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[0:10] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's the Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon. Hey everybody, welcome to the Broadway Podcast Network's coverage of Stereophonic opening at the Golden Theater. We're gonna have the cast and the creatives with you. My name is Robert Bannon. I'm the host of the Roundtable, and I'm excited to be here on the red carpet to talk to this incredible cast and creative team. This show came from a sold-out run and now makes its way to Broadway in time for this jam-packed season. The cast and creatives are all gonna be here to talk about this epic play that tells an epic tale of a band. Oh my goodness, a 70s rock band in a recording studio. What could possibly go wrong? We bring you Stereophonic right here on the Broadway Podcast Network.

[0:48] DAVID ADJMI: Hi, I'm DAVID ADJMI, the playwright of the show. So how did the idea come to you? This it's an epic tale. It's brilliant. How did the idea come to you and you put it to paper? Well, I don't like to say I don't get ideas, I just get a weird intuition. And I had been listening to a Led Zeppelin song on the plane, and as I was listening, I was because I was trapped on the plane, I started getting imaginative and having a flight of fancy and imagining the singer singing the vocals in the studio. Because the vocals were incredibly wild and filled with contradictory, passionate emotions. And there's just something about that vocal that made me imagine the singer in the studio and imagine what the studio was like as an environment.

And then something snapped into place, and I didn't know how I would make it a play. But I sort of had this very strong feeling that it could be a play, and I could use that environment as a dramatic landscape, almost like an installation. Like think of it as like a sound installation, and then interpolate drama into that.

[2:01] Robert Bannon: And you did. Did you surround yourself with inspiring? Like, are you somebody who needs inspiration? Is it music? Is it a look? Is it pictures on the wall, or do you just let your imagination run wild?

[2:11] DAVID ADJMI: I watched a ton of documentaries. Some of them are really cheesy, like VH1 documentaries. I read a couple of books. I don't like to bog myself down with too much research because I don't want the play to feel researched. But what I did was like I'd steal phrases from like the little bits and pieces from documentaries that sounded legit, and then I would like bring it to a sound engineer. I would see if I could like make it work in a scene, and then he'd go, "What are you talking about?" And then he'd sort of like set me straight. And so I worked a lot with sound engineers, one in particular, John Kilgore, who is quite well known and worked with Philip Glass and Steve Reich, and he was super, super helpful in terms of like getting very exact about what this analog 1970s sound recording world was like because I have no exposure to it whatsoever.

[2:58] Robert Bannon: Oh, but it's so fascinating. The creating art takes is in stages. You created it, you shopped it around, you got it up on Playwrights, then to come to Broadway. This is a decade-long project. How do you look back on this and see all of the different milestones and how it kept changing and evolving?

[3:17] DAVID ADJMI: Honestly, I blocked a lot out because it was so grueling and exhausting to make it. It was hard to do it, and the phases were difficult. I adored working with my collaborators. But I had to just put one foot in front of the other. It was almost like, okay, I have to survive this process, so I can't quite think about what I'm doing because it's so overwhelming. So I don't like to think back, and I can't even remember like what was I doing in 2015? I have no memory of it. It's kind of amazing. But that's how I protected myself. Yes. That's how I got to the end.

[3:52] Robert Bannon: I completely get it. Do you have a classic rock band that's a go-to band?

[3:56] DAVID ADJMI: Well, I love Led Zeppelin, but I love all of them. I love Heart in particular. I adore Ann and Nancy. If you're watching, Ann and Nancy, see the show. Anne's voice and Nancy's song with all of them. Amazing.

[4:09] Robert Bannon: Yeah, they're amazing. Congratulations. Thank you. Welcome to Broadway. Your show is here, and we wish you the best run.

[4:15] WILL BUTLER: Thank you very much. Hi, I'm WILL BUTLER, and I wrote the music for the play Stereophonic. And he's got Grammys and Platinum albums and the whole shebang, WILL BUTLER.

[4:24] Robert Bannon: I even lost an Oscar once.

[4:26] WILL BUTLER: You sure did lose an Oscar. That's a lot more than I've lost an Oscar.

[4:29] Robert Bannon: Well, I haven't been nominated, but we were the Me and John Williams. We lost Oscars together. It was pretty great. It was a great experience.

[4:34] WILL BUTLER: That's some good, good company to have. Well, I want to let you know that when you came up, we love this show. This show is something very special. How did it first come to you? When did you first read it and say, "I can write music to this?"

[4:48] WILL BUTLER: Ten years ago, nine and a half years ago, I met DAVID randomly through a friend of a friend. We had dinner at the Westway Diner on 9th Avenue in Manhattan, and we talked about Moby Dick and we liked each other, and he hadn't written the play yet. He was like, "Do you want to work on this play that isn't written?" And then I'm a total stranger to you. And I was like, "I would." And then we worked on it for 10 years. I mean, he worked on it. He poured his soul into it for 10 years, and I kind of popped in every once in a while. I was like, "How's the play going, DAVID? Here's an idea," and then for the last five years have been pretty whole hogged as heart and soul, like let's make something real. And yeah.

[5:23] Robert Bannon: And now you have a show on Broadway with your music. It's absurd.

[5:27] WILL BUTLER: It's like, no, I—SARAH PIDGEON was singing my song tonight, and I was like quietly weeping in row O, and I was like, "What? They can't take this away from me." Like, this is what a privilege. SARAH PIDGEON is singing my song. Like, I'm gonna go eat an Italian sandwich. Like, how can I even top this?

[5:47] Robert Bannon: Well, you're somebody who has a lot of music that you write and sing. What's it like to see actors sing your song, you know, eight shows a week?

[5:55] WILL BUTLER: I mean, when it's TOM PECINKA and JULIANA CANFIELD and SARAH PIDGEON singing it, they're so beautiful. They're such good actors that everything they do, they imbue it with such charisma and such emotion, and it makes you want to elevate the work too. Where I'm like bringing in new verses because I'm like, "Oh, now I see now you've made the character, so now the song is worse than the character. So let's make the song as good as what you're doing," and it's just very inspiring. And also, again, CHRIS STACK and WILL BRILL, like the whole band makes you want to create something worth their time. The show is worth your time.

[6:35] Robert Bannon: Is there a classic rock band that you just can't live without? Is there a go-to for inspiration?

[6:41] WILL BUTLER: Yes, there is. And we're not gonna answer no. The thing I've been listening to all the time, and it's I don't know if it's the right answer, but I've just been listening to Scratch Perry, like 70s Jamaican dub, because that's what the play is to me. It's just like cracking open the song and just seeing what emerges. And it might be weird and it might be beautiful, and it might be funny, but just like take a song and just break it open and put the reverb on it, and I'm like that—that's why you have a show on Broadway. I'm like rocking out to Barry Manilow in my car. You know?

[7:17] Robert Bannon: I would rock out to Barry Manilow.

[7:21] WILL BUTLER: But I was like, I also listen to The Suburbs on my way here too. You know, I'm trying—I'm from the suburbs. You give inspiration.

[7:26] Robert Bannon: Yeah, yeah. No, that's a good one. Break all the legs. Welcome to Broadway.

[7:29] WILL BUTLER: Break all the legs.

[7:31] Robert Bannon: Break them all. Thank you. Congrats.

[7:35] DANIEL AUKIN: My name's DANIEL AUKIN, I'm the director of DAVID ADJMI's Stereophonic.

[7:38] Robert Bannon: And Obi Award winner here too.

[7:41] DANIEL AUKIN: Yes, I won several Obi Awards as well.

[7:44] Robert Bannon: So what is it like to take—when did this show first come to your life? When did you read it for the first time?

[7:49] DANIEL AUKIN: Actually, it first came to light in 2014 when the playwright said, "If I write this play, which he hadn't written, will you direct it?" And I said yes. And that's not how things usually go. But it was such a good idea, and I knew what a talented playwright he was that I was excited to see where it would lead. And 10 years later, here we are.

[8:09] Robert Bannon: When you first started this process, it was obviously a playwright, so it was off-Broadway. Was the sights always to get it to Broadway? Is that always the goal? Or were you taken aback?

[8:19] DANIEL AUKIN: I mean, we all thought we were making something special, and we had no way of knowing how many other people would feel the same way, but it wasn't totally a surprise that other people thought it was special. But you know, I've made lots of things that I think are special, but aren't as popular as this, so it's certainly a delight.

[8:39] Robert Bannon: And what can you say about this cast? They seem pretty tight-knit. You must have had a great rehearsal space because they seem like a real band.

[8:46] DANIEL AUKIN: They're a family up there. We worked really hard to create a really warm room to work in, and they had to work incredibly hard musically, and I just think over time that trust built and shows up on the work on stage.

[9:02] Robert Bannon: Absolutely. Is there a classic band that you jam out to that you can't live without?

[9:07] DANIEL AUKIN: You know, The Cure, which is much later, but that was my—that's my era.

[9:13] Robert Bannon: I get it. That's another—that's a good answer. That's a fun answer. Well, welcome to Broadway. Congratulations, have an amazing run, and we wish you all the best.

[9:22] WILL BRILL: Thank you so much. Hi, my name's WILL BRILL, and I play Reg in Stereophonic.

[9:27] Robert Bannon: And this is not your first Broadway show.

[9:29] WILL BRILL: It's not, baby. This is my fourth Broadway show.

[9:32] Robert Bannon: But this is not Oklahoma.

[9:34] WILL BRILL: No, it sure isn't. There is a lot of music and a lot of sex, but it is not Oklahoma.

[9:42] Robert Bannon: You say a lot of text. I heard like the script is what? 203?

[9:45] WILL BRILL: Two 20 pages? It's a lot. And it's in columns, and it's like in bold and italics and quotes, and it's really wild.

[9:59] Robert Bannon: So if I took your script and I looked at it, is there notes, is there highlights? Like what's your vibe? What's your script? What's your document?

[10:06] WILL BRILL: There are some doodles. There is a lot of highlighting. There are a few notes, and I wonder honestly how those translate. I wonder if they make any sense. I haven't looked at my script in a long time. It's all experiential now.

[10:24] Robert Bannon: Yeah, that's exciting. That's the best part. It's free. What can you say about the rest of this cast? What can you say about this band?

[10:28] WILL BRILL: Keithens, all of them. No, they're really sweet people. It's a lot of like puppy dogs around. Like, I don't know if you talked to TOM PECINKA already, but he plays like the meanest guy. And he is literally a human puppy. I wonder if he's gonna get mad that I said that. No, I don't think. But no, he's like the best. It's like they're such good people, they're such sweet people. And it's really wild because we're doing something that is so difficult that we are not afforded a lot of time to like really hang with each other and bond in that way. And so it is a lot of like grabbing each other and saying, like, we all see the fire that is surrounding us that's like band together, and that's very special.

[11:19] WILL BUTLER: It's really cool. And it shows on stage.

[11:21] Robert Bannon: Oh good. And are you like the old goat of the group? Are they like the ones they come to you like you're I've done Broadway before, kids?

[11:28] WILL BUTLER: Don't you worry. Yeah, yeah, it is exactly. Well, it's really interesting. They were like, oh man, we're gonna go to like the big house, and like what's it gonna be like? And I'm like, well, um, the bathrooms are trash, like the everything is old, like the walls are falling in on you, but that's the magic, baby. Like those those are the ghosts. That's where the ghosts come out of. Um, no, but it is like it's so much history and it is so magical, but it's also like there's a lot to contend with in these old buildings. Um, and it's a lot of the things that like people don't tell you when you like first go to Broadway, you know?

[12:05] Robert Bannon: And that's what they got you.

[12:06] WILL BUTLER: That's right. Is there a band that you is your go-to band that you give inspiration from?

[12:11] WILL BUTLER: Oh gosh. I mean, right now, yeah. If I need to like really like go to an emotional place right now, it is like Muna that I'm listening to a lot of. Um, and then who else is like uh uh Sufjan Stevens is like top of my list right now. Those are the people who I'm really like living with currently.

[12:35] Robert Bannon: I'm obsessed. I'm a little obsessed with Will. If you're listening to us on the podcast now, he's got makeup, he's beat down, he is given all the energy. Come on, Girk!

[12:44] WILL BUTLER: We gotta we gotta look good. It's Broadway, baby.

[12:46] WILL BUTLER: It's Broadway, baby. I have a Gucci dress on. I've never been this fabulous in my life. Um and this is only the beginning. And so it's crazy ride. Congratulations, thank you so much.

[12:57] JULIANA CANFIELD: I'm JULIANA CANFIELD, and I play Holly in Stereophonic.

[13:02] Robert Bannon: And this is your Broadway debut.

[13:03] JULIANA CANFIELD: It is.

[13:04] Robert Bannon: How do you feel? Yale graduate on the Broadway.

[13:08] JULIANA CANFIELD: I you know, it's it's surreal. It's lovely, and the audiences have been so welcoming, but if I zoom back any amount, I get quite overwhelmed and very verlumped.

[13:22] Robert Bannon: I'm sure it's it's a lot to take in. Your career from succession to the theater that you've done. I mean, some pretty big projects, but at the heart of this show, what do you was it about a family? Is it about music?

[13:32] JULIANA CANFIELD: Um universal and you know, I think it's about I think it's about art and I think it's about love. And it's about life, man.

[13:42] Robert Bannon: Yes, I I love that answer. Do you remember where you were when you found out that you were transferring to Broadway, that you guys had a house?

[13:48] JULIANA CANFIELD: Yeah, we were all in the theater. We were about to do a show, and our producers, Sue and John and Greg came in and they brought the whole cast onto the stage and the crew, and they said, listen, this is what we're gonna do. And it was very I mean, it's like seared in my mind mostly because CHRIS STACK, who's like a full grown man, like immediately burst into tears. And I was like, oh my god, you're crying. But yeah, I I was right there with him.

[14:19] Robert Bannon: Absolutely. I I just think when I see people that went to school and you went to school for this, like the amount of monologues, the amount of auditions, the amount of dreams of the moment.

[14:27] JULIANA CANFIELD: Yeah.

[14:27] Robert Bannon: And it happens tonight.

[14:29] JULIANA CANFIELD: It did. And in a way that was like better and more bespoke than I ever could have dreamt. I mean, getting to do a new play with this cast after we've all done it together, and to feel the sort of family that we became that got to graduate to this together. That was so special.

[14:51] Robert Bannon: Do you have a like a band that gives you inspiration? Do you have a classic rock moment?

[14:55] JULIANA CANFIELD: I love Fleetwood Mac, and I'm not just saying that, but they're great. Rumors is a great album.

[15:04] WILL BUTLER: Agreed.

[15:05] Robert Bannon: No notes. You know?

[15:06] WILL BUTLER: No notes, exactly. Thank you. Happy Broadway debut. Break legs, have an amazing run. Congratulations.

[15:14] ANDREW R. BUTLER: Andrew R. Butler, you just made your Broadway debut.

[15:17] ANDREW R. BUTLER: I did.

[15:18] Robert Bannon: Yeah. Congratulations.

[15:20] ANDREW R. BUTLER: Thank you. Thanks so much. Is it it's gotta be a journey? Do you think back of like monologues and auditions and school? What's it like to now finally take the leap to Broadway?

[15:30] ANDREW R. BUTLER: Oh, I mean it's a thrill, and getting to do it in a show that started off Broadway and got a lot of great support from Playwrights Horizons and then a beautiful reception, and then turning around and taking the show to Broadway so quickly after feels honestly like cheating. You know, it's like we knew the show, the set was almost like it was the same dimensions from playwrights to the golden. So we really got to bring the show with us and just like deepen and adjust and tighten things. So it it's, you know, my back's to the audience a lot of the show. Sort of like I could be, I could be back at playwrights. I could be sort of, you know, anywhere. It's we've got great continuity between off and on Broadway.

[16:07] Robert Bannon: But you guys, as an uns as a cast and as an ensemble, do you do you get lost in the story? Do you are you up there paying attention to you? You are very connected with the other artists on stage.

[16:16] ANDREW R. BUTLER: Thanks. Yeah, I mean, we do really get lost in each other. And I mean, the play's three hours long, so we definitely have time to kind of, you know, get lost in the weeds in each other's eyes or in, you know, the bits and moments before we get swept off stage for a few minutes.

[16:31] Robert Bannon: You're a musician yourself as well.

[16:33] ANDREW R. BUTLER: I am, yeah, I'm a songwriter and a musical theater composer also.

[16:37] Robert Bannon: So we can find music. We could do we get to like stalk you on the Instagram or?

[16:38] ANDREW R. BUTLER: Yeah, stalk me on the Instagram. You can check out uh the cast album for my show that uh was up a few years ago at Ars Nova.

[16:49] Robert Bannon: Oh then done. We're doing it. And I loved seeing you on Girls Five Ever. That was that was a fun moment.

[16:55] ANDREW R. BUTLER: It was super fun and super fun show. So congratulations on everything. If you were about to, we are we're asking everyone, what is a classic rock band that you can't live without? Who's your go-to?

[17:03] ANDREW R. BUTLER: Oh man, a classic rock band that I can't live without. I I feel like I can't say Fleetwood Mac because it's so close to like the heart of the show. But that is would normally be honestly, probably my go-to like classic rock. Like I go back to rumors over and over again. And it's just gotten better slash worse since starting this project because it's like more like obsessive and weirdly personal now.

[17:29] Robert Bannon: Well, I don't blame you. That's a damn good choice if you ask me. Happy Broadway debut. Have, you have an amazing run. Congratulations.

[17:35] ANDREW R. BUTLER: Thanks so much. I appreciate it.

[17:36] SARAH PIDGEON: Hi, I'm SARAH PIDGEON, and I play Diana in Stereophonic. And let me tell you, if you're listening to this as a podcast, if you're not watching us today, SARAH is done in Chanel from head to toe, and I'm obsessed with this outfit.

[17:47] Robert Bannon: Thank you. Come on, opening night. They're like super chic pajamas.

[17:49] SARAH PIDGEON: Yeah, it looks so good. And the shoes.

[17:53] Robert Bannon: I peaked the shoes.

[17:54] SARAH PIDGEON: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've got a little point. I'm loving it. It's so comfortable. I am loving it. Looks for days.

[17:59] Robert Bannon: Well, congratulations, happy Broadway debut.

[18:02] SARAH PIDGEON: Thank you. It's very surreal. I feel really, really lucky.

[18:05] Robert Bannon: Yeah. When you Carnegie Mellon.

[18:08] SARAH PIDGEON: Yes, Tartan Pride. You escaped Pittsburgh and now you're on Broadway.

[18:13] SARAH PIDGEON: Yeah, there's actually another CMU grad in this show, WILL BRILL, he's also from CMU.

[18:16] Robert Bannon: Oh, sorry.

[18:17] SARAH PIDGEON: So that has really warmed my heart, I think, to know. It's like a very full circle moment, I think, in a lot of ways. Um, but yeah, I feel very grateful for all my teachers there that I think really helped me make this stream possible. Um when you look back at those days in school and now a script that's 220 pages and this epic tale. Do you use those tools? Is the things that you've learned? What is your process to get this script in your body?

[18:43] SARAH PIDGEON: In my body. Uh yeah, I think I definitely rely on the stuff that I learned in school. You know, I think just the idea of you know, six days a week. We were up 8 a.m. in class working, and I think the rigor, I think maybe helped me prepare for this type of project, but I think if anything, it really instilled my like love and and passion to do this thing, and I think at the end of the day, that's sort of what it came down to, at least for me. Um, yeah, I'm I'm just sort of counting my lucky stars all the time. I can't really believe it's happening.

[19:14] Robert Bannon: Oh, and it has happened. What can you say about working with this incredible cast? You guys are such a tight-knit ensemble up there.

[19:20] SARAH PIDGEON: Yeah, I wouldn't change it for the world. I mean, everyone, there's not a single person that I'm not excited to see when I walk into the theater. It's they're the people that know me the best at this point, right now. You know, I I've seen them, apart from that little hiatus that we had between off Broadway and Broadway, they saw me every single day. They knew what was going on in my life. They knew when I was sick, they knew when I was just in a crabby mood. Like they know me very intimately, and I'm I just sort of trust them with my life and on that stage. You know, things happen, things go wrong all the time. And we've just sort of created this web where if something happens and you know there's just this innate trust that sorry, I'm clapping right into the microphone. That that we'll catch each other, so that's what's beautiful. That's what art is all about, an artistry and working together.

[20:05] Robert Bannon: Do you have a go-to inspirational band? Is there a rock band or a classic rock band that oh I mean there's an obvious one, I think, which I won't name. But I'm into a lot of new artists. I I listen to a lot of new music. I love Ethel Kane. I think she can sort of do no wrong. Um, yeah, I I don't know if there's like someone that I'm really looking to for inspiration, but I just love when new music comes my way. And you know, Chapel Roan, she's also amazing.

[20:34] SARAH PIDGEON: Do you listen?

[20:34] Robert Bannon: I I do.

[20:35] SARAH PIDGEON: Oh, it's just so you all keep me young. But that's what I love. Yeah, it's so uh that's I I think that's what's so exciting about it. Like I feel I don't know, I'm just constantly looking to a new a new listen.

[20:46] Robert Bannon: So yes, same. Well, if you're looking for a new show to come down and see. It's on Broadway, it's the golden stereophonic. And congratulations, have an amazing run. Welcome to Broadway.

[20:56] SARAH PIDGEON: Thank you. Really happy to be here.

[20:57] TOM PECINKA: Yeah, hi, I'm TOM PECINKA. I play Peter in Stereophonic. Happy Broadway debut.

[21:02] Robert Bannon: Thank you so much. We're a Yale graduate.

[21:04] TOM PECINKA: I am indeed.

[21:05] Robert Bannon: So when you think back of those Connecticut nights, learning monologues.

[21:09] TOM PECINKA: Well, I well, I still live in Connecticut, actually. I live I don't live in New Haven.

[21:13] Robert Bannon: Okay.

[21:13] TOM PECINKA: But I live up in Connecticut, yeah. So I still have a lot of Connecticut nights, most Connecticut nights. But um, but yeah, I mean, it you know, Yale was an amazing place to train, and it was a safe place where I could do a lot of great work, and um it really prepared me for what I'm doing right now.

[21:30] Robert Bannon: And this journey from off Broadway to now at the Golden, what's it been like to work with this cast?

[21:34] TOM PECINKA: It's a it's a very intimate tight group of people.

[21:37] Robert Bannon: It comes across that way from the audience.

[21:39] TOM PECINKA: Yeah, I mean, you know, everyone always says this, you know, I've done some interviews where people are like, well, you're in a fake band, and I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. I'm in a real band. You know, you're listening. And it's been so different to get to know these people, not only as a fellow actors, but also as bandmates, um, and play with them every night. And you listen in a different way, you feel each other in a different way. Um so that's been great, and I really do. I love them. I mean, we we quibble about things, but definitely not in this as far as we go in the play. Thank god.

[22:12] Robert Bannon: That makes a good band. That's how good music is made. I'm ready for the original album when you all get together after this. If you were to have a band that you love, a classic rock band that you can't live without. Is there is there one that comes to mind?

[22:23] TOM PECINKA: You know, doing this doing the show introduced me to so many bands from the 70s, and um the Allman Brothers band.

[22:31] Robert Bannon: Uh actually Dickie Betts just passed away yesterday, rest in peace. Um but uh yeah, the Allman Brothers band was an amazing discovery. And I listen to them all the time. You'll never buy a peach the same way after you listen to the Allman Brothers. That's right. That's the truth. That is the truth. Well, this show has got people have to come down and see it. I wish you the best run. Happy Broadway opening, and congratulations.

[22:54] ELI GELB: Thank you so much. Hi, my name's Eli. ELI GELB. I play Grover in Stereophonic. And he's making his Broadway debut.

[23:00] ELI GELB: I sure am, along with six uh six out of seven others in the cast. And I have a lot of notes, and you know what my notes said to summarize you?

[23:08] Robert Bannon: Okay.

[23:08] ELI GELB: A lot of off-Broadway and regional credits. Like a lot. Is that true?

[23:13] ELI GELB: I don't even know. I feel like I've done like four plays, but I don't, I don't. We could we're gonna pull up Wikipedia right now. I did I did Skin Tight at Roundabout. Um we did it at the Geffen about a year after that. Uh what else do I have?

[23:30] ELI GELB: That's a lot more than we have. Yeah, I've also um uh uh The North Pool, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, 27th Man, I did at uh at the Old Globe.

[23:42] Robert Bannon: See, you're you're selling yourself short here. Don't sell yourself short.

[23:46] ELI GELB: Well, I feel like I feel like we've got a you know I've it's a it's a track record I'm proud of, but uh absolutely and now you're on Broadway.

[23:53] ELI GELB: I sure am in my favorite play ever, perhaps. What was it like to read this and then hear the music?

[23:59] ELI GELB: To to read it first. Well, I'll say the first time I read it was maybe like it was like 2020. And it was the the audition was the day before the pandemic shut down. Which is which is a big that's a big thing. Uh it was also like one of those like next day auditions, so you know, 220 something pages. I kind of had to skim it. And it made me sad because I was like loving it, but I was like, I gotta, I don't know. I just gotta figure out what this is. And then uh I was like, I think I love this thing, but I'll have to read it again.

[24:35] ELI GELB: Um and it turns out I was right. It's just it's my favorite play ever. Um you ended up having plenty of time to read it.

[24:42] ELI GELB: I sure did. Yeah, in uh no, I I did I I cracked it open again um in the middle of the pandemic, and it just it resonated for me and in so many you know, it just resonated so deeply in terms of like the themes of sort of um uh isolation and togetherness, making something together, needing each other, tearing each other apart. Uh kind of kind of very pandemic-y.

[25:09] Robert Bannon: Very yeah and universal for everyone.

[25:10] ELI GELB: It's not just no, no, pandemic or not. This is absolutely um a an act existential epic of a play. And and so it's so such an honor also to do it in the theater that premiered Waiting for Godot.

[25:30] ELI GELB: Uh, another existential epic of sorts. Um, although sort of not really not an epic in the same way, but uh very stripped down, but um this is this is a whole spectacle, this one.

[25:43] Robert Bannon: It sure is, and and people need to come on down to the golden and see it. I can't wait for people to see it and wait to you this ride you guys are about to take. Man, well, it's such a joy, it's such a it's been such a such a great experience, and everyone involved is just so uh fantastic to work with.

[25:58] Robert Bannon: Do you have a go-to classic rock band that you listen to that helps inspire you?

[26:02] ELI GELB: I'm gonna try to think. Oh, I I've been listening to a lot of T-Rex lately.

[26:06] Robert Bannon: Okay.

[26:06] ELI GELB: Um, like like original glam glam rock guy, uh Mark Bolan. Um recently, Black Sabbath is uh I'm I'm getting into Black Sabbath vibe.

[26:18] ELI GELB: Uh Dark Side of the Moon is one of my favorite albums. That's kind of an like it's kind of boring favorite album, but it's great.

[26:25] Robert Bannon: Yeah.

[26:26] ELI GELB: Iconic.

[26:26] Robert Bannon: Yeah, it's really good. You can't beat it.

[26:28] ELI GELB: You can't. Look, this is the coolest cast I've ever talked to because your answers are really good.

[26:33] ELI GELB: Thank you. They're good answers. I'm curious what other people said. But you'll you can tell me that Led Z.

[26:38] Robert Bannon: You got it. You got it. Yeah. Congratulations. Happy Broadway. Did you have an amazing run?

[26:42] ELI GELB: Thank you. Good talking to you.

[26:43] ELI GELB: Thank you so much. Would you mind introducing yourself?

[26:46] SARAH PIDGEON: I would not. Thank you so much. I'm SARAH PIDGEON. He's playing Diana.

[26:52] Robert Bannon: So you look so different off stage.

[26:55] SARAH PIDGEON: Yeah.

[26:55] SARAH PIDGEON: It's transformative. You know.

[26:57] Robert Bannon: Isn't it? That's a good hair and makeup team.

[26:59] SARAH PIDGEON: Amazing wigs. Invert did an incredible job with the wardrobe to make that A-line skirt like fit my.

[27:06] Robert Bannon: I don't even know what an A-line skirt is. I just heard that once.

[27:09] CHRIS STACK: Well, the CHRIS STACK.

[27:11] SARAH PIDGEON: Yes, sir. Happy Broadway debut.

[27:13] CHRIS STACK: Thank you. Thank you. How does it be so nice?

[27:15] SARAH PIDGEON: It's fabulous. It's fabulous. I'm kind of um I'm not exhilarated anymore. I'm kind of coasting on good energy. It's just it's good vibes.

[27:27] Robert Bannon: Do you remember where you were when you got the call when someone said, hey, we're going to the golden, we're going to Broadway?

[27:31] CHRIS STACK: Uh yeah. I mean, we were on the stage, we were on the stage at Playwrights Horizons when um John and Sue and Craig showed up and told us like, hey, this is what we want to do. That was that was a moment like the first preview was like tonight was where just you know as a guy who's been in New York for 25 years, like I'll never forget the first time I was told that this play I love so much is going to Broadway, and then the first time I actually did a show on Broadway, and then my first Broadway opening.

[28:02] CHRIS STACK: I mean they're just epic. It it's an I'm sure there's a lot of memories of a lot of auditions, a lot of monologues, a lot of almost coulda, woulda-sulda, and now it's done.

[28:11] Robert Bannon: You did it.

[28:12] CHRIS STACK: Yeah, yeah.

[28:13] CHRIS STACK: What can you say about the rest of this cast? You guys are a t you're a band.

[28:16] CHRIS STACK: You're a we're yeah, we're a band. I mean, we're a band, and we became we started off as a band of actors, and we became a band of musicians and a band of friends, and um I feel very uh there's a there are wonderful things. It's like we get along in all of the perfect ways, and then we offer up all of these things of ourselves to create the friction on stage, and everybody is incredibly generous and very skillful and very loving and very playful, and um it just creates this texture in this piece that makes it incredibly rich to relive again and again and again, eight nights a week.

[29:01] CHRIS STACK: And that's why it flies by. Don't be intimidated by the runtime, it flies by.

[29:06] Robert Bannon: Yeah, good. That's what I that's what they tell me. I mean, it doesn't feel like three hours when you're doing it, but obviously when you're sitting in a chair watching somebody else do it, it can feel differently. But I've heard tell.

[29:17] CHRIS STACK: I I can attest. Do you have a classic rock band that you can't live without or you have a go-to?

[29:22] CHRIS STACK: Oh my, all of my bands are classic rock bands, but I I can't I'm trying to think of like I mean, there are a bunch of new bands that I like, but um the original Van Halen with DAVID Lee Roth years.

[29:33] Robert Bannon: Yes.

[29:34] CHRIS STACK: I'm a huge Grateful Dead fan. The Clash. I mean, a lot of the and then you know who I've been listening to revisiting recently is Talk Talk.

[29:44] Robert Bannon: Okay, yeah, fabulous.

[29:46] CHRIS STACK: Um, I feel like I could we could stand here for a long time and go on my radio driving to school every day was the clo was Q95 in Indianapolis, the classic rock station.

[29:58] Robert Bannon: Classic rock race races, yeah.

[30:01] CHRIS STACK: And so to be here, like this, these are the guys who I was listening to on the radio. Free.

[30:06] Robert Bannon: I mean, there's never a huge well, I won't say who I'm not a fan of. It's my favorite.

[30:12] CHRIS STACK: That's the juicy part.

[30:13] Robert Bannon: Right, exactly. Exactly. Yeah, there were a bunch of bands from that era who I don't care for, but even the bands who I don't care for, there's just a thing about big bands in the 70s.

[30:25] CHRIS STACK: And a lot of my favorite bands from the 70s were smaller bands from the 70s too, but like the big bands from the 70s, like when rock became a big thing, like when Led Zeppelin was a thing and like the stones in the early 70s, like that's that's it's just rock and roll.

[30:39] Robert Bannon: Jesus.

[30:40] CHRIS STACK: Yeah. It's just rock and roll, everyone. Rock and roll. Happy Broadway debut. Have an amazing run. Enjoy every second.

[30:46] SARAH PIDGEON: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

[30:48] Justin Craig: Yeah, Justin Craig, the musical director, Stereophonic. Super fun. What a beautiful piece of work. What is it like? It's a play with music. So what did you do differently as the music director than say a musical musical?

[31:02] Justin Craig: Um well, this is the first time I've ever music directed anything that I wasn't playing an instrument or band leading or conducting or whatever. So um it's uh it was it was a new frontier for me, just very different experience and um really fun to work with these actors and and build this band.

[31:20] Justin Craig: I kind of felt like I was producing a band rather than like MDing a show. Do you know what I mean?

[31:25] Robert Bannon: Sure.

[31:26] Justin Craig: Yeah. What has it been like in the process to be in the room to take this show off Broadway and now to be at the golden to be on Broadway? How's this journey been for you?

[31:34] Justin Craig: I mean, it's just very exciting. I mean, the show um it hasn't changed all that much, really. I mean, we're in a we're in a it's just a it's a new space, it's a bigger space. It's four times the amount of people that we're playing in front of.

[31:48] Justin Craig: So the feels like we're just playing like a bigger concert now, you know. It's yeah, it's really fun.

[31:53] Robert Bannon: Absolutely. And you did the orchestrations as well.

[31:55] Justin Craig: Yeah, with WILL BUTLER.

[31:57] Robert Bannon: So it's so talented. Come on, talented people. Do you have like an uh like an homage? Do you have a favorite classic rock band? Is there one that you if you were on a desert island that you would want to take a record with?

[32:09] Justin Craig: I mean, Desert Island, I'd probably have to say the Beatles, just because I grew up with uh and there's just so many songs that I love of theirs. And I mean, it doesn't get better than that.

[32:21] Robert Bannon: Can we listen to your music?

[32:22] Justin Craig: Um, I mean, I don't have a band and I haven't released music under my name, but um I do lots of producing of other artists and things like that.

[32:29] Robert Bannon: So all right, so we're gonna have to google Google search and find out all of the work that you've done and then come on down and see the show. Happy opening, have an amazing run.

[32:37] Justin Craig: Thank you so much. You gotta see Stereophonic uh before the word really gets out, more so than it already has. Just go get your tickets. You can get your tickets to see the show. It's playing at the Golden, and it's just stereophonicplay.com.

[32:52] Robert Bannon: Stereophonicplay.com. We had a great time. Thank you for having me enter your podcast world. My name is Robert Bannon. You could listen to me on the Broadway Podcast Network every day, or you can go follow me on Instagram at Robert M. Bannon. Check out the clips and videos on the YouTube page. So much more information. At Robert Bannon.com. The best is yet to come. Support live art, support live music. Let's listen to a classic rock band and go back in time. This has been a blast. Everybody, thank you so much for being here. I'll see you again next time on the Roundtable.