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[0:05] Robert Bannon: It's the round table with me, Robert Bannon. Well, welcome to the round table, everybody. My name is Robert Bannon. You're listening to some Broadway World over here on the Broadway Podcast Network, iHeart, and Spotify. I've seen our next guest. So our next guest is like a big Broadway star. Okay. Yes, that's look, she's already lying. She has played a lot of parts on Broadway. Like, like she has been a nun. She has been Gary Coleman. She has been Norma Desmond. She has been all if you can be Norma Desmond and Gary Coleman, you are an actor. That is a good actor. Now she's opera legend, Marion Anderson. And I'm from New Jersey and I love George Street. And if you're in New Brunswick, you gotta go down there and eat a little something and have a drink and then go see a show, and it's artsy fartsy and it's very fun, and you could have a whole big extravaganza. And we have Miss Rashidra Scott. Welcome to the round table.

[1:01] Rashidra Scott: Can I take you everywhere for that intro? I'm gonna introduce you at the show tonight. Give me the mic. The five-minute call. Ladies and gentlemen, from a nun to Gary Coleman. Where are you? Where are you from? Where did you grow up?

[1:14] Rashidra Scott: Uh originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Go 757 Hampton Roads area.

[1:21] Robert Bannon: Okay. That means at some point you decided I gotta move because I'm gonna be a theater star.

[1:27] Rashidra Scott: No, I said I'm gonna leave Virginia because I want to be a recording artist and I want to know what I'm getting into. And then I got to school, music business management, and said, ew, I'm gonna need to put myself in a box to package myself. I don't wanna be in a box. I can do everything. Theater. And that was it. Yeah, I mean, I grew up doing community theater, and I went to a performing arts high school. A lot of us were taking over. There are a lot of us in New York. Um, myself, Nasha Thomas, Adrian Warren, Therese Covington, Van Hughes, we're Tavon Lamont, who's about to leave like we're everywhere, we're taking over.

[2:11] Robert Bannon: Um, so yeah, that's so the Adrian's been here and and and uh and who else Tavon's been here. Where have you been? Why did it take so long?

[2:22] Rashidra Scott: I don't know. Okay. You know, I'm always the bridesmaid, the understanding, the understanding.

[2:26] Robert Bannon: Oh no, no. So so for you, you went to school. You came to New York. Do you remember what it was like to get the call for your first Broadway gig?

[2:36] Rashidra Scott: Oh my god, it was amazing. It's one of my favorite stories. And I was here complicated. Uh no, my debut was Avenue Q.

[2:43] Robert Bannon: Oh, Avenue Q.

[2:44] Rashidra Scott: Yeah. Um, so it was college four contracts with Disney Entertainment between the ship, uh ship Tarzan Rocks at the park, left there to open Hong Kong Disney. Hong Kong Disney was when everybody was like, Why are you not going to New York? You need to move. And I was like, But I'm scared. And then God and everybody was like, go to New York. And I said, Okay, but I didn't have enough time to save money. So I went back on the ship, saved money, came to New York. Um, and on my ship contract, my last ship contract, I was talking to one of my best friends. And every year for the birthday, she would always say, What's your goal for your life for your birthday for this year? And I knew I was moving to New York, and so it was my 24th birthday on the ship.

And I said, My goal is to book a Broadway show. Okay, well, I know it's not necessarily gonna happen before my birthday, like it doesn't have to happen within the year of my birthday, but at least by like the end of that calendar year. And wouldn't you know, a year later, the day after my birthday, my agents called and said, Hey, happy birthday! You want a gift? And I'm like, wow, your agents give you gifts. Because I'd been in New York for Mine never did. I don't know. I didn't know. And you know, and they're like, Do you want a birthday gift? I was like, sure. And they said, Well, do you want to be in Avenue Q on Broadway? Because you're booked. And I said, Whoa, the day after my birthday.

[4:01] Rashidra Scott: Yep. Unlike the character, it doesn't suck to be you. I mean, I'm not gonna lie, that was a rough six months. I was terrible in that show. It did feel like it sucked to be me to go open it. But you know, it's fine. Um, I got a call back about three weeks before they closed, and I got to go back and redeem myself for a week. It was fine.

[4:20] Robert Bannon: So for you before I get into this show, because I mean I could spend a lot of time because you have fun. So you've been on Broadway for oh my can I say almost 20 years?

[4:24] Rashidra Scott: Almost 20 years.

[4:30] Robert Bannon: Yeah. Almost almost 20 years you've been on Broadway. And so there's gotta be stories about Sister Act and Beautiful and Ain't Too Proud and Company and Sunset Boulevard, all of them. But and you got a show you're doing right now. But you said Disney and the cruise ship. Did you like living on a cruise ship?

[4:49] Rashidra Scott: Honestly, I loved it. I was a very sheltered child from Virginia. I did I got to get paid to travel. I had no other responsibilities in life. I had lived at home and I had lived in an apartment in college. That was it. I say I highly recommend it for anyone fresh out of school when you don't know what it's like to live life as a fully autonomous adult. Once you know adult life and responsibilities, you'll probably hate it. Especially Disney. I loved, you know, and Disney was great because it's the mouse. And so there are rules. And especially the Americans tend to take up be most of the performers. And so we tend to be the ones in charge of like the evacuation stations, if God forbid there's an emergency.

Very like zero tolerance policy for, you know, substances and things. And so it's very, it's pretty, it can be pretty strict. And I kind of loved it. Again, coming straight out of school. It was fantastic for me. I do know there were a few people on my casts who had done Broadway or had done like the cut other their countries versions of Broadway and were they were miserable on my contract. I get it.

[6:02] Robert Bannon: That makes sense. I always wondered what it's like. I want to know like because in my head it sounds like I'm at a beach I'm eating Mickey Waffles every day. I'm living my best I mean yes and no you know I the the the cruise I did we did three and four day cruises. So I I the eight months I only saw Nassau and Disney's island castaway key. And then three days was a C Day it it did ribs repeat. That was it. That show over and over got it if I showed twice a week nine months no pretty lady don't want to get her hair braided no pretty lady don't want to look at your conch shells pretty lady don't want to blow your conch shells I did no I'll be here in three days leave me alone. Again I'm good two eight month contracts I'm good bro we called and then we've stolen you uh ever since real quick before we talk about the show because it's important and it's really timely and important. So if I go through these the shows you've done will you just give us a little statement or comment or sure what what did you think you we talked about Avenue Q and you and B Gary.

[7:02] Rashidra Scott: I love that track. I love that show. It makes me smile and it made me remember being a kid and seeing for the first time.

[7:07] Robert Bannon: What did you think of Hair?

[7:09] Rashidra Scott: So much fun.

[7:11] Robert Bannon: So like yes, heart.

[7:14] Rashidra Scott: Yeah, heart.

[7:15] Robert Bannon: And Finny, what about Finney and Rainbow?

[7:17] Rashidra Scott: You were Dolores.

[7:19] Rashidra Scott: I was Dolores. I, you know, come and get your picture on the movie screen.

[7:23] Robert Bannon: Uh Beautiful.

[7:26] Rashidra Scott: I like that music a lot. Not to quote another show I did, but coming, coming down the list in a minute.

[7:32] Robert Bannon: What about Sister?

[7:33] Rashidra Scott: I mean, Sister Act, you were you were in the ensemble, you were Michelle. But you also got to do Dolores, you were understood, and then replaced and was Dolores.

[7:41] Rashidra Scott: I got to I got to get the official billing for a week. There was a week between the end of Patina's contract and the start of Raven's contract. And so I got bumped up officially for that week. Yeah. Yeah, I still have our company manager. I was friends with him, and he took the the poster that they have right outside of the theater. He took it for me when they took it outside of the theater, and my husband surprised me and got it framed. And so it's on the wall as soon as you walk into the office in my room, just right there, just with my name on the bill. It's like Sister Act featuring Rashidra Scott, Caroline Carbello and the rest of the cast. It's just right there to greet me when I walk into my office.

[8:14] Robert Bannon: Oh, Caroline Carmelo and you singing together. Good night. Wow. I wish I could buy a ticket right now for it. The best. And I just saw Vicky Clark at the George Street Gala the other night too. So great and amazing. She's a big fancy Tony winning superstar.

[8:29] Rashidra Scott: No, just a couple of them, you know. What about what about Beautiful?

[8:34] Rashidra Scott: Wow. Oh man. Family. Love. Just all of the wonderful great things.

[8:44] Robert Bannon: And Ain't Too Proud.

[8:45] Rashidra Scott: You did you better work on all these musicals about people's life? So how long did you do that show?

[8:51] Rashidra Scott: Changing, honestly, was Ain't Too Proud. Um, we're talking from workshop inception.

[8:57] Robert Bannon: Oh, or we talking from Broadway. Did you do the tour? Did you go to Kennedy Center and do the whole thing?

[9:01] Rashidra Scott: I did the pre-Broadway tour. I like to say tour, because it was a tour, but it was six week sit downs in three cities. I don't count that as tour.

[9:10] Robert Bannon: I saw you. I saw you in I saw, I mean, I saw you in New York a lot, but I saw you in I saw you in DC.

[9:15] Rashidra Scott: Oh, and I really that show made me firstly, y'all are incredibly talented. The guys are incredibly talented. Unreal. And um it really was a magical show.

[9:28] Robert Bannon: Yeah. I'm tired. That show is good. Baby, we was all I was tired for them. I saw I saw Sykes the other day, and I was like, oh Lord. And then I saw I and I I saw you and traveled all around because I was friends with Jeremy from when he came, and whatever happened to him, no kidding. He made nothing of himself.

[9:52] Rashidra Scott: He must be working at a car wash somewhere. Um and left to do some project and we never heard from him again. I loved I loved him. He was taking pictures and trying to make his rent, and I'm like, he's like, I'm doing the temptation show. Oh, that's go come see it. And the rest is history. And then we haven't called in a dress agreement sets. Hey y'all, so uh I'm leaving before the huh? And then he told us why, and then we were excited, but I was like, huh?

[10:16] Robert Bannon: Yeah. You left there and then you went off to Company. And you were the dance captain?

[10:22] Rashidra Scott: I was. And first day of rehearsal coming back from the shutdown, I was told that they considered me for dance captain, and I said, I love you. I would have quit.

[10:32] Robert Bannon: That's a good cast.

[10:33] Rashidra Scott: That's a fun cast of people.

[10:35] Robert Bannon: Oh my god, it was the most fun. And you know, and I had worked with Greg and I had done a random industrial one night thing together that Kevin Duda and Jason Michael Snow had written eight million years ago. And my favorite joke is that in that skit that we did, I call it a skit, Greg and I played the quirky secondary characters who literally one of our last lines that we sang were, We're the quirky side characters who fall in love. And so when I got my offer and the the press release announcing the rest of the cast came out the morning of the Susan auditions. And so when I booked it, I messaged him on social media and was like, Hey, so remember that time Kevin Duda called it? Because I'm about to be your wife, ex-wife. Yay!

[11:17] Robert Bannon: It's a great it's a great part of the show. And I loved seeing that in that incredible cast. Also, a whole bunch of Tony winning superstars that from that show. You know, and also I it was reconnecting with Fitz. We had done the Finian's revival together, reconnecting with Samard. We had done Sister Act together. Um, I had done a couple random readings with Terrence, just oh Brittany Coleman and I, Bobby Cover, one of the Bobby covers who ended up doing the role on Broadway. We had done Dream Girls, actually, I left Sister Act to do a regional of Dream Girls, and that's when Brittany.

[11:47] Rashidra Scott: Who were you in the regional Dream Girls?

[11:49] Rashidra Scott: Uh Mary Out Lincolnshire. She was our Dina, and I was Lorel. And Eric Lewan, whose birthday would have been yesterday, was our uh Jimmy.

[11:58] Robert Bannon: Oh, I want to see that.

[11:59] Rashidra Scott: What a magical show. Everything. And then last year you Sunset Boulevarded it up.

[12:08] Rashidra Scott: Unreal. Mind blowing. Yeah. I had originally submitted for the first round of casting and heard nothing. And then I was doing a Christmas story up at Goodspeed. A couple weeks before Thanksgiving, got an email from my agent saying, hey, casting wants to know if you submit a self tape. And I was like, is that even a question? Absolutely. But also I can't see the show and I didn't get any feedback, but clearly don't do what I did on the last tape because I ain't hear nothing. What what do I do? Um and I happened to be helping a castmate there with his own self tape and said, hey, can you just talk these lines out loud with me just so I can say them for the first time. And he looks and says wait, I have a friend in the show.

And so we FaceTimed a friend in the show. And the friend had my laptop showed him there was one repeat scene and so I showed him a little bit of that and a bit of the song and the friend just said Jamie's very adamant that every norma is herself and has her own version.

[13:05] Rashidra Scott: He does not want a carbon copy of Nicole, so just find ways to put your personality in there. That's all I got, and I was like, okay, you're just gonna throw spaghetti at the wall, and then I submitted the tape, and I don't know, like a week or so later, I get booked, you and the s Nicole Schlussemberger.

[13:25] Robert Bannon: Madame Michelle's going on, yes.

[13:28] Rashidra Scott: So that leads you see, I'm telling you the credits, cred. I wish I had a $50 for every credit that you and me both, child, because this would be more money than I got in my account right now. George Street Playhouse dot org, which is, like I said, right there in New Brunswick, which is the cutest, sweetest. They do incredible work there.

[13:44] Robert Bannon: It is a great, I mean, you talk about union house, great work, theater, theater, theater. There's a show called My Lord, What A Night, which just so happens to be with you, and you can see it up until May 13th.

[13:57] Rashidra Scott: So it's coming, oh sorry, so you better, you better like Sunday, yes. You better shuffle off to Buffalo and get a ticket and get there.

[14:06] Robert Bannon: So tell me about it. It's supported by NJ D E D A, which I love very much because it's a teacher at the event. They are the union, and they do the support. And there is some way that you can see a show for as little as $10. So people are not gonna get priced out when you can't go see a show because it's $150 plus a ticket, and you think I'm paying my rent or I'm gonna go see a show. Not this show, baby. So tell us about it. How did it happen?

[14:28] Rashidra Scott: Oh, uh, same agent said, hey, here's a script and some sides, do a self-tape for this show. And I read it and immediately was like, I haven't been this excited about a new script in so long. Absolutely. And I got actually one of my friends that I did Beautiful with, my friend Melvin, read for me for my tape, and I got a callback, and that was on Zoom. And I was in a hotel in Florida, and I did my little callback on Zoom, and I thought I was hallucinating because the callback ended, and I could have sworn Sheldon Epps, our illustrious director, I could have sworn he ended it with saying, "Looking forward to working with you on this project." And I said, "Sing," hung up. I was like, wait, what? Um, there are no words for this script, how good it is, how easily accessible it is, how much heart there is in it, and how important it is.

[15:26] Rashidra Scott: And my other favorite connection of my resume is that our script is written by the wife of one of my other two of my former, the wife of a former castmate and the stepmother of another former castmate, Deborah Vort, who is the wife of Chuck Cooper, and I also understudied Lily when we did Oliver at City Center a couple of years ago. Um, but it just, it is such a poignant story and script, and I learn a lot. We've all learned so much about each of our characters, about each other's characters, you know, just looking at the world and society and where we are and seeing how while so much has advanced and so much has changed, we are ultimately still, and we made very little progress in a lot of ways. Um, you know, but also kind of a reminder of a warning of it doesn't have to be this way. We can still change course.

[16:21] Robert Bannon: Yeah.

[16:22] Rashidra Scott: Let's remember each other's humanity. Let's remember that part. Um, you know, but ultimately, who knew that Marian Anderson and Albert Einstein were friends?

[16:31] Robert Bannon: How do you know how they found the story? Like, where'd they come up?

[16:35] Rashidra Scott: Oh, but how'd they find this? I should know this because, you know, I have sat in on many a talk back with Deb, and I don't remember. Um, I feel like it was a, she started writing the script as a part of a one act something something. Yeah. Um, but I do know I've heard her say multiple times that she's very fortunate that each of our four characters were very verbose people, and they did a lot of interviews, and there are a lot of things that you can pull, like actual quotes of things that they've said. And so what's kind of great about this script is Deb has said a lot of the lines that we are saying are things that she has actually pulled from interviews or things that she's seen or read of interviews that they've given or statements that they've given.

So while this, you know, while the story of all four of them being in the same place, not only once but twice, that probably didn't happen. Three-fourths of them, yes, but not all four of them necessarily at the same time in this way. But we actually did a talk back a couple weeks ago where she said that most of the events that happen within the two nights of our show, they all happened within a six-week window of each other in actual history. Which is insane. And so she kind of just trunk, you know, took the quotes and truncated it all to make this beautiful story that is just real and human and heart-wrenching and funny and all of the things.

[18:08] Robert Bannon: Yeah.

[18:09] Rashidra Scott: Marian Anderson, who is one of the world's greatest opera singers, um, gets turned away from being in a hotel, ends up Albert Einstein, Jersey's own Albert Einstein. You know, like not for Jersey, but like has his history, uh, and all of this whole story has just a lot of, there's a lot of history and real, like you're talking about, and it's in this historic theater and this historic figures, this historic piece, and it's as relevant as ever because we're in a crazy time in the world where we need to remember that we're not that far removed from everything that has happened in our past.

[18:44] Robert Bannon: Do you get to, does she sing at all in the show?

[18:49] Rashidra Scott: Oh, you know.

[18:52] Rashidra Scott: That nobody, very few people realize it's me.

[18:55] Robert Bannon: And it's you.

[18:56] Rashidra Scott: You, they knew you were gonna, they were gonna hot book you and not have you give a little some, a little something.

[19:00] Rashidra Scott: No, I'm waiting for it. One day it's gonna happen. One day it's gonna happen. I'm gonna get a play. There's just this words, no singing. A few people have, like friends, you know, castmates and people have had friends come, and the one consistent thing everyone is telling me is, "Oh, my friends were so mad that they didn't get to hear you sing." And my first response is, I've done eight shows on Broadway and plenty of regionals there. I'm on at least three original cast albums. You can hear me so many times. This is five. You heard it. It's a play. It's a play for a reason.

[19:31] Robert Bannon: Who should go see the show?

[19:33] Rashidra Scott: Like one, literally everyone. Black, white, young, old, Asian, all, everyone.

[19:42] Robert Bannon: Okay.

[19:42] Rashidra Scott: Everyone. We all need the happy good feels. We all need the unity. We all need the joy. And we all need the reminder.

[19:50] Robert Bannon: Yeah.

[19:53] Rashidra Scott: You know, there's not a lot of seats left for some of these shows because there aren't. These shows are sold out. And you better, there's some shows are sold out, so you better get a ticket. The idea that I can take my, if you can't, I can't stress this enough because I get so, I secretly, I love, I love Broadway. I love theater. I'm in Detroit right now. My husband's from Detroit. Um, I'm here in Detroit right now. I see people come to me and they say, I see your interviews. And then they say, like, I tried to get tickets to see a tour in Detroit, and they were $180 a ticket, and I can't go. Or I want to go see a Broadway show, but the cheap seats are sold out and they're $200 a ticket, and I can't, two people can't go, or a family can't go.

But for this, you can take a date, you can take your husband, wife, you can take someone as a late Mother's Day gift, you can take your kids, and you can go for two people for $20. And if you pay what you can shows, and I think the minimum for that is at least $10.

[20:47] Rashidra Scott: 10 bucks. All you have is $10. Pay your $10 and become sitting. Like this. I'm looking at Wednesday, May 13th. There are 20 seats right now, people.

[20:56] Robert Bannon: Wow.

[20:57] Rashidra Scott: For $10. Go. Get on it. Because they won't be here by the 13th. They'll be gone.

[21:01] Robert Bannon: So for you, you're doing the show. This show ends. You talked about your husband. Just, is he? I'm not trying to be personal and all in your bit, all in your business. Is he a theater-y person?

[21:13] Rashidra Scott: Or I hope, or does he do something else? Um, he's theater adjacent, okay? You know, I had an ex one time, and I said, you know, one of us needs job stability, and I've chosen my lot in life, so, uh, yes. So no, I love my fellow thespians. There's no way I personally could, no, no, no, no, no. He is theater adjacent, so he gets the industry. He's a massage therapist. He treats eight million shows. He's at Hamilton. He has proof right now and all of the feeble, all of the things. Um, and so yeah, he gets it, you know, so when I have the late nights of tech and when I'm like, oh, this is rough, when I, you know, he gets, people are mad at me because his day off is Monday, and of course everyone wants treatment on Monday, and my fault, y'all can yell at me. I'm sorry, I need to see. That's your day. I'll see him more than I do, so that's your day. I see my castmates more than I see him, and his clients see him more than he sees you.

[21:13] Robert Bannon: Oh my gosh, married to a massage therapist, that is the life.

[21:13] Rashidra Scott: Okay, sometimes it is. Yeah, listen, I always say he, I don't sing concerts for him when he gets home.

[21:13] Robert Bannon: And you don't have to.

[21:13] Rashidra Scott: Yeah, no, I get it. Again, I always say that because I get broken, and so he worked on me for a little bit, though. That was the first time in a while I get it. I, I have my husband is, uh, he loves art. He's a supporter of the art. He's a banker. I, I said, oh, I tried, I did the, I did the tour. Nope, he comes home at 5:30. I'm like, whoop, whoop, that's it. I love date nights. What's that like?

[22:49] Robert Bannon: You, you guys, you could have date morning, maybe.

[22:52] Rashidra Scott: We can do, we can do Sunday nights and Mondays. Well, let's be honest. Or when I'm not working, we can do any night. No, but you're not gonna not work. We're gonna book. We got to have all of the rest of May. I want people to go get a ticket right now. Go to GeorgeStreetPlayhouse.org, get the last few tickets that are left. And we're gonna follow Rashidra on Instagram. The link will be below as well, so we can stay up to date with all the shows to come. And that now she said she's on three original Broadway cast albums. You can go listen to her, then you can get ready. Ain't Too Proud. What am I missing?

[23:27] Rashidra Scott: Nope, we didn't do one for this. Company's, oh, Vinians.

[23:30] Robert Bannon: See?

[23:32] Rashidra Scott: You can go to the show. Stream them.

[23:33] Robert Bannon: And stream them.

[23:34] Rashidra Scott: Stream them on your favorite services. On your, wherever you listen to your music, go get SoundExchange can track it. And I get at least three cents or ten cents or something.

[23:45] Rashidra Scott: I get two dollars every quarter for all of the streams. My husband came in and he said, I think this is a check. I, I, I teach, but I, I was an act, uh, well, whatever. And I said, oh, it's a check from SAG. And I said, don't you know you have to open it? So we opened it. It was 67 cents.

[24:03] Robert Bannon: Thank you.

[24:03] Rashidra Scott: My favorite is when it's 67 cents, but they actually show you the breakdown so you can see that it started as a dollar and thirty-seven cents. They took the taxes out. And then I see the stamp on it, and I'm like, why? You should have, you could have kept. It's okay. I appreciate it, but it costs more to my. When I was in Beautiful, I had to call SAG after for something, and they notified me that I, they saw that I still hadn't deposited a check, and did I want them to resend it? And I said, baby, the stamp costs more than a check. You can keep it, it's fine. That's why I did deposit it. I was not depositing a 20 cent check. No, it's fine.

[24:40] Robert Bannon: You're a good.

[24:40] Rashidra Scott: Time. I can't wait to see you in New York. I can't wait to see you in New Jersey. I can't wait to see you somewhere. Are you coming back?

[24:46] Rashidra Scott: I am. I always come. I'm back and forth and come back and forth. I'm into the show.

[24:49] Robert Bannon: Oh, I want to come to the show. I want to say hi and give you a hug and say hello.

[24:54] Rashidra Scott: Okay, done.

[24:55] Robert Bannon: Done. Listen, come join us. Come join us, everybody at George Street Playhouse. Rashidra Scott, thank you for being here.

[25:02] Rashidra Scott: Thank you. And also, lastly, it is uneven at most. The show was two hours, and that includes intermission. You're gonna be in and out. Need that in my life. I can't do it anymore. I can't sit for three hours. I can't. We just went and saw the tour of Hamilton. My husband had never seen it, and I said to him, like, you better go with your cousin because I can't sit for three hours no more. I've seen it already. He dies at the end. Just FYI. Spoiler alert.

[25:22] Robert Bannon: Spoil alert.

[25:23] Rashidra Scott: I'm old. I can't do it. I can't do it. Actually, my other favorite thing is on the, you know, uh, Hamilton on Disney Plus.

[25:30] Robert Bannon: Yes.

[25:31] Rashidra Scott: Because my husband's been treating them for a while. He's, his name is on the right side.

[25:34] Robert Bannon: Oh, come on.

[25:36] Rashidra Scott: Yes, husband. Yes. Let's go, husband. Thank you for being here and hanging out with me.

[25:42] Rashidra Scott: Thank you for having me.