This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Alan Seales: Welcome to another episode of The Theatre Podcast. I'm Alan Seales, and this episode is with Harrison Chad, who actually made his Broadway debut at age six. And he's been in shows like Les Mis and Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan. He's actually done a lot of voiceover work as well, which is very interesting. I didn't even realize that before I ever met him, before I knew him, that I've been listening to him as the voice of Tarzan in Tarzan 2 with my two little kids who watch that movie all the time. This episode is actually really cool. In the conversation with him, we got into what it was like being a child actor and moving, you know, going out to LA, not moving out there, but, you know, temporarily relocating to go record all the stuff for Tarzan 2.

And growing up, I guess, being on the Broadway stage, but still trying to live a normal life. And it kind of puts in perspective for me that as a kid, I remember my own childhood and it just, you know, as a kid, you don't have a lot of frame of reference sometimes. And for me as well, growing up, it was what it was. And for child actors, I can definitely see how they kind of grow up and kind of sometimes go crazy, I guess, for lack of a better term. And Harrison did not. He seems like a totally normal guy. Very cool to talk to. I've actually chatted with him several times. And he's just a normal guy every single time. And I don't know why that's surprising, but it just is. So Harrison, you're a cool guy. Keep being cool. And everybody else, please enjoy this episode with Harrison Chad.

[1:44] Alan Seales: Here you go. One, two, three. Making his Broadway debut at age six, he's been in shows like Les Mis, Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, and also has done notable voiceover work in shows such as Dora the Explorer, Little Einsteins, and even movies such as The Voice of Tarzan in Tarzan 2, which is one of my kids' absolute favorite movies. In addition to transitioning from stage to screen, he's also a producer and now currently stars as Noah in the podcast musical Loveville High. And according to his Instagram bio, actor, manchild, lover of bagels, hater of pigeons, Harrison Chad, thank you for joining me today.

[2:25] Harrison Chad: Yeah, thanks for having me.

[2:26] Alan Seales: What do you have against pigeons?

[2:28] Harrison Chad: So this is actually, I've been afraid of pigeons for a very long time. That's not your coffee.

[2:34] Alan Seales: No, I put my empty teacup in my mouth.

[2:37] Harrison Chad: No, so I was about 10 years old, sitting on the side of 46th Street on like a fire extinguisher that was next to the Howard Johnson's that used to be there. It's not like an Aeropostale or something like that. And about 10 pigeons pooped all over my head. And I immediately threw up and started hysterically crying all at the same time. And then I was in Beauty and the Beast at the time. So I had a show later that night. So we got like, we went into a room at the Marriott Marquis across the street. And my mom like bathed me as I was crying and throwing up. And ever since that moment, it's just gotten worse over time. And I think I should probably see somebody about it. Or maybe just continue to fear them. I don't know. They're scary and dirty. They're like rats with wings.

[3:38] Alan Seales: That's all the time we have for this podcast. Thank you for coming. No, let's start off where we really start off on this podcast. Let's talk about your childhood. Born in Plainville, New York?

[3:50] Harrison Chad: Yeah. Long Island. Strong Island. 516.

[3:56] Alan Seales: And Broadway debut at age six. But I assume there was stuff leading up to the Broadway debut. What was your childhood?

[4:04] Harrison Chad: Honestly, there wasn't much. I started acting. I did shows at my family's Passover Seders that my cousins and I would write. And then my uncle had a friend who was a manager in New York City, but the office was in Westchester. It was weird. And my uncle was like, you should go because you have great facial expressions. And I was like, sure. I'm six. I don't know. I was like a normal six-year-old kid. Went to meet with the manager. They sent me out on commercial auditions, stuff like that. And then I got an audition for Peter Pan on Broadway. They were doing a sit-down production of it with Cathy Rigby in New York. And I went in. I'd never been to a dance call. I never sang really in a show or anything. I went in and I sang Tender Shepherd and did the dance call. And I booked it. And it was a great summer. And it really gave me the bug for theater. And then while I was in Peter Pan, I booked Dora the Explorer.

[5:14] Alan Seales: Really?

[5:15] Harrison Chad: Yeah. So it was really quick that it went just from nothing to like, oh, wow, now I'm going to start a career in this.

[5:22] Alan Seales: How did you know to audition for Dora then? Were your parents encouraging you because of like, oh my gosh, look at this facial expressions on this kid?

[5:31] Harrison Chad: No. It was like I started doing this. I would audition. And I did commercials, stuff like that, for the first couple months. And then when you start getting auditions, you start getting more auditions and getting more opportunities. And all of a sudden voiceovers came. And I did Dora. And then now I've done voiceovers my whole life, which is crazy to me.

[5:55] Alan Seales: Was it you that wanted to do it? Or did your parents kind of like shut you out the door?

[5:58] Harrison Chad: No, my parents were like so down with doing whatever I wanted to do. It was like if I didn't, I always wanted to do it. Like the second that I started doing it, I was like, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. I need to just perform. And then whenever I was not doing it, that's what I wanted to be doing. So I really enjoyed it. My parents were always like very supportive and kept me in school. Like school was always number one. It was like acting for me as a child was like a varsity sport. If I didn't do well in school, I couldn't do the varsity sport. I couldn't act.

[6:36] Alan Seales: No kidding? But I always...

[6:38] Harrison Chad: How did that work? When you have two show days, matinees obviously are during the school day.

[6:41] Harrison Chad: Yeah, my friends were jealous that I got to leave early. I would go to school normally five days a week, but then on Wednesdays, I would leave at like 12:30, like half day.

[6:50] Alan Seales: So you have to make up the work? Or do you have to go to the theater?

[6:54] Harrison Chad: I would get out of the theater at 11 o'clock, get in the car. My parents drove me to the city and back every day. It was crazy. I'm so lucky that I have them as my parents. And I would do my homework in the car and then wake up at 7 a.m. and go to school for the day and then go do a show at night. It was a wild thing.

[7:12] Alan Seales: I've always wondered about that. You see these kids in an ensemble cast, such as Matilda, where you've got tons of kids, School of Rock kids, that all of them, 6 a.m., 7 a.m., they're getting them going to school and then they're staying out until 10 or 11 p.m. at night on these late days. Did it take a toll on you? Were you kind of a walking zombie?

[7:36] Harrison Chad: No. Well, I am always tired. I don't think that's why. But I think it made me know how to be productive when I'm busy. That's one of the things that I picked up the most. When I'm not busy, I am very unproductive. When I'm super busy, I am so productive. It helped me really well with time management skills because I had to do my homework from 2 to 3 or 3 to 4 and then get in the car and go to the city and do a Broadway show. I didn't have time to play video games. I mean, I hung out with my friends, but I had to be very specific with how I managed my time. I think that's translated well as an adult when I've been busy. When I'm not busy, I don't manage my time well at all.

[8:27] Alan Seales: Sorry. I picture you walking around the playground like Boss Baby with your little suit on.

[8:33] Harrison Chad: It was weird.

[8:34] Alan Seales: You're like, all right. So, little Susie, I have time for you from 2 to 3 p.m. And then I would go to the city. No, it was weird. I lived two lives. I would be a kid when I was with kids, and then when I would go into the city, I was very much a professional adult, even though I was still a child.

[8:52] Alan Seales: Did you know how lucky you were to get that? Because people try their whole lives to get on stage.

[9:01] Harrison Chad: I know. That's what I'm trying to do now.

[9:02] Alan Seales: As an adult.

[9:03] Harrison Chad: Yeah, try to get their whole lives to get on stage, and you did it at six.

[9:06] Harrison Chad: Yeah, it felt so normal that when I was in the moment of it, there would be moments where people would tell me that, and I would take it in. But I didn't really understand what I was doing at the moment. But now looking back, I totally understand how cool it was and how lucky I was that that was my... I had an amazing, cool, different childhood. And so I'm really thankful for that.

[9:36] Alan Seales: Were you treated differently in school at all?

[9:39] Harrison Chad: Yeah, a little bit. I mean, not much. People thought it was like, some of the things I did were cool, and some people were jealous. But I was a normal kid in school. I had a group of friends. Nobody made it into a bigger thing than it was.

[9:57] Alan Seales: Yeah, that's nice. With Dora the Explorer, people would tend to not make fun of me, but ask me to do the voice all the time, which started to get annoying as I got older. But looking back, I was like, that was still cool that I got to do that.

[10:13] Alan Seales: Right. And then Tarzan. Tell me about that. How'd you get that?

[10:20] Harrison Chad: Yeah, that was a long process. I auditioned for that for about six months to a year in callbacks and stuff like that.

[10:28] Alan Seales: Really? It took that long?

[10:28] Harrison Chad: Yeah, because, well, to make that film... I don't know if it still takes this long to make animated films, because they make it a little differently now. But it took, I think, seven years from start to finish to completely make that movie.

[10:42] Alan Seales: It's like a Broadway show.

[10:44] Harrison Chad: Yeah, it was a really long process. And it was also from existing materials, so they really wanted a specific voice to match the kid that had done it previously. But then once I got it, it was an amazing experience. I got to go out to LA five or six times, worked with Glenn Close, George Carlin, all these massive stars. And I was in LA. It was a really cool experience as a child to be... I had to take a week off from Les Mis or two weeks off from Les Mis to go out to LA to record a movie. It was just a really cool experience. And to be in a booth where you're playing Tarzan, this famed Disney character, is crazy.

[11:28] Harrison Chad: Yeah. I'm a part of that. I'm part of Disney history. It's pretty awesome. When you get your residuals, think of me, because my kids watch it all the damn time.

[11:41] Harrison Chad: I'm kind of conflicted about if my kids want to start going down that path because you hear stories about child actors like your Lindsay Lohan. No offense, Lindsay, if you're listening. And these kids who kind of just kind of get sucked up into this world of having everything at their fingertips. And I just met you the other night and you seem like a pretty normal guy. Yeah, it's all, I honestly think the best way if you were ever to get your kids into this, if they, well, first of all, they have to really like it. If they don't like it, they're not going to turn out well. It's not going to turn out well. But if they like it, just keep them in normal school and just like have them have friends, make sure that it's not the only thing they have.

Because as an adult, you have to be a well-rounded person and you learn that as a kid. Like when you think back at school, you don't really remember specifics like, I learned thermodynamics. I mean, some people do. But you remember your relationships. You remember those crushes you had or the people that you spoke to. And you remember those experiences like in Loveville High, where like people, you remember how you can talk to someone and how you can relate to someone else. Whereas if you're just performing all the time, 24-7, you sometimes lose that.

[13:08] Alan Seales: Yeah. Yeah. You need perspective, I guess. And being grounded on getting your hopes and dreams crushed by normal people you're in love with. It's crazy because I have had so much rejection in my life that it's just normal to me. My friends who, when we graduated college, would start to apply for jobs, they applied for five, six jobs. I've gotten rejected from all of them. I get rejected from five or six jobs a month. That's part of the business of acting, is learning how to deal with the rejection and figure out how to use it.

[13:51] Harrison Chad: That's funny. That's funny. So let's talk about Loveville High. You mentioned that you play the character of Noah. Who is Noah?

[13:57] Harrison Chad: Noah. Well, I love the name Noah. Noah was my name in Caroline or Change. It's also the name of my nephew, who's a newborn, and he's so cute. And I love him so much. Newborns are the best. Ugh, I love him so much.

[14:09] Alan Seales: So they poop on you.

[14:10] Harrison Chad: I want them to poop all. No, that's weird.

[14:13] Alan Seales: Nope. Nope.

[14:15] Harrison Chad: So Noah is like... Remember the pigeons.

[14:16] Alan Seales: Yeah, right.

[14:16] Harrison Chad: Noah's a bro-y dude in Loveville High. We're in the locker room. I'm hanging out with my friend Kyle, who just might have fallen off a roof or possibly got injured. It's not clear to my character what happened, but we're in a locker room and a lot of feelings get expressed. And we sing a lot of songs, not maybe that you would think feelings get expressed, that we're in love with each other, but in a bro way, in a dude way. We're straight men who love each other a lot. Highly, highly respectful of each other.

[14:57] Alan Seales: Yeah, I guess we... I think we talked about this in the opening night party the other night we were meeting. So yeah, for those listening, go back to that episode, which will probably be out before this one, I'm pretty sure. So we'll splice that all together. But it's interesting to me... I've said this before about Loveville High, the differences in the relationships, the differences in the representation. And when you were sent the script, why did you say, right, I'm gonna do this. This is something that I'm gonna put my name to.

[15:29] Harrison Chad: Yeah, well, I really resonated with it. I mean, I've had a lot of relationships with like bro friends, where it just... A lot of guys feel like it's shameful to express your feelings to each other in a very serious and loving way. And especially with my friends from home and college, I've always been very... My friends and I have always been really open with each other and very straightforward, said exactly how we feel. And I think that was really clear in the script that was sent to me. And it's just a loving story of two guys who are just in a locker room expressing their feelings for each other, even though it gets a little haywire at the end.

[16:17] Alan Seales: What episode number is it?

[16:17] Harrison Chad: It's five.

[16:17] Alan Seales: Episode five. Okay. Have you recorded it? It's all recorded?

[16:21] Harrison Chad: Yeah, it's all recorded. The most fun about recording it was that... So we got in the studio, we were working a ton. And then at the end, we were gonna be done. And I remember Troy and I, Troy Iwata is the other character in this episode. And I remember we looked at... We were just like, can we just try it one more time? Just to play around, see? Because we were really warm at that moment and feeling each other... Well, feeling each other's presence. We were feeling each... You know what I mean. And then we did one last take, and it was amazing. And it might have even been some of what they used. And so that felt really great. And the collaboration of the episode came to a full circle moment. At the end, we're like... At the beginning of the day, we came in and it was like, we were feeling it out. And then by the end, we were warm enough to just be like, let's do it one more time and just really go for it.

[17:23] Alan Seales: Did you know him before rehearsing with him?

[17:27] Harrison Chad: I literally met him... So the night before was opening night of Be More Chill off Broadway at the Signature Theatre. And I'm very good friends with Joe Iconis and Jen Tepper and Will Roland and all that. I'm in the family with Joe. And so I was at the opening night, and we were both there, but we didn't meet each other at the party. And then we met each other the next morning at the studio in Soho.

[17:52] Alan Seales: Oh, that's fun.

[17:52] Harrison Chad: Yeah, it was kind of cool.

[17:54] Alan Seales: So you had just literally...

[17:55] Harrison Chad: It was like a cosmic meeting.

[17:58] Alan Seales: But you only had the day. When you're doing stage productions, you'll have table reads and weeks and weeks of rehearsals.

[18:05] Harrison Chad: Well, we had a music rehearsal prior to recording it to learn the songs.

[18:13] Harrison Chad: Yeah, but it's definitely... I mean, it goes with voiceovers. That's typically... There's very few times where you do a lot of rehearsal for voiceovers, because you have opportunities in the booth to do different takes or different spins or whatever you want to do with that line or song, and you can work it while you're actually doing it. Whereas with theater, you could rehearse something for six weeks and get to a point of, okay, this is what choice I want to make or what I want to do with it. It's just a different process. But I think that when you're in a booth, there's some sort of freedom to just knowing what to do. And I've been doing it now since I'm six, so I have a feel for how you can do different variations of stuff to really elicit different feelings.

[19:09] Alan Seales: Do you still do a lot of VO work?

[19:10] Harrison Chad: Yeah, I do. Well, actually, I do it all. I do mostly commercials now, so radio spots, whatever it may be. And I audition for a lot of animated stuff still, but I'm trying to get more.

[19:27] Alan Seales: What's the most recent thing you've done?

[19:29] Harrison Chad: Like voiceover-wise?

[19:30] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[19:30] Harrison Chad: I did a Geico spot recently.

[19:32] Alan Seales: Did you really?

[19:32] Harrison Chad: Yeah, where I played a surfer dude.

[19:36] Alan Seales: Were you on camera or was it a VO?

[19:37] Harrison Chad: No, no, no, it was a VO.

[19:39] Harrison Chad: It was like there was a wave pool in the office, and two people were like, Donna, did you hear that there's a wave pool in the office? And she's like, what's going on? I hope we haven't heard, blah, blah, blah. And then I come in at the end, I'm like, hey, bros, hang 10, come join. Jeffrey from accounting is doing some surf moves. That was it. That's how I get the big bucks.

[20:07] Alan Seales: Dude, national commercials, man. That's where it's at.

[20:09] Harrison Chad: I mean, no, it's a fun thing to do.

[20:13] Alan Seales: It'll pay your rent.

[20:14] Harrison Chad: Yeah.

[20:15] Alan Seales: 2016, made your producing debut.

[20:20] Harrison Chad: Yeah.

[20:20] Alan Seales: Off-Broadway.

[20:21] Harrison Chad: I did. I produced a show off-Broadway called Straight at the Acorn Theater in New York. That was a really cool experience. I got to learn. I've always been interested. This is since I was a little kid at doing all of the jobs in theater. Literally, I remember when I was in Peter Pan, I was the understudy for Michael Darling, the youngest kid, so I wasn't on all the time. I remember going up to the conductor and being like, can I sit in the pit and watch the show with you and see what you do? Then I sat in the pit and watched what that looks like. Then I sat in Beauty and the Beast. I remember sitting with the stage manager and watching her call a show. Throughout my whole life, I've always been interested in exploring all the different opportunities that theater has to offer.

Then I was presented with this opportunity to go into the foray of producing. It was a really, really interesting eye-opening experience to learn how shows actually get made in terms of money, in terms of marketing, in terms of public relations. It completely widened my perspective. Instead of just being an actor who knows a lot about art stuff within it, like the music or directing, whatever that may be, producing also encompasses so much of business that I picked up a lot of cool tips and stuff that has helped me now moving forward.

[22:02] Alan Seales: Was there something that was utterly just surprising to you that you would have had no clue otherwise?

[22:02] Harrison Chad: Nothing that was too... nothing that's groundbreaking. It was just a really cool experience to see how you have to buy ads on the side of subways or on the side of-

[22:14] Alan Seales: Buses.

[22:15] Harrison Chad: Buses, right. It's that kind of thing. Now that when I walk through the city and I see buses, oh, Hamilton's doing a new campaign? What? Why are they doing that? It makes you think differently about how people promote stuff. Also, in terms of literally the connection between the producer and director and the creative team and how notes get handled and stuff like that, it's really interesting to learn that side of the business. As an actor, it's important to know that stuff because it just makes you more equipped to help you move your career forward.

[22:53] Alan Seales: Do you want to do more of that, you think?

[22:55] Harrison Chad: Yeah. I mean, if the right thing comes up, I would definitely be interested in producing more. I've been focusing a lot more on acting and writing now, but it's definitely something that I want to do more of.

[23:07] Harrison Chad: What are you writing? I've been writing this... it's weird. I've been working on this show that I've wanted to make for so long. It's called The Rosies. In the early 1900s, I don't know if I've told anybody about this.

[23:22] Harrison Chad: I've told some of my friends, but basically, in the early 1900s, there was a basketball team in Cleveland called the Cleveland Rosenbaums or Rosenblooms. It was a real team. And Cleveland Rosenblooms, Max Rosenbloom, who's like a real guy, was the head of a department store in Cleveland. And I'm obsessed with basketball. It's like my passion. So, they started this all Jewish basketball team called the Rosenblooms. And in the first season, it was in a league that was a predecessor to the NBA. In the first season, they went to New York and beat this all African American team in New York in basketball in the early 1900s. And it's an amazing story. And there's very little info on it, except for what I just told you. There's little articles and stuff. And so, I've been working on the pilot of that, trying to get it off its feet.

[24:17] Alan Seales: Is it a TV show?

[24:18] Harrison Chad: I think it's a TV show. It could be a TV show or like a miniseries. But I want it. It's definitely filmed. I don't see it as like a stage thing.

[24:27] Alan Seales: What about a podcast?

[24:28] Harrison Chad: It could be a podcast. It could be a radio play.

[24:31] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[24:32] Harrison Chad: Hi, I'm Max Rosenblum reporting live from the Rosie's game. I don't know. Yeah, it could be. You could just do all the voices yourself.

[24:41] Alan Seales: Oh my god. Wow. You want to be a producer of it?

[24:44] Harrison Chad: Sure. Let's do it.

[24:45] Alan Seales: Wait, that's actually a great idea. I'm stealing that.

[24:48] Harrison Chad: All right. You heard it first. You can own the copyright for what comes out of your mouth. So, I really like that idea.

[24:57] Alan Seales: Yeah, it's a fun... I mean, I guess it would sort of... I think the vein I see it in is maybe in similar world of like Maisel. Like that kind of like feel to it, but about basketball and just like kids playing basketball. I don't know.

[25:13] Harrison Chad: Dude, sports podcasts.

[25:16] Alan Seales: Yeah, I am into sports podcasts.

[25:18] Harrison Chad: There you go. A scripted sports podcast.

[25:21] Alan Seales: Oh, cha-ching.

[25:23] Harrison Chad: Money.

[25:24] Alan Seales: Add money.

[25:25] Harrison Chad: There you go, producer. Let's make it happen. Going back to Phoebe and Tilm.

[25:31] Alan Seales: Oh, yeah. Phoebe and Tilm.

[25:32] Harrison Chad: Yeah. Film and TV. As an adult, you've done less theater than you did as a kid.

[25:37] Alan Seales: Yeah. Well, it's not by choice.

[25:40] Harrison Chad: I was going to ask about that.

[25:41] Harrison Chad: I've just been... I auditioned for everything. I just did a show with David and Eric who wrote Loveville High called The F-ing Wright Brothers. I don't know how censored this podcast should be. It's the full F-ing word. And that was a really cool experience we did in the Fringe Festival. Hopefully, there will be more life to that show because I had such a blast doing it. But yeah, I've been doing a lot of TV. I just did an episode of Murphy Brown, which is really cool. That was the first time I'd ever done a live studio audience multicam show. And it was an awesome experience. It's like the weirdest mix of schmackty theater, but also TV because you get to do a couple takes, but we only did three or four takes of the show, of the scene that I was in.

And it was just such a fun experience. Candice Bergen was the nicest person I've ever met and a brilliant, brilliant, talented person. She was hilarious in every way. My only experience with Candice is I went to a party the other night and walked in ahead of her and held the door for her and she said, thank you.

[27:01] Alan Seales: Oh, that is so Candice. She says, thank you. She's the best.

[27:06] Harrison Chad: You've also been in Hearts Beat Loud, which-

[27:10] Alan Seales: Oh God, you know what? Wait, you want to hear what happened?

[27:12] Harrison Chad: Yeah, of course.

[27:14] Harrison Chad: So I'm not actually in the movie.

[27:15] Alan Seales: Wait, what?

[27:16] Harrison Chad: I got cut out of the movie.

[27:17] Alan Seales: Wait, what?

[27:18] Harrison Chad: What?

[27:22] Harrison Chad: And you know how I found out? Okay, so I filmed this scene where Kiersey Clemons, in one of the first scenes of the movie, I go up to her, I hit on her, but I'm kind of a dick. I'm really mean. I'm not like, I'm like, hey, what's up? You want to go on a date, blah, blah. We have a whole little scene. So it was an amazing experience. Brett, the director, was so cool. We did it in Brooklyn. It was very fun.

[27:48] Alan Seales: You got on Red Hook.

[27:48] Harrison Chad: Fast forward, yeah, Red Hook. I live near there now, so I go by all the place. Okay. So fast forward six to six months, right? And the movie, it's ramping up. I'm seeing all like marketing. I'm like, yeah, this is cool. I'm like in one scene of this awesome movie with Nick Offerman, like, whoa. And then a week before the premiere, I get an email from the lead producer saying, hey, Harrison, we're so sorry. Good news and bad news. Good news is we'd love to invite you to the premiere. Bad news is we had to cut your scene because it just flow in time. It just didn't work. And so I got very sad.

[28:34] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[28:35] Harrison Chad: But it was still a fun experience. I had a good time. And luckily, he told me because apparently there have been other actors who have been cut out of things and just never known that that happened. Also, I'm lucky I did not really publicize it at all. Like I told my friends and family. But if I had publicized it and then the movie came out and everyone was like, I didn't see you. Where were you in that movie? I didn't see. It would have been way more embarrassing.

[29:05] Alan Seales: Yeah. I like watching deleted scenes and whatnot.

[29:07] Harrison Chad: Maybe it's in a delete. It might be.

[29:09] Alan Seales: Yeah. Would you get the Blu-ray yet?

[29:11] Harrison Chad: I don't even. What is Blu-ray?

[29:14] Alan Seales: That's so 2018.

[29:16] Harrison Chad: Yeah. Netflix needs to put out Blu-ray extra content.

[29:21] Alan Seales: Oh, that would be cool.

[29:23] Harrison Chad: What was it? FX or FXX?

[29:24] Alan Seales: FXXXX.

[29:25] Harrison Chad: FXXXXX would do like DVD on TV or whatever it was.

[29:30] Alan Seales: Oh, where you could like. I used to watch. Oh my God.

[29:33] Harrison Chad: They would say like, okay, here's the movie. Now we're cutting.

[29:35] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[29:35] Harrison Chad: And here's the deleted scene.

[29:37] Alan Seales: Well, I used to watch. There was a company back in the day called Infinity Film. I watched this movie. So Austin Powers, gold member. I had the Infinity Film version. And the thing, I loved it so much. I wanted to come back because you would be watching the movie and all of a sudden something would pop up and I'd be like, do you want to know how that stunt was made? And you would click yes. And then it would be like a 30 second or like a minute long like video explanation showing behind the scenes. And then it would be like, then, you know, every minute would be or two minutes would something else would pop up being like, do you want to know like how Michael Caine got cast as this role? And then it would cut to Michael Caine like being like, well, you know, talking about this. And then I went to meet with Mike Myers, like whatever it may be. You know what I mean?

[30:26] Harrison Chad: Right.

[30:27] Alan Seales: And then it was, I was, I was obsessed with it. I was obsessed with it.

[30:30] Harrison Chad: I think it was a Universal Pictures.

[30:32] Alan Seales: Infinity Film.

[30:33] Harrison Chad: Or was it Universal? I think it was. I mean, there was probably another version.

[30:37] Alan Seales: I'm pressing the remote with my hand here.

[30:39] Harrison Chad: Yeah.

[30:40] Alan Seales: Whatever.

[30:40] Harrison Chad: Like seen it.

[30:41] Alan Seales: Seen it.

[30:42] Harrison Chad: Seen it.

[30:43] Alan Seales: Great.

[30:44] Harrison Chad: No, I love that behind the scenes stuff. And then, but Hearts Be Loud. Great movie. Hearts Be Loud.

[30:49] Harrison Chad: So bad. Look, look for, look for Harrison Chad in the deleted scenes. And then you were also on Smash.

[30:55] Harrison Chad: I was on Smash. I was a small role on that. I, so Christian Burrell and Deborah Messing's characters were writers on the show. And they had written a show called Three on a Match. That was like a show that had sort of put them on the map a little bit. And I was in a high school production of it. So they had gone to see, it was like the thousandth regional or high school production. So it was a very special event. And so they came to see us and I got to sing a song and like do a couple of lines on stage while they were watching. But the coolest part about that was that because I sang in it, I got to go into a studio with Mark Shaman and Scott Whitman. And they wrote a song about Three on a Match.

Like, so let us raise a glass to them, whatever. I got to work in the studio with them in this fancy TV recording studio. And so that was a really awesome combination because it was not just, usually with TV work, the day player, you show up for the day, you work, you get out, you do not really get to meet the people and really work on it. So that was definitely a cool experience.

[32:12] Alan Seales: One of your credits that I am most curious about is credited as a dancer on SNL last year.

[32:18] Harrison Chad: Yeah, last year I was, I did an episode. So Will Ferrell was the host and I got to be, he was doing like this 50s singer bit where he was a 50s singer singing, it was very, it was like about the Me Too movement where he was singing like all these like very doo-woppy songs where he's like, blah, blah, blah. But he was singing about being interested in young women. And the two, like Kate McKinnon was like, wait a minute, like, why is he singing about being into young ladies? So we were just, I was in the background with a couple of friends, like dancing too. Like I was on like American bandstand basically, but that was a really cool experience.

[33:00] Alan Seales: Okay. So it was just like, I wasn't a dancer. That's what I was asking. I was like, I didn't think you were, you had formal dance training.

[33:05] Harrison Chad: Well, excuse me. Is that just based on my body type?

[33:10] Alan Seales: Based on your credits.

[33:10] Harrison Chad: Yeah, no, I'm definitely, I would say I'm a bar mitzvah dancer. Like on the dance floor of a bar mitzvah, I'm rocking out, but def not like front line at a dance call. Although I'm down to learn anything. That is now the title of this episode. Harrison Chad, bar mitzvah dancer.

[33:29] Harrison Chad: Bar mitzvah dancer, yeah. Yes, that's right. When, as a child, you saw a lot of theater success and now you're seeing different kinds of success as an adult. Are you, do you struggle at all with not being...

[33:41] Harrison Chad: I struggle a lot. No, sorry. Do you struggle at all with not being more involved with theater now? You know, it's, the thing is I'm still in the community of it and I'm always like work, I'm working on like a lot of workshops and stuff like that. I just haven't been on Broadway since I was a child. So no, I don't struggle with that because I'm still, I feel like I'm a part of the community and I'm always involved in stuff that's going on. I see a lot of theater. I like work on a lot of theater. So it just, because like the success is different, I still appreciate it and I just appreciate it in a different way. Right. And I think the best part about theater is like the collective aspect of it, where like I am friends with all these people now that are going off and being in Be More Chill and working on the show that a lot of people are making their Broadway debuts.

And I worked on a show with Joe Iconis called The Black Suits a couple of years ago and he like welcomed me into this world. And even though I'm not in the show or producing the show or working on the show in literally any way, I'm a fan of the show and I'm a fan of the people and that's just as important as being in it. Because like a show does not exist, especially theater, a show does not exist.

[35:04] Harrison Chad: Unless people go see it. Like, there could be a show where literally nobody goes to see it. And then only the people that saw it will remember what it was or how special it was. And that's what's so awesome about theater is like, I might not be in a Broadway show right now, but I have tons of friends who are and that makes me happy because their success makes me happy. And like, I hope one day to be back there again. But like, it's not something where I'm nervous that it's not going to happen because you just have to stay positive and confident.

[35:38] Alan Seales: Different kind of success. I really like that answer. Yeah. Very respectful answer. And today, obviously, through the magic of time, podcast time travel, this will come out weeks after we record it. Today is day five of the union strike. You mentioned the workshops and stuff. How do you feel? Like you said, you do a lot of workshops now you're not able to.

[35:57] Harrison Chad: Yeah. Well, yeah, the strike just, I mean, who knows how long this was on. But I think, well, basically, I think that it's an important fight to have. And I think this is a smart way to go about it because nothing will change unless you really stand up for what you believe in. If people were just continuing to do labs, nothing would really change. So I think this will get the bug going on more communication and hopefully something will get done to improve that level. It's weird though, because now I've been on the producing side. So I understand what the other side is coming from, but it's time. It's been a long time since things have changed in terms of being a part of profit sharing or whatever it may be. So I think it's time that something changes. And if the union feels this is the way to go about it, then I'm so for it.

[37:01] Alan Seales: Well, for listeners who don't know what the strike is about, can you summarize it?

[37:04] Harrison Chad: Well, basically, when actors do a lab, a lab is like a workshop where you are in a room for maybe a week and you're developing material. And the pay scale is pretty low. But a lot of people do labs in the hopes that they will be a part of the show in the future. Now, a lot of times what happens is you will do a lab or a workshop of a Broadway show that isn't a Broadway show yet. But in five years from the time that you do the workshop, that show becomes a Broadway show. It takes years. It takes years and years and years. And the person who helped develop that, an actor who played one of the roles, maybe they came up with the funniest line that ends up in the Broadway show. But it's because you're in the rehearsal process and you come up with it.

They get no anything from it except for like, yeah, that person knows that they did that. So basically, equity is fighting for something more than just a small contract, whether it be profit sharing in the end where you actually get some percentage of what happens in the Broadway show, or you get paid more during the lab to subsidize that. I'm all for it. I think anything that is more inclusive of everybody doing well financially will move us forward as a community. Because it's not going to hurt the big Broadway producers to do this unless the show is mega successful.

[38:39] Alan Seales: Right.

[38:40] Harrison Chad: Which most Broadway shows aren't.

[38:43] Alan Seales: Yeah, they run for a season or two and then they start touring.

[38:46] Harrison Chad: Yeah. I mean, I guess it's a big conversation though. And it's hard because the balance of power is really a little bit stilted right now.

[38:54] Alan Seales: Yeah. So now the strike is equity barring equity members from participating in workshops. So people who were in workshops last week, I mean, workshops, the longest workshop you could be in really is like four weeks. So people who are in workshops of it, of the shows that they were doing, literally walked out of their rehearsal rooms and just aren't going to go back, which will take a huge toll on producers.

[39:19] Harrison Chad: Yeah. Well, on a more positive note.

[39:22] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[39:23] Harrison Chad: But we have three closing questions here that we ask everybody on the podcast. Very simply. First, what motivates you?

[39:29] Harrison Chad: My family.

[39:35] Alan Seales: Family.

[39:35] Harrison Chad: Two in a row for family.

[39:37] Alan Seales: Yeah. My family really motivates me.

[39:40] Harrison Chad: I love that. The most loving family in the world. And I want to be successful and do well and be happy so that they are all happy for me. Does that make any sense?

[39:56] Alan Seales: No, that's super nice. I mean, I want to do well so that they are happy. Do you know what I mean?

[40:04] Harrison Chad: Like Jewish guilt.

[40:06] Alan Seales: Yeah. Yeah. Because if I don't do well, then they'll feel bad and vice versa.

[40:12] Harrison Chad: No, it makes sense. It makes sense in my mind.

[40:15] Alan Seales: No, we get it.

[40:17] Harrison Chad: And I also want them to be very happy and successful and do what they love because that will make me happy for them.

[40:25] Alan Seales: Yes.

[40:26] Harrison Chad: I just want my entire family to be very successful and very happy. And that's what motivates me is my family. I want my family to just be content, which they are, but I want them to always be content.

[40:40] Alan Seales: Okay.

[40:43] Harrison Chad: There's no wrong answer.

[40:43] Alan Seales: No, there's no wrong answer.

[40:45] Harrison Chad: You're just like, okay.

[40:47] Alan Seales: That's one of those big X's from Family Feud.

[40:50] Harrison Chad: Yeah.

[40:51] Alan Seales: Oh my god, I love Family Feud outtakes.

[40:54] Harrison Chad: Yes.

[40:54] Alan Seales: Or just whenever Steve Harvey has to say something really inappropriate.

[41:00] Harrison Chad: I'll tell you guys, I don't know how X-rated I can get on this. There's a very funny one where my friends and I always laugh. I'll tell you guys after. It's very funny.

[41:10] Alan Seales: Bonus content.

[41:11] Harrison Chad: Okay.

[41:11] Alan Seales: I'll show you guys the video.

[41:12] Harrison Chad: All right.

[41:13] Alan Seales: What advice would you give to your younger self and younger people listening now starting out down a similar path?

[41:21] Harrison Chad: Ooh, I think my advice to myself would be live in the moment and enjoy every single second and always stop and realize no matter where you are on your journey or path, just enjoy every moment. Be present in the moment because it's really hard to do that. And as I get older and older, I mean, I'm not that much older now, but I'm 26. But that's just the thing that I want to do so badly for the rest of my life is live in the moment of now and just enjoy every opportunity you get, whether it's a failure or a success. Just take it in and understand that it's part of who you are and don't let rejection get you down.

[42:18] Alan Seales: That's an important thing too.

[42:19] Harrison Chad: That is a good one. A lot of people will appreciate that.

[42:22] Alan Seales: Final question here. If you could only see one show for the rest of your life, but you can see it as many times as you want, what show would you see?

[42:31] Harrison Chad: I should have prepared this. Wow. If I could only see one show.

[42:38] Harrison Chad: Well, my favorite show ever is The Producers.

[42:45] Alan Seales: It has to be a live show?

[42:46] Harrison Chad: Yeah. Or can it be a movie?

[42:49] Alan Seales: Let's do one of each.

[42:50] Harrison Chad: Well, okay. They're both Mel Brooks. The Producers, the staged production, I would watch that every day of my life.

[43:03] Alan Seales: What movie then?

[43:05] Harrison Chad: So the movie would be Robin Hood Men in Tights.

[43:07] Alan Seales: Yes.

[43:08] Harrison Chad: It's my favorite film on this planet. I love that movie. And I have watched it well over, like hundreds, hundreds of times.

[43:16] Alan Seales: I think we just became best friends.

[43:18] Harrison Chad: Yes.

[43:18] Alan Seales: And I'm waiting for the day when that becomes a Broadway show.

[43:22] Harrison Chad: You heard it here.

[43:24] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[43:26] Harrison Chad: Hey Mel, if you're listening.

[43:28] Alan Seales: Do you know Mel Brooks?

[43:30] Harrison Chad: No.

[43:30] Alan Seales: I almost wrote, oh, do you want to hear something cool about Mel Brooks?

[43:33] Harrison Chad: Yeah.

[43:34] Alan Seales: I handed him his first Tony Award.

[43:37] Harrison Chad: Really?

[43:39] Alan Seales: Back when I was a kid. So when I was in Beauty and the Beast, instead of having one year, the Tony Award Committee, that's what it's called, the Broadway League.

[43:53] Harrison Chad: Yes.

[43:53] Alan Seales: Was like, instead of having beautiful models hand the Tonys, we're going to have Broadway kids. So there were like five kids or six kids. And in the beginning of the show, Bernadette Peters was the host. The beginning of the show, we come out. This was the 2001 Tonys. We come out and she introduces all of us. It's great during the opening number. And then she makes us go off stage. And just by the luck, I was obsessed with Robin Hood Men in Tights as a 10-year-old. So I got the first, whatever award came first, maybe it was book or whatever came up first. I was on stage. He came up and I handed him the award. And he goes, how old are you? And I was like, whatever I was. I was eight, probably.

And he was like, well, you're doing a great job. And then he went and did his speech. I had a little moment with Mel Brooks as a child, my idol. And it was really like, it stuck with me. Still to this day, I think it's one of my favorite memories as a kid, being on that stage, seeing him come up to me. And he didn't just take the award. He's like, how you doing, boy chick? How you doing good? You doing really good? And then he goes and gives his speech.

[45:16] Alan Seales: That is amazing. 2001, we can go back and find that.

[45:20] Harrison Chad: No, this might have been pre-internet.

[45:22] Alan Seales: 2001? I mean...

[45:25] Harrison Chad: They've got to have that on there.

[45:26] Alan Seales: Somewhere, probably. Someone send it to feedback at the theaterpodcast.com. There's got to be a full broadcast.

[45:30] Harrison Chad: Yes, yes. I hope. I would love to see it.

[45:35] Alan Seales: Well, thank you so much. We can find you online. Twitter at HarrisonChad. Instagram at HarrisonChad7.

[45:40] Harrison Chad: There were six others that got there before you?

[45:45] Alan Seales: Probably.

[45:45] Harrison Chad: I just, I actually made it very early, but I like the number seven.

[45:49] Alan Seales: Do you?

[45:50] Harrison Chad: I love the number seven.

[45:51] Alan Seales: Oh, I was born on July 17th, 7-17.

[45:54] Harrison Chad: Oh, so you're going to change your Twitter to HarrisonChad7?

[45:57] Alan Seales: Yeah, I don't know, no.

[46:01] Harrison Chad: And of course, episode five, right?

[46:03] Alan Seales: Yeah, episode five, Loveville High.

[46:04] Harrison Chad: LovevilleHigh.com. Find that everywhere you find podcasts.

[46:06] Alan Seales: You can get more of me and the theater podcast at theater underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Facebook.com slash official theater podcast. Of course, you can email us all the time. Feedback at thetheaterpodcast.com or visit thetheaterpodcast.com. Everywhere you're listening now, please review, give ratings. I want to read those. I think they're very helpful. This is produced by Jillian Hachman. And of course, big thank you to Jukebox the Ghost, as always, for the music you hear now. Harrison Chad, thank you so much.

[46:35] Harrison Chad: Thank you for having me. This has been so much fun.

[46:37] Alan Seales: Yeah, awesome.