This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:01] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's The Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon.

[0:07] Robert Bannon: Well, welcome to The Roundtable, everybody. My name is Robert Bannon. You're listening to us on Broadway World over here on the Broadway Podcast Network, iHeart, Spotify. Wherever artists are talking about art, there's a new show that is coming to New York City this October.

[0:23] Robert Bannon: And it is coming from the 10th to the 30th. And I have so many questions because it sounds like the best time I can possibly imagine in a theater. I am excited. I cannot wait for us to see what is in store for this show called LBJ: The Play! And I think we need to hear all about it because I am incredibly excited.

[0:48] Robert Bannon: The star, they're here. Sunny is here, everybody. Sunny Zimmerman, co-director, co-director Caitlin Moore, and of course, a friend to the show, an old fave here at our show and a super talented. I mean, Jimmy, like he was four years old when they discovered he was a superstar and has never looked back. The one and only Andrew Barth Feldman is here as well. Welcome to The Roundtable.

[1:16] Andrew Barth Feldman: Wow.

[1:17] Robert Bannon: Andrew, you were like four.

[1:19] Andrew Barth Feldman: I was three. Actually, that's the thing. They get it wrong.

[1:23] Robert Bannon: He was three when he made his Broadway debut, his principal's part. No, it's infuriating to people like me, but that's another show. So, so tell me who first heard this? Who's like, like, where did this show come from? Sunny?

[1:39] Sunny Zimmerman: Who the hell did this?

[1:40] Sunny Zimmerman: Oh, my God. Well, I'll give you the very fast version, which is that in 2020, I got really obsessed with the Robert Caro books about LBJ. So that's where it all started. Why? That's a really good question. Why? I'm a, I'm a political nerd. I was a poli sci major. So I'm interested in that kind of thing anyway. You too?

[2:03] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yes. And what is the, there is, when I left Juilliard, because I just, that's fancy, but no, it was not a brag. I left after three months because I was like, screw this place. I'm not doing this. I went into political science major because politics and show business is the same damn thing. I just felt like it was, you can't do one, do the other.

[2:24] Sunny Zimmerman: Well, you will definitely see those themes explored in LBJ when we kind of touch on what's the difference between an actor and a politician? Not much, Robert, not much.

[2:34] Andrew Barth Feldman: DC is famously just Hollywood for ugly people.

[2:38] Sunny Zimmerman: I was going to say that, Caitlin.

[2:40] Caitlin Moore: Yes, you can say that because she's from DC.

[2:43] Sunny Zimmerman: Oh, I'm sorry, Caitlin. Not you. Oh, other people.

[2:48] Caitlin Moore: I'm from Maryland.

[2:49] Sunny Zimmerman: You went to Hollywood. That's why you went to LA.

[2:51] Caitlin Moore: They kicked you out. They said you're too.

[2:54] Robert Bannon: Wait, so Sonny, this is your idea?

[2:57] Sunny Zimmerman: Sort of. So I was talking everybody's ear off about these books because they taught me so much about politics, more than our collective poli-sci degree, Robert.

[3:08] Sunny Zimmerman: So I was just chatting about it so much that one day Caitlin, who's a good friend of mine, so pre-existing relationship before this working one, we were hanging out and she's just like, you should just write a show where you're LBJ, which was such a good idea.

[3:27] Sunny Zimmerman: And I said, you're right, Caitlin. And we were actually hanging out with our other friend, Albert, who's in the play. He looks exactly like a Kennedy. He's a very handsome man.

[3:34] Sunny Zimmerman: So we said, oh, well, Albert could be in it as the Kennedys. And then it wasn't a one person play and therefore we could have maybe a few other actors and it evolved from there.

[3:45] Sunny Zimmerman: So, yes, I wrote it, but also it was not just my idea.

[3:50] Robert Bannon: Thank you. So, Caitlin, what did you think of when you heard this and when did you say I'm signing on to co-direct this?

[3:59] Caitlin Moore: Great questions, all three of them. I, you know, I've known Sonny since college. I have seen them perform for years now doing improv, doing sketch, doing character work, doing stand up.

[4:21] Caitlin Moore: And I just knew if they have immersed themselves this much into these books about LBJ and they've accumulated all this knowledge, it's like I know that there is an impression brewing in there and a performance that was like already cooking.

[4:35] Caitlin Moore: I think when I said you should just make this a play.

[4:38] Caitlin Moore: So I guess spiritually, I came on board then. But it wasn't until it was 2022 Sonny submitted a pitch for the play to this festival called Spaghetti Fest.

[4:51] Caitlin Moore: It is an L.A. thing here at a theater called the Elysian. And then it got in. And so when Sonny found out it got in, I was super happy for them. And then they asked me if I would direct it. And I was so honored.

[5:04] Caitlin Moore: And also I just knew it's like, yeah, this is going to be really fun. And I think ultimately it'll be hard work. But I think that like the hardest part typically is like knowing if you have like a good idea on your hands. And that was just never a doubt.

[5:16] Caitlin Moore: Like between Sonny's writing and the devised work that our amazing cast put in and all of us sort of putting our heads together to flesh out the other characters. And to figure out like what is the humor here and what is the heart here.

[5:27] Caitlin Moore: Yeah. So that is how I got involved. And then Soraya Perry, who is one of our fabulous cast members.

[5:41] Caitlin Moore: She plays herself and also Lady Bird Johnson and also Jackie Kennedy and also LBJ's mother. Versatile crew of people we've got here.

[5:51] Caitlin Moore: She moved to New York in maybe like two years ago. She moved to New York after living in L.A. for a spell. And while she was there, she fell into this really cool, eclectic group of musicians and performers.

[6:08] Caitlin Moore: And through that, she met Andrew. And I think, Andrew, do you want to take it away?

[6:14] Andrew Barth Feldman: Sure. Yeah, I met. I met Soraya through this bunch of hippies that I really love. And we became really close. And she had this.

[6:26] Andrew Barth Feldman: She was like, I've been working on this play. I've been a part of this group that's been sort of pushing this along for a while. And we're doing a run in New York. And I think we're all a little like, what is the next escalation of this thing? You just take a look.

[6:38] Andrew Barth Feldman: And if there's people, you know, who might be good to help us get their producer people. And so I watched the video of the last time they did it at the Elysian. And I fell so completely in love with the show.

[6:48] Andrew Barth Feldman: And I went back to Soraya and said, I think I know what to do with this. And I'd love to talk to them if they're looking for. I don't know what the situation is. It was like, they're not really looking for somebody. But, OK, go talk to them.

[7:00] Andrew Barth Feldman: And so I met with Sonny and I met with Caitlin. And we just kind of hit it off. And I had sort of this show has been accumulating at these festivals. It's like Netflix is a joke and things like that.

[7:10] Andrew Barth Feldman: It's had this amazing run where it's like the sole play in a festival of comedy performances. And now it's a show that started as a comedy routine here in a theater setting. And so I'm sort of coming in with my eye on how it can translate best to an off-off Broadway setting.

[7:30] Andrew Barth Feldman: And the answer is really easily. It's made for exactly the room that it's in. And it is what you said at the beginning of this situation, Robert. It's the best night at the theater. It is so much fun. It's so funny. And it's been devised entirely by Sonny as the leader.

[7:48] Andrew Barth Feldman: These four people have been building this and accumulating this thing, this chemistry, this rapport. It's gut-bustingly funny.

[7:55] Robert Bannon: Andrew, you know, we're going to get to Sonny in a minute. I was accused allegedly by Sonny of being a brag. But Andrew went to Harvard and Andrew is a movie star. Right. And Andrew's like, what is this? He's like the boy. He went to Harvard.

[8:12] Andrew Barth Feldman: I went to Harvard. I went to Harvard for one semester.

[8:15] Robert Bannon: See, you guys.

[8:22] Andrew Barth Feldman: Why would I tell you that? I'd have to put on my face. But that's another story for another time.

[8:29] Robert Bannon: And he's the voice of dope. He's got a lot of things going on. Right. So if Andrew was Sonny, what did you feel like when you got this team together? When you when you got Caitlin and you got Andrew and then you were like, OK, we're going to march and do this. We're actually going to have a run. You have like a real run.

[8:45] Robert Bannon: Like this is a New York City run with many dates. You can get your tickets. It has been named L.A.'s favorite shows. It has been part of Best of Fest. It has done all this. It had a sold out run in Brooklyn. Now you have a Manhattan, New York City, real off Broadway run. How do you feel?

[9:04] Sunny Zimmerman: Oh, I feel amazing. I'm stressed, but I feel amazing. Like, you know, we've got weeks to go here, so there's still plenty to do. But I think what's been amazing about this run. Yes, Andrew coming on board has been a really great breath of fresh air and a realignment for us from a comedy show to a play and treating it seriously.

[9:26] Sunny Zimmerman: But I think another major win for us has been to bring on producers. We have never had producers helping us do anything on the play. So poor Caitlin has had to figure out Q Lab and be in the booth with the tech person at whatever comedy theater we're in.

[9:43] Sunny Zimmerman: So a major, major element of this run is having help with anything and everything. We had the amazing Lee Honigman come on as our producer, who also brought on Emily Lawrence. And they have been working with us for a year and a half now just to get this ready to go.

[9:59] Sunny Zimmerman: So that has been a huge, huge win for the show and to make this feel like it is a real run and we have the resources to make it happen. That feels pretty great.

[10:08] Robert Bannon: You have a real run and a real show. Caitlin, explain to us a little bit the setup, the premise. What are we walking into when we get into the theater?

[10:14] Caitlin Moore: Well, first things first, when you walk into the theater, you are in the fifth grade. The world that has always been the show, but I think that I'm really excited to see amplified with the help of all these amazing craftspeople that we have on the team now.

[10:33] Caitlin Moore: The goal is for you to feel like I am a kid. I am a kid walking into my social studies class in fifth grade. And it's a weird day because my teacher, who I don't fully respect, has brought in a historical actor to teach us about the 60s.

[10:53] Caitlin Moore: And that actor is Sonny as LBJ. But LBJ has come in with his own agenda. He has something to prove and he wants to tell his life story to us, a bunch of 10-year-old kids.

[11:09] Caitlin Moore: As a fifth grade teacher for 16 years, that taught history in North Bergen, New Jersey.

[11:18] Robert Bannon: Wow.

[11:24] Andrew Barth Feldman: Jaws dropped. There's this kind of, this has the potential to do that with the right people. You kind of found producers that have done this before. They've followed this road in the past. Yeah, we're thankful. We're thankful to Cola Scola. We're thankful to the O'Marys. There's very, very, absolutely much in common in terms of the premise and in terms of what a madcap night at the theater it's going to be. But the container is so completely different. I saw O'Mary again recently, and it's the best, but it is so its own reality. And what we have, in addition to its own reality that Sunny has sort of concocted, is outside of it, this very real feeling that you are in a fifth-grade classroom and that is an agreed-upon reality.

So there's also a bit of spelling bee in there of like, we are in some kind of nostalgia trip, but also like a great anxiety that comes with that. And it's about sort of how we learn things and how we're taught history at that age and what they do and do not want us to know and how people are remembered, whether it's how they want to be remembered or not. So there is this other very, very, very real layer that we're playing with that I think makes it only funnier. It's not like it's preaching anything or trying to leave you with, like, shake you to learn, although it is literally going to shake you. But yeah, it does have this new precedent has been set that I think this show does have the potential to burn the Broadway.

[14:04] Sunny Zimmerman: Me too. LBJtheplay.com is where you can get your tickets and they're available and they're on sale. Sunny, when I look, I have a beef with you when I look at the tickets. I think you are a steal of a deal because, oh, I do, because, you know, the top ticket price is $55. And that includes a photo with LBJ. And a drink. Yeah, it does. I've been to some bars in New York City that a drink is $55. I'm not I think a Broadway show double is $55 at a brought to drink the drink. So the tickets go down to $20 and less sliding scale tickets. So you made it accessible for everybody. How important is that that theater is accessible to anybody who wants to come see it, Sunny?

[14:51] Sunny Zimmerman: Oh, my God, super important. And not to undercut myself and make me look less important than I seem on this podcast. But I can't afford more than that. So, yeah, I want to make sure that people we know can afford to buy a ticket if they're not getting comped out because, you know, we try to look after people. But, you know, I want it to be affordable for anybody. It really goes both ways, too, because we want those kinds of people who can only afford a $20 to $55 ticket. That's who this show is for. It's for a fun night out that you're not. I feel like when tickets are hundreds and hundreds of dollars, you go in with your arms crossed and there's no hiding in this room. The Paradise Factory is a magical place.

I'll just also add, I think that we, you know, the original team behind this. Actually, I mean, you know, many of our actors do have training and theater experience. But I know for myself and I think this applies to Sunny a little bit, too. We have lived so long in the realm of like comedy or working day jobs in television or film. And I think I always viewed theater as this thing like, well, I don't have the expertise or the training for that. So there's no point in even trying to create something for the stage. And I think that this show has really demystified that process to me and just sort of realizing that a lot of the same vision and creativity that goes into comedy, that goes into filmmaking, like is also present in theater and theater is for everyone.

And so I think it's also really cool because I think that if you don't go to shows a lot, if you are not someone who's like a Broadway to day tix regular, it probably does seem like a big purchase buying like a hundred dollar theater ticket when you don't even know if you're going to enjoy yourself. And I think, you know, I would love for this show to make people feel like, wow, I always thought that theater seemed kind of stuffy and pretentious, but maybe it is for me because I have learned that it is not those things. It is so many things. You know, I mean, look at Andrew. That guy is like an absolute doofus and he does theater and people really respect him for it. You know, I say doofus lovingly, like I love that dingbat, you know, he's so smart, but he's also such a goober.

[17:09] Andrew Barth Feldman: Sorry, you were cutting in and out. It sounded like you were saying a bunch of mean things.

[17:14] Sunny Zimmerman: I know that's wrong. No, I wasn't. What she was saying is when you go, when you've paid a lot of money to see Andrew and you've had to that, you go in with your arms crossed and you have a lot of, you look at him like you better prove that you're worth this $300, but this is going to deliver. This is going to, this is no dear Evan Hansen.

[17:39] Andrew Barth Feldman: This is no, okay. Moving on. This podcast experience has been so confusing for my ego. I love it. I'm kind of enjoying it very much. So this is chaos. I don't, just for the record. I know this is not about me, but when I was 12, I bought a used book on Amazon. No, Amazon didn't exist when I was 12. Let's forget that. I bought a used book at Barnes and Noble because I have this weird obsession with Lady Bird Johnson. I think it's because it's her name and she wrote a book about wild flowers and I don't know anything about wild.

[18:15] Sunny Zimmerman: That's going to be referenced, Robert. When I was doing research on like, what's something specific we can throw in for Lady Bird, we don't want to give too much away. I was like, the woman loved wild flowers. We need to acknowledge that she loved wild flowers in the play. This is for you, Robert.

[18:33] Andrew Barth Feldman: I'm a nerd. Not only did, did you write this specifically for me? I sent her the book. I mailed Lady Bird Johnson the book. I'm going to go downstairs in my office and find the book. She sent me a letter, a note and signed my wild flower book and I've kept it forever because, and I don't really necessarily, I'm not trying to be mean. I don't think I have an obsession with Lyndon B. Johnson. I don't really know anything. I know what happened after Kennedy. We know what we know, but I just think it was because I think her name is funny.

[19:08] Sunny Zimmerman: And it's so funny you say that because famous, we kind of referenced it in the play, her initials were LB. He almost certainly married her partially because of that because you see that they also named their kids Linda Bird Johnson and Lucy Baines Johnson and they also had a dog they called Little Beagle. So it's all in there, but we love Lady Bird. I almost wish there was more info we could have put in about Lady Bird because especially in the books, she's painted as like a really amazing person, very smart and super integral to his success. I mean, behind the scenes, she was working a 3000 person Rolodex to make sure that their social influence was just as important as his political influence. So she was making his work happen and I wish we could get into that more, but I love that you love Lady Bird. She's fabulous.

[19:59] Sunny Zimmerman: I think that her function theatrically is going to delight you, Robert. I think that her turn in the show is going to be really exciting for you. Look, if you need an understudy or a swing to play Lady Bird Johnson, I think my whole life would just come full circle. I've retired from theater. I'm old and 42 and teaching the babies, but I will come out. I will be Lady Bird Johnson. I'm just, you don't have to even pay me. I don't need money.

[20:27] Andrew Barth Feldman: You come and you bring your entire fifth-grade class with you.

[20:31] Sunny Zimmerman: Okay. This is done. I'm sorry. I had the worst thought. If my initials had a BJ in them, I wouldn't give that to my children and the dog, but that's besides the point. God bless them. God bless the Johnsons and Johnson, BJ and Johnson. Go see the show. You want to laugh, go see lbjtheplay.com and you can see it all of October. I know this is only the beginning. I know this is going to go really far and Sunny, you're a star. Congratulations on what you've done and Caitlin and Andrew. Andrew and Caitlin, I think what you've done here and the pivot and the directing and the taking a chance and making things happen is what inspires all artists. I wish you all nothing but the best. I wish you the most incredible run and I look forward to seeing this all over the world. I think it's just the beginning and I'm so excited you came and chatted with me. Thank you for being here.

[21:34] Sunny Zimmerman: Can I just say, I didn't mean to imply that Dear Evan Hansen is a pretentious show. I've never seen it.

[21:37] Andrew Barth Feldman: No, no, no, no, no. It is though, but it kind of is.

[21:41] Sunny Zimmerman: No, it's okay. It is a pretentious show. That's okay. Don't worry about it. And that was what I really wanted for you to say it.

[21:49] Andrew Barth Feldman: This has been the most fun podcast I've ever been on. We're a bunch of rascals. I really liked you in Little Shop of Horror. I saw it, Andrew. Andrew sings, everybody. Andrew belts. Go look up the clip of him with the Jonas Brothers if you're listening to this. I'm going to go watch No Hard Feelings right now. I really think it's incredible. You're incredible. You're all incredible. I appreciate you all so much for being here. Go get them.

[22:20] Sunny Zimmerman: Thank you. Thank you so much, Robert. Bye, everybody. Break legs. Let's go.

[22:27] Andrew Barth Feldman: Thank you, Robert. More years. More years.