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[0:11] Will Armstrong: It's curtains up on another episode of West of Broadway. I'm Broadway veteran Will Armstrong and I am thrilled to tell you about what's going on at Segerstrom Center of the Arts down in Costa Mesa, California. They're continuing their 2019-2020 family series with The Joshua Show, Episode 2. This family-friendly production plays February 1st and 2nd at the Samueli Theater, and I got to catch up with Joshua himself. Now Joshua Holden is an award-winning puppeteer and ambassador of joy. And that is awesome. And I got to learn about how he uses three of my favorite things, which are singing, tap dancing, and a cast of zany puppets. And he thrills audiences of all ages in a whimsical production about friendship and the value of being yourself. Let's catch up with him now.

[1:02] Joshua Holden: Hello, thank you for having me.

[1:03] Will Armstrong: I'm super excited to talk to you for a bunch of reasons, but one is the fact that this is my first opportunity to talk to an actual ambassador of joy. Can you tell me what that is? What does that mean?

[1:22] Joshua Holden: And it is it guides me through the work that I create. I try to create pieces of entertainment that lifts people's spirits and makes them feel less alone in this world and feel good about themselves. And for that, I have taken on the role of calling myself the ambassador of joy in my performing life.

[1:44] Will Armstrong: I love everything about that, and that's amazing. And this Segerstrom Center for the Arts is continuing the family series, and they are offering on February first and second the production of The Joshua Show, Episode 2. And you being Joshua, you're the star of the show. Tell me about like what was there an episode one?

[2:07] Joshua Holden: There was, yeah. So the piece started out seven years ago as a ten-minute sketch for adults and it was a spoof on a children's TV show. And that piece grew to be a full hour-long performance in one year. And I went to this festival called the Puppeteers of America's National Puppet Festival, which I never even knew was a thing. And we went to this festival and my very first time engaging with the national puppetry community, and we left with being voted fan favorite and we won best performance at the festival. And so that was episode one and my whole career with this show has been totally unexpected and so delightful. And now we are touring around with the next installment of the show.

[2:56] Will Armstrong: That is incredible and it's a testament to sometimes we as performers, we want we're like, I want to be on Broadway by the time I'm twenty, I wanna da and sometimes when you just let life happen, it unfolds and it will reveal itself to be more exciting and more rewarding and more fulfilling than we could have ever dreamed. So I applaud you for that. That is awesome.

[3:20] Joshua Holden: Thank you.

[3:20] Will Armstrong: But I also Joshua, I feel like we're kindred spirits. A, you're from Massachusetts, am I correct?

[3:26] Joshua Holden: Yes.

[3:26] Will Armstrong: Are you from as well?

[3:28] Joshua Holden: I'm from a little town called Medway, Massachusetts. It's like on four ninety-five. It's like this two stop lights that's teeny tiny, but I am you might not I I've done a pretty good job of hiding my Massachusetts accent, but I don't know.

[3:40] Will Armstrong: Notified.

[3:40] Joshua Holden: But um I started tap dancing when I was two. Um so um we have the tap dancing in common. Um I was in the Broadway revival of Forty Second Street on Broadway.

[3:51] Will Armstrong: With Kate Levering?

[3:54] Joshua Holden: Yes. She had just left when I was one of the first male replacements and but um I'm a huge fan of Kate and she was my older sister in The Music Man at North Shore Music Theatre when I was in the eighth grade. This was my first professional job.

[4:07] Will Armstrong: And you were um what what's the name?

[4:09] Joshua Holden: I was I was boy number three.

[4:15] Will Armstrong: I love that. We all have one of our like yes, I was um uh Wally Webb in Our Town was like when I first uh like and I had one line.

[4:23] Joshua Holden: Yeah.

[4:24] Will Armstrong: Um yeah, but you gotta start somewhere and that's what I love about The Joshua Show is it's part of the family series here at the Segerstrom and you're performing at the Samueli Theater and it's all about um the whole program is about educating children and inspiring them to embrace theater and all of the wonderful aspects of it and what you can get from it. So it's so important for us to inspire the next generation and so I and so that's another thing I love about you. And then finally, I worked for Walt Disney World for a long time and I know my way around puppets as well. So I feel like so like if you ever need on to study, I feel like I'm your guy.

[5:02] Joshua Holden: Okay, good to know you.

[5:04] Will Armstrong: Anytime that wanna take a break.

[5:05] Joshua Holden: Well I'll I'm happy to sign you up.

[5:07] Will Armstrong: Excellent. And so you said that this is um a show that you're touring around. Where are you where are some highlights of places that you've performed so far and where are you looking forward to going?

[5:16] Joshua Holden: Yeah, so we just completed um a full tour out in Canada this fall and we had I think fourteen shows in eleven days at seven different venues.

[5:29] Will Armstrong: Oh my god. Well what a great time to be in Canada. Like that's awesome.

[5:32] Joshua Holden: Oh yeah. And now it's like nineteen degrees in New York City and I'm on the West Coast beating it for five weeks.

[5:40] Will Armstrong: So we're on our way right now to San Luis Obispo.

[5:44] Joshua Holden: San Luis Obispo.

[5:47] Will Armstrong: There you go. Um and then down to Costa Mesa and then up to Edmonds, Washington and then we fly out to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia for a full week out there as well.

[5:57] Joshua Holden: Fantastic.

[5:58] Will Armstrong: Well that's just incredible. That's very very very cool. And um and so when you're not performing and you're on the road, what are some of the like how do you like what are your things that you stay in tip tap shape?

[6:13] Joshua Holden: Ooh, well I travel with an amazing director and my live musician and the three of us we go on hikes almost everywhere we go. So we spend a lot of time outside. I swim a lot. Um and then I really try to rest too 'cause it's fifty minutes of me and this musician and it's a lot of singing, a lot of dancing and the puppetry especially after multiple shows can really start to figure out on me. So you know there's a lot of resting and a lot of um yeah well I mean really I I'm sure you know this too when you're on a tour you have this opportunity to immerse yourself into different cultures and see all these fantastic faces and places. So I really try we really try to to make an effort to figure out where we're going and like what makes each of these places special.

[7:03] Will Armstrong: Yeah, we've been talking about doing that. Where was the I I love that. And where where can our listeners find you on social media? Like what are your handles so that we can like in I can only imagine that you're posting about your tours and your adventures on.

[7:13] Joshua Holden: Yeah so you can find you can follow me at oh my goshua Joshua is my handle. And then um I I knew that I knew that I just wanted to hear you say it.

[7:32] Will Armstrong: Yep, says oh my goshua Joshua and then you can look up The Joshua Show on and those are both on Instagram and you can see us the little shenanigans that we're getting into. And our musician comes out tomorrow and once he's out here then it really all it all breaks loose and we don't know what's gonna happen.

[7:47] Joshua Holden: So yay we have so much fun together.

[7:49] Will Armstrong: Well just as a performer and as a creator like I just applaud you and and and um for following your dream and also doing something to help inspire kids and and families and I just yeah and um I just I it's an honor to meet an official ambassador of joy and I wish you tremendous success with this and and and with this project and future projects and you want to check out the um The Joshua Show Episode 2 it's performing at the Samueli Theater February first and second and then find oh my goshua Joshua on Instagram to um if we are not if you don't happen to be in Costa Mesa and you want to find out where it's performing near you.

[8:31] Joshua Holden: Yeah.

[8:32] Will Armstrong: Thank you so much, Joshua.

[8:34] Joshua Holden: Thank you Will have a great day.

[8:36] Will Armstrong: Alright by now.

[8:36] Will Armstrong: Bye Joshua was awesome. I'm so glad I got to talk to him. I feel like I got to talk to a fellow kindred spirit, and I am so impressed about what he's doing to inspire the next generation of theatergoers and theater lovers. And um, if you want to check out the show, it's playing, like I said, February 1st and 2nd at the Samueli Theater, and tickets are on sale for $20, and they're available at scfta.org or at the box office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, or you can simply call 714-556-2787. And you can follow Joshua like he said on Instagram, and his account is so clever. It's oh my goshua.

[9:29] Will Armstrong: I, of course, am available on all social media platforms at Will Armstrong PR. And you can find past episodes of West of Broadway at westofbroadwaypodcast.com. If you're on iTunes, if you have time, feel free to subscribe, give us five stars, leave us a positive comment about how much you love the show, and it's changed your appreciation for musical theater. I whatever, I'm not very good here, but I am off to New York City this weekend to attend Broadway Con 2020. And I'm going to catch up with some old friends, make some new friends, bank a bunch of new and exciting interviews for West of Broadway, and share all of this fascinating information that I am intending to get this weekend. And so I can't wait to share all of that information with you. And until then, if you're looking for us, you can find us just west of Broadway.