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[0:10] Will Armstrong: It's curtains up on another episode of West of Broadway.

[0:13] Will Armstrong: I'm Broadway veteran Will Armstrong welcoming you to another exciting episode where we are sharing interviews we collected when we went to BroadwayCon 2020.

[0:23] Will Armstrong: So excited about this one.

[0:25] Will Armstrong: If you saw the last episode, we spoke with the amazing Lori Wells, and she was telling us about her exciting collaboration working as a mentor on a new app that is helping aspiring actors.

[0:37] Will Armstrong: And we got to actually sit down with the founder and creator of Shadow Star, Mr. Michael Milton, who took some time off of the National Tour of Jersey Boys to come to the con and tell all sorts of aspiring actors all about his exciting new app.

[0:54] Will Armstrong: Mike Milton, welcome to West of Broadway.

[0:56] Michael Milton: Hey, thank you.

[0:57] Michael Milton: So I'm so glad to sit down.

[0:59] Michael Milton: I know that you're very busy. We're here at BroadwayCon 2020 in New York City, and you have a booth that you're working on, but you left your national tour for a couple days so that you could be here.

[1:10] Will Armstrong: You are on tour with Jersey Boys. Can you talk about it?

[1:12] Michael Milton: Exactly. Yeah, so I'm on Jersey Boys National Tour. We're going until June as of now. Um, they extended us to Atlantic City because they had such a good time there last year.

[1:21] Will Armstrong: Of course.

[1:22] Michael Milton: Um, yeah, I mean so much of the show is based around that city, and I started in September. We're having a great time.

[1:28] Will Armstrong: Who are you playing?

[1:28] Michael Milton: I'm playing Nick Massey, one of the Four Seasons. Um, so he's the sort of stoic character of the group.

[1:34] Will Armstrong: Sure.

[1:34] Michael Milton: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, plays the bass.

[1:36] Will Armstrong: Excellent. Harmonic genius. Is this your first national tour?

[1:39] Michael Milton: Uh, no, this is my fifth.

[1:40] Will Armstrong: Uh my gosh.

[1:41] Michael Milton: I've done a few. So I've lived in New York about 10 years and I've actually lived in New York about five.

[1:46] Will Armstrong: Oh my god. Same.

[1:47] Will Armstrong: I did the same thing.

[1:48] Michael Milton: Crazy right to me. How that happens.

[1:50] Michael Milton: I find that so many performers, if you're an exceptional singer, dancer, actor, you also have this spirit, this creative spirit that you can use if you're smart to focus into other areas.

[2:03] Michael Milton: Totally. You have had and also being a performer, you have time. You have a little bit of depth. And so instead of wasting it doing nothing, you've put your free time towards developing an innovative app called Shadow Star. Can you talk about that?

[2:16] Michael Milton: Of course. Yeah, so the idea just came basically because I came from a small town where I knew I always wanted to be an actor, and I have very supportive parents, but they didn't necessarily have all the answers to my questions. I wanted to create something that would give people that was accessible through the convenience of a mobile app.

[2:33] Michael Milton: Um, so what I've done is I've taken my 10 years in the business and gathered some amazing people who are part of this app who have all have Broadway credits. Um, and they now I have a database of Broadway stars that people can go in, they can become members, and they can choose a Broadway mentor for themselves if they live in, you know, Mariana, Florida, like where I was from in a small town, and they have access to, you know, learn about what to wear in an audition, what to talk to casting directors about, um, how to, you know, get further in their career, um, maybe perform a song for them, get some feedback, you know, things like that.

[3:11] Will Armstrong: Well, I feel like there's so much about a classic audition that has evolved. Back when I when I auditioned, it was like an eight by ten black and white photo.

[3:20] Michael Milton: Listen, I was here during that time too. I remember and also when like you come in, you tell them who you are, you do your song really fast, and then you're out.

[3:29] Will Armstrong: And sometimes I feel like now they want to they want personality, they want to know who they're hiring, you know.

[3:35] Michael Milton: For sure.

[3:35] Michael Milton: And so to have a mentor kind of talk them through that, encourage them to be themselves.

[3:40] Michael Milton: Yeah, and to know that firsthand. You know, sometimes in school you're learning the craft and you don't always necessarily have the day-to-day exactly what's happening now, like the people who are living it do.

[3:50] Michael Milton: And so that's supplemental to a great education, I think.

[3:53] Will Armstrong: How long has this app been live?

[3:56] Michael Milton: Literally, we launched for BroadwayCon yesterday. It's brand new.

[3:59] Will Armstrong: So people at BroadwayCon are seeing it first.

[4:01] Michael Milton: Yeah, no, I was talking to some people here about the Shadow Star app before we started recording, and for the access that you get, it's like it's incredible. It it's really, really brilliant what you're doing.

[4:12] Michael Milton: Thank you so much. I mean, we really hope to help people out. So that's definitely the goal.

[4:16] Will Armstrong: And so here at BroadwayCon, you've been very busy talking to lots of people. What has been your experience here, like overall, as far as connecting with these, I want to say super fans?

[4:26] Michael Milton: Yeah, I mean it's so cool to have this face-to-face um time with the customers to get that personal feedback. They've all come up and said what a great idea they think it is. Honestly, a lot of them had said, oh my gosh, I haven't heard of this. And I said, Well, it's brand new, it's the first one.

[4:40] Michael Milton: Um, so I think that's exciting to them. You know, they're able to get in there um and get in there first while these stars still have, you know, a lot of availability.

[4:48] Michael Milton: And um, and yeah, and so it's been really cool.

[4:51] Will Armstrong: So I guess you're putting together two databases. You're putting together a database of people who want to be mentored, and then you're also building the mentors themselves.

[5:00] Michael Milton: Exactly, yeah, mentors and mentees.

[5:02] Will Armstrong: That's incredible. And so people listening, how can they learn more and how can they download the app and all that to be?

[5:08] Michael Milton: Yeah, so we have tons of social media stuff. We have an Instagram, Shadowstar NYC, if you want to go on there and check out things there. We have a website, Shadowstar NYC.com, Facebook, of course, same same handle.

[5:20] Michael Milton: Um, and you can also email us if you have any more specific questions, support at Shadowstar NYC.com.

[5:26] Michael Milton: And the app is available on the app store right now live. Uh, so type in Shadow Star, two words.

[5:31] Will Armstrong: Fantastic. And if people want to follow Mike Milton and your professional career, how do we follow you?

[5:37] Michael Milton: Yeah, I'm on Instagram too, Michael Milton2 the Number Two. And you can find me on there. So many questions you have, I'd be happy to answer them.

[5:44] Will Armstrong: Mike, thank you so much for your time. I wish you continued success. And this is excited and everyone listening. Stop what you're doing, navigate over to Shadowstar NYC and download the app.

[5:54] Will Armstrong: And you can get time with the mentor of your choice.

[5:57] Michael Milton: Yay.

[5:58] Will Armstrong: Thank you. Such a nice guy and such a great app. I hope anyone who's listening who has any aspirations of becoming a professional entertainer downloads this and checks it out and find the proper mentor that's perfect for you to help you hone your craft and take it to the next level.

[6:16] Will Armstrong: I'm so proud of Michael Milton for taking his entrepreneurial spirit to the next level himself and creating this app that is going to help a lot of people.

[6:25] Will Armstrong: And kudos to you, Michael, for finding and corraling an incredible team of mentors. It's a really impressive app. And you can download the app, like we said, at Shadowstarnyc.com, and you can find Michael Milton at Iammichaelmilton.com or Michael Milton2 on Instagram.

[6:43] Will Armstrong: I, of course, am Will Armstrong, PR on all social media platforms, and West of Broadway Podcast.com for any past episodes.

[6:52] Will Armstrong: And stay tuned for future episodes because they're gonna get bigger and better. And we've got fantastic interviews to share from the con and some really great upcoming performances here in Los Angeles that we can't wait to share with you.

[7:05] Will Armstrong: So thanks so much for listening. And remember, if you're ever looking for us, you can find us just west of Broadway.