Roger Bart

Hi. It's Roger Bart. Welcome to the theater podcast with Alan Seales.

Alan Seales

Hello everyone, and welcome to an all new episode of the theater podcast. I'm your host, Alan Seales, and our guest for this episode is Roger Bart, who is currently still in his Tony nominated role of Doc Brown in Back to the Future of the musical here on Broadway. He's been in the production since its original runs in Europe, long before it came over here to Broadway. And you can just tell he has a deep love for the production, the creation of his version of Doc Brown and sci fi in general. So we nerded out about that a little bit. We did dive into a few of our favorite sci fi shows. At the end, he even suggested that Galaxy Quest would make a great Broadway musical, and I kind of agree with him. Do you think so? I think either that or Super Troopers. So let's make it happen, people. But yeah, do your thing. Find me on the socials, share the podcast with a friend. Tag another Back to the Future lover, so they know these episodes are out there, and Oh also, make sure to go back and check out episodes 290, through 293, which was part of a four part mini series I did last year with other Back to the Future cast members. Make sure to check me out on Patreon to see the video version of this episode. And now everyone, please enjoy this episode with Roger Bart,

Unknown Speaker

123,

Alan Seales

you today's guest is a Drama Desk Award winner, SAG Award winner and Tony Award winner, who made his Broadway debut in Big River in 1987 He's since moved his way into the spotlight since then, winning a Tony Award Originating Snoopy in the your Goodman. Charlie Brown, 1999 revival. Additional stage credits include The producers Young Frankenstein and disaster, with on screen credits that include the filmed version of the producers Desperate Housewives. Of course, revenge and good trouble and a series of unfortunate events, graves and of course, we know him as the singing voice of young HERC Hercules in the Disney animated classic and so many more. You can now catch him back to the future on the Broadway stage in his Tony nominated role of Doc Brown in Back to the Future The musical Roger Bart. Welcome to the theater podcast. That was, that was a mouthful. Yeah. Well, I practiced, I said,

and yeah, I I just, I love, I love that we're finally talking because I did a back to future takeover when the show opened about a year ago now, with like, Leanna and Casey and a bunch of the others from the show and like, your role being is demanding. It was, it is it is like the business of show business, the press team was, like, kind of sequestering you a little bit. Like, we gotta, we gotta protect the Roger, yeah, the old guy in the building.

So, so now that we're finally chatting, I'm really, really excited, but disappear.

Roger Bart

I want to touch on the on young Hercules for a second, because we were talking before we started recording that my kids are in love with that movie. And I don't know if this is still done, you weren't the normal dialog voice. What did they call it, the speaking voice, and then right? Did the singing voice? And how did the whole process work? Oh, it's interesting process. You know, my my singing voice can be when I when I guide it that way, the is very useful and and there was something about both Aladdin and Hercules, and it has a yearning quality, you know. And so I went in and said, it was really, I really insisted to my that my ages did anything for me. Back in 1994 or five, it was, please get me in to sing for Hercules, because I just knew that as I was getting longer in the tooth, it was going to be less likely I would be hired some little juvenile singer for these roles. But the song that they originally had was called shooting star, and it was technically a really difficult song to sing. So I sang it for Alan and Alan Menken, yeah, yeah, Alan and he loved he loved it, but thank goodness. And said to me, as I was about to leave for Germany for about a year ago, dude, Who's Tommy, he said, Look, we have to see people who are actually 15, which is the age of the character? I said, Okay, man, I totally understand. And then they came back to me, because I think that it was, it was such a difficult first song to sing before it was replaced by go the distance, which is markedly easier. The the reason that I wasn't the speaking voice is because my speaking voice doesn't, it doesn't really land in the same place age wise, that is so authentically 14 and 15 and awkward. And so Josh, he ended up getting it. He was wonderful. And then take Donovan was the became the character after the montage about him getting bigger and stronger.

We're basically being much more of a young adult. So there were three, there were three of us all together voicing it. But fortunately, Alan and I guess the team at Disney felt strongly that that I should sing a song. And of course, I'm eternally grateful for that. There was a real thrill as matter of fact, I think that I remember flying in from Germany, and they put me up at the wonderful Four Seasons Hotel overlooking Central Park. And that night, coincidentally, the night before recording at Sony, was the the opening of, I think, Pocahontas in the park. So from my window, I watched the throngs of people watching on a beautiful, beautiful summer night, I can see the delicate, well, I don't know if it was there, though, set it up somewhere, wow, yeah, but I'm not certain about that. I don't really remember. And then, then the very next morning, I went and sang a shooting star there before it was then switched to to go the distance. And it was, you know, one point, the most thrilling moment, really, was I walked in. It was about 75 musicians. There were standing troops, lush orchestrations, and Michael cosrn was conducting. It said, Hey, this is Roger. Let me introduce the orchestra. So I kind of walked in the middle of them and stood on a little, tiny podium, um, surrounded by them, and they said, This is Roger Bart. He's singing voice. And they gave kind of, you know, typical orchestral applause, which sounds something like this.

It's less than golf questions go less. It's sort of like, you know, like, like, like, bows on pawns, you know? And then they said, you want to just run through it once and see how the tempo feels? And I said, Yeah, sure, so I did. And of course, I couldn't, I couldn't, I mean, I just couldn't get through it. I couldn't get through it. My like a lump in my throat, throat grew so fast, because it was not only a dream come true, but I was surrounded by live musicians who are all brilliant, at least 25 strings playing. And it was such a sweet song about longing to to belong somewhere, to under, to try to understand why it is that I don't fit in. And so it was. It was an astounding and emotional experience, ultimately, and then thank goodness they came back to me with the changed, new, more upbeat, go the distance, much more positive. Rather than living a little bit in

shooting star was a little lonelier song and a little less positive. And so, has anyone ever released shooting star is like, it's out there somewhere, but I'm not, I'm not absolutely certain. You know, it's like, also one of those pieces of music that the people in the know will do for an audition, you know, every once in a while. But it was, it was, it was really, it was a really beautiful song. I really loved it, and I loved working on it. I love working on both of them. It's a fascinating process. If we both hang on for long enough,

Unknown Speaker

if we both Somehow

Unknown Speaker

are strong enough,

Speaker 1

we'll find out where we be.

Roger Bart

When you're singing these Disney juveniles, you know, you have to really make sure you're speaking. You don't want to ever get too singy, you know. So I actually disciplined myself to sort of correct myself when I felt like I was creating an effect vocally rather than communicating, because it's so intimate, and that was the main, was it really interesting and a unique process that I eventually employed in other things after that. But in order to really, really, to really, sort of go there while working on it, that was my main, my main point of attack, personal, really speaking, really, really communicating, and not just singing pretty for being for pretty sake. So you had to go the distance I did.

So tell me about your your childhood, though, and like, what got you into theater. What? When do you remember when you caught the acting bug? Yeah, I mean, I always loved singing, you know, and I was the youngest child, and I think both my parents were, you know, they were MIT chemists, and really good ones. And I think that sometimes when you're really good at enough to be a PhD at MIT chemistry. There's also some social skills that, unfortunately don't often go with that same personality. And so my parents were remote on some level, put it politely, and I think that as a youngest child, I in order to kind of get their attention, I found that, you know, singing to my dad.

Was a way I could engage him. He was very quiet. So I think he was just happy not to hear me talk.

But, um, but I would, he would make me sing everything. And so I learned very at a very young age that to sing was to be loved for me at that young, young age. And then I started joining, like little singing groups, and I was always in chorus, which I loved and and I loved harmonizing. And this is all through just Elementary School. And then finally, my elementary school, she wasn't the principal, she was the secretary, but it was one of those secretaries that ran the school, named Sandy Jefferson, and she put on a kind of an abridged version of Oliver Twist. And when I played the Artful Dodger, and I had a top hat and tails, and I think I even had, I even wore, I think, a Green Bay Packers white t shirt underneath it in the performance, when I first threw the doors the cafeteria and the spotlight hit me, you know, it was kind of like, oh, okay, this is really, really fun. I just always did. It always was sort of amusing. And then I would sing or sing in rock bands, and, you know, a great time. My hair was really long later on in high school, and earring. And I was, you know, pretty groovy 70s guy, but it really was. It wasn't until I studied acting in a serious way at Rutgers school called Mason gross School of the Arts, where William Esper set up a program teaching meiser technique. Then it became kind of more of a I learned more about the real, true art of acting, the art of theater, as opposed to just sort of instincts and shtick and singing pretty. And that's what it really got kind of more flipped well, so you're, you're known for these high energy, kind of slap sticky come comedic roles, and it sounds like you, you are, again, one of those people that you're so good at the funny and making it seem like it's So off the cuff, because you have studied so seriously, and I love how it kind of breaks the the notion that if you're a class clown, you have potential, but that's not going to get you these comedic roles, because you have to know, you have to be good at timing, you have to be good at playing with others, and so were you Originally then attracted to, to the comedic kind of thing, or when you went to school to start taking it seriously, like I'm going to do Shakespeare, and then, you know, end up as Snoopy. Not that Snoopy is not Shakespeare. There is depth in that as well. But you see what I'm saying. I do. It's an interesting thing about show business. When you when you try to enter it. I mean, I was always, comedy always came kind of naturally to me. But I was also, you know, I was not a class clown at all. I was a Warner Brothers cartoon lover. And I think through Warner Brothers cartoons, the Jackie gut stuff, particular, I learned everything about clarity of comedy and the science and the math of it, because really, it is mostly mathematical and musical. When I first started out, I just wanted to work, you know? I just didn't want to bartend anymore. I wanted to kind of put what it is that I studied to use and see if I could make it. I gave it till I was about if I wasn't making a living by 30, I was going to go do something else. I thought that was a realistic expectation, to give good eight years of

trying and and then after that, just kind of like, you know, I don't want to bartend in New York. I was going to go bartend somewhere as a career. I'd go to the Caribbean, you know, someplace pretty fun, prettier. Yeah, exactly, you know, I was, I was a fairly serious dude back then, and so I played a lot of people at the beginning that were ran a little deep, and it was fun to always bring humor to them. But I was very much interested in truth. You know, the acting of these roles that that were often complicated and maybe even slightly tortured. They came very naturally to me. But it was really when, really, when I entered the land of Mel Brooks, where there was an interesting match for me about somebody who, who both can, who can live in a land that's very broad and funny, and we're not going to go too deep in Mel's world. And I liked it. And in those moments after that, and because I was in the funniest thing show in town, you know, I became I found myself firmly planted in the filing cabinet of funny when it comes to casting and and and agents, etc. Then after that, um, I went on an audition for Desperate Housewives. And Desperate Housewives was interesting, because I remember showing up at this kind of funny, funny audition scene. Then the guy said, after the first day he hired me, it was.

Between me and jelko, I can't say his last name, but really serious dude and a really fine actor. But they wanted to kind of fool the audience a little bit more, so they hired somebody who was a little bit more like your friendly pharmacist when you meet me, and then afterwards you discover something very dark. And so in the back the second day of shooting, Mark cherry created Desperate Housewives. Said, Would you like to know where your character what we have in mind for you? I said, Yeah. He said, Well, you're going to become a sociopath. It's stalker

appealed to me a great deal, because you could start to then layer in darkness little by little, while always maintaining the funny. And so was kind of a really great fit, because Desperate Housewives, if you may recall, was not, I think, a one, a saga work for Best Comedy, ensemble comedy. And it really was kind of a soap, but a funny soap, because Terry Hatcher fell into bushes, really funny and that, and they were goofy, but really, it wasn't a it wasn't ha ha ha funny. It was amusing. And so it was a good, interesting new niche. Suddenly I was in another filing cabinet, and then I went to go do hostile part two, and a couple other sort of dark shows, dark movies and stuff. And then then I was in the creepy category. So you know, throughout one's career, you you kind of find yourself sort of, some people crudely say you're as good as your last thing. But for me and for others too, you're sometimes as you will be doing stuff forever. Once you do a certain style well or as high visibility, you'll be kind of in that for a bit. And it's, it's fantastic. So I'm glad I've not always been doing stuff like Carmen GIA always, or just playing dogs in Snoopy or that I've gotten to move around a bit. And there will always be, you know, it's going to be, it's going to be tough for me to to play things that maybe I could go, I could do it, but no one will ever hire me. And I don't think you're going to get everything in your lifetime, but to manage to sort of pop filing cabinets, it's been a real treat. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back after this break.

Alan Seales

Welcome back to the episode. It's interesting. You brought up Mel Brooks because you worked with him twice in the producers and Young Frankenstein. And I assume I was going to ask, like, Ah, how was he influenced blah, blah, blah. But obviously he did, taught you, taught you how to perfect this comedy, a little bit like you were talking about, but then coming into Back to the Future, aside from, I'll get to the like, how you got connected in a little bit, but staying on the comedy track for a second. Doc Brown in the movie,

Roger Bart

you know, Christopher Lloyd didn't he was a funny guy to watch, but he wasn't a comedic role. So where was the decision? Did you come into the decision with the producers? Or did, like, where did it come in to make doc really, kind of, like, take him to this extreme that you've brought him to? Well, it's a combination of things. You know, we are dealing with material from 1985 which is a different comedic sensibility and, and often you'll go back and visit a movie, ie something like Young Frankenstein and, or, you know, and you don't, you don't laugh as out loud as much as you did once it moves a little slowly. You know, it's a different it was a different time. Comedic sensibility was different. You know, mine is

both. I hoped it liked to think current, but also with a foot, you know, firmly planted in vaudeville. But with that, and since there, you know, Bob Gale is not a joke writer. He these are funny situations, and it's basically a sci fi thing. But I felt that it was an opportunity, because I was referred to as a lunatic often, and things like that in the show. When you when, when you're going to meet dot Brown a lunatic who's not funny is just not, I don't think is kind of quite the right fit for a big Broadway musical comedy, which is what we kind of made it. So I think that they welcomed things that were were funny and surprising. I think they were welcoming to us,

or me certainly, to a newer version of of the show because they trusted that the story is so good and it is, that it would wouldn't be compromised by some for one of the better words, some mugging and some structure that is more comedically satisfying. Second thing that really wasn't interesting in its evolution, was a line that happened when we were first, we were first presented with a song, it works, which happens really early in the song,

and when it was.

Was playing to be there was no intention of there being background singers, but I said immediately, it would be great if we had people kind of singing hot background vocals. You know, that make it pop. In a way, it's a little lonely out here singing this song by myself. You know, this is even before we staged it. But I just my intuition told me, you know, we should, we should have some people. Then we had, they agreed, and then we had a kind of interesting and amusing discussion as to where these people would come from. Was it that it was 115 in the morning at a mall parking lot in a small town, California? So my mind goes to, you know, a subset of people that may not be necessarily appropriate for musical theater, first number of show. Then John came up with the idea, along with the writers, that they should just be, you know, hot chicks. So they put hot girls in there. They call them like the DeLorean nets or something, you know, I can't remember, but in the in the course of that song, since it was so funny that the idea that these ladies would come out of virtually nowhere at 150 in the morning, two things happened. You know, I knew that our audience was going to be predominantly since it's sci fi, and it was so such a beloved movie by people like yourself and by so many other men that I've worked with, particularly technical people who think it's a perfect movie. They always a large majority of them share this point of view that musicals are inherently silly because they involve suddenly a bunch of people in town who all seem to understand that we're all going to sing the same lyrics, the same melody, and then we're going to dance together. And there is kind of a leap that a lot of men who don't necessarily just grow up on musicals go, I don't get it. I don't get it, you know? So I said we should have a line that says, Hey, Doc, yeah, where did the girls come from? And I got, I don't know. They just, they just show up every time I start singing, which would then put at ease a lot of men in the audience, which I knew were going to be our audience, a lot of men and their sons. And sure enough, I think that that it worked, that worked. I don't

Alan Seales

know. They just show up every time I start

Roger Bart

singing. And what happened then is, is that the show, and particularly the character, became aware that we were in a storytelling situation where the absurd happens. And once you introduce the absurd and that you are in a musical, and the character is aware that you're in a musical, then a bunch of rules break down, you know. So they'll say to me, sometimes, you know, I'll hear these. I always hear this absurd question that says, Why does he break the fourth wall? And I think, have you seen any musicals? I mean, there's ridiculous underneath you, like you have no problem with a band being underneath you. But then suddenly, if the actor looks at the audience like I get it and on some level. But you know, the world can be, you can can be more unique. And so there are times when I'll

enjoy the audience and be aware, and then we get back to the great story. As long as you don't stay there, it's slaying but in funny thing happened before way the forum, I used to hear that Zero Mostel used to go out at intermission early, and he would read the baseball scores, you know, like he would just go and talk to the audience and have fun, and he'd come back and he'd start the show. But you never felt like the show was being compromised, because it's a great, fun, silly story. Also, I think when I saw one man, two governors, which I'm sure you probably saw. I remember I was totally suckered by the the audience plants. It was the most memorable, so funny moments. My daughter and I screamed laughing, and then it was plants. And I thought, How great. And do you do I look at it and go, ah, but I really felt that I now, I really didn't feel like I enjoyed the story quite so much of one man, two governors. No, I remembered having a great time because on some level, I was slightly duped. You know, I find that comedically to to play in this world and to surprise that fun is really, is really helpful to the show. There is a part of me that would love to clone myself and do the whole show without any attempt to try to be funny. It would be interesting. It wouldn't be the same show at all. Certainly, it wouldn't not, it would not be. And some of it, some of it's in the writing. I mean, you know, some of it is really, you know, funny he look, Bob wrote a bunch of jokes that are, I call Spock isms. And what they are is like, I'll give you an example. In order to get to a homo sapiens to mate, they have to be alone together, the cursor, which requires you to arrange for them to interact in a socially significant situation, Social.

Significant situation. You mean, like a date, precisely. That's, that's the joke that he often writes for doc, which is the i over science, the and over with over verbiage convey the thought. And then Michael J Fox looks and goes, You mean, like a date, because, yeah, that's what I meant. That's that's a great joke, this great joke once, maybe even a great joke twice. But if it's if scientific verbiage isn't flipped on its head a little bit sometimes, or augmented with other flavors of vaudeville, it's not that it will get tired fast. Part of what was appealing about Chris Lloyd, more than almost anything, that I always love about watching Christopher Lloyd is when you when he goes on screen, you know that you're kind of going to be surprised by him. You're going to be surprised by he's going to do something weird, he's gonna do something crazy. It's gonna be big, be loud, you know? So that's, that is the gag, right? So if you have a a running gag that is maybe even the same gag like the one I just described, you have to kind of maintain a surprise element. So when I get on stage, I want the audience to feel like he could. He's going to do anything. Let's sit up in our our seats. He's going to go crazy. He's going to either talk to us, he's going to he's going to keep us engaged. And that's that, to me, in this context, is very important. If I were doing the layman trilogy, I don't think I'd do it.

But do I find myself firmly placed in a certain filing cabinet because I do this? Well, probably,

well, it's what it is. Man, this is one of those IPs. It's a property. It's a story that people have like the parents are not only grew up on it, grew up on the trilogy, grew up on the story, but now they've shown their kids, the kids have are getting into it. So it's truly hard to make something sound fresh and original. Eight times a week, when the audience is already ahead of you, they know how it's going to end, and they know what the twists are. So I think bringing the comedy into it like you did, and breaking the fourth wall to acknowledge, yeah, we know this is a musical and this isn't the movie. You're not. You know, we're not really time traveling, wink, wink, right? The audience is like, we're here. We're here for the fun. It is absurd. I mean, 88 miles an hour, plutonium and a little box with lights that I'd say does it all is, in an in and of itself, a fairly absurd notion. You have to have a leap, right? But I just, I want to make sure, though, for clarity, though, that we really don't break any fourth walls, anywhere where the show takes a turn when it becomes very, very serious, there is a time and place for that kind of silliness, but mostly what we do is tell the story of Back to the Future that Bob wrote, which is unique and wonderful. And we really do adhere to the high stakes situation of it, but we are in a musical, but we don't. We don't yuck it up in places that ever compromise. I think we try not to. You know, occasionally something will happen, but it compromises the tension of Marty's dilemma, like every time we're in Doc's house, you and Casey are. It's just, it's fair game, whatever, whatever you want, to some extent, but, I mean, you like, like, you, you know those wonderful scenes in, like, movies like, sorry, it's New York City. Well, it's like, wonderful scenes like, needful weapon, or, you know, the great movies with Gene Wilder and and Richard Pryor, you know they're, they're being shot at. You know they're, they're and they're kind of like, both have their gun, and they're both meeting up against the wall, and it's the 100 guys, the two of them, they're cracking jokes. Yeah, they are. That's what makes a good you know, Charles Groden, remember how funny? I mean, these guys were funny. They they were truthful. But you you saw why they're such good friends. And you watch their friendships, particularly in things like, what was the Nick Nolte one, where he has, he has Eddie Murphy, I think, and he, you know, he's got him, and he's a prisoner, whatever, you know. And this is, but they, they end up kind of loving each other, even though they can't stand each other, kind of thing, because you watch them play in rather dire contexts. And I wanted to make sure, too, that that that was it. You were both watching a friendship unfold. But you know, I'd rather it's fun for an audience to watch me and Casey realize why we're great friends, not off stage, on stage, yeah, in addition to it, because if we were to place all of our stuff in the in the basket of, wow, he's back in time. It's 55 and we've got to put the plutonium in with the lightning striking at the same time. You know, it's a it is great. But there are other facets to these two hours that are really fun and immediate.

Alan Seales

It, you know, I love it when, when mistakes happen, especially with with the two of you, when I when I saw it the other night near the end, when I think you throw him the keys, or he throws you the keys in. Oh, you came that night, yeah,

Roger Bart

yeah. He made me do it again, yeah, yeah. He's like, why don't you try that was a silly night. That night, there was a bunch of stuff going on with some technical stuff, really. He loves that play like that. He loves it. But Casey loves that stuff. Man, yeah, I couldn't, I couldn't tell it all that anything went wrong, other than just someone missed the keys, like the keys, yeah. And two guys that are having a good time, yeah. And so, okay, so then back to the I mentioned that. We get back to this. So then you were involved from the very beginning of the production, right, like from Edinburgh out in across the pond and and then, yeah, even with it over here. So you've been doing all these TV and film and so how did you get connected with this amazing property of Back to the Future? Well, it was, it was 2015 I was in Los Angeles, and my my manager and Agent emailed me that, but I like put myself on tape for upcoming, for Back to the Future, being developed by a British producer, Colin Ingram, and at that time, we had another director attached to it. And,

you know, I

delighted in preparing these roles, these scenes, because this role fits into a good wheelhouse for me, which is, as we spoke of earlier, animated and and with a kind of a real commitment to the truth of the extreme, You know, or what else I kind of would describe as a controlled chaos, you know, just off of what, like Chris Christopher Lloyd, was very similar that way.

And so I got it and and then the project was shelved because of some artistic differences, and then was picked up again, I think probably around 18 months later. And I, you know, Colin, like is still

as he says that he goes your audition tape, which I still have. He always threatens to to present at some drunken cocktail party.

He fortunately kept me, and then I, we flew across to over to London and did its first reading, and in 2018 with John Rando as the director, which was a beautiful thing for me. I knew John. We became very good friends. And John is very open to collaborating with me and with anybody. But he was particularly open with me, some some interesting things dynamically made it so that it was all right to listen to me and my ideas that being I'm 35 years older than most everybody else in the cast, I've been around doing this stuff for a while. I've known John and we were both and when you include the creative team and the writers we were, we were all Americans over on the other side of the Atlantic, cultivating this thing first for hopefully a London run. And so we worked on it together, and we spent a lot of time eating out

after rehearsals and talking about the the structure as it particularly the placement of songs and and we messed with it a lot. You know, we had a great time. And fortunately, over the years, we ended up, finally, two and a half years later, putting it on in Manchester, England, until we were sort of abruptly sent home because of the pandemic, along with every other shot, right, don't go anywhere. We'll be right back after this break.

Alan Seales

Welcome back to the episode. I remember, like in Edinburgh. I was getting so many great reviews. I heard so much, so much skepticism and amazing, amazing feedback about it, because skepticism of, like, how can you take this iconic story and took it into a musical? And we've covered the like, why it works, right?

Roger Bart

But then remind me in the timeline, so when you were sent home, did you were there, kind of, like, we were like, like, it was like, Jen, January, I think probably of of 2020, right? And then, did you come home, like, March, you know? Yeah, did you come back to came back to New York and sat my daughter and I, and then sat for about 18 months. And as far as, like, it's to address the quote, unquote skepticism, I think what you're describing, basically is a lot of times with these properties of very, very popular movies, there is a reluctance to, first of all, make him into anything else, and, by the way, let alone a musical. Oftentimes, whenever you saw like, you know, for me, lost in space, what no without, without the original? Dr Zachary.

Myth like, No, you can't. You know, people just don't want to be short as ago, there was always a kind of a loyalty to the original productions of things. So even when you make the movies, you're it is met with the certain kind of, no, please don't. I mean, I still have not even seen West Side Story because I can't. As a part of me, it just can't bring myself to not see the Jerome Robbins, and that's one I love,

you know? So everybody has this, including me, so I get it. And also I kind of find that when you do a movie, particularly, and turn it into a musical, that that isn't quite as popular. It was a little bit more niche, like, I didn't really hear a lot of people going, No, you can't make one stitch to a musical. No, you know, not the full monty. Oh, my God, no. But if it's big, like us a franchise, or, let's say, Star Wars, the musical, or Lord of the Rings, which they tried a few years ago up in Canada, you know, I mean, like, like, there's always a lot of resistance. And you know what? I I got it, I get it, but there's resistance in Star Wars.

Alan Seales

There will be, yeah, I bet, when there's a Star Wars musical, of course, I'll be the first one kind of saying, Ooh, who is um, c3, po or whatever. I never saw it. Honestly, you never saw Star Wars. Maybe half of it. I don't remember. I don't Well, the the first three episodes, episodes one, two and three that were made after four, five and six, yeah, complete trash. Yeah. We all know that seven, eight and nine. I'm a JJ, Abrams fan, so yeah, Abrams just does it for me? Yeah, he's great, yeah. But are you a sci fi fan in general? Like, did you I mean,

Roger Bart

I love law, I love I mean, loss of space was something for me to like to eat my cereal over when I was a kid. It was amusing. The set cracked me up even then. But I loved Star Trek, like the Shatner stuff, but it was pretty campy, yeah, pretty campy. Duke Roddenberry was, I mean, he's ahead of his time anyway, everything it did, just having a woman of color on the bridge, oh no, he was totally on it, yeah. I mean, Carl, Carl Sagan was I love too, but he's not quite as campy, right?

No, I just love like that. I would like count episode go, okay, is this where out there it is. Shatner's got his shirt off. It's contractual. You know, he's like, every four episodes. I'm a few years younger than you, so I grew up on next generation. So, but, but, yeah, I'm, I'm with you. And what about Battlestar Galactica, the remake, the remake, not the original. The remake, uh, never star. You didn't see it, you know, I know, but I saw I love Galaxy Quest, which really satires mostly Galaxy Quest and Starship Troopers, absolutely, two of my favorite movies. Yeah, that's a good one, too, for a musical too, Starship Troopers, no. Uh, Galaxy Quest.

I think you're onto something. Yeah, you got to know your stuff, though. But yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, just to play that Alan Rickman role. Oh, my God, Alan Rickman. Remember him in that

I one of my favorite Alan Rickman roles was the depressed robot and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Yeah, yeah. He's, he was, he was good at everything. I love, yeah, I love him. If you were okay, so you can wave a magic wand and you were gonna make any sci fi show movie into a musical tomorrow. Where would you go? What would you pick? Obviously, the Galaxy Quest. I like the idea that you're, you're, I like, I like satire with a big heart. I like that. There's a message in in in that movie. Still, I love it. I mean about meaning, about what it means to be, what those the meaning of sci fi, you know, for people like it's, you know, you meet them, they're all cynical. Only one guy started vaguely. He's, life is miserable. He's a drunk, you know, it's just these signing autographs for, you know, as a friend of mine once said, to be, you know, these you've signed the autographs, make sure you have, like, your big thing at Purell of the whole like, just because it's just Hi, how are you

$5 Adam West, does it make hands? He fist bumps? Yeah, it's, it's just something about it. It's wonderful. But also, kind of like, it's a little like dancing with stars. You know, it's sort of like Twilight. When you want to get that extra cash, you no longer want to work. You just want to make some cash. It's wonderful. I mean, as I say, I think it's great. I would probably have a great time doing it, but it's a little towards the end of a rainbow, a little bit, you know, that I don't, I don't. I'll do Dancing with the Stars. Then I'll do the signing jobs, but, but then I'll get photo. Can Can you? Can you dance? I would be funny, and I would, I would, I would be off the show with in one week with an injury. But I care. But

the the Sci Fi things that I love is that that movie sort of, they're all kind of cynical about what it means to do these conventions.

And then it turns out that they meet a culture of aliens that devote their entire culture based on their show its values, and they realize the value of their of what they do by being entertainers and even into something that appears to be silly provides meaning to people. And that's kind of just sweet. And I love that idea for a musical. I love that I what you what you're saying, Yeah, I agree the this is the way that the race, the alien race, played those characters of just, oh my gosh, yeah,

yeah. That worked with many of those actors. They had walking rehearsals, remember, they they were their legs and arms. Would say,

fantastic.

Alan Seales

They were great. They were all great in that great, I agree. I agree. And Sigourney Weaver, too. That was one of the first, like, comedic things. I remember her from as well. Yeah, she was awesome. It was awesome. She was Well, let's start to wrap up here. And I want to play a little game called plot in 60 seconds. Okay, so give me a number one through 16 that correspond to a story. Let's do the 1212. That is, oh, this, this might be a little fun. That is, cats go 60 seconds remaining. Never saw it.

Roger Bart

I know it's,

it's a bunch of cats, and most, it sounds like they sing about their their play test. Cats,

maybe different kinds of seconds remaining. I know one is old and and rides a tire. No, he rides a tire at the end.

I know that one of them is kind of rum tuggery. And I remember, is there a Macavity? Maybe a Macavity. I know that they did the lovely

choreography by I can't remember her name, but God, I love her,

but she's she's unfortunately passed, but she was 15 seconds remaining. Jillian Lynn, yes, nailed it. There you go. And and that they, they spend a lot of time in makeup, it looks like, and then they wear lots of hair four and fur three. And they do a lot of this stuff where they kind of lick their hand and do this like I did in Snoopy, but with dog stuff and and, of course, Betty buck,

Alan Seales

I think, I think you nailed it. I think you

definitely, definitely, definitely, that is the entire plot of cats. Yeah, yeah. Except I heard that Jellicle cat, or whatever it is, it's downtown, that was really fun. And people have said there now should be no other way that it should be done. Get things from where I've heard what I've heard about them, but I don't, I don't have to wait time. Yeah, Jellicle Ball that just closed, I think two weeks, two Sundays ago, and or less than I can't remember, but, yeah, it got extended forever. I hope it comes back. And they presented it as a competition, which totally makes sense, because

it literally is cats competing X Factor, American Idol style, to die, to be reborn. Fantastic, right? No. So, yeah, it's great. That's a great premise. Yeah, it's wonderful. All right, so the three standard closing questions that I use to wrap up the episodes. The first one just simply is, what motivates you? I

Roger Bart

feel alive and happy when I am creative. I love to sing because it brings it's like puts endorphins into my system and brings me, I know it makes me happy. And to bring joy to people and laughter is really what you know, and to entertain and to allow for escapism

Alan Seales

makes is really deeply satisfying. What advice would you give to your younger self and younger people listening now, starting out down a similar path,

Roger Bart

I would say, to always be prepared and and that means a great amount of research. I think that there's a lot of training that you should that one should do. I think you should always sort of be kind to every single person, hopefully in the world, you know what I mean, but certainly in the business as you conduct, find your way through it. Be kind to everybody. Kind to everybody. I would rather have said that I'm kind and little and and and be daring, you know, on stage, make choices and hopefully with with confidence and joy, and don't worry too much about what people think. So you can look back and not try to please everybody. Is the advice, I would say. But just be.

Alan Seales

Honest and be you lovely. All right. Last question, harness one if you can only see one show for the rest of your life, but you can see it as many times as you want. What would you see?

Maybe TV or movie too. We'll open it up a little bit. Yeah.

Roger Bart

You know, I love the Beatles, and I really did enjoy yesterday. And the reason I loved yesterday so much was that I loved, I loved the idea of of somebody bringing the Beatles songs to the world that had never heard the Beatles songs, mostly that movie, to me, was moving, deeply moving because of Lily James. Is that her name? I think it is. She played the lead girl at it. That's it. She was also in Pamela Anderson movie. Is that right? And Lily, James, yeah. And, and, because the movie is so much about

living authentically, it's really sort of sweet. So I kind of weed through the whole thing, but it gives me joy. So if I were to watch something over and over again in my lifetime, I'd love to be able to laugh and cry.

Alan Seales

All right, all right. Where can we find you? Online, on social media. Oh, I think I'm think I have a blue check by my name in

Roger Bart

Instagram and Twitter, but I don't like using Twitter anymore. Sorry, no,

Alan Seales

so I don't know. I think, if it's official Roger part, maybe I think it Instagram nuts, something like that. All right, you can get more of me at theater underscore Podcast. I'm on threads, Instagram and tick tock. I'm on face

thanks to jukebox the ghost for the intro and outro music. Please share this podcast here, this interview, it helps spread and grow and Roger Bart, thank you so much. I've really enjoyed finally getting to talk to you. Yeah, meet you out. Nice to meet you.

Unknown Speaker

Take the deep breath. Make the world a little colorful. You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai