As the Coronavirus pandemic has raged across the country, national tours have been some of the first productions to fall victim. One of those is the national tour of Miss Saigon which unexpectedly closed, cancelling almost four months of upcoming performances. Company member Adam Roberts spoke to us about how he heard the news and what he's doing since he found himself unexpectedly unemployed. Here's our conversation...

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to bring together five of the most experienced and storied ensemble actors working on Broadway today before a live audience at BroadwayCon. We talked about the shows they originated and the characters they’ve created, but also the disappointments they’ve felt when a show closed. While actors Tracee Beazer, Afra Hines, Kelvin Moon Loh, Barrett Martin and Bret Shuford have each influenced the legacy of musical theatre, they’ve also been a part of shows that just didn’t gain traction with Broadway audiences. I figured with their experience, they must have some perspective about how to handle the disappointment of being in a Broadway flop. Here’s our conversation…

Since South Pacific, we’ve had two more musicals win the Pulitzer Prize: How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Fiorello!. But in 1975, a new musical came on the scene that would truly change musicals for the next fifty years. A Chorus Line. Without question, this show changed how ensembles were written, cast and perceived by audiences. Opening on Broadway in 1975 after a sold-out run downtown at the Public Theatre, it ran an unprecedented 16 years at the Shubert Theatre, as well as tours and companies around the world before coming back to Broadway in 2006. On this episode, we dive into the legacy of A Chorus Line - how exactly it took the ensemblist experience and made it so universal, and how it became one of the most popular and best loved musicals in history.

South Pacific changed how ensembles were used even further, by individualizing each character, even those in the ensemble. There were certainly been musicals in those 18 years with ensemble step out features, as anyone who has played Gertie Cummings in Oklahoma! or Mrs. Schuyler Adams in Annie Get Your Gun could tell you. However, most of the chorus tracks were still relegated to the titles of “Ensemble Singer” or “Ensemble Dancer” (and rarely ever both). That’s just one of the reasons why South Pacific was so revolutionary. Based on James A. Michener’s book Tales of the South Pacific (which, coincidentally, won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) the New York Daily Mirror wrote “It boasts no ballets and no hot hoofing. It has no chorus in the conventional sense. Everyone in it plays a part. It is likely to establish a new trend in musicals."

Roundabout Theatre Company's Caroline, or Change was the second Broadway musical to announce postponement in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic. I was curious what it would feel like to be in the middle of a creative process, only to be stopped suddenly and placed on hold for the foreseeable future. Nasia Thomas is the dance captain and plays Radio 1 in this Broadway revival of Caroline, or Change. She spoke to me over the phone about how she heard about both the shutdown and postponement, as well as what's she's doing in the meantime. Here's our conversation...

“Publicity” premiered on April 23rd, 2012. It marks the return of our original team from the pilot and first few episodes of the series: Theresa Rebeck and Michael Mayer, who respectively wrote and directed this episode. The viewership was up this episode! Yay! Premiering to 6.01 million viewers, about sixty thousand more than last week!! Gotta be that Bollywood promo, right? There were three featured songs this episode, which may have been my favorite episode soundtrack of the season. One cover of “Run” by Snow Patrol, and two original songs: the Bollywood-inspired original “A Thousand and One Nights” and shadow Marilyn’s ballad of “Secondhand White Baby-Grand,” both written by Marc Shaiman and Scot Whitman. Derek calls Karen into rehearsal early to ask her to continue looking over the leading lady material, saying “I think you’d make a brilliant Marilyn.” Rebecca invites Karen to go out together in order for Ms. Duvall to “check out the competition.” When Karen slays Snow Patrol’s “Run,” Rebecca tells her “You are not an understudy, you are a star!” But Rebecca Duvall continues to give notes on the Bombshell script and score, including to ut one of the show’s only romantic duets “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.” When Tom and Julia write a new song called “Second Hand White Baby Brand,” Rebecca says it should be given to one of Marilyn’s “shadow selves”: Karen! Rebecca continues to ingratiate herself with the company, making smoothies with Linda the stage manager, and becoming BFFs with Karen - taking her clubbing and giving her designer clothing. Everyone’s having dinner dates: Ivy at drinks with Sam and Tom, Eileen and her bartender boyfriend out at BAM, and Karen out to Indian food with Dev and Rebecca, who end up passive-aggressively arguing about what Karen wants her future to look like. In her mind, Karen transports herself to multicultural Bollywood where Dev and Karen challenge each other to prove their love is longer than “A Thousand And One Nights.” The number features 30 dancers including current Broadway performers Ericka Hunter, Nina Lafarga, Nathan Lucrezio and Katie Webber. The fantasy sequence is performed in an Indian wedding venue as scores of multicultural dancers in tunics and saris pitch their thumbs and middle fingers together and push flexed hands towards the corners of the room. In curtained corners of the hall, Rebecca, Tom, Eileen, Julia and the rest of our leading players pose in tableaus that reflect the song’s quandaries. Back in reality, Julia’s missing son turns out to be sleeping on a friends’ floor, but the search for him causes Julia and her husband to come back together. Her son’s return also brings Tom and Sam together, cementing their budding relationship with a sweet and subtle kiss. Ivy watches Ellis relegated to making Rebecca Duvall’s smoothies, and concocts a plan to get both Rebecca and Karen in trouble by feeding them misinformation about the rehearsal schedule. When Rebecca returns 15 minutes late from a 10 minute break, Derek lambasts her. But when Karen doesn’t return to rehearsal at all, Derek gives Karen’s new song to Ivy. Ivy crushes her first run of “Second Hand Baby Grand,” which includes staging that rolls Rebecca Duvall upstage as Ivy’s Shadow Self takes downstage center. But the moment the company applauds Ivy for her spectacular performance, Rebecca tells the room that she thinks Marilyn should sing the song.

Here at The Ensemblist, we have always striven to celebrate the hard work and passion of Broadway ensemblists. And in our second full season, which first aired in 2016, our co-creator Nikka Graff Lanzarone and I took a journey through Broadway’s past to learn about its future. We explored how the ensemblist experience has changed and been changed by some of the theatre’s most influential shows, writers, and subject matter. And so in this new mini-series, I will be sharing some of the best moments from that mini-series we made four years ago. Our plan is to release these re-edited versions from our season on The History of The Ensemble once a week for the next five weeks, so stay tuned for our episode on South Pacific in your podcast feeds next week. Thank you to Jennifer Ashley Tepper for allowing us to reshare her stories with us this week.

As the Coronavirus pandemic as raged across the country, national tours have been some of the first productions to fall victim. One of those is the national tour of Once on This Island which unexpectedly closed this week, cancelling almost five months of upcoming performances. Company member Tatiana Loftin spoke to us about how she heard the news and what she's doing now. Here's our conversation...

The Coronavirus Pandemic is taking a serious toll on the theatre industry. However, there are glimmers of hope where people are still connecting creatively online. One of those opportunities is thanks to Jeanna de Waal, currently starring as Diana in Diana: A True Musical Story. She is also the co-founder of Broadway Weekends a "theatre camp for adults" that has started teaching free online classes on their Facebook page: Broadway Weekends at Home. Here's our conversation...

There are only a handful of moments where you can feel your life change. The moment you say “I do,” the birth of a child. But performers can add another to that list: the moment you find out you’ll be making your Broadway debut. In an instant, you feel your life has change as a door you’ve always wanted to walk through finally opens. There’s nothing more heartwarming than hearing these stories. So I brought together five actors who made through debuts this year together to share the stories of how and when they booked their first Broadway shows. Here’s our conversation...

This week, we are pivoting our stories about the Coronavirus from how it caused theatre productions to shut down to what performing artists are doing with this time. Today, we speak to Joe Rosko, founder of Built for the Stage, an online training program that helps actors achieve their fitness goals. We spoke about how to stay mentally and physically fit during this time of isolation. Here's our conversation...

“The Movie Star” premiered on April 16, 2012. It was written by Julie Rottenberg and Elisa Zuritsky, and directed by Tricia Brock. Again, shout-out to an all-female team! The episode was viewed by 5.95 million viewers. Down again, man. This episode had three featured songs total, though one could argue that that spoken-word version of “Let Me Be Your Star” should count for half! Wow. The other two were one original song by Shaiman and Whitman called “Dig Deep,” and a cover of “Our Day Will Come” by Ruby & the Romantics. Everyone in the Bombshell rehearsal room is abuzz about movie star Rebecca Duvall, especially her new understudy Karen Cartwright. But as the company sits in her first sing through of “Let Me Be Your Star,” they realize she’s not a vocalist like Karen or Ivy Lynn. You see, “Everyone said she could sing,” but nobody on Bombshell bothered to check first hand. Eileen asks Derek, Tom and Julia to come up with “constructive solutions.” Derek advocates for bringing Ivy back into the show, just in case they need her. All that Karen can wonder is what Ivy’s return means for her. But once Rebecca showcases her ineptitude, Ivy and Karen begin to conspire together. Ivy teases Karen, prodding her that “you’re counting the minutes until she implodes, and if you’re not you’re in the wrong business.” Rebecca Duvall confides in Derek that she wishes Bombshell could delve into the story of Marilyn with “a little less singing and dancing.” The writers try adding in a short scene for her at the Actors Studio, but she is still perplexed by the idea that a character would break into song. Eileen advocates for Rebecca, demanding a new “extra long scene” for her Marilyn. Eileen imparts an old adage to assistant Ellis, “Keep your friends close, celebrities closer, and their assistants even closer still.” For Eileen, this includes Rebecca Duvall and her many, many, many ideas for script revisions. But in a late night work session with the creative team, Rebecca turns out to be surprisingly candid about her own limitations, asking for keys to be lowered and ballads to be cut. Based on the collegial session, there’s a new jazzy version of “Dig Deep” added that references Stanislavsky, childhood drama and Sigmund Freud. At a screening of Rebecca Duvall’s new movie, Ivy and Karen talk about their hot-headed boyfriends and catch each other sneaking out of the boring movie. They share a laugh followed by Ivy announcing “She’s annoying. She stole our part. We hate her. Let’s go drinking.” After a few, Ivy tells Karen “When Rebecca Duvall goes down, everything’s up for grabs. You’re going to have to pry that part of my cold dead hands.” In other news, Julia and her separated husband Frank come together to get their son to improve in calculus. Ellis gets caught trying to pull one over on Rebecca Duvall’s assistant. And Tom’s date with “chorus crush” Sam stops short of physical intimacy because “he’s old-fashioned and believes in God.”

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to grow, we are speaking with performing arts around the country about how the shutdown of theatre performances continues to affect their lives and work. Today, we speak with Tara Tagliaferro, who was performing in the Maltz Jupiter Theatre production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying when the show was postponed. She shared how the theatre has been taking care of their artists in unique ways. Here's our conversation...

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to grow, we are speaking with performing arts around the country about how the shutdown of theatre performances continues to affect their lives and work. Today, we speak with Jane Bunting, who was in Dallas performing with the national tour of Come From Away until performances were cancelled on Thursday. Here's our conversation...

This week, I wanted to share with you an extra-special conversation from my friends over at The Spark File podcast. Now, if you haven’t heard of The Spark File podcast, I want you to open up your podcast app and and subscribe to them right now. The Spark File is hosted by Susan Blackwell and Laura Camien - two bad ass bitches with gobs of experience in the theatre space who are obsessed with sparking creativity and inspiration in others. I’ll take a page from their stump speech and share with you that a spark file is a place where one consistently collects creative inspirations and fascinations. Laura and Susan are on the hunt for fresh ideas, images and inspiration that spark creativity and peak curiosity. Things that inspire all of us to get up off of our asses and make something! Plus, they have a kick ass theme song that makes my butt bounce every time I hear it. I’ve been obsessed with The Spark File since its launch last fall, but when I heard this conversation with Phillipa Soo I knew I had to share it with you. In this selected short, Phillipa, who you probably know for originating the role of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton in Hamilton, takes about the disappointment she felt during her next Broadway outing, Amelie, and the lessons she learned from it. Here’s their conversation…

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to grow, we are speaking with performing arts around the country about how the shutdown of theatre performances continues to affect their lives and work. Today, we speak with John Tupy, who spoke to us from Palm Desert, CA where he was supposed to performing with the national tour of Chicago until performances were cancelled Thursday morning. Here's our conversation...

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to grow, we are speaking with performing arts around the country about how the shutdown of theatre performances continues to affect their lives and work. Today, we speak with Christopher Henry Young, who is currently in San Francisco performing in the "And Peggy" company of Hamilton, about how COVID-19 has affected the state of live performance in the Bay Area. Here's our conversation...

Yesterday afternoon, Broadway theatres will went dark by order of Governor Andrew Cuomo. Performances will resume the week of April 13. The announcement comes as venues and performing arts organizations around New York City and the country have announced closures of their own amid rising concerns about the global coronavirus pandemic. Early morning, I spoke to Jessica Rush from the cast of Broadway's Tina: The Tina Turner Musical about how she heard the news and how she is coping with the prospect of being out of work for a month. Here's our conversation...

Earlier this week, the Broadway League released a statement advising against stage door activities and increasing sanitation efforts in response to the coronavirus outbreak. But I’ve been wondering how COVID-19 has been affecting life backstage at Broadway theatres for folks like today’s guest: Adam Jepsen. Adam is currently one of two actors playing Sven the reindeer in Broadway’s Frozen. Prior to clopping around Arandelle, he performed in the ensembles of Chicago and Cinderella on the Mainstem. He joined me in the studio yesterday to talk about how the coronavirus is affecting artists like him working on Broadway. Here’s our conversation…

As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads across the country, it’s creating concern for many of us in the theatre industry. For those of us who make our living by occupying the same space as others to share stories in real time, the coronavirus is posing a real threat to our lives and work. Just yesterday, Jay Inslee, the governor of Washington state, officially banned gatherings of more than 250 people. Of course, that includes theatre performances. As a Seattle native myself, I’ve been curious how the coronavirus is affecting the city’s theatre industry. And luckily, I knew just who to call. My best friend Jason Kappus is currently in tech rehearsals for the 5th Avenue Theatre’s production of Sister Act. Well, he was supposed to until Governor Inslee announced the ban on large gatherings. After the announcement, I spoke to Jason over the phone to ask him about how COVID-19 is affecting theatre artists - and if the show really can go on. Here’s our conversation…

Today’s guest knows a thing or three about covering roles of Broadway. Those three specific things are Otho, Adam and Beetlejuice - all roles he covers in his duties as a swing at the Winter Garden Theatre. Beetlejuice isn’t his first foray into covering leading roles either; He’s been a standby on The Book of Mormon, School of Rock, and understudied Michael Urie in last season’s Torch Song. I wanted to know how he manages to standby for such grueling characters, both living and undead. Here’s our conversation...

“Understudy” premiered on April 9th, 2012. It was written by Jerome Hairston, and directed by Adam Dernstein. The viewership dipped yet again from the previous week, premiering to an audience of 5.99 million viewers. Songs this week featured one cover of Kelly Clarkson’s “Breakaway” and two original songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman: a sort of reprise of Marilyn’s very first song in the series, but this time Katherine McPhee singing “Never Give All the Heart,” and a new song featuring stand-in Christian Borle called “Don’t Say Yes Until I Finish Talking.” The episode opens with a room of cast, creatives and investors waiting to start a reading of the Bombshell script. Waiting, that is, on Hollywood star Rebecca Duvall - who misses playing Marilyn in the reading because she’s stuck in Cuba. In Rebecca’s absence, Tom, Julia and Derek come to Karen telling her that “they want her to understudy Marilyn.” Many of her ensemblist cohorts giggle with Karen excitedly, but Bobby and Sam note that “she’s never going to hack it - especially after Ivy breaks her kneecaps.” Ivy is furious that Karen has been given the job, even when Derek tells her that her outburst at Heaven on Earth means he can’t “even hire her for the chorus.” Derek verbally assaults Karen in rehearsal, which causes Bobby and Jessica and place bets on whether Karen will cry. Later at her apartment, Ivy shows a moment of kindness and advises Derek that “the only directors that were ever successful with Marilyn were the ones who babied her.” She continues her rebranding campaign, joining Karen and the ensemblists of Bombshell for appletinis after rehearsal and bringing her once-rival a pair of Monroe-inspired sunglasses. Back in rehearsal, Derek calls the cast to run “the Zanuck number” about Darryl R. Zanuck, producer of All About Eve and The Grapes of Wrath. When Derek asks “Where is Zanuck?,” Tom replies “You don’t want to know, but I’m standing in today.” The steam room-inspired number is performed full out by Manuel Herrera, Curtis Holbrook, Keith Kuhl, Spencer Liff, Leslie Odom, Jr., J. Manuel Santos, Phillip Spaeth and Wesley Taylor, One run through seems to be good enough, as Derek gives no notes and quickly moves on to Karen to guide her with kindness. When Rebecca Duvall’s return is imminent, Derek shows up at Karen’s apartment to thank her for her good work. Not only that - he apologizes to Karen for his behavior back in the pilot episode. When Karen’s boyfriend Dev sees Derek walking out of their building, the two men get into a sidewalk fist fight. Dev floats the idea that she quit the show to avoid Derek. She argues back, telling Dev “Marilyn is everything I came to this city to do - everything that I want to be.” She goes to rehearsal the next day, covering the role of Marilyn until Rebecca Duvall shows (played by real life star Uma Thurman!)

Understudies are required to replicate another actors’ performance, knowing exactly where they move and how they move there. They must have the bravado to lead a show, but also the humbleness to know they are merely standing in for another artist. Understudies are asked to jump onto the moving train that is a Broadway musical and make sure it doesn’t come to a screeching halt. What can make the challenge all the more daunting is when you’re joining a long-running show as an understudy as was the case with today’s guest, Jeff Heimbrock. For more than two years, he’s performed in the show’s ensemble while covering the role of Boq. I was curious about the challenges of bringing yourself to a character that has almost 16 years of history baked into its movements, vocals and infections - especially one that he only goes on for sporadically. Here’s our conversation…

If someone knows a thing or two about understudying, it’s Becca Petersen. Her national tour debut was as the female swing on the national tour of Newsies, followed by making her Broadway debut covering Laura Osnes in the new musical Bandstand. She’s spent the last two years as an original company member of Mean Girls, where she covers multiple roles including the leading role of Cady Heron. She joined us in the studio to share her favorite stories from each of these shows, as well as how she keeps her wits about her in what is undoubtedly one of Broadway’s most challenging jobs. Here’s our conversation...

Whenever New York-based actors leave the city to perform, there’s a certain amount of bravery that must take place when you walk outside the theatre’s doors. Although the production may stay the same from city to city, your life outside the theatre can change drastically depending on where you are. That challenge is magnified when the cities you’re touring to are halfway across the world in countries you’ve ever been to before. Ryan Steele has a long history with the Broadway musical An American in Paris. After developing the show in its pre-Broadway workshops, he spent a year traveling on the show’s first national tour. After some time back in the city, he signed on for the production’s international tour which took him to China, Taiwan and France. Ryan came into the studio to talk about the differences in theatre audiences around the world - and how An American in Paris became the gift that kept on giving. Here’s our conversation…