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[0:29] Alan Seales: Hello everyone! Welcome to a very special live episode of The Theatre Podcast. I am your host, Alan Seales, and today we are celebrating PRIDE. In my opinion, there is no better way to celebrate than to discuss one of my all-time favorite Broadway shows with one of my all-time favorite people. So if you're like me, you've probably heard the word PRIDE for many years without really understanding where it came from. So I have some words for you. PRIDE is a positive emotional response or attitude to something with an intimate connection to oneself due to its perceived value. So as it relates to June now, gay PRIDE or LGBT PRIDE is the promotion of self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people as a social group.

But I want to expand this way beyond LGBT because there is so much more to cover now. LGBTQQIP2SAA, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, pansexual, two-spirit, androgynous, and asexual, everything. Be who you are, be who you want to be, and have pride in this. And there is no show on Broadway that I can think of that has more pride found pouring out of its pores than The Prom. And of course, The Prom, if you've been living under a rock, is a musical with music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beglin, and a book by Bob Martin and Beglin based on an original concept by Jack Vertell. It was brought to the Broadway stage by my Broadway Podcast Network co-founder, four-time Tony winner Dori Berinstein. And to help me kick this off, let's bring on Matt, Bob, and Dori.

[2:20] Matthew Sklar: Hello!

[2:21] Bob Martin: Hello!

[2:22] Dori Berinstein: Hello!

[2:23] Alan Seales: That was an old picture, wow. Yeah, I was smiling way too hard. It was lives ago. It was funny because I googled Matthew Sklar headshot, and there's like three in a row that come up at the top of Google, and you have literally the identical smile, but different backgrounds. It looks like someone just photoshopped you into different backgrounds.

[2:48] Matthew Sklar: That sounds about right. Well, thank you all. Thank you for joining me. Excuse my purple tint, my webcam. I have a green screen, obviously, and my webcam does not like it. So I'm just going to be purple this whole hour. But I want to dive in, and this is a pride celebration. We're talking about The Prom. And again, in my intro, I keep going back to The Prom as something that as a straight man, I related so much to this in that there's so much that everyone can learn about this story and learn from everything that goes on in The Prom. And I want to kind of hand it over to the three of you and just tell me and everybody watching, why was it important to create this story? Why even spend the time on this?

[3:30] Matthew Sklar: You know, when I was growing up in the 1980s in New Jersey, I had close friends and teachers that were gay. And most of them hit it because they were afraid. And I saw how painful that was for them. And I just knew it wasn't okay. And it wasn't right. So writing The Prom, I thought about my friends from those days. I thought about them a lot. And, you know, if there had been a show like The Prom back then, maybe that representation and a joyful story about two gay teenagers could have helped them somehow. And I recently did a talk back with a high school. And afterwards, I received a message from one of the students. And it said, let me just bring it up real quick. It said, I really want to say thank you because I'm a lesbian and your musical helped me come out to my friends.

I really just want to say thank you because your work changed my life forever. Thank you so, so, so much. So it was, you know, very emotional for me to get that message from her. And that's what it's all about. And I think that's why working on the show has been the most meaningful thing I think I've ever done. And I hope the kind of response continues as the show gets back on stage and goes to places where people may feel alone, maybe it will help. And so it's been a great thing to be a part of. And, you know, I'm as big of an ally as you can possibly get to the LGBTQ community. And, you know, I'm proud to be one of their great supporters, so.

[5:10] Alan Seales: 100%. I don't want to derail the movement here, the motivation. I just want to point out Dory is having technical problems. Dory got a new computer. The heat in New York is just causing everyone's internet to go on the fritz.

[5:16] Bob Martin: It's melting the internet.

[5:21] Alan Seales: Yes, it's literally melting the internet. I'm going to pop Dory out. If she comes back, then we'll pop her back in. Bob, let's throw it to you then. And how were you connected to the show, aside from, of course, helping create it? But why did this resonate with you?

[5:34] Bob Martin: Well, it's interesting. You began with this sort of definition of pride. And I think that's an essential reading of The Prom is our protagonist's pride in herself. And it is really ultimately a story of personal empowerment. I mean, a lot of people try and help her and all of these people are uninformed. And she's the one who actually has pride in who she is and understands who she is and is courageous enough to, you know, cut through all the shit and be herself. So in that sense, it was a very universal, very inspiring story. You know, I'm straight. And when I was young, working my way through college, I worked at Casey House Foundation, which was an AIDS hospice in Toronto. I worked there for years.

And it's not as heroic as it sounds because I was in the office part. But I remember the prejudice and the fear and the judgment even from people I knew about me working at a hospital. It was ridiculous. I think it's disgusting. And so I agree with Matt that this show is the most important thing I've ever written. And all of the authors have gotten feedback like the text that Matt was quoting. We've all gotten wonderful emails and texts from people who feel that this started the conversation for them. So yeah, I mean, I feel so proud of this show. And I can't wait for it to be out there in high schools, which is the next step.

[7:17] Alan Seales: Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting that you said that you felt the prejudice even as a straight person. And it didn't occur to me that I felt the same sort of thing being in theater, being in boys choir when I was younger, and then in the madrigals in high school and then performing and wanting to be on stage. It was very much a name-calling and a stereotype reinforcing sort of scenario. And I think that, of course, Pride and my parents, I attribute a lot of this to them too, is that on the same respect, the same thing, what you two were talking about, it's our protagonist having pride in herself. And it's me just saying, let's do this. I'm going to have, I'm going to take pride in who I am and really enjoy it.

And I guess there's the other side of it, right? So there's a side of it from my perspective and me just being who I am and then everything else about, I cannot imagine not being able to be who I am. And it's, I just got a text from Dory. She had a power outage. So the heat in New York has caused Dory's house to implode. Let's see. I'm going to text her back. Let's see. Call in from your phone if you can. Cool. All right. So maybe she'll be back. So what I'm saying, yeah. So the actual, for the people that, I guess there's two sides of everything, right? And so there's the queer community and there's the straight community. And I don't want to make it so, I guess, black and white like that. It's definitely not because there's a whole spectrum we were talking about at the very beginning of everything.

But I guess from the two of you, from your perspective, how can both sides, I hate that I'm saying both sides, but how can everyone across the sexual spectrum benefit from, really benefit from hearing the story and understanding what these characters are going through?

[9:15] Bob Martin: Well, I mean, first of all, I think the story, you know, a story is a story. It's a construction in order to get a message across. So we hope that everyone can sort of spot themselves in our story in some way, whether they're someone like Mrs. Green, who is really controlled by fear and, you know, and a misguided attempt to help her daughter, or someone like Barry, who so wants to help her, but is completely ignorant to the realities of her situation. Like, I think we try to hit everybody on the enlightenment spectrum in our show. And I hope everybody can find themselves, as I say. But ultimately, it's about, as we say, ironically, in the show, it is ultimately about acceptance, about accepting everyone for who they are, and understanding, you know, how love should really work.

[10:29] Alan Seales: Yeah, love, love is love. It's funny you said scale, there's one of the comments here, on a scale of one to a bucket of wigs, how gay are we all? I think we're all, we're all somewhere, we all should be closer to the bucket of wigs. Karen says, you guys wrote an absolutely brilliant show and a story that needed to be told, and 100% yeah, the music, when I was putting these assets together, I was, I was starting to cry because the opening number, I just, oh, I can't, I can't do it. It's, it's so great. But I want to now, let's bring in some of the cast, because I think hopefully, technology, cooperation willing here that we're, we'll be able to talk with some of them. All right, here we go.

[11:16] Alan Seales: Hello, Karen!

[11:18] Caitlin Kinnunen: That was an entrance.

[11:23] Alan Seales: Well, while Caitlyn, oh, Caitlyn is unmuted. There we go. There we go. How are you all doing? Oh my god, Caitlyn, you're on the West Coast. Izzy, I don't know where you are. You're probably here on the East Coast, because you're having tech issues.

[11:31] Isabelle McCalla: Yes!

[11:35] Alan Seales: Michael, you are, Michael, you're, you're actually down South, but you are cooler than we are. But when Caitlyn, Josh, I know you're in New York, we talk all the time. I would like to tell people that I am in New York. I also didn't know prom was about gay things.

[11:56] Josh Lamon: Subtext.

[11:59] Alan Seales: Oh, I'm not good at that. Okay, Josh, Caitlyn, Michael, Izzy. Josh, I'm gonna start with you. When you were first presented with the script, or were called in for the audition, and what, what did you first think about when you were reading the script? You're like, this is about, this is a story that I've never seen on Broadway before. What was going through your head?

[12:16] Josh Lamon: Well, honestly, like I was first signed on to do, to be in the ensemble of the Broadway first 29 hour reading. And so I didn't read the script till I heard everybody else say it out loud, because I was like, I don't even know if I have lines, let's just hear what they're doing. And I also didn't know what to expect. It was called like working title was like prom, I think, question mark.

[12:42] Isabelle McCalla: It was like untitled prom musical.

[12:46] Josh Lamon: Yeah, untitled prom musical. And going into it, I was like, I'm not a teenager. Like, what am I gonna do in this? And I was so blown away. I felt things that you, that you want to feel when you go to the theater that you want to feel when you're doing a reading. And, you know, not to be mean, but a lot of readings don't really give you those feels when you feel seen on so many levels. You know,

[13:16] Caitlin Kinnunen: Dory's back!

[13:18] Alan Seales: Dory's back!

[13:19] Caitlin Kinnunen: Yay!

[13:20] Alan Seales: You got your power back.

[13:22] Dori Berinstein: Yes!

[13:23] Josh Lamon: So I don't know, it just really blew me away, especially between Barry and Emma, I just felt so much of myself and both of them, both of their joys, both of their sadness, because the journey to pride, to being proud, is not an easy one. There's a lot of grieving involved. So I don't know, I really related on that sort of level with them.

[13:50] Alan Seales: So Caitlin and Izzy, too, I know the two of you, I don't want to speak for you at all. And I want to, I want to actually hear about some of your, your personal journey through all of this and how being the two leads in the show, two of the leads that are going through all of this sort of discovery, self-discovery and realization of pride, how that's affected you personally in your life now?

[14:17] Caitlin Kinnunen: Question that has so many answers for both of us. I think you kind of hit it on the head, though, by saying the realization of PRIDE. You know, I think, again, not putting words in Izzy's mouth, but like we both started the project at a very different point in our journeys than we ended the project. And so when I started doing the show at that 29-hour reading, I was 24. I identified as straight. And I was like, I don't know what we're doing, but it's cool. And it was just this amazing story that I could connect with because I had friends who were gay. And by the time we opened on Broadway, I was 28 and identified as bisexual. And so just like that growth and that realization of who I was and who I could be and the power and courage and all of that that I learned through playing Emma was, there's nothing like it. And I'm forever grateful for the gift that playing Emma gave me to figure out who I, Caitlin, am. Izzy, what about you?

[15:31] Isabelle McCalla: Yeah, I'm hoping that you can hear me. And I'm going in and out. Oh, gosh. Oh, gosh. Personally, I would say that, oh, can you hear me?

[15:44] Alan Seales: We can hear you.

[15:44] Isabelle McCalla: Keep going. We got you.

[15:46] Isabelle McCalla: Okay, great. Okay, okay, okay, good. I also started out frazzled like this. But I identified as straight at the beginning of this process as well. But it's interesting. I, like Alyssa Green, spent way too much time and energy letting other people determine my worth and letting other people get the right to tell me what I was. And so even though pretty much my entire life, I had been attracted to women and have had relationships with women, I felt like I was not allowed to claim that I was bisexual, because I had never been in a romantic relationship with one long term. And I was actually speaking with the fans of the show that really kind of gave me the freedom to allow my identity to evolve. I went on this podcast called Thank You for Coming Out, actually. And we had a really good conversation about, you know, how young girls when they're nine years old.

[17:00] Alan Seales: Oh, no.

[17:02] Isabelle McCalla: I was so into that.

[17:10] Alan Seales: I can finish the story.

[17:14] Isabelle McCalla: Hopefully, she will come back. We'll put okay, so when she was when girls are nine years old. All right, that's where we were. Michael, I'm going to shift over.

[17:17] Alan Seales: Which is going to be an Alyssa Green song in the tour.

[17:20] Isabelle McCalla: Yes, when girls are nine years old. Michael as Oh, oh, Izzy's back.

[17:25] Alan Seales: Izzy's back.

[17:27] Isabelle McCalla: I think she is.

[17:28] Isabelle McCalla: When girls are nine years old.

[17:30] Alan Seales: When girls are nine years old. Quick, quick. When girls are nine years old. That's where we lost you.

[17:34] Isabelle McCalla: When girls are nine years old. You hear me?

[17:36] Alan Seales: Yes.

[17:39] Isabelle McCalla: When girl, okay, when girls are nine years old, they know that they're gay, even without having kissed a girl before. And so I'm allowed to be bisexual, just by knowing that within myself. And that is the end of my story.

[17:59] Michael Potts: So Michael, Michael, as your character in the show, too, is sort of like the bridge, I think, between the New York liberals and the Indiana conservatives. And, and so you in life, too, I, I guess, how would how did this relate to you approaching this subject matter? I want to avoid the like, how did you build your character? That's an old gold question. But approaching the subject matter and being a being the firm, like, I understand what both sides are going through. How did you put that into effect?

[18:31] Michael Potts: Well, I think, I mean, what was great about Principal Hawkins is that he, he saw and respected the humanity on both sides. I think he clearly has his own journey and a certain understanding. I don't think he would ever say he understands what Emma's journey is, but he does understand some bit of what it may be to be different, you know, to not be like the majority, for obvious reasons. So I think there's a certain sensitivity there. But I think he also respects the community he's in. He doesn't think that these are idiots or stupid people. He just thinks that perhaps they're just frightened people who see the world changing or, or, or their expectations for their children may be different from what they had imagined. It was the same thing. You know, that's been my journey in my life as well.

[19:33] Michael Potts: As a black gay man, that's a whole other thing. The idea of coming out, the idea of, in a sense, risking losing one community, and not necessarily being accepted into the next community. So I think a lot of that, Principal Hawkins understood.

[19:56] Alan Seales: Can I ask about that? As someone who is white presenting, and I identify as straight, you said that you feel like you would lose one community by accepting another. Expand on that a little bit, because I think a lot of people might not realize that that's an issue for some people.

[20:15] Michael Potts: When I grew up, let's say I came of age in the 80s, being out was still a scary thing. And we were also in the middle of the AIDS epidemic as well. So we were facing that. So the idea of being out was a terrifying thing. And if you come from an African American background, a very religious one, so you had that piled on top. So in a sense, you ran the risk, do you lose your family? And then by extension, do you lose that other community, that the broader community that your family is in? And perhaps not being accepted into the wider gay community, which we saw at that time was basically white presenting. So you ran the risk of not having a place if you came out. So I think it was that kind of, a lot of that pressure that I think a lot of it. I came out at 17.

[21:10] Alan Seales: Oh, wow.

[21:11] Michael Potts: Yeah, I came out at 17. But still, it wasn't an easy thing. And I think the great thing about the drama is just watching these kids, just the bravery of Emma, and the bravery of all the other young people in the show. And I think I could channel that through Mr. Hawkins. I think he really appreciated how forthright, how self-possessed Emma is, and how that began to affect the larger community. Well, I want to come back to that, actually, and the actual actors in the show in relation to the characters. But I want to get back to a question I had for Dori before her power went out. And then we can say bye to Matt, Bob, and Dori. Dori, the creation of the show, being a producer, a lead producer, is one of probably, as I understand it, the hardest things anyone can choose to do in this business.

And so when you're picking your projects and hearing, I actually like that we're asking this question halfway through now, but hearing what you said, what everyone said about what Pride means to them, and coming out, and how it's changed them personally. How did any of that, I guess, relate to your decision to take on this project? And what was your big impetus for deciding to put, and I can tell, your heart and soul into bringing this show to Broadway?

[22:32] Dori Berinstein: Well, you know, back in 2011, when I first had a conversation with Matt, and Bob, and Chad, and Casey, and it was... Casey Nicholaw.

[22:43] Alan Seales: Yes, the director, choreographer, amazing.

[22:43] Dori Berinstein: And it was a blank page. It was an idea that Jack Fratell had. And for starters, it was a story that I hadn't heard before. It was a story that I just immediately knew had to be told. And it was just so important to get that message out there and to have it be told by these genius creators. You know, so it was this brilliant idea about bringing the world together, about acceptance, and tolerance, and who knew what was on the horizon as far as the division of our country. Had no idea back in 2011 of what was to come. But, you know, it was a never been able to say yes so fast to an idea, and a beautiful concept for a story, and with complete confidence that these genius creators were going to be able to bring it to life in a way that would also not be speaking to the people already on this side of the issue.

But the idea from the get go was how do we tell the story so that everyone will come and see it, and everybody will love it and enjoy it. And maybe while they're there, their entire lives will turn upside down, and their hearts and minds will change because they didn't even know what it was about, you know? And so the idea of getting this story out there to help make the world a better place was absolutely from the get go a top priority and something that motivated me tremendously. It was also getting to work with these great artists, and again, believing that theater just has an incredible ability, just a power to make change and to have an impact on people's lives all over the world. So easy yes, and look what happened.

[25:00] Alan Seales: Thank you. Yeah, it's exploded into this international thing. I actually, I was going to save this for a little later, but I put out a call on social for fan art, and there is just some incredible, incredible, incredible fan art that was sent to me. A lot of the, a lot of the kissing, of course, because I think that that just resonates with so many people to be able to show that and be able to see that, and it's absolutely incredible. I mean, I could, this one, Painting Daylight on Instagram, just oh my god, phenomenal. These are all amazing. Thank you for everybody who actually, who sent these in, and for everybody who created them. So yeah, I love that it's reached so many people, but Dory, Matt, Bob, thank you so much. We're going to say goodbye to you, and we'll continue on with the cast. Thank you so much. I love you all so much. You're tearing us apart.

[25:56] Dori Berinstein: We'll do it again. We'll do it again. All right. Bye-bye.

[26:01] Alan Seales: I would just like to say that there was not any Hawkins Sheldon fan art in what you showed, and it's really telling. I think I'm done with this live. Yeah. The show, I want to go back, Michael, to what I was saying, what you were saying a second ago. The cast in the show was all incredibly young. It was, is your camera okay there?

[26:30] Josh Lamon: Yeah, so Josh, what you said too, you're like, I'm not in high school. What am I going to do in this show? But Michael and Josh and the other actors of a certain age are combined with these kids who at the time were in their early 20s and through the 10 years of the show have gone on to discover themselves. And Michael, as you're watching, they're going through their 20s. You remember your 20s. I remember my 20s. That was a freaking weird time, right? And especially now, having this show and having this message and having all of these people around me, if I had this show now in my 20s, I would not be the same person I am now. I'd be much better. And so going to what you said about seeing the cast and seeing everybody grow and everybody finding their pride, just speak a little bit to watching. I'm putting you in a paternal position here a little bit. You and Beth Leavel kind of end up being the mother and father in respective ways.

[27:42] Michael Potts: You're calling us very, very sweetly, calling us old. I noticed that.

[27:49] Alan Seales: I'm calling you seasoned.

[27:57] Michael Potts: No, no, no. I just mean that I think that you have a much different perspective. You were in the same show. You were going on the same journey with everybody. But I think your perspective is slightly more, or it's more informed because you've got more life to go through. And you said you came out in a time when it wasn't okay to come out. And think about, I guess, yeah, speak to that a little bit. What was it watching these journeys of Caitlin and Izzy and the rest of the cast of discovering who they are while getting to share this message with the world eight times a week?

[28:24] Michael Potts: Truthfully, it hurt my face because I was laughing or smiling so much, quite honestly. I mean, that was...

[28:35] Michael Potts: The truth of the matter is I was constantly watching the show, and I was constantly watching them. When they would come off, I would let them know what I saw them doing. Their different little moments like that. I'll say it again. I was so impressed with the lack of self-consciousness. There was such a freedom and such an ease about everything they were doing. It was just joy, and that's infectious. I think that's what I got from watching all of them. It was just this infectious joy, this thrill. They were out there killing it. I'm sitting there watching them. I'm going, y'all are going to hurt something. You need to slow down, and maybe you shouldn't do that so hard. They were out there killing it every night with a smile on their faces, and then leaving the theater and going to the gym.

It's just some dance lesson or something like that. It was tremendous just watching them. It filled me with a great deal of pride and joy watching them. I will say that everybody really looked up to you, Michael. We shared a dressing room, and the amount of visitors coming for advice from Mr. Potts. It was like, up, which one of your children is next? Ah, Cornell, come on in. Juice, do you have a monologue you'd like to talk about?

[30:16] Alan Seales: Oh, let's see the comments. Actually, the painting daylight on Instagram, Jade, she's here. She is here. Hello, and then someone has some Sheldon fan art. Almack has some Sheldon fan art. Almack! Almack's my new best friend. Well, send it over to feedbackatthetheaterpodcast.com, and we will share it out, and we'll post it, because I want to see some Sheldon art. I want to see some art with everybody. I think it'd be a lot of fun. I want to see some Sheldon Michael Potts art in the dressing room. The devil took a dookie with a green dress on.

[30:58] Michael Potts: I think the camaraderie coming out of this show, I mean, Broadway is your family. You have a chosen family on stage, and when you get to go through this type of emotional stress, and I think it's a form of trauma, right? Caitlin, is he?

[31:18] Caitlin Kinnunen: Yes. Trauma.

[31:22] Michael Potts: Don't know what you're talking about, sir. But having to be in the closet, coming out, and having the world, like, Caitlin, you're just basically, you know, Emma was just like, screw it. I'm going to be who I am. You liberal New Yorkers don't tell me what to do. I'm going to do what I want to do, and end up, like, the message behind that, too, is, like, even as you're telling your truth and coming out, you're still finding your truth in how to come out, while holding others accountable, right? So Izzy is over there, just, like, causing all sorts of shit, and I feel like there is an emotional, it's an emotional roller coaster. It has to be. That's what makes a great show. So with everybody going through this, I know, I mean, I know all of you personally, and in the camaraderie, the friendship, the friendship is real.

The friendship is forever, and I think that, to me, is a version of spirituality. It's a version of pride, right? It's pride in who you are. It's pride in where you are and who you share, you choose to share your life with, right?

[32:32] Isabelle McCalla: 100%.

[32:34] Caitlin Kinnunen: Yeah. This show, 360 Minerstone, the show helped me come out. Thank you, Caitlin and Izzy. Thanks to your incredible acting. Gave me the confidence and courage to share this part of me. Yeah, and there have been so many stories like this. Caitlin didn't, I think it was you who told me the story, that there was somebody who was, like, if I had known what the show was about, I wouldn't have come to see it, but now I'm glad I did, and I'm going to change my life for what?

[32:58] Caitlin Kinnunen: Yeah, that happened in Atlanta during one of our shows. We had a talk back afterwards, and someone went up to, I believe it was, they went up to Bob and said, I didn't know what this was about. If I had known, I wouldn't have come, but you all changed my mind, and I think that was something that was so beautiful about the show is that we weren't, like, hitting people over the head with it. We were just opening up the space to have a conversation with them, a conversation about acceptance, about love, about who we are as individuals, and so we gave people space to talk about it, ask questions, to share their feelings, to learn and grow throughout the process of a two-and-a-half-hour musical, which is just such a beautiful thing, and, like, as you said, we are a community. We are a family, and to share that with everyone is just, it's so special.

[33:55] Michael Potts: Yeah, I watched the show, and I was there. I saw the show a couple times. I was there on closing night. The energy, the love, the love, and that's what, I think, everybody should take a lesson from all of this anyway. Like, we all just need to freaking get along, right, and accept people for who we are, but the history of Pride to me is, it's, that's still nebulous, and, Josh, I actually know you're a big history buff when it comes to this kind of stuff.

[34:27] Josh Lamon: I'm a nerd, yeah.

[34:29] Michael Potts: Well, you're a nerd anyway, but you're also a nerd when it comes to this kind of stuff, and that's why I love you, and the, I have to say, I have to admit a little bit to all of you that I'm a little bit nervous hosting this event as a straight guy who hasn't had to go through these types of challenges, and the way, and have the world look at you sometimes as, like, you're just not right simply because you are who you are. I'm nervous about how to ask these questions, and I'm nervous about how to be a good ally, and so I basically am, like, trying to push the conversation to you all to show me and to everybody listening, everybody watching, I guess, how to talk about this.

[35:16] Josh Lamon: Well, I, if, can I, can I speak a little on, like, history and all that?

[35:22] Michael Potts: Please, please, please, yes.

[35:24] Josh Lamon: I, this Pride, you know, for a lot of reasons, I was looking at a lot of pictures and of people celebrating, and it's a wonderful thing. I think Pride is for everyone, but with that said, Pride isn't just putting on a rainbow top and taking a few pills and dancing. Like, that's not what it's about. There's a really, really deep history here that started before this, but a lot of this wasn't covered by the press, so it's hard to really find out, but it's not just Stonewall. Stonewall was the event that sort of launched Pride, but it goes back to, in May 1959, the Cooper Donut riots, and that incident was considered one of the first LGBTQ uprisings in U.S. history, which led to the pick at a Whitehall Street induction center in 64 in September.

And between that, and that was protesting gays being banned from everything, but especially the military, it took 47 years after that till the ban was lifted, which goes to San Francisco Stonewall, which was the Council on Religion and the Homosexual Ball, which happened on New Year's Day in 65, where they did everything by the rules. They even let the police in San Fran know about it, and the police still showed up and attacked. But then there was the Dewey's Lunch Counter protest, which was a sit-in, because this was in Philadelphia, they wouldn't serve queer people. And so it began with a sit-in with three customers, and then eventually Dewey's gave in and started serving people, which goes to the annual reminders in 65, the Julius Sip, which was on April 21st here in New York, the Compton's Cafeteria riot, the Black Cat protests in February 11th in 67, the Patch riot in 68.

And then we have all of this stuff is bubbling. And from those events, things like the Advocate was born. So gay people were a bit in the know. We have Judy Garland dying the week, and I think the funeral might have been the day that Stonewall happened. And you have to remember, Judy Garland was hope to a lot of the queer community, especially at that time. So people were in mourning. And then Stonewall happens. And of course, we all know the beauty that came out of it. Originally, it was a riot. It was a protest. And in some ways, it still is. It was a year later on June 28th in 70, that the first march was held here in New York, LA, San Fran, and Chicago. But it wasn't the first time that LGBTQ Americans stood up.

It was just the first encounter to be covered in an enormous way by the press. But pride is also where are we going, especially with our beautiful trans siblings. An example, Angie Zabata was murdered, very sadly, a trans woman. But her murderer was the first person in US history to be convicted for a hate crime of violence against a trans person. That was in 2008, for the first time in US history. That's huge. So part of being an ally is knowing history. Part of being an ally is understanding why we pride. And we do talk about today being a safer time to come out, and it is. But for some people, it's not. And it's still illegal. I don't know the exact number. I think somewhere around 57 countries to be gay.

Dubai, an example. Some fabulous allies of mine are there now. And I'm like, you do realize that being gay is punishable by death in Dubai. The Bahamas. It's illegal. Think about the Maldives, all these luxurious places. Know your history. Know where you're shopping. Know what's going on. Anyway, that's the end of my rant. I didn't know. I didn't realize how many people, the places that I want to go, the Maldives and-

[40:06] Alan Seales: The Maldives.

[40:06] Josh Lamon: The Maldives. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Josh. What was the other place you said it was the Maldives and what was the other Caribbean-

[40:11] Alan Seales: The Bahamas.

[40:13] Josh Lamon: The Bahamas. Yeah. Dubai, there are so many places where it's illegal.

[40:16] Alan Seales: Right. Well, I'm going to use this as opportunity for set change. There we go.

[40:21] Michael Potts: Oh, great. All right. There we go.

[40:26] Alan Seales: Yes. Gosh, so these comments here are just pouring in. There's so much love. Young folks see themselves in the show. And I didn't realize that in 2008, they didn't start, or the first person convicted of a hate crime. I am a negative blood type, so my blood types were- Anyway, I get- There's, during COVID, emergency blood declaration all over the place, and gay men still- Gay women, too? Or is it just gay men still can't donate blood?

[40:56] Josh Lamon: I think it's just gay men. I'm not positive. They have a rule. They're like, if you haven't had sex in three months, then you can. But I'm like, well, eat a dick. You don't have sex for three months, and then I'll give you a vial.

[41:13] Michael Potts: And the kiss at the end of prom is by far one of my favorite moments. And the number was performed at the Macy's Day Parade, and it was the first time same-sex kiss has ever been shown on the Macy's Day Parade. And do you ever get the feeling that, oh, I'm going to have sex with a gay man? Same-sex kiss has ever been shown on the Macy's Day Parade. And do you- I know from talking with Dory how difficult it was to get that approved when they were going to do that for the parade. But Caitlin, Izzy, did you hear any of that? Did you hear those stories of like, we may have to modify this kiss? Or did you just get it as normal?

[41:57] Caitlin Kinnunen: We just showed up.

[41:59] Isabelle McCalla: Yeah. By the time we got- We rehearsed it, and the Macy's execs came to our theater to film our number. At that point, there was no question about it. That was the way our show ended. That's how we were going to perform it. And then we had our rehearsal, our camera blocking rehearsal. And I remember Casey Nicholaw pulled myself and Caitlin aside and told us, he was like, I watched it. They're not shying away from it. They're actually showing it on the camera. It's going to be- We're about to make history. This is going to be such a massive deal.

[42:28] Caitlin Kinnunen: Yeah.

[42:28] Isabelle McCalla: And I mean, thank God we had like a couple days to process that, because I will-

[42:32] Caitlin Kinnunen: Yeah.

[42:33] Isabelle McCalla: In the nine degree weather, I would have not been able to do it properly.

[42:39] Caitlin Kinnunen: Yeah, it was so cold.

[42:41] Isabelle McCalla: It was so cold. But it still like, surprises me that like, we were the first same sex kiss on Macy's Day Parade. Like, it's crazy to me for so many-

[42:53] Isabelle McCalla: These stories do not end. And to be just a starting point for them is truly so wonderful. That we got to create this world, and with Bob and Matt and Chad and Casey and everyone, and then we get to let it free and let everyone else play with it as well and find themselves. I cannot wait for Emma's in high school productions to learn from this character, to learn from this show. The idea of an actual 17-year-old girl playing Emma and going through that journey on stage with the people she's on stage with, I can't even fathom that. I have no idea if I've even answered your question.

[47:15] Josh Lamon: How do you feel? I mean, again, it's overwhelming. It's one of the best experiences of my life. The journey that I've made from this, we don't get to talk every day. Sometimes it's not for a few months, but I feel like I could, and I do, connect with people as often as I can. Some of my happiest moments of prom were sharing a dressing room with Michael and looking forward to seeing him every day. That's how my day started. It will never not blow my mind. Also, I mean, how often does an actor or performer get to originate a Broadway show? It doesn't happen that often. That's not lost on me. The fact that it happened at all is just a miracle and a blessing, because it easily could have not happened. 80,000 readings I've been in. You never know what's going to happen, for better or worse. The love. I really love you all.

[49:37] Michael Potts: How do you feel? Well, I feel very fortunate. I mean, I came in, I think I was the last one to come in. Yeah, I was brought in at the last minute, so I came in to a family that was already there, that had already gelled, and I didn't know what to expect. And I know coming in, my expectations were sort of muted, because I didn't know what I was coming into, and I didn't know what I would be able to contribute, or if what I contributed was trying to give would be accepted, and if it would make sense in the telling of this story. But the amount of love and acceptance, the amount of family and love that I got from this company, it was overwhelming. I mean, I tend to be, kind of try to stay very stoic and very, you know, even.

But, you know, many a night, my heart was just leaping. And I had Josh Lehman as a dressing room mate. So, I was in stitches half the time. Poor Michael would be trying to warm up, like, blood, butter, better, butter, blood, butter, better, butter. And then I'd just be like, ahhh! Every time. I loved every minute of it. I'll say that. Every single minute of the prom, and I loved every single human being in that show.

[51:14] Isabelle McCalla: Absolutely. Izzy, now, where you are, moving on in your career, you look back at this, what do you think about? I mean, I feel so unbelievably spoiled. That, like, my first, and like Josh said, the miracle of being able to originate a role on Broadway to begin with, but then, for my first time originating to be with these incredible artists and humans, I was so blown over at the removal of ego for the sake of storytelling. It felt so incredibly collaborative. It felt like, it didn't matter who had what line or what songs. It was like, how do we tell this story better? And it was just, it was an incredible lesson in how to lead companies. I learned from Michael Pops and Beth and Brooks and Chris and Angie and Josh and all of them.

And then, I feel like I became a woman in that time, too. And like, I was able to harness my own power. And as a professional performer, that was incredible. And also, like, the amount of, I think I at one point wrote down all the bits I had backstage. And I had just as much choreography interacting with various cast and crew members than I did on stage. Probably more, because I was not in it as much as everybody else. But my show started with saying hello to everybody on the deck. And then, you know, with Angie going, I'm so proud of you. This is an important show. You know, really. We would, like, say that offstage every day. And then, right before my entrance, I'd come down, and Michael Pops would be waiting on the top of the stairs.

And I would do, like, a dance for him off of something stupid. And my greatest joy was getting Michael Pops to laugh and say, you're so stupid. That was, like, oh, my God. It was my, because he's Mr. Stoic. And I love, oh, lovely. But, like, best laugh. And then, like, I would start and go, I love you, babe, to Caitlin. And then, Josh would snow plow me. And it was just, like, it was just, we, we, they were clowns. Everybody in that cast was a freaking clown. And also, everybody, at some point or other, found, you know, were there for each other in low moments. It was never, and it was never, like, a burden. It was always just a, hey, I'm here for you. I got you. We got, we'll get through this. And, I mean, yeah, it was just, I'm still recovering from all that love, I feel like. And I hope I get to experience that again, because, jeez, that was just the best.

[56:30] Alan Seales: Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you all for being here. Thank you for watching. I agree with Shoshana here. The prom continues to bring us so much joy. And listening to the music. And watching the videos that may or may not have been sent to me. And seriously though, on a serious note. Thank you all for allowing me to ask these, these kind of questions. Ignorant questions, I feel like. I'm, I've been a bit afraid to talk about this sort of stuff.

[57:11] Dori Berinstein: But I want you and everyone to know it's okay to not be an expert. There are still many things that I'm still learning about. And it is okay to not know everything or have the best opinion about everything. It's okay to learn. Learning is beautiful. And learning is how we grow. So thank you for doing that.