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[0:25] Alan Seales: Hey, everyone. Welcome back to The Theatre Podcast. Intimate, personal conversations with the industry's biggest names. I'm your host, Alan Seales, and this episode is the first of five of the Ann Juliet Broadway Podcast Takeover.

[0:37] Alan Seales: This episode is with Brittany Nicholas, who is Viola, a swing, the understudy for The Nurse, and the dance captain for the production here on Broadway. Just a phenomenal, phenomenal show. If you haven't seen it yet, oh my gosh, you gotta check it out at the Sondheim Theatre. Brittany's story is a very cool story, and I can't wait to share this with you.

[1:01] Alan Seales: Her past work in Matilda led her to being the dance captain in Ann Juliet, and I don't know how much she's talked about this otherwise, but during COVID, she moved to Atlanta for TV and film work and basically gave up musical theatre and didn't really expect to do it again. And then we find her making another debut here in Ann Juliet. Gosh, I cannot stress just how good this show is. So, as always, find me online, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, everywhere. Go see Ann Juliet, and now, everybody, please enjoy this episode with Brittany Nicholas.

[1:37] Alan Seales: Our guest today is a true triple threat who made her Broadway debut in the original cast of Mean Girls. She has starred in the national tours of Billy Elliot and Matilda the Musical and has TV credits that include Marvel's Hawkeye, America's Got Talent, a teacher, gymnastics adjudicator, coach, and dance captain. She is now back on the Broadway stage in the runaway hit Ann Juliet as Viola, as a swing, and the understudy for The Nurse, and she's the dance captain. Brittany Nicholas, welcome to the theatre podcast.

[2:28] Brittany Nicholas: Yes, thank you. Also, correction, my Broadway debut was Billy Elliot.

[2:32] Alan Seales: Oh, really?

[2:33] Brittany Nicholas: Yes, way back in the day. Funny story, but that was before a universal swing was a thing, so we could get into that, of how that actually happened, but it was so quick.

[2:44] Alan Seales: Hold on, I looked it up. So, like, yeah, you're not credited.

[2:48] Brittany Nicholas: Nope, not credited, nope. How do I change that? I should change that, because, yeah, my Broadway debut was, I want to say, I have the date, November 12, 2010, I believe.

[3:04] Alan Seales: Yeah, Billy Elliot was a while ago.

[3:06] Brittany Nicholas: Wait, so, before universal swing was a thing, I would love to start there then, because I have said this so many times on the podcast, I was a swing for all four roles for Forever Plaid once, and it was one of the most stressful things I have ever done, never wanted to do it again.

[3:24] Alan Seales: So, I love talking about swings and alternatives and standbys and wonder studies, because you all are the unsung heroes that, especially now, post-COVID, have kept everything going. So, yeah, let's start there. Like, a universal swing wasn't a thing in the past?

[3:40] Brittany Nicholas: Well, the story was wild, because when I booked the first national tour of Billy Elliot, I was obviously over 18. So, I was the adult that covered the children. They were my main priority, and then once I got there, they added on the adult tracks. But because of my age, I didn't need a tutor, I didn't need the wranglers, all of that stuff. And so, I remember showing up to work on a Tuesday in Chicago. I was in Chicago at the time.

[4:16] Brittany Nicholas: Showing up to work on a Tuesday, I'm in warm-up, and I will never forget, company management is like, Brittany to the office, and I was like, what? I'm doing my warm-up, I'm showing up, like, can't be in trouble, you know? And I show up, and they say, they say, how would you like to go to Broadway?

[4:40] Brittany Nicholas: And I was like, yeah, everybody wants to go to Broadway, right? That sounds really cool. They go, oh, alright, so, we're going to send you tomorrow.

[4:49] Brittany Nicholas: What? Wait, where were you in the country at this point?

[4:53] Brittany Nicholas: I was in Chicago. I was in Chicago doing the sit-down of Billy Elliot there, and they said, alright, we're going to send you tomorrow. And they said, we have no idea what track you're going to be on for. So, go to wardrobe, they have a giant suitcase there, they're going to put all your costumes in the suitcase. When you go home, put your clothes in the suitcase. They said, do you have a place to stay? I was like, no, I have no place to stay. They were like, don't worry about it. And I will never forget, I pack up all my stuff, I leave the theater with this giant suitcase, and people are like, what's going on? And I was afraid to tell them.

[5:30] Brittany Nicholas: I said, well, you know, I have to go somewhere. So, I'm like, I mean, the suitcase is giant at this point. And I had packed for one week. And I will never forget, I go get to the plane Wednesday morning, and I will never forget, I sat next to Emily Skinner, who was the Mrs. Wilkinson at the time.

[5:57] Brittany Nicholas: And I'm like, hi, Emily. They are sending me there to help you all. And she goes, great. And I get off the plane, check into the hotel, which was across the street. It was the Paramount. I'm not sure if it's the Paramount still now, but Paramount across the street. I go, I watched the show. And then they were like, alright, we're going to give you rehearsal with the dance captain. I had maybe two hours of rehearsal with the dance captain. And then I was like on that night.

[6:28] Brittany Nicholas: And the thing with the Broadway show is they had two extra ballet girls and two extra male tracks that we didn't have on tour. So, that means that all the patterns were like slightly different. But yeah, I didn't have a chance to like officially meet people. So, I remember it was all a blur. But I remember specifically getting to the finale and I was like, oh, I got through the show. And I'm like, meeting people on stage. They're like, oh, you're Britney. You're the one that's here to help us out. Like, as we're doing the choreography. I'm like, yeah, that's me. So, yeah, I went in Wednesday. Thursday, we had a regular show. Friday, we had a regular show. Saturday, I show up and the dance captain goes, so, we are missing more ballet girls now.

[7:17] Brittany Nicholas: So, we're going to have what's called a cut show. Now, we hadn't had to do that yet on tour. And she goes, I know you just got here, but they wouldn't have sent you here if you weren't brilliant. So, this is now where you're going to go. And now which chairs you're going to grab. And like literally the show completely changed. I helped with the cut show. And then they decided to keep me for another week. And so, I got to do another week. And then I flew back to tour.

[7:44] Brittany Nicholas: I mean, that's technically a universal swing, right? Like, that's two different companies. It happened again. They sent me to Toronto. I was with a Toronto company. And then I came back. It was supposed to be the rehearsal swing for Broadway. I ended up going in that night for a track that we didn't even have on the tour. So, yes. So, they used me. Billy Elliot used me quite a bit with all of their companies because I was the adult that they could just send wherever. And I could cover everything.

[8:12] Alan Seales: That's incredible.

[8:14] Brittany Nicholas: Isn't that wild?

[8:15] Alan Seales: That is so cool. And I mean, I think it just goes to show that how much like how talented that you and other swings and you have to be because you're literally just having to forget old things and add new things. And if it was a whole different track, whole different set of lines or whatever, I think it would be a little bit easier. But because all of these things have just slightly different changes, it's so much anxiety and so much stress for me. I cannot I don't know how you do it. And I many, many snaps because, holy crap, that's incredible. So, yes. Bio updated made your Broadway debut in Billy Elliot. That is a universal swing. So, you need to get credit for that. You should.

[9:00] Brittany Nicholas: Right. Well, who do I talk to about that? Because it's literally said the same thing. But, you know, the union has a contract.

[9:07] Alan Seales: I don't know.

[9:08] Brittany Nicholas: Somewhere.

[9:10] Alan Seales: Like a contact at the bottom of IBDB. If anybody.

[9:13] Brittany Nicholas: Right.

[9:14] Alan Seales: Listening knows. Let me know. And I'll let you know. So that's that's more recently as a child. I was reading. You grew up in Newport News, Virginia, which I am familiar with because I worked at Bush Gardens Williamsburg.

[9:27] Brittany Nicholas: I loved Bush Garden.

[9:29] Alan Seales: I had a summer pass.

[9:30] Brittany Nicholas: Did you?

[9:31] Alan Seales: Maybe you saw me. I was there from 05 to 08.

[9:37] Brittany Nicholas: OK. Yep. Probably did.

[9:39] Alan Seales: So if you saw the secrets of Castle O'Sullivan, I was in.

[9:44] Brittany Nicholas: Yes.

[10:00] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[10:13] Brittany Nicholas: So you may see me.

[10:15] Brittany Nicholas: Newport News started dancing at the age of four.

[10:19] Alan Seales: Yes. Is that the story?

[10:20] Brittany Nicholas: Correct.

[10:21] Brittany Nicholas: Yep. I started with ballet and tap, you know, the little combo classes. I also did gymnastics and then I had to choose because I went into the gym and they were like, your daughter is amazing. We want to train her for like the Olympics. So she would now have to come to practices, you know, during this time. And my mom was like, do you want to do that? And I was like, no, I don't want to dance.

[10:47] Brittany Nicholas: Right. Yep. So I started dancing, just ballet tap. And then at the age of like six, the owner, Linda Haas, was like, we would love for her to join the competition team. My mom said, no, she's too young. She has to learn to do her homework on her own first. And so I just took classes with the competition team. Didn't get to compete until I was 10. But then when I started doing classes with the competition team, that's when jazz was added in, you know, all the the extra things. But I started for a long time with ballet.

[11:29] Alan Seales: Throughout this whole thing, were you still doing gymnastics at the same time?

[11:32] Brittany Nicholas: No, because I said I said I didn't want to do it.

[11:37] Alan Seales: So we stopped at that.

[11:39] Brittany Nicholas: Well, so where did the where did the the gymnast gymnastics adjudication come in?

[11:44] Brittany Nicholas: So the gymnastics came in in high school because fun fact, we had a high school gymnastics team, which is like, yes.

[11:53] Alan Seales: Yeah, that's weird.

[11:55] Brittany Nicholas: It's like so like literally all four apparatuses, vaulting, uneven bars, floor. Yeah. And we went to states. And yeah, so that's that's still in Newport News.

[12:09] Brittany Nicholas: That didn't come in until high school. Crazy. I've never known a high school to have a gymnastics team.

[12:17] Alan Seales: Uh huh. Like and.

[12:20] Brittany Nicholas: Yeah, just obscure sports, sure, but not gymnastics.

[12:22] Alan Seales: That's to me. Yeah.

[12:24] Brittany Nicholas: Yeah. Yep. We were right up there with that. You know, we had to wear our like matching track suits just like the football and the basketball team and all of that. I practiced on I did dance on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I practiced gymnastics Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays.

[12:41] Alan Seales: Is the was the dance curriculum the dance side of your life? Was that still outside of school and education that was still like private lessons and stuff? Or did you ever like want to do cheerleading or was there dance at the school, too?

[12:53] Brittany Nicholas: If they had gymnastics, I think they have a dance club. We did have dance at school, but that was more for like PE. You know, you could kind of pick and choose with my school, my high school. I went to work high school. You could pick and choose if you wanted to do like sports for PE or dance and art. So the dance side of that was more for PE. We didn't really have a dance team. I didn't want to do cheerleading because I knew I was going to be a flyer and I did not want to be dropped.

[13:24] Brittany Nicholas: I was like, no, I was great to look at. But I said, no, I don't want to I don't want to do that. But, yeah, most of my dance training was private, which is good because, you know, the dance program at the school was more so like recreational. Right. It was something to do for fun. But the gymnastics team was like real serious because we had a couple of people who were, you know, private, like level nine, level 10 gymnasts that were on the team.

[13:54] Alan Seales: And yeah.

[13:56] Brittany Nicholas: So what are what's Olympic level?

[13:59] Brittany Nicholas: I want to say Olympic level is like once you get to level 10, that's when you have to go to before the Olympics, you have to go to like Worlds and things like that. And then you can try out for the Olympics. But like level 10 is kind of where you where you have to get to in order for you to even try and be on a world team or U.S. team.

[14:10] Brittany Nicholas: Correct me if I'm wrong, but but yeah. And with with gymnastics, unlike dance, gymnastics has with each level, you have to pass all the skill sets to even get to that level, to the next level. So with dance, you know, you kind of they get to pick and choose where you need to be. But in gymnastics, like you cannot go to the next level until you've mastered all the skills for each level.

[14:45] Brittany Nicholas: So, gymnastics is like an Xbox role-playing game. You get your main quest and then your side quest.

[14:50] Alan Seales: I get it. You got to play it. I understand. Yeah. After these messages, we'll be right back.

[14:59] Alan Seales: All right. Welcome back. So then, dance is not theater. Gymnastics is not theater. Where did the theater come in?

[15:07] Brittany Nicholas: So, the theater came in because I was at this dance competition and it was a dance competition called Star Quest. And Michael Rafter at the time had this camp, this Broadway camp called Destination Broadway, that they were trying to figure out and make it a thing. The owner of my studio, Linda Haas, her daughter, Tiffany Haas, was in Wicked for a very long time. Not sure if you know Tiffany's name, but she's Glenda Standby. She's been all over Wicked. And so, Star Quest had partnered with Michael Rafter to have this camp called Destination Broadway. And I was the first year of this camp. I call myself the guinea pig year because they did it by age. And you could audition for this camp. And then, you got to come to New York for a full week and train in acting, train in singing, train in dance.

There was a showcase at the end of the week. We saw a Broadway show. So, I did that first year when I was like 13. I did that. And then, that is what brought me to New York. And I was like, oh, wait, all of the folks are like me. Because I've always loved to dance, sing, and act. I also started singing at four, but it was more so like choir, church sort of things. But I was like, wow, look, you can do it all. And there are people that are just like me. And so, did two years of Destination Broadway. The second year is they said, all right, we're going to pick and choose a few of you to audition for a musical. Didn't tell us what musical it was. Or casting, one of those. I was one of the people that was chosen.

And I remember I auditioned for, I want to say it's Carrie Gardner and Spring Awakening. That was the thing that was coming out. And I got to sing for that. And then, I was like, oh, wait, this is actually really, really fun. And so, there was also a judge at Star Quest that said, maybe you should try and audition for a musical theater in New York. Like, I think you could do it. And I was like, sure. So, my senior year of high school, which is 2007, I started coming up to New York and just auditioning. And when I tell you I auditioned for everything, I had no idea what a type was, no idea what was supposed to be legit and what was supposed to be contemporary. I had no idea. But in a way, I'm kind of glad.

It probably can't work this way now. But in a way, I was glad that I did that because I just went to everything. I was that kid. I sat in the corner and just like with my little book, didn't know anyone and waited for hours and hours and hours. And I would go in and I would audition and sing. And I started getting callbacks. And like, I booked the non-union tour of Hairspray, but I was underage. So, I couldn't go. And so, that kind of led me to musical theater. And then I said, wait, maybe I can do this. And I asked my parents for one year before college. I said, when I graduate, can I take one year to hit the pavement? If it doesn't work out, I'll go back to school. I'll try again. But just give me one year. And when I tell you, I like went to everything. And then Billy Elliot happened at the end of that year.

[19:01] Alan Seales: So, your parents were like, darn it, she's going to try this.

[19:03] Brittany Nicholas: Yeah. And Billy Elliot was so, that's also a crazy story because the year was up. And I remember they were like, all right, you have to come home now. And I got on the bus home and I cried. I was like, I failed. And then literally got home the next day, they said appointment for Billy Elliot. And I was like, I don't want to go. My mom was like, well, you worked for this. If they're asking for you, you should go. And so, I went. And then the following week was a final callback. It was like all day with all the kids. Yeah. And then I got it. And when I booked it, I booked it two weeks later. I had already signed up for classes at the community college.

[19:43] Alan Seales: Oh, wow.

[19:44] Brittany Nicholas: And I said, mom, so what do I do? She goes, you take it. Yeah. And that's how Billy Elliot came about.

[19:51] Alan Seales: So, when you say, yeah, you were the adult that could play the kids.

[19:55] Brittany Nicholas: Yeah. So, you were probably like 17, 18, right?

[19:57] Brittany Nicholas: Yep. I had just turned. Let's see. So, Billy Elliot happened. I just turned 20, I think. Oh, wow. Because I graduated in 2007. Billy Elliot didn't happen until 2008. Yeah. I just turned 20 and had no idea. I mean, I feel terrible saying this now because now I'm doing it. But I had no idea what a swing was. But I just picked up things very quickly and they were like, yep, we're going to hire you as a swing.

[20:29] Alan Seales: You know, I don't think you should feel terrible about it because I've seen this year after years and years and years and people come out. I performed in the past with people that these beautiful singers, dancers and actors come out of their conservatories and they have no idea what the business of show business is. Right. And so I think that's a huge detriment and and something that is kind of a hole in the curriculum of just like, listen, there's multiple ways to to make it into the business and you don't have to be you don't have to do this and you have to do that. And I mean, like after an episode I did years ago with two marketing agents that handle press, I've got people wrote and they were like, if I had known that you could be a press agent or a marketing agent, I would have never tried to pursue acting.

I just wanted to be involved, you know, and there's front of house and there's back of house and there's the stage management and there's company management. You can be an accountant for Broadway. Right. Like there's all of this business side of things. And it's I think it just speaks to the need for that kind of education in the in this thing as well. But it's really I guess I was going to say it's strange, but I guess it's not strange that you didn't know what a swing was because you were going through you're going through the training and was the training all for like technique? Was it for connection building? I mean, did you people didn't even they get the New York star auditioning and they don't even know how to make an 8 by 10 headshot. Right.

[22:00] Brittany Nicholas: So the training what's interesting is I didn't know what a swing was, but my training has kind of included swing brain and training for swinging without me knowing because we used to have a dance camp for competitions where you have one week and you learn all of your routines in this one week. And so I was just learning maybe 10 routines in this one one week every year. Yeah. Because, you know, the more routines you're in, the more you have to learn, you know. So I look back at it now and I'm like, oh, yeah, you you were training your brain to pick up things quickly. And then also I was that kid in school like where or in dance class where. I would figure something out and pick it up and then I would go and help my friend or go and help these friends over here and I'd be like, these are the count, this is the choreography.

So my dance captain training. But yeah, everything else, you know, I knew, you know, you know about your headshot, you know about your sheet music, you know, my dance school, they were really good at teaching us about like the etiquette offstage. Right. And all of that. And just like being a professional. So I knew all of that. I had all the technique and everything. But like no one ever mentioned swinging. And it's so interesting now because I like to when I teach masterclasses and I talk to I talk to a lot of the up and coming performers, I say, all right, there's a group of you that will be the lead. You know, I feel like that there's going to be a group of you that will be the lead. But most of you will probably be ensemble, probably be a swing, probably be covers like there are so many things.

And so I try and talk to them about that because like you said, there are so many different ways that you can be in the industry. And it doesn't have to be I have to be the lead of this show with this like fantastic like voice and things, you know, it's it's all about like, really training yourself to be the triple threat, you know, and that's what I've worked very hard at.

[24:24] Alan Seales: So now, current present day, dance captain for and Juliet, I mean, side note, holy crap, what a show, man, like, yeah, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun. And, and awesome music, of course. When did your journey with and Juliet start? And I actually don't know this. I don't know how someone becomes dance captain.

[24:39] Brittany Nicholas: My journey with and Juliet is interesting as well. I just have all the interesting stories for everybody today. I so when Mean Girls shut down, of course, was in the original cast of Mean Girls. Mean Girls shut down. And we all thought that, you know, the shutdown was going to be quick, we were going to reopen. Yep. And Mean Girls decided not to reopen. And so what I did was I moved back to Virginia with my parents. I then booked Hawkeye and went to Atlanta for a month to film that. And I fell in love. I was like, Oh, my gosh, look at this town that has so many opportunities. But then like, we're also in the suburbs, and I get to drive a car and all of those things. So I really loved my time doing that.

And I decided that I was gonna like, make the change and move to Atlanta. So I moved to Atlanta in October of 2021. And I was down there sending out resumes. And I was working at Lululemon at the time. And fast forward to like January, a friend of mine, it's a Friday at 530 calls me and they go, Do you? Did you get an appointment for Ann Juliet? And I was like, No, I have no idea what that is. I already told you I'm not doing musicals anymore. I'm trying to do things, you know, unless it really aligned with me. I was like, I don't. I'm kind of like away from that. And I like my time being away from it. And they go, Well, I think that you'd be perfect for it. You should call your agent right now for an appointment.

And I did that was like, I mean, it's a new Broadway show potentially. So you can't just say no, you've worked really hard for all of this, called my agent. They got me the appointment. This is like 530 on a Friday, the appointment was due or the tape was due Monday morning. I was just sending from Atlanta.

[27:06] Alan Seales: Okay, the south team from Atlanta. Now the thing with Atlanta is if it snows a little bit, they just don't know how to. So it snowed that Saturday, where they and they had to shut down the highways. Okay, and shut down all the things. So I've said, Okay, so now I'm going to take this thing in the middle of this snowstorm. And no one's gonna look at the tape. I want to tell you, I complained the whole time. I can. My friend was like, Can you please just do it? Just do it. And I did it. I sent it off. And I at the time was like, helping mean girls, the mean girls tour as a temporary swing. So I sent it off. And then I had to fly out to help the mean girls tour. I remember why I came to New York for another audition.

And then Thursday, I flew out to help mean girls and I land to an email of like final callback. And I remember calling my agent and I was like, Look, the flights for this are like, it was like $800 $900. I said, Let's think about this here. Like, what are the odds? What do you think, like, really, is, is like the odds of me getting it? Like, let's like kind of figure things out. And they go to be honest with you. Most of the people that we know that got callbacks are commercial dancers. And I'm like, commercial? Well, that's not me. So sure. But then again, I said, What's that mean? What's a commercial dancer? Like, so the commercial dancers are like, the dancers that do more of like music videos, and like, they backup dance behind the artist.

So I'm with MSA. So MSA has like legit department, where it's like the more the musical theater, people that sing and they act and they dance, and then they have a commercial department, where like, you know, it's the dancers that dance for the VMA, or like all those live performance, very shark that yes, during the Super Bowl. Yeah. It's like those type of dancers. Yeah. And I've been in for a few things like I did do America's Got Talent, like, a couple years ago, but when it comes to like the commercial dance, a lot of it is intimidating.

[30:17] Brittany Nicholas: Mean Girls said they would give me the day. I flew from, I think we were in Kentucky, maybe. But I flew from there, 6:30 a.m. flight, auditioned for & Juliet at 9:30 in the morning. We were in the room for like two hours. And here I am with the commercial killers who are just like pop blocking and spinning and doing all the amazing things. And I remember I was like, wait, how did I get here? And I remember Jen Weber, the choreographer, saying, all right, so I know there's a freestyle, everyone, but I just want you all to know to be true to yourself because there are certain tracks and things that we're looking for. And in my mind, I was like, when she said that, I said, okay, you're correct.

Like, I may not be the specialty dancer over here, but like, I can do a lot of other things. So there has to be a track somewhere for me. And I remember, made it through the dance and I was like, I just need to make it through the dance. So she approves. And then when I go into the room, I can sing and I can read and act and do all the things that I could show them that I am a triple threat. And then the swinging is, you know, something that I can also do. And I went into the room and Luke Shepard, our director, I say, and he goes, hi, Brittany. So I don't know if you know this, but I was the associate director of Matilda on Broadway. And he pointed to Anna Fox, who was the associate director of this at the time for Toronto.

And he goes, Anna also worked on it. And he said, can you tell us about dance captaining? Because in his mind, he was like, if the Matilda team has hired her as the dance captain, then like, yes, like that is, that is like who we want, you know, because that team was very specific with what they wanted, very specific with how they wanted things ran. The information was a lot. And when I booked Matilda, I replaced the dance captain. So I had maybe a month to learn like nine different tracks. Like because I had to put myself in and then put the help, put the other children in. Yeah. And I talked to them for maybe 10 minutes about dance captaining and just scheduling and doing all of that sort of things.

So the Matilda journey led me to & Juliet. And then before Matilda, when I was in Billy Elliot, the resident choreographer, Sarah Bryan had to leave to go do another project, and she was the one that recommended me for dance captaining. So that's how I got into the dance captain world. And then it's just kind of like followed me.

[33:18] Alan Seales: And as dance captain, it sounds like you do need to at least know what everybody else should be doing at every point, not not be able to do it yourself, but you need to like have the overall vision in your mind. Right. But if you're in the show eight times a week, are you able to call like touch up rehearsals or are you involved with put in rehearsals for new people or understudies or whatnot? Like, how do you how do you look at the big picture if you're in the show and in the moment? How do you look at the big picture and be like, we need to clean this number?

[33:49] Brittany Nicholas: Yes. So I, you know, dance captaining is a lot easier when you are a swing. I have been on quite a lot, but I have learned where, um, I can be in the show and be like something about this doesn't feel right. Like this person that's like kind of next to me or this person over there. Don't remember seeing that, you know? Um, so I've learned to also like dance captain in it. And then, you know, I do try and do a show watch like once or twice a week, but I've basically like worked really hard to learn the show and I can tell you like what the spike marks are, who enters and exits, like with my eyes closed, I'm literally like that queue was late. The sign didn't fly in on this queue. I've just worked really hard to like memorize the whole show.

Um, and I am responsible for helping with put ins. Like we just had, um, a temporary replacement go into Juliet and I ran her tech elements for her. And I also like ran the emergency spacing that we had. Um, so it's like a little bit of both, a little bit of everything I do. If I think it's been a long time, I will say, Hey, can we get a note session? Can we get a cleanup rehearsal? I have, you know, called those. So it's just like a little bit. I always think, you know, there's always something that you can work on. So I, I think like once a month, you know, getting people together for notes is something that is always going to be positive. And the show is in pretty good shape, but I, I just approach it with, there's always something that we can work on.

And, uh, you know, sometimes we do steer away from the vision because it's Broadway, it's eight shows a week. People love the show, which is great. So, um, yeah. So I've learned to kind of do a mix of being in it and just always being aware when you are, so when you have to be aware of everything that's going on around you, um, and try to show watch.

[36:02] Alan Seales: Yeah. We get hit in the head by, by the & Juliet sign when that flies in. I mean, that's tough. And have you thought about doing stage management? I mean, if you're no, if you're looking at cues and you're memorizing, does it exist in spike marks? It sounds like you're already a stage manager.

[36:15] Brittany Nicholas: You know, in, uh, Mean Girls, I was jokingly shadowing the stage managers. They would like put me on the headset and I got to hang out with them and all of that. Yeah. I don't know what the journey holds for me in the future because I, I feel like there's always something new. So I would love to stage manage. I would love to be someone's associate choreographer or associate director, because I am really good with just understanding the vision and making it happen, you know? Um, so we'll see, we will see, but I do that though. Cause I'm like, I'm responsible for keeping me and everybody else safe. So why wouldn't I know the cue or why wouldn't I know that the revolve fired late and we all have to walk on it, you know?

So, I mean, the show is just, it's incredible and it's so much fun and you've got to have, I mean, with all this technical stuff and all the things we were talking about, you still have to have fun doing it, right? Like, is it not the most fun you've ever had?

[37:14] Brittany Nicholas: It is the most fun I have ever had. It is truly, I'm like, wow, this is something that I would have never dreamed of. And also fun fact, I was a huge Britney Spears fan and I wanted to be a pop star. That dream never came to came true, but I knew who Max Martin was like 10 year old me knew who Max Martin is and was. And so now to be in a show where I'm singing all this music that I grew up singing around my house and just wearing costumes that were specifically built for me and yeah. And meeting Max Martin and Felicia, who is Britney Spears' like assistant for forever. I am living the dream and having the time of my life. And it's so nice because I would have never thought that anything like this would have come while doing the pandemic. You know what I mean? Like I was in a hit show and then it just like went away. So for the pandemic, I was like, I don't know what I'm going to do now, you know?

[38:21] Alan Seales: You said Felicia is Britney's assistant. How was she involved?

[38:25] Brittany Nicholas: So she, if you've seen the show, everything that has rhinestones on it, like blow, like we have a lot of like bling and rhinestones. She rhinestoned it all. Really? Yes. And she's, I want to say like a consultant on the show. She was at our opening party. Yeah. She's been like doing things for the costumes and things behind the scenes. So I finally met her at the end when I was leaving the opening party and she is so sweet. I like almost cried. I said, I know who you are. I watched you on like the MTV Diaries. I saw the opening night show. I'm going back again very soon to see the show because I want to see like how it's just tightened up and solidified. But yeah, I, God, I can't wait to see it again. It's so much fun.

[39:18] Alan Seales: I want to wrap up the episode with three questions I ask everyone to end the episodes. The first one simply just is what motivates you?

[39:24] Brittany Nicholas: I'm just like so thankful that I get to live my dream every day. So me being thankful motivates me and also just the audience and people coming to see the show and loving the show and coming up to me and saying, hey, I never knew that someone that looks like me could be where you are and I'm inspired by you. That is also something that motivates me. So yeah, just getting to do this and do what I love every day is motivation in itself.

[40:08] Alan Seales: All right. What advice would you give to your younger self and younger people listening now starting out down a similar path?

[40:14] Brittany Nicholas: Advice to my younger self. Don't change for anyone. For the longest time, I was always trying to dress how I thought I should dress to get the part, sing, you know, manipulate my voice of how I thought that they would want to hear it. And it took me a long time to really just live in my truth and live in what I do and who I am. And so I wish that I wouldn't have wasted so much time trying to change myself in order to book jobs when now I'm like, you can just be yourself and the jobs will come to you because they will always come to you.

[40:55] Alan Seales: I like that. Be the best you you can be. And then what's right is going to be there. Last question then, 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?

[41:04] Brittany Nicholas: Okay, so I'm in & Juliet and I love & Juliet. So like it's close, but the one show I would see for the rest of my life is MJ.

[41:22] Alan Seales: That's a show.

[41:22] Brittany Nicholas: But & Juliet is close. I know I'm in & Juliet. But MJ, oh, I would I would see it over and over and over again. They just announced a new Michael Jackson taking over from Miles Frost soon. Can't wait for that.

[41:37] Alan Seales: I cannot wait.

[41:38] Brittany Nicholas: Miles, a year and a half doing that role. Geez, man.

[41:40] Alan Seales: Wow.

[41:41] Brittany Nicholas: Yeah.

[41:42] Alan Seales: He's got to be tired.

[41:46] Brittany Nicholas: Well, he's got a well-deserved break coming up. And I hope you get to take some time off, too, because it doesn't sound like your job.

[41:54] Brittany Nicholas: No, you know, I am hoping I have a vacation plan for July. So like that's when I'm going to. After the Tonys.

[42:01] Alan Seales: Smart.

[42:02] Brittany Nicholas: Yes, see, I'm like, we're going to we're going to keep going up, going up the hill.

[42:07] Alan Seales: That's right. Where can we find you online? How can we connect?

[42:10] Brittany Nicholas: Um, so I am on Instagram at Brit and Nicholas, that's B-R-I-T-T-N-N-I-C-H-O-L-A-S. I am also on Twitter. Twitter is BNNicholas. That's at B-N-N-I-C-H-O-L-A-S. I also have a website, www.Brittany, B-R-I-T-T-A-N-Y, Nicholas, N-I-C-H-O-L-A-S.com. And on the website, you can send requests because I do do a lot of privates and masterclasses and things like that.

[42:35] Alan Seales: So, um, yeah, get into like your love for teaching and education. That'll be part two. Like when I see you again, which I know I will.

[42:51] Brittany Nicholas: Well, we'll do part two, talk about the education because that's always such a special part of people that like it's a quality. A lot of people don't have that love for teaching and that patience and all that. Anyway, you can get more episodes like this at TheTheatrePodcast.com. Of course, this is part of a large & Juliet podcast takeover. So look for more episodes for & Juliet either before or after this one. I'm on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, all over the place. Leave a rating and review wherever you're listening. And conversation provided by Brittany Nicholas. Thank you.

[43:27] Brittany Nicholas: Thank you.

[43:28] Alan Seales: Good talking to you.

[43:30] Brittany Nicholas: Yes, this was so fun.

[43:33] ♪ Musical number: "I Want It That Way" — performed by Brittany Nicholas ♪