This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:10] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's the Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon. Well, we're at lunch. It's fifth grade lunch here in RI in New Jersey. And we always love to spend our lunchtime sometimes with some of my favorite Broadway stars. I've seen Andrew in Williamstown. I've seen Andrew in La Jolla. I've seen Lempicka before it was even a show. It was in front of the Avenue Q set at a theater workshop years and years ago. I love this show. And it was opened. We got to chat with Andrew, but now we get to deep dive. We get to talk about the Dodgers and his allergies and living in Salt Lake City. We're gonna go with his wife, who's a superstar. We're gonna go deep. Much more than just Lempicka here. Andrew, welcome to the show.

[0:56] Andrew Samonsky: Oh my gosh, this is gonna be amazing. I can't wait.

[1:01] Robert Bannon: Well, firstly, congratulations on all things Lempicka. If people want to get their tickets, go to Lempickamusical.com. You guys made some noise this week with Mary Ann. The first time she got to play Lempicka. How was it?

[1:19] Andrew Samonsky: Oh my god, incredible. Yeah, our standby for Tim for Lempicka, Marianne Torres went on yesterday for both shows. It's the first time anyone other than Eden has played Lempicka in a production. And she killed it. I mean, if anyone knows Marianne, she's a former alphabet and her voice is ridiculous. And to step in with no rehearsal into this role, it's a heroic thing she did, and she killed it. So it was very exciting.

[1:49] Robert Bannon: Yes, and you all are singing, but that Lempicka track sings from the nonstop.

[1:57] Andrew Samonsky: Nonstop.

[1:58] Robert Bannon: So I'm sure it was riveting you had your journey to the show. You've been with the show for years.

[1:58] Andrew Samonsky: Yeah, six years.

[1:58] Robert Bannon: Wow. So now that you're up there on Broadway and you get to kind of settle. I know you had a nice run in La Jolla, you had a run in Williamstown, but now that you're there and you've had this process to go through the show and be with it, how has it been every night now that there's an audience and the reaction of the show at the end of the night?

[1:58] Andrew Samonsky: You know, it's thrilling. It really is. I mean, I really feel like we're doing something that Broadway has never seen. It's a wholly original musical about a real person. The music, the design, the subject matter that we go through, it's an epic feast for the stage, and you can feel it from the audience every night. Really, it is thrilling. It's a musical that challenges you. I mean, it's thrilling, it's entertaining, but it challenges you, you know, with deep questions and subject matter. And you feel it from the audience. I mean, just to see the tears streaming down people's faces, you know you've done your job. You've given people an experience. I often go out the stage door and the reaction is, "You've given me a lot to digest. I need to sit with this show." And I love hearing that. I mean, I think that's theater at its best. So we're all very, very proud. It's exciting.

[3:34] Robert Bannon: Well, I saw it when I went to the dress. When I went to the invited dress, my cousin was with me, and when we ended it, she had never seen it. She didn't know what it was about. And then she had all these questions like, "Who's the good person? Who's the bad person? Is this right? Is this wrong?" And that's the point.

[3:52] Andrew Samonsky: That's the point. These are real people, you know, with flaws and virtues who've made good choices and very bad choices just like we all do. I mean, it's easy to compartmentalize things into good and bad, but that's not the human experience, you know? It just really isn't. We all are having our struggles and fears and successes and failures, and all these characters, not just Lempicka, but all of them are just rich, real human beings up on that stage. So it's a real honor to play my part, the husband of Lempicka, and they have a very complicated marriage, which I love as well, as most marriages are. So it's just a thrill, you know, to kind of put a mirror up to life and kind of ask those deep questions that I think we all need to ask.

[4:05] Robert Bannon: Well, your voice is beautiful. Your voice with Eden and your voice then with Amber is so crazy beautiful, the blends of those voices. And I have to be honest, I think Lempicka stuck around the second you didn't. You don't go work in the bank. I might pack my stuff and be out. I'm just letting you know.

[4:05] Andrew Samonsky: Look, somebody's gotta pay the bills around here.

[4:05] Robert Bannon: Hey, I'm not saying I'm the greatest husband in the world, but I mean, you come see the show and you realize my character, he struggles for a while. But to his credit, as a man of his time, he does his best to push through, you know, the old cultural kind of norms of his time to grow to be better, as they're all doing. And that's what I really love about him. But yeah, Amber and Eden, their characters, I mean, just they light up the stage, and mine's certainly more conservative, but I think there's an important story there too. I mean, I think there's a part of our world and population that gets stuck in, and what do we do when the world is changing around us more quickly than we want it to? And I think those are important questions too.

[6:11] Andrew Samonsky: So yeah.

[6:11] Robert Bannon: Absolutely. It's really exciting and riveting theater, and just go to the Longacre and check it out. You're no stranger to Broadway. I mean, we may have seen this as a little South Pacific throwback.

[6:23] Andrew Samonsky: Oh, yeah.

[6:24] Robert Bannon: And you know, you have Mystery of Edwin Drood and then toured. You did Come From Away around the country. What was the moment that you realized, like, maybe this is the life for me? I have the bug, I want to go into acting in theater.

[6:40] Andrew Samonsky: Oh gosh, I mean, that's a great question. You know, I was not a theater kid growing up. I really wasn't until college where I really could not think of anything else to do. And an old voice teacher of mine kind of gave me a little nudge and said, "I think you might have the ability to do this as a career." And even then, I was an opera major, and it wasn't quite my jam eventually. And I was like, "Maybe it's more musical theater." Yeah, and I got to New York, it just like I can do this, right? I mean, if I can just, I don't know, it was so far away, but yet like accessible at the same time. And I was certain, you know, I was waiting tables and all that good stuff, and I finally got this tour of Disney's On the Record.

I mean, the diehard fans will know that this tour of this kind of Disney jukebox musical went around, and it was my first big job, and I made some money and I saw the country. I mean, it's a fabulous life when you're working. It's hard when you're not, but it really came down to I couldn't think of anything else to do. And so it was out of desperation. Well, I guess I better make this work. And I've been very fortunate. So yeah.

[7:57] Robert Bannon: Well, we love that voice, and we love all of the acting choices, and your whole household must be full of singers. I mean, your wife, you know, your wife Kate is the red carpet in that Lempicka opening night video and 45 minutes of great interviews with the cast, creative, and then all the VIP guests. Like your wife, she sings her teeth out.

[8:19] Andrew Samonsky: She's, I mean, listen, I'm just trying to keep up. I mean, she is the most charming, joyous, talented person out there. I don't know how I roped her in. But yeah, I mean, our son, we have a six-year-old son, Luke, and you know, I mean, he's surrounded by us theater geeks, and I don't know what's gonna happen with him, but he certainly has the drama of his parents. He's got the range of his mother currently, and as Kate likes to say, the lung power of his father. So it's very high and it's very loud. We'll see if there's a market for that when he gets older.

[9:04] Andrew Samonsky: I'm sure there is. I got but I've joked about the Dodgers and seafood and allergy and all of that.

[9:09] Robert Bannon: Oh, yeah.

[9:10] Andrew Samonsky: Uh-huh. Just you were on, there was 10 facts I learned so much about you, Andrew, and the 10 facts about your life on JustJared.com.

[9:24] Andrew Samonsky: No, no, not not initially. It was it wasn't it the I'm telling the truth when I say we did not have a name for him for 48 hours. And Kate, in a moment of I don't know, genius said, I think it might be Luke. And I said, Yeah, I like that. Okay, let's go with Luke. And the second I said that, I looked down at my shirt and it I had a Star Wars shirt on, and I was like, Well, there it is. I mean, it's destiny. Um, but we did not initially in this in that first second, we did not name him because of Star Wars. But it's I mean, I've loved, I mean, how how much have I loved just saying Luke? I am your father over and over and over. Brilliant. It's gonna be forever. That's that's so brilliant.

[10:09] Robert Bannon: You made the choice to live. You've lived out in Salt Lake City for like a couple of years now.

[10:13] Andrew Samonsky: It's for like, yeah, the last four years. Because you know, Kate has been shooting uh high school musical, the musical, the series out there in Utah. Um, and so we we just all you know have stayed that we have loved it, it's so beautiful. Um, our kid is in school there. Um, but you know, the show has come to a close. We don't know what our next move is, but but yeah, Utah. Who would ever thought we'd be living in Utah? But we we've loved it, it. It's beautiful.

[10:40] Robert Bannon: Is it a big adjustment then to like be in the middle of New York City and and be in the walking down Times Square every single day?

[10:46] Andrew Samonsky: You know, on honestly, at first it was. I mean, just literally walking the streets. I had to get my walking legs back under me. I it's just it's a real thing. It took me a week to kind of like, oh, like my legs, why are why am I so tired every day? And um, but uh, but yeah, it's an adjustment. I mean, I've always loved this city and I've lived here off and on for for many years. Uh, but uh, but it's always an adjustment coming back, especially from a place like Utah, which is I mean the antithesis of great big wide open spaces, so yeah.

[11:18] Robert Bannon: Absolutely. Well, Andrew, I think we we get along fine as long as we don't talk about baseball because I would and and we don't have to talk about baseball, and I've never seen a Star Wars movie except for the first one.

[11:31] Andrew Samonsky: That's enough. That's all you need. That's all you need. Classics. That's the best one. But I love Lempicka and I'll I'll I'll come see that weekly. I mean, there are things that I can that I could make up for this. We have plenty to connect on, I'm telling you.

[11:45] Robert Bannon: Thank you, Andrew. When I saw Andrew on the red carpet, my big question, and I'm still gonna press this issue. I may ask Mac Bull, I may talk to Cody, your stage manager. I mean I want to go in the the trapdoor under the stage when Andrew is prisoned. If you've seen Lempicka, if you haven't, go get a ticket. What is going on down there? I want to know about it.

[12:06] Andrew Samonsky: I mean, I don't want to like, you know, uh, you know, give up the magic, but uh there there's a lot going on down there. The Longacre theater does not have a lot of backstage the backstage space, and so when you're coming up and down those stairs, you're in the midst of a lot of other stuff going on, let me tell you.

[12:29] Andrew Samonsky: And and I'll leave it at that it's it's it's like music hair sound stage management I mean there's I mean there's there's a lot of activity underneath the the stage well Beth Level told me that she has worked at the Longacre many a show there's so many stairs in Lempicka and secret that she found alleyways and passageways that she never knew existed I counted it up I climbed 42 flights of stairs during the course of one show and uh that's no joke. So a Wednesday two show day you're going 84 flights wow Andrew you're ready to you're gonna run a marathon when this is over you're ready somehow and somehow it doesn't get any easier.

[13:14] Andrew Samonsky: I I'm waiting for the day it gets easier and it has not arrived so I'm not sure what's happening there. Maybe I need to eat more Wheaties but I I uh yeah it's uh I mean it definitely keeps your blood pumping that's for sure yeah what do you do the it's an epic show it's two hours plus it it's a long it's it it's a it's a marathon um of performance what do you do do you have a routine that keeps you physically and mentally safe and sane and and ready to go is there is there any advice you have for people who are doing theater or want to be in theater about how to stay safe and and well yeah, I mean I I think I think the culture on Broadway has has really changed over the decades.

[13:54] Andrew Samonsky: I mean I think back during the days of Coruscant it was like have a cigarette and like get on stage right and I mean it's it's really uh you know I think uh um uh uh a healthy person's game these days because it the demands are are legitimate, uh like we just said. And so yeah, I I get up, I go to the gym, um I you know drink lots of water and it's it's all of that kind of self-care stuff that you need to do. It's it's a very emotional show.

[14:26] Andrew Samonsky: So you kind of have to like emotionally keep yourself in a in a good place and be mindful and and not take your work home with you in a sense, learn how to let go of it. Um and honestly just just fill your life with with all kinds of other things. For for me, it is it is baseball or or my family, or or it it could be anything, but anything I think uh to enrich your life outside of the business, I think is so important because you can get so tunnel vision on how am I doing and this person and that person and this show and that show, and it's like life is about so much more than that, and and I think it will make you a better artist, a better performer, a better person if you can get out of the cycle of showbiz and get into the world of of life. So that that's my you know advice in a nutshell.

[15:19] Robert Bannon: Yeah. I love that. All right, fine. Yankees Dodgers. We're going. I'm taking you to a game. I'm gonna buy hot dogs on me.

[15:27] Andrew Samonsky: And if you like hot dogs, yeah.

[15:29] Robert Bannon: I don't, but I will but if you do, Andrew.

[15:31] Andrew Samonsky: They have other things. They have other baseball food is very complex now. They got all kinds of things, sushi or whatever you want. Garlic fries, and they have like prime rib sandwiches.

[15:41] Robert Bannon: Who gets a prime rib at Yankee Stadium?

[15:43] Andrew Samonsky: It's like $39. I mean, yeah, we can we can we can discuss the prices, but not unlike Broadway. Broadway's getting pretty expensive.

[15:51] Robert Bannon: No, you want a glass of wine on Broadway, it's your car payment.

[15:55] Andrew Samonsky: But right, you you um but no, that doesn't dissuade you from going to see the show, everybody because they have a very affordable option for it.

[16:03] Robert Bannon: We do, of course. Uh there's rush all kinds of rush policies and options.

[16:07] Andrew Samonsky: So yeah, there's there's there's tickets for everybody out there.

[16:10] Robert Bannon: Absolutely. So when you are my students here in fifth grade, they they're gonna fan out about your wife because I'm sure that she gets recognized by kids and youngsters and Disney fans and high school musical fans everywhere. And now you guys, you know, it must be a trip to be able to see that be a part of your family's yeah.

[16:31] Andrew Samonsky: I'm just so happy for her. You know, she's she's just such a supreme human being, and and to see the joy that that like she brings to people's faces. Uh, you know, we we went we know we'll go we we've gone to Disneyland a couple times, and that's a great spot because you know it's a Disney property, and or like yeah, teens just see her and light up, and you know, she is Miss Jen. She is the drama teacher.

[16:54] Andrew Samonsky: I mean, she is she is uh character that that has brought this art form to kids to get them excited about doing it, and and I think that's what really brought her a lot of joy too.

[17:06] Robert Bannon: Yeah, yeah, I love it. So shout out to her.

[17:08] Andrew Samonsky: Oh, yeah. And see everyone, when you see Lempicka, he smiles. It's exhausting to put on a stern a stern face for two at two hours.

[17:17] Robert Bannon: It is, it is just that takes a lot of energy to act with this.

[17:21] Andrew Samonsky: So look at those pearly whites smiling. See, you gotta see. I mean, you know, you I mean, listen, I'm not gonna lie, like laughing and crying, they're they're they're they they're kind of they come back to each other on the emotional spectrum.

[17:35] Andrew Samonsky: So a lot of laughing, a lot of crying, I think is is very healthy on it on either side. Well, there's a whole entire community of people out here who this show uh has touched. And it doesn't matter what you gender, sexual orientation, where you are. I mean, there's something about humanity in this show for every single person.

[17:53] Robert Bannon: So head over to MPOMusical.com and get your tickets. Come on down and see the show. And you can follow Andrew on Instagram so you can see where he pops up next and what's what the future holds and and all the things for you and your family.

[18:08] Andrew Samonsky: And we're fans. We we really appreciate the work and the art that you're doing up on that stage every night. Congratulations.

[18:14] Andrew Samonsky: Oh, thank you, thank you for saying all that. We we're really proud of this show. We can really tell how it's it's moving the needle and and touching people, and uh so um, yeah, it's it's an absolute joy, and it's it's really a joy to talk to you about it.

[18:28] Robert Bannon: I'll be back.

[18:29] Andrew Samonsky: I'll be back next week.

[18:30] Robert Bannon: Okay, see you there.

[18:32] Andrew Samonsky: You got it.