Welcome back to the second part of my interview with director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw about some of his favorite numbers in his Broadway shows.

If you don’t know Casey Nicholaw by name, you’re certainly familiar with the shows that he has worked on. He’s the director and choreographer of Mean Girls, Something Rotten! and Aladdin. He’s a Drama Desk winner, a Drama League winner, an 11-time Tony Award nominee, and one time winner for The Book of Mormon. He’s basically a winner. He’s also on the record for sharing that in every production he helms, there’s one number he’s most proud of. I thought this was a fascinating topic for a mini-series: for an acclaimed director/choreographer to walk us through some of the most famous and crowd-pleasing numbers in the musical theatre canon. We talked about his time as a Broadway performer, the inspiration for those numbers - as well as how he build a number from an idea to a Tony Award-winning hit.

Host Christine Shepard leads a roundtable discussion of the return of Broadway with Ixchel Cuellar, Sara Edwards, Cody Renard Richard. They discussed what they want to the new Broadway to look like and how that can be achieved.

Karla Garcia booked her broadway debut while still a student at NYU and has continued to channel her incredible talents not just towards an impressive performing career, but also as a breakout choreographer herself. Most recently performing as a swing in Hamilton on Broadway, she’s also choreographing a brand new musical, Other World, slated for its Debut at Bucks County Playhouse in the fall of 2021. We’ll talk about what she’s learned while performing for other choreographers, how she found her own voice as a creator, and the importance of saying yes to opportunities… but we begin our conversation with how she got her start, which interestedly enough is linked to last weeks episode, choreographer Rachel Dolan.

I knew there were other regional award ceremonies that recognize ensemble work, perhaps most notably, the Dora Awards in Toronto. Ahh…: Finally here I thought I could find a sustainable awards model. Like New York City, Toronto is a national mecca for the performing arts, with a long and esteemed track record of both scrappy small shows and major commercial productions. Certainly here I could find an idea of how to move forward. Only to find out that the Dora Awards have recently scrapped their ensemble awards for musical theatre. What is going on here? Not only was I finding that few theatre communities could figure out how to celebrate ensemble work, but some of them are even getting rid of the recognition they once had? I spoke to Dora Awards Manager Scott Dermody about the history of celebrating ensembles at the Dora and why the recognition for musical theater ensembles was recently scrapped. Here’s our conversation...

Robert Walters is a three-year veteran of the Broadway company of Hamilton. A native Australian, he recently made the trip to Sydney to join the original Australian company of Hamilton. Of course, that journey included the well-known two week quarantine mandated by the Australian government for anyone entering the country. During his two week quarantine, Robert was kind enough to send us daily voice memos about his life in lockdown. Each day he received a question from me about Hamilton or quarantine or both, and then send me a voicemail with his response. Today we share the second half of Robert’s quarantine experience, where he shares what he imagines life will be like living in his home country for the first time in over a decade. Here, in his own words, in Robert Walters…

Today, we have some really fantastic stories to share from five actors who made their Broadway debuts in 2018. This quintet of triple threats sat down with us in front of a live audience at BroadwayCon 2019 to share what it’s like to have their dreams fu...

After hearing from Broadway ensemblist Darius Barnes about his decision not to include a category for Best Ensemble in the inaugural Antonyo Awards, I was curious about this anti-Ensemble award sentiment. Certainly every time that The Ensemblist has posted in favor of this kind of recognition, we see lots of positive feedback in the way of comments, shares, etc. But Darius’ decision had me wondering if there was a “silent majority” of performers who see a Tony Award for Best Ensemble unnecessary. So I reached out to one of my favorite performers in the biz, Afra Hines. She’s a veteran of eight Broadway musicals, including two that have take home the Tony Award for Best Musical: In The Heights and Hadestown. She joined me recently to talk about how she feels best ensembles are already being celebrated and how her experience storming the stage at Radio City was, in her esteem, a celebration of her personal contribution to creating a Best Musical. Here’s our conversation...

Hey listeners, I’m Justin Mock and this is Choreographers Making Moves: a new mini-series highlighting female choreographers who are making a difference and making a name for themselves in the business. For our first episode, I spoke to someone who got her start working for Debbie Allen and has grown into a Helen Hayes nominated choreographer herself. She’s an educator, filmmaker, and most recently launched Best8BK, an organization creating dynamic, timely and socially conscious theatrical work for digital media: the outstanding Rachel Dolan. We spoke about how she worked her way to the top, the magic of putting yourself out there— and how to be a brilliant disruptor. All right listeners, enjoy my conversation with Rachel Dolan.

Over the last two months, I’ve been speaking to performers who have reopened theatre doors in productions across the world. But we have yet to speak to anyone who is on the team working to reopen shows here in the United States, until now. This week, I spoke to associate director Gina Rattan. She’s helped lead a number of major Broadway shows over the last decade, most recently working with director Marianne Elliott on Company. She joined me to talk about what an associate director does, her work on Company and how associate directors will be at the helm to bring back many of Broadway’s most treasured shows. Here’s our conversation...

Last year, I got to chat with the president of the Outer Critics Circle Awards, David Gordon. The OCCs bestow awards to both Broadway and off-Broadway theatre, but have never had a category for Outstanding Ensemble in their more than 70 years of existence. So I sat down with David to learn about the OCC nominating process and why, according to him, creating an Outstanding Ensemble Award is a lot more complicated than I had imagined. Here’s our conversation...

Robert Walters is a three-year veteran of the Broadway company of Hamilton. A native Australian, he recently made the trip to Sydney to join the original Australian company of Hamilton. Of course, that journey included the well-known two week quarantine mandated by the Australian government for anyone entering the country. During his two week quarantine, Robert was kind enough to send us daily voice memos about his life in lockdown. Each day he responded to a unique prompt from The Ensemblist co-creator Mo Brady, which he would then respond to by voicemail and send back. Today we share the first half of Robert’s experience quarantine, where he tells us how he got the call go to Sydney and how he spent two weeks locked in a hotel room high above the city. Here, in his own words, in Robert Walters…

This month, we are collaborating with Broadway performer Shaye B. Hopkins and her new creation: Podcast Portraits. In this new podcast, Hopkins invites guests to share some of life's hairy and hilarious moments and thoughtfully reflect on how those experiences shaped who they are today. On today’s episode, I got the chance to talk with Shaye herself above the drive that led her to travel halfway across the world to pursue a career on Broadway, as well as to start a podcast of her own. Here’s our conversation...

In Stephen Sondheim’s Follies, the character of Carlotta sings of her long and varied character in the showstopper “I’m Still Here.” The lyrics share that her decades in the show business have provided her with “plush velvet sometimes, sometimes just pretzels and beer.” The same could be said of today’s episode guest, Cameron Adams. The legendary Broadway ensemblist made her Mainstem debut in the 2000 revival of The Music Man. In the twenty years since she’s been a mainstay on New York stages, performing in an extraordinary 13 Broadway shows. Cameron joined me over the phone to share some of the most memorable moments of her career thus far, as well as how the industry has changed for ensemble performers in the last two decades. Here’s our conversation…

So, we’re off! Thank you for coming along on my mission to discover how to celebrate, recognize and award great theatre ensembles. As I shared in the first episode of this miniseries, I started this journey wondering why there is not a Tony Award for Best Ensemble? But the more I thought about what such an award would recognize, the less convinced I became that it was possible to quantify what makes theatre ensembles so great. I figured that speaking to a member of the press was as good of a place as any to start. Since theatre press are often the tastemakers for audiences at large, they have experience watching and adjudicating what makes excellent theatre. If the press attend shows in order to convey their expertise about excellent performances, scores, direction and sound design, they could also distill what makes an excellent ensemble. Right? In my esteem, there was no better press member to have this initial discussion with than Jack Smart. Not only does he work for Backstage, the premiere resources for actors in the entertainment industry, his title is “Awards Editor.” His job is literally about awards. So I was lucky enough to speak with him on the topics of what makes a great theatre ensemble and how can they be recognized with awards. Here’s our conversation...

Today, we are taking a detour and not talking about a show that we need. In order for those shows to come back, we need a clear, safe and realistic plan for our industry to move forward. Hadestown cast member Timothy Hughes wrote a letter to Actor’s Equity Association demanding transparency and a seat at the table for union members to be heard when discussing how we go about getting back to work.

It’s a question that has been on host Mo Brady's mind for years. Definitely since the infancy of The Ensemblist, but probably earlier. “Why is there not a Tony Award for Best Ensemble?” It seems a simple enough question on the surface. If we can recognize actors playing leading and featured roles in musicals, why can’t we do the same for ensembles. A Tony Award for Best Ensemble would bring legitimacy and respect to the contribution ensemble performers make to shows. It would also bring a level of equity and equality to those performers themselves, making them eligible for the same commandations as our industry’s leading performers. In this time where we are “paused” due to the Coronavirus pandemic, our industry is engaged in many important conversations. So he figured it was as good of a time as any to throw this into the mix, and formally ask the Tony Awards to add a new competitive category beginning in the 2021-2022 season: Best Ensemble. Except, he couldn’t exactly figure out what he was asking for.

Although not exactly touring in stock, today’s episode guest is indeed still here. Gaelen Gilliland has been delighting Broadway audiences since making her 2005 debut in the musical phenomenon Wicked. Between taking a break as Courtney in Legally Blonde to Bikini Bottom’s Mayor in SpongeBob SquarePants The Musical, she has spent most of her career creating musical comedy gold. Gaelen is now sharing her talents across the country in the First National Tour of Mean Girls. Looking back at her career spanning six Broadway shows and three National Tours, she delights in how lucky she has been to have worked with some of the most collaborative individuals in the industry. Jon M. Wailin spoke with Gaelen about the inspiration behind her incredible character work, as well as how life on the road has changed since her first tour twenty years ago. Here’s our conversation . . .

Travel back in time. Way, way back to a long ago year called 2013, when an overly caffeinated 30-something with a single Broadway credit was looking for a way to stay connected to the community of performers he so dearly wanted to be a part of. It was out of that desire to celebrate, to advocate and to connect that our experiment called The Ensemblist was born. And here we are almost eight years later, sharing with you our 500th episode. What we found is that for every person who has stepped onstage as part of a theatrical ensemble, there are a multitude of stories to share. Over the years, we’ve expanded our mission - from simply sharing the unknown stories of working in theatre ensembles to make connections between those stories to document and celebrate our collective history. To commemorate our 500th episode, we asked our podcast collaborators both past and present to share their favorite stories of working on and listening to The Ensemblist.

This month’s topic took host Christine Shepard on a full quest. She felt like Harriet the Spy gathering info this time around. Half this episode was honestly for her. She learned a lot about stuff she should have years ago, but luckily her learning experience can be somebody else’s. Today we are talking about union membership, specifically AEA or Actors' Equity Association.

The 47th Annual Tony Awards were hosted by Liza Minnelli on June 6, 1993. Presented at the Gershwin Theatre, the theme of the ceremony was to commemorate the 100th anniversary of theatre in Times Square. Heading into the ceremony, Kiss of the Spider Woman and The Who’s Tommy led the pack with 11 nominations each, followed by Blood Brothers with six and The Goodbye Girl with five. This season there were no musicals nominated for Best Revival. Well, Mo, the 1992-93 season saw the inauguration of the US’s 42nd president, President Bill Jefferson Clinton and the installation of the nation’s first female attorney general, Janet Reno. Outside of those momentous occasions, the country was mainly dealing with ongoing issues, both abroad and domestically: The United States was still dealing with the aftermath of the Gulf War, waged by the previous administration, and with the nation finally acknowledging HIV/AIDS within the last few years as a nationwide epidemic, the US found itself playing catch-up to dealing with a plague that was ravaging its citizens. In New York, the Broadway industry and community were heavily laden by the effects of the AIDS epidemic, as we see in the telecast. Red ribbons everywhere; emotion overtaking hosts, presenters, and recipients alike; a nominated performance directly addressing the disease AND its stigma; and even an honorary Tony being given to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS for its leadership in the industry’s fight against the disease... we ultimately find a community in mourning, even in this celebratory ceremony of the last hundred years of Broadway.

So many of us theatre artists are missing the experience of creating with others. Those who have the opportunity to be in a room making theatre seem to have won a golden ticket for making it through this pandemic. Even those who have traveled halfway around the world to do so. Fredric Odgaard is an original cast member and Assistant Dance Captain of Broadway’s newest juggernaut, Moulin Rouge! The Musical. Fred spent eight weeks running auditions alongside two of his Broadway colleagues: associate choreographer Katie Spelman and dance captain Karli DiNardo. Upon his return to the States, Fred chatted with me about his long-standing relationship with the show’s choreographer Sonya Tayeh and what it felt like to create across the globe when theatre at home is at a standstill.

e has been no seismic shift in the number of actors of color performing on Broadway. Yes, systematic change often comes with incremental progress. However, the recent crop of Broadway musicals seem to provide few examples of such change. I’ve been curious what that feels like for artists of color, so I asked a few into the studio to share their experiences with racial representation in the theatre industry. Today's conversation is with Ann Sanders. Having made her Broadway debut in Beauty and the Beast, she has played a variety of iconic roles including Queen Iduna in Frozen, Anna in The King and I and Christmas Eve in Avenue Q. Here's our conversation...

The 47th Annual Tony Awards were hosted by Liza Minnelli on June 6, 1993. Presented at the Gershwin Theatre, the theme of the ceremony was to commemorate the 100th anniversary of theatre in Times Square. Heading into the ceremony, Kiss of the Spider Woman and The Who’s Tommy led the pack with 11 nominations each, followed by Blood Brothers with six and The Goodbye Girl with five. This season there were no musicals nominated for Best Revival. Well, Mo, the 1992-93 season saw the inauguration of the US’s 42nd president, President Bill Jefferson Clinton and the installation of the nation’s first female attorney general, Janet Reno. Outside of those momentous occasions, the country was mainly dealing with ongoing issues, both abroad and domestically: The United States was still dealing with the aftermath of the Gulf War, waged by the previous administration, and with the nation finally acknowledging HIV/AIDS within the last few years as a nationwide epidemic, the US found itself playing catch-up to dealing with a plague that was ravaging its citizens. In New York, the Broadway industry and community were heavily laden by the effects of the AIDS epidemic, as we see in the telecast. Red ribbons everywhere; emotion overtaking hosts, presenters, and recipients alike; a nominated performance directly addressing the disease AND its stigma; and even an honorary Tony being given to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS for its leadership in the industry’s fight against the disease... we ultimately find a community in mourning, even in this celebratory ceremony of the last hundred years of Broadway.

This month, we are collaborating with Broadway performer Shaye B. Hopkins and her new creation: Podcast Portraits. In this new podcast, Hopkins invites guests to share some of life's hairy and hilarious moments and thoughtfully reflect on how those experiences shaped who they are today. This Spring, we will share some of our favorite moments from her interviews, as well as speaking to Shaye herself about the creation of Podcast Portraits. On today’s episode, Shaye chats with Andre Jordan, her colleague on the upcoming Broadway mounting of Diana: A True Musical Story, Andre shares his audition process for the show, the experience of first preview and staying creative in a pandemic. Here’s their conversation.