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[0:00] Robert Bannon: Oh, Lord in heaven, God knows what she's gonna ask me. But first, we have a true film, television, music icon. If he's the voice of Beauty and the Beast, if he's in Ice Castles, if he's singing away, if he's being an advocate about heart research, Robby Benson is here. You know, the word multi-hyphenate has become kind of a buzzword, but there are multi-hyphenates, and then there's Robby Benson. Robby Benson is a singer, a songwriter with gold records, an actor, a director. He has a writer, and I'm sure I'm missing a father, a husband, and a million other things that he does. It is an honor to be able to see this next gentleman. He has really given his life to make art for us to enjoy, and it's a real pleasure to welcome him to The Roundtable. Ladies and gentlemen, Robby Benson, welcome to the show.

[1:18] Robby Benson: Thank you, Robert. Thank you very much. I am so honored to talk to you, because we have enjoyed your work, and you are one of the most requested guests. My friend here, Marie, who's in Jersey, is like the biggest Robby Benson fan, and she's going to just melt to have you here.

[1:36] Robby Benson: That's really kind. Thank you. Thank you.

[1:38] Robert Bannon: So, one, you were growing up in Texas, and you were a young kid. Did you ever imagine the IMDB credits and the Broadway shows and the books and the recordings? What was the dream back then?

[1:51] Robby Benson: Well, actually, that particular dream started, my parents, my mom was an actress, and my dad was a writer, and we were in Dallas, Texas, and my mom was doing a commercial, and I was just playing and felt really comfortable being around, and they said, well, maybe he could be in the commercial, too, and I'm like, that would be fun, because, you know, my parents made everything seem like it was a lot of fun, and they loved what they were doing, and so I went, and I hung in a tree in our front yard, and I did all these things, and they loved it, and they asked me to do more things, and I liked it, and it was like, well, this is fun, and I was only like five or six years old, and this was really fun, and then my mom continued her career in the theater, and that was really one of the greatest things that happened to me, was that the discipline and the craft of being in the theater is so important and so different than film or television, and to grow up doing summer stock with all these great actors, and like, even as a kid, getting responsibilities, like, they wanted me to use the, like, for one show, I had the spotlight.

I was up in the mezzanine with the spotlight, and I was the one, you know, making sure that the spot was always on the star, you know, if my mom was Dolly in Hello, Dolly!, I'd make sure that it was always smooth, and then when the show would go down, and the next show would come up, I'd be part of the crew that would paint and do all these fun things, and then there would be a big barbecue outside, and it was this environment that was so heady, and I had the opportunity to be one of the kids in The King and I, and then I asked my parents when I knew that the next year they were going to be doing Oliver, and I saw Oliver on Broadway, and that's what really changed my life. I went, wow, those kids, I want to do that.

That looks so cool, and I love this story, and I love the music, and I just loved the camaraderie of what I was seeing on stage, so my mom says, look, and my dad was exactly the same, we're not going to go to bat for you, you have to do that for yourself, so here's the book, here's the music, here's the record, the album, go learn it, and then see if this is something you really want to do, but what we expect is professionalism, and I was like eight or nine years old, but probably like nine years or older, so maybe 10, I don't know, and about an hour later, I came back and said, okay, I'm ready, and they looked at me like, no, you don't really know what it takes if you think you're ready now, and I said, well, try me, and I had like a photographic memory, so I knew everyone's line, and I started singing every song, and they got, they were really happy and excited for me, and so then I, we went to Michigan, in Saugatuck, Michigan, and I had an audition against a whole bunch of other kids who came out, but I gotta tell you, I felt so at home, and I nailed it, you know, and I used to love the sound of my voice, I used to sing like a bird, you know, I mean, and then during the Rothschilds on Broadway, my voice changed, and so I made it funny, and I started flipping it like I would have a little crack in my voice, and literally, things just never stopped, you know, when I came home, I was 12 years old, and I auditioned and got the part of the lead, the co-lead in a Broadway play at 12 years old called Zelda, with Ed Begley Jr., and Lily Escala, and just great actors, and Delbert Mann was the director, this is how I was learning, I was learning from these incredible professionals, and it couldn't have been a better way to grow up, and I would go to school, and I would say, you know, I'd say, I gotta go to work, it's Wednesday, I gotta, I have a matinee, or, you know, it was just the most amazing way to grow up, and, you know, I went from Zelda on Broadway to the Rothschilds on Broadway, which is a musical, to then to a little movie that I co-wrote, but I didn't get credit for, and that was called Jeremy, and because I didn't get credit, I thought, hey, I can do that, I can write that, I just did, the only thing I didn't know how to do was type, I don't know how to type, so if I don't know how to type, maybe I'll just write it longhand, and so I started writing scripts longhand, and I wrote, when I was 18, I wrote one-on-one, and it was on longhand, on legal pad, yellow legal pads of paper, just, and I brought it to someone who could type for me, and they typed it out, and I stood over their shoulder, and then we mimeographed it, and then I brought it to Warner Brothers, and I said, I know how weird this is, I'm only 18, but if you guys like this script, I think we got something, and it was like the third or fourth script I'd ever written, but it was the first time I plucked one down at a studio, and they went, we like this, so then I got very lucky, I asked my dad if he would join me, because it was an incredible opportunity, and I thought it could be a great opportunity for both of us, and so we worked on the script, and cleaned it up, and just, things just never stopped.

I wrote the temp score for one-on-one, because music was really what I thought my whole life would be, and they let me write the temp score, and it was incredible, and you talk about experience, and you know, I ended up doing another movie years later called Walk Proud, but they didn't like the score that they got from a very, very famous composer, but unfortunately, I think this composer gave this particular movie to one of his students, and it just sounded like this open E on a guitar all day long, and it was like, we can't let that happen, by any chance would you let me write the score to this, and they went, well, you only have 10 days, and I went, oh, no problem. Little did they know that I had been playing and writing music for this, because that's how I think, it's not like, it's just one job, it encompasses so many things that I see, like music, I love music, and I see music, so when I hear it, I see how I want to present it, which is a little bit of a problem, because like, if I see something as a complete picture, like I just wrote a play with music, but for me to get it ready for people, I'm gonna have to demo every one of those, I don't know if you can see, let's see, over here is my little studio, yes, yeah, and that's where I do all of our demos.

[10:34] Robby Benson: And, but there was so much for me to learn on that little journey, so much to learn. And what I learned is, when you have these visions and you want to do it yourself, when you present it, you better present it as a whole piece. Because I see and hear it all, and I think it's going to work. But the person who may be reading it may just go, what is this? You know, I don't get it. I understand this part of the book works, but then we get to this music and these lyrics, I want to hear them. And, you know, my desire is, let's get this done. Let's get it up on its feet. Let's try it. But in order to get it done, I've got to do all the demos myself. So, you know, so it's like, it's a long journey.

Every project is a long journey, but it's kind of a blast. And you fail on your own. I mean, it's like, there's no one I can blame. If I fail, it's my fault, you know. But right now, my hope is I've gotten the play to two people that I absolutely adore them. One, I should tell you, his name is Christopher Gattelli. He's one of the most talented men I have ever seen in my life. He choreographed something called Bat Boy. Yes. Back in the day. And I'll tell you, if you saw that, and then you followed his career, you would see that this man is a genius. So if I could, I'd camp out on his doorstep. But I got his email. I sent him the play. I have no idea what he's going to think. You know, it's probably going to end up being like, in a few weeks, I'll get an email saying, yeah, thanks, but no thanks.

Because what can you do? If somebody sends you a play, what can you do? You go, well, that's nice. It's not like a movie where you go, OK, let's try to get the financing. This is what we do. But a musical, what do you do? And this is the problem that I have with this particular project. But it's called I Hear a Song. And I think that it could be really a very cool, funny, very poignant, and hopefully profound little show about what it's like when you grow up in families and there's so much love. But for some reason, the love doesn't work like this. It's like, there's just so much love that it becomes chaotic and all the good intentions end up flying back in your face. And I think that that could be something that people would identify with, especially if it's fun and funny.

I know some producers, Robbie, here on the Broadway Podcast Network. We have some people who put shows up in New York City and around the country. I need your help. I'm in. I'm in. I'm ready. Let's get this baby made. I love that you write. And I love, because I'm in such awe of writers. As musicians, as an author, and as writing script, your books, books are out like I'm Not Dead Yet, and books like Who Stole the Funny, a novel of Hollywood, and your music, which you can go to your website. This is a fun song. You can go to the website and all of the links, Robbie Benson, if you're listening to us, it's robbybenson.com. So you can get links to wherever you listen to music. If it's Spotify, if it's Apple, if it's iTunes, the links are all there, robbybenson.com. Is writing, just writing for you, it doesn't matter if it's a song, it doesn't matter if it's a play, it's just getting that expression out there?

[14:34] Robby Benson: Yeah, absolutely. When I wake up in the morning, if I feel like I've been very lucky, and I've been given a craft, and I've been trying to make my skills better in this craft. And when I get up in the morning, every single day, I think, what can I write? What can I come up with? What can we give birth to today? And sometimes whatever that project is, it takes weeks, months, maybe a year or whatever. Like this play, it's years in the making, but it's I finally finished the first writer's draft and all the lyrics and all the most of the music. And so yeah, it doesn't really matter what it is. It's kind of like my lifeblood. And I'm so lucky because I met and fell in love with Carla DeVito. And she just, she's the greatest partner in the world.

I mean, she just helps me. She has great, she just, her initial instinct, when she hears, sees, listens, you just got to watch her face. And you can tell it's like, oh, no, this sucks. I didn't do this well. And then I'll start asking her, what about it? What don't you like? And she's very specific and she's so gifted. I mean, she's probably the greatest singer I've ever been in the same room with. But aside from that, her taste and what she thinks is good and what she expects from my work. And also, I love collaborating with her because we just have fun. And her brain is just brilliant.

[17:39] Robby Benson: There's music of you together. There's music you've dedicated to her albums. You can go stream, go listen to them. They're out and about. I think that 40 plus years?

[17:48] Robby Benson: 42 years, we've been married.

[17:50] Robby Benson: In Hollywood, in show business, meeting on Broadway, right? Meeting in Pirates of Penzance, which here's, if you're watching us a picture of that, one of the greatest shows ever written. Wasn't it the coolest?

[18:04] Robby Benson: Cool. Amazing. That has to be something to look back now in 42 years together, your family and the body of work that you've built together.

[18:13] Robby Benson: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I rarely look back because that frightens me. I always look forward. It's like I finished something and I'm on to the next thing. I feel like I almost have to. I mean, I love the way the Beatles used to make music, man. They had these incredible ideas. They go in the studio, they work it, and it's out there. They start another song, they work it, it's out there. Of course, they were gifted. I don't feel like I'm gifted. I just feel like I've been taught so many great skills and I just keep trying to make the skills better. And I love it. It's like playing a game. It might as well be shooting baskets or throwing a baseball, but I just love it.

[18:59] Robby Benson: Well, I think we can admit that you're pretty damn skilled in all of the things that you've been able to do. We talked about writing, composing, lyricist, actor, professor with the new generation as well. And I know about going backwards, but without going in, you've learned to ice skate or you've learned to run marathons. You take on the role that you're doing, whatever you're doing, you seem like someone who goes at it 100%. Is it a blessing or is it a curse? What is it like when you wake up and you just are chasing the next artistic endeavor?

[19:39] Robby Benson: Well, that can be incredibly frustrating, but I love the process. And I think that if you love the entire process, then you're so lucky. You're the luckiest guy that ever walked the earth. That's me. I really love the entire process. I have failed badly since I was eight, nine, 10 years old. I mean, learning how to accept failure and learn from failure and get up and try again, it's probably the greatest thing that I was ever taught. And I was taught it in a very sincere kind of way, not phony, not, hey, you got to get up and dust yourself off. None of that. It's just like, whoa, that really hurt. That review, that performance, that just wasn't there. I did not come through. And then you just analyze it and you say, well, what will make this a much better, more honest piece of work?

And then you go at it again. And there's a ton of failure. I mean, but that's the failure is like, I never went to college. Failure is like an education for me. It's just, it's like going to college over and over again. You know, you just learn, you sit down, you analyze and you go, oh, I'm an idiot. I did that. This time, maybe I'll try to do this better.

[20:09] Robby Benson: And so that's, that's kind of, but, but I will tell you, it's also a bit of a curse. Because I'm always driven. And sometimes, I'll be walking around rewriting a lyric. And people are looking at me, they're going, what's wrong with you? It's that, oh, oh, nothing, nothing. I'm just I'm just writing something. I just got to run write this down. Excuse me. And that's the nice way it happens. Other ways that it happens are like, everyone quiet. Oh, my God, I got it. And also, the older you get, the more you realize you forget things. And I forget things that are very important to me. So now I've just taught myself to run, grab anything to write it down, type it, anything. Or if it's music, if it's suddenly if I hear, if I hear like a beautiful little melody, I don't use, I'm not a big social media person.

So I don't really use my phone. But one great thing about the phone is that you can record these ideas. So if I get a lyrical idea or a melody, suddenly, I just bring out my and I'll run to a room that no one's in and I'll sing it real quietly. And then later, I'll pick up the guitar and I'll start playing and that'll be the beginning of a song, I hope. So it's amazing. I get it. I relate. And sometimes it's hard to shut it off.

[21:54] Robby Benson: While I have you here, I have to say a big thing. My father suffers from heart disease. My runs in my family, you were 14 years old, you have been an advocate and outspoken, I can only imagine the countless lives of people you have saved by being so honest and forthcoming with your own journey. What can you say to people out here to make sure that they get checked and stay on top of their health, especially cardiovascular health?

[22:18] Robby Benson: Well, I believe there's, this is kind of funny, I just made a video this morning that I'm going to put up on YouTube. And my son shot it for me. And what it is, is this morning shake that I have, and it's really bizarre. And I show the making of this morning shake is really, really healthy, because I've had kidney cancer, and I've had an operation to take part of my kidney, and also the four open heart surgeries. And so I believe in this very holistic design of how we try to stay healthy. You are what you eat, I really believe in that. So even when I eat bad foods, I try to make sure that I'm eating something healthy with it. Or, or I know that this is like something I shouldn't be doing, you know, it's like a piece of candy.

But other than that, you just keep trying to eat and, and exercise exercise is huge in my life always has been. I now because of Peloton, I can ride that bike, bike and no keep track of getting any better and getting stronger. And the other great thing about Peloton, this sounds like a commercial, it's not, is that they have things like mobility and stretching. So like, as you get older, I'll be 68 soon. But the idea that I can stay mobile, and constantly take these classes and stretch and keep my body as healthy as possible, I guess. That's huge. And Carla works out with me now, she walks on a treadmill, and I'm riding a bike. And then we both do a little weights, because even just a little bit of weight, you know, is good for an older body. And then we do a stretch together. And that's our, that's our morning. And it's really cool.

[24:31] Robert Bannon: I love that. Yeah, I think we have to take care of our we have one body. So take care of it the best, the best. One thing, if someone really does have a problem with their heart, you got, it's your engine, you got one heart. I'll say this. It sounds again, it sounds like someone's making me say this or paid to say this. But I just gotta say, the Cleveland Clinic, that is the place if you have a heart problem, go to the Cleveland Clinic, they saved my life. Because I had four open heart surgeries in the first three. Wow, they were pretty rough. And the fourth one was the most difficult one. But they did the most remarkable job. There's a surgeon, his name is Dr. Patterson. He's a genius, genius, you talk about art, when they go in, and they look at your body.

That is an art form that will how they finesse every individual heart when they open you up. And they fix you is just absolutely breathtaking to me as genius. But I would say based on my experience of different famous hospitals, the one that just completely takes care of you and they care about your family. I can't tell if you care like your best friend, your wife, your husband, your whoever it is, you want the hospital to treat them and to talk to them with dignity so that they well, that's what they do at the Cleveland Clinic. So as far as your dad or whatever is in your family, if you ever, you know, need work done, or it's as weird as it is, go to Cleveland.

[26:28] Robby Benson: I know you still go, you still go.

[26:30] Robby Benson: We just got back, we just got back. Once a year, we go to Cleveland to get and it's expensive. Because it's really hard from Oregon to get to Cleveland on one plane is very expensive to go once a year, but it's worth it. I mean, is because they're brilliant. And they, they care.

[26:54] Robert Bannon: Well, and you know what, you're brilliant, Robbie, and you care and you cared about the work and the art. And that is what really matters. And I was so excited to get the chance to talk to you because you're an artist artist. And that's what I love. I live for that. A super ridiculous question. What's it like, like on October 31? When someone rings your doorbell, and they're dressed as a character or voice that you are? Is it a trip? Is it as much of a trip as I think it is?

[27:25] Robby Benson: Yeah, it's pretty wild. Even though this last Halloween, Carla and I dressed up there's only there's only three kids in this neighborhood. So they made a little like fun house down the block. And then the children are between the ages of five and about nine. And there's only three kids. So I got into all of this stuff. And I laid down and we had little smoke on the ground. And then I came up and I went, Oh, follow me. And I had a big X on my back. And we use black light. And the X was in like one of those neon light things. And I walked over to this dragon. And then, then we got out of basketball. This is really silly. And I said, you get an extra treat if you try to shoot the basketball. And they try to shoot the basketball and they got an extra treat. And it was just it's just beautiful.

[28:27] Robert Bannon: I love it. See, that's that's the community and what you're doing out here. And we appreciate you. We love your body of work. And we look forward to all that's left to come. It's not over. It's just begun. And Robbie Benson calm robbybenson.com stream the music. If you want to know more get the books and we can you can sit down and spend an entire weekend and you wouldn't even get through all the work that Mr. Benson has shared with us also. Thank you.

[28:55] Robby Benson: All right, next. Next show. I'm ready. I'm emailing you. I have some contacts for you. That would be thrilled to get an email from you. So I'm on it.

[29:05] Robert Bannon: All right. Thanks, man. How nice is that? How sweet to see about his wife? How sweet is he about his career? He is somebody who really has put his mouth where his causes is that an expression with what he does with heart research, you know, somebody who has a father who suffers from heart disease, has a grandmother with congestive heart failure and stuff, it's important to get checked. So make sure you go to the doctor, get some blood work, eat right exercise the best that you can. We're all in this struggle together. You know, I understand I've worked on it. And it's a battle every single day. But Robbie Benson is someone who is so in shape, so skinny, so altogether, and you never know what can happen.

So that's why doctors are so important and cheers to the real, the real heroes out there in the field, the nurses. Till the next time, everybody. My name is Robert Bannon. Join us for the 100th show and I'll see you again. The best is yet to come. Thanks for being here. Bye, everybody.