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[0:00] Mo Brady: You're listening to My Show Closed from The Ensemblist, the only podcast that shows you Broadway from the inside out. Welcome, I'm Mo Brady.

[0:32] Mo Brady: Closing shows are just part of the big, beautiful cycle of musical theater. And yet, sometimes those closings are so sudden that they defy explanation. Such was the case last fall with the North American tour of Bat Out of Hell - The Musical. While playing its opening stint in Toronto, the show's producers announced that the multi-city run would shutter its doors before even reaching its second city. Left in the lurch were dozens of performers, including this week's guest, Emilie Battle. Emilie was a member of the original off-Broadway company of Dear Evan Hansen, understudying the role of Alana Beck. But in the last 12 months, she's been part of two productions that closed prematurely, Bat Out of Hell and this summer's off-Broadway run of Broadway Bounty Hunter, which was an entirely new, original commercial musical. I asked her into the studio to share these two very different experiences, and if they were at all united. Here's our conversation.

[1:41] Mo Brady: Hi.

[1:42] Emilie Battle: Hi.

[1:43] Mo Brady: Will you introduce yourself and tell us what neighborhood of New York City you live in?

[1:47] Emilie Battle: Sure. I'm Emilie Battle, and I live in Washington Heights.

[1:50] Mo Brady: So, in the last 12 months, you've closed two musicals?

[1:55] Emilie Battle: Yeah.

[1:56] Mo Brady: What musicals?

[1:57] Emilie Battle: I closed the national tour, question mark, of Bat Out of Hell and Broadway Bounty Hunter.

[2:04] Mo Brady: So, why did you add a question mark to the end of national tour?

[2:08] Emilie Battle: We had what I like to call a one-city tour. We made it to Toronto, and then we prematurely closed before our year-long tour kicked off officially.

[2:17] Mo Brady: My question, my first question is always about warning signs. Like, was there anything that was making you think, I don't know if the promises they're making are going to come to fruition?

[2:22] Emilie Battle: Honestly, looking back, I'm like, oh, that was a bit of a red flag. At the time, I signed on for a year-long tour, and I just didn't think. We started to realize we were getting emails that performances in cities were being canceled or postponed. When we were finishing up in Toronto, we were about to head to Detroit to officially open the show, but we had no news of an actual opening night, to the point where days before we got our closing notice, I was asking our company manager, like, what should I wear? What's the attire? What's the plan? What date is our opening? And they didn't have any answers, and I actually remember one of my castmates at some point leaned over to me, and he was like, start saving your paychecks. I was like, ah, you.

[3:18] Mo Brady: So how long were you in Toronto?

[3:18] Emilie Battle: We were in Toronto for about a month. We were there for a month, and we were teching and then doing our previews in Toronto.

[3:26] Mo Brady: Got it. The idea is that tech and previews were in Toronto, you would go to Detroit and officially open. What happened?

[3:34] Emilie Battle: Well, we got that lovely company meeting text. And still, I'm like a very, like, glass-half-full optimistic person. And so in my optimist brain, I was like, oh, this was going to be about our move to Detroit, since it was our first kind of big move to a city and like kicking off the tour. And there were some people in the cast that were like, I don't know, in my experience, those texts are never, it's never good news. The company meeting was also an hour before our show. It was at seven o'clock, our show was at eight. So I was like, well, if we're closing, they're not going to tell us right before a show, you know, like that would be a couple hours before or after, you know.

[4:11] Mo Brady: Is closing on your mind at this point?

[4:14] Emilie Battle: It wasn't on my mind. I was still like pumping everyone up around me. I was like, don't worry, guys, like, it's going to be fine. And our company manager came up and read an email from our producers to us saying that not only was the tour going to be cancelled, but our last performance for the tour would be in two days. And so that's how we found out.

[4:38] Mo Brady: An email read to you.

[4:40] Emilie Battle: Yes.

[4:41] Mo Brady: What is your first thought?

[4:42] Emilie Battle: I was stunned. My jaw was on the floor. Yeah, I just like my heart sank to the ground. I yeah, I just just stunned. I think looking back my castmates and I, a lot of them I'm still in touch with very frequently. And now we kind of look back and laugh because it was like everyone's extreme knee jerk reaction all at the same time all in one room. Like people were crying. People were angry. People were cracking jokes. People were refusing to perform. You know, it was just like every it was just like chaos. I just went to a very like somber state. And we got the notice. We then had fight call in about 15 minutes. And so I walked outside to the alley behind the theater. I called my mom and I called my agent and was like, this is what's happening.

And then for some reason in my head, I was like, I've got to perform now like, have to keep going. And so we had a fight call that I don't think any of us remember. I remember there was a lot of chatter in the dressing rooms and a lot of emotions and a lot of opinions. And I had to remove myself from it. I was also the very first one on stage. Bat Out of Hell had like a pre show moment that I recorded I climbed out of the orchestra pit and I was supposed to like lounge on the motorcycle. And so I just was like, I have to get ready, I guess. And so I went and sat in our physical therapy room by myself and was just like pin curling my hair like a zombie. Then I climbed out of the orchestra pit, sat on the motorcycle with my back to the audience.

And I think in that moment, it all hit me like what the heck just happened. And I sat on the motorcycle by myself on stage and like silently cried in front of a sold out house. It was a devastating moment.

[6:23] Mo Brady: Do you have memories of that performance?

[6:25] Emilie Battle: Yeah, the opening number of Bat Out of Hell kind of luckily starts with like this huge riot. And when I tell you like that riot was on fire that night, like we were all just letting all of our emotions out in that moment. I also remember there's there's a number in the second act that's always a very emotional number. It's this huge ballad that the whole ensemble sings together and it's always very emotional and moving. That night we barely made it through. I mean, we were like audibly weeping. It was a really, really, really, really emotional show in every sense of the word.

[7:00] Mo Brady: So what day of the week was that?

[7:02] Emilie Battle: That was a Thursday and our final performance was Saturday night.

[7:06] Mo Brady: So what does the rest of the weekend look like for you?

[7:08] Emilie Battle: We kind of just had to like spring into action. We didn't really have time to process and you know, we kind of just had to tell them like where we wanted our flights booked to if we're going back to New York, if we're going home, had to pack up all of our stuff, which we were going to do anyway, because we're going to move to Detroit, but it was a little more final and just prepare all of our trunks and everything to be shipped back to wherever we were going, which some of us didn't really know. We worked so hard on that show. That show is an insane beast of a show in the best way. It's a vocal beast. Physically, you're dressed in leather. There's explosions. It's like it's all the amazing rock and rolly things jammed into one musical.

And we worked really, really hard on it and our cast was sensational. And so I kind of had the mindset of we worked our asses off on this show and there are still people that are paying to come see it these next few days. So I'm going to go out there and like take in these moments because I deserve it because of all the work I've put on it. The people on the show were also fantastic. And we all got very close very fast. So it was a lot of us just like soaking up moments. A couple of my friends and I decided to treat ourselves to like a lavish five star steak dinner on like Friday night. So yeah, it was just a lot of like soaking in moments and like enjoying those last few performances.

[8:23] Mo Brady: So did the final performance on Saturday night feel like a celebration or a funeral or both?

[8:31] Emilie Battle: It felt a bit like a funeral. It was sad. It was really somber. It was very emotional. I think we got a lot of our emotions out that Thursday night when we got our notice. There were a lot of really diehard Bat Out of Hell fans in Toronto that came on to see us. And so there was a lot of love in the audience. A lot of family members and friends kind of flew in to be there to support us. So there was a lot of love but it was definitely like we did that last curtain call and we were like, see you guys around I guess, you know. We weren't ready for that journey to end.

[9:03] Emilie Battle: We closed at the height of the excitement. Finally, we made it through tech and previews, which any actor knows is a lot, and a lot of work and exhausting. So we finally made it through that, and we were about to kick off this year-long tour together, and we all really liked each other, and we were just at the height of the excitement. And then it just got cut so short, so abruptly.

[9:26] Alan Seales: You flew out on Sunday?

[9:27] Emilie Battle: Yeah, I think I flew out on Sunday.

[9:29] Alan Seales: And did you have a place to stay?

[9:31] Emilie Battle: I didn't. No, I had subletted my apartment through the end of February.

[9:38] Emilie Battle: It was November at this moment. It's kind of funny because initially, before I left for tour, I was very stressed that I couldn't find anyone to sublet my place for the year.

[9:45] Alan Seales: Right.

[9:45] Emilie Battle: Because I didn't want to have to deal with it from the road. But now I'm like, thank God, because I don't know what I would have done. So I didn't have a place to stay. So from November to when I moved back into my apartment in February, I think I stayed in like eight different apartments and crashed with friends.

[10:02] Alan Seales: So when did Broadway Bounty Hunter come into your life as a possibility?

[10:06] Emilie Battle: Well, after Bat Out of Hell was interesting, because I had to actually take a second after that from auditions. Luckily, I think the theater community and casting and everyone was really behind us when we got back. And so I was lucky enough to have a lot of appointments right away for auditions. And I remember being in a callback for a very fancy show in front of very fancy people. And in that moment, I was like, what just happened? Like, I have no home. I'm in Pearl Studios. Again, I was supposed to be on tour. And in that moment, I was like, you need to take a break, you need to get your life settled. Everything was so unsettled at that moment. I took a couple months off to like, get back into my apartment, generate some sort of income, because I really believe that you don't do well in auditions when your soul is unsettled.

And I didn't want to present myself in an unsettled way to people. So I took a step back. Finally, when I got more settled, I felt ready to audition again. And one of the first auditions back was for Broadway Bounty Hunter.

[10:59] Alan Seales: So this was another show that closed early. How early?

[11:03] Emilie Battle: Not a year. We were supposed to run for about two months. I think a little over two months was our run. And we closed about a month early.

[11:11] Alan Seales: Did the experience on Bat Out of Hell perk up your ears for possibilities of closing?

[11:16] Emilie Battle: You would think, but no. Again, I was like, oh, it's a limited run. Like you can't close early in a two month run. Totally different experiences. I didn't go into it thinking like, hope this one doesn't close early. You know, I was super excited to do Broadway Bounty Hunter. It was like dream job for me. So I mean, it was just a joy all around. So despite closing early.

[11:43] Alan Seales: You said it was different. How did you find out about the Broadway Bounty Hunter closing?

[11:48] Emilie Battle: So Broadway Bounty Hunter, I mean, the same company meeting text, which this time I got, and I was like, you've got to be kidding me. I literally was like, this can't happen to me again this year. But this time, both of our incredible producers of Bounty Hunter came to the meeting and told us in person. They made themselves available. If we had any questions, they didn't go into the details of why, just because some people don't want to hear that. But they made themselves available to us if we wanted to know and if we had questions. And we were told like a few hours before our performance. We still had a performance that night, but it wasn't in 45 minutes.

[12:26] Alan Seales: How did you feel then compared to?

[12:28] Emilie Battle: My initial reaction was, I was really, really upset. But I think that came from mostly the fact that I had just been through it. And that my next show immediately after, I went through the same thing. And so I just remember being like, I can't believe this happened to me twice in one year. So I was really, really upset initially. But honestly, that show was so artistically fulfilling. We all like really believed in that show. And we all genuinely loved it and loved creating it. It was 1000% brand new and completely original and not based on a movie or a book. We were just a team of very creative people that loved creating it together. We were all sad, mostly because we believed in it so much and that we wanted it to have a nice life. So we were disappointed that it didn't get that. But you know, it's different situation in that I was here, I had my apartment, I didn't have to find places to stay. And you know, I was in New York. So it was a little less jarring.

[13:30] Alan Seales: You sort of alluded to the universe, you didn't think the universe would do this twice to you in one year?

[13:36] Emilie Battle: No.

[13:37] Alan Seales: How do you bounce back from that?

[13:40] Emilie Battle: I'm a big believer in allowing yourself to feel things. I think that there's such a pressure in this business to constantly keep going and to get back from Toronto and you'd have an appointment for this on Tuesday, and you got to go and, you know, and I think that sometimes we neglect to allow ourselves to like, feel and go through the emotions of what just happened to us and let ourselves be sad and let ourselves be angry. And I think when you allow yourself to have those feelings, then you can properly move on in a healthy way and eliminate any possibility of like bitterness towards this business. Years ago, I actually saw a lot of my friends in the business, you know, have their tours finish or their shows close.

And I kind of watched these actors I knew go through like a spiral, not having anything lined up and not knowing their next move. And I kind of learned very early on of being in the city that I didn't want to have to go through that every time a gig ended. And so I took some time off years ago and got certified to teach Pilates and became a personal trainer and built a business in that. And so I'm so happy that I did because it allows me when I got back to New York from Bat Out of Hell, I went right back to training my clients here and Broadway Bounty Hunter ended and the next week I was teaching a Pilates class at 7am in Soho and you know, and that has helped my soul so much because in these moments didn't have as much of a spiral as I think other people might because I have something else to do that I actually enjoy.

I learned early on that I needed something else to do that fed my soul and that I was proud to do and that allowed me flexibility and financial stability. And I'm so grateful that I have that because it's helped me stay positive and it's helped me move forward in this business and performing. So one of the myths about performance, I think is that idea that if you can love anything else, go do that. Don't be a performer if you can imagine yourself doing anything. No one decides to become an actor because it's like a nice, strong, stable career choice. Like I remember graduating from college and totally being led to believe you know, you do your showcase and you get an agent and if you get an agent out of showcase and you're gonna be on Broadway and you're gonna be like you're gonna work nonstop and that's how life happens.

And I remember in college a lot of performers, Broadway performers, whatever would come and talk to us and do masterclasses and they all had the story of really having a lot of success like straight out of the gate. I never even thought that there was any other possibility. And then as I was in this business and realized how the actual business works and the ups and downs and the things that people don't tell you about, I realized that it's not a failure or giving up if you have something else that feeds your soul that's not performing. I think it's just being smart. I don't want to have to worry about paying my rent every time a gig ends or how I'm going to afford health insurance or I don't want to live that life for the rest of my life.

Ideally, of course, I'll have a lot of constant success with performing and but if I don't, I've had a lot of success in the fitness industry as well. And it's been very fulfilling and it's something I'm proud of. And I think every actor experiences that moment when they're at like a party and people are like, what are you up to now? And if you're not up to anything, it's like it crushes your soul, right? Oh, I'm auditioning and you know, that same like generic response. And I was like, I want to have something that I'm proud of that I'm doing. And I'm proud to say that I teach Pilates and then I'm a personal trainer. I don't think it's a failure. I think do what makes you happy at the end of the day.

[17:27] Alan Seales: Special thanks to Emilie Battle for sharing her stories with us this week. You can learn more about her and how to connect with her online by visiting our website, theensemblist.com. You can help others find out about The Ensemblist by leaving us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also download episodes wherever you get your podcasts or at theensemblist.com. And make sure you're following us on Instagram. It's fall and we are pushing out photos and episodes. It's busy. We're back in. We're back in business, baby. All right. Thanks for listening, guys. Until next time.