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[0:10] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's the round table with me, Robert Bannon. Hey folks, how are you? It's another edition of the round table. My name is Robert Bannon. I'm so happy to be with you on the YouTube and the Broadway Podcast Network. I am excited to talk about science. I'm excited to talk about new art, and I'm excited to talk about something going on at The Signature, which is one of my favorite places to see a show. I live for the signature because I don't think there's a bad seat. I think it has good acoustics, and they do really innovative work in all of their spaces. So Patrick Olson wrote a show called Emergence, and he got it to New York, and he's a scientist, but it's got music. What is this about?

Patrick Olson. You know, as a science teacher myself, I'm fascinated by this story. If you want to know more about me, go to RobertBannon.com and you can listen to my album called Rewind wherever music is heard. Because I talk about why I became a teacher and how I merged art and teaching just like Patrick did. Here's our chat. Take a listen. So you know when I'm not here during the day from the hours of eight till three o'clock, I'm a fifth grade science and social studies teacher. And when I heard about this show merging music, theater, science, and everything that Patrick Olson is doing on stage right now in Emergence, which you can grab your tickets and go see at the Pershing Square Signature Theater.

It's beautiful, those signatures right in the middle of New York City on 42nd Street. Patrick is here. I hope he's not going to test my science ability because I don't have the teacher's edition. You know, that teacher letter. Patrick! Congratulations!

[1:44] Patrick Olson: Thank you so much. How did this idea firstly tell us what how do you describe what Emergence is?

[1:51] Patrick Olson: It's difficult to describe because it's a really unusual performance. You know, in our key art and our posters, we have a series of sentences. One says, it's a play, and then there's a line through it, and then another says, you know, it's a musical with a line through it. And it's a monologue with a line through it, and on and on and on until it's a psychedelic trip, and there's a line through that, and then we end with, or is it? So it's a forum-breaking show that really involves lots of different components. Like me, I do spoken word pieces that are like tiny little TED talks, two, three-minute TED talks. We have a 12-piece band with four backing vocalists that we complement each one of these spoken segments with lots of really great live music.

We have immersive imagery on large LED screens, and so the whole thing kind of conspires and comes together to deliver what I think is a really unusual, an original, and judging from the responses of the people coming out of the show, I think a really fascinating experience. Proud of it.

[3:04] Patrick Olson: The pictures of it are gorgeous. The artwork is gorgeous, the imagery that is put out there, I can only imagine the energy. People have described it all sorts of different ways, you know, a combination of what David Byrne did, a combination of a TED talk, a combination, it's all and it must just be a feast for the senses.

[3:24] Patrick Olson: That's what it looks like when I see this. Um, I that's that's my hope. And judging from what I hear when people come out of the theater, um, they really are experiencing that.

[3:35] Robert Bannon: Well, you have a limited, it's only a it's 16 weeks or so, so you have to go to emergence show.com and get your tickets. It's right on 42nd Street. You can see this show. It is perfect for the family holiday, you know, your trip to New York City, and you want to do something in between Christmas and New Year's when your kids are not in school and you want to get them interested in something fun, science-themed, STEM, all so important nowadays in this world to get kids to connect. What is it like when you see the audience and children and their parents and the fascination and the conversations you have with people after the show?

[4:08] Patrick Olson: Yeah, well, you know, the show is geared for lots of different ages. I think it would probably be over the heads of kids who are under 10, would be my guess. And you know, there have been some 13-year-olds who have seen the show and you know, really ignited around it. I had one little girl grab me by the arm and it almost kind of hurt because she was clenching, and she said, I want to be a scientist now. So I love that. And you know, it's just a beautiful experience to be on stage and seeing a full audience like this and watching the smiles travel through all the different people. Watching their facial expressions because you can see people squinting when they're not quite getting something, and then their eyes open up when it lands, and just there's a lot of delight and discovery and imagination in the air, and it makes it a lot of fun.

[5:02] Robert Bannon: It's gotta be a blast. I can't wait to get over here and I'm definitely I spoke about it. I have my date, I have my tickets, and I'll be over to see it for sure. What is your history? Because most people you think about science or scientists, you don't think of them stereotypically as a musician or a theater person. What is your background and how did this all come to be?

[5:24] Patrick Olson: Yeah, I'm a mutt, honestly, Robert. I'm just all kinds of different breeds mixed together. You know, in my earlier years, I was very interested in art and explored different media on my own, never really successfully, and then I was drawn into business and I ended up in educational publishing, and that ignited my appetite for building things. I love building things, and so a number of people and I built a scientific publishing company, and that ran for 20 years or so, so that was a major part of my career. And you know, like I say in the show, I spent a lot of that time as the founder and owner of a science publishing company talking with scientists of all different categories, you know, astronomers and physicists and biologists and chemists, and I was able to extract out of all those conversations a lot of really interesting insights about the nature of reality that are not obvious.

What is obvious is what we think is how things work, but this show Emergence is really about well, it looks like it works this way, but it actually works this way, and this is what's happening, and so it's almost not really, but it's a little bit like a magic show because we start with obvious things that everybody can agree, yep, that's how it is, and then by the end of two or three minutes of talking, and then the music is like it's not like that at all, and it's a little disorienting and fun and interesting, and it's geared at a level where I am and where my friends are and my people are. It's geared at a level where you know, I mean, we don't use a lot of big words and we don't do formulas and equations and stuff, and we talk about things in connection with science that have relevance to our normal daily lives that makes it fun.

[7:22] Robert Bannon: Well, yeah, that's what I was gonna say. Don't be scared, don't be scared that it's gonna be a homework assignment. This is not, this is not your quite the contrary. There's, um, you don't have to do anything but just sit there and enjoy yourself. Everyone on stage is doing the work, and I think you know, I think there are three things that we're really delivering with this, and none of it involves the audience needing to know anything about science. The only thing the audience needs to have is an open mind. You know, sometimes Robert people have asked me, like, well, what's the demographic? Who is this a kid's show? Is this for old people? Is it traditionalists? Is it this? Is it that? And it's not any of that stuff because again, it's a form-breaking show.

It's just so original. That actually midway through the show, I have to come out to the audience and explain to them here's what's happening a little bit. And everyone loves that because now they've got some context and a little history, and they can see how what we're doing on stage gels into a coherent message. And you know, they what we would hope is that people number one find the experience super entertaining, you know, that they just sit in their seats and enjoy themselves. And honestly, judging from what I can see with the traveling smiles through the audience, just throughout the whole show, I think it really is entertaining. And the second thing is like, you know, we want to touch people emotionally because these are you know, they have to do with profound insights that can generate a sense of awe and wonder and gratitude and meaning.

And um, it shocks me. But as I was writing this, you know, I would have a lot of emotional experiences as this was coming together. And I always kind of wondered, like, well, I know how I'm feeling here. Is anyone else gonna feel this way too, or not? And um, I'm shocked, but like people are writing poetry about the experience. People are handing me poems that they've written. I've had people in tears, you know, that I've met in the lobby afterwards, and they just put their arms around me and they say amazing things, which really leads me to believe that this show not just entertains, but it but it's also landing in a way that is emotionally moving people, and that would be my second goal, you know.

[9:52] Robert Bannon: That is so fantastic. I that is so exciting to me as somebody who loves science, who loves art, you know, the merging of two worlds, and when you were talking about that, you know, we feel that way at musical theater. You're taking music, you're taking science, you're taking art, you're taking dance, you're taking collaboration, this collaborative moment really, and putting it all together and just performance putting on a show in New York City, Patrick, is not easy, requires a lot of money, requires a lot of people to say, yes, you can have my space, yes, I can produce your show, yes, there's an audience, yes. How did the journey from you in your head as this scientist, musician, artist, take it to the middle of New York City?

[10:39] Patrick Olson: Yeah, it's such a fascinating journey, Robert, really, and um it's hard to know when the idea actually began. Like it doesn't have a crisp, like, here's what we need to do from here to here. But I had been, you know, I had been writing music privately for myself and for friends and family my whole life. You know, I magnanimously told my piano teacher mother when I was eight years old, Mob, I'm not taking lessons anymore because I'm never playing anyone else's music again. Started writing my own stuff at eight. Um, and so that's been kind of that I if there was ever a start of the journey, it was when I was eight.

[11:23] Patrick Olson: I won't go back that far. Um, but I had begun to really learn a lot from all this contact that I had had with scientists and learning a lot of interesting things about just the nature of reality. And I like to know how do things work. And I really like it when there's the possibility to attach meaning and insight, you know, and wonder around how things work. And I did have an experience, you know, where the more I was influenced by these scientists, the more my view of the world began to change. And there's a term called the overview effect, which affects astronauts when they first have an opportunity to look back on Earth, you know, after they're shot out of our daily paradigms. And I think I experienced sort of a slow motion version of that overview effect.

Over time, I really began to realize like I'm seeing the world number one differently than I used to, but also kind of differently than a lot of other people. Um, and the music that I was writing, even though it was just for me and for friends and stuff, was reflecting these qualities back to me, these themes, you know. And then I thought, I'm just gonna release an album, you know, at my age. I'm just gonna do that. And so I took these songs and I wrote some more and I put it in an album called Music for Scientist. Um, you know, my recording career began at that point, you know, with the intention of like, well, I would like other people to see and hear this, and if they like it, great. Um, but I had an experience when I was writing music that really changed my whole trajectory.

And um, it's unusual, it's odd, but I plug my laptop when I'm mixing music and composing music into my car speakers, and so I mix my sound through car speakers rather than the elaborate recording studios. I mean, we still do the recording studio thing, but what's funny about that is you find the biggest, most expensive recording studio you can with the largest array of microphones, everything, right? Spend five or ten thousand dollars a day, and when you end up with your file that you think is perfectly balanced, everyone puts it in their car and listens to it in their car. Like, is it right? No, it needs a little more bass, you know, or the high ends a little. I just eliminated that step, and so I'm in my car, and I like that experience too because you know, when I'm out driving with the music, it feels like I'm more connected with what this music is about.

Like, I'm not in a dark, four-walled, enclosed studio. I'm out with the world, I'm out with the universe, I'm out with nature, and I'm experiencing the sound that I'm writing and balancing and mixing and all of that with what I'm seeing. And I think it's had an impact. So this is kind of a long point. I'm sorry about this, but I had an ex I'm so fascinated. Please keep going.

[14:31] Robert Bannon: Thank you. Well, so I was working on a song in my car, and I came to a stoplight, and I was just sitting there waiting, and this older guy passed in the crosswalk, riding, you know, one of those jazzies, you know, like the scooters that help older people who have a hard time walking. And he stuck right in front of my car, you know, and slowly turned his head up to me. And I kind of assumed he was just gonna yell at me for the loudness, you know, but instead he started to nod his head slowly to the beat, you know, and then he was into it, and his whole body was like grooving on his jazzy. And I was sitting in my car, and it was like an earthquake. Sorry about that. I had never seen a stranger experience my music.

Um, we're back. Did I drive back? All right. No worries. So, um, and this the thing about it, honestly, was watching this guy enjoy the music and then speed off on his jazzy and having that be the end of it left me with a giant mark though because in that moment for the first time I had experienced not just a me and him around any kind of artistic thing, but it was an us. Like we were joined in that moment. I didn't know his name, I had never seen him before. I'll never see him again, but we were joined into some third thing right there. And I immediately did a hard illegal U-turn in Los Angeles, and I was frantically looking for a parking spot, and I found one and parked badly and called my producer right away and said, I don't care what it takes, I have to perform in front of people.

I have to, I have to have that kind of contact. Because after all these years in my life, I really experienced us in a brand new way and in a really meaningful way. And that really that was the inception of Emergence right at that point.

[16:55] Robert Bannon: Well, firstly, I had to take a moment to get over the fact about mixing your album through your car. Because as I'm a recording artist myself and spending time in studios and nowadays, where we could record in our home, and during COVID, we recorded like a puzzle, and people instruments were in your basement and my basement, and we all the whole new world out there. So I totally understand because what do we do? We get a mix, we get a we get it, we get a mix and we go listen to it in the car. So it makes perfect sense.

[17:24] Patrick Olson: True, right?

[17:25] Robert Bannon: Yeah, it's insanely brilliant. And um, and then the connection to people, sometimes we're in a vacuum. I understand magic. Like when you're in a studio, when you're in a when you're working on something for so long, you get stuck in the vacuum and you think, I hope people get it. I hope it's good. I don't know what this is. And then when you get that reaction from somebody else, it's just that reassurance to keep going. When you got that reassurance, and you built started to build this show, and people started to gravitate to it and see it and have ideas for it to come to places. What is it like now when you look back on that journey? And tonight when you walk on stage, yeah, you know, for this science musician guy, there's got to be some overwhelming feelings about this whole journey.

[18:17] Patrick Olson: It's um it's it is overwhelming. And I, you know, I've done a lot of different things in my life. I've been fortunate in that regard that I've had lots of opportunities for you know interesting life experiences. Uh very little of it can compare to this, you know, because I feel and I think this is interesting for people my age too, because so many people my age start to kind of think of themselves as like, all right, now how do I get on a glide path? Or you know, and just work my way down into, you know, I guess less and less responsibility and you know, all that kind of stuff. Um and for me it's been quite the contrary. Like I've gone from a life of having lots of personal freedom to a life at least for 90 minutes every night, where every single motion is prescribed.

Every single thing I do, every intonation, every phrase that I say, or everything I sing, everything that's happening there is prescribed, and it's designed. And so I feel like I'm in a super elaborate, like Japanese tea ceremony, you know.

[19:38] Robert Bannon: Yes.

[19:39] Patrick Olson: I don't know how else to describe it, but do you know what I'm saying?

[19:42] Robert Bannon: Yes. Well, yeah, Patrick, you've sold me. I mean, I'm sold. I want to know what kind of magic you're doing up there. Um, what kind of message and what your visions and imagery is gonna look like. What when you see go just Google it. When you Google Emergence Show, you go follow it on social media. Um, the visuals are just stunning by itself. And it's not just, you know, a man in a white coat, which is not that it's not that show, you know, doing a science experiment, singing, big giant band, big background vocalists who have amazing credits and voices, lights and theatrics mixed with dancers, dancers, yeah. It's it's a little bit of everything. This is not just you, you know, making a volcano out of baking soda and vinegar.

This is it's absolutely right. And the music is not, they're not periodic table jingles. It's nothing like that. I think the way to think about this is for people who consider themselves open-minded. If you want an experience that will leave you kind of dazed and happy and wanting to touch other people, and then you're gonna stumble out in a daze into traffic on 42nd Street and start wondering like what's real and what is not. That's the kind of show that we've designed here.

[21:01] Patrick Olson: I think.

[21:02] Robert Bannon: I'm here for it. If you want to get your tickets and get more information, go to www.emergenceshow.com. If you're listening to us on the Broadway Podcast Network, it's E M-E-R-G-E-N-C-E, or just look on the bottom and make sure you click the link. And you're here through Jan into January, so get your tickets.

[21:19] Patrick Olson: That's right, January 7th.

[21:21] Robert Bannon: That's right. Patrick, thanks for the work. Thanks for explaining it. Thanks for sharing it, and thank you for doing it.

[21:27] Patrick Olson: Gosh, Robert, it's a pleasure. Uh we're making great connections with lots of people, and they're feeling really good coming out of this thing. So I think it's going somewhere. And uh it's been a pleasure speaking about it with you. I appreciate your interest, and I just really encourage everybody to come if you can. Come on down.

[21:44] Robert Bannon: I'll be there already.

[21:46] Patrick Olson: There you go. Inspirational. Anything could happen. You couldn't be a scientist making science literature, publishing it away, and then have a show off Broadway. Go to emergenceshow.com. And if you want more information about me, my show's coming to Chelsea Table and Stage December 9th. It's a holiday extravaganza. It's a big old show. Kevin Smith Kirkwood, Robbie Rosell, and surprises galore. Hope to see you there. Join us every day right here on the Broadway Podcast Network. And I am excited that you stopped by and stuck with me. Till next time, everybody. The best is yet to come.