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[0:00] Mo Brady: You're listening to The Ensemblist, the only podcast that shows you Broadway from the inside out. I'm Mo Brady.

[0:12] Mo Brady: It's difficult to fathom what the next three months will look like. As Broadway waits for the green light to start performances, the performers in those shows are waiting as well. However, that waiting comes with the knowledge that even when Broadway opens, they may not have a show to come back to. On March 12th, there were 457 Ensemblists working in Broadway musicals. But as Beetlejuice and then Frozen posted closing notices, 50 of those actors found out they would be out of work even when performances resumed. That's in addition to the postponement of Caroline or Change, Flying Over Sunset, MJ, and whatever is announced in the coming weeks and months.

[1:00] Mo Brady: And when Broadway performances finally resume, what will the experience be like? Will audiences be temperature checked on their way into the theater? Will they be required to wear masks that stifle their laughter? Will the actors be willing to partner each other in lifts or embrace on stage? I reached out to friends in the Broadway community about what they think the reopening of Broadway will look and feel like. Throughout this episode, you'll hear from six performers who were working in new musicals when Broadway shut down: Zach Adkins, Kyle Brown, Brittany Coleman, Kaylee Cronin, Deanne Stewart, and Ricky Ubeda. Here's what they had to say.

[1:43] Zach Adkins: What do you miss most about your show? Obviously I miss performing. I miss the costumes. I miss the way the audience reacts after certain numbers and I miss just doing the show. But more importantly, I miss the people, my friends, my family, you know? I miss the people. I miss the people that I work with. I miss the people. The people above all. We are such a family. Gosh darn it, I miss those people.

[2:18] Kyle Brown: You know, it sounds cliché, but what I really miss about Diana is the people. I think what I miss most about my show is the community aspect of it all. You know, you start working on a show virtually as strangers and you meet these people and you start working on this thing together and then you wake up one day and you realize that you've bonded with these people in such strange and specific ways over things like how cold the rain can be on stage or playing music and putting on fake tattoos together. And I think those things kind of bond you together to these people in such a magical way. And I miss the camaraderie of that.

[2:59] Britney Coleman: We've been putting this show together for so many years now that to finally be able to open it on Broadway last summer and then have this almost year-long journey before the shutdown happened. I mean, the whole journey all together has been three or four years, I think. So they really have become my family and we love each other through thick and thin. And we go through that ride of ups and downs. And to not have our family right now during that time is, you know, probably what I miss most about the show.

[3:28] Kaleigh Cronin: I miss seeing those faces. I miss the check-ins. I miss laughing. Like, everyone's so fun and we just have such a good time. And, you know, especially the show deals with a lot of heavy things. And so it's so nice to be in a group where there's just, there's so much joy. One thing we talked about in this cast a lot is how much we all just adore each other as people. Granted, this show is incredibly hard. This is a really, really, really difficult show even for the folks who are only responsible for one track. I'm in charge of three and a half. That's what I'm going to say. However, what keeps me coming back is knowing I get to see the most wonderful women in my dressing room and the most wonderful women on my floor even. My gosh, I miss all of the jokes. This cast got jokes for days. They are a bunch of clowns and I just smile like thinking of their energy. Oh, I miss it.

[4:32] DeAnne Stewart: It's like a sports team. We're all working towards this goal. And Diana, that team took what we were given and said, how can we just make it 10 times better? There's a certain time where that material gets passed off to an actor and they have to make it their own. And the Diana team embraced it. And it was really exciting to watch us evolve, even with the small amount of previews we had, how the show was changing and how people were getting deeper with their material and how the show was landing differently every night.

[5:01] Ricky Ubeda: Everyone involved in Doubtfire from the writers, designers, stage managers, cast members, musicians, dressers to the house staff, they're all the finest people I've had the pleasure of working with in this business. We stay in touch via text and hilarious company email chains and zoom meetings. But I cannot wait to be on stage again telling our beautiful story. Doubtfire at its heart is about love and about family. My favorite lyric in the finale of our show is, time can heal. All is not lost as long as there is love. And I get choked up even saying that. But I think that's exactly what the world will need. On the other side of this, we'll need to hear that message.

[5:58] Zach Adkins: The thing I'm looking forward to the most when Broadway is up and running again is like kind of a combination of things. I think what I'm most looking forward to when Broadway is back or better, what I'm I think I'm most curious to see is how different it feels, not only from our side, not being able to perform for so long, you know, I can imagine that it's kind of like not drinking coffee for a certain amount of time, and then suddenly drinking it, you know, you feel it much stronger. And I wonder what that exchange is going to be like. And I wonder how it's going to feel for an audience, having watched people act on screens for many, many, many, many months and finally getting to feel performers in front of you. And what that exchange energetically is going to be like after such a crazy, crazy time.

[6:50] Kyle Brown: I think by the time Broadway is up and running again, it'll be a point where like we are very sure that it's safe for it to happen. I don't think I think of all the things that are potentially opening prematurely. I think Broadway will truly be the last one. It won't be you know, I don't think it'll be premature. I think it'll be something that we're very sure of that it can happen safely. That I do hope that at that point, we get to a place where we really feel just free. And I think there will be a powerful sense of that. And I'm excited for that moment for just like feeling that everyone feels free, that people don't have to be afraid to hug and embrace and connect with each other. You know, where people are able to see each other's smiles, not hidden behind masks. And yeah, I'm really excited.

[7:52] Britney Coleman: What I'm looking most forward to would be being back in a rehearsal room. I've always loved that the most. It's, it's so exciting to build a new show and to be given new material every day and have to walk in in the morning and be like, Oh, wow, I have a whole new scene that I need to put on its feet in an hour. How am I going to make this work? And so I really miss the rehearsal process. Belting with a 20 piece orchestra, you can't do that anywhere else in the world. I mean, okay, you could do that anywhere else in the world, but it's nothing like Broadway. And so yeah, belting with an orchestra right now sounds really nice.

[8:25] Kaleigh Cronin: I'm just so looking forward to that human connection. And for me, it usually comes at the end of the show when I can finally look out at the faces in the audience during bows. And I feel like I'm, I just stand up there on stage beaming and thanking them for letting me do what I love on stage for the last two and a half hours. And you know, they're sitting there thanking us for allowing them to escape for a bit and to take them on a journey. And it's an experience like no other. And I just cannot wait until the day I'm lucky enough to have that again.

[8:57] Ricky Ubeda: When your world is getting cold and your story is getting old, you can feel and you will like you've lost control.

[9:12] Zach Adkins: Katrina Lenk's first entrance in our show is pretty much in the clear. She walks through a door and she always gets entrance applause. And I have a feeling that first night back when we're all there, everyone in the audience is there, that applause is going to shake the rafters. And I also have a feeling with every other show on Broadway, there's going to be a very similar experience, whether it's a character's first entrance or the downbeat of the orchestra for the overture. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

[9:46] Kyle Brown: A moment that I most look forward to when Broadway is up and running again would for me have to be the downbeat for our show to start. And our show is a little different than others. We have the pre-show, which kind of gets the audience in the mood and atmosphere of the world that we're creating. And then Aaron comes on and he gestures to lift the sign and that boom starts. And the audience kind of is like fully on board by that moment. And I can just feel the electricity now, just thinking about it, how the audience is going to be so electric and so amped when that happens that first night that we're back.

[10:27] Britney Coleman: I am going to read a quote of Rob McClure's, who, by the way, is just about the greatest human on earth. He said this in a recent interview with the New York Times, and I think it's just so, when I think about the first night back when the overture starts and the curtain goes up, I choke up. We are craving the collective experience of being human. And that's what theater is. I just think that quote is so perfect. And it encapsulates how I'm feeling and I'm sure how, how we're all feeling. And it's not even like a, Hey, we're up and running again. Like, let's go see a great show. It's like, Oh my God, we're all here doing the essence of theater. It's live and it is shared by a good old group of people. And we're all experiencing this at the same time in this singular moment. And it is thrilling to me.

[11:20] Kaleigh Cronin: I'm so, so, so, so, so excited. And I can't wait. I really can't.

[11:25] Mo Brady: Special thanks to Zach Adkins, Kyle Brown, Brittany Coleman, Kaylee Cronin, Deanne Stewart, and Ricky Ubeda for sharing their stories with us today. The Ensemblist was produced today by Jackson Klein and me, Mo Brady. There are two great ways you can be helping the Ensemblist right now. One is by leaving us a rating and review on Apple podcasts. And the second is by becoming a member of the Ensemblist.

[11:55] Mo Brady: Please follow the Ensemblist wherever you listen to podcasts, whether that be on Spotify, on Apple podcasts, or at bpn.fm, the home of Broadway Podcast Network. You can also follow us on Instagram. Thanks for listening. Until next time.