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[0:00] Brent Comer: Hi, I'm Brent Comer, and you are listening to The Theatre Podcast with Alan Seales.

[0:04] Alan Seales: Welcome back to The Theatre Podcast. I'm Alan Seales, and this is the seventh of seven episodes. Yes, the last episode of The Outsider's Takeover here on the podcast. So if you didn't listen to the previous ones, make sure to go back in the feed and listen to those with the other cast and creatives from the show and, of course, dive into what makes The Outsider so incredible. This episode with Brent Comer fits right into that description. A guy from a small town who felt like an outsider himself for a lot of his younger life, he literally found his home on stage completely by accident. He helped create a second family with the rest of the cast and is having one of the most incredible Broadway debut experiences after actually wanting to leave New York City from a string of unsuccessful auditions prior to landing The Outsiders and going to La Jolla. So find me on social media, tag the podcast in your stories, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And now, everyone, enjoy this episode with Brent Comer.

[1:09] Alan Seales: Today's guest was previously seen in the Les Mis National Tour and in the La Jolla production of The Outsiders. And he just made his Broadway debut as Daryl Curtis in the Broadway production of The Outsiders, which was recently nominated for 12 Tony Awards. Brent Comer, welcome to the theater podcast.

[1:37] Brent Comer: Hello, hello, hello. Thank you for having me, man.

[1:40] Alan Seales: It has been a ride for you and for the show. And as you were telling me before we even started recording, I do my normal spiel of like, this is what we're going to talk about, low pressure, blah, blah, blah. And this is the stuff the audience doesn't get to hear. And I mentioned, okay, so let's go through college and after college, because then there's that story that, okay, I'm not going to spoil it. I want you to tell it, but I'm bringing it up right now, because originally you said, it's a wild ride, buckle up. So I'm putting on my seatbelt. We're starting from the beginning.

[2:15] Brent Comer: It was a cold and balmy night in—

[2:18] Alan Seales: I was about to say, it was a cold and dark, cold and rainy night in Frederick, Maryland.

[2:24] Brent Comer: Frederick, Maryland. No, I actually, I got the theater bug pretty late in my life, to be honest. I didn't really, I was into sports. I was always into storytelling and movies and stuff. And I was really big into like books when I was a kid. I caught the theater bug by accident in high school, actually. It's pretty funny. I meant to sign up for like a newscasting class. Yeah, I meant to sign up for a newscasting class for the morning announcements. And through my incompetence, I accidentally selected the musical theater class. The first day of which required like a stand a cappella sing to audition for the fall musical. And I stood up and my brother had done musicals and I like—

[3:14] Alan Seales: Wait, when did you know you were in the wrong class first off?

[3:17] Brent Comer: It was like, I remember it was like a day when, you know, you have the first day of class in high school and it's like syllabus day. And they like break you through like all the stuff, like here's what we're doing. So pretty early on, I realized that this was like a huge mistake. And it was like a joke. It was for the first 15 minutes. But the teacher was very insistent that I stand up and I sing something. And my friends were like begging me and like, oh, go up and do it, go up and do it. And I stood up. Oh my God, dude, I sang La Vie Boheme for Rent as a 16 year old. I was in the fall musical after that. And I realized that it was a lot better than sports, because like people are nicer to you.

And you don't have to hurt yourself all the time. And an analogy I had, when I was explaining it to my dad why I liked this more, I was like, you know, in football or in basketball or you write out a play, and you hope things go that way. In theater, it happens that way. It's supposed to happen that way every time. You know what I mean? Like, I remember playing football and we would like write up plays that we hoped would work. And we would practice them so much. And they're like, in theory, it should work this way. And when I was doing a musical, I was like, oh, no, it's going to be like this every time. I like that. I like that I can like anticipate what's coming like with choreography and stuff.

I remember like being like, oh, I don't have to be on my toes worried about, you know, where this person's going to move. They know where they're supposed to move. I know, tiny thing. I did it. And I really I loved it. I had a great time. And then I just honestly, I kept doing it. And I really caught it really heavy in high school. And then I actually took a gap year after high school and I started serving tables, which I've done for a lot for many years now. Yeah. So I worked at a restaurant for like a year. And then I like applied for musical theater. I had two or three auditions. I auditioned for three schools. I might as well picked them out of a hat. I auditioned for James Madison University in Virginia, which was one of them. And that was just like a suggestion by someone who had come out of my hometown who went there. Yeah. And they accepted me and gave me money to go. So I was like, yeah.

[5:39] Alan Seales: So when you get to this point where you're trying to decide or you have to decide, what do you want to do with your life? I mean, it sounds like—

[5:46] Brent Comer: It's crazy to make a 17, 18 year old kid decide.

[5:50] Alan Seales: I've always thought that. I've always thought that. I've been through it, obviously been through it. And so is, you know, however many other hundreds of millions of people. You're right. Like we're not even done developing yet. Our brains are still forming. And literally—

[6:05] Brent Comer: I know, like you can't even like, yeah, sorry. You can't drink alcohol yet and you have to decide what you're going to do for the rest of your life. That's crazy.

[6:12] Alan Seales: Yeah. That's kind of where I've always had a problem with the drinking age in the US as well. But that's a separate conversation. Anywho. Right. So you're trying to figure out what you want to do. And is it, I mean, Frederick, Maryland, I've never heard of Frederick, Maryland. And so when you're there, is it, I sort of like almost want to feel like you went through sort of what Daryl Curtis went through where you have to choose between, you know, really focusing in on sports maybe or doing something else to take care of yourself, take care of people around you. And then, you know, you kind of feel a little lost for a minute.

[6:50] Brent Comer: What's interesting about the whole Daryl Curtis arc and really about a lot of the characters in the show is that I feel like that part in your life is a bit of a rite of passage. Do you know what I mean? Where you're not a kid anymore. And I think what a lot of the show is about is really about being faced with, I think it's about being faced with the reality of adulthood. You have to make that transition from being a child to being an adult. And it's something that Ponyboy eventually goes through. And to me, that's what Stay Gold is about. It's about hanging on to those things that make you get up in the morning as a kid and trying to find a way to make to keep that as an adult. And for me in that situation, I knew that performing was something that inspired me and energized me.

And I knew that I could have done something. Being an artist is a risky route to take. But part of being an adult is making a decision, making decisions for yourself. And I think at a young age, I struggled with this, but I decided I wanted to do this. At the chagrin of many other people around me who were like, No, don't do this. Go study business or do this. But this is something I wanted to do. And the harsh reality of being an artist and believe me, I felt it. I'm part of the actor generation that graduated out of school and then COVID happened immediately after. It sucks, man. But I think that the world smacking you in the face is a rite of passage. And as far as me and Daryl Curtis go, we're not very similar in any way to be.

On a surface level, we're very different people. I'm very flighty and anxious and kinetic. And Daryl Curtis is very stoic and still. And that's how he copes in my take. He copes through stillness, which eventually builds into something that can't really be contained anymore. For me, I'm just always moving and I try to flow with whatever happens to me. And both have their advantages and disadvantages. But where we sort of connect is that fear of being an adult, of the fear of what the world will sort of throw at us next.

[9:08] Alan Seales: Listen, I'm 43 and I still have a fear of becoming an adult. You know what I mean? It never goes away.

[9:14] Brent Comer: No, it never goes away.

[9:16] Alan Seales: It never goes.

[9:16] Brent Comer: Talk about imposter syndrome. Like, I don't feel like an adult. I'm almost 30 years old. I don't feel like an adult.

[9:21] Alan Seales: Right. And talk about imposter syndrome, right? I don't feel like I deserve to have the things I have because I still feel like this struggling kid deep down inside. And where I find the most solace is talking and being and performing, being absorbed in art and performing. Like, what is this about actors, people, man?

[9:43] Brent Comer: I know.

[9:44] Alan Seales: We're a bunch of—

[9:45] Brent Comer: We're a bunch of—

[9:46] Alan Seales: Misfits. I say misfits.

[9:47] Brent Comer: Yeah, dude.

[9:48] Alan Seales: Yeah. I love what you said that when you started performing, you started being in the musicals and acting that the people are nice and you found a home. And you're right. There are so many people who are kind of pigeonholed into a certain route one way or another because they're big and they happen to be coordinated. So they were put in soccer or football or wherever it is.

[10:18] Brent Comer: Yeah.

[10:19] Alan Seales: And then it's what... Are you familiar with Monty Python where the one character is just like, I just want to sing. That's what I—

[10:25] Brent Comer: I just want to sing.

[10:28] Alan Seales: This is what I feel like all the time.

[10:31] Brent Comer: That's literally the way I was. That's my favorite scene in that movie, by the way. Especially with the guards when he's writing the message and he shoots the arrow and the guards just look at him and he makes this face and he was like—

[10:47] Alan Seales: That's one of my favorite skits of all time.

[10:50] Brent Comer: No more singing, no singing.

[10:52] Alan Seales: But yeah. Stop that, stop that. But no, that's a real thing, man. It's very much a... It's something that if you have it, you have it. And there's this old adage that a lot of theater teachers say, if you can do something else, do it. If your heart will allow you to do something else, then do it. So yeah, I bit the... I gave into it. I went to college for it. And it was the best decision of my life, I think.

[11:24] Alan Seales: So then you graduated in 2019, right? 2018, 2019. And immediately—

[11:30] Brent Comer: 2019. Yeah, I was a gap.

[11:32] Alan Seales: Yeah. So 2019. And then if I was reading the timeline right within the tea leaves, then you went to New York, got an agent, and then the Les Mis National Tour, right? Was this all sort of back to back to back? And then you run smack into the wall of COVID?

[11:54] Brent Comer: Oh, yeah. It was like a... Well, what happened is I got my agents while I was in college, which was really great. It was very lucky. A lot of kids don't have the opportunity to really even be seen by a lot of agents, unless you go to one of those conservatory programs where they systematically have a showcase and everyone knows to go there. Because it's like, they pick from the cream of the crop. And that people just get when they're 15 years old, and they go on these 20 school audition tours when they're in high school, which I was not organized enough to do. And I wasn't organized enough as an artist to even... I would have gotten in, I don't think, because I just didn't know what I was doing.

Whereas I feel like a lot of kids at that age, it's sort of like... People go to audition classes, and they learn how to do these things from a very, very early age. And I was so late to the party. I just knew that I loved doing it. And I auditioned for three schools. I knew some people who auditioned for 15 to 20 schools. I was like, how did you graduate high school going to all these places? But every weekend, they would go to another school and they would audition. And so I got a showcase, luckily, that agents were present for. And I got an agent through that experience. So I had an agent for my entire last semester of college, but I was in Virginia. And self-tapes weren't really big yet, because it wasn't COVID.

So the science hadn't been perfected. The science of becoming your own lighting op, audio operator, director, co-reader. Literally. And we'll get to this point, but when COVID and the whole self-tape renaissance happened, we'll get there. So I had an agent for my second semester of college, and I didn't really audition for much. But then I moved to the city, right after I graduated. I was at home for three days, and I moved all my stuff up to the city. Yeah, so I lived in 189th and St. Nick. And it was my first time living in the city. And I was there by myself, because I was subletting from someone who couldn't find any other subletters. So I just had this apartment to myself, which was a very strange, lonely experience.

I was broke, as a joke. And I was working at Maison Pickle as a host. So not making nearly enough money to live there. No, not at all. Not even close. But luckily, my second or third audition was the Les Mis tour. They were looking for Angel Ross, understudy, slash this character named Fwee, who is one of the barricade men in Les Mis. And I went in, and I auditioned after living in the city for three months. And I got the job, very luckily. They needed an immediate replacement. And I actually replaced James Gish, who...

[14:54] Brent Comer: Rather similar. So that entire first week of being in Les Mis, I was just being shown the ropes by Fiyero pretty much. And it was fun. He was a really nice guy. And I did that for nine months. It was an amazing experience. I loved the show. I love Les Mis and I always have. So I did that for nine months. And it was like a dream come true. I was like a kid making enough money to sustain myself and pocketing most of it. Because when you're on tour, you just sort of pocket it, traveling, seeing all these cool places and doing a show that I loved. And then I was excited to get back to the city and start auditioning for more stuff and see where my artistic journey would go. You know, doing other shows and projects maybe.

And you know, one day, the show was canceled and never came back. They basically sent us home and we thought we were going to be gone for like three months. It was the plan originally when COVID happened. I was in Durham, North Carolina. Just the world was ending. You know, everyone was being stuck inside. No one's going anywhere. And those first few weeks of COVID were like an extended vacation for everybody. The dissonance of COVID, I remember those first couple weeks, first couple months, when people were like, torn between enjoying the isolation and the vacation and then slowly realizing that no, this is like a bigger problem. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, the panic of not knowing when you could work again hadn't set in yet.

Yeah. And it's weird. It's like this weird time in everybody's life where like, I literally just blacked that entire year out of my head, where like everyone was sort of stuck inside, isolated. Everyone was so amped up and had all this pent up energy. And it was very, very, I sometimes forget it happened, but it did. And the industry shut down. I would be sitting around and there was nothing happening. And you would go on social media and everyone's saying, you know, the future of the industry is like, the future of the industry is Zoom musicals. And it's going to be much more and like when theater comes back, no one's going to be sitting next to each other. Like houses are going to be cut in half to keep distance from people.

I think some people were really energized by that, by like an innovation in theater, that theater had to change because of COVID. And I was just so disheartened by it. I appreciated everyone's energy and enthusiasm for innovation. But me sitting at home looking at all this stuff, like some very talented people have worked on some Zoom musicals and stuff, but it hurt my heart to see a Zoom musical, because the whole magic for me was being present, was being in the presence of other people. I started to learn how to do self-tapes and having just graduated college, never taking a class for self-tapes and spending all that time learning how to perform in front of people and how to be present in a room with people.

And then suddenly we just make that shift to now you're staring at this six foot bright light in your face. And I know that's how like filming happens and stuff. And it was really disheartening for me.

[18:09] Brent Comer: That's why there's a whole crew when you do a film. There's a crew for everything, a crew person for everything, if you have a budget that can do it. Doing it all yourself is one of the hardest things to do. I had to start over. I know. And it was a very important like conservatory, impromptu conservatory program of how to make a self-tape. But even to this day, I'll film self-tapes and I'll be like, I feel like my soul is being crushed between this light and my face. You know what I mean? Time for a quick commercial break. Hang on a second. Welcome back to the episode. They always say like the final character of anything is the audience, is when you put it in front of an audience, see how they react, see what noises they make or not.

And that's where something really gets on its feet. So yeah, to have a good audition is, especially when there is nobody around you and you haven't seen anybody in forever, then how are you supposed to be your best self when you can't even get your framing right? Some people loved it. Some people loved not going in a room. They loved being able to take any take they wanted. And I'm obsessive. So no take was good. So we just listened, the cast of The Outsiders, we just had a listening party for the cast album last night. And I was really excited, but I get really nervous. But I was nervous because I don't like listening to myself and I'm obsessive. Luckily, they're all so brilliant and they made sure everything was really locked in.

And it's really a beautiful album. You're incredible. That was one of the things I was going to ask was, you sort of fell into this by accident, stood up to sing La Vie Boheme. And obviously, you can sing. So it's in there. There's some natural talent in there, right? So let's go back, rewind a little bit to that part when you're in the wrong class by accident. And all of a sudden, you open your mouth and the heavens open up and doves fly out around the room. Those early days, bro. Those early days were rough. Those early days were rough, man. There's still days, as being an actor, it's very much like practicing, man. I was not like a knockout singer. There's some people who are just born with that gift, man.

And they just get up first thing in the morning and they can just howl. Me, it's a lot of work. I have to warm up my body and I have to make sure that I'm ready for that stuff. And it's good because it keeps me on top of things. It keeps me disciplined. But sometimes, man, there are just people who have that gift where they can just wake up and they're born as a songbird. For me, it's a lot of shaking off rust and making sure that everything's tuned right and actively making sure that I'm ready to go. But yeah, when I first started, it was like, I had no idea how to sing. I had no idea. No kid. I mean, most kids, when they start, don't know how to sing. But when I was a kid, after that point, I would spend hours and hours and hours practicing singing and copying cast albums and developing my own style and taking in people's interpretations of stuff and seeing what you could do when multiple people sing the same song and how they do it differently.

And you pick and choose from your own, from your favorite artists and you create your own sort of creative fingerprint on something. And that's really, I think, the most important thing I learned as an artist between when I started and through college was developing your taste, was taking things in, deciding what it is that you liked, things that affected you and things that resonated with you. And being like, oh, I want to do that. I want to contribute to that kind of stuff. Do you know what I mean? There's certain things like auditions that are brought up to me and I'll read a little bit of it or I'll hear something from it. And I'll just be like, I'll either be like, oh, wow, this is something that I can get into a room with this and help out during a process. And there are things that I'm just like, this kind of material doesn't resonate with me. And I think that's a really important thing to know as an artist. Do you know what I mean?

[22:36] Brent Comer: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, because you're not going to try, I don't think you're going to be your best self if you can't feel what you're saying or have the passion for what you're doing. I think that's the difference between, I guess, finding the character. You're going to find the character a lot easier if you're invested in what you're trying to say or who you're trying to be, character-wise. Of course.

[22:59] Brent Comer: Yeah. Yeah. And there's certain things that I just don't have a perspective on, really, or an opinion about. Do you know what I mean? And I feel like those are the things that you pass off to people who feel strongly about it. There's some musicals that I just had, or it's just knowing material that you're like, oh, no, I can really help this team out. Do you know what I mean? I can, oh, I see what's going on here. Get me in that room and let's jam.

[23:32] Brent Comer: Okay. So then fast forward again, we're going to jump cut straight to, you're in COVID now, you're doing yourself tapes. So then where did La Jolla come in? Where did The Outsiders begin to grace your life? So it was a slow, steady comeback to theater. I moved to the city. I actually lived across the street from where I'm living now with a good friend of mine from Les Mis. His name's Andrew Bond. He's still on the tour. He's on the new tour as a Valjean understudy. And I auditioned for a year. I made it to a lot of final rounds for a lot of things. And I had a new agent and I was ready to take another swing and pound the pavement. And I made some headway and I made it to a lot of final rounds, a lot of heartbreaking final rounds.

You know what I mean? And it always felt like I was getting right to the finish line and falling short right there because I was auditioning for a lot of tenor things and I'm a baritone with a high extension, which confuses a lot of people. It's very strange. They're like, what do you mean you don't hit a B flat? And I'm just like, I could, it wouldn't sound good. But it's very confounding because anyway, I would audition for these things, wouldn't be quite right and it would suck. And so I actually was making a transition out of theater. I started working at a distillery in my hometown. I started working in sales for it and I was really loving working sales in the alcohol industry. And at that point, I was like, I told my agents, I don't really want to keep doing this auditioning, spending all this money to live in the city, just to audition for things that I get to the end for.

It felt like I was giving a lot. And I got to that point where a lot of actors get where they're just kind of like, look, I'm just going to let this go. And just because I'm an artist doesn't mean it has to be the thing that I do. But actually, the last audition that they gave me before I had stopped was The Outsiders at La Jolla. It's actually, yeah, it's pretty, it was insane because they were like, here, wait, take one more, take one more, take one more. And that's where you got it. And I remember I was sitting, I was at, yeah, it always comes right when you're ready, right when you're at peace. And I was at the beach. I was literally at the beach on vacation. And my agents at the time called me and they were like, hey, we know you're kind of not into the whole thing, but just take this last one.

I did. And I had an appointment for it. I remember I wanted it really bad because I loved The Outsiders. I loved the book. I loved the movie. And it was one of those things where I was like, oh, no, I understand what's good. They let us read the script or Adam's version of the script at the time. And I fell in love with it. I was a big Adam fan when I was in college and was at that point still and still am. I didn't stop being Adam. Adam Rapp, yeah.

[26:23] Brent Comer: Adam Rapp, yes. So I read the whole thing while I was at the beach and I was like, this is amazing. And I knew that if I got into a room with that, I could bounce some things off the wall and we could find some cool stuff. So I went in. I had an initial audition where I went in and that's the first time I did any of the Daryl material. And it's like August of 2022, I think. I was auditioning for a role for Daryl's understudy because Ryan Vasquez was still Daryl. And I was auditioning to be Ryan's understudy. And I remember the callback was like this big dance audition. And I shit you not, we would be sitting in Pearl and every man in New York City as an actor was walking through that, was walking out of that elevator.

And the room was way too small for the amount of people that we had. And it was this early version, like blueprint version of Little Brother, which is one of the penultimate numbers in the show. It was really dynamic, really physical, really visceral. And I am awful at dancing. I'm a really bad dancer. I'm not a gifted mover. And we are all just all the straight men in New York City who could be outsiders. You know what I mean? All the men in New York City were in this audition room. I remember the room was getting really hot, and sweaty, and just muggy. And it was like a fight for a knife in the mud. Everyone really left it all out there. And there was a few people in there who are really, really good dancers.

And most of us were just not dancers. I remember doing that audition, and I forgot the combination. And they let me do it again, thank God. But I remember leaving the audition. I'm like, yeah, I definitely blew that. Luckily, I made it to the next round. And I got to do my material for the team. And then I did it again after that. So I had gone in four times before I got the first La Jolla Outsiders job. I know. But I was sitting in this spot right here when I got the call, actually. And I remember just running around this apartment and freaking out. Then we went to La Jolla. It was a long wait time. And I was so excited, because I hadn't done anything in a year, a year and a half, just through COVID and everything.

And I had to shake some rust off. And I'd never been to California before. This process is very much in the room. The room is where we work. It was interesting to see something built from the ground up, because I'd never done that before. I'd always done versions of something that had already been made. And it was such a gift to be able to see something that's developed in the room. Do you know what I mean? And it really was Adam Rapp, the writer, Donya Taymor, the director, Justin Levine, one of the writers, composers and music supervisor, and Zach Chance, one of the composers, and John Clay, the other composer. And just really watching all of them coordinate what this thing was going to be. We were still discovering it. The show is in its infancy, and we didn't know what the story was exactly, or what our point of view of it was.

[29:48] Brent Comer: But like slowly with every show and every week, it would grow into what it is now. And it's interesting because like when you do a show, you're usually doing a version of something that's already been made. Like Les Mis had been set for 30 years, you know, and I was like, oh, this is the part where this happens. There isn't that when you're doing this. You're like, okay, well, what happens now? And it's so much different. It's a whole different ballgame. Because those tracks that live on for years, someone has to make in the beginning. Do you know what I mean? And it was interesting to see that. It was something I never really even considered. Yeah. Well, I've heard so many stories of originating roles.

And I mean, you're leaving your legacy on the theatre canon. Like something you created that you're bringing to Broadway is now set forever. And it's the Brent Comer track. I know, right? It's cool. It's really, I never thought I would say that. But here we are. We've seen the day. Well deserved. Yeah. The rehearsal process, though, I know, Donya walked me through some of what you guys would do at a very high level, obviously, because we can get into all of it. I was just amazed by, you know, she was saying at first, there would be an hour's worth of warm ups and like, just checking in with each other. And this was getting the cast, getting all of you to get to know each other and be comfortable with one another and become vulnerable.

It was really, well, talk through that from your perspective, because the way she described it, it seems to me that it was a very good and very conscious choice to take like a bunch of kids, you know, kids, a lot of the cast is like early 20s, mid 20s, which are still, you know, relatively young. And some of this, most of you are all making your Broadway debut, right? So this is all brand new. This is all this brand new process, creating a role and getting you to go deeper, so much deeper, introspectively into yourselves and being comfortable sharing those parts of you with almost total strangers at first.

[32:00] Brent Comer: It's something that I think they had in mind from the beginning, when Donya showed up, when Donya got her hands on the project, I think it was the environment that she cultivated. All of us, not all of us, but many of us are making our Broadway debuts, we're all taking this step together. And that is really what the kids in The Outsiders are doing. They're taking a step into the world, into adulthood, at least my character is. And I think Ponyboy is, you know, it is a coming of age story. And I think that we are arriving at a point as well, like for ourselves, you know, like we are stepping over a threshold together, you know, and we're all locked in hands. And I think there's just an inherent sense of camaraderie when you go through something like that together, you know, and it gets me kind of emotional.

You know, we're all so like, nervous and excited and anxious. And we're all, our minds are going crazy. We're thinking of like possibilities of what the show could be and what it's going to be to other people. And like, we have this sort of like bright-eyed and bushy-tailed enthusiasm about it still, you know, and I think that there's like, there's something special. There's something that's so lame. There's something that sort of like, remains gold about it when you do that, you know, when it's like, we actually believe, I know, I know, I did it, I did it. You're gonna kick me off right now, aren't you? But there's something that like, we all believe in the project because it's our first real big project.

Do you know what I mean? And like, if nothing else, you can tell that we love the story that we're telling. And we love each other, do you know? And that was an environment that was cultivated by Danya. That was an intentional choice. Because that's what the story is kind of about. You know, it's about these people stepping over this threshold together and reacting to what comes with that.

[34:00] Alan Seales: Did she talk to you in the audition process? Did Danya talk to you about your thoughts on The Outsiders or knowing the book or whatever previously?

[34:08] Brent Comer: It was, we actually, so Danya's audition process was very interesting. It's unlike any audition process I've ever had. I remember my first audition with her. I walked in and there was just a chair there. And we sat right in front of her. And everybody like, music was there, assistant director was there, casting was there. You know, it was like a room of like, maybe 10 people. This was my third audition at this point. And we sat there and she just, Danya sits like this. She's very like that. And she has a chair right across from her. And she just sits there and she just talks to you. And it sounds kind of scary, but it was actually so relieving. And it was so, because you know, usually you walk into a room and you give your stuff to the accompanist, you say hi, and you exchange your pleasantries in this sort of strange robotic way.

And she sort of cast that aside from the beginning. And it was a really refreshing experience. And you could tell, I could tell from that first audition, the room that she was making, you know, or the direction that she wanted to go in. Do you know what I mean? With the show, she didn't, she wanted to know who I was as a person and as an artist. So basically, we just sat there and she sort of just asked me about myself. And I think that me being someone who I've always considered myself to be on the outside of being a musical theater performer, I've always never felt like I sort of fit into the two musical theater culture. And even though I love it, it's what I do with, I love it. I've never considered myself to quite fit in with it. And I think that's exactly the vibe that she was looking for.

[36:05] Brent Comer: The heart of the show is the people in it and how we can allow ourselves to be open with each other. Like that last scene in the show, me, Jason and Brody, we're really just like letting ourselves be seen by each other. For me, you know, it's hard as an actor to let that happen. But I think she just wanted to see if you could let yourself be seen. You know what I mean?

[36:31] Alan Seales: Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Somebody else on the Takeover series here for a previous episode mentioned that. Yeah, you just come in, she sat down and she...

[36:36] Brent Comer: I mean, it sounded like a first date almost, where you're just sitting down and...

[36:43] Alan Seales: It kind of was like that.

[36:45] Brent Comer: Yeah. So it's really interesting. So like disarmed you and it sounds so different from like you said, the robotic pleasantries. I love that phrase, the robotic pleasantries of going in and saying like, oh, thank you. And like, so half of them don't want to be there, half of them are tired, half of them have to pee, half of them need coffee. I've seen a hundred people already and you get it, you know, it's part of it. It's how it works, you know. But for me, it was, for my experience in my journey, it's what I needed. It was the right place at the right time. It was exactly what I needed at that point. Someone who like, was like, I don't know if I want to do this anymore. And I don't know if this is conducive for like, for like my, for my soul to grow, musical theater.

And that's not a jab at musical theater. I love the industry and I love, I love the work. I just didn't think I fit into it. And then I actually sat down and somebody heard me and like, listened to me and cared about who I was, which is very rare, you know, as an artist, you know, because there's so much going on all the time. And it was a really important moment for me, that audition.

[38:00] Alan Seales: And then you brought, I think you brought that energy into Daryl, into the character of Daryl too. Because I identify with, with Daryl in just that I feel like that character every day, waking up, it's every day. Oh God, I have to do this again. Like I need some help, but I don't have anybody to go to. I'm the only one the buck stops with me. And every day there's part, there's a tiny part of you in the back of your mind. That's like, I want to give it up. I want to run away. I want to just like, go be me. But I got this family to take care of. I got to take care of Soda Pop. I got to take care of Ponyboy and like, nobody else is going to do it. So I got to do it. What I love most about the character is that Daryl doesn't really have like a happy fairy tale ending.

You know, like nothing about him, nothing about him is really, he doesn't like, in my opinion, I don't know if he ever leaves. I don't know if he ever leaves the town. I don't know if those things that he still, that he gave up on. It's not like, the show is certainly not a fairy tale. And the way Susie, the writer of the novel wrote it was, Daryl doesn't get his, his dreams don't come true. And he sacrifices to make others happy.

[39:57] Brent Comer: Yeah, I think he's sort of like this, like, in my opinion, he's sort of like this classic American Sisyphus who just like, who can find the fulfillment and the beauty in doing things that destroy you, but you can find fulfillment in it. Do you know what I mean? And that sounds so like, that sounds, you know, brutal and toxic, but like, I think there's something about him that, if nothing else, I think he found peace with, with his life. And that's part of growing up, you know, being an adult. That's the fear. A lot of people don't want to face that fear. That's adulting. Like, like, you know, and it's hard for me because I spent so much time and as an artist, you spend all this time thinking, you know, your dreams may not come true.

And there's this harrowing reality of like, in a lot of cases, people's dreams don't come true. But they find happiness anyway. You know what I mean? And it's, and it's not even what they wanted. And I feel like Daryl, in my experience with him, he didn't really know what he wanted. That last line where he's, where he's reading, sorry, no spoilers, but it's a book and a movie.

[40:11] Alan Seales: It's a book and a movie, right? Come on.

[40:16] Brent Comer: But, you know, in his last moments, I think that he is like, I think he's finding his, the fortune that he wanted, you know, and in the final moments of the play, and I think that's what's so beautiful about it is, is he may never leave this roofing job. He may not, he may never get out. He may never leave Tulsa. And I think there's beauty in the acceptance of that.

[40:38] Alan Seales: Yeah, I agree with that. I came from a small town in North Carolina. And yeah, a lot of my high school friends, even people I went to college with in that area stayed in that area. There's a, again, not passing judgment, not saying any one way or another is right or wrong. What called me personally took me away from that area. And I wanted bigger, more opportunity, more people to interact with, which come with more opportunities. And I really envy, part of me really envies that ability to go to a job that you don't necessarily like, you know, it's a job, but you can find enjoyment while you're there. And you come home, and you focus on what's enjoyable when you get home. And like that, that life to me, there's my own neuroses that prevent me from enjoying that. And-

[41:29] Brent Comer: Exactly. I have that same thing.

[41:32] Alan Seales: So I'm like, I gotta keep busy. I gotta move to a place where I can be distracted. And if something doesn't work, I could jump into another thing. And I can't keep all enough plates spinning to feel happy about myself. And the people who could just chill and be zen like that. I really do envy that. I do. And it's hard.

[41:48] Brent Comer: And it's such a symptom of culture, you know, like of just being like, of, it's such a symptom of like, the American dream complex, you know, that, that you can't accept enough that, you know, like, it's, I'm really like, I love stoicism. And it's, it's something that I looked into while studying or putting Daryl together with Adam and Danya. And I found like, beauty in the idea of, of accepting your lot of sort of accepting what you have, like, you can't really change the things that happen to you. You can only change, you can only really change your reaction to them. I think Daryl is the ultimate, ultimate manifest musical theater manifestation of that. There's something so beautiful about like, when I was reading it, and this journey of this character that Adam made.

And also, I remember watching an interview with, with Patrick Swayze, or he said passing, he went back and watched the movie, you know, decades after the movie had come out. And he realized, he said, I'm watching the movie. And I realized that Daryl Curtis was really just a kid who wasn't ready for all the things that were happening to him.

[43:01] Brent Comer: Yeah. At the time that it happened. It was so interesting, because like, that's what I clicked to immediately when I read it. I love Patrick Swayze's interpretation of the character. But that was really something that I really, really locked into. And especially when he said that and affirmed that. It was really, it was really a big thing for me. I think there's a lot of, I think the beauty of his character is the fact that he doesn't know how to communicate. He doesn't know how to say when he says, I love you. He doesn't know how to say that. Do you know what I mean? And it's like, he's speaking a different language when he says those words, and it's so hard for him to let that go. And I think that's a big, and I think that's a big theme with the show in terms of masculinity and men and what we think we can and can't say and, and the ability to say that I love you and the ability to be seen really, for me is something that both the character and myself struggle with is like, can I allow myself?

Can I allow my heart to be seen? Like, even though we're two very different people, we both struggle with that we both struggle with being seen and allowing ourselves to be seen. And that's the bridge that I sort of build with him is like, really just this kid who isn't ready for the things that are happening to him and doesn't know how to let himself be seen or asked for help.

[44:24] Alan Seales: There are two things that you said that really resonate with me. One of which was when you were saying, essentially, I'm paraphrasing, but I love it that you can't control others. You can only control how you react to them. That is really important to take away. And then the other is what you just said about masculinity. That's the word I've been looking for this entire time I've been talking with you of like,

[44:44] Brent Comer: Makes it all work because there's so much masculinity and big, strong, shirtless, wet men on stage— right? There's all this masculinity! There's all this masculinity.

[44:54] Alan Seales: It's all a front. It is a facade, in my opinion. Sorry.

[45:00] Brent Comer: That's exactly what I was going to say—what touches everybody who walks out of that house is how you and everyone else and the creative team put together this group of such masculine men that, through somehow of literally trying to remain rock-solid emotionally for their peers on stage, are at the same time completely vulnerable and open and sending this message of love. We opened the show with Paul Newman. That's something the team wanted to open with. He's the ultimate pillar of that classic American masculine culture. Even Daryl has this standoff with Paul. It's this super masculine circle of these two very insecure, broken boys. They create this aura of masculine strength underneath it all.

I played both characters. In my opinion, they're both two very broken young boys. It's not necessarily that our characters have their hearts open. It's the process of opening it. The whole process of the show for me was prying their stone hearts open. You're watching it step for step in the show. You're watching Daryl like the world is just yanking his heart open. The process of that is when I read the script and when we were studying the process of prying your heart open and allowing it to be seen. The brutal process, but the rewarding process of that and how masculine culture encourages you to stay that way, encourages you to stay stone cold. I think the beauty of letting that go, even if it's just for a second, when you're reading your brother's artistic word vomit on your brother's beautiful opening to a novel, which is just word vomit when he lets it go. It's the process of allowing that to be seen. And that's what Donya did in the beginning of the auditions. Literally, it's brilliant the way that all of you found each other.

[47:37] Alan Seales: Time for a quick commercial break. Hang on a second. Welcome back to the episode. Every one of you from the cast that I've talked to has brought up something that somebody else in the cast, you've connected with, you've become best friends with. Brody hinted at something that the two of you personally, like you helped him as sort of like a father figure through something personal is going on in his life. You've all formed these real relationships that almost mimic the relationships that you have on stage. It's so well put together. I cannot say enough nice things about this show. It just works. It just works. I'm the luckiest dude in the world, man. This is a dream job. It's good to know that as an actor, you can only hope that your work will be seen by people and it will resonate with people.

Really, when I'm working, I'm really just gushing over the work of other people and I'm glad that I can share the story with people and they can have the experience with it that I had when I first read it.

[48:46] Brent Comer: We're gushing over your work too now, man. Incredible. I told you, every time I see you, I'm just like, yes, you can do it. You're amazing. I don't know what it is. I don't know what it is about the character of Daryl. One day, I hope I can play Daryl in a regional production and I can say, hey, man. And I want to see it. Dude, this sounds so lame, but everyone feels like Daryl at some point. I literally come home and the way Justin described one of my songs was the first, it's called Runs in the Family. I get that after I eat bad food. Yeah. Cut that. No, no, no, don't. Keep it, keep it, keep it. Please, please. But it's walking into your house after you get home from rehearsal and you hit Spotify or you hit play on Spotify and you start doing the dishes and you start cleaning the place and it's like, man, I bust my ass all day and everyone feels unappreciated.

Everybody has a bridge to Daryl. It's a symptom of living in American culture is feeling that way. And there's a part of us that longs for something more and that doesn't see what's in front of our face. I feel like Daryl has always longed for something more and he's hurt and he's broken, but he has everything that he loves and needs right in front of him. He just doesn't know how to see it, recognize it or say that he loves it. It's interesting. I was raised in a house of two older brothers and my dad is a very strong, masculine man. My dad is also one of the most emotional people I've ever met. He has shown the full range of emotions. He has a temper, not in a scary way. He just gets angry at dumb stuff all the time, but he also cries a lot.

Also, being raised by my father is probably one of the best things that could have happened to me as an actor. He's like this quintessential 1960s, 70s masculine man, but he's never shied away from his emotional side. He's sort of an anomaly in that way. It's something that I think a lot of people struggle with in houses with all men and being raised with all brothers. We didn't grow up saying, I love you. We never said that. We never said, I love you. We would give each other shit all the time. That's part of being a brother. That's why these scenes that happen between these brothers are truly like looking at a moment in their life that's really big when they say, I love you, and they mean it. I think that's big for a lot of men to say and to sort of expose themselves to each other like that.

[51:45] Alan Seales: It's hard. It's hard. That's the masculinity part that you nailed with that word. It's just like being comfortable doing that on stage and not feeling uncomfortable for it. But you guys do it well, really. I am looking forward to one day stepping into the track that you just originated. That's my new goal in life.

[52:07] Brent Comer: I want to see that. I want to see that, bro. I can't wait to... I don't want to leave the show anytime soon. I want to do it as long as I can. But I know there's going to be versions. What's so beautiful about it is there's going to be other people doing it and making their own Daryl. I'm excited to see that because then I'll want to pick it back up and explore things that other people do. And then on auditions, now these unified auditions and everything happening, people are going to be bringing your songs in.

[52:38] Alan Seales: Runs in the family, too.

[52:39] Brent Comer: Yeah. It's all going to show up just like that. Oh man, it's great. Okay. So I just want to play a quick little game here to wind down. It's called Plot in 60 Seconds. You're going to give me a number, one through 13, and it corresponds to a little list of popular musicals I've got. And then you've got to give me the plot to that musical in 60 seconds. So give me a number, one through 13.

[53:08] Brent Comer: Eight.

[53:10] Alan Seales: All right. That is Phantom of the Opera. Go.

[53:13] Brent Comer: 60 seconds remaining. Oh, okay. Christine Daaé, a beautiful overlooked performer at an opera house, is taught by a strange voyeur...

[53:28] Alan Seales: 45 seconds remaining.

[53:30] Brent Comer: A strange voyeur, composer, opera singer, who watches everybody through the walls and stuff and brings her down to his dungeon beneath the opera house. And I guess he teaches her how to sing, or he has been teaching her how to sing the whole time.

[53:44] Alan Seales: 30 seconds remaining.

[53:47] Brent Comer: She comes back up and she replaces Carlotta, who's kind of an asshole, and replaces her. But Christine does amazing because she's been taught by the angel of music, who's the Phantom of the Opera. And then he develops this really unhealthy fixation on her, and he becomes her insane stalker and terrorizes the people of the opera house until he gets his wishes, which I don't honestly remember what his wishes were.

[54:13] Alan Seales: We're out of time. All right. I'll go see it. I'll go see it. That convinced me.

[54:19] Brent Comer: Damn it. Damn it. I rant. I can't get anything done in 60 seconds.

[54:25] Alan Seales: You need a script. You need a script. Okay.

[54:27] Brent Comer: I need a script. Dude, yeah, no, I need a script. I'm useless. I'm useless on the fly, dog.

[54:32] Alan Seales: It's all right. That's right. Okay. So then the three standard closing questions are, first one is very simply, is what motivates you?

[54:39] Brent Comer: What motivates me? I think experiences and experiencing new things about people and discovering new aspects about people. I think living in New York has been great for that. I think that in New York, people are packed together like sardines. They're trained to be desensitized to each other. But in moments when people need help, New Yorkers are always the first to help each other out. And I crave experiences like that, that change my idea about people as a whole.

[55:07] Alan Seales: Oh, I love that. That's beautiful. Okay.

[55:10] Brent Comer: Is that weird? I hope that was-

[55:11] Alan Seales: No, it's not weird at all, dude. That's like experiences, just learning. That's one of my biggest fears. I say this all the time, is my brain literally calcifying, which happens as you get older, if you don't use things, just like anything goes away, and being unable to continue to learn and experience new things. That's just-

[55:28] Brent Comer: Yeah. Specifically about people though, specifically about people. Sorry, I saw this lady riding her scooter on the sidewalk, which was stupid of her, but she slipped on the ice. And people in New York came up to her and I thought people in New York were so cold and they didn't really care about other people. They helped her up and made sure she was okay. I mean, they gave her a lot of shit for it. And they were very New York rude about it, but they made sure she was okay. They'd be like, what are you doing riding your scooter on the ice, you dumbass? You okay? You doing all right? All right, now don't do it again.

[56:03] Alan Seales: Yeah. Literally, that's what it was. It was like, you want $20? You okay? You're an idiot, you know that? But people maybe in places that I've been, that I've seen, they would be like, oh my gosh, that's so sad. She fell. And then they'd keep walking. You know what I mean? And I feel like it was such a beautiful experience to see that that's the nature of New Yorkers. They're like your siblings. They're not going to be very polite, but they will help you.

[56:26] Brent Comer: Yeah. They want to ignore you most of the time, but if you really need help, they're there for you. And learning things like that motivates me to keep going and finding new things about people and how they work.

[56:36] Alan Seales: All right. Second question. What advice would you give to your younger self and younger people listening now starting out down a similar path?

[56:42] Brent Comer: First, I would say to myself to breathe. Breathe more. Trust your instincts. Breathe and trust your instincts. Don't try to pigeonhole yourself into things that don't fit. Don't try to force yourself or force things to fit into your life. Allow things to come and allow things to go and breathe through it. And for young artists, I would tell them to discover what inspires you. Read, watch movies, go to theater, go to museums, look at art, experience art and figure out what resonates with you. And get that fuel inside of you as an artist so that you have something to give. Experience your life. Go experience things and use that as your artistic fuel when you work.

[57:35] Alan Seales: All right. Last question. If you could only see one show for the rest of your life, but you can see it as many times as you want, what would you see?

[57:42] Brent Comer: Oh, man. That's really, really... Sunday in the Park with George.

[57:45] Alan Seales: Which version? Do you have a version? Any version?

[57:48] Brent Comer: The Mandy Patinkin version.

[57:50] Alan Seales: All right. Good choice. Good choice. Where can we find you on social media?

[57:53] Brent Comer: You can find me at at underscore Brent Comer.

[57:56] Alan Seales: Oh, it's underscore Brent. Okay. We'll have it in the show notes. I'm on threads, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, at theater underscore podcast on most of them. Just find me on the socials. It's on my LinkedIn bio. Leave a rating and a review wherever you're listening now. It helps the podcast grow. Please go see The Outsiders because after they win a bajillion million Tonys, prices are just going to keep going up. I mean, it's a great show. Got to go see Brent. Brent, thank you so much for being here. I've had such a fun time really getting to have this long chat with you.

[58:30] Brent Comer: Alan, thank you so much for tolerating me for an hour and 10 minutes.

[58:34] Alan Seales: That's not horrible. Long chat. No, because what I meant was the other times we've only had like five minutes max. So I'm like, now we finally get to talk.

[58:42] Brent Comer: I know. I've dug your vibe. You're a very calming presence and you have a very soothing baritone.

[58:50] Alan Seales: I know. When you were like a baritone that can sing high but sound bad doing it, I was like, yep, me too. Me too. All right.

[58:57] Brent Comer: No, Brent. No, it's soothing. It's a lost art, my friend.

[59:03] Alan Seales: You have to be able to hit something up there to like get into the audition, but then hopefully you don't have to do that eight times a week. Jesus, that's hard.

[59:11] Brent Comer: I know. Yeah. Well, you know, hopefully as I get older here, I can go down into the depths.