This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:01] Alan Seales: Welcome back to The Theatre Podcast. Intimate personal conversations with the industry's biggest names. I'm your host, Alan Seales, and our guest for this episode is Sonoya Mizuno. She has an amazing TV and movie career already, including the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel series. I'm super excited to see that. She was such a treat to talk to virtually. We weren't in person. It was over Zoom. Spoiler. Watching her on stage in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, just incredible. This is actually her stage debut or professional stage debut in terms of theater. She's been performing on stage for many years as a ballet dancer, and she moved into TV and film, and then now she's coming back to the stage. I will obviously let her tell that story. So, before we get in, find me online on Instagram and Twitter and TikTok. Leave a five-star rating, just like I'm your Uber driver. And now, everybody, please enjoy this episode with Sonoya Mizuno. Here you go. One, two, three.

[1:14] Alan Seales: Today's guest is an actress, model, and ballet dancer who may be best known for her roles on the big screen in Ex Machina, Annihilation, Devs and La La Land, oh, and Beauty and the Beast, Crazy Rich Asians, and even the Netflix series Maniac. Her upcoming work includes the Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon and another Alex Garland movie called Civil War. She can now be seen starring as Maggie in the off-Broadway production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, the first off-Broadway production ever allowed by the Tennessee Williams Estate. Sonoya Mizuno, welcome to the theater podcast.

[1:49] Sonoya Mizuno: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

[1:52] Alan Seales: I love your name, by the way, Sonoya. It's Japanese, obviously. I took three years of Japanese in high school. Don't ask me to speak it because I don't remember any of it.

[2:01] Sonoya Mizuno: Well, mine isn't great either, so you're not alone.

[2:06] Alan Seales: So, you were born in Japan, right? And then moved to London?

[2:08] Sonoya Mizuno: I was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was born in Tokyo and moved to the English countryside when I was like two. But I moved back to Japan in my early 20s because my dad always stayed there. And I lived, I was kind of going backwards and forwards between Japan and London in my early 20s for a couple of years. So that's when I got to kind of like learn Japanese a bit and get to know that side of me a bit more.

[2:32] Alan Seales: Was it weird going back, being Japanese and not speaking the language?

[2:38] Sonoya Mizuno: Well, interestingly, I think they often think I don't speak Japanese in Japan because I'm mixed race. But when, but you know, for me personally, I feel kind of like it doesn't feel great because I wish I did. I wish I spoke better. I mean, I speak OK, but I, you know, probably it would sound like a three-year-old Japanese if I knew what it sounded like. It's funny. When I grew up in North Carolina or where I learned with a high school in North Carolina, right, where I took the Japanese. So, so all of my Japanese had a little bit of a southern accent to it.

[3:16] Alan Seales: Oh, my God. So interesting.

[3:19] Sonoya Mizuno: So I was like, konnichiwa, ohayo gozaimasu. Right. Like it was.

[3:24] Alan Seales: I love that.

[3:25] Sonoya Mizuno: Yeah, it was a little twangy and it worked. But at least when I go to Japan, now I can order breakfast. So.

[3:32] Alan Seales: Yeah, that's pretty impressive. Good for you.

[3:35] Sonoya Mizuno: Yeah, it's all right. It's all right. So I am fascinated by the fact that researching you for this, I found out you had a dance background because obviously I know you from movies and TV and now the stage, which stage debut, we're going to get into that. But your dance background, that's where you started in performing, right, before even getting into modeling or acting?

[4:00] Sonoya Mizuno: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, originally, when I was a child, I wanted to be an actress because I had an uncle who was a stage actor and he passed away a long time ago now. But when I was young, he was alive and he was kind of like my I just adored him. So I kind of wanted to follow in his footsteps. But he suggested that I should learn how to dance first. And then I just kind of went to ballet class and it snowballed. And next thing I knew, I was at the Royal Ballet School and then I was becoming a professional dancer. So, yeah, it was very much what I was doing for the first, you know, I started when I was nine and I kind of stopped when I was twenty five.

[4:45] Alan Seales: So how tall are you? Am I allowed to ask that?

[4:52] Sonoya Mizuno: Yeah, sure. Five, seven.

[4:52] Alan Seales: Five, seven. OK, so you could be a Rockette, right?

[4:58] Sonoya Mizuno: Drunk a bit since I stopped dancing, to be honest.

[5:04] Alan Seales: Really?

[5:04] Sonoya Mizuno: Yeah, yeah. We have, which is really interesting. I think I was like five, eight or something. And now I'm five, seven, because I think, you know, for the whole time when you're dancing, you're elongating your spine. And then if you're not and you're like in front of the compete, so, you know. But yeah, five, seven. Why do you ask?

[5:18] Alan Seales: Well, because I guess starting at nine and and I don't know much about the dance world, about like the ballet world. Right. Because my background is in musical theater performing. And I've always just said I'm a singer or an actor who moves. I'm not a dancer by any stretch. And I have a couple of friends who have become Rockettes. And that's a whole different regime in and of itself. But when I think of ballet, I guess I was going to say, I think you can't. Can you be too tall for ballet? Because a lot of a lot of men are typically shorter and you have to pair them up equivalently. And there's a lot of like stereotypical sort of assumptions that both I'm making now. And I think the industry still relies on.

[6:10] Sonoya Mizuno: I think it's a bit of both. I think the assumptions are less as kind of are more assumptions than they are truth. Like, you know, I worked in ballet companies with women who were just under six foot, I think. And they were slightly more contemporary companies. But I think especially these days, you know, you get all sorts of heights of and types of people. But, but, you know, it's not it's not like the most diverse industry.

[6:45] Alan Seales: Yeah. Yeah. That's been a criticism for a while, I believe. So well, coming from the Royal Ballet School in London, London is a place that embraces immigrants and non-Caucasian presenting people a lot more than America especially is doing these days. So did you find in that arena, especially in Britain, in London, in the UK and that like were you touring, doing all of that stuff? And was there a lot of diversity in that area? And I guess did you ever and then second part of the question, did you ever come to America and were you able to dance in America?

[7:24] Sonoya Mizuno: Um, I, I didn't dance in America. Actually, I danced in a dance in the UK and in London and in Scotland and in Ireland. And also I danced for a while in Germany. And I think, you know, ballet is predominantly a kind of white art slash sport art, I'd say. But, but, you know, at the same time, I never felt as conscious of my race and background as I do in the acting industry because, um, casting is never about the way you looked in dance. It was about, you know, your skill, you know, what you were good at, or whether you were right for the part that had nothing to do with where you were from. So I never kind of, I never bumped up against it as much as I do now, I would say.

[8:34] Alan Seales: That's interesting. And yeah, you're totally right. And I guess the representation or lack thereof is probably perpetuated by the children of the people who are already in it. So it's kind of this machine of the same people creating the same people creating the same people, right? So yeah, so let's do better. We can we can do better people. We can all do better.

[8:56] Sonoya Mizuno: We can all do better.

[9:04] Alan Seales: And so then how long I mean, dancing has a, again, stereotypically, I know, I know very little dancing as a short shelf life in terms of like, if you're in your mid 20s, and you have an air quote made it then like you're over the hill in dance terms like so when I think you can have a, you know, it depends also, you know, it depends on like what country you're in and things like that. Like in Europe, they have very good, the structure for dancers in the theatres is very good. So a lot of them dance till they're a lot later than till their late 30s or early 40s. And the roles change to more kind of like character based stuff instead of the very kind of difficult technical stuff. And there's less turnover say than I think in America where it doesn't have the structure, the kind of like the support from the government and what have you to to keep these places going.

So it's like it's more competitive, I think. So I think that people get pushed out a lot quicker. But I think, you know, most people dance in class in classical companies, I say late 30s, early 40s, just young, I just turned 36. So I would be, you know, thinking about stopping.

[10:20] Sonoya Mizuno: When did you actually stop dancing? So and like the modeling came in, and then the acting, like, what's that progression?

[10:29] Sonoya Mizuno: I never really did modeling, like as a proper job. I think I just, you know, when they needed models that could move, you know, I would kind of go in and do stuff for that. So I never really, like pursued it. It was just kind of a side, a bit of a side hustle, because dancing doesn't pay that great either. So I would do that. But I had been thinking about, you know, wanting to act for a long time. And I think there was, it wasn't like a moment where I was like, this is what I have to do now. But, you know, I think that, that part that in me, that was when I was a child that wanted to do it never really went away. And I think that the older I got, and the more I kind of experienced things in the dance world that didn't satisfy me, the more I wanted to look at other aspects of life. And it was something that I just kind of thought, well, maybe I should just give it a go and see what happens.

[11:40] Alan Seales: Well, you kind of came out of the gate pretty hard. So Ex Machina was your first, first feature film or was?

[11:46] Sonoya Mizuno: Yeah, yeah.

[11:48] Alan Seales: Yeah. So that, I mean, that came out of the gate. And that was, that was an amazing, amazing film. And, and I guess, and you've worked with Alex Garland, it was an Alex Garland production. This is, you're now Civil War that's coming out soon. Are you filming it or already filmed it?

[12:05] Sonoya Mizuno: I was gonna say, it's his fourth, fourth thing you've done with him.

[12:09] Alan Seales: Yeah. I guess, how did you get connected with Alex? Is that, did that relationship start and then he cast you or did he keep casting you after the relationship with Ex Machina?

[12:22] Sonoya Mizuno: Yeah, it was after Ex Machina. I literally just went, I was in the Scottish Ballet at the time, and I went to my dance modeling agency and I said, look, I want to get into acting. Can you give me some advice? Like, what should I do? And they said, you know, it's not really our field, but sometimes we get auditions when they want particular kinds of people. And when I was in there, in the meeting, the agent was like, oh, we just got this audition through for this film. And they, would you like to go just try and see what happens? And it was for Ex Machina. And I went and Alex was there. And I did the audition. He was like, I think, I remember very well, he was like, I think you're fantastic. I'm going to give you the job on the spot.

And actually, at that time, it was for one of the other robots in the wardrobes because the Kyoko part had already been cast. And then the girl who was originally supposed to do Kyoko couldn't get a visa or something like that. So he called me and said, can you come back in and audition for this bigger part? And I went back in. And, and at that time, and I didn't actually, sorry, it's not really making much sense. I was with the Scottish Ballet. They didn't want me to do the movie. So I quit my job with Scottish Ballet. And I thought, I'm just going to go and do this movie. I just had a gut feeling it was the right thing to do. So I left the company, and I went to do the film. And it absolutely, it changed my life, but not in the way that like, you hear stories about actors getting a job that changed their life, because it's not like I got that job.

And then it was really easy for me to get jobs after that, because Kyoko was a very particular kind of character. And I, you know, obviously I wasn't speaking. And so it wasn't like it opened huge, like lots of doors for me or anything like that. But it did. Of course, it did open some. And it, but the most important thing was it established this relationship with Alex, which has been like, the best thing that's, you know, happened to me in terms of my career, because it's been so creatively fulfilling, and also just kind of like, life affirming, you know, he's a really amazing person, as well as director. So I've learned so much from working with him.

[15:06] Alan Seales: Well, I remember when I was a kid, just watching Ben Stiller movie after movie, and noticing that it was always the same core group of people that were always in all the same Ben Stiller movies. And it, you know, it clicked for me, then I was like, that's what you do, you get in a group of friends that one of you is successful and the rest and brings the rest of you along, and then somebody else gets successful and brings the rest of you along. And it goes along with advice that we've gotten on this podcast so many times is be the person that you that people want to work with the next time. Totally. So speaks to that. I love that. And then watching Ex Machina, did you ever watch it with your parents? It seems like a little bit of an uncomfortable situation.

[15:43] Sonoya Mizuno: No, I did watch it with my brothers and sisters, though, actually. Well, I went when it first came out in the UK, I remember we went to the cinema and watched it. So yeah. Did you warn them? You're like, okay, fam, listen, you're gonna see a lot of me.

[15:59] Sonoya Mizuno: I think I did. I mean, I also warned them about House of the Dragon, which is, you know, coming out soon. I was like, I'm not sure. I'm not sure I'm gonna watch it with you. I'm not sure you guys should watch it, either.

[16:16] Alan Seales: Yeah, I guess. Yeah, House of the Dragon, I guess. I'm so excited about that. And I know that I was gonna, like, I was gonna say, I was gonna ask lots of questions about it. But I know you're probably under like, horrible NDA, you can't give any spoilers, can't talk about anything.

[16:26] Sonoya Mizuno: Yes, it's very, it's very locked down.

[16:35] Alan Seales: Yeah, yeah. The Marvel universe and Game of Thrones universe. I think those are the two that are the best kept secrets.

[16:41] Sonoya Mizuno: Yeah, yeah. I'm not very good at that.

[16:46] Alan Seales: Well, okay, let's turn off the recording. Click. There we go. Just you and me. Lean in. Okay, so tell me. No, nothing. Okay. We're gonna take a short break. Stay tuned for more of the episode.

[17:05] Alan Seales: So coming to now, New York City, this is, it's your New York City stage debut, but is it your stage debut completely? Like career-wise, this first professional acting gig?

[17:16] Sonoya Mizuno: Yeah, I've done, yeah.

[17:24] Alan Seales: Wow. Wow. Okay. So what then, with all the movies and the career in the TV and whatnot that you've done, was it a conscious choice to not try stage? And what brought you here?

[17:31] Sonoya Mizuno: I really wanted to do a play. I've been wanting to do a play for a long time. I think I missed, I mean, I definitely missed being on stage from dancing. And also, I just had a feeling that it was a challenge that I really needed and that would really help me grow as an actor. So it was definitely conscious. And I, and you know, it's kind of hard if you don't go to one of the big conservatories in London for acting to get into theatre there. They're quite snobby about it. So, you know, I said to my agents, they were very conscious that I wanted to do it. And my wonderful agent in New York, David Kolodna, he, this was one of the first things he sent me, or maybe the first. And I think, you know, because they are kind of a bit, a bit of a renegade theatre group, if you were saying.

They were willing to take a chance and, you know, got the job, which was very surprising to me. Because, you know, at the time when I auditioned for it, I wasn't really working. And I was feeling a little bit frustrated, as you do as an actor. And, and I was thinking, well, you know, it's a really, it's a huge audition. They sent loads of act one texts. And I was like, I'm just gonna really try and work on this as a piece of work. And, you know, try and have a go at the accent and all that stuff. And I never really expected that it would go anywhere, because I thought, you know, it's in New York, and there's so many people who could play the part here. So actually, like, sometimes I get weird kind of surreal moments. I'm actually here, doing Tennessee Williams. And that's like, so weird.

[19:21] Alan Seales: Shit. You're still based out of London, right? You're not in New York full time, right?

[19:26] Sonoya Mizuno: No, no, no.

[19:27] Alan Seales: Yeah. So, so you're based out of London, I assume the audition was probably virtual, because everything is these days.

[19:33] Sonoya Mizuno: Yes, I had to do two self tapes.

[19:36] Alan Seales: And, and so you've got this theatre agent, and you're right, like, all the amazing people in New York, you know, they cast you. And it's, it's, I love, I love the choice. And didn't realize how thick your British accent was, because like, in the middle of, of the play, I'm just like, yeah, this woman is from Mississippi, right? Like the southern, the southern accent is, is strong in that one. And, and I was just, I was very impressed. The whole thing, the whole production was phenomenal. I, I had actually never seen a production before. But did you know, I guess, sort of the, were you aware of the, the importance of, of the play happening in the first place, meaning that the Tennessee Williams estate is always very controlling about who and what they allow to happen?

[20:30] Sonoya Mizuno: Yeah, I kind of find it amazing that they like, letting them do it. It's like, how did you guys do this? How did you guys pull this off? But yeah, it's just really cool. And I have so much. I have so much respect for Tennessee Williams and, and his plays that I feel, I really feel very lucky to be doing it. And also, I feel a bit like, oh my God, like, I don't know, it's like, I almost feel like I hope he's like, okay, he's like, running in his grave that I'm doing it. Like, I'm English. And he's probably like, what is this English girl doing my play for, you know? But, you know.

[21:20] Alan Seales: Well, given how progressive he was, and how, especially at the time, like talking about closeted homosexuality and, and, and everything that you have to deal with in this play, it's heavy material, death and whatnot. It came out in the 50s.

[21:41] Sonoya Mizuno: 1955. Yeah, yeah.

[21:54] Alan Seales: Yeah, it's just, it's incredible to me, how well it was done. And you were, I was at opening night, so I saw the talk back. Can you talk to the, do you know the story of how this sort of renegade production company brought this to Off-Broadway and landed the star power that it did?

[22:07] Sonoya Mizuno: I think they had a very, because I guess they were going to put it up two years ago, and then COVID and what happened. But they've really persevered. And I guess there's something really amazing about that. Because, because, you know, here we are, we put it on, I think at all points, they thought it was actually never going to happen. But because, you know, obviously, we were going to do it in January. And then I think I was, I was literally about to fly out. And I, you know, they decided to cancel it. So, so it always felt like it was never going to happen. So I think it's just a kind of like, it's one of those miracle kind of situations that it actually did.

[22:56] Alan Seales: So what happened then for you? I guess, what's the timeline then? So you came to, you came to the production when knowing initially that it was going to happen in January?

[23:07] Sonoya Mizuno: November was late. So I only would have had like two months, if that. So I, yeah, I think I got the job in November. And then in December, they, just before Christmas, they decided to cancel. And then they kind of were hoping that it would happen now. But it was not, it wasn't confirmed until the beginning of the year. And I guess what we kept doing Zoom reads of the play every like month or so, and Matt and I would also rehearse. But also, I just kind of like, use that time to really, for example, like, train my voice, which I had not done before. And I worked with a voice coach in London for amazing woman, Paula Stevens, for many weeks and months, and was working on the dialect and stuff like that. I had like, I was doing other jobs as well. So it wasn't like I just had that time to work on Maggie, but I had time to kind of let her see into me over the course of six months.

[24:21] Alan Seales: Well, originally, knowing that it was going to happen in January, two months, I mean, I don't know how fast you memorize, but the dialogue alone that you have to memorize for Act One is insane. I had memorized the dialogue by the beginning of December. But I wouldn't have been able to do it. You know, it's like memorizing and then actually, like, you know,

[24:45] Sonoya Mizuno: And still every day in performances, I'm like, oh, yes, that could mean that, or this, this means that, you know, it's, there's so much, it's so heavy, there's so much to discover all the time. And I'm sure I'll keep discovering stuff until after we've finished, you know, so, so even, even getting the dialogue, which is crazy, it's so much dialogue, but just kind of understanding the dialogue and also trying to put the language and the voice on, on top of my friend who came to see it the other day, he's like, it's like you put all the dials up to heart for yourself. And I was like, I know, it's true. But I feel like I'm, you know, I really wanted to do this for me. And I feel like I'm learning so much. So I'm really glad to be doing it.

[25:43] Alan Seales: Oh, yeah, it's an experience that you'll never forget. And I've always been very, very much an advocate of that if you're not uncomfortable, you're not learning.

[25:56] Sonoya Mizuno: It's so true. And you also have to fail. You have to, like, get on the stage. And, you know, it has to feel not good for quite a few times. And this is hard, it's hard to be that uncomfortable, but it really helps you grow.

[26:15] Alan Seales: That's a lot of layers. I want to peel back on that, because there's several points where you can get used to something. And then there's another layer of uncomfortability. Because first, you're going through the phases, you're auditioning, you realize you get the audition, oh, I'm uncomfortable, because I have to put the audition together. Oh, I got it. Now I'm uncomfortable. Okay, I'm sitting with this. Now I got the script, holy shit, it's like, 5 million pages long. And now, I got to memorize that. So now you've got it. Now you got to find the character, then you got to find the accent, then like, and then you get under lighting on stage with the costume, which in and of itself is almost non-existent. So there's the emotional vulnerability and the physical vulnerability, which I suspect is like, does all that kind of just disappear at this point now that you've opened?

[27:10] Sonoya Mizuno: Interesting. I think, yes and no. I think my relationship with it all changes. And you know, sometimes I kind of, like I said, when I was saying about sometimes I feel like I'm in a surreal situation, sometimes I get those moments where I'm like, oh my god, I'm like, on stage and tiny pair of pants and like speaking in a southern accent, you know, and I have to kind of like, get back into the focus of the moment. But I, yeah, I guess it's like each part is like a challenge and you're trying to like, not conquer it, but you know, get through it and just add it to the, add this layer to the performance. But I feel like in a way, I don't want to completely forget about all those things because I might, I don't want to like, get lazy about it, you know, like I read this every day before I go in, I say the whole thing out loud and the accent and not to act it, but just to make sure that I still remember the rhythms and I have the, all the Tennessee Williams grammar is so specific and the ellipses and the commas and what have you.

And so I read it and so because I don't want to forget it, I want to keep it, keep it alive. So I try not to forget too much. I think if I, it's a funny dance though, isn't it? Because you don't want to keep too, hold on too tight that you can't just, you know, be alive to the moment.

[29:03] Alan Seales: Yeah, I guess there's a point where it's sort of like putting on the costume, putting on the wardrobe, makeup, the lights, you walk into this, to the stage and the smell triggers muscle memory. And, and there's a point where you just become the character. And so Maggie is this neurotic, sex crazed, weird woman who's lying about this and that and whatever. And, and so obviously I think the farther, the farther that is from normal reality, and this has been my experience, the easier it is to fall into this character once you find it, because you have to completely detach from yourself and just let yourself go to what's on the page.

[30:04] Sonoya Mizuno: Yeah, yeah, I agree. And I really like having that experience. I like to play people that far away from me. I think it's, there's something about it's much more freeing, isn't it?

[30:11] Alan Seales: Yeah. It gives you an excuse to, to try on different faces.

[30:17] Sonoya Mizuno: Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

[30:19] Alan Seales: Which I really love about acting in general. And I think there's a lot of find your tribe, find your chosen family, that kind of, of, of vernacular, for lack of a better word, I guess. But yeah, so you're, if you're uncomfortable in who you are, I found a lot of people that they're attracted to the stage, they're attracted to performing because it gives them a focus. It gives them a forward looking momentum to, to try on things that they might otherwise be uncomfortable doing.

[30:41] Sonoya Mizuno: Yeah, yeah, it's so true. So true.

[30:52] Alan Seales: Yeah. What's been your most favorite thing now about the, the stage schedule, the stage performance?

[31:01] Sonoya Mizuno: I, I love the, I love the whole thing. I love the kind of like the rehearsal process. I wish our rehearsal process was longer, but you know, it can't be helped with these kind of small things, I guess. But I loved going to the theater every day and rehearsing, you know, day after day, because new thing, you discover so much new stuff and, and just the environment of being in a theater. So it feels actually very comforting for me, because I think it was so part of my childhood and my teenagehood and early twenties, that it feels something about being on stage and being backstage and that kind of thing just feels very right for me. So I've loved all of that. And, you know, even just like being in the dressing room with the women and it's, it's a lovely, it's a lovely thing. I think I, I think I really love it. It really, it really suits me. It makes me feel very uncomfortable, as you said, in many ways, but just the whole environment of it suits me, I think.

[32:14] Alan Seales: Is there, is there another, looking ahead, another type of role or role, specific role that you've always looked at, that you're like, I would love to try that, or that looks so unusual, I can never do it. But yet, again, talking about being uncomfortable, is it something that you would want to jump into?

[32:27] Sonoya Mizuno: I would really like to do Shakespeare, because I think it's something that I've never, like, I never could have imagined when I started acting that I'd ever, you know, could do a Shakespeare play. But now I think, maybe I could, maybe I could. And I love Shakespeare. So I think I would really like to do that. But that would be scary.

[32:57] Alan Seales: Talking about?

[32:58] Sonoya Mizuno: No, I think I would have said that if I hadn't have done this play, you know, I needed to have done this to realize that actually, I can keep pushing, which is a good thing.

[33:10] Alan Seales: So there are three questions I ask everyone to wrap up every episode. The first one just simply is what motivates you?

[33:18] Sonoya Mizuno: You know, my family motivates me. My family, my brothers and sisters, I'm, yeah, it's, I feel very connected to them. And yeah, it's very easy for me, like, when I have hard days, that's the thing that kind of pushes me through. I kind of do it for them, to be honest.

[33:38] Alan Seales: Hmm. All right. What advice would you give to your younger self and younger people listening now starting out down a similar path?

[33:45] Sonoya Mizuno: Um, I would just say to myself, to like, to let it happen a bit more, you know, to like, not, not be so, not hold on so tightly. Because I think, I think things happen the way they're meant to happen. And I think I was always trying to make things happen, instead of letting things happen.

[34:14] Alan Seales: Interesting. All right. There's more to unpack there, but that's a whole separate episode.

[34:19] Sonoya Mizuno: Okay, last question. If you could only see one show for the rest of your life, but you can see it as many times as you want, what would you see?

[34:28] Sonoya Mizuno: Oh, my God. One show for the rest of my life. That's so hard. What would I see?

[34:43] Alan Seales: I don't know if I can answer that. What would you see?

[34:49] Sonoya Mizuno: Um, it changes. My answer changes. I don't know if I could answer this. I asked this to everybody. And I don't know if I have an answer. Sometimes I say Rent, because it was the show that got me to realize that I love musical theater. Sometimes, during the pandemic, I was like, I need to laugh. And I need it to be different, even though it's the same show. So I would say Freestyle Love Supreme, because that's improv and changes every, every time. And then there's classics there. I mean, Ragtime, Sweeney Todd. I think I'd see a classical ballet. Yeah, I think I would, you know, if I had to see it over and over. That's so hard. I think I might. But hang on, it can be a different, it can be different productions of the show.

[35:42] Sonoya Mizuno: Sure, sure. Well, yeah, I think I'd see a ballet, because then you could see like modern version or an old like classical version or something like that. So maybe I'd see like Romeo and Juliet. Oh, my God, I see Romeo and Juliet. But then you can also see the acting or the dance version. How about that?

[36:04] Alan Seales: Acting version, you can see the classical ballet version, you can see the modern contemporary dance version. That's pretty good. All right, I'll go with that.

[36:15] Sonoya Mizuno: All right. So where can we find you on social media?

[36:24] Sonoya Mizuno: Oh, you can't.

[36:24] Alan Seales: No? No, you can't. Yeah. Why? Is that an active choice of just staying away from the haters?

[36:31] Sonoya Mizuno: I used to have an Instagram, but I don't anymore.

[36:31] Alan Seales: Well, good for you, because...

[36:40] Sonoya Mizuno: Yeah, my brain, my mental health.

[36:45] Alan Seales: That is such a good choice. If I didn't need it, I probably wouldn't have it either. Who knows? But anyway, I am on social media, theater underscore podcast, Facebook slash official theater podcast. Leave a rating and a review. Jukebox the Ghost gave us our intro and outro music. And Sonoya, thank you so, so much. I've enjoyed this.

[36:57] Sonoya Mizuno: Yeah, me too. Thank you so much.