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[0:00] Eila Mell: Hello and welcome to Behind the Awards. I'm Eila. As always, I am here with Bruce.

[0:21] Bruce Gotlieb: Good morning or afternoon, I should say.

[0:23] Eila Mell: As we record.

[0:24] Bruce Gotlieb: As we record, yes, we are just on the cusp of the most exciting time of the year for us theater lovers.

[0:33] Eila Mell: Right. I mean, everyone knows it's just about a Tony season.

[0:38] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah. So April is, you know, when the things, you know, kind of start happening because Tony cutoff is April 26. Then you have, what is it, the nominations are shortly thereafter.

[0:53] Eila Mell: A week later. Yeah. Early May. Lost Boys is the last show of the season.

[0:59] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[1:00] Eila Mell: So, and that's coming soon, really soon. I think they start previews this week, tomorrow, maybe?

[1:06] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, I believe so.

[1:07] Eila Mell: Yeah, as we record.

[1:08] Bruce Gotlieb: That's right. And so there's a lot. This, you know, we were talking about it just the other day. This time last year, there was so much that was open.

[1:15] Eila Mell: Oh my gosh, yeah.

[1:16] Bruce Gotlieb: And now I feel like I have tickets for so much that hasn't happened, that isn't happening yet. So it's a different, a weird spot to be in.

[1:25] Eila Mell: I know. Well, it's going to be the same as last year, where at the last minute, we're going to have to see so many things.

[1:29] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[1:33] Eila Mell: Because there was a lull. There was like maybe a six week lull where nothing really opened this season.

[1:38] Bruce Gotlieb: Exactly.

[1:39] Eila Mell: I remember wanting to see something and there not being anything to see.

[1:41] Bruce Gotlieb: Right. Because it's like you have a little break in time and you want to try to fit everything in. And, you know, unfortunately, I think there's going to be some things that have fallen by the wayside, just timing wise.

[1:52] Eila Mell: I know.

[1:53] Bruce Gotlieb: And that will.

[1:54] Eila Mell: Yeah, it's a shame.

[1:55] Bruce Gotlieb: Because, you know, there's only so much time in the day.

[1:56] Eila Mell: Well, we're going to cover all this very soon. So, Bruce, tell people what we're up to.

[2:02] Bruce Gotlieb: So we have, what we did last year was we decided we're going to play nominator. Unfortunately, neither of us have been given the power to be nominators. So we're taking it upon ourselves.

[2:14] Eila Mell: That's right.

[2:15] Bruce Gotlieb: To play a make believe. If we were nominators, here's who we would nominate. Now, that's not to confuse everybody with our Tony specials, where we unpack the who will win, who do we think should win conversation.

[2:28] Eila Mell: Right. This is just fun before the nominations come out.

[2:32] Bruce Gotlieb: Correct. So we're going to be sitting down actually tomorrow at the time of recording and we're going to put that episode out and we're going to fast track it. So next week, you're going to get us twice. You'll get a Wednesday and a Friday episode.

[2:49] Eila Mell: Yes. And if you have opinions on this, too, we would love to hear.

[2:53] Bruce Gotlieb: Absolutely. You know how to reach us. Slide in on the DMs on Instagram. Make sure you're following us there for some fun content.

[3:00] Eila Mell: At Behind the Awards. Very simple.

[3:03] Bruce Gotlieb: And make sure that you're like, subscribe, rating our podcast. It always helps with algorithms and all the technical things that we don't understand, but we know are important.

[3:14] Eila Mell: That's right. And if you subscribe to our podcast, then you just automatically get the episodes. You don't even have to worry about finding us.

[3:21] Bruce Gotlieb: So with all that being said, Bruce, we have such an exciting guest today, Barton Cowperthwaite.

[3:27] Eila Mell: Yes, he's in Gotta Dance at Stage 42.

[3:31] Bruce Gotlieb: And I think he does gotta dance.

[3:34] Eila Mell: It's just in him. He can't do anything but. So let's get him out of here.

[3:40] Bruce Gotlieb: All right. Bruce, we are so excited to welcome Barton Cowperthwaite to our show. Hello there.

[3:48] Barton Cowperthwaite: Good morning. Thanks for having me.

[3:50] Eila Mell: Good morning. Thank you for joining us. We're thrilled to have you.

[3:52] Barton Cowperthwaite: My pleasure.

[3:53] Eila Mell: So you are very busy these days because you're doing Gotta Dance.

[3:57] Barton Cowperthwaite: Busy indeed. Yes. Gotta Dance.

[4:00] Eila Mell: So tell us what is this show?

[4:03] Barton Cowperthwaite: Gotta Dance is a Broadway dance review. It's kind of like a greatest hits compilation of like the best Broadway choreography in the last six decades, seven decades.

[4:13] Eila Mell: Wow.

[4:14] Barton Cowperthwaite: Yeah.

[4:15] Eila Mell: Is it sort of like dancing, but with different choreographers instead of just Bob Fosse's dance?

[4:19] Barton Cowperthwaite: I would say there's less of a plot. So the audience has to think less. It's like dancing in the sense that there's a lot of dancing, but there's less of a plot, like a beginning to end story, a narrative.

[4:34] Eila Mell: Right.

[4:35] Barton Cowperthwaite: There are many narratives within each piece, I suppose. But yeah.

[4:39] Eila Mell: So very much a review in the traditional sense of reviews.

[4:42] Barton Cowperthwaite: Very much so. Yes.

[4:43] Eila Mell: Brilliant. How did this piece come to you?

[4:46] Barton Cowperthwaite: Gotta Dance was produced, is produced by Nikki Adkins, American Dance Machine. This version is being led, produced by Ricky Kane Larimer. And I've known Nikki for a long time now. I first met her at a Broadway choreographic showcase called Dance Break at the Ailey Theater at the Citigroup Theater. It was five or six years ago that I did that. And she called me last year and was like, hey, we're putting up a new show. I want you to do the American in Paris Ballet. So I did it at the York at the end of last year. And now we've transferred to a bigger, brighter, shinier theater.

[5:26] Eila Mell: What a great dance to get to do. That's a beautiful piece of choreography.

[5:29] Barton Cowperthwaite: Oh, it's so special.

[5:30] Eila Mell: Oh, my gosh. So you're a ballet dancer.

[5:34] Barton Cowperthwaite: Yes, I do some of that. Yeah.

[5:36] Eila Mell: Yes. So at what age did you start ballet classes?

[5:41] Barton Cowperthwaite: I started ballet classes when I was 13.

[5:44] Eila Mell: So that's kind of late for a dancer.

[5:46] Barton Cowperthwaite: I think so. Yeah.

[5:47] Eila Mell: Yeah. How did you get involved? Was it your idea or your parents?

[5:52] Barton Cowperthwaite: It was my parents idea. But the lore is that my younger brother, my middle brother, Joey, he'll always get credit. He took a hip hop class with a girl he had a crush on. And he came home and was like, I'm the only boy. Will you take with me? And I was like, OK, fine. And I took one hip hop class and the rest is history.

[6:15] Eila Mell: So not a lot of ballet dancers start off in hip hop. I guess it would be maybe the opposite trajectory.

[6:20] Barton Cowperthwaite: Yeah. No, the studio, I think they saw a boy in class who had a little potential and they were like, well, what about like tap and jazz? And then I got into tap and jazz and they're like, well, what about ballet? And then I got into ballet and it just snowballed.

[6:32] Eila Mell: Well, they need boys because they have to lift the girls.

[6:35] Barton Cowperthwaite: Sure do.

[6:38] Eila Mell: So how long did it take before you really felt like this is something that you wanted to do?

[6:42] Barton Cowperthwaite: There was a moment in high school, I think probably my junior year where my I was I went to Denver School of the Arts. I was a dance major in high school and my dance professor at the time, Michael O'Banion, pulled me aside and was like, what do you want to do when you grow up? Like, what do you want to be? And I was like, well, I want to be an architect like my father. And he was like, we'll see about that. And I kind of like, huh, maybe like the following my dad's footsteps isn't really what's meant for me. And maybe the dance is.

[7:16] Eila Mell: How did your dad feel when you made that?

[7:18] Barton Cowperthwaite: Oh, my dad has been like my biggest supporter. I mean, other than my mom, they could duke it out for that title. But yeah, dad's been amazing. He's been thrilled. He worries when I'm stressed, but he's the most supportive person and like always encouraging. He drove me to like all my auditions. They were very far from like stage parents. They didn't go to like all my competitions or anything, but I don't think they could have been there for me more.

[7:40] Eila Mell: That's incredible.

[7:41] Barton Cowperthwaite: I mean, you need that support system, especially in a career like this in the arts where you're not sure what's going to be next or how long is that break in between going to be. And so it's really great to have that underneath you.

[7:51] Barton Cowperthwaite: Yeah. Freelance career is really rolling the dice all the time. Yeah. And my mom put it really interestingly recently where she said like a career in the arts like an artist has to be able to sit in the unknown for a lot longer than most people. Most like most careers have a sense of security, of predictability and career in the arts, especially like freelance performance career. There's so much in between time. There's so much unknown. And that's just in the career. You know, our lives contain many, many facets in which unknowns are always a factor.

[8:30] Eila Mell: Let's go with that because you had a curveball not that long ago, really. Can you tell people what happened to you?

[8:35] Barton Cowperthwaite: Yeah, at the end of 2023, I was diagnosed with a lemon sized brain tumor on my right frontal lobe. And I underwent two brain surgeries at the end of 2023. And I was diagnosed with a rare brain cancer called oligodendroglioma. It's a slow growing brain cancer. And thankfully for me, it is treatable with surgery and some brand new approved FDA medication that targets the exact type of IDH mutant glioma that I have. So I am currently in a monitoring phase. I get MRIs and blood work done quarterly. And I'm on medication that I take daily. I just try and keep the vibes good. Stay creative, stay grateful.

[9:30] Eila Mell: Did it stop you from performing for a little while after your surgeries?

[9:34] Barton Cowperthwaite: No.

[9:35] Eila Mell: That's great.

[9:36] Barton Cowperthwaite: It probably should have. But I'm one of those people where when I have my sights set on something, which at the time was The Outsiders. I had done the La Jolla Off-Broadway production The Outsiders at the beginning of 2023. I had done a workshop right before the diagnosis. And so I had my surgery at the end of November, and then the second one at the beginning of December. And then I had six weeks of IV treatment. And I had a week between finishing treatment and starting rehearsals for The Outsiders on Broadway.

[10:12] Eila Mell: Wow.

[10:13] Barton Cowperthwaite: What kind of a toll did the treatment take on you? Was it like chemo?

[10:17] Barton Cowperthwaite: It wasn't chemo. The second operation was to treat an infection that had settled in after the initial operation. So I was on IV antibiotics. It was six hours of infusions a day via a PICC line. So they put a tube in my arm to my heart, and I had to do six hours of... Thankfully, I could do it from home, but I had like crazy, like the boxes of medications that were shipped to my apartment at the time were unlike anything I had ever seen.

[10:46] Eila Mell: Wow. So you have to kind of become like a medical professional.

[10:49] Barton Cowperthwaite: Yeah. I definitely did, and my partner at the time did. And we just became honorary nurses, home care practitioners. Yeah.

[10:58] Eila Mell: Yeah. Just so people know, what led you to being diagnosed? What kind of symptoms were you having?

[11:04] Barton Cowperthwaite: I was having seizures, grand mal seizures.

[11:07] Eila Mell: Oh, boy. And that was new for you.

[11:09] Barton Cowperthwaite: Really sketchy. Really don't recommend them.

[11:11] Eila Mell: Yeah. That's good advice not to have.

[11:14] Barton Cowperthwaite: You obviously knew before the surgeries this piece, right? You know, front and back, probably. Did you have to relearn it then after, or did that part of your brain keep everything kind of intact?

[11:28] Barton Cowperthwaite: I knew a version of the show and what I've learned about myself and my career is I love the creative collaborative process and so like I knew what we had done in La Jolla and so I had a really good sense of the framework, but whenever you take time off, there is a little bit of like attrition in terms of your capacity to do things.

[11:48] Barton Cowperthwaite: So I definitely had a sense of what I had to do going into the show, but also there was new material and also I was like, oh, I forgot how hard it is to sing and dance at the same time. And pay attention to like your spatial awareness, make sure you're in the right spot, make sure you're not accidentally punching anyone or...

[12:08] Eila Mell: Yeah, that fight choreography is intricate. Now, as you were going through your recovery and getting back on stage, at any point did the doctors say the stress that you have to put on your body to get ready for a show isn't conducive for your healing process? Like were the two kind of fighting against one another?

[12:27] Barton Cowperthwaite: That was kind of a shocking element of it all. I was like, is it okay that I'm just going to like rip it right after this and just go into an insane, you know, six day a week schedule rehearsing for the show and then performing it? And they were like, show us what you got, like green light from us.

[12:46] Eila Mell: That's amazing.

[12:48] Barton Cowperthwaite: Yeah. So I just kind of pushed and tried to find my own line, which from like a career and a physical standpoint, it didn't come for a while. But once I hit about six months into performances, I was like, I probably could have taken some time off after the brain cancer thing before jumping into the Broadway thing.

[13:06] Eila Mell: Right. But I think part of it, don't you think that you just want to feel normal so you don't want to feel like a sick person?

[13:14] Barton Cowperthwaite: That's a huge part of it. It still is. Like the brain cancer element of my journey is obviously big and it's still new, but I also don't want that to be like the defining characteristic of my personality, of my identity. I don't want that to be the first thing that people think of when they see me.

[13:32] Barton Cowperthwaite: I would love if it's something that inspires people, if it's something that helps people imagine what's possible after getting thrown a curveball in life. But I'm a lot more than just a survivor.

[13:43] Eila Mell: Right. Of course. But it is hugely inspirational what you've done and also what you're doing for other people who are going through the same cancer.

[13:52] Barton Cowperthwaite: Yeah, I think we're all in this boat together. We're all in this rock together. And so when you have shared experience, it's easy motivation to want to be there for people who like, like I know what other oligo survivors have been through, or I know my version of it.

[14:09] Barton Cowperthwaite: And so oligodendroglioma is interesting because it's not the most deadly brain cancer. So it's one of those things where you're diagnosed with the good kind of cancer. You know, I still had a lemon sized chunk of my brain removed, but also it could be way worse. It could be more aggressive.

[14:26] Barton Cowperthwaite: So ultimately, I'm super grateful that I have a life to live, that I have my body, that I have my wits about me, my personality is myself, like my soul, my energy is still here. I have an incredible support system. And so I just want to share that with other people who are going through this experience who might not have the same resources and good fortune that I've had within the difficulty.

[14:51] Eila Mell: You're talking about all the different styles of dance that you took growing up. Do you have one that is a favorite? Or is it like, you know, picking your favorite child?

[14:59] Barton Cowperthwaite: That's a hilarious way to put it. I'd say ballet and contemporary have kind of won out. And like when the two are melded, that is really where I feel most at home.

[15:11] Eila Mell: Was musical theater a goal? As you know, growing up? Or did it just happen?

[15:17] Barton Cowperthwaite: No, musical theater just happened. When I was a dance major in high school, I was good friends with a bunch of the theater major guys because we were in speech and debate class together. And they had a group called the Black Actors Guild. And so I did improv and sketch comedy with a bunch of my friends in high school.

[15:33] Barton Cowperthwaite: And so that kind of was the seed for my passion for theater and acting. And I really didn't start formal vocal training until after I had moved to New York in 2014. So probably 2015 is when I took my first voice class. And like a career in just concert dance is an uphill battle for more reasons than one.

[15:59] Barton Cowperthwaite: And so I was just kind of like, how do I diversify? Like, what tools do I have at my disposal to try and just have a career in the arts in New York? And having a wide variety of discipline in terms of like acting training, vocal training, dance training, just staying a student.

[16:23] Barton Cowperthwaite: Even though I had already begun my professional career, I'd already graduated from college. Like I just, I knew I had more to learn. I still feel that way. And I had worked a fair amount. And then I booked the national tour, the first national tour of an American in Paris. And that was really my first opportunity I had been given to sing and act and dance at the same time.

[16:42] Eila Mell: So The Outsiders is such a fan favorite.

[16:45] Barton Cowperthwaite: So special.

[16:47] Eila Mell: What is it like to be part of that?

[16:48] Barton Cowperthwaite: I mean, that's one of those things where it just feels like synchronicity. Like it just feels like everything in the universe was conspiring to make it happen. And I just felt lucky to be a part of it. Obviously, I knew I had a lot to contribute as a founding member of the as an original cast member for the Broadway production.

[17:10] Barton Cowperthwaite: But personally, the Cooperman brothers who choreographed the show, they hired me for my very first job in New York 12 years ago. So in that sense, it was a very full circle moment where I was like, working and I had worked with them on a bunch of different projects through the years, but for them to bring me in for this and then to meet Donya and get hired by Donya after one of the workshops, like, it just felt like kismet.

[17:36] Barton Cowperthwaite: It felt like it was meant to be. And that's just like a portion of my personal journey leading into it. And then on top of that, like from a large scale picture, the story of The Outsiders, the fact that it was written by a 16 year old girl in 1967.

[17:51] Barton Cowperthwaite: And it's such an honest depiction of the American experience, like ostracization, youth, confusion, self-identity, self-actualization, death, like loss, family, poverty. I mean, there's so many universal elements to the story.

[18:11] Barton Cowperthwaite: There's a reason why the book is still being studied in school. And to have that iteration, the novel be the birth of this story, and then for the film adaptation to happen in the 80s, and then to be a part of adapting it into this new medium in the modern time, like in our present day, so that a new generation can connect with it, just in such a visceral way.

[18:36] Barton Cowperthwaite: I mean, like, I love reading. So books are an amazing way to connect with art and storytelling. And I love movies. And that's another amazing way. But I think that this adaptation in musical theater, where you actually have the gravel from the stage, you feel the rain, like if you're close, you feel a wind from the rain, like you have the music, you're just in it, it is so visceral.

[18:58] Barton Cowperthwaite: So to have the story be experienced in that way, and the Cooperman brothers are brilliant in the way that they played with the kind of time distortion, the sound editing. So you really are entering kind of a sensory experience when you're seeing that show and to really like, feel what Ponyboy felt like, to hear his ears ringing after he gets hit.

[19:21] Eila Mell: You don't get that same sensory experience reading the novel, unless you have a gifted vivid imagination, right?

[19:29] Barton Cowperthwaite: Yeah, we had the Cooperman brothers on and they went through really in detail about the scenes that you're talking about, you know, the dance and that is, is used so beautifully in that piece in total, but especially that whole fight scene with the rain and all of the elements that you guys are, are being thrown at you literally, while bodies are being thrown at you and the lines and just to tell the story through that movement is so exceptional.

[19:56] Barton Cowperthwaite: Yeah, they're pretty smart.

[19:58] Barton Cowperthwaite: They're pretty good. Plus, I love how they use the lighting design as part of the choreography.

[20:03] Eila Mell: Oh, it's so smart. They know how to choreograph an audience's focus.

[20:10] Eila Mell: So were you there as that process was happening, as they were teaching it for the very first time?

[20:15] Barton Cowperthwaite: I didn't do the very first workshop.

[20:18] Eila Mell: Okay.

[20:20] Barton Cowperthwaite: But I was in pretty much every workshop after the Daryl Roth, which happened in 2022.

[20:25] Eila Mell: So how did this show evolve, you know, from your point of view, as you watched it grow?

[20:30] Barton Cowperthwaite: We had sets change. We had cast change. I mean, some scenes and songs changed. One of my favorites from La Jolla to Broadway was the reorchestration of Hopeless War. It was kind of like another Broadway ballad.

[20:47] Barton Cowperthwaite: And this is between Cherry and Ponyboy after the fire where Johnny's in the hospital. And one day Justin Levine comes in and is like, Hey, guys, I just kind of redid this song. Let's give this a go.

[20:59] Barton Cowperthwaite: And so it went from this kind of very stringy, beautiful ballad to this electric guitar. It sounded kind of like John Mayer. And I just was like, how do you even get the idea to go from this to just completely change the vibe?

[21:18] Barton Cowperthwaite: And then for that change to make it something that you connect to more, that paints a truer picture of the moment that these characters are experiencing, it was one of my favorite changes.

[21:32] Barton Cowperthwaite: The Rumble was one of the staples, I think, that kind of like, like, it definitely helped build the fuller version La Jolla, like where they did it with the rain for the first time. There were so many great people working on that project.

[21:44] Barton Cowperthwaite: And so it was so collaborative and watching all of the different teams from like the writers, direction, choreographers, music, everyone held each other to the same, like at the same level. So everyone on the creative side, it really felt like we were at like a roundtable. Like it was like the Senate, like the Roman Senate.

[22:06] Barton Cowperthwaite: It wasn't like there was one kind of lead monarch in the process. I think everyone would refer to Danya if there was a true, deep, unanswerable question. But other than that, the creatives all felt like they had equal say and equal respect mutually.

[22:23] Eila Mell: And how amazing that S.E. Hinton was part of it. And you have her stamp of approval on it.

[22:29] Barton Cowperthwaite: Yeah. And I had a like, this was another moment of personal synchronicity. When we were in the rehearsal room, this was, you know, three months after I'd had brain surgery. And the New York Times published an article where they had interviewed S.E. Hinton. At the very end of the article, she spoke about how she wrote the book when her dad was passing away from cancer.

[23:24] Bruce Gotlieb: Alright, so we want the dirt. We want to know what the audience interaction is like. What is that stage door like afterwards? Those crowds are crazy.

[23:29] Barton Cowperthwaite: Yeah, I mean the Outsiders fans are incredible.

[23:33] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, yeah, they made the show.

[23:37] Barton Cowperthwaite: They certainly did. They still are.

[23:40] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[23:41] Barton Cowperthwaite: I will forever remember those stage doors. I mean, nothing makes you feel quite like a star. I mean, like having hundreds of kids screaming your name, waving playbills, sharpies, asking for your signature. Like it was, it was always, always a thrill. Not that you get used to it. But I'm sure the first night you stepped out, it was like probably coming against a wall of sound.

[24:00] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, yeah, it's sensory overload.

[24:03] Barton Cowperthwaite: Yeah, for sure.

[24:08] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[24:10] Barton Cowperthwaite: Want to run back into the alley again. And I'm sure you get so much love just, you know, from the audience over and over on social media. And you know, wherever they can find you.

[24:17] Barton Cowperthwaite: I do. I absolutely do. Yeah, I have. I've been so fortunate to have an abundant stream of support.

[24:26] Bruce Gotlieb: What's the average age of the people that wait outside the stage door for the Outsiders?

[24:31] Barton Cowperthwaite: It depends. I think like anywhere from I've signed kids playbills who are probably 10. And then I've also signed like English teachers original copy of the book from 1970.

[24:46] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, wow.

[24:47] Barton Cowperthwaite: That was just such a cool experience to have of like, seeing them both coexist in the same space experiencing this story, like, where one person has a deep, long history with it. And another person is experiencing it for the first time. And they're both like teary eyed, open hearted, just so thrilled to have experienced the story that we helped tell.

[25:08] Bruce Gotlieb: Well, Bruce and I have been outside the theater many times seeing the crowds coming in. And there's always like a ton of school trips that go. Those must be with some wild shows, because those kids are so excited.

[25:19] Barton Cowperthwaite: I mean, I was thankful that I didn't have to sit with them, because I didn't know if I could handle that much energy.

[25:23] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, the student matinees were lit. Talkbacks afterwards were always fun.

[25:35] Barton Cowperthwaite: They wanted to know about like how we did it. I think a lot of them connected with different characters more. A lot about like some kids were interested in the tech elements. Like, how do you make the rain happen? Like a lot of rumble. How do you make the fight?

[25:52] Bruce Gotlieb: Well, that is the fun part. So, you know, in The Outsiders, you had obviously this long period leading up to the opening night or previews or whatever, you know, building and reconstructing. Now with Gotta Dance, you guys just started previews like six days ago.

[26:08] Barton Cowperthwaite: And now you open on the 31st.

[26:12] Bruce Gotlieb: Four days, yeah, fine. It seems like a really shorter period of time. So do you find it's got to be different, maybe harder to put everything in a shorter period of time? Or is it easier because you don't have to think as much?

[26:22] Barton Cowperthwaite: I would say more difficult. It's a lot in a short period of time. And the mission of American Dance Machine and Gotta Dance is so pure. It is just to be a living archive for this classic choreography. Dance is ephemeral. Theater is ephemeral. It lasts in the moment. It is a human exchange. It's not something that has the same effect through a digital medium. And so in that sense, if you're bringing back this choreography that can only be experienced through a screen and you're giving people a chance to experience it in person, you become the living archive for it. And that mission is something that I resonate with deeply. And so it makes the hard work of an abbreviated process worth it.

[27:12] Bruce Gotlieb: Do you have a favorite piece that you get to watch from, like, the wings?

[27:16] Barton Cowperthwaite: My favorite that I get to watch is probably Moses Supposes, which I think is actually called Tongue Twisters.

[27:24] Bruce Gotlieb: What's that from?

[27:25] Barton Cowperthwaite: Singing in the Rain.

[27:27] Bruce Gotlieb: Nice. And who's dancing that?

[27:29] Barton Cowperthwaite: Brandon Burks and R.J. Higdon. Oh, and Music in the Mirror, Jessica Lee Golden. She's so next level.

[27:36] Bruce Gotlieb: She's great. And she was in the Chorus Line revival, right?

[27:41] Barton Cowperthwaite: Probably. Yeah, yeah. I'm pretty sure she was, but I don't think in that part.

[27:45] Bruce Gotlieb: So how many dances are you doing?

[27:49] Barton Cowperthwaite: In this version, I'm doing six.

[27:52] Bruce Gotlieb: Six? Oh my gosh.

[27:53] Barton Cowperthwaite: And in the last one, I did eight.

[27:55] Bruce Gotlieb: Wow.

[27:56] Barton Cowperthwaite: So it's nice to have a slightly lighter load for this rendition.

[28:02] Bruce Gotlieb: So who are you working with in your six numbers?

[28:05] Barton Cowperthwaite: Um, the opening is The Full Company. And then I'm doing, I'm playing Michael Wiley in Contact, which is a Susan Stroman musical from the early 2000s. It's a really fun character role. We're doing a very upbeat vignette from the larger show, which has more depth to the drama in the full show. But the vignette that we've selected to be part of the review is very upbeat and very fun. And that's Full Company. The girl in the yellow dress is Libby Lloyd. And then I'm doing Cool from West Side Story, which is a quad killer. And that's most of the company. And then in the second act, I'm doing a piece from Jerome Robbins Broadway. It's a, it's like a lesser known piece. Apparently it was considered to be a part of like four or five different shows and cut from all of them.

And then included in Jerome Robbins Broadway, which is a review of Robbins work, but it's just kind of lesser known. It's called Mr. Monotony. It's kind of a love triangle between two musicians and a beautiful woman. And I get to work with Blake Zalesnikar and Sarah Esty. And then I'm doing the American in Paris ballet. It is a portion of the closing ballet in the show with Jerry and Lise. And I get to dance that with Sarah Esty. And then I am doing one in the finale, which is the finale of A Chorus Line, which is Full Company.

[29:38] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah. How cool. Do you have two choreographers for this? Is it Nikki and Randy Skinner?

[29:41] Barton Cowperthwaite: Nikki and Randy are our co-directors. Yes. But all like this is part of the mission of American Dance Machine is, is we're learning all of these pieces from the estates, from the people who have actually done them in the original companies or from the choreographers themselves. Sarah and I have rehearsed with Chris Wheldon for American in Paris. And then we've worked with Robert and Jane, who were in the original Mr. Monotony in Robbins on Broadway. Wow. And we've been working with Tomei and Leanna and Sean, who were in, and Stroman herself for Contact. So all these people, all of these incredible artists from the estates themselves have come in to set these pieces on us. The goal is to keep the work as truthful and honest to its source material as possible.

[30:30] Bruce Gotlieb: Got it. And so Nikki and Randy are serving as kind of conduits and ambassadors for that work and shaping it, but not choreographing.

[30:36] Barton Cowperthwaite: Yeah. I mean, Randy is choreographing because he did the opening and he's resetting all of the Singing in the Rain, White Christmas. He's much more a classic musical theater tap.

[30:50] Bruce Gotlieb: Got it. And has Bayork Lee been part of it?

[30:54] Barton Cowperthwaite: Bayork has been a part of it. Yes. She's amazing.

[30:57] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[30:57] Barton Cowperthwaite: She's such a light. She's like the keeper of a chorus line.

[31:01] Bruce Gotlieb: She really is.

[31:02] Barton Cowperthwaite: Donna McKechnie, she's there.

[31:04] Bruce Gotlieb: She's amazing.

[31:05] Barton Cowperthwaite: She's with us.

[31:07] Bruce Gotlieb: Wow. Like, yeah.

[31:09] Barton Cowperthwaite: That's amazing to get to work with her.

[31:11] Bruce Gotlieb: It really is. And all of these people. It's so special.

[31:13] Barton Cowperthwaite: Yeah, absolutely. That must be one of the most fun parts. Anyway, I was going to say the most fun, but I'm sure all of it is just a joy to do.

[31:20] Barton Cowperthwaite: There is a lot of joy to be found. It is also really hard work.

[31:24] Bruce Gotlieb: I'm sure.

[31:25] Barton Cowperthwaite: Physically, it is taxing to put together a show like this and attempt to run it eight times a week for a 12-week run. We'll see how it goes.

[31:37] Bruce Gotlieb: So can you now, during this period, skip the gym and skip dance class because you're immersed in this?

[31:44] Barton Cowperthwaite: Yeah, that's good at least. Yeah, it's just like 70% of my free time has to be spent doing active recovery, like rolling out, hot, cold contrast, massage, acupuncture, dry needling. Yeah. Meditation, just being like, I am okay. I can do this.

[32:09] Bruce Gotlieb: This show runs through July 26th, and anything in the future or coming up that you can talk about that might be coming up after this?

[32:19] Barton Cowperthwaite: I mean, nothing that I can disclose.

[32:22] Bruce Gotlieb: Okay, we understand. But what I can disclose is that I am co-chairing a gala for Oligonation, which is the only organization that raises funds to fund research for the kind of brain cancer that I have.

[32:39] Bruce Gotlieb: Amazing.

[32:39] Barton Cowperthwaite: And that is on Wednesday, May 13th at the Lighthouse in New York. This is my third year co-chairing the flagship gala, and it's just a wonderful community of people. You know, I'm inspired by fellow survivors. And because oligodendroglioma is a less aggressive kind of cancer, like other than astro and glio, it is funded less, and so there's less visibility around it because less people die. But it's still an incredibly difficult trying thing to go through for survivors, for caretakers, family members, like everybody is affected if someone in their sphere has any kind of cancer. And this is the kind I have, and so this is where I'm focusing a lot of my efforts to build community, to raise funds, to find a cure.

[33:30] Bruce Gotlieb: That's amazing. Well, excellent. And people can find the information on your social media if they want to learn more about it.

[33:35] Barton Cowperthwaite: Or Oligonation.

[33:39] Bruce Gotlieb: Okay, O-L-I-G-O Nation.

[33:42] Barton Cowperthwaite: O-L-I-G-O. That's it. It's easy. You don't have to know the whole name. And we'll put it in the show notes, too, so they can find it.

[33:50] Barton Cowperthwaite: I appreciate that so much. Well, this was so much fun. I hope that people will go see Gotta Dance.

[33:56] Barton Cowperthwaite: Please come see Gotta Dance. It's a really, really beautiful show, and I'm just... I feel kind of amazed that I'm dancing.

[34:05] Bruce Gotlieb: Well, I'm sure anyone that goes would be very happy they did.

[34:09] Barton Cowperthwaite: Appreciate that. Thank you both for having me.

[34:11] Bruce Gotlieb: It's been our pleasure.

[34:12] Barton Cowperthwaite: Our pleasure.

[34:13] Bruce Gotlieb: And we'll see everyone next time on Behind the Awards.

[34:15] Barton Cowperthwaite: Bye-bye.

[34:16] Bruce Gotlieb: Sounds great.

[34:17] Barton Cowperthwaite: Take care.