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[0:00] Alan Seales: Hey everyone! Happy New Year! Happy Holidays! Welcome to the final episode of The Theatre Podcast. I am Alan Seales, your host as always, and this is Episode 301 with what's becoming a holiday tradition, I guess, for me, special guest Diana Salameh. How are you doing, Diana?

[0:22] Diana Salameh: I'm good. I'm so happy to be here with you. I like this little tradition that has come together.

[0:26] Alan Seales: I know. I know. I know. I like recapping the year with you because you're heavily involved in the industry, and you see a lot of shows, and I see a lot of shows, and I think we have complimentary differentiation in opinions sometimes. There's some things we both really like, some things we don't, and then we'll have some heated, not arguments, we'll have some spirited discussions.

[0:48] Diana Salameh: I do agree, but what a disappointment for your listeners to go from Stephanie J. Block last week to me, an unknown entity whose mom follows her on Instagram.

[1:02] Alan Seales: Well, hi, Diana's mom. What's your mom's name?

[1:04] Diana Salameh: Koffa.

[1:05] Alan Seales: Koffa? Oh, hi, Koffa. Nice to hear from you, Koffa. Post us on your stories. We'll share it. Now, that was actually one of the highlights of my year, being truthful, of just reaching episode 300 because that's been one a week, at least, for over five years now, and I didn't think I'd get this far, so thanks for being with me. You and Eric Biebenberg were two of my very first interviews in year one.

[1:34] Diana Salameh: Yeah. It was pre-pandemic. I remember that much.

[1:38] Alan Seales: Yeah. Yeah, because I came to you—

[1:39] Diana Salameh: It was a completely different world.

[1:40] Alan Seales: Yeah, I came to your office, and I was like, hey, guys, and you're like, what's up? And we didn't really know each other then, and then here we are, years later, seeing shows and recapping the year.

[1:52] Diana Salameh: I love it.

[1:53] Alan Seales: What was... Oh, I want to say, too, at the end of 2022, this is 23, I had to do the math. Remember, we were talking about Into the Woods, and you were like, I had said I'd never seen it, and you promised me you'd take me, and the very first show that I saw in 2023 is Into the Woods.

[2:10] Diana Salameh: That's true. I can't believe that was this year.

[2:13] Alan Seales: It was. It was, yeah, the first week of January, 2023, with none other than episode 300 guest Stephanie J. Block.

[2:19] Diana Salameh: Stephanie J. Block. Yes, it was the best. It was the tail end of that revival of Into the Woods, which was so amazing. I saw it so many times. I was so happy to see it with you and share it with you, and it's so rare that you're at a show like that with a theater person who's never seen it and doesn't know how it's going to unfold, so it was such a joy to see you gasp at moments that I knew were coming, and I loved it. I loved it. I would see that production a hundred more times if I could. It was so good.

[2:45] Alan Seales: It was so good, and I don't know if you listened to the episode last week with Stephanie, but she was like, Gavin Creel, as she puts it, that great dumb-dumb convinced them all to go on, and they didn't call it a tour. It was a, oh, shoot, I forget what it was, promotion in major market cities, I think is what they officially called it, something like that. I was like, okay, but yeah, that was really great. It was a mini tour. I'm using unofficial language. A lawyer cannot hold me to this, but it was like a mini tour in big cities, which was great to keep that going, and Stephanie traveled with her husband, Sebastian, and their child, and I thought that was a really cool Broadway backstage story.

[3:24] Diana Salameh: Was there anything you saw this year that was like kind of a staple of Broadway that you just saw for the first time? Because I saw Chicago this year for the first time on Broadway. I've seen it on tour like 20 years ago, but I'd never seen it on Broadway until this past year.

[3:41] Alan Seales: How was that? Did you enjoy that experience?

[3:43] Diana Salameh: I did. I did. I went to see Lily Thomas, first Asian American, to play Mama Morton, because I interviewed her this year, and it was so good. I can see why it's just like one of these timeless shows that it's pulling apart relationships, and murder, and crime, and comedy, and things that just want to keep going, and I think that it's following the end of the wood strategy of just kind of rotating through, in a good way, some really good cast members that otherwise maybe wouldn't make it to Broadway or wouldn't have interest in doing your traditional kind of show, but I think it's great.

[4:19] Alan Seales: Yeah. I saw two shows this year that are staples of the musical theater canon that I had never seen, never listened to the cast recording of, barely knew the plot, and it was—this is sacrilegious—Sweeney Todd and Merrily We Roll Along. I had never seen or listened to either of them.

[4:43] Diana Salameh: Samesies. Samesies on both.

[4:44] Alan Seales: Wait, for both? Oh, my gosh.

[4:46] Diana Salameh: For both.

[4:46] Alan Seales: Oh, we have this in common. That's so crazy. Why for you? I'm curious.

[4:51] Diana Salameh: I tend... Okay, so when I was younger, younger, before I moved to New York, I was listening to cast albums that were more poppy, because Rent is what got me into theater. So I would listen to Rent, and I'd listen to Wicked, and things along that nature, or things that were my parents' generation, because my mom would listen to stuff, West Side Story, Music Man, Singing in the Rain. And then I was in college, or after college, or whatnot, I just went through this period where I didn't pay attention to musical theater for a hot minute. And then when I came back, I only started seeing things that were actively opening. Because with the podcast world, and the press world, and all that, so I would go to things right after they would open, and it was just kind of like a time thing that I wouldn't have the opportunity to go back and see a bunch of old stuff again. And it's interesting how the business side of show business kind of dictates what I've been seeing. And I assume it's kind of similar for you, too, being in the business.

[5:52] Alan Seales: Yeah, I mean, for me with Sweeney, I am a person that just doesn't like any kind of horror or gore. It's just not for me. It's just like anything too bloody, anything too scary, too many knives and daggers, I'm out. And so that for me was always Sweeney Todd. I was like a little scared to like watch or listen to Sweeney Todd. And then I was like, nope, just go see Sweeney Todd. This is going to be an amazing way to experience Sweeney Todd for the first time. It eventually got to a point with me with both Sweeney and Merrily, that it was like, I'm just gonna wait. Like at this point, I'm proving a point. I'm not gonna see it until I can really see it. And that's what happened with these two productions.

And they were phenomenal. I mean, those were big, lush, gorgeous productions in different ways that I loved. I loved both of them, especially Merrily. What a heartbreaking, beautiful, poignant story that, you know, as two people on this podcast who are not 18 anymore, I think we can both say that—

[6:53] Diana Salameh: Speak for yourself.

[6:54] Alan Seales: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think we can both say that we've had friendships in our lives that have drifted. And the way that Merrily was able to tell that story and come back to that beautiful moment of joy when they first meet, I thought was great and moving. And that cast was amazing.

[7:12] Diana Salameh: You know what's really tragic about that too, is that, you know, you see the very end. You see when they're all... they don't like each other. They don't hang anymore. They don't want to be with each other. And I, not knowing anything about it, I thought that it would circle back around to where we started and then move forward again right at the end. So we could be like, oh, look, we're reconciling. Now we're friends again. Just like we were when we started.

[7:36] Alan Seales: And spoiler alert, nope.

[7:38] Diana Salameh: But it doesn't mean it doesn't happen. I feel like what's so great about the ending of Merrily, and we've obviously spoiled it for everybody listening to this podcast, but it's a risk you take listening to The Theatre Podcast. It's up for interpretation for you, for what you think could possibly happen, because we don't know the future. We only know the past. And there's that hope that you can hold onto both for those characters and also for the friendships in your life.

[8:06] Alan Seales: Well put. Very well put.

[8:09] Diana Salameh: There's no hope at the end of Sweeney. They all die there. That's done.

[8:13] Alan Seales: No, no. I'm just happy that in my life, I can say I saw Annaleigh Ashford in that role.

[8:21] Diana Salameh: She was incredible.

[8:22] Alan Seales: Really, really wonderful. Yeah.

[8:25] Diana Salameh: Let's see. What else has been going on? I think one of my favorites this year that was the last thing I just saw this year was How to Dance in Ohio.

[8:34] Alan Seales: Oh, that was the last show that I saw this year too.

[8:37] Diana Salameh: Is it not the best show? It's so inclusive, so amazing, so different. It's what we need. It's just such a different idea, and I love it.

[8:43] Alan Seales: Yeah. And I also think it's so important culturally to be able to tell stories like that, to have that kind of diversity on stage, to have a great awareness, because this will do big things for Broadway and for theater and for theater kids and for people who are autistic for many, many years to come.

[9:11] Diana Salameh: Mm-hmm. And Sammy Canald, her Broadway directorial debut, she's just one of the nicest people I've ever met in IRL as well.

[9:18] Alan Seales: Sammy Canald can do anything. She is the future of this industry.

[9:29] Diana Salameh: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Let's see what... I'm going down my list here. Let's see. One of my favorites as well was I went down to DC to see The Wiz. It's not technically Broadway, but it's going to be.

[9:40] Alan Seales: I am so jealous. I'm looking forward to it for next year.

[9:44] Diana Salameh: Tell me more. Tell me more. Oh, man. That's another one of these classics, like these albums, these classics that I just didn't know about. I didn't listen to it, and then I saw it, and I was... Same with Merrily. You're going through the show, and all of a sudden, the song starts up, and you're like, oh, this is what that's from. And it was fun. It was entertaining. I haven't decided yet, side note, if I enjoy the casting from TikTok, from social media, whatnot, because Dorothy, the girl playing Dorothy, got found on social media. And I think that's a wonderful opportunity. And I don't... I mean, I guess... Okay, I'll decide here. I like it, because it's allowing more people to be discovered where otherwise they might not be able to if not being able to travel to New York to audition. Or know the business like that. So I think it's good.

[10:33] Alan Seales: It's true.

[10:34] Diana Salameh: What do you think about that?

[10:35] Alan Seales: I think it's great. I think it's great.

[10:37] Diana Salameh: Do you?

[10:38] Alan Seales: Yeah. I think it just adds a level of accessibility for people, just like you said, who can't get to New York and don't know how to. And it allows them to do it in the comfort of their own home or wherever it may be. I think it's awesome. I think it's great.

[10:51] Diana Salameh: Okay. All right. Let's see. I'm going to my list. Mad Women of the West. That was such a fun off-Broadway show with Mary Lou Henner and Caroline Aaron. Did you get to see that one?

[11:04] Alan Seales: I did not get to see that. But I just want to say, if I could go to a show where Mary Lou Henner just does her thing, where she can name dates, I would pay cash money for that. Big bucks to go in and be like, Mary Lou, what day of the week were Oreos invented? And she'd be like, Tuesday, girl. It was on a Tuesday. She'd know.

[11:25] Diana Salameh: Yeah. She has a literal photographic memory for those—

[11:27] Alan Seales: It's wild.

[11:28] Diana Salameh: Who don't know?

[11:29] Alan Seales: It's wild.

[11:30] Diana Salameh: Yeah. It is cool.

[11:32] Alan Seales: She's a true mad woman of the West.

[11:35] Diana Salameh: Yeah. Well, the four roles were written for those four women.

[11:39] Alan Seales: Oh, I love that.

[11:39] Diana Salameh: Hands down. Nobody else could play them. They are perfect. Let's see. Gardens of Anuncia with Eden Espinoza and Mary Testa and the whole cast. God, that's another one that spoke to me.

[11:52] Alan Seales: On a more personal level, it made me appreciate the time I have left with my parents.

[11:56] Diana Salameh: Yeah. Did you get to see that one at all?

[11:58] Alan Seales: I didn't, but I'm really excited for Eden to come back to Broadway in the spring in Lempicka, which I have heard only the most incredible things about for many, many years. So I'm excited to see that unfold. I think everything that they've put out into the world about it just looks gorgeous and artful and beautiful. And it feels like the kind of night at the theater where you can really escape and go somewhere else into a beautiful story. So I'm looking forward to that this spring.

[12:23] Diana Salameh: What's something that you saw that deals with very, very serious subject matter in a very comedic way to make you go, hmm, I enjoyed that. And I took it in and didn't realize I just learned something.

[12:34] Alan Seales: Huh. Interesting. You know, I thought Just For Us was one of the most brilliant things I saw on Broadway this year. Did you see it?

[12:43] Diana Salameh: Yeah, I mean that's why I asked you this question. Because of Alex Edelman, you led me there?

[12:49] Alan Seales: Yeah, yeah, yeah! Well that's good. We're sharing a brain on that. That was great. He is a brilliant storyteller, I think I've used the word brilliant too many times in this podcast so far. But for everyone I referred to as brilliant so far, I know it's true, but I've said it too much. I'll come up with more specific words to describe them. But Alex's way of using humor to connect with people and to tell stories, and whether it's connecting with his family and connecting with people as he was going through those moments or with the audience, which he did in such a big way, I loved. I will say this much, and we're really lucky, both Alan and I, to get to work in this industry and get to go to a lot of shows for free.

We're very, very lucky to do that, doing what we do. I paid full price to see Alex Edelman and it was worth every penny. I felt like an old woman from New Jersey slapping my knee and being like, that was worth every dollar! It was so good, it was so good. Without spoiling too much, it's going to be on HBO soon. They filmed that production and so everyone will get to see it. I can't wait to go back and listen to those jokes again and listen to the way that he took a white nationalist Nazi cocktail party and turned it into such a funny but poignant lesson for the audience. And the attendees of that meeting, this is all a true story. Yeah.

[14:25] Diana Salameh: That's what blows my mind about it. I want to know if any of those attendees know and if they've contacted Alex. Alex, if you're listening to this, I'm at underscore Diana Salome. Please send me a note and let me know if anyone has reached out to you. I really want to know.

[14:39] Alan Seales: Okay. I'll make sure he gets that message.

[14:43] Diana Salameh: Yeah. Do you know Alex? Can you ask him? I really want to know.

[14:46] Alan Seales: I indirectly know him. Yes, I actually can get him a message. I'll see if he can answer that for us. Let's see. Speaking of the personal stories, I guess, early in the woods, early in the year, yeah, end of the woods, the next thing after that, I saw Colin Quinn's small talk. So his off-Broadway show and then followed by Without You, which was Anthony Rapp's one-man show about his ascension into rent and that part of his life. And I like hearing stories like that when they are written and performed based on the person's actual events, actual life, and they are retelling it because it brings an authenticity in a way that I don't know if you can get really otherwise.

[15:29] Diana Salameh: I agree with that. I agree with that. Gavin Creel, I don't know if it's still playing, but Gavin Creel's show at MCC, sort of the similar and at that personal experience, whether you're drawing it in the stories or just in the experience that you're bringing to what you're doing on stage, it makes such a difference for the audience and the way we connect with it.

[15:45] Alan Seales: Yeah. It's amazing. And along those lines too, I don't know if you could kind of group this together, Goodnight Oscar. We saw that together. That was one of the shows we saw together this year.

[15:53] Diana Salameh: I know. I know. And Sean Hayes, this was a passion project of Sean's forever to bring this to Broadway because he was obsessed with Oscar Levant and the real life story. And so while not actually being Oscar, he is Sean, this was like this little show that could, this little story that could, that just brought him a Tony. It got him ultimately to across the finish line.

[16:26] Alan Seales: Yeah. He was totally transformed on stage. If I didn't know it was Sean Hayes, I wouldn't have known it was Sean Hayes. That piano playing at the end, that was one of the best things I have ever seen Sean Hayes do. And that's saying a lot. He's an incredibly talented performer on stage, on screen. I loved Goodnight Oscar. That was a great one.

[16:48] Diana Salameh: Absolutely. I enjoyed that. I enjoy... All right, let's go down. Stay in this category, Ozzy Wynn. Did you get to see Ozzy off-Broadway?

[16:57] Alan Seales: No.

[16:58] Diana Salameh: He has his own... He was telling his own story about connections and family and names and weaved that all into this amazing illusion, off-Broadway show of illusion that's, as we're recording this, still going. It got extended a bajillion times and I think it's ultimately going to close here mid-January. But if you can go see it before it closes, I recommend it. It blew me away.

[17:24] Alan Seales: That's great. That's great to hear. Hang on, everybody. We're just going to take a quick break.

[17:30] Diana Salameh: All right, now we're back. Did you have something that surprised you? Something that you went into with either no expectations or low expectations and it became a favorite of the year?

[17:44] Alan Seales: Back to the Future. I saw it twice.

[17:47] Diana Salameh: Twice?

[17:48] Alan Seales: I saw it twice. And I know this is possibly an unpopular opinion, but I love the show.

[17:57] Diana Salameh: I also loved Back to the Future. Why are we agreeing on so many things this year?

[18:02] Alan Seales: Because we share a brain.

[18:03] Diana Salameh: No, no, no, no, no, no. Mine's bigger, JK.

[18:09] Alan Seales: That is true. No, you are 100% accurate. Back to the Future was great. I had no expectations of Back to the Future. I'd never seen the movie. It goes on the list of things that I just didn't see. And I had the best time at the show. I would go back again. I have twin nephews that are eight years old that I think would love it. I took them to their first Broadway show this year. They saw Wicked. It was a magical experience. I loved it. And I think Back to the Future should be their second Broadway show. And I would go back to take them. I've taken my kids now to two shows, Six and Juliet.

[18:43] Diana Salameh: Those are good ones. How old are your boys?

[18:47] Alan Seales: Seven and nine.

[18:49] Diana Salameh: Good ages for those shows.

[18:50] Alan Seales: Yeah, yeah. So Six was nice because it's real short. It's great. They already knew the music and in Juliet, we had just started to learn the music. It's funny. It's funny. The kids now, we hear the in Juliet music and then they'll hear the Backstreet Boys original version or something. I'm like, hey, that came from in Juliet, right? I'm like, let me tell you something a little bit. Sort of, sort of. Speaking of in Juliet, did you see Once Upon a One More Time?

[19:18] Diana Salameh: I did.

[19:19] Alan Seales: I love that Britney music. What did you think of Once Upon a One More Time?

[19:23] Diana Salameh: I think it got the raw end of the overpopulation of feminist princess musicals.

[19:29] Alan Seales: Is it possible to have an overpopulation of feminist princess musicals?

[19:33] Diana Salameh: In theory, no, but I think the audience got burnt out. I didn't think it found its audience because right after Bad Cinderella came out and closed, Once Upon a One More Time opened and it was another Cinderella story. And I think it was the worst timing. I don't understand why. I mean, I sort of do, but I don't understand why the producers opened Once Upon a One More Time so close to Bad Cindy, assuming that Bad Cindy wasn't even going to close in the first place. So you'd have two Cinderella musicals at the same time, in the same season.

[20:04] Alan Seales: I think it would be nice to think that there's a Broadway curator out there that could come in and say, you should be this season and you should be next season and this should follow this. Instead, I think it's a real estate game by and large. When your theater's open and you're ready to go, you go. And that makes it difficult because you can't plan for it. And sometimes those things are helpful. Sometimes the rising tides are able to say, okay, comedy is big right now, or this other genre is big right now. But I do agree with you that in the world of Ann Juliet plus Bad Cinderella plus Once Upon a One More Time, they were cannibalizing each other a little bit.

[20:41] Diana Salameh: Mm-hmm. And I think one sort of may have rubbed off on the other at the same time. One of the first trips I ever made to New York, there was Good Vibrations and All Shook Up playing at the same time. And every time I saw it, I went and saw All Shook Up and loved it. And I was like, everybody got to go see All Shook Up. And they were like, I don't like the Beach Boys. And I said, no, that's Good Vibrations. And so Good Vibrations kind of screwed up the reputation of All Shook Up because no one knew the difference. And I think that's sort of what happened with Once Upon a One More Time as well. But a really good lesson also for advertising and marketing, which is what I do all day. And Ellen, you're doing things that are very adjacent to that.

It's like clarity for the consumer is so important. We try to get a little fancy sometimes. I think being direct is the way to go. This is the Beach Boys musical. I love that. I worked on Beautiful, the Carole King musical, for many years. And it was always very clearly the Carole King musical. You had no doubt who that show was about.

[22:48] Diana Salameh: Yeah, yeah. Well, it's in the name.

[22:50] Alan Seales: It's in the name. It's in the name, front and center. Same with Neil Diamond, A Beautiful Noise. It's not even just in the name. It's the headline above the title of the show. Neil Diamond is the bigger brand. So they led with it. And I think that was amazing. And the show's doing really well. And I think that's a big reason why.

[23:08] Diana Salameh: Yeah. That's actually one that I am surprised is still running, and not in a bad way. Because there's so much competition. It's a real estate game, right? There's always things opening. A Beautiful Noise, it just continues to go. And I love it. I love that we have something, another something that's opened recently that is still showing success because it's really hard to find that.

[23:30] Alan Seales: Absolutely. I'm very, very sad that some favorites from this year, some open at the tail end of last year, some open this year, but this year's Tony contenders shocked, some like it hot that they're closing in the coming weeks. But very happy to see Kimberly Akimbo, which won the Tony Award for Best Musical we saw together last year, is still running on Broadway.

[23:51] Diana Salameh: I love that show, too. I love that. I need to go back and see that in 2024. Can we go back again?

[23:55] Alan Seales: Yeah, let's go back again anytime. What shows do you want to revisit in 2024? Currently playing on Broadway that you want to go back to another time? What's your Chicago?

[24:05] Diana Salameh: I would like to go see Spamalot with Alex Brightman.

[24:08] Alan Seales: Oh, Spamalot is so good.

[24:10] Diana Salameh: I know. I know. I know. I've seen it three times already. It's been in performances for two months. I've seen it three times.

[24:18] Alan Seales: So you probably saw more shows than me, but you saw a smaller number of individual shows.

[24:22] Diana Salameh: Yeah, I want to go back and see Brightman because Brightman just can do no wrong. That guy will make comedy out of a script and a piece of rock. Let's see. Gutenberg's a limited run, so that's not going to be around. Let's see. I'm going to win my list. I wish The Cottage had continued. That was a limited run.

[24:44] Alan Seales: That was. That was super fun.

[24:45] Diana Salameh: That was so funny. Absolutely funny. Life of Pi, actually honorable mention here. That show transported me. Maybe that was another branding thing, a marketing thing. I don't know, but that show specifically, I think about as one of the most visually perfect shows I've seen all year.

[25:06] Alan Seales: It hurt to not see that one run longer.

[25:10] Diana Salameh: Yeah. I want to go back to Ann Juliet. Speaking of Ann Juliet, I want to go back there. I saw it like right when it began performances in 2022, and I haven't been back since. And I just want a fun night at the theater, so I might go back there next year.

[25:23] Alan Seales: That is always a fun night. That's a really good way to put it. I've heard multiple of my friends tell their friends about Ann Juliet as, if you don't like musical theater, go see that show. It's a show for people who don't like musical theater and a show for those who really love musical theater because it hits both crowds.

[25:42] Diana Salameh: That's fair enough. Yeah.

[25:44] Alan Seales: Yeah. Because if you don't like musical theater, it's songs that you know, that you love, that have been pop number one hits for the last 30 years. So you just can't go wrong because you already go in knowing all the songs, whether you know it or not.

[25:57] Diana Salameh: Yeah. What's fun about that show is it takes you back not just to the song, but where you were in life when you were listening to that song.

[25:27] Diana Salameh: I always want to go back because the casting is so good. That's why I brought it up. To answer your question, I want to go back to Little Shop because the show itself is staged really well. It's directed very well. The set's great. But I want to go back and see who they keep putting through there. I saw it with Constance Wu and Corbin Bleu.

[25:44] Alan Seales: Oh, how were they? Oh, I wish I would have seen them.

[25:46] Diana Salameh: It was great. It was so good. That was such fun casting. They're doing an amazing job. Whoever is handling casting for Little Shop, big kudos to you. I'll use another brilliant on you. I'll throw another one in the bucket for you.

[26:01] Alan Seales: Casting can be brilliant. I like that as well. Is there anybody that you are excited to see on Broadway that you haven't seen yet? Rachel McAdams is coming this spring.

[26:13] Diana Salameh: Rachel McAdams' Broadway debut in Mary Jane, a great Amy Herzog play. I am very excited to see that this spring. And I'm excited for her to be on Broadway. It feels like impossible that this is her Broadway debut, but it is.

[26:28] Alan Seales: Well, it's so hard for TV film actors of that ilk, of that demand, who are in demand like that, to commit weeks and months and months to something. The fact that even Hugh Jackman was in Music Man for a year blew my mind. How the hell did he take time out of filming whatever he wasn't filming for that?

[26:47] Diana Salameh: When you're Hugh Jackman, the world is yours. You can take time. You're Hugh Jackman.

[26:52] Alan Seales: That's true. You make the schedule. You're Hugh.

[26:56] Diana Salameh: X-Men waits for me.

[26:58] Alan Seales: I'm really excited to see one of my favorite Broadway stars, who I've seen many, many times, but will go see her sing in a cardboard box if it was an option, which is Shoshana Bean. And she's coming back to Broadway in Hell's Kitchen, the Alicia Keys musical. So I'm very excited for her and for the musical. I'm going to go see it at the public at the top of January. I most certainly will be back to see it again on Broadway. I'm also really excited to see Eddie Redmayne in one of my favorite musicals, Cabaret, this spring. I've never seen him on stage, and I'm excited for that.

[27:29] Diana Salameh: I've never seen Cabaret.

[27:31] Alan Seales: What?

[27:31] Diana Salameh: Yeah.

[27:32] Alan Seales: Do you know it?

[27:33] Diana Salameh: I think I do, because it's been done in so many different ways and different pieces here and there, and I probably don't know it like I think I know it.

[27:42] Alan Seales: It's so great.

[27:44] Diana Salameh: It's great. The music is great. That's one of the shows that you'll sit at and you'll recognize so much of the score while you're there.

[27:50] Alan Seales: Well, just sitting in audition rooms for years, you hear the score of so many of these things all the time.

[27:57] Diana Salameh: Yeah.

[27:57] Alan Seales: One of my favorite plays, I think, was Greyhouse.

[28:02] Diana Salameh: Oh, that's too dark for me, Alan.

[28:04] Alan Seales: Because to do horror live, it worked. It executed well. I loved that ad campaign. I know I always look at things through the lens of advertising and marketing, but I think that ad campaign, it was done by Spocko. They did a brilliant job with it. I think it actually won some awards. It was great.

[28:22] Diana Salameh: My favorite play of the year was Jaja's African Hair Braiding.

[28:26] Alan Seales: Oh, I didn't get to see that.

[28:27] Diana Salameh: No, that was the myth of the year. That is the myth of the year. That play, I have never laughed and cried so hard in such a short period of time. It takes you somewhere. And humor is such a great thing.

[28:45] Alan Seales: This should go back to what we were saying about Alex Edelman. It just opens up the door to someone's soul, and you really get to see them, and you really get to understand, and you really get to sort of put your shoulders down and open up yourself. And then the show goes somewhere at the end that destroys you emotionally after connecting with these people on such a humorous and human level. And you are left devastated. I also saw Jaja's three times, and I laughed and sobbed every time, even though I knew what was coming.

[29:18] Diana Salameh: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Serious but comedy, a dark comedy, Sign in City, Bruce Dean's Window. I saw that off-Broadway in February.

[29:26] Alan Seales: That was a quick transfer to Broadway.

[29:28] Diana Salameh: Yeah. And they didn't know when they closed. I was talking with them. When they closed off-Broadway, they didn't know Broadway was happening yet.

[29:36] Alan Seales: Wow.

[29:37] Diana Salameh: So they closed, then got the call like, hey, do you want to come back and go to Broadway? They were like, okay.

[29:42] Alan Seales: A miraculous transfer to Broadway, right? Like very, very, very last minute.

[29:46] Diana Salameh: Literally opened the last day of Tony eligibility.

[29:48] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[29:49] Diana Salameh: And then Miriam Silverman wins her Tony.

[29:51] Alan Seales: Just made it right in.

[29:53] Diana Salameh: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely amazing. I'm looking at my list of everything I saw this year, and I want to talk to you about every single show, but there's not enough time for that. But I don't want to forget to talk to you about Here Lies Love.

[30:05] Alan Seales: Yes.

[30:05] Diana Salameh: Which I think did such great, special, interesting, pioneering things on Broadway.

[30:12] Alan Seales: They transformed that theater.

[30:14] Diana Salameh: Yeah. Yeah. Where did you sit when you went?

[30:16] Alan Seales: I sat right in the front mezzanine. So like three rows in. I decided not to stand. And it was great. I stood when I saw it at The Public 10 years ago and got that full immersive experience. And this time I wanted to watch it all. And it was like perfect view of everything happening. I was, if there were, if there was a proscenium, imagine where the proscenium was before they transformed the theater. I was just on the upstage side of that.

[30:45] Diana Salameh: Got it.

[30:46] Alan Seales: Seated on a wing. So I was looking down on the dance floor from house left.

[30:53] Diana Salameh: Yeah.

[30:54] Alan Seales: And it was, it was cool because there was like all the actors, the cast was, they're all like literally feet away right below us, dancing and doing their thing. And, and I'm glad I didn't do, I'm glad I didn't do dance floor. I'm not a standing kind of person.

[31:07] Diana Salameh: Yeah. To go back to our age, you know, we're not 18 anymore.

[31:12] Alan Seales: That's true.

[31:12] Diana Salameh: We're also, we're also still young, but I, I, you know, go to the theater after a long day of work and just want to sit down. You know what I, you know what I'd really like? One of my hopes for 2024 in the theater is that they would serve iced tea. That's what I really want when I sit down to the theater. It's a refreshing iced tea with like a fresh lemon. Am I the only person that wants that?

[31:36] Alan Seales: I come from the South. I need sweet tea.

[31:38] Diana Salameh: No, no, no. I'm, I'm a, I'm a Jersey girl. We're, we're tough.

[31:42] Alan Seales: We're unsweetened iced tea people here.

[31:44] Diana Salameh: So you just want dirty water with lemon.

[31:46] Alan Seales: Yep. That's what I want. Dirty water with lemon. Who are you? Ted Lasso?

[31:49] Diana Salameh: That's right. That's right. Believe. You got to believe.

[31:53] Alan Seales: That was a horrible Ted Lasso accent.

[31:55] Diana Salameh: Well, no, that was my Jason. No, I was about to say Jason Statham. That was, that was not, that was a bad Jason Sudeikis accent, and that was a bad Ted Lasso accent.

[32:05] Alan Seales: Totally wrong, Jason.

[32:08] Diana Salameh: But it's all right. Hang on, everybody. We're just going to take a quick break.

[32:15] Alan Seales: All right, now we're back. Alan, what are you looking forward to next year? What shows are you, we've, we've touched on this a little bit, but what shows are you really excited to see next year?

[32:25] Alan Seales: I'm very excited to see, hoping the Wiz will just break the curse of the Marquee Theater and run forever. Again, going in without expectations, except now I have some. The Notebook really entices me. I've, I've listened to a couple singles, which I normally don't do before I see something I haven't seen before. So I, and I, because I wanted to get a feel for the music and the Notebook looks like it's just good. Just a ball of, of tears and emotion and happy.

[32:54] Diana Salameh: I'm enticed by the Notebook. You've seen the movie, right?

[32:57] Alan Seales: Years ago, like on a date. Yes.

[32:59] Diana Salameh: Yeah. It's so good. The movie is, the movie is great. I've heard that they've done a really smart job of making it still feel really intimate.

[33:08] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[33:08] Diana Salameh: That they haven't made it feel like a blockbuster version of this hit movie and that it still feels small and intimate and that kind of Broadway that you can only replicate on stage.

[33:20] Alan Seales: And so I'm excited for it. Alan, do you want to go see it together?

[33:23] Diana Salameh: Yes, please. Let's add that to our list of things we're going to go see. I'll probably cry, but so will you.

[33:27] Alan Seales: I, I, I cry at Folgers commercials.

[33:30] Diana Salameh: Oh my gosh. Yeah, of course I cried. I went to go see Wonka in movie theaters yesterday. I cried.

[33:34] Alan Seales: Really?

[33:36] Diana Salameh: Which was great, by the way. And I know we're talking, but it is a bit of a musical, so I feel like we can talk about it for a second. Um, it was great. I also saw a screening of The Color Purple. Go, go see The Color Purple.

[33:47] Alan Seales: Yeah. Go see The Color Purple for sure. Support movie musicals in, in the theaters because that means more movie musicals get made and it means more people are exposed to the form. There was an article, uh, there's something going around the, the, the Broadway, um, Reddit forums, uh, the Broadway subreddits that, that are saying they're posting on these articles saying that everyone in who likes musical theater is upset that the Mean Girls movie hasn't been marketed as a musical. And now studios are responding to that saying, well, if we say it's a musical, people don't come. So like you have to trick the audience to get there. Like Wonka is a musical and nobody talks about, nobody talks about that in the advertising.

[34:24] Diana Salameh: Yeah. I don't, I don't mind tricking people in advertising. I feel like whatever it takes to get them in, as long as you know that they're going to walk out satisfied, they're not going to walk out feeling duped. Then I'm all for, for truth and advertising being skewed as needed.

[34:38] Alan Seales: Huh? Huh. Okay. Okay. I'll give you a whole podcast on that.

[34:44] Diana Salameh: I actually would. I would like to, I would like to, to have a whole, uh, tricking people in advertising is cool episode.

[34:50] Alan Seales: Did you tricking? Yeah. I, I, I should use my words better. Once again, this has not been sanctioned by a lawyer, anything I'm saying today. So I do need to consult my legal team on any of it. I need to get a legal team and then I need to consult them.

[35:03] Diana Salameh: Um, and come back to you on what I should or shouldn't say. But I, I think, I think it's important to use the thing that's going to draw the person in as long as you know, that they're going to be satisfied when they get there. That's maybe what I should be saying. Tricking is the wrong word.

[35:15] Alan Seales: There you go.

[35:20] Diana Salameh: Yeah. It's not tricking. It's like this pasta I make with anchovies in it. It's so good. It's, it's Alison Roman's caramelized shallot pasta and there's anchovies in it. And if you tell someone there's anchovies in it, they're going to be like, Oh, anchovies. But if you try it, you will love it. You need to write a musical called salad with anchovies.

[35:35] Alan Seales: I'd go see that salad with anchovies or pasta, pasta, pasta with anchovies. You can't do salad and anchovies. That's two nos. Sorry.

[35:41] Diana Salameh: We make, we actually do make salad with anchovies in this house.

[35:46] Alan Seales: Oh, you do. So I wouldn't have to trick you.

[35:50] Diana Salameh: No, no, no. I actually, I actually like anchovies and I, and I like spam and a Vegemite.

[35:56] Alan Seales: Oh wow. I've never tried Vegemite. Obviously there's a lot of spam in my life, post spam a lot or during spam a lot. So I have, I have plenty of spam that I can send over to you. Um, I am really, really, really, really, really, really extra, extra, extra excited for the outsiders. It's a musical that has been in development for quite some time. Um, speaking of things that we went out of town to see, I went to go see it at La Jolla Playhouse in March. Alan, it's so good.

[36:26] Alan Seales: Really?

[36:26] Diana Salameh: It's so good. I can't wait for it. I'm just looking at this list. There's so much like this is a fierce season. It's Tony season is going to come up like the notebook water for elephants. Uh, I've heard such good things. Um, it's just a play. My son's a queer, but what can you do? I've heard such amazing things about my son's a queer, the who's Tommy is coming. Tommy, wait till you all meet Ollie who's playing Tommy. He is making his Broadway debut. He's currently in the company tour right now. Um, and he's never been on Broadway before, but he played the role in Chicago at the Goodman theater. I went to go see it and he is phenomenal. The reviews are out of this world for him. I think he is going to be a big Broadway star in just a couple of months.

[37:03] Alan Seales: Yeah. So you Brent, you mentioned Lempicka. I'm excited for that again, because I just love seeing Eden. I love anything. Rachel Chapkin directs is incredible. And Sammy Canald was actually associate director with Lempicka earlier.

[37:18] Diana Salameh: Oh, that's a cool, fun fact.

[37:20] Alan Seales: Yeah. She was, she was involved with Lempicka softs coming back. Oh, softs is so, I'm so excited for softs. Did you see it at the public last year?

[37:28] Diana Salameh: No, I, I need to get, I need to get more off Broadway. I need to do more.

[37:33] Alan Seales: Me too. It's a goal for me for 2024 as well. I love stuff at the public, which by the time it premieres on Broadway, it'll be about two years since it played at the public. I'm sure they've done a ton with it since then, but it's great. It's everything I wanted in musical. It's women at the center of it. Hillary Clinton and Malala have come on board as producers of it. I can't wait to see it. I'm putting this out there. I'm going to manifest this. I want to interview Alicia Keys for Hell's Kitchen.

[37:59] Diana Salameh: Great. I'll manifest it. I want that. I want, I want her as a podcast guest. I'm manifesting it. Alicia, text me later. I'll, I'll connect you with Alan.

[38:09] Alan Seales: Okay. Cool. Cool. Yeah.

[38:12] Alan Seales: Heart of Rock and Roll. That just came out of nowhere.

[38:14] Diana Salameh: Out of nowhere. And there's probably more to come. There's probably more to come that hasn't been announced that's going to be on Broadway this spring.

[38:20] Alan Seales: Yeah. And oh, well, so Heart of Rock and Roll, directed by Gordon Greenberg, who also directed Dracula, a Comedy of Terrors, which is also a personal favorite of mine.

[38:28] Diana Salameh: Yeah. Dracula is a fan favorite. Yes. And Dracula is also an internet favorite. The internet loves Dracula. Gatsby, directed by Rachel Chavkin, is premiering this spring at ART.

[38:41] Alan Seales: I will definitely be going to Boston to see that.

[38:44] Diana Salameh: Oh, please. Can I go with you? I want to go.

[38:46] Alan Seales: Yeah. Hop in the car.

[38:48] Diana Salameh: Car, train, whatever. I'll plane. I'll swim. I'll swim there. No, I won't swim. That's a lie.

[38:52] Alan Seales: No, I won't swim. But I'll take the car. I'll take a plane. I'll take a train. Train is my favorite. I love the train.

[38:56] Diana Salameh: I really do. What is it about trains that's still just so like cool?

[39:01] Alan Seales: Oldie timey.

[39:02] Diana Salameh: Yeah. I get it. And the train gives me focus. There's something about like the gentle rocking. It's probably like a thing from childhood. Maybe because the train just, for the most part, it's just on time. It just works. So you know when you're going to leave and you know when you're going to get there.

[39:16] Alan Seales: It's true. All right. We'll take the train to Boston.

[39:19] Diana Salameh: Okay. Okay.

[39:19] Alan Seales: In fresh jammies. Let's see. Cabaret, we mentioned. Mary Jane, we mentioned. Uncle Vanya.

[39:24] Diana Salameh: Uncle Vanya. That cast.

[39:27] Alan Seales: Steve Carell and Alice Ophelia, Anika Nani Rose. God, like Steve Carell on Broadway, too. That's another one. Like what?

[39:35] Diana Salameh: That's another one. Can we go see that one together, too?

[39:37] Alan Seales: Yes. Yes. Great.

[39:38] Diana Salameh: Yes. Mother play. Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jessica Lange, and Jim Parsons is coming back, too. Written by Paula Vogel. I love Paula Vogel.

[39:50] Alan Seales: Yeah. Also, right now, playing at second stage, which will be on Broadway until maybe February, is Appropriate with Sarah Paulson. That's my first show of 2024. I'm seeing it the first week of January. Can't wait.

[40:04] Diana Salameh: Ooh, yeah. I need to actually get some tickets to that. I haven't seen that yet.

[40:09] Alan Seales: I guess the last thing. Let's see. Smash. Smash. They're finally bringing the TV show to Broadway.

[40:16] Diana Salameh: I am ready for the short-lived, highly acclaimed NBC series Smash to come to Broadway.

[40:24] Alan Seales: Do you know anything about it? Are they adapting it? They're changing the story?

[40:29] Diana Salameh: I think quite a bit has changed, from what I understand. There's a foundation of some of the characters that we know, but it's not the same plot line of Hit List versus Bombshell.

[40:42] Alan Seales: I wonder if any of the TV cast is going to be in it.

[40:46] Diana Salameh: That would be fun. I heard some of the casting from the reading, and it's A plus. Any cast list that says Bonnie Milligan on it, sign me up.

[40:56] Alan Seales: Did you just leak a news?

[40:58] Diana Salameh: No, I think it's out there in the world.

[41:00] Alan Seales: Is it?

[41:01] Diana Salameh: I don't think I leaked a news.

[41:03] Alan Seales: All right. Well, I'm going to say, you heard it here first.

[41:05] Diana Salameh: No, you didn't hear it here first. I'm pretty sure Bonnie posted about it on her Instagram.

[41:09] Alan Seales: Yeah, I think we're good. And if not, my lawyers will be in touch about editing this part out.

[41:13] Diana Salameh: Well, first you're going to get the lawyers, and then they'll be in touch.

[41:16] Alan Seales: Are you a lawyer? Is anybody listening a lawyer?

[41:19] Diana Salameh: I have watched seven and a half seasons of Suits, so I consider myself a lawyer.

[41:24] Alan Seales: Yeah. Well, for me, it was The Good Wife. And so I really know. I know what's going on. All I know is that you can get an injunction and something called a TRO in like hours.

[41:36] Diana Salameh: And that's easy, especially in New York City. It's filmed in Toronto.

[41:40] Alan Seales: Getting an injunction I learned from Rent.

[41:42] Diana Salameh: Oh, that's true.

[41:43] Alan Seales: Get an injunction, call the cops.

[41:45] Diana Salameh: That's right. That's right.

[41:46] Alan Seales: Yeah. Let's see. Rosenthorn, we'll wrap it up. What was like the best moment you can think of? Well, let's start with The Thorn. We'll go negative first and on a positive. So what was like The Thorn? What would you have liked to have seen happen a little bit differently?

[42:00] Diana Salameh: On Broadway or in my life? Those are two different answers.

[42:07] Alan Seales: Well, I guess on Broadway in the industry of things that would have gone better. Like, okay, I'll give you mine. I would have liked to have seen Once Upon a One More Time not open right after Bad Cindy closed. I think that was a low light of the season, having those two so close together.

[42:26] Diana Salameh: Yeah. This is a tough one because I have so many hopes for our industry. I love Broadway so fiercely. And because I do, I feel it is my responsibility to want it to be better. And the thing on my mind right now continues to be diversity of who we see on stage and what stories are being told. And I mean that in so many different ways. Of course, I mean racial diversity, but I also mean neurodivergent people being on stage like they are in How to Dance in Ohio, or plus size or fat people like Bonnie Milligan being on Broadway in a role that has nothing to do with her weight and is not even mentioned. I want to see Ruthie Ann Miles be able to star, enlighten the piazza, not just Here Lies Love. And my hope for Broadway in 2024 and beyond and my thorn for this year is while there has been progress, there's a long way to go.

[43:26] Alan Seales: Yeah. Yeah. And it never ends either.

[43:29] Diana Salameh: Yeah. What about you, Alan?

[43:31] Alan Seales: Well, okay. So the timing I mentioned, but I guess another one. I think that we have a long way to go politically to get the city and behind the scenes, the industry is holding on by a thread. It's too hard to get a show on Broadway in terms of accessibility. Tickets are too high because rent is too high for the shows to have the theaters. And I think at what point can we just take a step back and say, all right, city government, we are responsible. We, Broadway, are responsible for how many billions of dollars of tourism. And if you could subsidize rent or even just tickets for however you want to qualify it, then you can get more people in from more places and maybe do some sort of partnership with hotels.

So you come see a Broadway show and you get a discount on your hotel stay. Just do some sort of incentive to get people here. So overall, I would love to see tourism return even more because post-COVID, it's still not what it was pre-COVID. And I think the city could do something about it and they're not.

[44:48] Diana Salameh: Agree. Agree. The arts are vital to the world, but especially to New York and our economy. Broadway brings in more money every year than every single New York sports team combined.

[45:00] Alan Seales: Combined. That's the Yankees and the Mets and the Giants and the Jets. Some of those are in New Jersey, but you know what I mean? It's bringing in more money. It's fueling the economy on a larger level than all of those teams combined. And I would love to see more support in our government financially for the arts on stages like ours, on high school stages, elementary school kids, all of it.

[45:21] Diana Salameh: Yeah. I agree. I totally agree. Okay. So then, do you have a rose? Do you have a standout moment or moments? You don't have to pick just one.

[45:32] Alan Seales: It's so hard because there's a lot of roses. As much as there's many thorns, that means that it also comes with a lot of roses. I think there's a few for me. One is Wicked turning 20 this year and getting to be a part of that. I get to work on Wicked and it's pretty magical for me. I was 16 when I saw Wicked. I saw it with my mom and my sister two months after it opened on Broadway. It was one of those life-changing, without hyperbole experiences for me. I interned at Sereno Coin, which is the ad agency I work at now, when I was in college and kind of lost and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and didn't know that this industry existed. And on that very first day, our founder, Nancy Coyne, told me a story about a young Muslim girl who had gone to see Wicked a couple years after 9-11 when it opened and how she wrote a letter to the producers that for the last two years, she has felt like a stranger in this land, in her home, and people calling her family terrorists.

She wore a hijab and being awful to them because they were Muslim post-9-11. They went to go see Wicked and she felt like the green girl. I think she saw some hope for herself. That story is quite literally why I want to work on Broadway. I always wanted to do something that felt like it had an impact on the world. The thing that had the greatest impact on my life was theater. Wicked was a big part of that. Now, flash forward 20 years later, I work on Wicked. I'm here celebrating its 20th anniversary. That was a big moment of joy that I felt this year. I also had a lot of joy in the shows that I worked on this year and watching them thrive. Something Like It Hot and Shocked and Kimberly Akimbo and Kimberly Akimbo winning the Tony Award.

Spamalot just opening on Broadway and the joy that that brings audiences every night and Jajas and The Cottage. I worked on a lot of things that brought a lot of joy to audiences. Those are a whole bouquet of roses for the year.

[47:30] Diana Salameh: Yeah. That's a really good way of looking at it. We're bringing joy back when people need to laugh. People need to connect with each other and connect with strangers and realize that we're all still human. Because I think the more we go on, the more we just hide behind isolation. Technology makes life easy and worse all at the same time in that regard.

[47:53] Alan Seales: Totally.

[47:53] Diana Salameh: So yeah, you get in front of, again, a room full of strangers to go on an emotional journey led by the best of their craft. You can't beat that.

[48:02] Alan Seales: No. What's your rose?

[48:04] Diana Salameh: My rose? Oh, goodness. Mine, I would have to say, I think I always like working the red carpet of the Tony Awards. That's always a standout moment just to see the celebration of all that talent. You get TV and film and, again, the people that may not have the time or... You know what? I will say it. I think theater actors can bring some sort of level of realism that sometimes TV and film cannot bring. Because to be able to go back into a dark place or even a happy place, but especially to be able to regulate yourself and be trained physically and emotionally to go back into such an emotional place that's required eight times a week, I think that's just talent. That's talent I will never understand. I've always wanted to understand and I don't think I ever will.

[48:58] Alan Seales: It's the magic of it all.

[48:59] Diana Salameh: It is. It is magic. So yeah, the Tony Awards, definitely a rose of mine. At Google, there's a Broadway community that I joined that we do outings at least once a month. So it's like I've made a whole bunch of new friends in that regard too. So buying tickets and going out and seeing them go out to dinner beforehand. It reminds me of in college where, even in high school too, but this little group of misfits that didn't fit in anywhere else. You fit in together and you go see shows and you go see the arts.

[49:32] Alan Seales: I'm so glad you said that because one of the things I was going to say for a rose, and there's just so many things, is it's the people who I went to theater with. As I look at this list, I saw a whole handful of shows with you this year. My friend Eileen, I've seen a lot of shows with. My colleagues, I've seen a lot of shows with. And that's half the joy is who you're sitting next to in the theater.

[49:52] Diana Salameh: Yeah. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Just the reactions of people who don't normally get to see shows.

[50:03] Alan Seales: Yeah. Your kids, my nephews, it's really special.

[50:09] Diana Salameh: Yeah. Well, thank you again. Happy New Year. Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. Happy everything.

[50:15] Alan Seales: Happy everything. And happy, healthy, joyful 2024 for you and everyone listening.

[50:17] Diana Salameh: You too. Where can we connect with you? Remind everybody.

[50:22] Diana Salameh: You can connect with me on Instagram. I'm at underscore Diana Falame because surprisingly enough, it was taken without an underscore.

[50:28] Alan Seales: Yeah. Yeah. I'm theater underscore podcast because somebody else, I actually haven't even checked. I don't even know if the original one still exists anymore.

[50:32] Diana Salameh: Well, you're the best. You're the best of the best.

[50:36] Alan Seales: Yeah, that's right. Thank you. Thanks for having me, Alan.

[50:40] Diana Salameh: Of course. I'll see you this time next year.

[50:44] Alan Seales: Well, we're going to go see lots of shows.

[50:48] Diana Salameh: Well, lots of shows. I'll see you. We'll be recording again this time next year.

[50:48] Alan Seales: Exactly. Take a deep breath, make the world a little colorful.