tonight your mine completely you give your love so sweetly tonight the light of Love is in your eyes but will you love me to tomorrow tonight with the words unspoken you say that I'm the only one but will my heart be broken when the night meets The Morning Sun I'd like to know that your love is love I can be sure of so tell me now and I won't ask again will you still love me tomorrow will you still love me to more okay let me introduce to you my guest today welcome welcome to the celicia show uh this might even be on black hair in the big leagues because he's extra special but I have life is complete I have one of my best friends on the call today and I'm so excited to introduce you to him um he's got a personality out of this world and a heart that is even bigger I met him during one of my craziest most isolated and lonely times during the pandemic we met on Instagram he invited me onto his onto his in Instagram show his live stream and we connected instantly and I realized very early on how special this human being was he was there when I was first meeting Andrew my now husband who he was our officient for our wedding in New York City which by the way if you listen to my Broadway V's podcast you will learn that celicia forgot that I that is not true that's not true that's not true okay wait he's the creator of BHL Beverly Hills lifestyle magazine and as he just said the host of The Viral podcast Broadway besties with his co-host Amy please you guys give me help me give the warmest welcome to my friend Mark krian hi selicia are you I'm doing good I literally said this is like I'm winning an Academy Award I get to be on the cicia show all like die I could die now I could die now I can die you know what you're so dramatic and so out of this world but I know that you've asked me to sing that freaking song for you for so many times and it never happened ever so finally it did so well and that is the song that connected me you because not to start this conversation off so you know but my father died of Alzheimer's and if you actually listen to the words of that song it's Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow and it it actually took on a whole new meaning for me I've always heard that song I've always love that song but when I heard you sing that song for the first time I I just first of all I knew that we should be connected and second of all it just means the world to me dang it Mark dang it dang it I'm sorry actually I have a question for you because I'm not sure I know the answer when you first heard me sing it was it in person or in person on Broadway really yes and then it here's the thing you were not front and center you were back right uh behind someone singing that song and my eyes would not get off of you I couldn't I didn't see anyone else on the stage there was some something about your light and just the energy and who you are that like literally everyone just it was kind of like that moment in Westside Story when he's like I finally met a girl named celicia I mean that was that moment for me oh my gosh that is really you know what that's really special and I'm so glad that you out you know you have a gift Mark and I know that you know this but I'm very curious like and you might not even know how you do it because it's a gift and gifts are something that comes so naturally to you and to everybody else it's like how does this person do that and the person who's doing it is not even thinking about it because it's a gift like it's just so inherent but you have this gift for connecting to people connecting with people and fostering relationships I feel like you know how to like talk to anybody everybody and then to keep them in your life how the heck did you go from you saw me from the audience to officiating my we do you doing the intro and the outro of Broadway besties there's a lot of connections between us there are there's so many like I just I do have so many questions for you like you you have so many friends in the industry and then you started this viral podcast how did you do that well let me answer the first question first okay because you asking a lot of questions I know I know not remember the questions so let me answer the first one first I love people I love people and I've always I am I don't know if this really means anything because I don't really follow astrology too much but I'm told that because I'm a cancer we are gushy you know we're inside we're gushy and outside we're really hard once you get to my gshi Center I am yours for life now that's a great thing and it's also not such a great thing I have been absolutely given my entire life to someone and then you know as a friend and then it gets turned on me and then you know I've I've lost a lot of friends right um and and I love the the quote that says everyone's in your life for a reason a season or a lifetime yeah sometimes those people that are in your life for a reason or a season you think they're there for a lifetime but they're not you know so but to go back to the question how do I do it it's because I love people and I've always believed in the Golden Rule treat people the way you want to be treated and I love when someone reaches out to me randomly and I love when someone sees a quote or a meme or something and it thinks they think of me and they they message me so because of that I try to do that for others you do always said and I not from the South but I feel like I should say this with a Southern accent oh my God mama always said I've never met a stranger no I have not oh my gosh yeah aren't you from Beverly Hill wait where are you from from I was born in Mexico City oh really you knew this celicia we actually gone through this like probably 32 times and every time I like hearing I like to pretend like it's my first time every time that's how I can do an H show week so I love it I love it no yeah so I was born in Mexico City uh family I have my father side is from Mexico um and then we when I was young we moved to Beverly Hills and then lived in Beverly Hills in Orange count Southern California most of my life I feel like you have told me some wild wild stories even just like in like passing that I'm like wait did he like I have to check him with Andrew I'm like did he just say like L Lucy Lucy my grandfather my grandfather um my great-grandfather was uh very very very close to Lucio ball he was the head of uh of um Studios and he did I Love Lucy and he did the Dick Van Dyke Show and The Greatest Story Ever Told and so she has a very very special place in our family's life like she is she is uh it's one of the things I'm like proud of because my grandfa my great-grandfather obviously saw something and worked on something that is a legacy in it's a legacy like it is a and it was a legacy like the fact that I was a child watching something in black and white like things were not in black and white in the 90s and I loved I Love Lucy like that is the thing that's makes me sad is I am learning that the new what is the new generation called gen z uh oh yeah don't know who Lucio ball is they don't know what I look which is making me really sad because I want to figure out a way to kind of bring I mean I don't know how you can bring back someone that's already so iconic but I um I think shows like I Love Lucy that we need to start going back to instead of watching baby reindeer and these shows that just you know I mean I love crime shows don't don't get me wrong I love them but I think every once in a while we need to split it up with a good just light-hearted funny I love Lucy episode no I totally feel that and you know you we okay so here's the thing with each generation we have our pros and our cons I'm not a gen Z I'm a millennial and there's a lot of pros and cons with being a millennial obviously I see most of the pros but for Gen Z you know a lot of my geny friends Mark were born after 911 I'm like oh my God it hurts like you crazy that is crazy they have to read about it in a textbook I'm like wait what but also you know they they can teach us a lot of things too but I think that is an important concept that you bring up of like making sure history doesn't get lost like the good stuff yeah how well I think that like I you know I have been um over the last few months you know when when you go through tough times right like it shows like I Love Lucy it shows like I mean even friends right like some of these shows that like we think are modern shows are still not modern to people right but I go back to some of these shows and just belly laugh because I need it so badly so and I feel like gen Z they get everything within 30 seconds it's Tik Tok right like so they actually don't even have the ability to watch a full half hour or an hour show without being on their phone like they don't know what it's like to actually sit and watch and enjoy and laugh and not care about anything else in the world not like literally put your phone away like they're on their phone as they're watching and I'm like put your phone down you just miss the funniest joke ever you're right but you know what I think that's kind of like bringing this back to theater like this kind of one of like the beautiful things about theater It's Kind you're sitting in this theater not a movie theater I'm talking about a live theater space where we first were in a space together and you're kind of forced to not be on your phone unless you want somebody to be like hey turn that off well have Patty Leone literally stopped the entire production and say get off your I literally wish I was in the audience for that you know what it's funny because I love her for doing it but I also think that like I've heard the other side people are like there's people that work at the you know at at the at the theater that are in charge of going up to people like that and saying please put your phone away you know and she shouldn't have stopped because she stopped it for everyone right like and distracting though no no I'm saying I'm I'm I'm teen Patty on this but at the same time I I have enjoyed hearing the other side where they're like no there's people that are actually in the theater to make sure that people aren't on their phones and you know but I am team Patty I mean listen Patty Leone could do anything and I love her I mean honestly but okay so that brings me to my next question for you how do you feel about and this might be a controversial question because I feel like the answer has been typically the same no matter what over the decades put I always put the toilet paper over the top not under I do too that's not what I was going to ask you you're going to make me forget my question how dare you go go go ask I to okay okay okay how do you feel about people filming in the theater H okay so I'm really torn on this I think that my my quick answer is don't do it my quick answer is get off your phones put your phones down you know all of that like that's my quick answer but I also have been so blessed to to be able to go to Every Broadway show that I've wanted to to be able to see every show and see some of the greatest out there and I can't I I don't know what the experience is to not have that and I'm so blessed by that and so I picture that little boy that was the same as me that was like under his covers you know like watching and thinking you know what that little boy wherever he is who's never been able to see a Broadway show to be able to even catch a glimpse of these means a lot to me now with that said I wish that some shows would literally before the show go okay when you see this red light that's when you can pull up your camera and everyone can film for a second and you know what I mean like that there's actual shows to actually do that yeah so I'm very torn because I want you to put your freaking phone away um but I also think that there is something really special about where we are in today's world where we can I mean there are shows like Oklahoma and South Pacific that none of us will ever see the way that it was because we didn't have right I completely agree with you I think there's a privilege I know you're not in New York City but you have such access to New York City I live in New York City and when I want to see the original Broadway cast of something I walk my butt down to the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center and I check out the things and I sit in the Box it's so old school it's like so archaic but I sit there and I watch with my little headphones and I only get to watch it once like they have so many rules but I get to see it now living like growing up in Fresno I did not have a access to that I have access to Broadway it's like when six came from the UK to New York City we all like I was in beautiful at the time backstage somebody played one song and everybody knew every word because they allowed people to film the mega mix in London so well and that's the thing like I feel like you know listen I um I don't know I I I'm really torn with that because I think that and I'm not a Broadway actor obviously but I think that at the same time if someone were to film me doing what I love to do I would say great like please like enjoy that later so I don't really know why people get upset by it in the sense of like I I just I don't see the big deal now if they're filming the entire thing and they are you know what I mean and they're being annoying and obnoxious but these kids these days they're so stealth they're like this I honestly like I don't know if I really like appreciated it until Once Upon A one more time when I got like a bootleg of every character that I went on for how on Earth would I ever have that if there weren't 100% well that's the thing like I feel like again like one of the things that I will tell you about Broadway and the people that I've met on Broadway and the Broadway actors and the directors and this the writers and all that they want to share they want to share what they what they're doing right like and so I I can't imagine I so I don't really know why the answer is don't do it other than that's how it's always been that's just how it's always been and but at the same time like I don't know I and maybe maybe I'll get canceled for this question thanks cicia no no no I definitely prompted this and also I ne I realize In This Moment how I really feel about it because I I hadn't really thought about it until this moment and I kind of feel like this an AR care you I know this this is not the same at all right but all of our Christmas pageants all of our high school shows everything our parents were filming us yes and we weren't like excuse me everyone put your cameras away my mother would have lost her stuff she'd be like no I'm going to watch my son play tevia and you're not gonna stop me my mom's not even a New York Jew but I made her sound that way but um your mom is awesome she's amazing um but so I feel like even since we were kids right back in well may the 80s you and the 9s um we were our parents were filming us we were you you know what I mean like I so and I guess like back in those days yes if you had a big camcorder can't really bring that into the theater I get it now our phones are you know tiny and so I I I I don't see a problem with it okay so I'm glad that you're saying that because I kind of feel like you are in a way in a very big way Mr Broadway can you can we talk about your podcast can we please talk about your podcast you I will talk about my podcast all day long please like how how how long had you been thinking about it before you're like let's just freaking do this thing Amy and I have been talking about it for years we talk about Broadway every time we talk she's my best friend I met her in line at in Disneyland I mean the perfect place to meet your best friend and she's sing this like I don't even remember the song but it was a song that no one should know and I was like that's from and we knew instantly that we were like Broadway oh my God and so we have talked about it for years we've said why why don't we do this why don't we do this and finally I was like you know what let's just do it and what's the worst that can happen everyone hates it and or people don't listen like that's the worst that like could happen and that is not what has happened with you it's not but even if no one listened we're having so much fun doing it right so it's obvious that you're having so much fun I didn't want it to end when you guys had me on it was so fun we were playing games I was like oh wait I want to go in again you were like well that was it I'm like no no no we have to keep playing this game give me another shot I mean listen I have I have a question for you ready I'm gonna give you talking about games I'm G to give you a little game right here ready yes let see how well you are with Broadway trivia uh oh okay what was the first musical ever to win best musical at the Tony wicked wicked okay okay wait give me wait is there a timer everyone she just said Wicked okay wait let me let me try again one on the silent okay okay okay candid I gotta go way back to um Oklahoma no but you're getting a little closer I'll just tell it to you because I don't want you to embarrass yourself something like a hot no something like a hot is what that that just came out I thought it was based on I thought it was on a movie not on a Broadway show just scratch that from the record Kiss Me Kate kiss me why you think I was going to know that answer I don't know because you're a Broadway Star by the way do you know what year was the first best musical ever 1962 solicia okay we're we're cutting this all out 1949 oh my gosh you know what my Theater history class I did get a c and I was like a straight A student but I got a see in Theater history so you know what is the first Broadway show ever to hit a billion dollars Hamilton nope good now that was a good guess I am proud of you for that guess but that is not it Wicked no Mormon no oh Lion King yes yes there you go yes yeah they've been around for like what 85 years it's been 85 years years but yeah Broadway besties we have fun we we play games and we talk talk about we have some great uh people on our first guest was celicia Thomas Weiss wild I'm so honored we had so much fun with you and we've had some great guests since and we're having some more come on and uh you know we do we did a Tony recap and again like what I love and what I'm loving hearing from people that are listening is that even if you don't know Broadway at all even if you don't even like Broadway people are still having fun with it so that that means the world to me wait say one of the comments that you said before we push record that they said about our episode oh so three comments that people said uh that are my favorite comments number one uh how did celicia forget that you officiated her wedding I did not forget let me tell you go listen to selicia's and you'll hear her say how did I forget that you officiated my I think I was just trying to find my flow and I wasn't in it yet mark excuses excuses number two that uh celicia reminds them of a unicorn that farts uh uh rainbows not just a unicorn that farts rainbows two of the greatest comments and then the third was asking if I was married to celicia now if you know me and if you listen to the show I am gayer than Christmas that you call it there's a name for it what do you call I don't know if it's appropriate but what do you did you say you're gayer than Christmas there's a word that you use it Platinum I am a platinum gay which means I have not done anything with a woman and I was C-section and I was not breastfed so like literally nothing oh my God Mark oh my God oh my goodness I feel like this this show just took a new height I I'm telling you I mean if you you want your show to go to new heights we we can make it happen Okay let's also talk about um the media Empire that you built with BHL Beverly Hills lifestyle like when did that when did that happen so that happened back in 2007 um mom had started this website called Beverly Hills lifestyle and it was the cheesiest website in the whole world like literally you went to it and there was like golden gates and it was like Beverly Hills lifestyle I mean it was like so bad I love looked at it and I looked at the concept and I was like we can turn this into a magazine and so we did and again kind of like Broadway besties I was like if I get one issue out of it awesome if it continues to go and you know 16 years later how many years is 2017 um wow it's it's you know we've had some of the greatest covers we've had Kristen chenowith who has become a very close friend who I just adore we've had Nicole Kidman we've had I mean we've had some Hill figures right or Hill figures yeah who have become very close friends as well um and so it's you know it was a my love letter to Beverly Hills but it started becoming more International started getting kind of recognition past just Beverly Hills and so we became BHL and um so yeah it's been fun it's you ever get scared to like start I mean I guess you kind of just answered that you're like you're telling yourself the stakes are low but do you ever get scared to start these big things life is not about waiting for the storm to pass it's about learning to dance in the rain okay and so you okay you just need Mr poetic well no that's not my quote that's actually a quote but uh that's how I feel like and it has it and sometimes you get drenched and sometimes you get hit by lightning and some I'm not saying it's like but I've never regretted it I've never had a moment of going crap I shouldn't have done that because it's brought me to where I am today even though today might not be the best place I've ever been in my whole life it still has brought me to today and today I'm sitting here talking to someone who I love and adore and that that is a good day what have you learned about yourself in be between we haven't even gotten into your self transformation Journey but through the years and the decades the short Decades of course that you've had on this planet what have what's been like one of the most valuable lessons that you've learned about yourself so I learned this from Dr Maya Angelou who was a hero of mine and she said this quote I am a human being therefore nothing human can be alien to me and what does that mean that means that if another human has done it so can I and the power of she also taught me that the power of the word is so powerful that words if you could see them they stick to your body they stick to the walls and for us to have the audacity to believe that we can put words into this world and not see not see them turn into something is insane I mean not to get over spiritual but I am a Christian um yes I'm a gay Christian everyone calm down but I am a Christian and in our Bible it says in the beginning there was darkness and then there was the word so whether you believe that or not the fact that a uh religion that is one of the top religions of the world believes that everything was created by the word and we have that same word we have that same powerful word to create guess what let's use our words to create amazing things in this world and so the biggest thing I've ever learned was from Dr Maya Angelou in her kind of Master Class where she said I am a human being therefore nothing human can be alien to me and the power of the word is so powerful okay you're saying so many things that my brain is literally exploding right now then don't ask the question if another human can do it so can I oh my god well and let me let me let me she did this my again this is none of this is me so don't think oh Mark you're the smartest person none of this is me you're the smartest person let me um challenge you on that right so do you believe that that if another human being could do it so can I well I don't think I've ever thought about it I think I've thought the opposite like oh man those are those people and here am I over here but you know like that's the way I got into Broadways that I saw like I I saw something human happen on stage and that made me feel like maybe I can do it too yeah and I think a lot of times people only look at the positive of that sentence right like that positive of that quote but like you know I ask people all the time do you believe that quote and they go absolutely and I go okay well what happens when you turn on the news and you hear that a woman has killed 50 puppies and could you ever do that and they go well no no I couldn't and I go well yes you could because you are a human being therefore nothing human can be alien to you but let's flip that on inside if you can even if you can even internalize a portion of that negative of that quote imagine what you can do with the Positive you celicia can be the next Oprah you cicia can be the next Patty Leone you cicia can be the next Gandhi if you wanted if other human beings have done it so can you so if you can even internalize a portion of the negative a imagine what you can do with the Positive oh my good that's all quotes of my Angelou that's not mark C hey man you know I wanted to use um it was too Niche but my I wanted our wedding hashtag to be and still I Weiss I love you so much and I got nervous when Andrew was like I don't get it I'm like okay Andrew I listen can we just take a moment to just love this man so much and my when I tell this story all the time that I say I have this friend who is this beautiful black strong woman who is making life happen and I remember talking to her about the man that she wants and she wanted a strong black man oh my God that that stood up for what he believed and an afro like in the streets black power like yeah and what did she get a white man in khakis that thought that Patty Lael was a pie maker oh my God I will never forget that brunch they like Patty leel oh that's the woman who makes the pies and everybody at the table except for Andrew was like oh my life my life was I nearly was like if he ever proposes to her I'm going to have to not allow this but of course I allowed it but then you did you married us Mark you married us that was so that was one of the greatest uh privileges of my life honest I no we're honored because how many how many weddings have you officiated over 50 over 50 I am so honored I actually think yours was the 50th I think yours was the 50th wedding I did really I thought it was like 53 honestly maybe I don't know let's just say it's 50 let's just make you do like that it was it went off without a hitch I'm so I'm just so glad I'm so glad that it worked out because you with your sparkly little blue shoes you and the fact that you I feel like we got to say vows like a bajillion times which is my favorite thing like that's what all I wanted was to get to the vows and I feel like you had a sang different versions of vows at least three times times I was so nervous because listen I meeting your parents before the wedding they are the most lovely couple but when I tell you intimidating like your mother I don't know if she actually said this or if it was just in her eyes and somehow I absorbed it you F this up I will kill you I guarantee she didn't say it but she no way she said at least not like that no but she is she loves her daughter and your father loves loves his daughter so much that I I literally was like okay if if I screw this up I never be able to see another day again you didn't it was honestly the best day of my life and I felt like everyone was preparing me to like they're like don't think that the wedding is going to be the best day of your life don't I never even had that thought that it was that it could be because of all the people that were like don't hype it up in your mind don't so I didn't and guess what wrong with people I don't know it was amazing I had so much fun and you did such a beautiful job I just love you Mark I love you I love you with my entire heart and my entire being like I have said ever since the moment I met you you are the epitome of joy you are the epitome of light you are the epitome of everything that's good in the world has all come together into this one person celicia Thomas Weiss am I allowed to say your real last name yeah I don't mind I don't well I listen I don't know like well I've been going back and forth in my celicia Thomas in my celicia Weiss in my celicia Thomas Weiss I'm literally going to Social Security today to like officially change it but I think my actor name is still celicia Thomas but I go by I love when I get a note from a fan that says celicia Thomas wise what I want you to be celicia Thomas wise really yeah I feel like it's kind of a long name it's like doesn't matter even if it's celicia middle name Thomas last name Weiss however I will say this I've always thought that this whole last name thing when you get married is so silly and so Antiquated like I think when you get married you just pick the cooler name like if someone is like you know a name that you hear all the time like Smith right yes someone is like a name that you never hear like wabu you're like I want to be a wakalu oh okay like I think you should be able to choose I don't think it should be just the husband's name right like I I do too I mean I don't know I have I have a lot of different thoughts on it which is why I keep flip-flopping myself but a lot of my friends are doing some like non-traditional things and it's so fun it's like it's the generation where just do what you want to do instead of being so this is how it's always been like it's time to mix it up like well like there a girl in Orange County that beautiful girl her name was truly gold which I love love that name but she married Carrie s boring and her name is now truly boring no I don't believe you you just made this it up on look it up look it up type in no I don't believe you that beach type in Newport Beach wait I'm going to type it in can I share my screen wait I don't know I am scared to share this grade Newport Beach truly multiple gold boring not going from truly gold to truly poring wait how do I how do I show you this I don't even know how I just I don't know oh wait oh crap hello I'm here okay wait I'll just do it on my phone real quick and I'll just show you because that will be just easy yeah no one ever believes me um yeah she married kri as boring and that is that is so out that is like made in a movie that is not a real story I know I know um oh wait I put truly hold truly boring old oh oh my gosh ride is truly boring groom will carry on what oh will carry wait Gro groom will carry she considers herself the life of any party but everyone knows she is truly boring on September 17th truly gold of Huntington Beach tied the knot with Carrie s boring of Balo Island and legally took his name now people will always call her truly boring oh my it's stuff like that that I feel like you cannot make this stuff up like that is well you thought I made it up you thought I made it up I did I did literally five seconds ago I did five seconds ago you said Mark you made this up it's cocka me oh Mark I I love you so much before I let you go I want to know what are you the most grateful for today I mean it's cheesy but honestly right now in this moment I believe that gratitude is about being in the present moment so I am the most grateful right now for you I am the most grateful right now for sitting here and talking with someone that is a true friend and a true um like you know my heart song I mean you of of I do have a lot of friends but you are one of those friends that like knows the song of my heart and sings it back to me when I forgotten the words I'm going to just make a book of all the things that come out of your mouth how dare you oh here's the thing none of them are of me so don't worry about that but I do remember quotes and I do love them and I do believe that people do say some pretty powerful things so I like to share them how can people find you well come to my house no I'm kidding uh online I'm M as in Mark curan k r i a an or Broadway best's podcast follow both of those y'all they're both great or go to Mark karan. comom or go to bhlm magazine.com by the way I just have to tell this quick story real quick went to Starbucks and they asked me my name and I said it's it's Mark with a K okay and when I got my Starbucks order it was K A R C Kirk what Mark with a K they put the K at the beginning Mark with a yeah that was a new one that was I not with people are I can't okay I love you thank you so much for this heartfelt morning I love you you are a gem on this planet on this Earth and in my heart and Andrew and I are so grateful to have you in our lives but I got to know you first so you did you you have known me longer than you've known Andrew yeah and I can't believe I met you guys around the same time that is wild that is wild what did I iconic time yeah thanks I love you I love you too thanks for joining see you