This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Larry Scott: Coming up on this episode, we'll talk about a play that goes wrong in the most perfect way.

[0:05] Will Armstrong: A new musical that's playing in Solana Beach that has a Guys and Dolls connection.

[0:10] Larry Scott: And the Friends Musical Parody, they'll be there for you in Culver City.

[0:21] Larry Scott: It's curtains up on another episode of West of Broadway, a celebration of musical theater in Los Angeles. I'm radio host and theater enthusiast Larry Scott, along with celebrity publicist and theater veteran Will Armstrong back in the house.

[0:34] Will Armstrong: I love that you were playing Super Mario Brothers in our lobby.

[0:37] Larry Scott: Well, your lobby rolls.

[0:39] Will Armstrong: But yeah, it um I it actually was Donkey Kong.

[0:42] Larry Scott: Oh, it was Donkey Kong, see.

[0:43] Will Armstrong: Old school.

[0:44] Larry Scott: I need to get back on that machine. You know, and I just love Will, like you're this super hip guy, you know, and you're going to all these like celebrity events in Hollywood. Yet you'll still sit down and play Donkey Kong.

[0:51] Will Armstrong: Yeah.

[0:53] Larry Scott: If the opportunity presents itself. I will challenge you to Pac-Man and Frogger.

[0:57] Will Armstrong: Um, Pac-Man, maybe I'm I'm certain I could beat you at Miss Pac-Man, though.

[1:01] Larry Scott: Oh, I don't know. I still have the pattern stuck in my head from all those days at the Gold Mine Arcade in Florida.

[1:06] Will Armstrong: Amazing.

[1:06] Larry Scott: Just say it. All right. So getting back to theater, it really is an action-packed show today. We're gonna start with a play that I saw while you and your hubby Bill were jet setting around Europe.

[1:15] Will Armstrong: Yeah.

[1:16] Larry Scott: And I I'm so bummed that you missed The Play That Goes Wrong if the Omunds in theater will. It's one of the greatest things I've ever seen on Twitter. It's been getting such incredible buzz.

[1:27] Will Armstrong: Yeah.

[1:27] Larry Scott: Everybody's been talking about how amazing the show is.

[1:29] Will Armstrong: Yeah, and even before it started, I went with my friend Rick, who's also a publicist. And you could just hear the crowd, like some people had seen it, I think, in New York, and JJ Abrams was part of the team.

[1:38] Larry Scott: JJ Abrams and Kevin McCollum brought it to New York.

[1:41] Will Armstrong: Uh, and now I think this is the first national tour of this play.

[1:46] Larry Scott: So not a musical, it's a play, although there is some music in it. And um it starts off, and even before the show begins, parts of the set are kind of falling apart. Like stuff is falling off the walls.

[1:56] Will Armstrong: Oh my gosh.

[1:58] Larry Scott: Some of the actors are interacting with the audience. And we were like third row. So we could see everything up close. And the whole premise is that it's this fictional college drama group that's putting on a 1920s murder mystery.

[2:11] Will Armstrong: But the guy playing the corpse won't stay dead.

[2:15] Larry Scott: Like he keeps moving around or you know that doors won't open and they kind of have to run around the set to make their entrance. And they're playing it very seriously except there's one guy who's like waving at the crowd and like taking bows and everything.

[2:27] Will Armstrong: But at the same time there's a really good story that's being told but it it reminded me a lot Will of Laurel and Hardy. Just that great physical comedy that's happening in front of you.

[2:36] Larry Scott: I do wonder if the set has to be rebuilt every night after they get done and just such clever dialogue and uh relatively small cast. It's so funny it's the to hear you talk about it it sounds like every nightmare I've had about performing where it just everything goes wrong and you're just like I'm in the wrong costume. I don't know I don't know the choreography. What is what's my line? It's just like I bet you like that was the impetus to this um to the to the script and to the story itself is just like because it just goes part in parcel with being a working actor is that reoccurring dream that everything goes to hell.

[3:11] Will Armstrong: And it really does. It is literally the play that goes wrong.

[3:15] Larry Scott: And there are just these moments Will where somebody will say and it's almost midnight and they point to the clock and the clock stuck at 5 p.m. Right or they'll say look at this bottle of alcohol there's not a drop left and they hold it up and it's full you know just like one thing after another, but exactly what you said, Will. I was having that conversation with a friend where I was going, it's gotta be so hard because everything in you probably is a trained actor wants to do it properly, but you have to remember to bump into the wall or run into the post or whatever it is.

[3:45] Will Armstrong: When we were in Europe, I met up with friends that I performed with on cruise ships years and years ago, and we talked about something that went wrong in one of our shows where we had we have quick changes, and quick change is when your costume is preset in the wings. So when you exit the stage, you rip off the costume you were wearing, and you grab the costume that's preset and then you run back on stage for the next number.

[4:05] Larry Scott: Well, I thought I'd be clever, and I was like, Well, I'm gonna leave my shorts to this my second costume on the other side of the stage, so it'll be there when I need it. I to put it on the wrong side, so I had this tunic, I had a tunic and then shorts, but the shorts were on the wrong side, so I just had the tunic and a belt. And I was like, Well, the tunic is long enough, I'll be fine. The first thing I do, the first the choreography is run out and jump in the air and spin in a circle, and it flies up, and I'm a Ken doll from the waist down.

[4:32] Will Armstrong: And so that it was on a cruise ship. So that night I was at the um the midnight buffet, and I'm just like putting food on my plate, and these people were like, What about that naked guy in the show?

[4:41] Larry Scott: And I was like, guilty as charged. It was awful.

[4:45] Will Armstrong: Well, thankfully, Will, you're very fit.

[4:47] Larry Scott: Yeah, you know, so I'm I'm sure they were very happy.

[4:50] Will Armstrong: I know, but I mean I should have gotten paid a lot more.

[4:52] Larry Scott: That's where we're going with that.

[4:53] Will Armstrong: Exactly. Well, I did hear them saying that they have like 20 contingencies. If things don't actually go wrong the way they're supposed to, like what they do to kind of cover that.

[5:04] Larry Scott: And that was my other thought. I wonder how much was kind of improvised, or maybe things went wrong that weren't supposed to go wrong that way, but it was hilarious. I highly recommend it.

[5:14] Will Armstrong: And this is a great show because uh you can bring a kid to it. Like I saw kids that were probably five or six years old.

[5:21] Larry Scott: It is long. I mean, if you're going at night, you're gonna be there till close to eleven.

[5:24] Will Armstrong: Wow.

[5:25] Larry Scott: So maybe you go to the matinee unless you have a night owl kid like me. Um, but I saw grandparents there with grandkids, so it really is one of those sort of all-ages shows.

[5:33] Will Armstrong: So great.

[5:34] Larry Scott: And there's some funny jokes about like the audience in New York wouldn't act that way. And like I got shushed for laughing too loud because there's a guy playing the producer of this fictional show that's taking it very seriously.

[5:47] Will Armstrong: So just a blast. It is gonna be the Almondson Theater in downtown LA through August 11th.

[5:53] Larry Scott: The Play That Goes Wrong. It's so right. And I still have time to see it. All right, up next, so we're gonna talk to Mark Saltzman, who has conceived this awesome new musical called Another Roll of the Dice.

[6:06] Will Armstrong: It takes audiences back to the colorful locale of Runyon Land, which was first introduced on stage in Frank Loesser's legendary Broadway musical, Guys and Dolls.

[6:17] Larry Scott: I am so excited. Welcome to West of Broadway, Mark Saltzman.

[6:20] Mark Saltzman: Hey Mark, yeah.

[6:22] Mark Saltzman: Hello, thank you. Uh the show we'll be talking about is my show Another Roll of the Dice, and it's based on stories by Damon Runyon and has songs by Frank Loesser, which might sound like a familiar uh partnership.

[6:37] Will Armstrong: Yeah.

[6:38] Mark Saltzman: They they did Guys and Dolls so long ago.

[6:41] Will Armstrong: Exactly. It's so exciting. Now, is this a continuation of Guys and Dolls? Is this something uh different just with characters that we know and love?

[6:51] Mark Saltzman: Uh, take us into what what it covers.

[6:53] Mark Saltzman: Yeah, we've been calling it an accomplice to Guys and Dolls. Ah, it's uh it's not the same characters, but um Mindy's Delhi is is the central place just like it was in Guys and Dolls. And the uh Runyon stories we used are different stories, but it's the same world.

[7:13] Will Armstrong: Same world of the gangsters and the the gun molls and the um the people who stumble into this world uh for better or worse.

[7:21] Mark Saltzman: So yeah, it's it's uh it's the same same world, uh different guys, other dolls.

[7:30] Will Armstrong: Is that the tagline?

[7:33] Mark Saltzman: Now with this too, I mean to Frank Loesser, so many songs in the Great American Songbook and in this one I've heard you have Heart and Soul and Two Sleeping People, um and Let's Get Lost. What uh what a what a beautiful set of songs.

[7:48] Will Armstrong: Now wha how did you even come up with the idea to do this?

[7:52] Mark Saltzman: Oh uh this is one of these uh wonderful ideas that came to me that uh a friend of mine was representing the the Runyon estate and asked me, Oh, you know, we're we're looking to use the stories more and do you have any ideas? And my jaw fell. I thought it was like, you know, winning uh Willy Wonka gold ticket or something. I said, Yeah, I I have a few ideas and that that was what really came into my mind was uh what about all those other stories? 'Cause I love Damon Runyon and Guys and Dolls at an early age had led me to Damon Runyon and I I think I read every story he wrote and I knew there was more stuff there.

[8:36] Will Armstrong: And uh when when they invited me to do that, they sent over the complete works. They sent over some unpublished stories, which is like striking gold. And uh and I found three that I thought would would adapt really well.

[8:51] Larry Scott: That's incredible. Uh so uh my question for you is like what's the direction? Like what's what do we hope that to do with this kind of show? Like is this something that is someday set for the Great White Way or is this something that is just gonna live in repertory theater and travel around?

[9:07] Mark Saltzman: You know, it it's hard to say because uh last Friday, if somebody asked that I'd say, uh, well, I guess we have to wait till the reviews come in.

[9:15] Larry Scott: Sure.

[9:15] Mark Saltzman: To answer that.

[9:16] Larry Scott: Mm-hmm.

[9:17] Mark Saltzman: Well the reviews came in.

[9:20] Larry Scott: Congratulations.

[9:21] Mark Saltzman: Yeah, we're very, very happy with the reviews.

[9:24] Larry Scott: So uh yeah, in my mind, okay, now we're gonna aim for New York. It's it's six actors who play uh thirty roles. So you know, it's it it kind of has that uh off Broadway quality, you know, small small house Broadway, but um now that we've seen uh the the reaction of the press and the audience, uh w we really are starting to think we have a New York show here.

[9:51] Will Armstrong: Excellent.

[9:52] Larry Scott: That's wonderful.

[9:53] Mark Saltzman: That sounds obvious saying a Damon Runyon show is a New York show, but you know, we it was um it was it was clear that we could we we had some legs on this.

[10:04] Larry Scott: Now did you have to get approval from anyone in the Loesser family or in the Runyon family to move forward with this?

[10:13] Mark Saltzman: Um that one is is uh is a corporation, a literary rights corporation. The uh they're the ones who contacted me. Uh once I knew I wanted to use Frank Loesser's songs I had to to go to the estate, yeah.

[10:27] Will Armstrong: And you probably know just a few months ago we lost um Joe Sullivan who was Frank Loesser's widow.

[10:34] Mark Saltzman: Yes.

[10:35] Will Armstrong: And uh she was w you know, she was working pretty close with me too. I had to bring the idea to her and we did a presentation and she gave me notes after the presentation and uh uh some some songs the the agreement was I mean it it's pretty obvious but uh not to use songs that were already in Frank Loesser musicals. You know, like there's so many others, you know, Hand Christian Anderson and uh Most Happy Fella.

[11:10] Mark Saltzman: Right. Uh but I understood that's just the pop songs, the ones the American songbook songs. But she was uh instrumental in pointing me towards some less the lesser known Loesser. You know, some of the uh

[11:22] Will Armstrong: That's the name of your next show.

[11:26] Mark Saltzman: I'm just saying uh but there there was there was one uh we have that really wasn't even published as a song.

[11:34] Mark Saltzman: It was only in an obscure movie and it worked perfectly for this show. And I remember her saying I had the opening number is, uh, I hear music and it was, uh, you know, opening number, you know, opening numbers are the toughest things to pull together and, uh, I want to get the plot about, uh, uh, robbery of a candy warehouse. I want to get that going during the opening number and, you know, it was that juggling act. And I told her this is still work in progress and she said, no, we had the same problem with Most Happy Fellow. We could get the opening right. That's pretty comforting coming from Mrs. Frank Lesser, you know. A lot of people say a lot of things when you're working on a show and don't know what they're talking about. But yeah, okay, I'll take that note. I wish she could have been around to see this, uh, finally to see the show go up and, you know, we missed it by just a few months that, uh, she passed away.

[12:39] Will Armstrong: That's such a shame. How is it performing in California? Like especially like what's, um, are you finding the, uh, the North Coast Repertory Theater like comfortable in, in a good audiences?

[12:49] Mark Saltzman: Yeah, it really is. It's, um, like I said, six actors performing the show, uh, Larry Seuss are directing, he came from Boston, he's an West Coast. So pretty much thought he went to heaven in a California beach town. I'm jaded. I've been in LA for thirty years, but, uh, I can't think of, you know, maybe you guys know theater, but where, where in America is there a theater like that that you kinda can walk to the beach when you when you're done, you know? Um, let's take a ten. Okay, let's go to the beach. And this, this sort of was, um, situated in such a beautiful spot that, uh, most, uh, I think four of our actors were local and one of them, um, Derek Penny came out from New York for this and he experienced his first earthquake.

[13:43] Will Armstrong: Yeah.

[13:44] Mark Saltzman: And he's still here after that?

[13:46] Will Armstrong: He didn't go running back east.

[13:47] Mark Saltzman: No, no. I mean, he looked terrified. You know, all of us at this point are just, you know, if it's just one of those rumblers we call 'em, you know. It's one of that. It's like, uh, it's like the subway going underneath. You know, you hear it and you feel it, but you, you know, you don't go running. So, uh, he kind of had that experience of terror. That what is that? Oh, you know, it's an earthquake. You know, so what are we gonna do about this entrance? The show must go on, even with earthquakes and everything else happening.

[14:21] Will Armstrong: Yeah, yeah, that's that's real California mentality. That's just, you know, it's like talking about the weather. And we did get away pretty easy on that last one. If that, um, if that had been in the city, uh, we probably wouldn't be so jocular about it. But that one was way out there in the, uh, in the desert, minimal damage and, um, aftershocks. But that's, you know, that's California life.

[14:47] Mark Saltzman: Yeah, thankfully everybody's okay, and hopefully the rest of the run will not be quite so dramatic, uh, as it was during rehearsals. But keep the drama on stage.

[14:56] Will Armstrong: Exactly. Well, we're so happy that we got to talk to you at the beginning of this run. Thanks so much for calling in.

[15:02] Mark Saltzman: Absolutely, and we wish you the best. Um, I encourage you to run down to the North Coast Repertory Theater in beautiful Solana Beach, California. They are playing until August 4th.

[15:10] Will Armstrong: That's right. Don't take a gamble.

[15:12] Mark Saltzman: Oh, wait, we did get extended.

[15:16] Will Armstrong: Oh, yeah, you're hearing it here. Hot, hot news.

[15:18] Mark Saltzman: The reviews were good enough that we got another week to August 11th.

[15:22] Will Armstrong: That is incredible. Congratulations.

[15:24] Mark Saltzman: Oh, that is wonderful. Now play through August 11th. I should have started with that.

[15:29] Will Armstrong: Well, that is fantastic. What a great surprise. Mark Saltzman, what a pleasure talking to you.

[15:33] Mark Saltzman: Honor speaking with you. Have a great day.

[15:36] Will Armstrong: Center Theater Group has the most exciting news, Lara. They are presenting at the Kirk Douglas Theater, Friends, the Musical Parody.

[15:46] Lara Scott: No, it's so exciting. They are celebrating the adventures of your favorite group of twenty-something friends as they navigate the pitfalls of work, life, and love in the 1990s Manhattan.

[15:55] Will Armstrong: Oh, I grew up watching that show, and I'm so excited to see, you know, my childhood flash before my eyes on stage at Culver City.

[16:01] Lara Scott: Any more excited? Could you be any cuter?

[16:03] Will Armstrong: Well, all right. Well, we're very excited because we get to talk to one half of the writing team, and, uh, they have a very cool story. Wait till you hear about this. Bob McSmith, welcome to West of Broadway!

[16:14] Bob McSmith: Yay! Thank you. Thank you for having me.

[16:17] Lara Scott: Well, this is exciting because, well, I mean, it's always exciting when we get to talk to, uh, an awesome creative mind like you, but you're just hours away from Friends, the Musical Parody opening in Culver City right now.

[16:28] Bob McSmith: Yes. Uh, tonight is the first preview, and tomorrow is the official opening.

[16:31] Lara Scott: And so exciting.

[16:33] Bob McSmith: It's so exciting. Uh, the tour has been going amazing so far, and we're so glad to be out here on the West Coast. It's my first time in LA.

[16:41] Lara Scott: Welcome.

[16:42] Bob McSmith: Thank you.

[16:43] Lara Scott: How do you like it so far?

[16:44] Bob McSmith: I love it. We rode down the beach yesterday from, uh, Venice to Santa Monica, and it's so beautiful. It's such a wonderful, wonderful city.

[16:55] Will Armstrong: Well, we're thrilled to have you here, bringing a little bit of New York here to LA with our favorite 20-somethings.

[17:00] Bob McSmith: Yeah, yeah. A little bit of our edge.

[17:01] Lara Scott: You know what, Bob? I was trying to explain to Will. I said, okay, so it's Bob and Tobley McSmith. They're best friends, and they have the same last name. So, uh, can you tell us a little bit how you guys met up and became friends and started writing together?

[17:13] Bob McSmith: It's, uh, yeah, we basically moved to New York at the same time and into this same apartment on the same day. And the, uh, the real answer is, uh, the non PG one is that we were high on mushrooms and staring at a tree, and Tobley said we should write a Saved by the Bell musical. Literally we did. We're the only people to ever follow through on a mushroom thought in the history of the world.

[17:39] Lara Scott: And look where it led you. I'm glad that you followed through on that. And here you are. So, uh, maybe you could tell us a little bit too about Friends, the Musical Parody. I've heard it covers what? All ten years of the show. Do you just blow through the highlights of each episode? What's the storyline with that?

[17:56] Bob McSmith: Sure. It follows the plot of Friends pretty closely. It's all ten seasons in under two hours, but it kind of takes on its own storyline as well, not to give too much away, but you follow the friends through their journey as they fall in love, as maybe some of them take a break. It's got everything you would want from Friends. It's got Janice, it's got Unagi, it's got the Moist Maker Sandwich.

[18:19] Lara Scott: Yeah.

[18:19] Bob McSmith: So everything is covered.

[18:21] Lara Scott: I sounded like Janice right there.

[18:25] Bob McSmith: Okay. Don't give anything away, but I'm just hoping that Smelly Cat and the hairy naked guy, the neighbor guy.

[18:30] Bob McSmith: Isn't it?

[18:31] Bob McSmith: Uh, yes, yes, and no. I'm gonna say that. Obviously, it's a parody, so there's some things we can do, and there's some things we can't, and we have a lot of fun, uh, with that as well.

[18:42] Lara Scott: Yeah, and it is, uh, a little raunchy, right?

[18:44] Bob McSmith: It's, it's recommended for ages 13 plus.

[18:47] Lara Scott: Exactly. Like teenagers up, totally fine. We've seen people of all ages, and this is, you know, nothing worse than you would see on an episode of Friends, so, uh, leave that to your discretion.

[18:57] Bob McSmith: Tell me about the casting process. Like, how did you find the people that were good enough to fill these iconic roles?

[19:04] Bob McSmith: That's the hard thing. And this cast is amazing. Uh, they're all Broadway caliber singers and dancers, and it's a lot of it is, uh, do they look like the character, do they have comic timing? Uh, Sammy was actually our swing in New York, uh, who plays Rachel, Sammy Griffith. So she covered all the tracks in New York, and then on tour, like she's blossomed into, uh, her interpretation of Rachel, which brings the house down every night. Dom, Dom, Dominic who plays Joey, they're all amazing. They all like really embody the characters.

[19:36] Lara Scott: Tell me that they're actually became friends because they're in Friends like their own.

[19:39] Bob McSmith: I think they were kind of forced to if you're on a bus with someone for six months, you kinda get close.

[19:46] Lara Scott: You know, we gave away tickets at my radio station, Bob, and one of my winners, she's like this, you know, is my favorite show ever and I still have the Rachel haircut. So I'm gonna be wearing that. The opening night already.

[19:54] Bob McSmith: Yeah.

[19:59] Lara Scott: Did it the layers just right and if you had a Cal Lake it was just a mess.

[20:03] Bob McSmith: Oh yeah, that's a whole process. It's so crazy to me because like thanks to platforms like Netflix, my best friend, her daughter is a sophomore in college and obsessed with Friends. Like she knows every episode.

[20:14] Bob McSmith: That's the amazing thing about the show is that it's hitting those three different age groups: people like, like me and Tobley who grew up watching it on the first run and people who saw it in syndication and then people now watching it with their children on Netflix. So it really does touch all age groups and the stories, uh, are still relatable even this day. It's a love story. So you bringing families together, Bob, thank you for that.

[20:38] Bob McSmith: Did you guys write original music like original songs in this too?

[20:42] Bob McSmith: Yeah, it is all, it's original songs. A soft Gleisner who is the composer, uh, brings in different metal melodies. Um, we never liked musicals, Tobley and I, and recently we've really fallen in love with them. So it's something that kind of happened over time. So in this show, it does range from Broadway theater to pop music. There's homages to Chicago, Hamilton, Le Miz. But then at the same time there's, uh, Sir Mix-a-lot, and there's Counting Crows and Bare Naked Ladies. And so you kinda hear all those different things come together in a really beautiful way.

[21:15] Lara Scott: What was the musical that made you fall in love with musicals? Because you said you weren't always a fan, but was there one that kind of changed your mind and put you on this path?

[21:22] Bob McSmith: He's like, yeah, this one. I'm not really sure. As a kid, it was, uh, the only one I liked was Little Shop obviously and Roger. But I think it was, uh, when Tobley and I saw Avenue Q and Book of Mormon, like those two were really like, oh, kind of introductions to musicals. And that's what we do too. We want to write musicals for people like us who didn't like musicals and you kind of start to really appreciate the form and how it's done.

[21:48] Lara Scott: You are the gateway drug to move musical, it's the gateway music.

[21:55] Bob McSmith: Well, we're thrilled to see it. Will cannot make it, but I will be there hosting, uh, 90s trivia, Friends and musical trivia before opening night tomorrow night. So we're just so happy that you guys came to LA. We hope you have a great run here and you can just...

[21:57] Bob McSmith: Thank you, thank you so much. And, uh, Friends, the Musical Parody, it is on at the Kirk Douglas Theater in Culver City through August 4th.

[22:16] Lara Scott: And all of you kids listening, you should stay away from mushrooms. I don't care how successful they'll make you. There's a public service announcement right there from West of Broadway. Uh, well that was super fun. We blew through three shows and if you're a theater fan, these are all must-sees. So, and if you check out any of them, of course please reach out to us and let us know. You can catch me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Lariscott Media.

[22:40] Will Armstrong: And please follow me on Instagram and Facebook at Will Armstrong PR.

[22:44] Lara Scott: And if you're looking for us, you can find us just west of Broadway.