Aaron Albano joins The Ensemblist as co-host of this new mini-series, where we rewatch and dissect what is still the Broadway community’s favorite tv show: Smash. Yes, we’re talking about the NBC series that aired from 2012-2013. The show gave a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of an imaginary Broadway musical called Bombshell, from the auditions to its workshop to its journey to the Tony Awards. But we wanted to go back in time to see how the show has weathered: what it got right and what it got very, very wrong.

On January 5, 2020, Broadway will dim the lights on one of its most delicious confections: Waitress. During its more than four years and 1,544 regular performances on Broadway, The Ensemblist has shared many stories from its talented company. We share with you today two completely new stories from to podcast as well as some of our favorite Waitress audio from the past year.

In our recent episodes about Touring Broadway, actors Josh Burrage and Sabrina Imamura shared with us some of the joys and struggles of touring with A Bronx Tale, Newsies and Hamilton. But while they each have significant experience in the road, one thing neither of them were able to speak to was going on the road as a parent. That’s why I found this Mama’s Talkin Loud so intriguing. Mama’s Talkin Loud is a new parenting podcast hosted two of the co-founders of Broadway Baby Mamas, Cara Cooper and Jessica Rush. In addition to being mothers of young kids, each has also been on Broadway this season: Cooper in The Prom and Rush in Dear Evan Hansen and Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. In this recent episode of Mama’s Talkin Loud, Rush and Cooper spike to Becky Gulsvig and Megan McGinnis, both of whom recently finished touring with Come From Away with young children. Between their discussions of travel days and searching for nannies, I found it a fascinating conversation. Which is why I wanted to share it with you all. It’s a perfect companion piece to our Touring Broadway mini-series, which is why I’m so grateful Jessica and Cara are allowing us to share it in our feed today. Here’s their conversation...

First National Tours are one of the most important calling cards for the Broadway community. Staged in New York City to cross the country, these facsimiles of Broadway shows bring the experience of attending a Mainstem musical to theatrelovers across the country. But how similar are these touring productions to their Broadway counterparts? And what’s the experience for performers who pick up their lives to travel the country in one of the casts? Sabrina Imamura opened the first national tour of Hamilton in early 2017. Performing in the show’s ensemble took her along the West coast for about a year and a half before Broadway called, where she’s been in the show’s Mainstem ensemble since mid-2018. I asked her into the studio to tell about how performing in two productions differed, both onstage and off. Here’s our conversation...

We are in the midst of an unprecedented time right now. As artists, We thrive on human interaction, community, and togetherness. With all of that stripped away, it has been difficult for many of us to find ways to be creative. To find ways to have hope that the theatre industry will rise again. This industry we love so much has its ups and downs, its difficult struggles, and its moments of pure joy. I spoke with three talented ensemblists, and more importantly, excellent humans, about what they miss most about one night in the grind of an 8 show week. Taurean Everett recounts his time at The Cher Show, Keely Beirne about her time in the late Frozen on Broadway, and Camden Gonzales remembers life on the road with Hamilton.

First National Tours are one of the most important calling cards for the Broadway community. Staged in New York City to cross the country, these facsimiles of Broadway shows bring the experience of attending a Mainstem musical to theatrelovers across the country. But how similar are these touring productions to their Broadway counterparts? And what’s the experience for performers who pick up their lives to travel the country in one of the casts? Joshua Michael Burrage has performed with not one, but two first national tours: Newsies and A Bronx Tale The Musical. In between, he made his Broadway debut in the recent revival of Cats. I asked him into the studio to talk about those two tours, and how those experiences differed from performing on the Great White Way. Here’s our conversation...

Just last night, television viewers got to see what Broadway audiences fell in love with last year: SpongeBob SquarePants the musical. The big, little musical the could surprised fans of the production when it was announced earlier this fall that it would be taped for broadcast featuring much of the show’s original Broadway cast, including my guest for this episode Lauralyn McClelland. Lauralyn is a veteran of seven Broadway shows, including Rock of Ages, Matilda The Musical, My Fair Lady and SpongeBob, where she played an airborne mermaid among other fantastical characters. I asked her into the studio to tell me about the experience of filming the show, how it differed from the stage production and her favorite moments of canonizing the incredible production on film. Here’s our conversation...

Jennifer Smith is a legend of the Broadway stage. In the last 35 years, she originated and understudies more than 40 roles on Broadway. Back in 2016, she joined Ensemblist co-creator Nikka Graff Lanzarone and I in the studio to talk about creating ensemble roles in four of her Broadway shows: Tuck Everlasting, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, The Producers and Victor/Victoria. Here’s our conversation...

Jill Abramovitz slayed Beetlejuice audiences in her duel roles of Maxine Dean and Juno. She’s so incredible that we here at The Ensemblist bestowed her one of our first ever Season Standout awards. We asked this veteran of Broadway’s Cinderella and 9 to 5 into the studio to talk about how she developed those roles into some of the funniest moments in what is already a very funny show. Here’s our conversation…

The Lightning Thief employs a cast of seven actors to bring the story of Percy Jackson on stage. Much of the show’s small cast is tasked with creating multiple characters, none more than actors Ryan Knowles. Using a versus title facility of voice and movement, he creates strikingly specific characters over and over in the show, including Charon, Hades and many many more. Here’s our conversation…

This month, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical will shutter its doors after nearly six years on Broadway. Along the way during its 2,418 public performances, The Ensemblist has been lucky to share stories from many of its ensemble members. In honor of its closing, we wanted to share some of our favorites from our early years, as well as a new story to the podcast from one of the show’s touring cast members.

Alicia Charles is currently twirling, gliding and tapping her way through Agrabah as part of the ensemble of Aladdin on Broadway. Although she made her debut in the show in early 2017, she was sidelined early into her tenure there when she underwent surgery to remove uterine fibroids. How do you recover well enough to sing and dance eight shows a week when there’s a giant scar healing on your abdomen? Well, here’s our conversation...

Taurean Everett made a splash last season in the ensemble of The Cher Show. He brought the house down as Bob Mackie’s Assistant by wearing only a loincloth and a beaming smile. Taurean was also the lead campaign image for this year’s edition of Broadway Bares. It goes without saying that this is a guy who takes care of his body. However, that fitness was called into question when he was injured in an audition toward the end of the summer. Here’s our conversation…

Closing shows are just part of the big, beautiful cycle of musical theatre. And yet sometimes those closings are so sudden that they defy explanation. Such was the case last fall with the North American tour of Bat Out of Hell - The Musical. While playing its opening stint in Toronto, the show’s producers announced that the multi-city run would shutter its doors before even reaching its second city. Left in the lurch were dozens of performers, including this week’s guest Emilie Battle. Emilie was a member of the original off-Broadway company of Dear Evan Hansen understudying the role of Alana Beck. But in the last twelve months, she’s been a part of two productions that closed prematurely Bat Out Of Hell and this summer’s off-Broadway run of an entirely new commercial musical Broadway Bounty Hunter. I asked her into the studio to share these two very different experiences, and how they were at all united.

Jovan Dansberry made his Broadway debut last season in the ensemble of King Kong. Performing both as one of the show’s dancers and as the manipulator of Kong’s left paw proved to be a monumental challenge, one that took him out of the show for months and ultimately stopped him from closing the Broadway production. But for Jovan, the biggest challenge was not the physical recovery but dealing with the stigma of being an injured performer.

There is not a theatre performer who leads with more grace than Caissie Levy. Yes, she’s played some of the most iconic roles in Broadway history - from Elphaba in Wicked to Fantine in Les Miserables - but she’s also a warm soul that pulses with kindness. ...it’s probably because she’s Canadian, eh? Recently, Caissie (who currently leads the Broadway cast of Frozen as Elsa, opened up on social media about a vocal fold injury she incurred during a decade ago, how she worked towards recovery and the stigma she still sometimes endures as a result.

Chloe Campbell made a name for herself performing in London in four West End musicals. Since making a leap across the pond, she performed in the Chicago company of Hamilton and the national tour of In The Heights. Her Broadway credits include the short-lived Tuck Everlasting and the just-closed production of King Kong. Here’s our conversation...

Since making his Broadway debut in the original company of Newsies, Michael Fatica has gone on to perform in five additional Broadway musicals in the last three years, including originating the role of Chubby Man in Groundhog Day. In addition to performing in the national tour of Matilda The Musical, he also spent a chunk of last summer setting the show’s international company in South Africa. Last week, he finished a run as Phil Spector, Sid the Censor and others in Broadway’s The Cher Show. Here’s our conversation...

Hannah Florence is no stranger to Broadway with four Mainstem musicals to her credit. However, she’s also no stranger to closing Broadway musicals as she was part of the final companies of all four: Scandalous, Gigi, Paramour and, most recently, My Fair Lady. She’s also an in-demand actress off Broadway and across the country, performing in This Ain’t No Disco at Atlantic Theater Company, Grand Hotel at City Center Encores! and playing Meg Giry in the North American Tour of The Phantom of the Opera.

Eliza Ohman was in the onstage ensemble and assistant dance captain of King Kong on Broadway. Her onscreen credits dancing in Fosse/Verdon and next season’s opening episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. However, her first Broadway job was as a swing on Hamilton. Working as the dance captain and universal swing, she covered the five female ensemble roles in each of the show’s four North American productions of the show for more than a year. Here’s our conversation…

Stephanie Klemons is the Associate Choreographer and Global Dance Supervisor of Hamilton. She was part of the process as it grew from a small idea to an international phenomenon with six companies world wide. In addition to being a member of the original cast, she now works to cast the multiple productions of Hamilton. She’s also a choreographer in her own right on top of being a wife and mother.

Gabi Campo made her Broadway debut last season as one of two female swings on The Prom, where she covered the lead roles of Emma and Alyssa as well as all eight ensemble women and their features. A graduate of Pace University, she will be back on Broadway later this season in the upcoming revival of West Side Story.

Christopher Rice spent more than four years as a swing on the Broadway production of The Book of Mormon, where he covered the seven men in the Mormon ensemble. He’s also toured the country as Baby John in West Side Story and in Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. Chris has spent this summer as a vacation swing on the soon-to-close Broadway production of Pretty Woman, so we caught him in the middle of his rehearsal process to tell us what the experience has been like.

Spencer Liff began his Broadway career as a dancer, performing in the original companies of Big, The Wedding Singer and Cry-Baby. But for the last ten years, Liff has worked on the other side of the table creating staging for both stage and screen. He’s an Emmy nominee for his work on “So You Think You Can Dance” where he has been a resident choreographer for a decade. Back on Broadway, he’s created the staging for Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Spring Awakening, Falsettos and Head Over Heels.

The Band’s Visit is one of those Broadway musicals that does not have an ensemble, per se, but in which every actor is working together to present a cohesive point of view. Yes, there are leading roles and supporting roles, but more than in most musicals...