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[0:01] Alan Seales: Did the team ever work with Dustin Hoffman at all, or was he just kind of like...

[0:04] Unknown speaker: He was not, no, he was not involved. No, he was not.

[0:07] Alan Seales: Oh, we'll cut that question.

[0:09] Unknown speaker: Okay.

[0:10] Alan Seales: Kind of was sort of a non-starter. Didn't really go anywhere with that, but I guess if you have to answer your question, no.

[0:19] Unknown speaker: This is a collect call from...

[0:21] Unknown speaker: The Theatre Podcast.

[0:23] Unknown speaker: Bringing you exclusive behind-the-scenes access to...

[0:26] Unknown speaker: The Theatre Awards Season 2019.

[0:29] Unknown speaker: This is Cereal. Part of a Broadway-Lover's Complete Breakfast.

[0:34] Unknown speaker: In this special five-part mini-series, we bring you stories and interviews from some of the most hard-to-access places throughout the month of May, leading up to the red carpet and press room of the Tony Awards themselves, which took place on June 9th, 2019.

[0:49] Unknown speaker: Part 2 continues with the 64th Annual Drama Desk Awards, which were held on Sunday, June 2nd, at 8pm at the Town Hall in New York City.

[0:58] Unknown speaker: This episode focuses specifically on the red carpet leading up to the Drama Desk Awards.

[1:02] Unknown speaker: The red carpet itself was located a few doors down from the Town Hall Theatre, on the corner of 43rd and 6th Avenue.

[1:08] Unknown speaker: In what seems to be a common theme so far, it had just finished raining earlier that day.

[1:13] Unknown speaker: After I checked in with the press team at the door, I was shown to my spot.

[1:17] Unknown speaker: The Theatre Podcast was printed neatly on a piece of paper on the floor, indicating my exact place to stand.

[1:24] Unknown speaker: I was lucky enough to be positioned next to a very nice man named Keith, host of another Broadway podcast called Curtain Call with Keith Price.

[1:31] Unknown speaker: We take a moment to get to know each other there and sing the praises of the press agents, who without the knowledge or praise of the general public, help make these wonderful events happen.

[1:41] Alan Seales: I think the unsung heroes of this whole stuff are the press agents.

[1:44] Unknown speaker: Oh, they would believe that too.

[1:48] Alan Seales: Well, they help keep the order. The night began around 6.30pm when the first guests began to arrive.

[1:54] Alan Seales: The Drama Desk Awards are special to me because, unlike the Tony Awards, they have nominees from Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway shows, all combined in the same categories.

[2:04] Alan Seales: We start our conversations with Rick and Jeff Cooperman, nominated for Best Choreography for Alice by Heart, who have nothing but kind words to say about the importance of the Off-Broadway community in the Broadway world.

[2:15] Rick Cooperman: I think Off-Broadway is such a brilliant place to really take risks. It's a big sandbox where you can go and try out some really kind of on-the-border ideas.

[2:26] Jeff Cooperman: You know, part of that is just based on the economics, right? Like, you're not loading in a massive show into this theatre where you have these kind of big fiduciary responsibilities. You can just kind of go in there, make a light show, but one that's really kind of art-first, if you will.

[2:43] Rick Cooperman: Yeah, and keeping it light in that way and relying on the talent of the performers and the designers to keep it under certain constraints, tying your hand behind your back like that produces beautiful results.

[3:00] Alan Seales: History-making Drama Desk winner and Tony Award winner Ali Stroker also had thoughts on the same subject.

[3:07] Ali Stroker: Well, Off-Broadway shows are equally as important as all the Broadway shows happening because they're able to reach more people. And not only that, but it gives shows the chance to really develop. And that's what we were able to do at St. Ann's. It was really beautiful that we were able to really work on a show and do the run and find more things so that it was even in better shape to come to Broadway.

[3:35] George Salazar: So I love the Drama Desk because they recognize kind of the whole gamut of theatre in New York. But, you know, I feel like Broadway's better because of Off-Broadway, especially shows that have a life Off-Broadway and then transferred to Broadway. There's a certain exciting, risk-taking quality of Off-Broadway that doesn't really get to happen on Broadway. So when a production gets to have that, I think it's nothing but good.

[4:13] Sarah Stiles: You can take some more risks, so that's where we're getting work that's, you know, that's, it's not that it's more challenging, it's just, it's new. There's a lot more new work and there's not as much pressure to fill those houses, you know. So you can experiment a little bit more and that's where the juicy stuff really happens. And then sometimes, like with Hand to God, you get to move to Broadway after that. So Off-Broadway is so important.

[4:54] Alan Seales: However, I realized that in order to find out what truly makes amazing individuals uniquely human, that I would have to ask some non-standard questions. Unsurprisingly, these red carpets are still pinch-me moments for most people.

[5:06] David Yazbek: When you were a little kid, these moments, these red carpet moments, the awards, the ceremonies, did you ever picture yourself being here? Did you know you would want to be here at this stage in your life?

[5:19] David Yazbek: No. In fact, it sort of looked like the last place I wanted to be.

[5:27] Alan Seales: Really? Why is that?

[5:28] David Yazbek: I don't know. I always imagined myself on a stage with a rock band or something, never on a red carpet.

[5:34] Alan Seales: Did you play instruments when you were a kid?

[5:35] David Yazbek: Of course.

[5:37] Alan Seales: So when did you get into the theater side of things?

[5:40] David Yazbek: About 20 years ago. I just sort of fell into it. It's been good to me, as they say.

[5:48] Alan Seales: Yes, it certainly has. That's very good. And I guess, did you have a supportive family, a supportive parents? Were you kind of like the black sheep that went into the arts?

[5:57] David Yazbek: I had a theater-loving, two theater-loving parents. We lived in Manhattan. I grew up in Manhattan. They went to the theater all the time, and to the opera, and to the symphony, and to jazz bands, and stuff like that. So I had a good shot at seeing stuff and hearing stuff, and I went to a lot of theater.

[6:22] Stephen Skybell: What does this mean for you to be a part of this today? The Drama Desk is Off-Off-Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Broadway all together, and you're celebrating the arts. You're celebrating theater in general. What does this mean to you?

[6:43] Stephen Skybell: Well, as a musical that started down at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, Off-Off-Broadway, Off-Broadway, and now to be Off-Broadway on 42nd Street, and to be acknowledged and celebrated with some of the heavy hitters is very rewarding, and it is a pinch-me moment a little bit. Not only that me, an old dog of a performer, is now in this illustrious crowd, but that a musical in Yiddish could be celebrated in sort of the best of New York theater is unprecedented.

[7:18] Alan Seales: Shifting gears a little, I decided to ask a few people to reflect on the aspirations of their younger selves. We start with Corbin Bleu, also nominated for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance in Kiss Me Kate.

[7:31] Corbin Bleu: I started performing at a really early age. I started at two years old. My father's an actor as well, so I grew up in the entertainment industry. My first Off-Broadway production was when I was six, so it's always been a part of my life. I've always loved it. As far as knowing that one day I would be standing here on the red carpet as a Drama Desk nominee, no, I didn't. Never foresaw that. I am honored.

[7:58] Alan Seales: It's beautiful. I'm getting similar answers from people. They're humbled by this. They don't know how they got here, but they just kind of go along with it. Do you ever feel any sort of imposter syndrome, or are you just rolling with it just because it's another Sunday?

[8:15] Corbin Bleu: You do feel that sometimes, and that's the same thing. You can't let those things affect you. I know how much blood, sweat, and tears I put onto that stage every single day, so the recognition is a beautiful thing. At the same time, I'm not expecting anything today. I'm just really, truly honored and humbled by the nomination.

[8:33] Stephanie Hsu: I could not have even dreamed of the reality that I'm living inside of right now, which is, you know, the awards and all the stuff. This is really cool. But more than that, the community of artists that is around me and that I can call my family is so insanely beautiful. And I think as a young child, I just—how could you possibly even know your life could be so remarkable?

[9:14] Alan Seales: When did you know you wanted to be involved with theater and performing at all?

[9:18] Stephanie Hsu: So when I was really young, like in the second grade, we had an assembly, like a lemonade assembly, and you just—I got to read—

[9:25] Alan Seales: What's a lemonade? What do you mean?

[9:27] Stephanie Hsu: Well, I just held a box of empty lemonade, and I got to read off of a piece of cardstock, like, buy this lemonade. And I remember thinking to myself, oh, you know, this could be really fun, but I should probably do something more practical with my life. So I think the seed was planted very early, but it wasn't until much later in my teenage years that I was like, oh, this can—you can actually do this for a living.

[9:52] Alan Seales: Stephanie and Be More Chill was one of three shows that had a recent off-Broadway run and transferred to Broadway this season, another being Oklahoma. Speaking with Mary Testa, who was nominated for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical against fellow castmate Ali Stroker, took a moment to talk about the transition from off-Broadway to the Broadway stage.

[10:11] Mary Testa: Do you find that Oklahoma has changed between the off-Broadway and the Broadway productions?

[10:15] Mary Testa: Yeah, there's been little changes. It's—most of the bones of it are the same, but, you know, theater is a living, breathing thing, and so a show breathes, you know.

[10:23] Alan Seales: Are the audiences different between the two venues?

[10:26] Mary Testa: Yeah. Yeah, every audience is different, yeah.

[10:29] Alan Seales: I mean, in general, is an off-Broadway audience more forgiving or more—

[10:33] Mary Testa: No, people are people, and they're going to, you know, they're going to misbehave. What I scream about in every interview is, put your cell phones away, stop looking at your phones, stop eating, and just sit down and be quiet for three hours.

[10:47] Alan Seales: Bringing in the only nomination from King Lear for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, Ruth Wilson, star of The Big Screen, Small Screen, and, of course, the Broadway stage, took a moment to discuss her love of the theater.

[10:59] Ruth Wilson: I've done lots of plays back home. That's really where I feel I belong, actually, on the stage. So, I have to go back and do stage every few years, and I've done—it's my second show now on Broadway, and I love it, and I've never done Shakespeare before, so you guys have seen me before. The Brits have, which is Shakespeare, yeah. So, you know, I love theater. I have to do it, and it's where I can get to fully let out my engine and express myself properly.

[11:26] Alan Seales: Do you get the same kind of artistic fulfillment doing TV and film that you do being on stage?

[11:31] Ruth Wilson: They're different, but, yeah, I get—you know, it's the same thing. You're approaching the character the same way. It's just, I suppose, the actual doing of it, you have to interact with an audience, and that's, like, exhilarating and filled with adrenaline, which you don't get, necessarily, from film and TV. They're different.

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[15:59] Robert Horne: Next up, none other than Hermes himself, Andre De Shields, who later took home the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical.

[16:08] Andre De Shields: You have been in this business for such an amazing...

[16:12] Andre De Shields: Half a century.

[16:13] Andre De Shields: Half a century.

[16:14] Andre De Shields: Half a century, yeah, 50 years.

[16:15] Andre De Shields: How have you seen this change over time? Like these red carpets, these award ceremonies, how are things different?

[16:20] Andre De Shields: Well, I've got to tell you, the red carpet never changes.

[16:23] Andre De Shields: But, the people who are photographed on the red carpet do evolve.

[16:29] Andre De Shields: We have to.

[16:31] Andre De Shields: Otherwise, we can't have sustainability and we can't have longevity.

[16:36] Andre De Shields: In an industry that guarantees only two things, and it's not fame and fortune, it's rejection and insecurity.

[16:44] Andre De Shields: So, we keep coming back to the red carpet.

[16:47] Andre De Shields: The more we mature, the more we achieve security, and the more people want to talk to us.

[16:53] Andre De Shields: There was a time I would walk on the red carpet and they would go, oh.

[16:58] Andre De Shields: But now, they won't.

[17:01] Alan Seales: Well, you showed up in style, my friend.

[17:04] Andre De Shields: But you know what this style is called? And my brother here can attest to it.

[17:09] Andre De Shields: This is called incognigro.

[17:12] Andre De Shields: Am I right, or am I right? Boom! We don't lie.

[17:17] Rachel Hawk: Rachel Hawk, who was nominated for Outstanding Set Design for a musical, satisfied my curiosity on how she approached designing a set, specifically Hadestown, and what method she used to get the visualization from her mind to the stage.

[17:31] Rachel Hawk: It is four years of exploring, of trying to find the best way to tell this intimate, beautiful, perfect story that does not need scenery to illustrate it, but it needs emotion.

[17:45] Rachel Hawk: So, trying to find a way to put an emotion on stage turns out to be tricky.

[17:49] Alan Seales: Right, and does it start with, talk me through the technical process, because for someone who doesn't know, do you start with models, do you start with drawings? How does the whole thing go?

[17:59] Rachel Hawk: Well, everybody does it differently. I start with models. I feel like I'm a bit more of a sculptor than a renderer, and so for me, I need to see it in three dimensions to understand how it's going to feel.

[18:10] Rachel Hawk: Hadestown has been through an extraordinary process. We have done, this is our fourth full production. They have all looked different, and every step along the way has been exploring this thing about what holds the story well, what's the best way to let the audience, let their imagination take over.

[18:32] Rachel Hawk: So, the way you do that, man, is just a lot of, what is the right way to say that? Reinvention, I suppose.

[18:41] Alan Seales: Yeah, and gosh, the lights coming out over the stage during Wait For Me, every time that gets me, I know it's coming, and I'm still like, I can't wait for that moment, and it's so wonderful.

[18:53] Rachel Hawk: It feels to me like your chest is ripping open.

[18:56] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[18:57] Rachel Hawk: I mean, it just feels like, but that's a moment of such perfect collaboration between so many departments to make that one moment feel like that.

[19:06] Alan Seales: Wrapping up for Hadestown, I continue with director Rachel Chavkin, speaking about how she put together the entire creative team, including some of the people we just heard from, and why it's such an important responsibility to do so.

[19:18] Rachel Chavkin: One of the director's most important jobs is to assemble a team, so there were many different conversations that happened along the way, certainly, but yeah, it's like the director's job is sort of to be the go-between of all these amazing brains.

[19:32] Rachel Chavkin: So you're basically like a project manager.

[19:35] Rachel Chavkin: You are both the, like, hopefully you have some really good initial things that send people running in a unified direction, and maybe there's a lot of natural thinking and lateral thinking, and then you come back together.

[19:55] Alan Seales: As part two of this serial miniseries wraps, we would be remiss if we didn't include some answers to our standard closing questions we ask everyone on every full-length podcast episode. We begin with Dominique Morisseau, nominated for Outstanding Book of a Musical for Ain't Too Proud.

[20:10] Dominique Morisseau: The question is, simply, what motivates you?

[20:13] Dominique Morisseau: I think the people that I see around me motivate me. What's happening in the world motivates me to tell stories, you know? I think when injustice happens, I get very motivated by, as an artist, to try to give voice to those injustices, you know? And I think when humanity happens, when random acts of humanity happen, I get very inspired by that as well.

[20:38] Dominique Morisseau: What advice would you give to your younger self or younger people now starting out down a similar path?

[20:42] Dominique Morisseau: You can't please everybody. That was really something that I wish I had known when I was younger. You're so worried about what everybody else thinks. You're so worried about trying to please every single person. You can. You just got to do you at the end of the day. Just do your best. Work hard.

[21:00] Dominique Morisseau: Which I think I finally figured out, I think, for the most part, which is it all falls into place. So just keep doing the work, baby girl. Just keep doing the work and keep the faith and surround yourself with people that are positive, that support you, whether you're in a show or not. Keep moving forward.

[21:22] Dominique Morisseau: I mean, you just mentioned about me possibly being the first black woman in this category in a really long time. So I would probably tell myself, it may be hard for you to see a lot of reflections of yourself in what you want to do, but stay the course.

[21:39] Andre De Shields: 50 years ago, if you could talk to yourself, what would you say?

[21:42] Andre De Shields: Andre, there is no one like you. There has never been anyone like you. And there will never be anyone like you. Therefore, know thyself, be thyself.

[22:00] Alan Seales: And if you can only see one show for the rest of your life, but you can see it as many times as you want, what would you say?

[22:11] Andre De Shields: Well, I was praising the Nancy Tootsie tonight.

[22:14] Alan Seales: There you go. Fair enough.

[22:16] Andre De Shields: Probably a strange downtown drag show from the late 80s, 90s. Black Lips Performance Cult. They did a version of Star Wars I will never forget. That is a... It's an obscure reference, but it's a very real thing. I've asked a lot of people that question, and that is the best answer I can give.

[22:37] Andre De Shields: Lord, maybe at the moment, Kinky Boots.

[22:44] Alan Seales: Okay, good answer.

[22:48] Andre De Shields: Oh my goodness.

[22:50] Andre De Shields: This is not fair.

[22:53] Andre De Shields: Oh my goodness.

[22:56] Andre De Shields: Is it wrong to say Carmen Jones?

[22:58] Alan Seales: Not at all.

[22:59] Andre De Shields: Can I just say that?

[23:02] Alan Seales: Absolutely.

[23:04] Andre De Shields: I would be like a clone of myself, and I'd be watching like, that's awful. But that's all that came to mind.

[23:12] Alan Seales: Thanks for listening to episode two of Serial, part of a Broadway lover's complete breakfast. Visit us online via theater underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter, via thetheaterpodcast.com, or send us an email via feedback at thetheaterpodcast.com. And make sure to follow Parodybill on Instagram for more amazing Playbill mashups.