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[0:00] Joshua Turchin: Hello and welcome back to the Early Night Show Virtual Edition or The Chronic Aber A. My name's Joshua Turchin and thanks so much for being with us today. Grace Capeless from Broadway's Matilda, Lion King, A Christmas Story with Musical, Radio City, and the new Netflix show Lost Girls is here. Nicole Scimeca from the original cast of Anastasia on Broadway is here, and we are going on with the show with Renee Elkady.

[0:29] Joshua Turchin: Welcome to the Early Night Show. I have such a great show for you today. Still here and still quarantining, not much has really changed. In fact, this quarantine has seemed to bring back some hit items from earlier generations. And it's getting a little weird. The Shamwell Superabsorbent Towel Company has now released a Shamwell mask. I'm not sure if it's like super virus protecting, but I'm sure it'll keep your face clean if you're like super mucusy. And that sounds super disgusting. For those of you who still have quarantine hair, the Flo Bee from the 1980s is taking new orders. The Flo Bee is basically a vacuum with a buzzer inside, which cuts your hair. So if you want that, I'll just cut my hair using a vacuum.

And for those with hacked Instagrams, apparently Ray-Ban sunglasses ads are the in trend for hackers to post. I have no real idea why, but like some really, really aggressive marketing company was like, I know how we can sell more of these. Let's hack people's Instagrams and post our ad. They could have just done a sponsored ad. In other news, a Wisconsin man received a postcard 16 years later after it was mailed. Do you think that in like 16 years we'll start getting email responses from people who claimed they never got our initial emails? Oh, sorry to finally reply, Chris. Just saw your email from 2020. One thing that we don't have to wait for is today's episode. When I see rainbows, I always feel hopeful. To start things off, here's my take on "Rainbow" by Kacey Musgraves.

[2:19] Joshua Turchin: But you didn't even notice.

[3:13] Joshua Turchin: Yellow, red, and orange and green, and at least the milk and others. So tie up the boat, take off your coat, and take a look around. The rain and wind starts blowing and you're stuck out in the same old storm again. You wanted to see your umbrella, darling. I'm just trying to tell ya that there's always been a rainbow hanging over your head.

[4:04] Joshua Turchin: Oh tie up the boat, take off your coat and take a look around. Everything's alright now. The rain and wind starts blowing, but you're stuck out in the same old storm again. Starlin, I'm just trying to tell ya that there's always been a rainbow hanging over your head. That there's always been a rainbow hanging over your head.

[5:09] Joshua Turchin: Now I'm hopeful that everyone will continue to wear a mask so no one else gets sick. Speaking of hope, I hope that you love today's guests. My first guest is already a Broadway veteran and has appeared in some of my favorite musicals, including The Lion King, Matilda, and A Christmas Story the Musical. I'm so happy to welcome Grace Capeless.

[5:30] Grace Capeless: Hi, Grace!

[5:31] Grace Capeless: Hey!

[5:32] Joshua Turchin: Hi, I'm so happy to have you on The Early Night Show.

[5:35] Grace Capeless: Yes, thank you for having me.

[5:37] Joshua Turchin: Of course. I know that you've been working professionally since you were really, really young too. Do you have like a favorite memory from a show you were in when you were younger?

[5:46] Grace Capeless: Yes. So I was in Matilda, and the opening number for that show is supposed to be like a huge birthday party. So at the top of the show, all of the kids have to hide under this really long birthday party table that has decorations on it and stuff. So we each have to like throughout the number pop out from different parts of the table and like sing a certain section or do something. But the first person to come out has to smash a birthday cake in their face. And right after that happens, my job is to take baby wipes that are hidden under the table on a shelf and help them clean up their face and stuff. But one night, this kid, Ted, after he smashed the cake, he came under the table and he was holding his tooth and he said, "My tooth just fell out." So I took a baby wipe and wrapped his tooth up in the baby wipe and hid it in my shoe and danced with his tooth in my shoe for the rest of the number.

[6:40] Joshua Turchin: Oh no. I hope your foot was okay after that.

[6:45] Grace Capeless: All good, all good.

[6:47] Joshua Turchin: Good. Oh, I actually saw you in Matilda on Broadway's Lavender, and you were amazing.

[6:52] Grace Capeless: Aw, thank you.

[6:54] Joshua Turchin: I know that you're also working in TV and film and have a new show coming out. Can you tell us a little about it?

[7:01] Grace Capeless: Yes. So I was in a movie called Lost Girls, and it's about a mom whose oldest daughter goes missing. And when she's denied help from the police, she decides to go on an investigation of her own to figure out what exactly happened to her daughter and where she is. And she unfortunately finds out that her daughter was murdered by someone along with another group of young girls. But what's crazy is that the story is based on a true case and true events, and the case is actually still unsolved to this day. So yeah, but I worked on that about a year ago. Um yeah, it was a great learning experience. I worked with some great people. I got to work with Una Lawrence, who was Matilda right before me. So that was super fun. But yeah, it's called Lost Girls and it's on Netflix.

[7:50] Joshua Turchin: Cool. I will definitely check that out on Netflix when it comes out. Whenever Broadway does resume, is there a dream part that you would love to play?

[8:01] Grace Capeless: Oh my, I have a list of those shows I would love to be in, but um I would say Elphaba in Wicked, duh, who wouldn't love to be in that. Um I also would really like to be adult Nala in The Lion King because I played young Nala on Broadway, but apparently there has never been a young Nala who's come back and played the adult version. So I would hopefully like to be the first, but yeah, anything Disney because I'm a huge Disney fan, so oh same. I have behind me I have pictures of Disney cells.

[8:38] Joshua Turchin: Oh, love that.

[8:39] Grace Capeless: Yeah, I'm an absolute Disney nerd. My dog is named Pocahontas.

[8:45] Joshua Turchin: Uh but I mean, like we call her Pokey for sure because she looks like the pokey little puppy.

[8:50] Grace Capeless: Oh, that's so cute.

[8:51] Joshua Turchin: But yeah, I am also a huge Disney nerd and fanatic, and I can't wait until the parks reopen.

[8:58] Grace Capeless: I know, me too.

[9:01] Joshua Turchin: You are so accomplished at such a young age. Do you have like any advice for viewers and listeners who are trying to break into the theater business?

[9:10] Grace Capeless: Um, yeah, as cliché as it sounds, I would say never give up because I auditioned for Matilda and Lion King actually about three or four times before I actually got it, and it was rounds of auditioning and getting close and then getting cut, and it got to the point where I was like, you know, should I even be doing this? Should I keep going? But thankfully I did, and I got to be in some really cool shows with some really great people. Um, but that never would have happened if I gave up. So yeah, but you get more no's than you do yeses, but the time will come when it's meant to happen, and when it does, it'll be incredible.

[9:48] Joshua Turchin: Oh, and would you like to sing a song for us today?

[9:51] Grace Capeless: Yes, I will sing "Someone Like You" from Jekyll and Hyde. Um because the song.

[9:59] Grace Capeless: Oh yeah, so I'll sing this song because I love the show and this song especially, the music from the show, and it's a great power ballad. So yeah.

[10:11] Joshua Turchin: Cool. I'm excited to hear you sing the song.

[10:13] Grace Capeless: Yes.

[10:15] Grace Capeless: Thank you.

[10:37] Grace Capeless: Dream of tomorrow, and wonder why the past is holding me, keeping life at bay.

[10:51] Grace Capeless: I want to lost him yesterday, wanting to fly, but scared to try.

[11:04] Grace Capeless: But if someone like you found someone like me, then suddenly nothing would ever be the same.

[11:18] Grace Capeless: There'd been no way to live a new life to love.

[11:25] Grace Capeless: If someone like you found me, oh someone like you found someone like me, then suddenly nothing would ever be the same.

[11:48] Grace Capeless: My heart would take wing, and I'd feel so if someone like you found me.

[12:25] Joshua Turchin: Thank you so much, Grace. Make sure to check out her new movie, Lost Girls, on Netflix. My next guest made her Broadway debut in Anastasia. I saw her in the musical, and she was absolutely amazing. I'm so happy to welcome Nicole Scimeca to The Early Night Show.

[12:43] Nicole Scimeca: Hi, Nicole!

[12:45] Nicole Scimeca: Hi!

[12:45] Joshua Turchin: I am so happy to have you on as a guest today.

[12:48] Nicole Scimeca: Thanks for having me.

[12:50] Joshua Turchin: Of course. How have you been doing since coronavirus paused the world?

[12:54] Nicole Scimeca: I've been staying positive. I've been keeping myself busy to try and take my mind off of all the crazy stuff happening.

[13:02] Joshua Turchin: I actually saw you on Broadway's little Anastasia, and you were amazing.

[13:08] Nicole Scimeca: Thank you.

[13:09] Joshua Turchin: Were you also with the production in the pre-Broadway run?

[13:12] Nicole Scimeca: Yes, it was in Hartford at Hartford Stage in Connecticut.

[13:17] Joshua Turchin: What was that like?

[13:19] Nicole Scimeca: All the actors stayed in this apartment building, and I got to meet tons of the actors that went on to Broadway, like Christy, who played Anya, Derek, who played Dimitri, and Mary Beth, who played the Dowager Empress.

[13:32] Nicole Scimeca: It's actually Mary Beth's birthday on June 25th, her 80th birthday. So happy birthday, Mary Beth. And my Wrangler, I met Amy Castro, who went to Broadway and we had tons of fun.

[13:45] Joshua Turchin: Were there like a lot of changes made between the two productions?

[13:49] Nicole Scimeca: Yes. One of the major changes was the number "Paris Holds the Key." I in Hartford Stage, I was in that number, and I was like this little French boy cartwheeling around the stage, and I climbed on this little model of the Eiffel Tower, and there was a bunch of characters like Picasso and Coco Chanel and Josephine Baker, but then in the Broadway version, they changed it to make it like a huge Broadway dance number.

[14:18] Nicole Scimeca: That's so cool. Do you have like a personal memory from Anastasia? I have so many favorite memories, but probably the memory that I will never forget is the Macy's Thanksgiving parade. It was amazing. We had to arrive at the theater at five or six, and then we had to take a bus there, and there was this little TV with like a fire on it, and then it like blew hot air. That was pretty cool. And I wore this princess dress that they made just for the parade. They ended up adding it to the tour, and there's only one that's ever been made. And uh off stage, like out of the camera sight line, there were these huge tubes blowing hot air, and it was so much fun.

[15:00] Joshua Turchin: That sounded incredible.

[15:03] Nicole Scimeca: Yeah, I've been like being connected to the theater during this time. I've been doing tons of online classes, everything is online. I've been taking dance classes, sewing classes, my second city class is online, which is pretty crazy. I actually started a bullet journal to um document this like crazy time, and I've been writing a bunch of songs and parodies and drawing a lot. I just been staying super creative. Do you have any dream parts for Broadway?

[15:35] Nicole Scimeca: Yes, I would love to someday be Jenna or Don in Waitress. That was one of my first like favorite shows on Broadway, and I would love to be Lydia in Beetlejuice. Like the soundtrack is just amazing. Or Gretchen in Mean Girls. Well, I was in Anastasia. We actually, like Amy Castor the Wrangler was Regina George, Delilah Rostello was Karen, and I was Gretchen. So we did like the little meet the plastic song, and it was super fun. So I just like always wanted to be Gretchen. And then I would also maybe want to be Anya in the revival of Anastasia.

[16:11] Joshua Turchin: You would be incredible at any of those roles.

[16:15] Nicole Scimeca: Oh would you like to sing a song today?

[16:18] Nicole Scimeca: Yes. I'm singing Girl Scout.

[16:21] Joshua Turchin: What made you select that song?

[16:23] Nicole Scimeca: I love the Beauty soundtrack. It's just so fun. And this song in particular is super entertaining and like it's just a really fun song to sing, and I love the little jingle.

[16:36] Joshua Turchin: Well, I'm really really excited to hear you sing it. I think I'm ready whenever you are.

[16:41] Nicole Scimeca: Yeah, let's go.

[16:50] ♪ Musical number: "Girl Scout" — performed by Nicole Scimeca ♪

[19:11] Joshua Turchin: That was great. Like most of us, students from around the country were in showless rehearsing and had to stop because of the coronavirus. We're so excited to feature our next guest whose show is cancelled and give her a chance to go. On with the show. Renee Elkady was cast in a theater's production of Parade, but it was unfortunately postponed for a year due to COVID-19. Let's bring Renee on here to see how she's getting through this pandemic. Hi, Renee!

[19:40] Renee Elkady: Hi!

[19:41] Joshua Turchin: Hi, thank you so much for being a guest today.

[19:44] Renee Elkady: Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

[19:47] Joshua Turchin: Well, thank you. Can you tell us about your show that was canceled because of COVID-19?

[19:52] Renee Elkady: Yes, of course. So back in February, I was cast in the production with Springfield Contemporary Theater for um the musical called Parade. And I was playing um Montine, one of the Factory Girls, and then throughout the quarantine happened, and so then in the middle of like whenever we got this call that quarantine and this lockdown was going to happen in my state, um, they sent out an email and told us that they were postponing the show for um it was the season closing closer for um the 2019 to 2020 season, so now it's gonna be the season closer for the 2020 to 21 season.

[20:33] Joshua Turchin: Yeah.

[20:34] Renee Elkady: So at least the show will still happen.

[20:36] Joshua Turchin: Yes.

[20:37] Renee Elkady: Yeah. It's just a long time. I thought that they would like put it as like the opener for the next season, but it's for almost a year.

[20:47] Joshua Turchin: Yeah. Did you have a favorite song to sing in the show?

[20:50] Renee Elkady: Yes, my favorite song was called The Factory Girls slash Come Up to My Office. I really liked the song because it had um a three part like round and harmony with the factory girls, and um, it was it was like intense, but it was also really like a beautiful song to just sing and do.

[21:09] Joshua Turchin: Do you have a favorite Broadway show?

[21:13] Renee Elkady: No, I do not because only because um of the fact that that I like so many shows and I have like so many different reasons for liking them that I don't think I could ever just choose one show to be my favorite. I prefer some other shows, of course, but I can never say one is the best, this one is my favorite. So yeah.

[21:39] Joshua Turchin: Do you have any dream roles or shows?

[21:42] Renee Elkady: Yes, I do. Some dream roles would be Princess Jasmine in the musical Aladdin and Ti Moune in Once on This Island.

[21:52] Joshua Turchin: You would be incredible as any of those roles.

[21:55] Renee Elkady: Thank you so much. I appreciate that. And some dream shows would definitely be Wicked, the musical, and I'm okay with either Glinda or Elphaba. It's just gonna be whatever the director envisions me as and wants me as.

[22:45] Joshua Turchin: Anything like positive that's come out of all this for you?

[22:48] Renee Elkady: Of course. Um, so a main like a really positive thing that came out of this was I got to spend time with my family. My sisters, I have two older sisters, and they're both in college, and so they both finally got back home from college, and I actually got to spend time with them. So if this quarantine and um pandemic didn't happen, then I wouldn't have seen them till around the summertime. And so I was really thankful for that. And then another thing that I'm very like happy and is a very positive thing, outcome from this pandemic, is to honestly get the opportunity to do this because I really love the cause and the reasoning behind why you're doing this, and it's just such a great opportunity, and I'm so glad to be a part of it.

[23:31] Joshua Turchin: Thank you so so much.

[23:33] Renee Elkady: Welcome, of course. Oh, and what song would you like to sing for us today?

[23:38] Renee Elkady: And why you choose that song?

[23:40] Renee Elkady: I will be singing I Can't Let Go from Smash by Jennifer Hudson, and I chose this song because I really think it's powerful and it's a powerhouse belt song that I wanted to share with everyone.

[24:03] ♪ Musical number ♪

[27:07] Grace Capeless: Help me to let it go.

[27:18] Joshua Turchin: That was wonderful, Renee. Thanks again to Renee Elkady and to our other special guests, Grace Capeless and Nicole Scimeca. If you're a student whose show is cancelled, please send us a link to a video of you singing to earlynightshowcasting@gmail.com, and you may get a chance to go on with the show. Also, please check out my TikTok at Joshua Turchin and look for some of my content videos. Record duet and use the hashtag sing with Josh, and you may get featured on The Early Night Show. If you're enjoying these virtual cabarets, please consider making a donation to the Actors Fund's emergency relief fund at www.actorsfund.org to support people working in the entertainment industry who have suddenly found themselves out of work.

Any bit helps. You can also find The Early Night Show on the Broadway Podcast Network where podcasts are found, and videos for episodes online on theearlynightshow.com. And let's keep entertaining. Any artists who want to be virtual guests, send me a direct message on my Instagram at Joshua Turchin. And let's keep making music to help the world. Stay healthy and wash your hands.