. So yeah, uh yeah, it was that show was really wild. Uh I had to learn how to play the banjo and the and the mandolin for that. I I played drums of all the instruments that I play, the only one I've ever taken less. I guess I took piano lessons as a little kid, but like I took drum lessons up until junior year of high school. So like I can play the drums a little. I mean, I'm no Gerard Canonico or anything as far as actor drummers out there, or like Seth Ellister or those guys, but sure. But I can play. But I mean, how many people can say they had to play five to six instruments for a show?

[24:33] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, yeah.

[24:33] Matt DeAngelis: So that was cool. Um, I really had to take my guitar playing to another level, which I wish I had stayed practicing since I did that show. I really haven't. I have not gotten any better at the guitar since I left once to at least you're on. But um yeah, it was it was great. It was a great challenge. It's a great script. I got to go down to Bucks County and play Guy, which was really exciting.

[24:56] Amber Brzezinski: That's cool.

[24:57] Matt DeAngelis: Um, I'd love to do it again now that I've lost my mom. I really want to teach Christine how to play the fucking piano so we can do it together. Uh yeah, I mean, that wouldn't be the first time you guys have been together too, because you started opposite and waitress.

[25:09] Amber Brzezinski: That's true.

[25:10] Matt DeAngelis: And we're about to be together again, which is another thing we can't talk about yet, but stay tuned.

[25:14] Amber Brzezinski: So exciting.

[25:16] Matt DeAngelis: We're gonna get the insider info one way or another, Matt.

[25:18] Matt DeAngelis: Uh I know it's like if we were doing this like six days later, you'd have all kinds of well, like two weeks later, you'd have all the information. We'll just have you back on the show.

[25:25] Amber Brzezinski: We'll do it again.

[25:26] Matt DeAngelis: We'll do it again. Yeah, it gives us more things to share.

[25:29] Amber Brzezinski: That's right, baby. Uh, but yeah, so it would be really cool to do that with her. I just think the script is great. It's rarer than it ought to be that a musical has a really, really great script.

[25:38] Matt DeAngelis: Yes, and Endow Walsh wrote a brilliant play. Uh, yes. Yeah, I mean, it's just it's there are some shows that kind of stick with you.

[25:47] Matt DeAngelis: There's like, you know, the jukebox musical musicals, I think anybody can kind of plug into, but when you find special songs and special plays that people can kind of migrate together, they kind of grow that attachment to it, and then you can truly see like the give and take between the audience and the performer.

[26:04] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, yeah, it's a good way of putting it.

[26:06] Matt DeAngelis: I mean, I think that there's something, there's a reason that like every new medium has been like, well, that's gonna kill the theater industry, and it doesn't. Like there's a there's something to great live theater that still really resonates, and I think this swept away, even though we didn't run very long, did resonate, and I think once we're still talking about it.

[26:27] Amber Brzezinski: Well, once was a huge commercial success, and in the way that it was, and that's because the play was so good.

[26:33] Matt DeAngelis: Of course, the music and Stephen Hoggett's choreography dancing with all the instruments and all that shit was also amazing, but it really comes down to that script. I mean, that script is phenomenal.

[26:41] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, and I mean now I so I like the production side of things on PR production. That's my world. I've never, and I have no problem getting in front of people and talking or MCing, but like I'm always curious, especially the roles that you've portrayed. What is your what's your method for like learning lines or getting into character?

[27:04] Matt DeAngelis: You're talking to the wrong guy. I mean, I you have to memorize lines somehow, Matt.

[27:09] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah, but you know what though? I can honestly say uh everybody has gifts, and I think with my ADHD and my like neurodiversity, like I have the best memory of anybody I've ever met.

[27:18] Amber Brzezinski: Love it.

[27:19] Matt DeAngelis: I've never in my entire career, I have never once studied a script outside of rehearsal.

[27:25] Amber Brzezinski: Holy crap.

[27:25] Matt DeAngelis: Wow. I just I just do it in the room and then I do it and I remember it.

[27:29] Amber Brzezinski: So you're a sponge.

[27:31] Matt DeAngelis: I'm very lucky. It's only because reading is not my absorption method. If I sat home and read the script, it wouldn't I wouldn't get it. I'm a I'm an auditory person, but so if I hear it, it's and it that includes when I speak it, so it's just in there.

[27:45] Matt DeAngelis: Like I'll do a pie trick.

[27:47] Amber Brzezinski: The what?

[27:48] Matt DeAngelis: The pie trick to learn what kind of weird so it teaches you how what you how you learn. So this is like an old old theater thing, like old, old, like 80s. Um, that they would say, Okay, imagine somebody's throwing a whipped cream pie at your face, your eyes are closed, where is it landing on your face?

[28:07] Amber Brzezinski: Uh my forehead?

[28:11] Matt DeAngelis: I don't know. What I don't understand.

[28:13] Matt DeAngelis: So imagine if like a pie is coming at your face. So if it's more towards the center, like by your eyes, you're considered more of a visual learner. If it's more towards the temples or towards your ears, you're more of an auditory. And if it's like dead target center, it means that you can learn by both.

[28:28] Amber Brzezinski: Oh wow.

[28:29] Matt DeAngelis: I always thought it was really fascinating.

[28:30] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[28:31] Matt DeAngelis: And and as far as the character thing for me, it's like I don't now like I just said, it's different. Like doing something like what Johnny did the one time I got to do it requires a different level of not commitment, but like there's a different level of like process that you have to get to to do that. But like for the stuff that I do, like I don't know. I made a speech at a best man speech at a wedding recently, and I was like, Good evening. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Broadway background actor and television white supremacist, Matt DeAngelis.

[29:04] Amber Brzezinski: And like I mean, that's a great intro, though.

[29:07] Matt DeAngelis: I should have introduced you on the show like that.

[29:09] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[29:09] Matt DeAngelis: Well, clearly, I don't have those kinds of tendencies in real life, but like I just say it. I don't have a process, I don't get deep in the character. I'm me before I cross the leg, and then I'm me as soon as I exit the stage.

[29:21] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[29:22] Matt DeAngelis: I don't really and and that's not to and that's not to talk shit about anybody else's process. Some people need whatever, but for me, if I think too much, I become a very, very bad actor very, very quickly.

[29:34] Amber Brzezinski: Sure.

[29:34] Matt DeAngelis: You don't need that decompression break time. You're like, okay, I'm here, I'm on the stage, I'm doing a job, I'm off the stage.

[29:40] Matt DeAngelis: Well, to me, it's uh I try to keep it as simple as possible. I try to just go out there and pretend like the thing that is happening is happening to me. Now, like in the case like Earl or somebody like that, it's like obviously he processes things differently than I do, so I have to process them in a certain way. But I really just try to be like, what would it be like if you if this was happening to him?

[29:59] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[29:59] Matt DeAngelis: I don't try to Yeah.

[30:01] Amber Brzezinski: That's I was saying that that's a challenging role in itself, too.

[30:05] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah, it's like a musical comedy with a Sam Shepard play in the middle.

[30:08] Amber Brzezinski: That's a very accurate way of yeah, that's very accurate.

[30:12] Matt DeAngelis: Uh Catherine Stray Hall said, I saw once with a lot of the Pig Pen Theater Company guys at my local rep theater in the fall, and it was incredible. A brilliant and really touching show.

[30:21] Amber Brzezinski: It's great.

[30:22] Matt DeAngelis: It's great, great, great. Love it.

[30:24] Amber Brzezinski: So the Pig Pen Theater Company is awesome.

[30:26] Matt DeAngelis: Oh my god, they're amazing. We got a chance to meet them opening night for water for elephants last year. I'm a big golfer, and the lead one of the lead guys of Pig Pen's brother is a big golf influencer, and we talk online.

[30:42] Amber Brzezinski: Big time, and he's from Massachusetts, just like me.

[30:45] Matt DeAngelis: Okay.

[30:46] Amber Brzezinski: Okay.

[30:47] Matt DeAngelis: I see.

[30:47] Amber Brzezinski: I love Boston. Amber and I just went to Boston hot like Hollow weekend because we did Boston and Salem.

[30:53] Matt DeAngelis: Oh, sick.

[30:53] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, we're from my Christine and I are both from closer to Salem.

[30:56] Matt DeAngelis: Okay.

[30:57] Amber Brzezinski: Yes, we learned the um like the easy like little trolley to get over to the train that takes you out to Salem. You freeze your ass off for a little bit, you walk around, you come back.

[31:05] Matt DeAngelis: Oh yeah.

[31:06] Amber Brzezinski: But we were there the day after Halloween, and it was like everything just kind of shut down.

[31:10] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah, see. I mean, Salem, we uh we Massachusetts people avoid Salem like the plague around Halloween. My my ex is well-known magician out there. I also try to avoid that, but we wanted to go. It was just it was a fun little journey.

[31:20] Matt DeAngelis: That's awesome. But it's cool. It always kind of gives that interesting background because everyone always assumes that like most actors are you know, New York or or California, you're like, no, they're they're like all over the place, but they're breadbasket places or are the better places.

[31:39] Amber Brzezinski: But yeah, Amber, I know you had a couple of swept questions that have been in your vocabulary for a while.

[31:46] Matt DeAngelis: Um, not necessarily swept questions.

[31:50] Amber Brzezinski: Okay.

[31:51] Matt DeAngelis: Questions in general. Trying to see if there's ones that we haven't already covered, because we did get some of my questions already.

[32:00] Amber Brzezinski: I love it. Well, while you're looking at your questions, I'm gonna ask Matt, as far as the shows that are coming out now, what what are your thoughts? Because we've been noticing there's a lot of IP, like a lot of intellectual property that's coming out. People are kind of gravitating towards those. Do you think that personal opinion, not even professional, just personal? How do you feel that that's affecting the way the theater is right now?

[32:26] Matt DeAngelis: Well, I I I mean, I sort of take a different stance than some people on this, I think. Uh that's why we have you on the show. I don't I think that we're kidding ourselves as a community if we think that Broadway is the place for high art. I and I also think that us as artists, especially the ones who work on Broadway, are kidding ourselves if we are not absolute contributing factors to ruthless capitalism.

[32:53] Amber Brzezinski: Okay, fair enough.

[32:55] Matt DeAngelis: Cause like because like all of our friends can protest all they want on Instagram, but they still are tweeting from their iPhone and shopping at free people. So, like we all love capitalism, right? Like it's cool. Right. And so, and so because of that, I think people don't have a lot of discretionary income right now in the country. I think people are nervous about the economy. It's getting increasingly difficult for regular people to come to New York with their families. Thousands and thousands of dollars. And looking at ticket prices that are like $900. They don't want to see something that's weird. They want to either spend a bajillion dollars to see a famous person or they want to see the movie that they like.

[33:36] Amber Brzezinski: Yes.

[33:36] Matt DeAngelis: Okay. And I don't, and I don't think that that's an always problem. I think that that's a now. I think that everything goes like this, right? I think right now we're kind of like back, even not to get even politically, like this like America, this like America first, isolationist, high tariff, the everything that's happening, you know, um, like fear of outsiders. Yeah, we're kind of back to like the Zigfeld Follies days of Broadway.

[34:04] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[34:05] Matt DeAngelis: Of like the spectacle because it but also there's nothing wrong with that on its own because like people forget that like after 9-11, like Mama Mia saved Broadway.

[34:14] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, right.

[34:15] Matt DeAngelis: Nobody wanted to go home. No, nobody wanted to go see Blood Brothers. Not that that's not a brilliant show, it just wasn't the way people wanted to feel right then.

[34:21] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[34:21] Matt DeAngelis: They wanted to feel like that. So I think right now people, no matter who they voted for, and maybe for different reasons. I think nostalgia is in.

[34:29] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[34:30] Matt DeAngelis: Just like make America Great Again stuff is nostalgic for the people who voted that way. Okay, want to go back to a time when things were better than now. Right. I don't agree, but that's what they think. And I think for those of us who feel like our country is careening off of the rails, I think we want to see stuff, not we, but like people want to see stuff that makes them feel comfortable.

[34:51] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[34:51] Matt DeAngelis: I can see the point of art. No, I guess but also I think that we've had enough inundation with things that make us deeply uncomfortable that maybe people need two hours to take a fucking break.

[35:03] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, yeah.

[35:04] Matt DeAngelis: That's even brain break for sure. And and I'm not even, I'm not even making a qualitative statement as to whether or not that's a good way to interact with art or not.

[35:14] Amber Brzezinski: Well, see, I like the weird shit. I've been looking forward to Lost Boys coming out because it's both weird, but it's also talking about Casey Levy. It's weird, but it's also nostalgic.

[35:24] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah, yeah.

[35:24] Amber Brzezinski: And but I think that when Broadway stumbles upon high art, it's special. Spring Awakening.

[35:31] Matt DeAngelis: Oh, yeah.

[35:31] Amber Brzezinski: Once, once come from away. Like, I think that there's like, you know, every once in a while, swept away, I think.

[35:38] Matt DeAngelis: You know, I okay. I was gonna say I didn't see it, but my wife, my wife loved it.

[35:43] Amber Brzezinski: Head over heels.

[35:44] Matt DeAngelis: Oh yeah. I think head over heels is high art. Maybe happy ending. Maybe happy ending, but at least happy ending is is having a life. You know, it is having a life, but more that short-term run. I mean, honestly, like Water for Elephants was a really well-done show, but it just wasn't what people wanted. And it was an IP and it was stun casting. It just nothing made sense.

[36:01] Amber Brzezinski: Well, but but even still, I mean, a year on Broadway is a good run.

[36:06] Matt DeAngelis: Absolutely. So, like, I I mean, like, even not even just like pat on the back, like good for you, like historically a year is a good run. So it's like, you know, I I think the water for elephants had its moment. I I know it was disappointing for some of the the gang who created it, but they they got a good they got to show that thing that they made to people.

[36:22] Amber Brzezinski: They did.

[36:23] Matt DeAngelis: And I wish that swept was able to do that to be hearing.

[36:27] Amber Brzezinski: Me too.

[36:27] Matt DeAngelis: So does my accountant.

[36:29] Amber Brzezinski: Uh yeah.

[36:31] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah. Well, you know, one of these days some magic will happen. I'm hoping. Um, one of these days something will just click. I just I want people to have a little bit more wide opening, like just be aware of what's going on. And I think that you said it just perfectly well. Some people want to live the nostalgia, it's not necessarily the way to go. And yeah, I I know Ken Davenport made a comment probably last year of like Broadway shows are not meant to have longer runs than a year or two years. It's very unusual, but you do have those long-running shows.

[37:04] Amber Brzezinski: Phantom, holy crap.

[37:05] Matt DeAngelis: Can you imagine joining the orc? Like being in the pit for Phantom Movie Opera and like having a career for 30 years playing the same music.

[37:12] Amber Brzezinski: I love Phantom.

[37:14] Matt DeAngelis: Give me that job. I'm I'm I want that goat in wiki. Give me that goat. That is the job. You don't have a song, you don't have a song. You have a big break. You get a nice one.

[37:33] Matt DeAngelis: Matt Daniel was for Dr. Delamont. Give me that goat. We're gonna start that petition, Matt.

[37:39] Amber Brzezinski: No, we want to do it in like in like 15-20 years. Christine can come back as the first alphabet of play morable, and I can play that goat.

[37:47] Matt DeAngelis: Now just gonna say that perfect.

[37:50] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[37:50] Matt DeAngelis: That'd be perfect. Well, so now talking about Christine, and she's not here, so we're not gonna talk about her months.

[37:56] Amber Brzezinski: Oh no, she has the puppy right now in Nashville.

[38:01] Matt DeAngelis: Um, you're all by yourself. You've got like a man pad going. Um what like I know you guys have had the opportunity to starve, you know, with each other and waitress and soon something else to be to be announced. Um if there's any show that you could pluck out of history or any show that really you want to be able to start with each other, what do you think it would be?

[38:28] Matt DeAngelis: Well, I again I I can't think of many that it'd be better for us than once. Honestly. I think I think we'd do a great job with that script.

[38:36] Matt DeAngelis: Especially because now we've both been, you know, in the last now 25 or 26 months, we've both lost a parent. Frankly. So it's like I think that we just have a deeper understanding of loss than we did before. Um really I just want to be in Come From Away so bad. Michael Rubinoff was her producer on Maggie, which that poster's over there. I love this whole wall. This is great. And her and her best performer, Broadway Road Connecticut Best Performer in a Musical Award. Um there would not be a single picture of her or celebration of her in any way in this house if it wasn't for me. I am the nostalgist, speaking of nostalgia, like all this shit, all the Totskis, all the wedding photos, everything, all me.

I saw your Swept Away closet. I know. Oh, hell yeah. But um, so Michael Rubinoff is the lead producer on Maggie, who is the lead producer on Come From Away, and we just keep banging his door down. We're like, anywhere you do in that show, we'll go. Yeah. Oh, I think she's a little young, she's a little young for Beverly, but she would sing the shit out of that song. But they could age her up. Yeah, it'd be fine. Yeah. I'll play anybody. I don't even everyone everyone's always tells me the Kevin T, and I'm like, eh, I don't know. I would I would I would like to play Oz. That'd be fun. I was gonna think so. Besides Dylan, do you have any like dream roles? No holds bar that like if there was like no anything was possible.

Gender bent too. Totally fine. Do it. I don't know. I don't I don't really. I mean, I'm sure there's something I'm forgetting. I mean, Guy and I'd like to play Guy once again, like I said, but um. Oh, I'd love to play. I've always wanted to play Jerry in The Full Monty. Okay. Run. What a choice. All right. I mean, it's Terrence McNally. It's funny, the music's amazing. That was a show I think didn't get its fair opportunity either. I was too young to really know what it had its life on Broadway, but I've seen it regionally a bunch of times. It's great. Yeah. Now, do you like when you go support regionally, do you feel that you're supporting the community enough doing that way? Or do you feel I know that you guys also want to start doing a little bit of the educational stuff that you also focus on for auditions? I'd love to be able to touch on that a little bit too.

[40:59] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah, I mean, uh, Christine and I always try to make a point whenever we're traveling at all to see stuff. You know, I wouldn't say we see a lot of regional theater because it's like they have subscriber bases and stuff. We try to see youth theater. We try to, like you said, we you know, we're educators, and so we try to be around and support young people as much as we can. Right. Um but um yeah, I mean, we've done a lot of teaching over the last, you know, really since well, I mean, this is a little bit before the pandemic, but the pandemic is where it really kind of became a primary part of our income. Um but yeah, I mean I think I think that like no matter what the state of the economy and what the state of Broadway is at any given moment, I think that learning the skills that you need that you learn doing this are good for your life. Like public speaking and practice and discipline and creativity.

[41:56] Matt DeAngelis: Well, just you know, in case you were ever wondering, you do speak so enlightening, which is very nice. But some people just you're pulling words, but you have such a way of presenting, and it's genuine, which is so beautiful. Thank you. Um, yeah, I think that there's like a there's a really valuable like bag of life skills that come from practicing this thing, and also like we always do we have a lot of enthusiastic students who might not go on to do this, right? Um and there's tons of industries that are arts adjacent. You could be a company manager or a stage manager or an arts administrator or a teacher, or there's so many, there's so many other avenues that are like or a producer, or there's like you know what I mean.

There's like there's so many things. Yes, but you can never if you ask a producer what what does the job producer mean? There's so many different levels, yeah. And like my thing is like what we really liked, we loved teaching our like 25 and up students here in New York because it's like you're really working with like working actors, and that's really fun to like do audition prep and get people really humming and whatever. But working with the younger people was so cool because like you get to kind of get in on the ground floor of like helping them learn how to be a person, right? And like I I'm just a big I think I want to be very careful how I say this. I think sometimes we in my opinion, we celebrate diva behavior too much, and I know it's like yes work, slay boots down. I get it, like I get it. But I I've always found I think the two biggest things that you should be and in and should endeavor to be in show business are really great and really nice.

[44:00] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah. And and I think I think we spend a lot of time focusing on the great part. And I have really enjoyed getting to work with some of our students on how to you don't have to step over anybody. Right. And I I'm a big believer, and I grew up playing sports, and I played sports in college and whatever. And if you really believe you're great, like in a real way, it won't matter how great somebody else is. Right. It won't matter. You should be great anyway. And sometimes it's your gig, and sometimes it's your it's not. And it's it's not always easy to remember that when you're in the middle of it and you're trying for a job and it could change your life financially or whatever. But I'm a big believer that like if you ever have to like be catty or subversive or something to another performer, you're not as great as you think you are because you don't think you're that great because great great people don't do that.

[44:58] Matt DeAngelis: Right. It's like you don't have to tell people you're great, you just have to be great. Yeah, I mean, yeah. And and also it's like it's the way you act when people aren't watching too. It's like I don't anyway, all that to say, I like working with our kids because I think that we we Christine and I have a long track record now of being people who have been successful who have also not done it at the expense of our own humanity or and our niceness. Like we're nice, we're good hang and we're nice, and we also happen to be really good at this thing, right? And you also demystify a lot of the industry to a lot of people who think it's this big built up thing, and I think that's important because a lot of people forget the nice part, it's because there's people stepping on top of each other, it's kind of like everyone's star shines bright, you don't have to like knock someone's light out.

[45:46] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah, not to uh not to bring the mood down, but Gavin Gavin Creel, my mentor, you know, a mentor of everybody's, but he was very important to me. You know, he sent my mother a video in the hospital. Like he was he was just the best. And um he when I met him for the first time, it was 2000 and it was July of or late June of 2009. Okay. And I was at the Hirschfeld, and he was like, um he said, he was like, Yeah, hey, he's like, you're in the room now. He goes, people are gonna forget you were ever not in the room. He goes, Don't ever forget you were not in the room. He goes, because being on Broadway is really hard. He's like, because you're because you're competing against long odds and talented people and whatever.

He goes, Doing it a second time is even harder. He goes, because you're doing all those same things and you're competing with your own reputation. Right. And so just don't be a dick. Be a person that be a person that be a dick. Be a person that people want to have a whiskey with, maybe, but also be a person that when people go, who could do this job? Who can we who can we count on? Who do we want to be in the room with for six weeks? Who's gonna make us laugh? Who's gonna be a good hang? Who's gonna be a good company member? Right.

[46:58] Matt DeAngelis: Like that is because here's the thing, right? I was saying this to I was talking to somebody the other day. I don't know. Like when it comes to like pure talent, Christine is better. Christine is better than me. She's a better singer and she's a better actor than me. I think she's a better singer and a better actor than lots of people, but I've been able to make a career because I'm good, but there are people who are better than I am. Like I'm not the best. I'm a really good singer, but I'm not the best singer in the world. I'm not the best actor in the world. I know how to I think I'm a person who well I think that I'm a person who I think I'm a person who knows how to be myself. Yeah. And I know how to be, I'm very comfortable.

I know who I am. Right. And I'm a good, I'm fun to be around. And I I'm I'm dependable, I'm reliable, I'm professional. And and again, not that there isn't a certain talent quotient that has to be met, because of course that there is. But I'm really I've really tried to and we tried with our students too, but I've really tried to put attention on the fact that it's about the other stuff.

[47:57] Matt DeAngelis: Right. You want you want to be a person first. Yeah, and you can't teach you can't teach a person their personality. You can only enhance it and kind of help guide them. You can teach them the skills, but they need to learn how to be a person first. I love that. And it's and it's a beautiful, it really has been a beautiful sort of learning lesson for us is like to watch that. Like there's no better feeling than a kid working their ass off and going through pre-screens and getting into their favorite college. That's amazing. Like and we got we have students at Wagner, at NYU, at Boco, at where else? At Michigan. Like we got we got kids all over. So I think we're very proud.

[48:33] Amber Brzezinski: Well, yeah, and you have every right to be very proud. I mean, what you do for the community, besides, you know, be incredible performers, is you you build the community. And that's what Amber and I always strive towards is we look for the community builders because you know, we were outside of the room too, and then we're in the room and we're like, whoa, okay, how are we here? And then we're able to have like these incredible conversations like with people like you, and it's just once you I uh the word that we get thrown a lot is genuine. And I think that that is the word that I always like to leave people with when they're like, oh, what's something that you want to see out of people? Just someone being genuine.

[49:11] Matt DeAngelis: Sure, sure. And I think I think that transcends. Are you guys Malcolm Gladwell fans at all?

[49:17] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[49:18] Matt DeAngelis: So he wrote this story in Tipping Point. He talks about Mavens and then the other thing. I can't remember what the other term is. But like on that famous night when Paul Revere left the greatest city in the world, Boston, Massachusetts. Um three two other people went with him that night. They all rode in different directions. Now, one of them was a woman, so surprise surprise, America forgot. The other one was just a guy who like wasn't as popular as Paul Revere. And it's not when I say popular, I don't mean like the douchey way. Like no, he some people know how to get people to pay attention to them. Right. And whether whether we were riding on horseback screaming with lanterns, or whether we know we're read in the newspaper or or uh vaudeville performers or Broadway stars, television actors are now TikTok K fans, like whatever that is.

[50:08] Matt DeAngelis: Yeah, the gen like genuineness leaps off of whatever medium you are reading. Yeah, some people do like the little the dances or whatever, but a lot of people do that, not everybody goes viral, right? And it's not just luck, it's not like it's there's something about those people that not only the algorithm pays attention to, but the other people in the community that got attention to, yeah, yeah. It it absolutely it's it's unquantifiable, but it's unbl it's it's 100% real.

[50:43] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, it's it's crazy because like I hate the word influencer, like yeah, Amber and I are not, we don't consider ourselves theater influencers, like we're we're community builders, and you know, we want to be able to help support shows and help support performers and help support Janice Jam. Like, oh my god, I cannot wait to hear more about that, by the way. Um, but really, like, we want to build a community with like-minded people that are self-doing that. We're not like, hey, look at us, we're going to this thing. We're like, hey, look at this show and look at this actor or look at this mom often. PJ and I, PJ Asimo and I were just talking about this the other day because you know, stage stage time is largely him as a mouthpiece, and then these amazing performers. And Janice Jam, for lack of a better whatever, it was my mom, so it's always gonna be me up front, right?

[51:32] Matt DeAngelis: But great leaders and great hosts, especially, it's never look at me. Right, look at it's look at who I brought, right? It's like, look at yes, hi everybody, it's me again. Good to see everybody. Look at this. Check it exactly, exactly. Yeah, and I think it's like because you know, there's no such thing as true altruism, right? Like, there's no such thing as a selfless act, like it makes me feel good to celebrate others, right? And it's a good career move for me to be running a giant concert every year. That's not why I do it. Right, I'm doing it for the right reasons, and I'm doing it. I have to practice. Um, but no, like you know what I mean. It's like, and there are people out there who do things for the wrong reasons, and I think you can smell that on people.

I really do. And that doesn't mean that some of those people don't get famous because there's a lot of hungry people out there that get famous, even though they're jerks, but like, yes, yeah, I always endeavor to at least have the right, and I'm not a god guy, but I'm a big West Wing guy. And they quote this on West Wing. He says, uh, Lord, I know I don't always please you, but I think the fact that I wish to please you pleases you. Right. And my thing is like I believe that if you're going out there doing your best to serve others and to be kind and to work hard and like you said, celebrate other people. Because everybody you meet knows something you don't know. Right, yeah. Anybody who doesn't know me well would think I don't care about that because I talk so fucking much.

But like talking is the way I love people. Yep. Right. And so like I get so geeked to learn new things and to have new conversations with people in nightlife or cabaret or Broadway, or I went to the research symposium for Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which is the charity we work with for the JSG. I got all these me and all these scientists because we raised so much money for them that they have invited us as like contributors. Wow. It was the first time probably in my life I was the dumbest person in a room. It was wild. It was wild. I was like, I'm a pretty smart guy and I can hang, but this is insane. Yeah. And even being in that room was so excited because I got to learn new stuff. I learned new statistics for when I talk to potential donors for the Janice Jam.

I have new, you know, I have new ammunition for when I'm making my speeches and my direct appeals for more money at the Janice Jam. And so it's like it's all everything is a learning experience, and like everybody has something to teach you. Dude, when I tell you, like that's been my MO and Amber kind of attest to it too, is like everyone's like, Oh, you know, there's that meaning of life. Like, what's the meaning of life? And to me, I'm like, I'm gonna just learn. I collect stories and people, and I just want to keep learning. And Amber's like that too. Like, we're both under the weather. My concussion, she's feeling from an ear infection, and we're both like, no, but we're gonna do this, we want to do this, and we research everything, and it just nonstop.

It's just a lot of it's a lot of info gathering to be able to just help better the community. Yeah, it's an important, and not everybody has that intention, and it's very necessary. Right. We're not doing it to like blow up whether it's whether it's ultimately effective or not like one of the the one of the publicists that we work with for the Janice chamber is always like I don't care what publication or what podcast if you if one person comes to the event that wasn't coming before one person learns something about breast cancer or about whatever then like that's what this is for. Right.

[54:51] Matt DeAngelis: Now I'm gonna ask you my favorite question because we're winding down and Amber knew it was coming um is there ever a question that you've always wanted to be asked but nobody has ever asked you and what's the answer reminded me of a really funny story from when I was going to college oh go on there was a famous story from my high school okay being in Massachusetts Harvard is right there. Yeah and there was this kid that wanted to go to Harvard and that was his like dream and the Harvard entrance essay exam thing the question was uh ask yourself a question and answer it oh okay so he just wrote do you play the trombone no and sent it in and he got in early acceptance genius genius it shows guts it shows guts yeah um that's a great question I didn't mean to throw you off there no not at all um I think like I don't know if I can really answer that, but I I will say like the thing if I died tomorrow, I don't want my Broadway credits or my television credits to be the first thing that people mention.

No. Um I kind of there's a great um one of the Irish tunes that we did at the once reunion, and we've done it at the saloon sessions. There's a song called The Night Pat Murphy Died. I love that song so it's like my favorite song I've ever performed. It's so fun to sing. And like when I die, first of all, I want my funeral to be like that. And second of all, okay. Second of all, I in my life I've raised over half a million dollars for charity. And like I am very proud of that. And I think that like it's okay, like you said about the humble stuff in the very beginning of our chat today, is like it's okay to feel good when you do good. Yeah, really. And I and I've and I've I've worked so hard at it, and I've brought in so many talented people to help, and I've called in so many favors, and I've had so many late nights and so much stress and so many meetings and Zooms and fundraising calls and trips to the bank with cash for the 275,000 that we raised for 231,000 we raised for a waitress with Jeremy Morris.

We used we were bringing suitcases full of money to the bank. We look like we were in the cartel. Like, you know. So I've just done a lot of work, and I'm just really proud of it. And I'm so grateful that I have a platform to continue that. I wish I might not have to lose my mom to get this platform, but I'm so grateful that I have it. And my wife works really hard, and Brian Campion, the creative director of Playbill.com is my co-producer, and he's incredible. And Larkin Bogan, my brother, you know, from American Idiot and Hair is also one of my co-producers, and we do a bunch of producing on and um Tammy Eagle Bowling, who I got to meet, you know, it's it's just it's an incredible group of people, and and we work really, really hard.

And uh, and I think we're doing a lot of good. We've we've already we've already funded over 1700 hours of research. 1700 hours? Yeah, that's nuts, Matt. That's nuts. But like it's still growing. Like the if if this is the infancy of Janice Jam, like I cannot wait to like. Oh no, my goal, my goal is uh in the next five years, I'm gonna be raising a million dollars a year. Oh, I'm sure you're gonna be way over that. We're we're we're projecting to do like 11,000 this year, which is insane. Okay. Well, we're gonna be able to do that. And then and then this this I can tell you, this is because there's no real facts. This is just if we hit the numbers that we think we're gonna hit in this year's Janice Jam, we will be planning a Janice Jam London in 2025. That's amazing. That's awesome, dude. So that's that's the I don't know, I don't know any more information than that. But if we hit our numbers, I I think we're going to the UK.

[58:46] Matt DeAngelis: Uh I recently saw PJ as uh we were just talking about posted something about being like a being at the Book of Mormon and that being like his downtime because he's so busy doing everything else. Do you feel like when you're performing in a show, that's like your downtime? You know what's funny? I'm so multi fashion doing all these other things. Right. Yes. But I guess and the business the busiest I've ever been is right now. Yeah, like the busiest I've ever been is right now. And thank you for giving us your time while you've been super silent. Thank you, of course. Uh but it's I haven't been this busy in a show before. You know, like, you know, a concert will pop up, I'll I'll be producing an event or whatever.

And yes, it's stressful, but like never this consistently. Like Rico and I are starting a social media company that we're representing a show, so we're gonna have to do like press for a thing. Me and Larkin are producing. Me and Larkin are producing an event at Town Hall in June. Me and Christina are going to do this thing in May and June. We're doing five weeks in Japan. Me and Christina are doing our concert in Japan for five weeks. We just are about to sign, we've agreed to terms with Ritz Carlton Yachts. So we'll be going to Iceland, Scotland, Amsterdam, Italy, singing doing our concert on Ruth Carlton Yachts. If you want Disney cruise lines, I got it in for you there. Yeah, well, we have Victor Farinas from Orlando helped design the wish.

He's a dear friend of ours. So um so we're doing that, and I and I'm trying to do these couch concerts and I'm running the Janice Jam and the saloon sessions. Yeah, we're taking we're taking a hiatus on the saloon sessions because April 28th is the reunion. Yeah. Then May is the Janice Jam. Right. Then uh June and July, I'm in Japan, Rico is busy, and Hunter is gone. And I can't, we can't do it without those guys. Right. Then August, we're all gonna regroup and we're gonna have rehearsals. And our goal is to like, as opposed to having to come up with 20 songs every month. That's a lot to ask of people who aren't being paid. Right. So our goal is to get together a couple of times in August and have like 30 songs that we just know cold.

Right. And then we can we can mix and match, and then if anybody comes in and goes, I got a new one for this month, we'll learn it. Right. But we're mostly gonna be doing shanties. That way the audience can start to learn them and sing along. And our goal is to then partner with a different show or a different something so that we're only doing half the show and then somebody else is doing half the show. Yeah, yeah. That's the that's the plan. Really cool guests the last couple of shows. That was awesome. Yeah. And we had uh my girl Amber Arnolino. We I was just messaging with her today. I was like, I was like, um, she's doing this really exciting job out of town that I can't talk about because she can't talk about yet.

So a lot of secrets, a lot of secrets on this podcast today. I know it's crazy. I know it's crazy. Um but um we were just talking and I was like, how's it going over a Titanic? You having fun, you settling in? She's like, Oh my god, I'm loving it, it's amazing. I was like, me and Christine will come see you, you know, before we head out of town. I was like, we're gonna come see you in that other thing too. And when you see what the other thing is, you're gonna be like, that's insane. Cause it's very far away. But um I uh time-wise, not anyway. Oh no, yeah, no, no, no, yeah.

[1:02:10] Matt DeAngelis: But my point is out, and she's like, Oh, you mom and dad are coming to see my play. Oh she's the best. She is everybody everybody that we've had at the saloon sessions. Because again, I I try to foster a space where everybody has a good time, right? And I think the second you walk into the saloon sessions, you instantly feel like you're someplace awesome. I just wish it was easier to get tickets, Matt. I know, tell me. Well, we're trying to fix that problem too, eventually. We're we're we don't ever want to leave Hurley's, but we're trying to be creative with getting more buttons, more butts in there. Yeah, we always wanted to feel intimate, but yeah, yeah. But really, but but um the the Janice Jam is the same way, like you can't really describe if you say it's a concert, people are like, Oh, there's lots of concerts.

There's nothing like the Janice Jam. It's experience. Experience. And you're gonna give us the information as soon as it's available, we're gonna talk about it. I'm hoping it'll be and by the end of day Wednesday, everything will be public. I'm that'll be when I'm in Casumel, Mexico. Hang on. I will share it all. Yeah, we'll be sharing all of it. Hey, I have the Wi-Fi package. It's fine. That's and hopefully next year you should be on the Broadway cruise. Hey, now now we're now we're pretty uh we're pretty uh experienced now on the high seas. So we'll go ahead and right. Well, we really appreciate all of your time, Matt. We're gonna get definitely. This is not the last time you're gonna be joining us by demand.

This is um and I can't wait. I'll see you on the 28th, if anything. Absolutely. Um send us over the information. Thank you for giving us your time when you've been super busy. And you just got back from Nashville, so hopefully Christine's doing good. I leave, I leave again on Tuesday to go back down to because she opens on Friday. Right. That's crazy. And you're gonna spend time with the pups, so you'll be that's right. Play some more golf. Oh, yeah. I'm gonna hear more about this golf influencer stuff too, by the way. Uh, but yeah, we'll see you on the 28th. And um, anything else coming in between that, we will be posting everywhere. Guys, please go check out Matt. Please make sure you look up the Janice Jam. Um, we're here to help. And uh thank you, everybody, and we hope everybody has a great weekend. Yes, bye everybody.

[1:04:18] Amber Brzezinski: Bye everybody.