This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:30] Jackson Klein: You're listening to The Ensemblist, the only podcast that shows you Broadway from the inside out. Welcome, I'm Jackson Klein. It's December 11th, 2020, and once again, it's time to dance.

[0:51] Jackson Klein: When The Prom opened on Broadway in November 2018, we fell in love with its catchy score, delightful comedy, and heartwarming message of love and acceptance. Oh right, and the zazz. We've shared many stories from members of the cast and creative team of The Prom over the past two years, and today, we're looking back on some of our favorites in celebration of the film adaptation premiering on Netflix. First up is a portion of our interview with Gabi Campo, a swing and understudy for both Emma and Alyssa in the Broadway production of The Prom. Enjoy!

[1:34] Gabi Campo: I'm Gabi Campo, and I live in the financial district of Manhattan.

[1:44] Jackson Klein: And will you tell us what your job currently is?

[1:47] Gabi Campo: I'm a swing. You have to be quick. You have to be able to be flexible and versatile, and as well as being extremely talented on so many levels. But you also have to be mentally and emotionally and physically prepared and disciplined. On top of all that, you have to be extremely positive. It's such a hard job that you're sometimes like, oh my goodness, okay, what am I getting myself into a lot of the times when you go to work? You're like, okay, it's never boring, it's wonderful, it's great, but it's also like, okay, my shoulder hurts, but I'm here to save the day.

[2:26] Jackson Klein: Did you audition specifically for being a swing or just a member of the company?

[2:31] Gabi Campo: No, I went in to dance for Casey Nicholaw on a Friday, and I got the job on a Monday, that Monday. So I think it was probably like the last round, and they saw that I picked up choreography very fast. And I think that was kind of the deciding factor. And then they heard me sing and all of that, but it never was like, oh, this is the swing audition. It was never anything like that. I think they probably just saw that I could cover.

[3:06] Jackson Klein: Okay, so you get hired, you're a swing. How many swings are on The Prom originally?

[3:12] Gabi Campo: Originally, there are four swings. In The Prom, there's kind of two ensembles, there's the teen ensemble, and then there's the adult ensemble. So there's two teen swings, Jack Sipple and I, and he's the dance captain. And then there's Kate Murilly and David Justusberg, who are the two like adult swings. And they cover like, all of the, like the moms, the dads, the reporters, as well as Barry and Deedee and Angie and all of the Broadway stars in our show. Usually in a show, when there's just like one unified ensemble, there's around four. And everyone kind of does and pulls their own weight and does their own stuff. And there's enough coverage. But with our show, there really wasn't enough coverage. Because there's, you can't put an adult on as a teen and vice versa. Although that has happened before.

[4:05] Jackson Klein: Oh, really?

[4:06] Gabi Campo: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

[4:07] Jackson Klein: Okay, we'll get to that.

[4:07] Gabi Campo: Yeah, we'll get to that. You know, when you're doing that all the time, it's super, super hard. Whenever I have to go on for a track, I'll refer to kind of like, I call them my cheat sheets. So I have like a full Bible note album in my iPad, and I'll just go through and I'll read like, exit, exit here, enter here, prop here, prop there. And then I'll refer to videos, you know, understudy videos or anything like that for more choreography based stuff.

[4:48] Gabi Campo: In The Prom, a lot of the choreography, we say it's like marching band choreography, because it's such a small stage. And we're constantly like in line switching, going from the back of the stage to the front of the stage, you know, we're so close together. So a lot of it is the same choreography, like a few ensemble members, a few of the girls do other numbers than other girls.

[5:11] Jackson Klein: Oh sure. Like, there's the people who play like the Godspell cast, and they're in this number that other women are not in.

[5:17] Gabi Campo: Exactly, exactly. So the thing that you have to really keep track of is the marching band choreography is the making sure you don't hit anyone in the face or you don't get hit in the face. You know, like...

[5:28] Jackson Klein: Have you gotten hit in the face?

[5:29] Gabi Campo: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I've gotten stepped on, hit in the face. Like, need. Oh yeah. I got great, great advice from Josh Lehman, who's in our show, plays Sheldon, and he was a swing. And he said, just as long as you don't kill anyone, and you were sometimes in the right spot, you did a good job.

[6:00] Jackson Klein: So when was the first time you went on?

[6:05] Gabi Campo: Oh, yes. I remember my Broadway debut. So let me tell you the story. It was the weekend after opening. Our wonderful Beth Lovell, who plays Dee Dee Allen in the show, she fell sick at places. Courtney Ballin, she had hurt her calf, so she was out on medical leave. And Kate Murilly was on in her track. And Jack Sipple was on for another boy's track, because he covers like basically everybody in the show, like, like 15. So he covers both men and women. And when Beth fell ill at places, they ran to me and they said, Kate's gonna have to go on as Dee Dee. Can you go on as Olivia Keating, which at the time was a part I didn't cover yet. And I hadn't looked at it. I had been primarily focused on the six teen girls and Emma and Alyssa.

And I hadn't looked at she was one of the adult ensemble. She starts in a red dress at the beginning of the show, the curtain goes up, the overture ends, and she literally has the first line of the show. This is Olivia Keating from Broadway Mania. And we're here with opening night of Eleanor and introduces Beth Lovell to the entire audience. And they go, Do you know the lines? Do you know the lines? Can you do it? And I was like, Yeah, I guess I have to. And so it was the most whirlwind experience. Like I was looking at my cheat sheets. I was looking at videos. I was looking at like any information I had on this character. And I was looking at the script and everyone just kind of like swept me into makeup and put my pin curls in and put my wig on and just kind of pushed me out there.

And literally like the curtain went up and I had that microphone in my hand and I was like, I guess this is it. And I started the whole show. This is Olivia Keating from Broadway Mania. Yeah, did the whole show in a part that I had barely looked at.

[7:55] Jackson Klein: The last thing I want to ask you is about being able to perform with the full company on the parade and on the Tonys. That's not something that always happens. But what did that mean to you to be able to be part of both of those performances?

[8:12] Gabi Campo: It meant the world. Casey Nicholaw, our director, he was a swing before too. So he kind of knows the plight that swings endure. And he understands and he has empathy for us because he was one himself. He made sure to include us in that in those performances, because he knew that it was important to us and that we're such valuable players, MVPs. He wanted to, I don't know, reward us or make us happy and was really kind enough to include us in those performances. And I think also it makes it more joyful too. You include more people in it, it just makes it look bigger and more wonderful and increases the energy and the more the merrier. So it was really, really, he did not need to do that. And the producers did not need to do that.

One of our head producers, Dori Berenstein, she wanted to make it a surprise to Jack and I that we were doing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. And so she brought us on stage and told us and I started crying. I was like, thank you. Because that had just been a dream of mine for ever to perform on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. And so I was like, thank you so much. You don't need to do this. She's like, we want you there. So it's just been the greatest mix of directors and producers and people who really want to include swings and value swings.

[10:00] Jackson Klein: In navigating the plot of a show, performers must have a person they can rely on to give them the support and motivation they need to tell the journey of their character.

[10:09] Jackson Klein: While this necessity is obviously true of leading characters, when it's applied to ensemble roles, it can make their performances feel just as truthful as those headlining the story.

[10:20] Jackson Klein: Two of the most vibrant ensemble characters in Broadway's musical The Prom are Kaylee and Nick.

[10:26] Jackson Klein: Both students at James Madison High School in Edgewater, Indiana, they work as foils for leading lady Emma, played by Caitlin Kinnunen.

[10:34] Jackson Klein: However, as played by Becca Lee and Teddy Toye, the characters are not simply antagonists, but fully conceived characters.

[10:43] Jackson Klein: At the beginning of the show's story, Nick and Kaylee start as well-meaning but sheltered students.

[11:10] Jackson Klein: As a high school jock and captain of the cheerleading squad, respectively, their empathy for Emma grows, in part thanks to a visit to Edgewater by four well-meaning but bombastic Broadway actors.

[11:22] Jackson Klein: Part of the reason Nick and Kaylee feel so lived in is that actors Lee and Toye have been collaborating on The Prom together since 2015.

[11:30] Jackson Klein: Working together since the musical's first lab in 2015, they've been building their characters, and the relationship between them, through the musical's run at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta and its pre-Broadway workshop earlier in 2018.

[11:44] Jackson Klein: While the role of Nick didn't come along until the 2018 lab, Lee and Toye have been playing dance partners and prom dates in the show since 2015.

[11:53] Becca Lee: We've been lucky enough to work on this show together for a long time, so the more we've gotten to know each other, the more well-rounded our characters have become onstage as a pair.

[12:01] Teddy Toye: That's not to say the roles haven't been developed since the show's first lab.

[12:05] Becca Lee: Kaylee used to be called Mandy, but the character has remained the same. The writers thought the name Mandy was a little outdated.

[12:12] Teddy Toye: The role of Nick went through significant changes more recently in the show's development.

[12:16] Teddy Toye: Nick didn't really exist until the latest version of the show. His proposal to Kaylee at the beginning of the song, You Happened, was a change after the musical's out-of-town tryout in Atlanta.

[12:24] Becca Lee: Since that song is new, it's clear that the ensemble role Teddy created had some influence on the lyric.

[12:30] Teddy Toye: This longtime collaboration between Lee and Toye has influenced some of the show's staging as well.

[12:35] Becca Lee: The act two song, Love Thy Neighbor, includes one of the team's favorite Easter egg moments.

[12:40] Teddy Toye: Nick and Kaylee are standing together after a tambourine dance section. Kaylee starts miming a fake tambourine and tells Nick she wants one for her birthday, and Nick emphatically tells her, absolutely not.

[12:51] Becca Lee: If you look for the silly argument happening on stage, you will find it.

[12:55] Teddy Toye: In both small interactions and major plot points, Toye and Lee's partnership has shaped not only their performances, but their personal lives as well.

[13:05] Becca Lee: Over the years, we've become really close friends. We're really comfortable around each other, and that certainly helps create a more organic feel when we're on stage.

[13:21] Jackson Klein: How to write an anthem.

[13:23] Jackson Klein: There are few moments that are impactful for a theater lover as when they hear a new favorite song for the first time.

[13:31] Jackson Klein: As lovers of the art form and believers in its ability to evoke emotions, we are always on the hunt for new show tunes that not only tell a story but speak to something greater about the human experience.

[13:43] Jackson Klein: Such is the case with composer Matt Scalar's Unruly Heart.

[14:01] Jackson Klein: As a piece of theatrical storytelling, Unruly Heart lands halfway through act two of The Prom.

[14:25] Jackson Klein: An original musical, the show centers on Emma, a lesbian teenager who causes a controversy by making the public request to take her girlfriend to the prom.

[14:35] Jackson Klein: While the plot features many outlandish lovable characters, the heart of the story is Emma and her journey towards self-acceptance.

[14:42] Jackson Klein: In Unruly Heart, Emma shares her story with an internet audience and finds that it resonates with many outside of her small town.

[14:51] Jackson Klein: Scalar began working on Broadway while he was a teenager himself.

[14:55] Jackson Klein: While studying at New York University, he began playing in the pit for the original Broadway production of Les Miserables, eventually graduating to conducting the show.

[15:04] Jackson Klein: He worked as an arranger, conductor, or musician on more than a dozen additional Broadway musicals before getting the opportunity to write his own.

[15:13] Jackson Klein: Alongside writing partner Chad Beguelin, Scalar made his mainstream debut as a writer first for the musical adaptation of The Wedding Singer, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award.

[15:25] Jackson Klein: Since then, the team has worked on numerous collaborations, including the successful musicalization of the beloved film Elf.

[15:33] Jackson Klein: For The Prom, Scalar worked again with Beguelin, in addition to co-creating the show's vocal arrangements with music supervisor Mary Mitchell Campbell.

[15:42] Jackson Klein: Together, Scalar and Beguelin wrote the first draft of Unruly Heart in the summer of 2014.

[15:49] Jackson Klein: While this is well before the show's first staged production in 2016, it was about halfway through the team's writing process.

[15:57] Jackson Klein: The team wrote the song in hopes of finding an opportunity for Emma to find her own voice.

[16:02] Matt Scalar: It felt right for Emma to sing directly into her laptop computer, sitting in her room, on her own terms.

[16:10] Matt Scalar: Then we would see kids from all over the country see her video online and express their love, support, and pride.

[16:28] Jackson Klein: Aside from minor lyric changes, the song stayed virtually the same until the show's pre-Broadway lab in 2018.

[16:36] Matt Scalar: We all loved the song, but felt something was missing from the final section.

[16:41] Matt Scalar: Director Casey Nicholaw asked if we could create a bigger build and have the ensemble truly soar vocally.

[16:57] Matt Scalar: So fierce, all in the past, fading so fast.

[17:02] Matt Scalar: I won't say it anymore.

[17:05] Matt Scalar: I'm who I am, and I think that's worth it.

[17:09] Matt Scalar: Collaborating with Campbell, Scalar quickly worked on a revised arrangement and taught it to the company that afternoon.

[17:15] Matt Scalar: The results were striking and immediate.

[17:18] Matt Scalar: When it was presented to Casey and the rest of the creative team, they had a positive and visceral reaction.

[17:24] Matt Scalar: They began sobbing as the music built and built, said Scalar. It was a thrilling day.

[17:44] Jackson Klein: In performance, Unruly Heart has an anthemic quality.

[17:48] Matt Scalar: For him, part of the song's power lies in its build from soliloquy to anthem.

[17:54] Matt Scalar: Since Emma is a teenage girl who plays the guitar, I knew it had to be a guitar-driven song, remembers Scalar.

[18:00] Matt Scalar: It had to be somewhat simple, because Emma would probably only know a limited amount of chords.

[18:06] Matt Scalar: As the song progresses, the orchestra slowly builds around her.

[18:10] Matt Scalar: Only once the ensemble begins to sing with her does it become quite epic.

[18:14] Matt Scalar: The key, or placement of notes in the singer's ranges, affects how the audience perceives the song.

[18:20] Matt Scalar: Placement in vocal range is incredibly important, reveals Scalar.

[18:24] Matt Scalar: The higher you climb in vocal ranges, the more intensity you get.

[18:28] Matt Scalar: So you want to make sure you're supporting the story you're telling by creating the correct dynamic shape of the vocals.

[18:34] Matt Scalar: One of the most striking moments of the song's climax is when the ensemble goes from singing in parts to singing in unison.

[18:41] Matt Scalar: I always enjoy that element of surprise in vocal arranging, admits Scalar.

[18:45] Matt Scalar: The simple but poignant song has become one of his favorite moments of The Prom to watch.

[18:50] Matt Scalar: You can feel the audience and actors connect. It's really beautiful to witness.

[19:01] Jackson Klein: Special thanks to Gabby Campo, Becca Lee, Matthew Scalar, and Teddy Toye for allowing us to share their stories this week.

[19:09] Jackson Klein: The Ensemblist was produced by Mo Brady and me, Jackson Klein.

[19:13] Jackson Klein: There are two great ways you can help The Ensemblist right now.

[19:17] Jackson Klein: One is by leaving us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.

[19:21] Jackson Klein: The other is by becoming a Patreon member, which you can do at patreon.com slash The Ensemblist.

[19:27] Jackson Klein: Please follow us wherever you listen to podcasts, whether that's on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts, or at bpn.fm, the home of Broadway Podcast Network.

[19:39] Jackson Klein: You can also follow us on Instagram, where we share all of our latest episodes.

[19:43] Jackson Klein: Stay safe, and thank you for listening. Until next time!