This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Alan Seales: Welcome to The Theatre Podcast. Intimate personal conversations with theatre's biggest names.

[0:10] Alan Seales: This episode continues the Beetlejuice takeover for the month of September with Kerry Butler, who is currently starring as Barbara Maitland in Beetlejuice on Broadway. She gave me a great conversation and just super humble, super nice. She's got just Broadway credits out the wazoo, TV credits out the wazoo. But what's really interesting to me is that she does comedy very, very well, which usually if someone does comedy well, then that's kind of all they do. But she's also incredibly good and gets cast all the time in dramatic roles as well. And we got into a nice little bit about Beetlejuice here because Beetlejuice is a comedic show, but her character of Barbara is not really a comedic role.

It's not dramatic either, but it's kind of like skirting that line. So the conversation she had with me about finding the character of Barbara along with director Alex Timbers was just absolutely fascinating. So before we get into this episode, I'd like to do what I normally do and ask humbly for your support to help keep the lights on and help keep transcriptions coming. If you're interested in any of the reward levels on Patreon, just head on over to ttp.fm to check them out. For as little as $2 a month, you can help continue the podcast. It's because of your support that I've gotten as far as I have. So thank you very, very much. Again, that's ttp.fm. Now, everybody, please enjoy this episode with Kerry Butler.

[1:43] Alan Seales: Here you go. One, two, three.

[1:51] Alan Seales: This Tony-nominated actress made her Broadway debut in 1993 in Blood Brothers before starring in shows such as Beauty and the Beast, Les Mis, Hairspray, Little Shop, Xanadu, Rock of Ages, Catch Me If You Can, Disaster, and Mean Girls. She has numerous on-screen credits such as 30 Rock, Cupid, The Mindy Project, Blue Bloods, and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. Now starring as Barbara Maitland in Beetlejuice on Broadway, Kerry Butler, welcome to The Theatre Podcast.

[2:17] Kerry Butler: Thank you for having me. Did I cover it all? That's a lot. I have been doing it since I was four. So you missed some things, but I won't hold it to you.

[2:23] Alan Seales: Well, that was what I was reading that you started. Actually, Wikipedia says you were in commercials at three.

[2:29] Kerry Butler: Possibly. I don't really remember. So I don't know who put that on there, but they may be correct.

[2:35] Alan Seales: I have to say, though, for people listening, go check out her Wikipedia page. It's one of the most chronologically perfect and well-organized Wikipedia pages that I've ever read about somebody.

[2:46] Kerry Butler: Wow. Someone put together an outline of your life.

[2:51] Kerry Butler: I have no idea who did it.

[2:58] Alan Seales: Really?

[2:58] Kerry Butler: No. I've never even gone on it, I feel like.

[3:02] Alan Seales: Yeah, it's like, and then she left this show, and then there was this off-Broadway thing. It's funny, and I think fans sometimes go on and rewrite things.

[3:09] Kerry Butler: Yeah, well, anybody can edit Wikipedia. It's so crazy. But whoever did yours is a good writer in general.

[3:17] Alan Seales: Nice. So anyway, so commercials at age three, obviously, you said you don't remember it. Did you want to do that, or did your mom put you in that?

[3:23] Kerry Butler: Well, everyone in my family, cousins, me and my sister, our family put us into commercials to raise money for college. So the story is my cousin Jay got cast as the kid in Jaws, and my aunt was like, no, he can't stay in water all the time. And so I did commercials, and my sister didn't want to do them, so my mom was kind of forcing her to do it.

[3:36] Alan Seales: Oh, really?

[3:48] Kerry Butler: Yeah, but she did print ads and stuff, and I booked a lot of commercials, but then she wanted us to just do it during that time. So at five, I retired to have a normal childhood.

[3:58] Alan Seales: But was that your choice or your mom's choice?

[4:03] Kerry Butler: That was my mom's choice, and so I loved doing it. So then I begged her, after I saw Annie, I begged her to let me start doing it again, and so she let me go for the open call for Annie when I was nine. I made it to the final call, guys.

[4:12] Alan Seales: So you had four years, or is it four or five? Since I was three, that's the only time I haven't been acting.

[4:17] Kerry Butler: Wow, okay. So then you said nine, you got Annie.

[4:25] Kerry Butler: Well, I didn't get it. I just auditioned.

[4:25] Alan Seales: Oh.

[4:31] Kerry Butler: Oh yeah, no, I did not get it. I made it to the final callbacks, and my husband went to the same grammar school with me, and he remembers Sister Mary Arlene getting on the PA saying, everyone, please pray for Carrie Butler as she has her final callback for Annie today. And my husband's like, I didn't pray, and I was like, that's why I didn't get it. So yeah, I auditioned for that, I didn't get it, but then she let me start going on auditions through backstage. So then I auditioned for this cabaret called Young Stars. I don't know if you ever heard of it.

[4:55] Alan Seales: No.

[4:55] Kerry Butler: Seth Rudetsky was in it, Sarah Jessica Parker was in it. All these kids were in Broadway shows, and you basically, it was like a nightclub singing, and you got paid in ice cream sundaes.

[5:04] Alan Seales: Ooh.

[5:04] Kerry Butler: Yeah. Sounds like a perfect gig for a little kid.

[5:11] Kerry Butler: Yeah, and Seth and I always joke, all the kids had their shows. They were like, Peter Pan, Annie, and me and Seth were like, Hanes. We were the only ones who weren't actually on Broadway, but I loved it. I loved that experience. And so I felt, even though I didn't get Annie, I was so grateful that I got something, and I felt like that was saying, okay, you're good enough to be in this.

[5:32] Alan Seales: What was the commercial you got when you were three? Can we find it?

[5:35] Kerry Butler: Yes, actually. Someone found it. A fan found it and sent it to me. It was for Fab.

[5:40] Alan Seales: Really? The detergent?

[5:40] Kerry Butler: Yes. And they knew that I did a fan commercial. They figured out what year it would be, and they found the one that I was on. I think I posted it on my Instagram page.

[5:51] Alan Seales: Wow. Okay. Well, send it to me, and I'll put it in the show notes. The singing, because you were singing at an early age, were you just acting when you were a kid kid, or going into Annie? You said you made it to the final callback, so obviously, you can carry a tune. Were you taking voice lessons?

[6:02] Kerry Butler: I wasn't taking voice lessons, but I could definitely sing. In school, they would ask me to get up in front of the class and sing. I wasn't a good performer, necessarily. I would sing staring at the floor, but I definitely opened my mouth, and I had this big voice that was just given to me. I didn't take any voice lessons until college.

[6:35] Kerry Butler: Really? Yeah. I learned how to have a head voice. I'd never had a head voice before, but I always could belt.

[6:39] Kerry Butler: Then after college, I learned how to belt correctly, because it was a problem.

[6:45] Alan Seales: But that's another story. Actually, that's a big thing now. Kasey Levy, I mentioned this a couple times. She's now trying to bring that to the forefront. Did you hemorrhage or anything?

[7:00] Kerry Butler: I didn't. I actually meant to write back to her about this. My first show that I did out of school was Oklahoma, and I played Ado Annie. Throughout the run, my voice started getting raspier and raspier. Then towards the end, I literally couldn't say no. It would be like, I can't. Air would just come out. So we were on a European tour. I went to a doctor in Italy, and they're speaking Italian. I don't know what they're saying, but they're basically saying I have to leave the tour. Then I went to a doctor in the United States that said I was going to have to have an operation, because I know it's on my vocal cords.

[7:30] Alan Seales: You're what, 19, 20, you said?

[7:38] Kerry Butler: Yeah, I was probably like 20 or 21. I went to a second opinion, and they said, you don't have to have an operation if you go on vocal rest for a month. So I did that, and this was before cell phones. I would go out to bars with my friends with a chalkboard and just write things. I had a code on my cell phone, press one for yes, two beeps for no. But I did it. I didn't speak for a month. Then I started studying with Liz Kaplan, who everybody studies with. She really taught me how to belt correctly. I knock on wood, haven't had a problem since then.

[8:10] Alan Seales: That's incredible.

[8:15] Kerry Butler: Yeah, that's something I think that everybody needs to really focus on, especially if they want to be, I guess, following in your footsteps for lack of anything else. You see these Elphabas, and you see the roles you're doing, and you see these major stars who are belting their ass off eight times a week, and that is work to get there, right?

[8:22] Kerry Butler: Yes, yes, to get there. You don't just wake up and you're like, eight times a week, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[8:26] Alan Seales: Yeah, you don't just wake up and you say, well, I can do this as long as I want.

[8:32] Kerry Butler: Right. Also, I think what got me into trouble was my speaking voice. I think I was screaming a lot and not supported. So I don't know, actually, whether it was the singing or the speaking voice.

[8:49] Alan Seales: Oh, interesting. So then, yeah, so your singing could have been fine, but then going out, hanging out, speaking—

[8:55] Kerry Butler: No, no, no, not that, singing on stage, just yelling on stage. I'm now doing Beetlejuice. I'm so careful of my screams, because that's how you really hurt your voice.

[9:06] Alan Seales: Well, speaking of screams, I was reading, not reading, I was on your Instagram stories the other day. You were saying that you hurt your back. Your back's been hurting.

[9:11] Kerry Butler: Yes, yes. My whole body, actually.

[9:21] Alan Seales: Your whole body, based on screaming, because you're such a good actress.

[9:25] Kerry Butler: Well, that's just what the acupuncturist told me. So I'm not going to argue. So I've been having all these problems, but this happens doing a show eight times a week. You're doing the same thing, and usually it manifests in some way in your body. So the right side of my body has been in a lot of pain. I'll have trouble going to sleep. I'm with a physical therapist trying to figure out what I'm doing in the show that's bothering it. And then last night, we fall through the floor, spoiler alert, but it's on the commercial, so I can say it. We fall through the floor to our deaths and the rug fell on top of us. That's not supposed to happen.

[10:10] Kerry Butler: That's not going to hurt me, but just having something falling, normally you flinch or whatever. So I twisted and my back spasmed and I was like, oh my gosh, I just threw out my back.

[10:20] Alan Seales: In the middle of a show.

[10:22] Kerry Butler: In the middle of the show.

[10:22] Alan Seales: So anyway, I put ice on it, pain relievers, blah, blah, blah. Today I went to an acupuncturist and it was amazing. He's all into Chinese herbs and reflexology. He didn't even touch my back. All the needles were in the front of my body. So he said, it's your psoas and that's where you keep your emotions. And it is from, because you're such a good actress in the show, eight times a week, you're putting your body in trauma and getting scared. So you are contracting your psoas and that is where all your pain is coming from. Your psoas is right side of your body above your hip. Kind of near your liver.

[11:00] Kerry Butler: Yeah. And he put this really big needle into my psoas and it was like throbbing for 20 minutes and I feel so much better today. They're crazy, right?

[11:12] Alan Seales: I have furrowed eyebrow right now, but that sounds so as cool.

[12:21] Kerry Butler: How do you spell S-O-A-S?

[12:22] Alan Seales: I don't know.

[12:23] Kerry Butler: S-O-A-Z?

[12:24] Alan Seales: I was wondering the same thing.

[12:25] Kerry Butler: I didn't put it into my story because I was worried I wouldn't spell it.

[12:29] Alan Seales: Well, so Beetlejuice, we can, that's a natural, I guess, progression in there.

[12:34] Kerry Butler: So Beetlejuice opened this year, incredible show, and it was in development for a while. When did you get involved?

[12:40] Kerry Butler: I was in the first, first reading.

[12:43] Alan Seales: Really?

[12:44] Kerry Butler: So a couple of years ago.

[12:45] Alan Seales: Yeah, years ago.

[12:46] Kerry Butler: Yeah.

[12:47] Alan Seales: Did you work with Alex before?

[12:50] Kerry Butler: I, I did work with Alex before, but I'm not sure if that was the first time. I think Beetlejuice was the first time, and then I also did, he did, he was thinking of doing a revival of Batboy, which I did. Yes. And he had me as the mom in that because I played Shelley on Broadway, but that's not going to go. But one of those, I think, I think I did Beetlejuice before I did that, but both of them were only readings, so I'd never done a show with him before, but I'd been a big fan and I had been secreting working with him.

[13:19] Alan Seales: You see, do you do the intentions?

[13:21] Kerry Butler: I don't. I just, I just know that that's what it is, and so I was, I'm making up my own version of the secret. Like, I would just tell everybody I really want to work with Alex Timbers.

[13:31] Alan Seales: So you mentioned Batboy, and I actually want to back up to that because it, it ran March 21st, 2001 through December 2nd, 2001, and 9-11 happened almost in the middle of that.

[13:44] Kerry Butler: Yeah.

[13:45] Alan Seales: And it was going really well.

[13:46] Kerry Butler: Yes.

[13:47] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[13:48] Kerry Butler: And I think it was really becoming cult following.

[13:50] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[13:51] Kerry Butler: I mean, people were coming. It was crazy. And then September 11th happened. We were right across the street from the memorial in Union Square, and nobody wanted to go down there. It was, it was really hard. I mean, I didn't want to go down there. And it was really, really hard to do a comedy right after that. But then we started inviting firefighters and rescue workers, and that was really, really nice, and they loved it. They needed, they needed a laugh. But yeah, we never recuperated after that.

[14:17] Alan Seales: Really?

[14:18] Kerry Butler: So you think it would have lasted longer if 9-11 had?

[14:20] Alan Seales: I do.

[14:21] Kerry Butler: Yeah?

[14:22] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[14:23] Kerry Butler: Yeah.

[14:24] Alan Seales: Well, then...

[14:25] Kerry Butler: Every single week we were building more and more.

[14:26] Alan Seales: Oh, no kidding.

[14:27] Kerry Butler: Yeah.

[14:28] Alan Seales: I listened to the soundtrack.

[14:29] Kerry Butler: Yeah.

[14:30] Alan Seales: I mean, the soundtrack was, was great. I remember that time of my life. And it got rave reviews in the Times.

[14:33] Kerry Butler: Yeah.

[14:34] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[14:35] Kerry Butler: So, okay. Back to Beetlejuice.

[14:37] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[14:38] Kerry Butler: So you, you have a lot of comedy in your resume, but you also have a lot of drama too. But you seem to me to be more, okay, let me rephrase. Do you find it easier to fall into comedy roles versus dramatic roles first off?

[14:51] Kerry Butler: Um, I, not necessarily, but, um, I think that it is harder to get comedic roles. And so if you can do it, then, so, you know, it will be easier for me to get, that's where I'll get cast, because it's harder to find people who, women who can be really funny sometimes.

[15:14] Alan Seales: That's what I've heard.

[15:15] Kerry Butler: Right. Um, so the, the, I guess what I was, what I was getting at here was that, that Beetlejuice is a comedy in which Barbara Maitland is not, she's not a funny character. She has funny moments, but it's like Beetlejuice is, is the funny.

[15:34] Alan Seales: Right.

[15:35] Kerry Butler: Right. And is it hard for you to, to fall into like this kind of middle ground of being a sort of serious character inside a comedy and not trying to like goof it up or making it too big?

[15:46] Kerry Butler: Well, it's interesting. Um, I, when we did it, the out of town tryout, I wasn't trying to goof it up or anything, but I thought that Lydia was the most realistic character surrounded by kind of larger than life characters. And, um, I sort of, I kind of thought all of us were that. And so I played her a little bit heightened in DC, um, almost like a fifties housewife, you know, from, from those, um, TV sitcoms. Um, and people really responded to, um, the Maitlands, but I, then I just realized that, um, we were the, we were the audience's eyes. It wasn't what I had thought. So we had to, um, take the audience's hand and be like, listen, we're all on the same page. We see this guy is crazy. Don't, you know, we do not agree with this behavior.

And, um, so then the more grounded, so then I, I realized I, and I talked to Alex Timbers about it and we just tried it, which is always scary because, you know, you have jokes that land and work and then you're like, Oh, well, what if I try it a completely different way? He was very supportive and then he liked it better. And so then he started, um, just giving me notes and telling me when I needed to rein it in and stuff like that. And I trust him, you know, completely. So it's great.

[17:08] Alan Seales: Oh, so, okay. So you came to him with the concept and then he, yeah, he, and then he started looking for what you wanted.

[17:14] Kerry Butler: Yeah. When I was talking with him too, he, he said very clearly that it, that it's about letting the actors do their craft and, and just coming back in and, you know, he echoed exactly what you just said. It was, it's funny.

[17:26] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[17:27] Kerry Butler: So he wants, he wants you to bring what you're going to bring and then he'll just kind of mold that a little bit. But it's not up to that. It's not up to the director to like tell you exactly what to do.

[17:35] Alan Seales: Yes.

[17:36] Kerry Butler: So in, in terms of finding your, your character, finding your, your intentions, is that, is that something you work with, with others on? Or do you go into like a dark closet with a flashlight and you're like, all right, you come, I'm coming out in a week and I know who Barbara Maitland is.

[17:52] Kerry Butler: Um, I, I usually just have conversations with the director. I do, um, my own backstory. Um, and no, I feel like that's just something between me and the director mainly. Sometimes I'll go to coaching, um, just to help me, um, deepen the character, not necessarily even like work so much on lines or how I'm going to do it, but just to have another set of eyes to, to think about things differently. Um, but yeah, usually for most of my, my roles, it's usually just a conversation and them guiding me like, oh, I like the way you're going here or, you know, pull away from that, go this way. In Xanadu, um, you know, I played like three different characters, I think. And, oh, this happened to Mean Girls too.

In Xanadu, uh, I was having a really hard time finding, um, the goddess part, like Chris Ashley, um, kept, kept trying to get me to be more goddess like, and it was much easier for me to be the valley girl silly girl. And so anyway, that was, um, something that I had to keep coming in and trying new things, you know? And then like the same thing happened to Mean Girls where one of my characters, um, the mother of, um, of Erica's character. Um, oh my gosh, why am I blanking her name, the lead character in Mean Girls?

[19:14] Alan Seales: Regina?

[19:15] Kerry Butler: No, no, no, not Regina. Um.

[19:18] Alan Seales: I'm blanking too.

[19:19] Kerry Butler: Let's see.

[19:20] Alan Seales: Okay.

[19:21] Kerry Butler: Well, Erica Henningsen's character that her mom, um, and I was playing her to like granola-y kind of new age kind of, and then they were like, you know what? I think that she's much, um, darker and deeper. And so then I had to come in. So that's kind of how, how it works. I just, yeah, I try and think of things on my own and then just bring them in, try them out.

[19:39] Alan Seales: Well, it's interesting about that I think too is, is when you're coming, especially I guess in a workshop and when you're in development, you're coming into something brand new. Do you warn your other cast mates? You're like, I'm going to be a little more goddess like today, or I'm going to be a little more hippie today. Or do you just kind of let it roll and let them react authentically?

[20:01] Kerry Butler: Um, I think it depends. Yeah. I think it depends on the situation. Yeah, I might just say, oh, by the way, I got a note on this, so I'm going to try some new stuff today.

[20:10] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[20:11] Kerry Butler: You see what sticks.

[20:12] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[20:13] Kerry Butler: Yeah.

[20:15] Kerry Butler: It's kind of like you're auditioning for the writers and the director.

[20:16] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[20:17] Kerry Butler: Okay. That, that makes a lot of sense. So then taking it back to Beetlejuice, Alex Brightman, I feel like he would be trying something new every other minute.

[20:26] Kerry Butler: He does.

[20:27] Alan Seales: Yeah. So how do you keep up with that? Or how do you respond to that?

[20:30] Kerry Butler: That's, I mean, the more spontaneous we can respond, the better, because we're doing what we are the audience's eyes. So it keeps it, it keeps us on our toes and keeps it real.

[20:41] Alan Seales: Does he ever make you break on stage?

[20:43] Kerry Butler: Very close to it. He has actually. He doesn't even realize it when he does, but me and Rob, we cover it well, but sometimes we can't even look at each other. When we have lines with each other, we're just looking at the floor because if we look at the other person and see a little smile, then it will get us. And both of us have the same work ethics. So we actually hate that. And so if one of us, it will only be for a split second, then we'll be like, you are not laughing right now.

[21:10] Alan Seales: So do you get, do you get always frustrated with Jimmy Fallon when he would break on SNL? Or is that part of his shtick?

[21:19] Kerry Butler: Yeah, that's his thing. It's not Broadway. Sorry, Jimmy.

[21:22] Alan Seales: Sorry, Jimmy Fallon. I guess you're just, your psoas won't hurt enough.

[21:24] Kerry Butler: That's the other thing.

[21:25] Alan Seales: Your psoas doesn't hurt, yeah.

[21:26] Kerry Butler: Your psoas doesn't hurt, Jimmy.

[21:27] Alan Seales: You got to get a little bit on it.

[21:28] Kerry Butler: So in this show, it's also, you worked with William Ivey Long, and of course we mentioned Alex's.

[21:30] Kerry Butler: Yeah, like six times.

[21:31] Alan Seales: Six times.

[21:32] Kerry Butler: Right, right, right. Because he's got 75 Broadway credits.

[21:34] Alan Seales: Oh my gosh.

[21:35] Kerry Butler: Yes.

[21:36] Alan Seales: It's actually like, you ever play the game when you were a kid, the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon?

[21:38] Kerry Butler: Yes.

[21:39] Alan Seales: Yes.

[21:40] Kerry Butler: Yeah.

[21:41] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[21:42] Kerry Butler: Yeah.

[21:43] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[21:44] Kerry Butler: Yeah.

[21:45] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[21:46] Kerry Butler: Yeah.

[21:47] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[21:48] Kerry Butler: Yeah.

[21:49] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[21:50] Kerry Butler: Yeah.

[21:51] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[21:52] Kerry Butler: Yeah.

[21:53] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[21:54] Kerry Butler: Yeah.

[21:55] Alan Seales: Like Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon?

[21:56] Kerry Butler: Yes.

[21:57] Alan Seales: Yes.

[21:58] Kerry Butler: Like Six Degrees of William Ivey Long?

[21:59] Alan Seales: That would be like one second, right?

[22:00] Kerry Butler: Yeah.

[22:01] Alan Seales: It's like, who's been dressed?

[22:02] Kerry Butler: It'd be boring game.

[22:03] Alan Seales: Okay. Stand up if you have not been dressed by William Ivey Long.

[22:04] Kerry Butler: Yeah.

[22:05] Alan Seales: So William, both Alex's, and you mentioned Rob McClure, and now even Sophia, this kid who got plucked out of obscurity and is doing great, and yourself included, are just like, you hit the castmate jackpot in this show.

[22:16] Kerry Butler: Yeah.

[22:17] Alan Seales: Everyone is perfect for their roles, for sure. The way you gel with this cast, is it special? Is it different compared to previous casts? Or is each cast kind of its own family that lives and breathes in its own way?

[22:30] Kerry Butler: Yeah. I think each cast is its own thing, and you do become a family with every single cast you're a part of. It was funny because I was doing Mean Girls and Beetlejuice at the same time.

[22:40] Kerry Butler: And I were at the same time. I was doing the workshop of Beetlejuice during the day. And actually two times it happened, where one time I was doing a workshop of Beetlejuice during the day and then doing Mean Girls at night. And then one time I was doing rehearsing, no I don't remember what it is. There were two times when I was doing like workshops at the same time. And oh, I know, I know what it was. I was rehearsing the workshop of Beetlejuice and going into Mean Girls, rehearsing going into Mean Girls at the same time. So they both like worked out the schedule so that I could do both. And so I'm on two different group chats and the Mean Girls group chat is like, oh my gosh, you were amazing today. And they're like, I'm grudging. I don't know if I can do this. And everyone's like, yes, you can do it. Yes, you can do it. And the Beetlejuice message was like sending pictures of dead dogs and curses. And so I was like, oh my gosh, I'm in two different worlds.

[23:41] Alan Seales: That's fun. What did they do? Everybody's in a group chat now. What did cast do before texting, before cell phones and group chats?

[23:48] Kerry Butler: Yeah, and some people don't. Alex Brightman does not like group chats. He's like, I am off of this.

[23:53] Alan Seales: Really?

[23:54] Kerry Butler: Yeah, he doesn't. Maybe he doesn't like getting a lot of messages or something.

[23:58] Alan Seales: Maybe, maybe. I don't know. I think, yeah. We do become crazy. Especially with Mean Girls, there's a ton of people. We had to turn it down a little. I mean, put it on mute a little bit sometimes.

[24:09] Kerry Butler: How many people? Is it the entire cast and crew?

[24:12] Alan Seales: Yes. No, pretty much just the cast, but that's like 40 people.

[24:15] Kerry Butler: Right. Oh, goodness. Yeah, that's a lot of people. I'm on a group chat with my family, four people, and I mute it sometimes. So the stage door feedback for Beetlejuice, Leslie Kritzer actually told me that it was interesting to her. She's found the older generation that saw the original movie, and so they come because they love the story, they love that. But now there's a new generation of, they're not even millennials. What are they now? I don't know. The young kids these days who are finding this for the first time, are hearing the soundtrack for the first time, and then getting introduced to the story, and they both love it for completely different reasons.

[25:54] Kerry Butler: Yeah, yeah. I think the kids love it even more. They're very obsessed. Although it's interesting because I think that a lot of them did know Beetlejuice before, like maybe their parents, or it's like a retro thing because my kids knew Beetlejuice already. So a lot of kids identify with the darkness of it. Did she tell you about our fan art wall? Oh, my gosh. We get so much fan art, which I love because I love kids being creative. We had it originally just on the steps walking up to the dressing rooms. Now it is three flights up. Seriously, all on both sides, fan art from all over the world, and all different countries. Fan art of our Instagram stories, fan art of the little puppet thing Rob and I do. It's crazy.

[26:47] Alan Seales: Instagram stories, that blows my mind.

[26:50] Kerry Butler: Yes.

[26:54] Alan Seales: I'm sure a lot of it is actually really good.

[26:57] Kerry Butler: Yes, it is. How do they send it? I've always wondered, like if I want to send you a picture, do I send it to the theater?

[27:01] Kerry Butler: Yeah, they send it to the stage door with our name, our stage management's name. Is it screened? Like does someone open it and like this isn't a picture you shouldn't see or whatever it is?

[27:08] Kerry Butler: No. No? Have you ever been sent something and you're like, I wish I hadn't opened that?

[27:11] Kerry Butler: I haven't, knock on wood. Do it. Yes, sorry, I didn't mean to.

[27:22] Alan Seales: You know. Yeah. No, that's incredible. I love how passionate Broadway fans are specifically. Theater fans are passionate, but like Broadway, you get like, it's... I get girls hysterically crying at the stage door.

[27:39] Kerry Butler: Really?

[27:40] Alan Seales: Yeah. I don't know why.

[27:45] Kerry Butler: Well, you're kind of a big deal.

[27:46] Alan Seales: Don't roll your eyes at that. Yeah, you've been around and you've made an impression on people. A lot of people have. And these are stories that, I mean, you've been part of stories that have changed people's lives.

[27:55] Kerry Butler: Yeah.

[27:58] Alan Seales: And it allows them to express themselves and find ways to feel in ways they maybe didn't know they could.

[28:04] Kerry Butler: Yes.

[28:05] Alan Seales: And you're that vessel.

[28:07] Kerry Butler: Right.

[28:08] Alan Seales: If you want to put it that way, right? True. Yes. For people who felt ostracized, now they have a voice.

[28:11] Kerry Butler: Yeah, totally. Do you mind if we talk about your kids for a minute?

[28:17] Kerry Butler: Sure.

[28:19] Alan Seales: Because you married... You've been on Sesame Street.

[28:23] Kerry Butler: He was on Sesame Street. He was a writer, a songwriter on Sesame Street, right? He was a writer, puppeteer, and director. He did everything there for 25 years.

[28:28] Alan Seales: Oh, but you were on Sesame Street a long time ago.

[28:32] Kerry Butler: I was, yes.

[28:33] Alan Seales: And is that how you met?

[28:35] Kerry Butler: No, we went to grammar school together. And in high school, I was Kim, he was Hugo, and I was Bertie. I went to the girls' school, he went to the boys' school. So we were friends all along. And then after college, we started dating.

[28:47] Alan Seales: That's cute. And now you said you have two adopted children, right?

[28:52] Kerry Butler: Yes.

[28:54] Alan Seales: And where are they from?

[28:56] Kerry Butler: Ethiopia.

[28:57] Alan Seales: Ethiopia. Why did you decide to adopt?

[29:02] Kerry Butler: Well, I always thought we would make great parents. And I thought, because we had great parents, I thought we should give that to somebody who didn't have it. And so it was kind of like a calling for me. I've always been called to help foster kids. And just that's something I'm passionate about. And so you should find the things you're passionate about and do it.

[29:25] Alan Seales: Yeah. Was it hard? I mean, some people have horrible adoption stories.

[29:30] Kerry Butler: It wasn't horrible by any means, but it definitely is hard. It definitely is stressful. It's scary, you know, going all the way across the world, and you don't know what you're going to meet. And, you know, the only thing you're going on is a picture of this child, you don't know, you haven't seen video, you don't know anything, and a medical record. And when we met my first daughter, we were so tired because it was, you know, like an 18 hour flight, we hadn't slept. And but we said, Oh, no, we want to go right, we don't want to go to a hotel, we want to go right and meet her. And she looked at us. And, you know, we were probably the first white people she'd ever seen. She looked at us and burst out crying, didn't stop crying the entire time we were there, really.

And we were we were kind of like, Oh, my gosh, what did we do? And then then they said, Why don't you go back to your hotel, sleep, and then tomorrow we'll bring her over to you. And then the next day, she came to us, she was much, she wasn't crying. And by that night, we have a video of her hysterically laughing, crawling for the first time in between the two of us. So she bonded in one day.

[29:42] Alan Seales: Oh, so she was about like eight or nine months?

[29:45] Kerry Butler: No, well, she they didn't have her crawl just because she was like in an orphanage. So they should have been crawling already. But she was 11 months.

[29:53] Alan Seales: Yeah. Well, that's that is amazing. And then the second time I assume you got to your hotel and slept.

[30:00] Kerry Butler: Well, the second time I was doing the best man and I had in my contract that because you never know when you're going to get the call to adopt. So I had in my contract that I have to go to Ethiopia to get my daughter. And then they're like, Yes, you can. The only time you can't is, you know, during this window of opening night. Of course, that's when we get the call. So I couldn't go and my husband went without me. And he was so nervous bringing her home on the plane that he didn't eat anything so that he wouldn't have to go to the bathroom. Then I was like, but honey, you could have fainted. That wasn't exactly a bad smart. He didn't eat or drink anything for, you know, like 24 hours.

[30:40] Alan Seales: I go like four hours and I get lightheaded.

[30:42] Kerry Butler: But he's a good dad.

[30:44] Alan Seales: And so they were they were young. I have such respect as I'm a parent of I've got a three year old and a four and a half year old. And I have two little boys. They're such a pain in the ass. I love them to death. And they keep me up at night. They wake me up early in the morning like they're kids, right? They're babies. They were babies and whatnot. But to be able to have to do eight shows a week, basically like run a marathon every week and still be a dad, that seems unhuman to me. Inhuman.

[31:17] Kerry Butler: Well, our girls kind of came to us trained because I feel like in the orphanage, nobody's going to be waking up with them in the middle of the night. So they were good sleepers. But I mean, yeah, it's hard. It's definitely hard.

[31:30] Alan Seales: Yeah. Do you still how old are they now?

[31:33] Kerry Butler: Now my older daughter's 14 and my little one is eight. She just turned eight.

[31:39] Alan Seales: Oh, so they okay. So they're obviously sleeping through the night. No problem. Now, this is a recent thing.

[31:44] Kerry Butler: My husband's really nice to me. He gets up with them in the morning when I have shows at night, so I don't have to.

[31:49] Alan Seales: Yeah. Do you find it hard to find time with them when you're doing a regular show?

[31:55] Kerry Butler: A little bit. Yeah. I mean, during the week, during the summer, it's easy because I'm with them all day. But I am with them. I try and pick them up every day after school. If I'm doing anything else, I try and rehearse or anything. I try and book it while they're in school so that I definitely have the time to pick them up and I stay with them until I go home. And so, you know, you do what you got to do.

[32:18] Kerry Butler: One thing that was hard, my husband, I forgot about this. My husband went to L.A. to do a TV show right when we were in tech and starting Beetlejuice. And so during that, then I'm doing tech late at night, then having to wake up with my girls, take them to school. I was definitely starting to lose it then. And just not able to focus, you know, without having like a full night sleep and forgetting lines. And so I started paying my older daughter $20 a morning to get her sister ready. It gave me like 45 minutes left to sleep and it was totally worth it. I wish I'd done it earlier because that really helps.

[32:59] Alan Seales: Oh my goodness. I was listening to a talk the other day and during daylight savings when we lose the hour, Google searches for like anxiety, depression, and mental health problems like go up. They spike the day after because that one hour difference, it throws everybody's off.

[33:20] Kerry Butler: That is so cool. Interesting. And, you know, reaffirming that I wasn't just crazy.

[33:25] Alan Seales: Right. No, 45 minutes. God, I love a good 45 minute nap is great, especially like on the weekend when the kids are doing something else. Yeah. But we skipped over that you grew up in or you were born in Brooklyn. You grew up in Brooklyn, right?

[33:40] Kerry Butler: Yes. And I've got like I was watching your reel and you do accents pretty easily.

[33:43] Alan Seales: Oh, yeah. My Brooklyn accent.

[33:45] Kerry Butler: Yeah. Did you did you normally have a Brooklyn accent that you dropped?

[33:48] Kerry Butler: Yes. I had a very strong Brooklyn accent. Like there's, I don't know, tape out there of me being like, come here Sandy, you know, like playing Annie as a kid in community theater. But

[34:02] Kerry Butler: Because I wanted to be an actress and I also was kind of, I didn't really fit in in Brooklyn. I always felt like I didn't belong there. So I kind of made up my own accent by watching Beverly Hills 90210 probably. And when I went to college, you know, you take diction classes and they were like, you have the strangest accent I've ever heard. And it was because I took different things from different TV shows and just made it up.

[34:33] Alan Seales: Wow. Do you remember what your accent was?

[34:39] Kerry Butler: Um, I think it's kind of like how I'm speaking now, but maybe my twos. I don't know. I don't really remember. I just know I had to do a lot of dialects.

[34:44] Alan Seales: You do a good Boston accent too.

[34:49] Kerry Butler: No, I'm not. No, I'm not good at Boston. My dad is from Boston, but that's hard.

[34:53] Alan Seales: Well, you did it. You did it on...

[34:59] Kerry Butler: No, that was Brooklyn.

[35:04] Alan Seales: Was it?

[35:04] Kerry Butler: Yeah. He had a Boston accent on Cupid. He had a Boston accent and I was from Brooklyn or New Jersey, something like that.

[35:08] Alan Seales: Oh, I'm from, I live in Brooklyn now, but from North Carolina. So I had to drop, I had to drop my Southern accent.

[35:10] Kerry Butler: Oh yeah. You don't sound like you're from North Carolina at all.

[35:15] Alan Seales: No, no, no, no. I didn't have much of one, so it was pretty easy to drop. Um, but you know, you do what you can do, but you've, um, you've worked with some amazing people on TV as well. And we've talked about, you know, the theater, uh, but you know, on 30 Rock, I guess you were Tina Fey twice.

[35:25] Kerry Butler: Yes.

[35:27] Alan Seales: Cause with Mean Girls too. Um, Mindy Project, of course, Mindy Kaling, um, Blue Bloods and whatnot. You've been on tons and tons of stuff. Uh, do you still get to audition now with Beetlejuice going on? Do you still go out to film? Um, or are you all theater right now?

[35:43] Kerry Butler: No, I can audition. Um, I'm very picky just because I don't really want to leave. I love doing Beetlejuice. Uh, so it'd have to be something worthwhile.

[35:54] Alan Seales: But do you, are you still, you still get offers for auditions and you just don't take them?

[35:58] Kerry Butler: Right. I mean, like I'm auditioning for something tomorrow. That's just a TV show for a little bit, not something I would leave Beetlejuice for. Um, just the TV show, but yeah. So occasionally I will, I will, it's a big TV show. So I was like, okay, yeah, I'll go on that.

[36:15] Alan Seales: Yeah. I guess. So would that, would you go out of Beetlejuice for that? Or would it be like,

[36:19] Kerry Butler: I mean, maybe I would miss a day or something if that, but I would definitely try not to miss anything.

[36:23] Alan Seales: Yeah. There's a lot of, a lot of, um, I guess it was Sarah Styles. Like she does Get Shorty and she does Billions and she's still in Tootsie.

[36:31] Kerry Butler: Oh, really?

[36:31] Alan Seales: Yeah. And they, they, maybe I'm getting her in trouble. She, yeah, they let her out of her show for a couple of days at a time and she'll go out and film and come back and whatnot. So that's like a somewhat regular thing. And I don't know now if they're still filming, but I know like she was doing that during and around Tony season.

[36:46] Kerry Butler: Wow. Oh, good for her.

[36:53] Alan Seales: Yeah. I just got this business. I mean, the whole point of this podcast is to bring like the stories to the listeners, but the stuff that, that you have to go through. And I, and I, I don't remember who said it to me, but equated, you know, your job to basically, um, Olympic athletes. So this is the Olymp, the Olympics of theater is Broadway. Um, doesn't mean it's the end all be all cause you can do lots elsewhere, but if you want to be on Broadway, then you have to be at the top of your game.

[37:24] Kerry Butler: Right. Right. And you have to work hard and you have to try hard. And aside from, you know, just being talented, you have to kind of be a nice person.

[37:33] Alan Seales: Yeah. I mean, not, not nice people do succeed sometimes, but it's, it's easier if you're nice for sure, because stage manager will remember you a lot of times, so many times it's down to two people. And if they know you're a nice person, then they'll be like, oh, well, they're easy to work with. Let's go with them.

[37:46] Kerry Butler: Right. And the people that you've worked with before he's, you know, everybody on the, on stage you've worked with before, it sounds like except for Sophia, um, cause she's brand new to the scene.

[37:54] Alan Seales: I was like, except for Sophia. Brand new to the theater scene. Uh, okay. Okay. So some other miscellaneous stuff I was reading about you. You're a vegetarian.

[38:06] Kerry Butler: Yes.

[38:10] Alan Seales: Of course. You, you talked about being a little bit of activist concerning, um, youth mentoring, um, environmental issues.

[38:17] Kerry Butler: Yes. What do you, what do you get involved with? Um, let's see. Uh, well, I'm a vegetarian mainly because of, that's one of the best ways you can help out the environment.

[38:25] Kerry Butler: Um, cow farts, right? Yes, exactly. Um, and, uh, I don't know. I'm just, I'm really trying to use my, um, Instagram now for positive, um, good. I always, cause I was just thinking of this the other day. I always, I didn't ever want it to be famous. I always wanted to just be a working actor on Broadway, but those kinds of moments when I did want to be famous, I only wanted to be famous to, um, use it to help to spread good. You know, that was why I wanted it because I was like, well, when I'm famous, I'll be able to make the world a better place, you know, which isn't true. And you have to make the world a better place, you know, anytime in your life. But now I'm seeing, you know, I do have some influence. Um, and so I just, I'm starting to do stuff. I'm reaching out to like brands, um, who, um, make things that are eco-friendly and, um, I'm trying to like promote stuff like that and talk about that.

[39:27] Alan Seales: Oh, all right. Um, and, uh, solo albums. How many do you have?

[39:33] Kerry Butler: Oh, I only have one.

[39:34] Alan Seales: Face Trust and Pixie Dust?

[39:36] Kerry Butler: Yes.

[39:36] Alan Seales: Um, I found it very interesting that you recorded one of the songs with a fan, right? Didn't you, you had a contest?

[39:42] Kerry Butler: Oh, I did. No, they got to name something. I think it was so long ago, but the fan, did they get to come sit in on the recording?

[39:54] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[39:55] Kerry Butler: Maybe you're right. I'm always doing contests like that though. Like, yeah, I love doing fun things with fans.

[40:02] Alan Seales: Yeah. That's, uh, that's really.

[40:04] Kerry Butler: I think maybe you're right. Maybe I invited them into the recording studio.

[40:07] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[40:07] Kerry Butler: If they won.

[40:08] Alan Seales: There was something about coming to see you.

[40:10] Kerry Butler: Okay. Yes.

[40:11] Alan Seales: And I thought the way it was worded, it made it sound like you actually sang with them on the album.

[40:14] Kerry Butler: I didn't sing with anyone. No.

[40:17] Alan Seales: They were allowed to come. I think Broadway Worlds was the one who started the contest.

[40:21] Kerry Butler: Yeah. And then outside of acting, whenever you have time, it doesn't sound like you have much. You also teach masterclasses.

[40:29] Kerry Butler: Yes. But yeah, I've taken a break now that I'm in Beetlejuice and my kids are in school. I may start up again soon. Um, I like doing it. Uh, but yeah, it's a lot. And especially with the show, a lot of times they want you to do it on the weekends and I can't do that on the weekends.

[40:44] Alan Seales: Yeah. So do you, do you see yourself teaching it? Like if you weren't, if it'll lull in your career, you want to take a hiatus or something? Would you teach?

[40:50] Kerry Butler: Yes. I, and I still do that. I do. I'll do Skype lessons. I'll, you know, rent a studio here and teach people sometimes, but I, but I go through times when I take a break just because I, it's, I get burnt out. So now I'm in a break.

[41:04] Alan Seales: Oh, burnt out from masterclasses.

[41:05] Kerry Butler: Burnt out just from doing too much.

[41:07] Alan Seales: Oh, right, right.

[41:08] Kerry Butler: Burnt out from being in a show, doing all the press for a new show and being a mom. It's like, I can't take on something else.

[41:15] Alan Seales: That's yeah, that's.

[41:16] Kerry Butler: But I really like it. Like I act like a mentor to my students, you know, and I, I ask them to tell me about their auditions and, you know, tell them, I give them other teachers, recommend other teachers. So I do like it.

[41:26] Alan Seales: Do you, do you mentor your own daughters? Do they, are they into performing? Are they just like, that's mom and dad's thing?

[41:32] Kerry Butler: My older one is not into it at all. And, uh, she wants to take singing lessons from someone else. And I'm like, absolutely not. I'm not paying someone else to teach you how to sing, um, dance. Yes, but not sing. Um, and my little one wants to do it. And my little one will let me give her singing lessons and things like that.

[41:49] Alan Seales: So, wow. Yeah. I don't, I don't know. It's kind of like sort of my biggest hope and fear that my kids want to get into theater.

[41:56] Kerry Butler: I know. Well, it's funny because my daughter's is just going into high school now. So we're looking at different high schools and you know, the high school of performing arts is like a really, really good school. And I was like, I can just, I can coach you on a monologue. I feel like you'll definitely get in. And she was like, but then I would have to act when I'm there.

[42:14] Alan Seales: So I'm like the opposite parent, like trying to beg your kids to go into arts when they're not interested.

[42:19] Kerry Butler: Well, they'll, they'll find their own. So if you hadn't, if you hadn't found this, what do you think you would be doing?

[42:25] Kerry Butler: I would be a social worker or, um, a pre-kindergarten teacher.

[42:32] Alan Seales: Oh yeah. You like children. You do like that. Okay. So, um, we'll wrap up here because you have another show to do and there's three standard closing questions. I ask everybody to end these episodes. So the first one is very simply what motivates you?

[42:45] Kerry Butler: Oh, uh, love, I guess. Is that an okay answer? Well, it depends on what motivates me, like what I love what I do. So that motivates me to do theater and I love my family. So that motivates me to do, you know, take care of them and do everything. And I just want to spread love. So that motivates me to be nice and be kind to everyone at the stage door and things like that.

[43:14] Alan Seales: All right. Um, next question is what advice would you give to your younger self and younger people listening now starting out on a similar path?

[43:21] Kerry Butler: Um, laugh at yourself. Don't take yourself so seriously. If people make fun of you, find a way to make fun of yourself first. So then, because then that, you know, I was bullied a lot. So, oh yeah.

[43:34] Alan Seales: Over what?

[43:35] Kerry Butler: You know, who knows? You're just that kid. Did you ever see Welcome to the Dollhouse?

[43:38] Alan Seales: No.

[43:39] Kerry Butler: Oh, okay. So that was a big movie about bullying. And I was like, oh my gosh, that's my life where they all chanted a name and stuff. So, but you know, if I didn't get so upset by it, then it wouldn't have, it would have had the same effect.

[43:52] Alan Seales: Yeah. Yeah. But it's hard. You can't, as a kid, you can't know that.

[43:56] Kerry Butler: I know. I know.

[43:57] Alan Seales: My parents didn't talk. I was bullied too. And my parents didn't talk to me about it.

[44:01] Kerry Butler: No one talked to me about it. They didn't go to the school or anything. And it was bad.

[44:06] Alan Seales: All right. Well, parents talk to your kids. Come on. Um, the last question is 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 say?

[44:14] Kerry Butler: Oh my gosh, it's so hard. I can't, I can't choose.

[44:25] Kerry Butler: Um, it would have to be something with music that you could listen to over and over again. I don't know the first thing that's, well, no, I don't know. I don't know. The first thing I'm popping in my head is Wicked. Just cause I could listen to that music over and over again.

[44:37] Alan Seales: All right. Well, we can find you online on Twitter at Kerry Butler NYC on Instagram at Kerry Butler one, the number one, and then your website is kerrybutler.net. You can get more of me at thetheaterpodcast.com. Show your support by going to theaterpodcast.com slash Patreon. You can get me online on Instagram and Twitter theater underscore podcast. Please leave a rating, leave a review. Everything helps. This is produced by Jillian Hockman, edited by Matthew Hendershot. Thank you to Jukebox the Ghost for the intro and outro music and Kerry Butler. Big thanks to you for coming on the podcast. This has been great.

[45:13] Kerry Butler: Thank you. Thanks for having me.