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[0:04] Robert Bannon: But you know, you can take the fan, you can take the Italians out of Jersey, but you can't take the Jersey out of the Italians, you know. You know, with the name, with your name, you're a good Italian Jersey boy.

[0:15] Damon Daunno: My dad is Irish. My mom is Rose Di Meglio, so I get it. I get it.

[0:19] Robert Bannon: Let's go, Rose Di Meglio. Let's go. So when did you discover the love of music theater art?

[0:26] Damon Daunno: Well, my mother used to play classical piano in the house when I was a kid, and she also really loved classic rock and the Beatles and Fleetwood Mac and that sort of 70s acoustic thing that was beautiful. So she was always playing cassettes, and there was always like sort of cool music from my mom. For my dad, he was really into like the doo-wop thing, if at all. So those two worlds of like Frank Sinatra and, you know, Pete Townshend of The Who, you know, like those two things were pretty nestled into my heart early on and made me want to get on stage. And once I did that as a kid, I was like, oh, this feels good. That's it.

[1:12] Robert Bannon: But Damon, is one thing to say I'm gonna do it. Was theater always the thing? Was it to play? Was it to be in a band? Like what was the goal at that point?

[1:19] Damon Daunno: That's a great question. I mean, at that point, it was probably, it's always been both. I've always loved acting, and I've always loved performing music, and I've always been in bands, and I always wrote songs and played gigs on the side, and then always was in the school play and the musical. And you know, when I was younger, it was sort of like the theater program was like the outlet to both act and sing. So I sort of got into it by default. But then I, you know, really came to love it as a community and the friends I would make and the profundity of those times, you know. And so when it came time to like apply to school or think about the future in that way, it really settled in as the thing I'd like to do for sure.

[2:12] Robert Bannon: Well, you didn't have to go far to make it to New York City. I mean, you just jump on 78 to the Lincoln Tunnel or whatever you ended up doing. How was the transition from schooling to professional life for you? You were very famous for off-Broadway, for workshops, for originating roles in some very big pieces of work, Tony nominations, Broadway, etc. How was those days of paying dues in New York City?

[2:39] Damon Daunno: Oh boy, I mean, it doesn't feel like those days have really ended. You know, it's just life, the isness of it all. Sometimes it's, you know, busy, and sometimes it's busy in other ways. But that transition was, I'd say, a slow burn. You know, I really, I was fortunate to get an agent early on, and I got a job with this British company called Kneehigh that came to New York, and that sort of was my first real professional job. But then it was about, you know, seven years of, as you said, workshops, out-of-town touring, going to other countries, like certain things, and then here and there a show would settle down off-Broadway or what have you. And you know, certainly in my younger years, I had a lot of, you know, what I come to understand now is totally part of the business, but at the time was like tectonic shifts of heartbreak, you know, things that you don't go forward with a show in one way or the other and this kind of stuff.

And that happens, you know, a handful of times, and it just never really occurred to me to like stop, you know. It kind of always just felt like, well, oh well, next, you know, and thankfully there always has been a next. And that's kind of I've been really trying to meditate on letting go of viewing things in general as stepping stones, you know what I mean? Of like, oh, if I do this, maybe it'll go there, and then that'll happen. And it's so easy to fall into that headspace as an actor, particularly in, I find, in New York City in musical theater. It's such like a, I think it's kind of a relatively small club, and it feels like in a good way, you know.

[4:31] Robert Bannon: Absolutely. It’s as if you're listening to us, the lights just went off, so don't mind me.

[4:37] Damon Daunno: That was a choice, that was vibey, that was great. That was sensor life. We're here at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey. We're on lunch right now from a day of teaching the youth of the next generation of artists, and who knew that this room had sensors? Anyway, I apologize. We were getting deep. Turns out I was just rattling on and on that the lights were snoozing.

[4:59] Robert Bannon: But you were so deep. It was very existential and interpersonal and open and vulnerable, and I appreciate that so much. There is always gonna be more work because you're good, your voice is gorgeous. You're such a musician at heart, and you’re, you may come on, actor. Why do people in musical theater get the reputation that there's not acting? Like you're acting up there every single night?

[5:23] Damon Daunno: Thank you very much. I really appreciate that. And I've actually come to appreciate that as a professional that, you know, in my child heart, I think I wanted to, you know, be a movie star or be in a band on MTV just to totally date myself. And I think, you know, the door, the musical theater door was the one that kind of just opened and kept saying, come on this way. And so I've really come to be super grateful for that lane and anyone who sort of cares to have me be a part of their project. But having done that and like resisted the sort of identifying as, well, I should have done rock and roll, and now I'm, you know, all these very ego-driven sort of immature perspectives. I've really come to love musical theater as a medium, and acting a song is so profound and very difficult and entirely its own craft, but entirely related to acting.

You got, you're doing a monologue or you're doing a scene, and you have to sort of extend it in song and not be afraid of that and lean into it, really embody that, and that takes some chutzpah to really get behind if you've not really done it before.

[6:35] Robert Bannon: It sure does. There's blocking and there's acting and there's singing in tune, hopefully, all the time, going on at the same time.

[6:43] Damon Daunno: Well, with you, it is in tune. I can't speak for everyone else. The Lonely Few, which is where we're gonna hear and talk about The Lonely Few, by the way, is at MCC. Go to mcctheater.org until June 9th. It's extended till June 9th, but you only have till June 9th to grab your ticket, so you better get a seat to come see it. Explain it. I don't know how to describe the experience. It's a rock concert, it's a play. What do you describe it as?

[7:08] Damon Daunno: It is a celebration of theater. It's a musical, so to call it a rock musical, I think is funny. Just because, you know, just because we have electric guitars, it's a musical. It's definitely a musical, and it's beautiful. It's a queer love story at the center. I've heard it sort of reduced to like rom-com, but it's got way more depth than that. You know, there is a central love story, but it also involves, I mean, it's called The Lonely Few for a reason. It centers on very isolated people in their own worlds and the way they sort of come together and intersect. But in the center of that, there is a beautiful, beautiful love story between two women, one of whom is a success, a relatively new success in the commercial music world, and one is sort of local hometown, you know, less world experience, and you know, the sort of characters you meet in that world.

[8:14] Damon Daunno: Tell us a little bit about your journey in this saga. So I play Dylan, Ramsey, our band is called The Lonely Few as well, and Amy comes into town and takes us on tour. And when we're on tour with Amy, all sorts of drama and hijinks ensue. So I'm the guitarist and bass player for The Lonely Few, which is led by Lila Booth. Yeah. And so we have like lots of history. I'm close with her brother and their family. I sort of like to consider myself the third booth in that sort of familial way. We have deep history, and so it's really beautiful to explore that supportive role for both Lauren as a human, because I love her, and as an actor to be focused on the success of someone else's heart. It's really a lovely place to be in every night.

[9:11] Robert Bannon: Well, you all are singers, like the singing up there is singing up and down and around. What can you tell us about the score and the creative team about putting this piece together?

[9:21] Damon Daunno: Yeah, well, firstly, they aced it with casting Taylor and Lauren and Alan and Tom and Peter. It's like just ringer after ringer, and watching Taylor and Lauren every night just destroy it is so inspiring and so fun. It makes it such a joyful job to just in between working, I get to hear them burn the roof off. And so that's been amazing to watch. Lauren having been with it for a couple years now, and Taylor having stepped into it, you know, to see both of the story get sort of chewed up in both of those ways is a testament to the strength of its material. So there were new things to be found this time around, both lyrically and contextually. You know, we have brand new humans joining the family, and so the creative team was very receptive to that sort of new DNA, and not beholden to sort of previous iterations and things like that. So it was very active. It's exciting.

[10:37] Robert Bannon: I love this. Your whole career to me is you're in our artistic spaces, you're in commercial spaces, but you're doing work. Like no shade to other shows, but you're not taking something that's been done or a movie or a television show. Like you're building and even if it's something that's classic, it's recreated in such a way. What speaks to you? Like when you get offered a project, what do you look for?

[11:02] Damon Daunno: I mean we all can remember this show run, you know, and what Oklahoma did deconstructing and reconstructing it and your time talking about your time in Hadestown 185 years ago. Don't give that you're younger than me. Like these they're new works they're but sometimes they're old or they're an old story, they're an old score, but it's deconstructed and reconstructed. What about that has been so appealing to you? You know, I think that I've been fortunate to sort of lean a bit left in that way and then just the hive mind of it all, the like-minded folks find the like-minded folks. It's not so much that I've been going out of my way to seek these things out as much as these have been the opportunities that I've been offered.

You know, there is an argument to be made that I've been trying to just go right up the middle this whole time it turns out, but like I'm only allowed to go this way sometimes or whatever. And that used to be a real narrative for me, but now I really do own that and it becomes very important that what I do offers me a sense of there has to be a bit of complexity to it that I get to sort of make sense of. I really like to ride a line of is this good or bad, not in my performance ideally but in the, do you know what I mean? Things that really make you question parts of the human condition beyond ooh that was fun.

[12:06] Robert Bannon: For people who love art and aspire to see great art, we thank you for the project you make because you make us think, you make us see, you make us like it is great, so thank you. And speaking of art, Damon, you have your own art, you have your own music. People could be streaming your originals out right now.

[12:06] Damon Daunno: Yes, yes, please stream the original that is out right now. Yes, look at that, thank you so much. Yeah, so my producer and collaborator Didra Muro and I wrote this song called Time Machine and we are currently on the books for our follow-up that will be released by the end of June. So we're trying to just get the ball rolling in that as an outlet for my life and that's what Deedra does. She runs a label and is a producer and works with artists, and I've been fortunate enough to know her for a very long time, and so it was an easy collaboration and it's now just something that I have to do. You know, it's one of those things where being in The Lonely Few is so awesome and fun, but my favorite part by a million miles is playing in the band, you know? And so I'm like, well may as well do more of that then. And it's that simple.

[14:04] Robert Bannon: Well, the music is streaming. You could stream Time Machine wherever music is heard, so stream away and of course I'm terrible at marketing.

[14:11] Damon Daunno: No, stream wherever you get your music and download it and all of the fun stuff.

[14:15] Robert Bannon: I love this styled picture. I'm all here for the hair and the outfit and the pants and the couch. And come on.

[14:21] Damon Daunno: Thank you very much. You know, it's very much like what do we have for free? That was me very unshowered. And those were DJ's clothes. And actually I think those trousers were DJ's mom's. And then the spoon was hanging around. I wanted that. And then that was their old music studio. That was their old recording studio, so we're just on the couch. Crazy.

[14:43] Robert Bannon: It looks so artsy and fun and vibrant and pops and the music is out. So no matter, so our homework assignment is till June 9th. You have to go to mcctheater.org, get your tickets to see the show. This cast, I'm telling you, the Tony nominations and the Tony Awards and the credits and the voices and the acting and the band and the music and the whole production is bananas. So mcctheater.org till June 9th only.

[15:06] Damon Daunno: And then we're gonna stream. We're streaming and staying up to date with all things Damon and you know Jersey knows Jersey. Come on, no, we have to look out here. Tell your Jersey boys, come on, y'all. So we're gonna be streaming and listening and I'm excited to see what's next. What else you got up your sleeve? We're ready.

[15:25] Damon Daunno: Thank you, me too. I appreciate the support. Let's go.

[15:28] Robert Bannon: Thank you so much, Damon, for spending some time with us today.

[15:31] Damon Daunno: Oh, my pleasure, Robert. Thanks so much.

[15:33] Robert Bannon: There you have it. Jersey knows Jersey. Tony nominee, Broadway Star, music's out. If you love Jersey, if you're in the New York area, come see me June fourteenth. 54 Below, get your tickets, 54below.org. It's my pride show. You never know who's gonna show up. You never know what I'm gonna sing. And for more information, go to RobertBannon.com or follow me at Robert M. Bannon on Instagram. Thanks for joining us on the Broadway Podcast Network or watching on YouTube. We are here every Thursday live on YouTube, or you can listen to us every day on VPN. We are always chatting with somebody about art and artistry. It's always so good to be here. Thank you so much for being here. The best is yet to come. And I'll see you next time right here on The Roundtable. Thanks, everybody.