This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Alan Seales: Welcome to The Theatre Podcast. Intimate, personal conversations with theatre's biggest names. I'm your host, Alan Seales, and unfortunately, Jillian is on vacation this week, so I'm by myself. I just got out of the interview with Andrew Barth Feldman, and oh my gosh, that kid is so self-aware. Seventeen years old, his first professional acting gig ever is going into his dream role as Evan Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen. Just phenomenal, phenomenal conversation. The guy was talking to me and having a level of conversation that I'm used to having with some of my adult friends that I think some of my adult friends might not actually even be able to carry on, which I don't know what that says either about me or my friends.

Sorry, friends. Anyway, but he's a humble kid living his dream, and I think this speaks to his level of maturity. I think speaks to what's happening now with kids and especially teenagers now who have just grown up. They don't have to beg their parents for a phone anymore. What he said was he was the end of a group of kids who didn't have to beg their parents for phones. Everybody just gets one now. That's how parents feel safe, sending their kids out with a phone. We're just kind of getting used to carrying the internet in our pocket, and we go deep into how Evan Hansen is kind of bringing to light a lot of what kids feel or maybe what they're afraid to talk about, or even for parents, it's allowing them to sort of empathize with their children in a way that we weren't really able to in the past.

So it speaks to him, the show and the role speaks to him on a very personal level. He was always attracted to it, and just out of, gosh, half luck, half talent, Stacey Mindich, lead producer for Dear Evan Hansen, saw him win the Jimmy Awards and basically bypassed a whole bunch of audition processes to send him to the equivalent of a final callback. And long story short, here he is on stage six months in crushing it. So anyway, sorry to ramble on. Sorry to ramble on at the end of the interview, too, about Disney. We share a huge mutual love for Disney World, but stay through the closing questions. I promise it will be worth it. He gives an impression of someone that you don't want to miss. Before we get into the interview, please take a moment and visit ttp.fm and go to ttp.fm slash Patreon to show your support.

If you're at a certain tier, you can get advance notice of who we're interviewing. So you can submit questions, other tiers get other reward levels. There's lots and lots of good stuff in there. So, everybody, please enjoy this episode with Andrew Barth Feldman.

[2:57] Alan Seales: After winning the 2018 Jimmy Award for Best Performance by an Actor, he found his way at the age of 16 into the title role of Evan Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen, his first professional gig ever. Andrew Barth Feldman, welcome to The Theatre Podcast.

[3:20] Andrew Barth Feldman: Thank you so much for having me. This is going to be fun.

[3:22] Alan Seales: Are you just living your best life these days?

[3:25] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yeah. I mean, it's the dream and it's everything I've ever wanted, but it's also as exhausting as I had prepared for it to be, I think. So it's everything I've ever wanted, but it's not like I'm super good and that's it. I'm working my butt off, you know?

[3:47] Alan Seales: All right. So are you able to do eight shows a week?

[3:49] Andrew Barth Feldman: No, Evan does eight shows a week. So I do the standard six. I started doing five because I was in school. And of course, my voice is still developing. So they've really made sure to ease me into it so as to account for my more long-term success.

[4:06] Alan Seales: So you alternate with Michael E. Brown?

[4:08] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yeah.

[4:08] Alan Seales: And you're the primary. Okay, cool, cool. If you were able to do eight shows a week, would you be able to legally? Because there's child labor laws.

[4:18] Andrew Barth Feldman: So I bypass a lot of the child labor laws, not all of them, but I don't need a wrangler. I don't need a guardian with me at the theater. I can't work more than 10 hours a day, I think is what it is. From start to finish, it can't be 10 hours. But other than that, I bypass, I think, I've aged out of the majority.

[4:43] Alan Seales: Because you're 17 now.

[4:44] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yeah.

[4:44] Alan Seales: Yeah. So would be a junior in high school.

[4:47] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yeah. I'm going into my senior year.

[4:49] Alan Seales: Well, so are you still in high school?

[4:51] Andrew Barth Feldman: So yeah, pretty much. So I have been tutored while this has all been going on. The show has provided tutoring for me, which is what a lot of kids do. So I tutored through my junior year, and I'm going to do it for a lot of my senior year.

[5:06] Alan Seales: Do you think you're going to be in Evan Hansen through your whole senior year? Are you still technically enrolled in high school? Are you going to get to go to your senior prom and all that?

[5:15] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yeah. I mean, I could. I probably won't because I don't really want to, but it's—

[5:18] Alan Seales: Really?

[5:19] Andrew Barth Feldman: No. A lot of people ask, do I feel like I'm missing out? Do I feel like I'm missing out that I'm not going to prom and stuff? And not really. My friends, the majority of the time, I made outside of school in theater. And certainly, I have friends in school, but my school is very small. So it doesn't feel like it's such a huge thing to be not going to prom. But I'll be tutored, and I'll finish my senior year that way, presumably.

[5:46] Alan Seales: Well, you mentioned high school and your friends outside of high school, I guess, your theater friends are your best friends. That's your tribe, I guess, for lack of—

[5:56] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yeah, totally.

[5:56] Alan Seales: ... a better description. But you're still young. You're 17 now, but when did you first start singing? When did you get into theater and performing?

[6:04] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yeah. Okay, so I saw my first show when I was three years old. I saw Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. I was very mature for a three-year-old.

[6:15] Alan Seales: Was that Chris Sieber? Was he—

[6:18] Andrew Barth Feldman: He was in it. I don't remember if he was in the original cast, but I know he did play Gaston at some point. But I saw it, it was at the Palace Theater. It was just sort of the switch that turned on in my brain that I was like, oh, I get what's happening here. We're being invited to step into another world. And I was obsessed with that, even though I didn't really fully understand it on an articulate level. Just something instinctual happened when I saw it. And five years later, I was eight years old, and somebody said, hey, there's this community theater. They're doing a production of Annie. Do you want to go audition? I was like, this is a thing we can just do. We can just go to a place and do this. We don't have to be chosen by God or something. And so I played Mr. Bundles, the laundry man, in the worst production of Annie ever. I was eight years old, and I was like, yeah, this is what I want to do forever.

[7:17] Alan Seales: Where was that?

[7:17] Andrew Barth Feldman: I don't even remember. I live on Long Island, so it was in the five towns, maybe Valley Stream or something. I don't know. But up until that point, I didn't really understand how to get into that world, and I just sort of lived my life as if it were a movie. I just sort of narrated in my head things that were... I really would talk to myself. You are 17-year-old me. I would always pretend that someone was watching me.

[7:48] Alan Seales: Exactly. That was up until I discovered theater, up until I discovered that I could go and be a part of it, and it wasn't such an unattainable thing. You're kind of a techie nerd too. Let me ask you if you did the same thing that I did. I imagine someone was watching me, but I imagine they were watching me from the future.

[8:09] Andrew Barth Feldman: Whoa, that's really good.

[8:09] Alan Seales: So when I was just standing in a room by myself, I was always posing. Not really posing, but I was like, I wonder what they're thinking of me right now from 20 years from now, watching me do this. I kind of had very much like a child's understanding of life and its longevity, and I imagined it as if it were a movie, and there was an audience, and it was scripted. That was how I understood life until I became a part of theater. That was really how I made sense of it all, and so I guess I imagined it more of like an audience, and then eventually there would be an end, and I don't know, but it was like that was just kind of how I processed it.

[8:53] Alan Seales: Wow. Yeah, I totally relate to that, but as you grew up though, were you like the class clown, or were you the quiet guy who found comfort on stage, or were you the attention seeker that just found a natural spot on stage?

[9:08] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yeah, I think once I discovered being a part of theater, that's when I really became a total jerk and an attention snob for all of elementary school. I was the worst because I was just like, oh, I love this, and there was an assembly every week, and I would always perform and get people together and do a huge thing, but before that, my mom always tells these stories of when I was in nursery school, there were these performances that we would have to do, and I would refuse to stand up. Everyone was sitting, and then they would stand up and sing a song. I would not stand up. I refused. I sat in the back. There were pictures, and so up until that point, I was definitely not a rambunctious kid. I was, I guess, pretty quiet.

[10:04] Alan Seales: You had to get comfortable in your surroundings first.

[10:07] Andrew Barth Feldman: Exactly, yeah.

[10:08] Alan Seales: So then after Annie, what was next after that? I mean, you started performing in middle school, high school.

[10:14] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yeah, right after that, I auditioned for a production of Beauty and the Beast Junior, and I didn't know. I had never auditioned for anything because Annie was a very young kid's production, so it wasn't a traditional audition process, but this was a traditional audition process, and they were like, do you have any idea what you want to sing? I was like, no, I don't know, and they made me sing Be Our Guest, and I kind of knew it, and I got cast as LeFou, and that was when I was, oh, this is what I'm going to do. I can be funny. I can make people laugh in a really stupid way by being hit on the head and stuff, and so that was sort of when I found my aisle, but also from that, I was asked by the director and producer of that show to be in a touring, quotes around touring, production of A Christmas Carol, which went to different libraries around Long Island, but it was adult.

It was with adults, and that was when I think I grew up so much because I started doing those touring or whatever productions of that, and then I did Bye Bye Birdie and a lot of those from the same theater company that also sort of became a second home to me, and so that was when I grew up a lot, but also found my knack for comedy, which is really what I grew up doing. Interesting because Evan Hansen, known for its comedy. You know, people don't remember how funny the show actually is, and I've been able to find a couple of new comedic moments or bring some back from Ben that Taylor sort of did away with to focus on a different point of the show, and I just have a knack for that, and I know Taylor does too, but he really so made that his own, and I sort of have taken them all together and blended them into one, and so I get to bring some comedy to him, which I'm really happy about.

[12:16] Alan Seales: That's fun. Well, let's talk about Dear Evan Hansen. How did you get into the production? How were you asked to audition? Yeah, it came from the Jimmy Awards, which you mentioned before. I was a part of that, which is the National High School Musical Theater Awards for people who may or may not know, and I won that, and it was sponsored by Dear Evan Hansen. So Stacey Mindich, our lead producer, was in the audience, as well as Tara Rubin, the casting director, was one of the judges, and apparently, according to her side of the story, at intermission, Stacey texted Tara and was like, we need to get him in the room. I think he's our next Evan, and that was crazy to me because Dear Evan Hansen was my favorite show. It is my favorite show. From the moment I saw it, I was speechless. I think it really articulated something that...

[13:25] Andrew Barth Feldman: I think the biggest thing that I learned from being in Dear Evan Hansen was just how important it is to be present in the moment. I remember my first performance, I was so nervous, and I was thinking about all the things that could go wrong, but once I got on stage and started performing, I realized that I just needed to focus on the story and the character.

[13:55] Andrew Barth Feldman: It was such a surreal experience, stepping into those shoes, and I felt this immense responsibility to honor the character and the story. I had to remind myself that it was okay to feel nervous, but I had to channel that energy into the performance.

[14:15] Andrew Barth Feldman: I also learned a lot about collaboration. Working with the cast and crew was such a rewarding experience. Everyone brought their own unique talents and perspectives, and it was amazing to see how we all came together to create something special.

[14:35] Andrew Barth Feldman: The support from the audience was incredible too. I remember feeling the energy from the crowd, and it really fueled my performance. It was a reminder of why I love theatre so much—the connection with the audience is unlike anything else.

[14:55] Andrew Barth Feldman: After Dear Evan Hansen, I was fortunate enough to land a role in High School Musical: The Series. That was another huge step for me, and it felt like a natural progression. I was excited to explore a different medium and reach a new audience.

[15:15] Andrew Barth Feldman: The transition from stage to screen was definitely a learning curve. I had to adjust my acting style and think about how to convey emotions in a more subtle way. It was a challenge, but I embraced it.

[15:35] Andrew Barth Feldman: I think one of the most important lessons I’ve learned throughout this journey is to stay true to myself and my passion for storytelling. No matter what medium I’m working in, I always want to bring authenticity to my performances.

[15:55] Andrew Barth Feldman: I also want to inspire other young artists to pursue their dreams. I remember being in their shoes, feeling unsure about the future, and I want them to know that it’s possible to achieve their goals with hard work and dedication.

[16:15] Andrew Barth Feldman: It’s been an incredible journey so far, and I’m excited to see where it takes me next. I’m always looking for new opportunities to grow and challenge myself as an artist.

[16:35] Andrew Barth Feldman: I think it’s important to keep pushing boundaries and exploring new creative avenues. Whether it’s through acting, singing, or even writing, I want to continue to evolve as an artist.

[16:55] Andrew Barth Feldman: I also love collaborating with other creatives. There’s something magical about coming together with different perspectives and ideas to create something unique. It’s one of the best parts of being in this industry.

[17:15] Andrew Barth Feldman: I’m grateful for the experiences I’ve had so far, and I’m looking forward to what’s next. I want to keep challenging myself and taking risks in my career.

[17:35] Andrew Barth Feldman: I think that’s what makes this journey so exciting—the unknown. You never know what opportunities might come your way, and I’m ready to embrace whatever comes next.

[17:55] Andrew Barth Feldman: I also want to encourage young artists to take risks and not be afraid to fail. Every experience, whether good or bad, is a learning opportunity, and it’s all part of the journey.

[18:15] Andrew Barth Feldman: I believe that passion and perseverance are key. If you love what you do and are willing to work hard, you can achieve anything.

[18:35] Andrew Barth Feldman: I’m excited to continue sharing my journey with others and hopefully inspire them along the way. It’s all about connection and storytelling, and I can’t wait to see where it leads me next.

[18:55] Andrew Barth Feldman: Thank you for having me on the podcast. It’s been a pleasure sharing my experiences and thoughts with you.

[19:15] Andrew Barth Feldman: I hope that listeners take away the importance of following their passions and believing in themselves. Everyone has a unique story to tell, and it’s worth sharing.

[19:35] Andrew Barth Feldman: I’m looking forward to what the future holds, and I’m grateful for the support from my friends, family, and fans. It means the world to me.

[19:55] Andrew Barth Feldman: Let’s keep the conversation going, and I can’t wait to see what we can create together in the future.

[20:15] Andrew Barth Feldman: Thank you again for this opportunity. It’s been a wonderful experience, and I’m excited to continue this journey.

[20:35] Andrew Barth Feldman: I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the podcast and finds inspiration in the stories shared here.

[21:05] Andrew Barth Feldman: Remember to stay true to yourself and keep pursuing your dreams. You never know where they might lead you.

[21:25] Andrew Barth Feldman: I’m excited to see what’s next for all of us in this industry. Let’s keep pushing boundaries and creating amazing art together.

[21:45] Andrew Barth Feldman: Thank you for listening, and I hope to connect with you all soon.

[22:05] Andrew Barth Feldman: It’s been a pleasure sharing my journey, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for all of us.

[22:25] Andrew Barth Feldman: Let’s keep the conversation going and continue to support each other in our creative endeavors.

[22:45] Andrew Barth Feldman: Thank you for having me on the podcast, and I look forward to connecting with everyone again soon.

[23:05] Andrew Barth Feldman: I appreciate the opportunity to share my story, and I hope it inspires others to pursue their passions.

[23:35] Andrew Barth Feldman: Let’s keep creating and sharing our stories with the world. It’s what makes us human.

[24:05] Andrew Barth Feldman: Thank you for listening, and I hope you all have a wonderful day.

[24:25] Andrew Barth Feldman: I’m excited to see what the future holds for all of us in this industry. Let’s keep pushing boundaries and creating amazing art together.

[24:55] Andrew Barth Feldman: Thank you for having me on the podcast, and I look forward to connecting with everyone again soon.

[25:15] Andrew Barth Feldman: It’s been a pleasure sharing my journey, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for all of us.

[26:20] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, I have. It's actually, the one I have now, Gerardelli, like 87% cacao, which is kind of gross. But yeah, it's good for, it gives me energy.

[26:34] Alan Seales: For sure. That's crazy. And then you cut out dairy too, you were saying.

[26:38] Andrew Barth Feldman: I did, which was really hard for me. Every Sunday, Liz has said I'm allowed to have a little treat, so I'll have some cheesecake. I call it Cheesecake Sunday, every Sunday. But other than that, because I don't have a show on Monday, so I can wait a day. But other than that, yeah, that was really hard for me, because that was sort of my whole diet was gross dairy. But yeah, you're a teenager.

[26:59] Alan Seales: Exactly. Yeah, you just want like burgers and cake and a lot of chocolate. Because I can, you know.

[27:03] Andrew Barth Feldman: Right, yeah, before your metabolism just all goes to hell.

[27:06] Alan Seales: Yeah, I'm not excited for that. I don't think you're going to have to worry about that.

[27:10] Andrew Barth Feldman: You look like you have a very skinny build.

[27:13] Alan Seales: That's what it's been my whole life thus far, is my metabolism is really, really high, which is great. Keep it going.

[27:21] Andrew Barth Feldman: I hope I can. Did you get to talk with Ben, or obviously you replaced Taylor, so you had some overlap with him. But did either of them, did they give you any advice or any help on, you were like, oh, I don't know what I'm doing.

[27:34] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yeah, you know, it's funny. Something that they've both said is they held off from giving me advice because they know how personal the process is and they don't want to impose upon that and me finding my own Evan. So it's pretty rare that they gave advice on, you know, how to approach the character. It was more advice on how to approach this lifestyle of playing the character and what the world of Evan Hansen is. So the people that I would get to know and how to deal with the tears and how to deal with the social media aspect of, you know, maybe getting some negative comments, they were both unbelievably helpful in just making sure I had the, I was mentally and emotionally prepared to go into it. But it was rare that unless I asked for it, they wouldn't give me advice that was about how to play. It was more just about how to handle him.

[28:31] Alan Seales: Yeah, I didn't think about that. I mean, you're birthing your own version of it. It's such a personal role that you're not doing the Taylor, you're not doing the Ben.

[28:45] Andrew Barth Feldman: And you can't. If I tried to be Ben, I would fail. I have to be my Evan. I can't try to be Ben, I can't try to be Taylor, and I can't try to be me. I just have to try to be Evan and what he means to me. Okay, so then what is your take on Evan different to what the two of them did?

[29:02] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yeah, I mean, you know, from an obvious base perspective, what people have really seemed to respond to is just seeing a teenager and just removing that layer of disbelief that you might have is really, I think, really powerful to see. So even if I don't do anything else, it's still a kid going through this. And that's really, really hard to watch. And I think it allows for a bit more forgiveness, which is, I think, so crucial and really special. And I'm really thankful for that. But I think in terms of how I play him, I think my Evan is very sensitive. He's a lot more sensitive than Ben's where stuff almost would fly past him because he's so in his head about what may or may not happen. And I think my Evan sort of goes more in the direction of, oh, okay, you said that you could have meant this or just really, really perceptive.

And I think it's a bit more, for me, it allows me to be as present as possible because I'm really, really listening. Ben's was so iconic and I just couldn't, I didn't want to replicate that. And so that's sort of what I found. That's what, that's how his anxiety manifested itself to me was in that perception.

[30:28] Alan Seales: Okay. Yeah, I haven't seen you do the role. I would absolutely love to because you're right. To see age appropriate characters or age appropriate actors play the characters, I think.

[30:41] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yeah. I think the biggest response has been from parents, which has been really cool.

[30:45] Alan Seales: Oh, really?

[30:46] Andrew Barth Feldman: Because they've sort of been like, or teachers or people who have a lot of kids in their life and they're like, now I get it. I don't want these kids to go through that. I know this. Or people who work with special ed kids, especially are really, really touched by it because they imagine what it would be like if one of those kids that they work with or have in their life would go through the things that Evan does.

[31:15] Alan Seales: Well, so many people do and they never talk about it.

[31:19] Andrew Barth Feldman: It's so true. And I think this really opened up that conversation of knowing someone who might go through that. It's so scary to think about.

[31:26] Alan Seales: Do you read comments on social media?

[31:36] Andrew Barth Feldman: I try not to. I fail sometimes and that really is hard. The majority is positive. People, you'd have to be pretty bad to not do this role well. It's so hard, but it's written so well that it's certainly not easy. But if you do it and you push yourself to do it, you can do it effectively. Maybe not as effectively as Ben or Taylor, whoever plays the role on Broadway, but you can deliver it and you can make people feel something. But absolutely, there are people who are like, he's not Ben. And that's really hard. And I definitely get in my head on a daily basis and feel that doubt of maybe I'm not right for this. And maybe there was a mistake made somewhere along the line and I shouldn't be here. But nevertheless, I go out and I do it. And if nothing else, I use it because that's what Evan's feeling.

[32:36] Alan Seales: Right. Well, you've got 74,000 Instagram followers now.

[32:41] Andrew Barth Feldman: So weird.

[32:41] Alan Seales: And has that all come about in the last six months since you joined?

[32:46] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yeah.

[32:46] Alan Seales: Or since the announcement, I guess, that you were going to be Evan?

[32:48] Andrew Barth Feldman: We were playing a game. My family and my girlfriend were all there the day of the announcement that I was going to be Evan, which was last November. And we just kept refreshing my Instagram literally every second. And it just kept going up. It was crazy. And it was so funny. And it's nice that people care. This is a role that it matters whose hands it's in to people. It's one of those roles. It's like an alphabet. That's what I tend to equate it to a lot. We really care about who's playing alphabet and we really care about who's playing Evan. So yeah, it's nice to have that audience. Hopefully, I can use it to put out some stupid things into the world. We'll see.

[33:36] Alan Seales: Well, what else do you do outside of theater? I mean, do you have any hobbies that you're allowed to have time for right now?

[33:43] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yeah. The quiet activities I do that are sort of to occupy my mind are things like Legos, which we talked about earlier. I build Legos. I'm working on a city right now. I just did Hogwarts. That was a big project. Legos, video games, but I also write a lot. Pretty much all my hobbies involve theater or are a part of theater. So I've directed in the past. I run a theater company that I started, I guess, like six years ago now called Nefrock Productions, which raises money for Next for Autism, which is an amazing organization. And I've directed and I've written for it. And so I write a lot. I write a lot of music. That's a nice activity to do. Usually, I'm pretty emotionally drained after the show, but if I'm feeling particularly emotional about the show or after the show or what have you, writing is a really good way to get rid of that.

[34:43] Alan Seales: Do you write prose or music?

[34:45] Andrew Barth Feldman: Music. Yeah, I write music.

[34:46] Alan Seales: You play guitar?

[34:47] Andrew Barth Feldman: Guitar, piano, a couple of instruments, mostly piano, but I know guitar, drums, bass, ukulele. That's it, I think.

[34:59] Alan Seales: Self-taught or do you ever take lessons?

[35:02] Andrew Barth Feldman: I took lessons in guitar and piano when I was a lot younger, but mostly I ended up teaching myself how to write and theory and stuff like that.

[35:14] Alan Seales: That's so cool. Yeah, I normally ask this to guests and we just kind of glossed around it, but your parents, are they musically inclined? Are they in theater or...?

[35:28] Andrew Barth Feldman: No, my grandmother on my dad's side was a concert pianist. So my dad used to play a lot, and he introduced me to a lot of the music that I listened to, like classic rock, a lot of the Beatles and Queen, and that sort of genre is really, really my sweet spot. My mom, absolutely not, never. She was never into it. I have a brother, he's really my cousin, but we were essentially raised together, who is a crazy musician, amazing musician. So it just sort of has come up at random spots in my family. I have another cousin who's an actress and plays the cello. For no particular reason, it just kind of finds itself in my family. But my mom did not want me to do this. She did not want me to be an actor.

She thought I was going to struggle for years and not make any money and not be able to have a family. But I think what we have now is a really good start. So I'm very thankful for that. But yeah, I really wanted to go to a conservatory for college, and my mother is a college admissions counselor. And she was like, absolutely not. You need a liberal arts education. She was absolutely right that that's what I needed, and that's what I plan to do.

[36:45] Alan Seales: So you're still going to go back to college? That's the plan.

[36:45] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yeah, even if it takes a little bit longer because I'm working or whatnot, but I do want that experience. And I think that's such a formative thing. And I think I would really miss out on that if I didn't. Are there any other roles that has popped in mind? Obviously, Evan Hansen is a teenager. Are there any other roles that popped in mind that you obsessed over or that you would love to sing?

[37:04] Andrew Barth Feldman: I have a list.

[37:06] Alan Seales: Oh, do you really? Because I'm a theater nerd. I think a lot of us have a list. I think the one that I usually stand by is Quasimodo in Hunchback. I almost got my school to do it, and then I did Dear Evan Hansen instead. But that would have been really cool. I think I love Little Shop of Horrors, and I would love to play Seymour. But secretly, I would really love to play Audrey too, even though I know that's not a thing that could ever happen to me.

[37:40] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yeah, I mean, there's so many. I think what I'd love to do more than anything else is originate a role in a Broadway show. I think just to be part of a new show and be on a cast recording and just love a new piece of work and give it my stamp would be really special. And everybody compares other replacements to you.

[37:57] Alan Seales: Yeah, that's my revenge. Take that, Ben Platt.

[38:06] Andrew Barth Feldman: He'll go in and fill your role one day.

[38:08] Alan Seales: Oh, yeah, sure. But you said you're into Legos. I was looking through your Instagram feed, and you post a lot about Disney.

[38:16] Andrew Barth Feldman: I do. Oh, I would love to talk about this. Yes, please. Yeah, that was sort of another thing that was like, I went to Disney World for the first time when I was six months old. I went because my parents promised my sister that nothing would change when I was born. And so my first movie I ever saw was Mr. Deeds with Adam Sandler because they promised they would take her. And so it was that sort of thing.

[38:38] Alan Seales: What's the age difference between you and your sister?

[38:41] Andrew Barth Feldman: She's 12 years older than me.

[40:15] Andrew Barth Feldman: The Disney Company is the easiest way to suspend your disbelief. Because there's no way out of it. There's no way to look at what's behind the curtain because they do such a good job of covering up the curtain in the first place. It's amazing. And I can't wait to go and see what they've done with Galaxy's Edge, with the new Star Wars land because it's supposed to be totally groundbreaking. I'm really excited about it. I've gone every year, at least once a year, with my kids. They're not into Star Wars yet. They're still too young, but we'll get there. We went to Toy Story Land this year. Oh, I love it. I think they did such a good job.

[40:52] Alan Seales: Yeah, it's great. And you like animatronics too, right?

[41:04] Andrew Barth Feldman: I'm super into animatronics. On the Instagram feed, you're just posting animatronics. I love that stuff. I mean, it's unbelievable what they can do now. The new rumor is that with the new Marvel lands that they're building, they're going to use something called Stuntronics, which are animatronics that can do flips in the air and land. They're using it for movies now, and they're going to use it in the parks for Marvel lands.

[41:30] Alan Seales: What's the Boston Dynamic, the robotics company?

[41:33] Andrew Barth Feldman: Boston Dynamics? Yeah, that's one. When they're hitting it with the hockey stick and closing the doors on it. That's what I picture. I picture that kind of robot just coming up and doing flips. It would be so weird, but I would be very interested to see it. And it would work with Marvel because you don't have to have the mouths move or whatever for a Spider-Man sort of thing. I think it would be really cool.

[41:54] Alan Seales: Oh, I can't wait for that. I did not know. I'm going to have to go research stunt animatronics. It's just always like what they did with Pandora recently, the Avatar land, the animatronics they have there. You can't distinguish it from a real, I mean, there's nothing real to compare it to. It's blue people.

[42:11] Andrew Barth Feldman: If they were real people. If that's what it would be. It's nuts.

[42:17] Alan Seales: Yeah, I am so impressed with that. If you were not doing theater, though, would you get into computer science? Would you get into animatronics? Would you want to go be an imagineer for Disney?

[42:27] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yeah, we were talking about that. So I sort of had this idea when I was young. My family really was like, you could be a computer programmer because we don't want you to be an actor because I don't think that's a steady job. And you could, you should do it like on the side or whatever. But like as a backup plan, you can go into programming because you know a lot about computers. What I soon learned is that I know a lot about computers compared to my family because they're older and don't know about it. I did take some classes. I did take some programming classes and I just quickly realized I can't do this. I can't live my life behind a desk. I don't think I could do that my whole life. And I was pretty optimistic about it up until that point.

And it was when I was sort of at a point where, OK, maybe acting isn't such a good idea and maybe I'm not cut out for this. But it sort of came at a time when I started to become more and more confident in my acting from being able to play new roles. I'd always played these comedic roles. And then all of a sudden I played Galileo in We Will Rock You. And it was the first role that I've been given where I was able to belt my face off and wear a leather jacket. And it will never happen to me ever again because I look like this. But it was sort of, oh, I'm good at this. I'm good enough at this that I can maybe make this work. And I don't like sitting behind a desk and typing and making snake games all day.

So I think I'm not going to do that. So in reality, I think if this didn't work out, I would probably be a Jungle Cruise skipper. That is what I would be doing. I love the jokes on that ride. I always have to go on the Jungle Cruise.

[44:12] Alan Seales: It's good to see each person's take on it. And I really love it when you can tell they don't want to be doing that. This is not the job that they wanted at Disney World. And they're phoning it in. That's my favorite kind of Jungle Cruise skipper.

[44:31] Andrew Barth Feldman: I was going to say, I can always tell who's really into it and who's like, all right, I'm just saying my lines. Here we go. Because I think that deadpan schtick is what makes it work. That's what's so great about it. Yeah. It's because the Jungle Cruise started as like, whoa, these animatronics are so cool. And then over time, people were like, these animatronics are not cool. And so they added all those jokes in so they didn't have to change the ride. And they could just make a joke out of these bad old animatronics, which I think is so cool.

[45:02] Alan Seales: I didn't know that. I bet you're like full of Disney.

[45:07] Andrew Barth Feldman: I am. There's my favorite ride is the Haunted Mansion. And in addition to having it memorized like the Ghost Host script, there's this book that the Imagineers wrote. That's how it was made. And I'm like obsessed with it, with its history. It's awesome. I'll do another podcast for you if you want just about the Haunted Mansion.

[45:27] Alan Seales: Oh, dude, please can we do a bonus content episode? I would really love to do that.

[45:34] Andrew Barth Feldman: All right. I'm in. Well, my grandfather helped build Disney World.

[45:38] Alan Seales: That's so cool.

[45:39] Andrew Barth Feldman: He was, what do they call him, an estimate here. He was a project manager.

[45:44] Alan Seales: Oh, wow.

[45:45] Andrew Barth Feldman: And he had to figure out how much all the rides were going to cost.

[45:48] Alan Seales: Oh, oh, I think you talked about this with Michael Lee Brown because he's also a huge Disney fan. And we bonded over that very quickly.

[45:55] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yeah, that's so cool. Yeah. Yeah. So he promised to tell me some secrets that he didn't. And now he's gone. So I'll read the book. But no, we should do that.

[46:08] Alan Seales: OK, so let's see. Anything else we want to cover? Cool. Yeah. So we'll wrap up here and we'll just go to our standard three closing questions. So first one, very simply, what motivates you?

[46:19] Andrew Barth Feldman: Oh, I think the thing that helps me on a daily basis is to look back like a year from now and see what I was doing. And I was when I was cast in Dear Evan Hansen, I was playing Mr. Toad in Wind in the Willows. This happened the week of the show. And I was like, got the call that I was going to do it. And then I had to play Mr. Toad at night. And it was like the voice of that character was like, poop, poop, like that was the whole. And I was like, this is what I'm doing right now. And a year from now, I'll be. So to look back at that is kind of like, how could I not be thankful? Because this is all I've ever wanted. And how could I not be motivated by that? And then it's just sort of when I meet kids at the stage door who it means so much to them or when I get to do a workshop or Q&A or something with some teenagers, that's really special, because I was I'm like, they're working so hard. And that's how hard I was working. And I should never be working any less than that.

[47:36] Alan Seales: Can you give me a line from waving through waving to the window as Mr. Toad?

[47:41] Andrew Barth Feldman: Oh, yeah. I've learned to slam on the break. I just saw the director the other day before I even turn the key. It's actually pretty applicable because he's very obsessed with cars. So that works a little bit, but he crashes them. So I guess he hasn't learned the phone. I make the mistake. It's like the Duke of Wesselton from Frozen.

[47:59] Alan Seales: Oh, yeah, that was really my basis for the voice.

[48:06] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yeah. OK, so the second question, what advice would you give to your younger self? Not that you're that old. What advice would you give to your younger self and younger people now listening, starting out down a similar path?

[48:13] Andrew Barth Feldman: Yeah, I think I'm really proud of my younger self for working as hard as I did and not never giving up on it and recognizing that there's room to grow. And I think that's the number one thing that all young people wanting to get into this business need to know is that you're not the best. You're just not you're not better than anyone else in the room. You might not you just need to work hard and you'll never be the best person in the room because everyone is something different to bring to the table. But you just need if you want to be, quote unquote, good enough to get into this business, you just need to keep working and you can get there. And there's no reason to think that you can, even if it takes you, you know, however long.

As long as you keep growing, there's no limit to how much you can grow. But I think to my younger self, I would just want to say to keep doing it, I guess, and never feel ashamed or don't don't don't get distracted by just just work, I think, and enjoy it. I think that's probably really important. And that's probably what I would say is enjoy it as much as you can.

[49:37] Alan Seales: Cool. And then last question, if you'd only see one show for the rest of your life, but you can see it as many times as you want, what would you say?

[49:44] Andrew Barth Feldman: Whoa. Um, um, I mean, I truly love Dear Evan Hansen. And I think but I won't use that as my answer because that's lame because people everyone thinks I'm being paid to say that and I am. But I really mean it because I just I think it's a pretty perfect musical. You know, I think my answer might be Little Shop of Horrors. I love that show. And it's just so fun. I don't think you can see one show for the rest of your life. And if it's like really sad that that wouldn't be great. I think Little Shop is just so much fun and it's never not fun. I think that's my answer. I love Little Shop of Horrors.

[50:24] Alan Seales: Great. So we can find you online on Instagram at Andrew B. Feldman underscore. Was there another Andrew B.?

[50:29] Andrew Barth Feldman: There is. And I've been thinking about reaching out to him. He's a lawyer. He's still on Instagram. And I've been thinking about reaching out. It seems like a lot of people do not like him because I get accidentally tagged in a lot of really mean things to Andrew Andrew Feldman on Twitter. Andrew B. Feldman. And maybe it's another politician. I don't know. But anyway. Yes.

[50:48] Alan Seales: OK, so Instagram Andrew B. Feldman underscore on Twitter at Andrew B. Feldman. There he is. That guy that guy didn't go to Twitter and claim the name. You can get more of me in the Theatre Podcast at thetheatrepodcast.com. Please show your support via thetheatrepodcast.com slash Patreon theatre_podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Facebook.com officialtheatrepodcast. Please share with your friends. Tell your friends rate the podcast. That's how we grow and get amazing guests like Andrew. And this is produced by Jillian Hockman, edited by Matthew Hendershot. And thank you to Jukebox the Ghost for the intro and outro music. Andrew, thank you so much. I really enjoyed this.

[51:25] Andrew Barth Feldman: Thank you so much for having me. You are such a good person.

[51:28] Alan Seales: Oh, thank you so much. That's so kind of you. Thank you so much for having me.