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[0:00] Robert Peterpaul: Hello, beautiful people. Welcome to The Art of Kindness, where we have compassionate conversations with artists from all areas of the entertainment industry who are using their voice to spread joy and make this big, spinning planet in the universe a better place to be. I'm Robert Peterpaul, and I'm so glad you're here!

[0:30] Robert Peterpaul: Hello, friends! I am coming to you fresh out of the rehearsal room—hello, sunlight!—for a new show I'm doing, Beauty and the Beast. Well, I know it's not a new show, but it is a new project for me. Well, I've actually done the show before. It's just new in the sense of being current in my life. Anyway, I'm having a magical time. You know Disney shows, they're the best.

[0:56] Robert Peterpaul: Before the process started, I got the chance to see an incredible new Broadway show that I want to tell you about today. It's called Here Lies Love. Now, when I tell you all I have truly never experienced anything like this on Broadway before, I mean it. I went with my good friend Laura—hey!—you walk into the Broadway Theatre—that's the theatre's name, by the way, the Broadway Theatre—I mean, is that not spot-on or what?—and it's been completely transformed.

[1:22] Robert Peterpaul: The orchestra seats were taken out and replaced by a 70s disco dance floor. That's really not a sentence I ever thought that I would say in all my years as a theatre kid. You can get tickets for the dance floor section and dance it out throughout the show as the stages move around you and the actors are literally in your face.

[1:42] Robert Peterpaul: We sat in the dance floor's side seating, which I recommend because we needed a seat, first of all, but it's also a great spot to not only take in the show but watch the people dancing below. Ooh, that rhymed! But no matter where you are, the actors are flying around you. You are fully in this show. Not only is it a spectacle, but it is also an important story to be told.

[2:06] Robert Peterpaul: Most exciting of all, I think, is that this is an all-Filipino cast on Broadway for the first time. At the center of this show is a phenomenal performer, today's guest, the amazing Arielle Jacobs.

[2:20] Robert Peterpaul: Arielle Jacobs danced her way onto the art scene, beginning her studies of ballet at the age of three. She went on to star in Broadway blockbusters playing Princess Jasmine in Disney's Aladdin, Nessa Rose in Wicked, and Nina Rosario in In the Heights alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda. More recently, she dazzled off-Broadway in Between the Lines.

[2:44] Robert Peterpaul: No matter the role, Arielle is known for her songbird-like presence. She's now taking on what she describes as her most challenging role on Broadway yet, playing former Filipina First Lady Imelda Marcos in the aforementioned show, Here Lies Love. The immersive disco-pop musical has transformed the Broadway theater into a dance club where actors perform amongst the audience.

[3:14] Robert Peterpaul: Here lies love. Here lies love. Here lies love.

[3:44] Robert Peterpaul: As always, please stay tuned after the interview for your kindness tip of the week with me. I'd also love if you could take the time to please leave us a five-star review here wherever you listen to podcasts. It would just be so kind and appreciated. Now, without further ado, please welcome the amazing Arielle Jacobs.

[4:15] Robert Peterpaul: Well, I'm going to do a long kind of likely complimentary bio about you later. I won't make you sit here while I do that. So we can just kind of slip into the conversation. Arielle or Arielle, which do you prefer? I think I hear Arielle when I did research, but...

[4:35] Arielle Jacobs: Yeah, I'm going with Arielle these days.

[4:38] Robert Peterpaul: Arielle, nice.

[4:40] Arielle Jacobs: Yeah.

[4:41] Robert Peterpaul: Because of Little Mermaid?

[4:43] Arielle Jacobs: No, well, that's no, it's just because that's what I have always been my whole life. I think when I got into this business, I was more open to people's, you know, people's own opinions about what they like better. And so I was just, I would always just be like, whatever you want. And now I'm like, you know what, I should pick one.

[5:04] Robert Peterpaul: I always like to ask just in case I go down a rabbit hole of listening to interviews to hear how guests kind of say their own name. And they just vary so much that I figure asking never hurts. So yeah, thanks for answering. But I had the privilege of seeing you in Here Lies Love a few days ago.

[5:18] Arielle Jacobs: Really?

[5:19] Robert Peterpaul: I did. And I think I'm still processing it, honestly. I've definitely never seen anything like it on Broadway. Everybody go. It's sort of like a documentary theater piece that is immersive, you know, a wild way. It's so different. And you were such a force. I mean, I am bowing down to you right now.

[5:35] Arielle Jacobs: Oh my god, thank you.

[5:36] Robert Peterpaul: The upper dance section, which I loved. And when you kind of came over near us, you were right next to me. I just had the chills. I was like, Imelda's here. I don't know. I felt it. And I can't wait to kind of get into all of that with you. But I'm guessing and I'm hoping you've been getting tons of compliments like that on your performance. And the first question I always like to ask people is, how are you at receiving compliments as an artist?

[6:01] Arielle Jacobs: Oh, that's a good question. I think I'm good at receiving compliments. I don't do the thing where people go, Oh, no. Oh, I'm not that. No, please. No. But I think because when I was younger, I was just taught by my dad, I think, to just accept compliments gracefully and say thank you and just let it go.

[6:28] Arielle Jacobs: The thing about compliments, it's like, if it's, if it's something that is very specific, like, that's very, it's so nice to hear a specific compliment, right? To hear somebody who sees you and recognizes you, something very specific about your performance, or even just if they want to share their emotions about, like how you made them feel in specific moments, if it was out of the ordinary.

[6:58] Arielle Jacobs: I really like compliments like that. And because it, it feels like I can really understand their, their experience about what happened. And, you know, more so than the generic, Oh, you're so amazing. Thank you. That's very sweet. But also, it's important to not.

[7:28] Arielle Jacobs: Really get your head, you know, too full of that stuff. Because in the day to day, you know, there's so many ways where I'm like, Oh, gosh, I got to get better at this in my life and that in my life. And yeah, I try to, I try to like take what's helpful and leave what's not, you know,

[7:50] Robert Peterpaul: I love that. Yeah. Take what you like and leave the rest. Because if you get too caught up in the compliments and let your head swell, then it's like, Oh, well, why am I not believing the mean comments? You know, it's a kind of a tricky line to balance. Oh, let there be light. I love it.

[8:04] Arielle Jacobs: Which is great. But, you know, I guess I'll pay you a specific one. I feel like you have such duality throughout your career. And that was certainly present in Here Lies Love. While you went on this journey, by the end of it, I could kind of sense the sort of inner, inner struggle that she was having, even though it wasn't really addressed behind this, like, kind of ice queen facade and this strut that you nailed down. So there was that beautiful duality, which is so important, obviously, in any character.

[8:32] Arielle Jacobs: Thank you.

[8:33] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah, so I guess that was my specific thing. But kind of looking back before we get up to speed. You know, growing up in San Francisco and then New Jersey, I think, I know you were a dancer from early on. I would love to know how you think kindness from others and even just toward yourself kind of shaped your development as an artist. Do you kind of have a relationship with that?

[8:56] Arielle Jacobs: Yeah, so I, you know, I started dancing when I was really young. I started singing when I was seven. And I, my brother and I were, we're both taking lessons in San Francisco from this woman named Teddy Lightfoot. And she was so, that's a great name, right?

[9:14] Arielle Jacobs: That's a great name. Yeah.

[9:39] Arielle Jacobs: Oh, wow. Put it on. No, just kidding.

[10:10] Arielle Jacobs: And I kept singing in high school. And this is where I would say, I met a teacher who helped me tremendously and was very kind because of the way she pushed me and believed in me. And her name is Carolyn Haney. And she was a grad student, a grad vocal student at Westminster Choir College, which was right across the street from Princeton High School, where I went to high school.

[10:36] Arielle Jacobs: I would go to my voice lessons every week, once a week, religiously. And my junior year, she recommended that I put together a concert, a recital, an hour long solo recital. And I was so scared. And she was so kind and supportive and just like, we're going to do it together. I think that it'd be really good for you. And at the end of my junior year was my very first solo one hour concert.

[11:09] Arielle Jacobs: And she had me get all dressed up in like a gown. And I had a solo pianist with me and I sang in this really beautiful concert hall for like, I don't know, 80 people. They were all friends and family and, you know, invited people. But I did that in my junior year. And then again, my senior year, she had me do it again the very next year. And she was so sweet and generous and kind.

[11:38] Arielle Jacobs: And I think it just, I don't know, it just helped me believe in myself so much. And then what's funny is I went to college at NYU. And at the end of the four years of your music program, your senior project is an hour long solo recital and everybody else is freaking out. And I was like, I've done this twice already.

[11:59] Arielle Jacobs: I got this.

[12:01] Arielle Jacobs: This is easy.

[12:03] Robert Peterpaul: Carolyn, come on, let's put it back up. That's amazing.

[12:05] Arielle Jacobs: She's so sweet. Yeah.

[12:10] Robert Peterpaul: I love people that just make things special in general, you know, because you can push people and give them guidance. But it takes an extra special person, I guess, to make things special and have that fanfare and, you know, thinking that you should put on a gown and just kind of take it the extra notch. I think that's so cool. I love that.

[12:55] Arielle Jacobs: And he was like my grandfather figure. And he would leave his, he had like a carpentry shop in his garage. And so he always left his garage door open and he would be in there like making rocking chairs and cribs and tables. And I would always just wander in his garage and he would have this box of scrap wood and we would chat and I'd hang out with him for hours and I would pick out pieces of scrap wood and I would kind of shape little designs.

[13:29] Arielle Jacobs: And he would, if I would say this, I like this like this, and then he would glue it together for me. And then he would help me paint it with the colors I wanted. I made everything from like little sailboats to anything you can imagine.

[13:45] Arielle Jacobs: But just because of this nice older man who lived next to me who who allowed me to hang out with him while he worked in his carpentry shop, he really did encourage my creativity and this also this feeling of bringing things that I can imagine into the real world.

[14:04] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah, the creative process. My face hurts from smiling. Your stories are just making my cheeks like a raisin to my my forehead. But, you know, thinking about acts of kindness, I love that you kind of brought that up early on, I guess, to quickly fly over your amazing career, which, you know, flying, we have Wicked and then we have Aladdin.

[14:20] Arielle Jacobs: Yeah, oh my gosh, so much flying. Flying emotionally, mentally, physically, you know, in your career, do you feel like there are, I'm sure there are a lot and I hope so, any acts of kindness that stand out as kind of changing your trajectory?

[14:35] Arielle Jacobs: Yes, absolutely. So, when I was in college, my brother, Adam Jacobs, the original Aladdin on Broadway, he was also Simba in The Lion King and Marius in Les Mis on Broadway. He's a big deal. Such a nice person. I've interviewed him before, and he's a lovely guy. Yeah, he's really great. He did me a big kindness when I was in college, and it was a very surprising moment because he did something that I wasn't expecting and didn't even know about until afterwards. And that's also an act of kindness. You do something, you don't tell somebody you did it, right? Yeah. So, anyway, I am in college, and I get a call on my cell phone, and it's a number I don't recognize, and I picked it up, which normally, these days, I don't do, right?

I don't do spam, but I did back then. You don't talk about your car insurance. You're like, I don't have a car. Yeah, but I picked it up, and I said, hello. And this woman goes, hi, is this Arielle Jacobs? And I said, yeah. She says, are you Adam Jacobs' sister? And I said, yeah. And she said, well, we are his agency, and we just received a pile of his headshots. And in his pile, we found your headshot and resume, and we were wondering if you would be interested in coming in for an interview. And I was like, yes, that would be great. So, I went in, I had an interview, and then it went well. They called me back. I had to do two songs and a monologue and audition to my first agent, and I ended up signing with them.

And it was just such a gift, really was, because my brother, he didn't have to do that, but he did it. It wasn't a mistake, too. He did it on purpose, but he didn't tell me. He did not tell the agency. This was back in the day when you had to deliver your headshots and resumes in a stack, you know, stapled front to back and all hard copies, right? So, he literally just stuck one of mine in the center of his pile so that after, you know, a few weeks, a couple months when they got down and revealed my picture, that it would be, you know, maybe they would take an interest. And I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful for that, because I was able to have an agent and start auditioning before I was out of college.

I booked my very first equity job doing summer stock before my senior year of college. So, then I had my equity card already, and I was pretty set up in terms of, you know, having auditions and appointments before getting out of college and doing all of the cattle calls and the 6 a.m. calls and all that. I did do a few of those in my career, only at times when my agent was not able to get me in the room for something. Yeah, it's that ambition that shows up and you're like, well, I'm going to drag myself out of bed. I'm going to do it. I love that. And I have so much respect for the people who do that and, you know, sign up at 6 a.m. and spend 10 hours to get in the room for 30 seconds. I have so much respect for them.

It's a full-time job. And, you know, you mentioned summer stock. I have so much respect for regional theaters, too. I just want to shout out really quickly, everybody go support your local regional theaters. It's kind of more important than ever. But I love this story because Anya, you know, random acts of kindness are wonderful, but intentional acts of kindness, I think, are super important. So, the fact that he purposely did that and stuck it in there. And I know with families, sometimes it's weird with referring things and that kind of thing. So, what a wonderful way to just do that for you.

[18:35] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah. And it's also because there's no skin in his back, right? Because if they didn't want to call me, then he can pretend it was a mistake.

[18:45] Arielle Jacobs: True. Yeah.

[18:45] Robert Peterpaul: Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to.

[18:47] Arielle Jacobs: Smart, too. And then you both ended up, you know, obviously he was Aladdin and then you entered the Aladdin family as well. You know, I guess it's a family show and there's lots of kindness with Disney shows. But did you take any lesson away from that experience? You know, before we get into Here Lies Love, working on a show that sort of the legacy was within your family already. That's just so interesting to me.

[19:10] Arielle Jacobs: Oh, that's it. Yeah. I think there was. No, I won't say that part. There was like, there was a funny. You can always edit out, too, if you later on want me to. I think the funny part about joining Aladdin was, you know, people were like, oh, there's another Jacobs here. I guess we can't do this show without a Jacobs. And then they would say they would call me instead of my name, they would call me Madam Jacobs because I replaced Adam Jacobs.

[19:45] Robert Peterpaul: Oh, that's funny.

[19:47] Arielle Jacobs: I liked that. But I think, you know, it was really wonderful going into a show that already knew of me from knowing my brother and already had such a wonderful relationship with my family. My parents, you know, were celebrities in that Aladdin Broadway theater. And it was nice for me, too, to get to go to work in a space where I'd already visited so many times and hung out backstage and it just felt like a really welcoming place to be.

[20:23] Robert Peterpaul: Hmm. I love that. And of course, you know, Aladdin's connected to Leia, who you're now working with in Here Lies Love, which I wonder for you, I don't have you ever worked with her before?

[20:30] Arielle Jacobs: No, but funny enough, I met her almost 20 years ago. I don't know how long ago it was, but when she was playing Fantine on Broadway in Les Mis, that was my brother's debut as Marius.

[20:44] Robert Peterpaul: Wow.

[20:45] Arielle Jacobs: So they've known each other since then. And that's when I met her the first time.

[20:49] Robert Peterpaul: That's so full circle and wild.

[20:51] Arielle Jacobs: Yeah.

[20:51] Robert Peterpaul: I love that. And, you know, getting to Here Lies Love, which I also love and has love in the title, you're playing someone who perhaps maybe isn't always loved and known for kindness. But I think a lot of people, when I've talked to them and hearing people leaving the theater, my friend and I know her for her shoes, which is just a funny thing to know somebody for. Imelda Marcos, you know, I appreciate that the show doesn't necessarily glorify dictatorship, but sort of presents Imelda as the human that she is. And we all are at the core who starts one way and then makes choices that might end up hurting people in the end. But, you know, first of all, empathizing with characters that you don't necessarily agree with is a journey, right?

So for you, I would love to know what was kind of your way into her when you started this process of portraying her with empathy, but also kind of addressing those complexities that are there. Did you have something immediately you connected with?

[21:43] Arielle Jacobs: So I was doing a lot of research for the role and I started this research back when I was auditioning. I had three months. My audition process was three months long. Oh, wow. So I was doing a lot of research within that time period. And I watched a couple of documentaries. I was reading books. What I really was affected by were a couple of things. But when she was younger, when she was a kid, kid, like a baby, she was raised by a mom who had depression. And I don't know if she had other illnesses as well, but she was raised with her mom and a nanny, basically. And her dad and her step, her dad and half siblings were forcing them to live in the garage while they lived in the big house. And it was because her dad's first wife had passed.

And so his earlier kids then were not consulted when he remarried. And they were very angry about it. So he remarried. This new woman comes. The kids are upset. And when this new wife gets pregnant, the kids basically, I think, bullied the dad to like, they can't live with us. So they were raised in the garage. The thing about the garage is it's like, you know, it's right next to the house. So Amelda's growing up in this garage where she's like looking out her window and seeing all of her siblings living in the big house. And she's in the little house and the little house. I'm in the garage. But also because there's a lot of rainstorms and typhoons in the Philippines. There's also there was no, I'll say insulation or something like the rain would just flood the floors.

And so they're living in like flooded, a flooded garage with like sleeping on cardboard. So that's one thing, that feeling of just being completely not accepted by your family. And then looked down upon in in your society because of that. Because it infiltrates everyone's minds, you know. And also, her mom, then would have to go do errands around the town. Whenever her mom went and did errands around town, she would take Amelda and she would dress her up in pretty dresses, and like curl her hair with like hot plates. And this is like little toddler Amelda, she's like four, right? And she's being paraded around town by her mom. And it's the only thing she thinks that it's the only thing that makes her mom happy.

And she also sees everyone in this in town smiling when they see her. And I think it just created this mentality and belief that the more beautiful you are, the more you can brighten people's day. And that there's almost a responsibility to do that, because of how her mom brought her up. And then the second thing, I guess third thing, that really helped me in this developmental process was when I realized that Shia was always talking in her documentaries about mothering the country, being the mother for her country, and realizing that her mom, when she was alive, wasn't really present mentally. And actually, she passed away when Amelda was very young. So Amelda grew up without a mother, really, and then felt like it was her duty then, when she becomes First Lady to be the mother.

And what does that mean? So that was a lot for me in terms of how to find the humanity, how to find the motivations, how to find where these beliefs might have started, to create a real person. Because like you said, yes, she became a dictator. And she and Ferdinand Marcos stole billions of dollars. And they made choices that, you know, had a lot of people hurt. So, but in playing the character, it's like you said, it's important to find the humanity, the empathy. And you can't just play a one note version of somebody, because the story won't get told, or won't come across as well. I mean, so, yeah. And also, because you want to see the truth about this, you know, story, and about a lot of history, leaders in history.

I mean, when they get elected, it's because they're so charismatic. And they're so, you know, they're the life of the party. And they're so warm, and they make you feel so good. And there has to be that, that within my portrayal, I want that to come from a real place, not like I'm doing that in order to manipulate. I want it to come from my really wanting to connect with people. And Imelda says that, you know, everything's about relationships. And that's how she, you know, chose to, to make policy happen. Let me just do it by, you know, handbag policy, I'm gonna take my little handbag, I'm going to go have a meeting with the person, I'll dance with them, I'll ask them for what I want. And then it'll happen because we built a relationship.

I think, I think over the, you know, her course of her life, she really learned how to, to connect with people in a way to get what she wanted. And, and I think that that started when she was a little kid.

[28:22] Robert Peterpaul: Wow, so much to unpack there. And I love, first of all, how your face kind of lights up when you talk about her, which is, I guess, a testament to how you treat your characters with that empathy, and that fully diving in even just talking about how the environment affected her growing up. And I wonder, too, is that that's so at the core of this story, not obviously love, but relationships, and it even affects the setting. I mean, it's immersive. And so I imagine every night you kind of develop relationships with that specific audience. Is that is that on your mind, kind of what you just talked about when you're walking by someone, and they're like, I don't know, people try to touch you or whatever. But it's so funny. That's true. And because this show, because the audience and the actors are face to face, and I get to really physically

[29:10] Arielle Jacobs: I interact with them, whether it's shaking their hands when I'm doing the campaign rallies or when I'm walking through the audience, you know, when I really, before I really take on the decision to really take on that, the role of de facto leader of the Philippines. Yeah, there is that wonderful connection I get to have with people where I love how close I get to be to their experience of our show and to their experience of Imelda. Like you said, they are having their own experience of who Imelda is in their minds. And then when they shake my hand or get to feel like they're within three feet of me as I'm going through a torturous moment of my experience, I feel like we're so, there's such an unspoken magic there.

And I love that. And it feels like, I feel like my own performance is heightened and lifted into a new, it's lifted into a brand new fresh moment every night because it's always with new people. And because I'm, I am responding to exactly what I'm getting from whoever's hand I'm shaking. And I feel like there's a bridge between me and that person. And there's a trust between me and that person. And, and it's, you know, it's only a handful every night, I'd say maybe I shake a dozen hands a night. Maybe, you know, yeah, I would say maybe about like 12 people I get to like actually physically interact with. But it changes, it changes my show, it changes my performance, it makes me feel, it's thrilling for me, because I get to experience this story through their eyes and through their energy.

Because I'm really like two feet from your face. I imagine it's so energizing, because even the people you don't physically touch, you are within, I guess, inches from sometimes, you know, when I looked across, you were sort of in on the center mezzanine quite a bit. And then right behind you is the wonderful set designer, David Korns, my old boss, he happened to be there that night, I was like, Oh, my gosh. But I, you know, who created this immersive environment. And I think you brought up trust, you know, with this immersive environment, it just feels like not only is the audience part of that trust, but I mean, I don't want to say there's not a harder working crew on Broadway, but your stage crew, the people that are literally turning these stages, I mean, they're so involved in the show.

So for you as a performer, when sometimes that can be a little separated, you know, the crew and the performers, and depends on the show and the environment. But I don't know, have you kind of developed a newfound relationship with the crew compared to other shows? Like, does it just feel different to have them constantly out there moving the stage? I mean, it's such a spectacle. It's so different.

[32:36] Arielle Jacobs: Well, the cool thing about them being part of moving the stages and everything is it really, I feel like it really does fit with the style of the show. My husband said this the other day, he said, you know, there was a moment when he was watching the show like a week ago, and something was wrong on the stage. And he and there was a crew guy who had to come out and fix it and then walk off again. And he said, my husband said, you know, in any other show on Broadway, if something like that happened, everyone in the audience would be like, Oh, something's wrong. So like, they would know that something's off, it would feel out of place. But in this environment, when somebody walks on like that, it's like, it just feels normal.

And like, because it's, it almost feels like you're watching a concert or something. If you if you're watching a concert, you're going to see crew people coming on and off the stage all the time. In a Broadway show, normally, for senior Broadway show, you don't. So then here, because of what David Corns has done with the set, and because the crew guys, and gals can come and like, fix things, and they're wearing their big headsets, and they're dressed in black. And it's like, it just feels it doesn't feel out of place. It feels like they're meant to be here. This is part of the experience almost. And I rely on them every show because I am always waiting for them to give me the thumbs up for me that it's safe to walk for a lot of the platforms where they're moving the platforms.

And then I then I have to break it when it's in place to the floor. So it's secure. And then they gave me the thumbs up and then I can go in the timing of that shifting every night because the timing is depending on how the audience whether they're the people on the dance floor, whether they're moving, or not moving at the same tempo that we expect. So yeah, yeah. Trust exercises. Yeah, there's a lot of trust exercises in the show. Yeah, I love that. I love it too, though. It makes it all fresh.

[34:44] Robert Peterpaul: Oh, I'm sure. And do you find it helps you be grounded more than ever when you're in a show? Because I mean, obviously, you're an exceptional performer. But having people right in your face, having a camera right in your face, I mean, I imagine it would keep you just much more kind of in the zone versus sometimes when you're in a run, you know, you can kind of think of like a grocery list or kind of experience imposter syndrome or whatever it is.

[35:10] Arielle Jacobs: Yes, I feel like it makes me so present and grounded that I am, you know, there's no hiding. There's like the audience is right there. And I think I've done a lot of meditation in my life. And it's helped me get to this place of like, knowing how to really just stay in the moment of every lyric I'm saying. It's also very new in the run of our show. So everything still feels so fresh. Sometimes, after several months of the same show, that's when your mind can wander like, Oh, what am I gonna get for dinner today? While you're on stage, but but it's still so new. And right now, I am hoping that because like you said, because the experience is what it is with the audience being right there. And the cameras being right there.

It really does. It's forcing me to, to stay so focused on the storytelling and on the moment. I hope I stay in that place. I really do. I expect that I will because like you said, it feels required. And I also expect that I will because sometimes your mind wanders in a show when you have a lot of downtime. Because it's almost like you're in the story, you're out of the story, you're going in and out and in and out. And then it's hard to stay really present in it. If you're bouncing in and out. But in my show, and in Here Lies Love, I am on stage for 95% of it never gone. And when you're gone, you look behind you and you're waiting to walk on. Well, that's the thing. And when I am gone, I'm doing a quick change, or they're doing a hair change or so I don't think I have more than like maybe a 10 to 15 second break for the whole 90 minutes.

So I don't really have time to get out of the mentality of the show. And, and I think it keeps me really focused because I'm always focused on either what I'm saying on stage or where I'm going off stage or the order with which I need to change these costumes in order to make this entrance. Like it's so fast.

[37:20] Robert Peterpaul: Oh, yeah. And I guess looking at that fast pace to and paralleled with self kindness, do you find that you're having to have more of a I guess self care routine in this Broadway show already? Are there certain things you're doing to kind of take care of yourself off stage?

[37:28] Arielle Jacobs: I know it's a hard thing. I am still learning right now how to do that. I've never had a role like this that demands so much of me physically. And I'm still learning what my self care routine needs. I know mentally what it needs to be. And at the same time, the schedule of the preview process with the rehearsals during the days and the shows at night and the added press, I'm finding that I'm I haven't been sorry, I haven't been as diligent as I needed to be. And so now that rehearsals are done, finally, the show's locked to previews left opening Thursday, right? Well, yeah, we open on Thursday. Yeah. So yeah. So now that I have actually, you know, more, hopefully more free time during the days, I can do more self care, which for me will include, you know, meditation and breathwork and physical training and eating well and mental, you know, time to chill out.

[38:40] Robert Peterpaul: That's wonderful, because those aren't always the things that well, I think it's getting better now, but that we teach the young artists in classes, you know, those aren't always the things that you learn about necessarily. So just hearing you talk about that is, I think, important. And, you know, I've struggled with this for a while. Back when I was in college, I did a production of A Chorus Line. And I was so nervous, because I'm like, I can move, but I'm not a dancer, dancer, dancer, you know.

[39:03] Arielle Jacobs: And I was playing Cassie.

[39:07] Robert Peterpaul: Wow. I know, I must be a dancer. Come on. I mean, I, I mean, I think you're an amazing dancer, but that is such a dance heavy show that I can imagine if you hadn't done anything like that, you would sort of be like, I was super stressed. And you know what, I couldn't eat. I was so stressed. I couldn't eat. So like every day, I before the show, like I would just have a Clif Bar, like that's all I could eat. And it was a lot of stress for me at the time. And since then, you know, I've even my biggest, I guess my biggest other most demanding role besides this one was the one I did last year called Between the Lines at Second Stage Off-Broadway. And I had been developing that show for six years.

And we finally did it here in New York. And it was also a physically and vocally demanding show. I was the narrator of the show, as well as being on stage for 90% of the show. And yeah, and for that one, I ordered food, I had like food delivery, so that I could make sure I was getting what I needed, and eating the right foods and not having to worry about cooking it and preparing and figuring out, you know, my macros and all that. So I might start doing that this time too. Or maybe now I actually have time to cook. I'm excited.

[40:34] Arielle Jacobs: Oh, I hope so. I know that it's all the simple things, right, that really keep us grounded. And there's such love for this show already. I mean, I was I was with really good friends, we were getting all weird and unhinged, like outside the theater after we saw it and just talking about the show. But we were there for maybe 45 minutes to an hour, and there was still a giant crowd outside the stage door of your show, waiting for people. So I know that just the time of the show, while it's a quick watch in a lot of ways, which I love, and it's, you know, there's no intermission. I imagine it can require a lot outside of the show as well, especially with press and all that kind of stuff. So I'm sure after this week, maybe in the mayhem, you'll find that nice groove, you know?

[41:15] Arielle Jacobs: Yeah, yeah.

[41:17] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah, which is super exciting. I also just wanted to touch on I've read you speaking about how this show was also a chance for you to really kind of embrace and learn more about your family's history that wasn't always necessarily discussed growing up. I guess so far, what has it helped you kind of embrace the most?

[41:34] Arielle Jacobs: I'm so it makes me feel so proud to be Filipino. And, and I think, you know, growing up, I, I'm such a, my brother and I both always talk about how, because we are half Filipino and half Jewish, we don't know, nobody really knew what we looked like, like, what ethnicity we were, right. So we were always, you know, playing anything under the sun. You know, I've played like, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Chinese, Middle Eastern, Native American, Afghani, Colombian, French. Yeah, I've played everything. And now I'm playing Filipino. So I feel like the show has made me, it's just given me so much pride, again, like, to be able to say, like, this is who I am. And, and these, these people in my cast who I'm on stage with are the best, most supportive and loving group of people.

I think a lot of Filipinos know, I would say, a lot of people don't, don't know that Filipinos in general are such exuberant people, and resilient people, and joyful people. And there's a, there's a saying, they say, a common saying, that goes, Bahala nasi Batman. They say that in the Philippines, it means, leave it up to Batman. Instead of like, leave it up to God, they'll say like, Bahala nasi Batman. Leave it up to Batman. So there's this kind of like, you know, like, there's this wonderful sense of not being controlling, because they, in their history, haven't been able to control a lot of stuff. So there's this, you know, take it as it comes sense. We'll pray and keep our spirit high, and work really hard, and be very community focused. And having that in a culture, translate into a Broadway cast, that's been

[43:46] Arielle Jacobs: Rejuvenating and such a wonderful energy to be around every single day. And I felt this way similarly when I was in Australia, and I was there doing Jasmine. I was the original Jasmine in the Australian Aladdin tour. And I was so blown away as my first time in Australia, and I was so blown away how the people there are all yes and people.

[44:12] Arielle Jacobs: So if you're in an acting class, you know, it's like, the first rule is yes. And like, no matter what someone says, it's yes. And then you keep the story going. And the people that I found in Australia that I worked with, they were all yes and people and it was like, no matter what you said, or did, or played.

[44:33] Arielle Jacobs: And I mean, played like, I would be off stage, playfully just like, making up a song because I'm a silly person. And, but no matter when I did it, the people around me would then start to join in. Because they're all yes and people. So to be surrounded by people like that, for me was such a surprise. And so it just like made me feel so warm inside and so happy all the time.

[45:01] Arielle Jacobs: And now being surrounded by my Filipino cast, it's like, I'm there again. And they're all like that. So, so there's that aspect of being Filipino. But then there's also like, the pride that we have to tell this story every night.

[45:20] Arielle Jacobs: And to be able to create this space of learning for the audiences, that's, that's been really wonderful and has felt like something I'm just so excited to have, you know, to have happening right now.

[45:36] Robert Peterpaul: Me too. I mean, that pride and community really shines through, especially, I think it's almost bookended by it, you know, by the end of the show, with the finale, certainly feels that rallying that way. And, you know, I think this is, for me, at least the mark of a great show. And this one takes it to the next level because of the immersiveness, but you walk away kind of smiling at each other in the audience, because as an audience member, you feel like you went through something together.

[46:02] Arielle Jacobs: Yes. Yeah. And I'm, I'm actually, so just this year, I, so I'm incorporated as an artist. So a lot of people in this business, you can either get paid as an individual or you can be incorporated.

[46:15] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah, I got that LLC.

[46:16] Arielle Jacobs: Yeah. So this year, I have always been incorporated in California until this year, I just changed it. And now I'm New York corporation. So I, I had to pick a name for my corporation. And I was like, what's my, what's the name going to be?

[46:32] Arielle Jacobs: And what I did was I took my grandfather's last name, my grandpa, my grandpa from the Philippines. He, so he was a Philippine scout in World War Two, and he is 97 now. And he just got a congressional gold medal from the US Congress.

[46:52] Robert Peterpaul: That's amazing.

[46:54] Arielle Jacobs: Like three years ago, he got a congressional gold medal for being a Philippine scout in World War Two.

[46:59] Robert Peterpaul: Wow.

[47:01] Arielle Jacobs: And he was born in the Philippines at a time when it was still an American colony.

[47:08] Arielle Jacobs: So in his mind, he was born in American colony. He always thought of himself as an American citizen. But then when the Philippines became independent, and he was still there.

[47:21] Arielle Jacobs: He felt like he, you know, well, I'm an American, so I need to go to America. And he wanted to bring his family to America. And he wrote to the US senators and everyone he could think of for 13 years. 13 years he wrote every week, every single week.

[47:36] Robert Peterpaul: Wow.

[47:37] Arielle Jacobs: He was like, I worked, I was a Philippine scout. I continue to work for the US government in the US post office. He really persevered and he eventually got my family to America.

[47:50] Arielle Jacobs: And he says he did it because he wanted his kids and grandkids to have education and opportunities that they might not have had in the Philippines.

[47:58] Arielle Jacobs: So when I did my new corporation this year, I named it, his last name, which is Soryo. And I called it Soryo Dream.

[48:08] Robert Peterpaul: Oh.

[48:09] Arielle Jacobs: Because it was his dream to get us here.

[48:11] Robert Peterpaul: It's like a soaring dream. He's helped you.

[48:13] Arielle Jacobs: It's like a soaring dream, but his name is Soryo.

[48:16] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah, he's helped you soar.

[48:18] Arielle Jacobs: But also, I also feel like playing the lead character in this Filipino story on Broadway, now I've achieved, I feel like even another level of his dream because I'm telling a Filipino story in America.

[48:33] Arielle Jacobs: So I'm kind of connecting these two worlds that he was, you know, caught between.

[48:41] Robert Peterpaul: That's so wonderful. And that search for identity, too, that comes across and kind of what you just talked about is certainly in the story.

[48:48] Robert Peterpaul: But I think it's so wonderful that these universal themes are uniting everybody as an audience.

[48:52] Robert Peterpaul: So by the time you leave, you learn a lot, but you also feel just more of a sensitivity and a vulnerability as you're walking out with each other, which is super important, you know, stories like these.

[49:03] Robert Peterpaul: And I know we're kind of running out of time, so I just would love if we can kind of squeeze in a surprise game really quickly.

[49:10] Arielle Jacobs: Okay, great.

[49:11] Robert Peterpaul: It's not much of a game. It's honestly not, but it is called the Compliment Game.

[49:16] Robert Peterpaul: Everyone's beautiful in their own way. It's the Compliment Game on the A-OK. It's the Compliment. Compliment Game.

[49:25] Robert Peterpaul: Basically, Arielle, I reached out to someone in your life for a compliment or a short kind of loving statement about you.

[49:33] Robert Peterpaul: I'm going to read it to you and then you have to guess who said it.

[49:36] Arielle Jacobs: What? I have to guess? Wait, but how do I?

[49:40] Robert Peterpaul: Well, OK, so we'll say you can get like three guesses and you can ask me yes or no questions.

[49:45] Arielle Jacobs: I don't really know much. I have them be pretty specific.

[49:49] Robert Peterpaul: So I think you'll get this one. And if not, we could take it from there.

[49:52] Arielle Jacobs: OK, yeah. I just have people give me a sentence or two.

[49:56] Robert Peterpaul: So I'll read it to you and then you guess who said it.

[49:59] Robert Peterpaul: And if you can't guess, you ask me questions. But again, I don't really know anything.

[50:02] Arielle Jacobs: So we'll see what happens. I might say, OK, I'm going to read it to you.

[50:05] Robert Peterpaul: I'm excited.

[50:06] Robert Peterpaul: People might not know that Arielle is an excellent teacher.

[50:09] Robert Peterpaul: I've seen firsthand how she can bring young artists out of their shells, move them beyond their comfort zones and really shine.

[50:17] Robert Peterpaul: Also, I have to say the way our voices blend when we sing together is pretty cool.

[50:23] Arielle Jacobs: It's almost uncanny, but not really. When you think about it, that's got to be my brother.

[50:28] Robert Peterpaul: It's your brother. Yeah. You nailed it.

[50:34] Arielle Jacobs: What a star. That was great. That was so nice.

[50:37] Robert Peterpaul: I guess what do you think you've learned from him as an artist, as your older brother?

[50:42] Arielle Jacobs: I learned I've learned a lot from him. I've learned how to have a sense of big responsibility combined with a sense of ease.

[50:54] Arielle Jacobs: He makes everything feel easy and look easy. And he has a very, you know, I guess he has a very Bahalanese Batman attitude.

[51:03] Robert Peterpaul: First of all, I want to order you a bat single to put in your dressing room for this.

[51:07] Arielle Jacobs: You can turn it on and off.

[51:08] Arielle Jacobs: Yeah, I felt that ease when I interviewed him backstage at Aladdin.

[51:13] Arielle Jacobs: He was just so like come into the dressing room, just so chill and lovely.

[51:18] Arielle Jacobs: Super chill. And yet he maintains that and such a sense of playfulness.

[51:25] Arielle Jacobs: And while he's, you know, starring on Broadway and carrying such heavy roles.

[51:32] Arielle Jacobs: So, yeah, I've definitely learned how to have that balancing act from him.

[51:38] Robert Peterpaul: Well, thank you for discussing all this here today. I think our listeners are going to learn a lot just hearing from you.

[51:43] Robert Peterpaul: And I know our time is ending.

[51:45] Robert Peterpaul: I would just love to end it by you sharing maybe a tangible kindness or wellness tip that you think listeners could incorporate into their daily life just to kind of make the world a little bit brighter bit by bit.

[51:56] Arielle Jacobs: I would recommend whenever you are out in the world and you find yourself with an expressionless face to just lift the corners of your mouth slightly.

[52:09] Arielle Jacobs: Not for anyone else's benefit, not even looking at anyone else, but by lifting the corners of your mouth slightly.

[52:17] Arielle Jacobs: I find that when I do that, it puts me in a better mood and it brings me more.

[52:23] Arielle Jacobs: It brings me to more present moment and makes me feel like everything's going to be OK, but also makes me feel like everything already is OK.

[52:34] Arielle Jacobs: And for me, especially living in New York City, it actually helps me not be rushing all the time and just feels like the world around you starts to become more in focus as well when you do it.

[52:51] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah, that's beautiful. A smile, I feel like, is medicine for your own soul and then for others when they see it.

[52:57] Arielle Jacobs: I also think, and I read this somewhere, I think it's true that eye contact can heal the world.

[53:06] Arielle Jacobs: And I try to make eye contact whenever I'm at a cash register in a store or, you know, if I if I'm ever anytime you're there's like a quick exchange with somebody to actually like make eye contact.

[53:27] Arielle Jacobs: Contact with that person is helpful in just, you know, people want to be seen.

[53:32] Arielle Jacobs: And I think it also helps them and you come back to the present moment.

[53:38] Arielle Jacobs: I also try to do that when I am signing autographs at the stage door, because it's not something I've always done, but it's something that I learned to do when it was reflected back to me by somebody in like an early show that there was so many people and I was just signing, signing, signing autographs.

[54:01] Arielle Jacobs: And somebody said to me, you know, it would mean a lot if it wasn't it was somebody I was dating at the time was it my boyfriend.

[54:08] Arielle Jacobs: It was and he was like, just reflecting back to me like, you're not looking at them when you sign your autographs.

[54:15] Arielle Jacobs: Well, there's so many that how and I was like defensive.

[54:17] Arielle Jacobs: I was like, yeah, there's so many people like that.

[54:20] Arielle Jacobs: And he's like, well, I think if you just said, you know, made eye contact when you signed your autographs, even if it's like for a second, like that would make a big difference for people.

[54:32] Arielle Jacobs: And so now I do and I try to do that at the station every day.

[54:35] Arielle Jacobs: And I think it does make a difference because I've since learned that eye contact can heal the world.

[54:41] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah, well, I'm glad you were open to hearing that lesson after you dropped your defenses and implement a special person to listen.

[54:47] Robert Peterpaul: And I'm sure it's changed you too, you know, from when you used to not look to actually seeing the people throwing love at you.

[54:53] Robert Peterpaul: I don't know. I imagine that that has changed your stage door experience because we're all just people at the end of the day.

[54:59] Arielle Jacobs: So I love that.

[55:01] Arielle Jacobs: I love that. And there's actually scientific research that proves everything you said about smiling, about looking at people from our friends at kindness.org, literally at science.

[55:09] Robert Peterpaul: So please listen to it. I have loved getting to kind of make eye screen contact with you and I will make eye contact with you and smile at you on Thursday.

[55:17] Arielle Jacobs: I will be there on the carpet. So I look forward to.

[55:20] Arielle Jacobs: Oh, great.

[55:21] Robert Peterpaul: Giving you a hug. But thank you so much for this time.

[55:24] Arielle Jacobs: It was so lovely. And I'm really grateful that we have you at the center of this really important story on Broadway right now.

[55:30] Robert Peterpaul: Thank you so much. It's been such a pleasure. Thank you. I hope you have a great rest of your day.

[55:36] Arielle Jacobs: You, too. Thanks.

[55:45] Robert Peterpaul: And now it's time for your kindness tip of the week.

[55:53] Robert Peterpaul: Here Lies Love opens on Broadway this week or last week, I guess, depending on when you listen to this.

[55:59] Robert Peterpaul: We were supposed to be there on the carpet, but I had such a theater kid excuse in that I had to say I can't.

[56:06] Robert Peterpaul: I have rehearsal. However, while seeing Here Lies Love the week prior.

[56:11] Robert Peterpaul: Well, the week's, you know, these time things, they just get me so can babbled.

[56:14] Robert Peterpaul: Did I mention Here Lies Love is interactive?

[56:17] Robert Peterpaul: I ran into someone who I'll just say works on Broadway. I used to work with this person.

[56:24] Robert Peterpaul: To be fully vulnerable with you all, dear listeners, as I know I always try to be.

[56:30] Robert Peterpaul: I didn't love the way that this person treated the people working for them.

[56:34] Robert Peterpaul: So I left the situation. Flash forward.

[56:37] Robert Peterpaul: I am enjoying this incredible Broadway show.

[56:40] Robert Peterpaul: And the whole time right across from me, I can see this person while I'm watching.

[56:47] Robert Peterpaul: L.O.L. L.O.L. It was distracting me.

[56:50] Robert Peterpaul: And no one distracts me from a show.

[56:52] Robert Peterpaul: I realize it had the power to distract me, I guess, because some part of me still might have felt sad about that experience.

[57:01] Robert Peterpaul: On a positive note, it did inspire your kindness tip of the week, which is to make peace with someone who has wronged you in the past.

[57:06] Robert Peterpaul: I know you're probably rolling your eyes at me. It's not easy.

[57:14] Robert Peterpaul: Believe me, I know.

[57:16] Robert Peterpaul: I also know it is the healthy route for us to go down.

[57:20] Robert Peterpaul: It is the healthier journey.

[57:22] Robert Peterpaul: So baby steps.

[57:24] Robert Peterpaul: Start with maybe a little wrongdoer.

[57:27] Robert Peterpaul: It could be the person you're still mad about for cutting you off in traffic the other day.

[57:33] Robert Peterpaul: Just move to a more positive space.

[57:36] Robert Peterpaul: Holding negative energy only hurts the holder.

[57:40] Robert Peterpaul: If emotions are energy in motion, as they say, they need to move.

[57:45] Robert Peterpaul: Let the negative energies move on.

[57:48] Robert Peterpaul: Speaking of moving on, but not for good,

[57:51] Robert Peterpaul: I want you to have a wonderful rest of your day.

[57:54] Robert Peterpaul: So until next time, please remember,

[57:58] Robert Peterpaul: everything is going to be A-OK.