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[0:31] Mo Brady: You're listening to The Ensemblist, the only podcast that shows you Broadway from the inside out. Welcome, I'm Mo Brady.

[0:46] Mo Brady: Happy New Year! It's time to start 2021 with some joy. And what better way than to share something that's been bringing me joy over the last few months. Let's hear it for the choice. Created by Jimmy Larkin, Let's Hear It For The Choice is a celebration of great musical theater performances large and small. Jimmy has been sharing compilations of these bold statements or choices on his Instagram channel along with a heavy dose of dry but loving humor. He joined me recently to share what he thinks makes a great choice and some of his favorite ensemble choices of all time. Here's our conversation.

[1:28] Mo Brady: Who is your wife? Would you introduce yourself and tell us where you're calling from today?

[1:38] Jimmy Larkin: I'm Jimmy Larkin, also known as Let's Hear It For The Choice. And I'm calling actually from my hometown of Natick, Massachusetts.

[1:46] Mo Brady: And okay, so you are the creator, purveyor of this platform Instagram handle. I guess my first question is, what is a choice?

[1:57] Jimmy Larkin: I hope that you know that this Instagram started as like me just posting my favorite clips in one spot. So I had them all in one spot, not following anybody, not hashtagging anything. I was like, I think I just need to like archive these all in one place. And this is what happened. But a choice, let's say a bold statement through acting, song or dance. A bold move that is like, exciting to watch in some way, correct?

[2:23] Jimmy Larkin: I love that even a bold move is better than a bold statement. I mean, there are statements for sure, but a bold move.

[2:29] Mo Brady: And what I love about your platform is how positive it is. Often when we sort of read musical theater performances, it comes with like a heavy level of snark or condescension. And you have got this like through line of celebration, I guess. Why was that important to you as well?

[2:48] Jimmy Larkin: I think it's really easy to fall into the pit of posting things to get a laugh, you know, that like might not be the most polished or something. And that is not the pit I wanted to fall into at all. I think I started to discover that when I was posting some of these things, sometimes like the original person who sang that song on Broadway would comment or something or like give props to that person. And I was like, but I think this was like it ended up turning into a way to really celebrate those people and those like choices that they were making, you know, like whether it be on Broadway, some of the clips, whether it be at their preschool recital, you know, it's just like, choices are happening everywhere.

[3:24] Mo Brady: Why do you feel like this platform has found such an audience?

[3:27] Jimmy Larkin: The fact that it can be anybody, anywhere, any show, any moment, anyone can get recognized. And it doesn't have to be a Broadway star necessarily, you know, and it's exciting to discover people that we wouldn't be able to discover before, you know, where do you find these choices?

[3:44] Jimmy Larkin: For sure, YouTube spirals for in the morning. That is all 27 years of my life. That's where it started. And then people started like submitting them sometimes formally. And it cracked me up because I was like, wait, what do I do with this? They'll email submissions or they'll DM the submissions. And they're brilliant. It started because I created a note in my phone. And I was like, I want to keep track of all these videos that I love because I was really bad at favoriting them on YouTube. And I started a note. And once I had like 100, I was like, I need to start like posting these somewhere. And I was like, everyone's going to get annoyed if I post them on my Instagram. So I'm going to create a different Instagram, like a Finsta. And then, of course, my Finsta is more popular than my own Instagram.

[4:23] Jimmy Larkin: When I think of a choice, I think of like individual, bold, big choices are about standing out. So when or how are ensemble moments ripe to be choices?

[4:33] Jimmy Larkin: Ensemble choices can be tricky because like, I'm not necessarily for like, purposely like standing out just to stand out. I think that like a real ensemble choice usually ends up being in a feature. Ensemble choices can be tough unless you have a feature. But the features are really where like, people make those choices and they shine. And that one moment that they're given, you know?

[4:55] Mo Brady: What if you could like, talk us through some of your favorite ensemble choices of all time?

[5:01] Jimmy Larkin: My favorite musical ever is Hairspray. And part of the reason is the ensemble. The ensemble features in Hairspray are great. So my favorite ensemble moment of any show ever is the Dynamite Playoff in Hairspray.

[5:36] Jimmy Larkin: And that, that is a great YouTube spiral. I mean, those ladies are allowed to do whatever they want within those lyrics and that music. I don't think that ensemble members are featured like that enough. And the Shoshana Bean one in that same show. And she's like whistle toning between scenes and while dancing. And I love it. One of the best songs for ensemble choices and features is Wells Fargo Wagon in Music Man.

[6:22] Jimmy Larkin: Wells Fargo Wagon is a common now. Is it a pre-paid surprise or COD? It could be curtains. Or dishes. Or a double boiler. Or it could be. I live for a double boiler. It's also like, hard to sing. The woman in the movie really kills me. Alright, Hairspray, Dynamite, Wells Fargo Wagon. What else would top your list of most iconic ensemble choice moments?

[6:49] Jimmy Larkin: Okay, so I did the Beauty and the Beast tour a long time ago. And do you know who Andrea Laxman is? She was one of our Belle understudies. And she was I Need Six Eggs. I'm going to play you this clip. It was one of the best ensemble vocals I've ever heard in my entire life. Every night it sounded like this. The song Belle has a lot of them. Annie has some good ones. Star To Be is a great ensemble feature. And Lori Beechman, she also did. She had that line in Hooverville, Who Knew I Could Steal. That one is good. The contest from The Little Mermaid is the song where all the Mer-sisters are trying to convince Eric that it's like, I was the one you heard. They all compete and they're like, it was my voice.

It was my voice. Listen, I sound so good. And they each have their own little solo. And I think it was Chelsea Morgan-Stock in the original Broadway cast. But on Broadway, she literally said like, belted, mixed, soprano, or something like that. And I, of course, die. Les Mis obviously has some of the best ensemble choices I've seen in my entire life. Factory Girl. Like, that's an ensemble member and she has like a moment. Also, And In A Bed is a great one. That's a great ensemble line. Oh, so this one in Les Mis, they tore apart their vocal chords for this in the best way for the solo. She's so committed to this line. And I want to know if she did that every night or if it was like, we're recording the soundtrack today. I'm going all out. I'm sounding like a ratchet, miserable beggar woman.

[9:02] Mo Brady: I'm impressed with your number of historical references. I would have thought that focusing on choices would be something that would be contemporary and what's going on right now. But really, you're like digging in. You're like music manning and Annie.

[9:15] Jimmy Larkin: You know what I think it really ends up being, to be honest? I think it's because those have the most meat as far as YouTube videos go because like the most schools and stuff do them. And that's where like you really see the fun choices because it's like that kid who didn't get the lead is going to go all out on their one ensemble feature. You know, like Annie's obviously done everywhere. The person playing, like, I don't know. Who says like soap, no bubbles? Like she didn't get grace, but she was like, I have this one line and I've been practicing like 10 different ways to say it, you know?

[9:44] Mo Brady: Who? Alright. So contemporary shows when Broadway opens and shows come back, like what choice are you most excited to go to the theater and see?

[9:53] Jimmy Larkin: Well, one that I go back to all the time to see that will be open when Broadway reopens is Wicked. Wicked, the ensemble solos, the ensemble solos and Wicked are, they're all like also all incredible singers always. So like they're all like singing in the ensemble.

[10:21] Jimmy Larkin: I'll go back to the ensemble of Wicked whenever I'm like in midtown and have time to lotto. One of the most legendary ensemble members of all time that I really love is Shannon Lewis. Have you ever watched Shannon Lewis dance? I mean, gotcha. Of course. Her gotcha is incredible. When I was working in casting for a bit, we were auditioning for Mamma Mia and she was choreographing it. Watching her audition ensemble members for that show, watching like a legendary ensemble member teach choreo for a dance call, first of all, is just incredible. A lot of people also are like, they are ensemble members, of course, but like are also stars. I feel like a choice maker, often we're seeing like a star in the making or we're seeing someone who's going to be a star.

Like you talked about Shoshana Bean. A couple of the choices that you posted about around the Thanksgiving Day parade were of Tamika Lawrence, both in the Wiz live and then in Seasons of Love for the one night only on NBC.

[11:32] Jimmy Larkin: Yeah, she needs to be a household name.

[11:35] Mo Brady: If people have a good choice they want to share with you, like how can they share a choice? How can they submit choices?

[11:40] Jimmy Larkin: DMs. I will look through every single DM, obviously. It's way easier through email, which is also on the page, but not everyone wants to open up their email to do this. But yeah, the DMs, I go through every single DM. And the stuff that comes through really, I mean, this account has made my quarantine worthwhile, you know, like it's given me something to do. I'm glad that people are sending these in. So keep them coming.

[12:16] Mo Brady: Special thanks to Jimmy Larkin for sharing his stories with us today. You can find Let's Hear It for the Choice on Instagram. The Ensemblist was produced today by Jackson Klein and me, Mo Brady. Please rate and review The Ensemblist wherever you listen to podcasts, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or at bpn.fm, the home of Broadway Podcast Network. Our Patreon members have on-demand access to our full archive, including extended conversations with our guests and early access to episodes. You can support us for between $5 and $20 a month at patreon.com slash The Ensemblist. Thanks for listening. Until next time.