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.

[0:10] Alan Seales: I am your host, Alan Seales, and this is a special year-end wrap up with a special co-host this year, none other than the Ensemblist host, Mr. Mo Brady. How are you doing, Mo?

[0:21] Mo Brady: I am very good. Thank you for asking me. I love talking about my feelings.

[0:27] Alan Seales: Do you have a favorite? This is the year-end wrap up for all 2019, so we're talking pre and post-Tonys. Do you have a favorite from the whole year?

[0:35] Mo Brady: I have a favorite play and a favorite musical, and they are united in spirit.

[0:41] Alan Seales: What are they?

[0:42] Mo Brady: Well, they are united in spirit because they are experiences that can only happen in the theatre. I think the more that we can watch things at home, have things streamed to our phones or our TVs, the more we are craving a unique experience in the theatre where we are sharing space with other audience members. And so the two shows that hit me the most were What the Constitution Means to Me and Hadestown, because they both really incorporated the audience as a character in the storytelling. I mean, I love that moment at the beginning of Hadestown where Andre De Shields comes out, and he's like, all right, and everyone in the audience is like, all right, and he's like, all right, and you're like, we all had to agree to go on this journey with him.

[1:31] Mo Brady: You're talking to me. You're actually talking to me. I loved that. That feels so unique to me. Not unique in terms of never happened in the theatre before, but that's the kind of experience that I'm going to take time and participate in rather than just go home.

[1:50] Alan Seales: Are you happy with the general trend of jukebox musicals that are coming out now? Because there was a lot this year.

[1:57] Mo Brady: Oh, do you mean the bio musical? Or do you mean more like Jagged Little Pill?

[2:02] Alan Seales: Well, you can go through, I guess, more of a bio because...

[2:09] Mo Brady: You're talking about Tina, Summer, Ain't Too Proud, Cher Show. I'm 38 years old, and none of these bio musicals have been written for me. And so when we get the Lady Gaga bio musical, maybe I'm going to feel differently.

[2:29] Alan Seales: Well, Britney Spears is coming in theory.

[2:34] Mo Brady: I think that's more of like a story being told with her music. I don't know.

[2:37] Mo Brady: So I haven't loved any bio musical I've seen, even the more well-crafted ones like Jersey Boys are beautiful because none of those artists were ones that I connected to before I walked into the theatre. I didn't walk in with an automatic connection to them. But let's get a Lizzo musical in 30 years and I'll be like, oh my god, this is so good because it will do the exact thing for me that it's doing for 60-year-old moms at the Lunt-Fontanne right now.

[3:07] Alan Seales: Well, it's the producers who are bringing the money who want to see these biopics of their generations.

[3:12] Mo Brady: Right. And the people who are willing to spend $140 on a ticket, $180 on a ticket. That's who musicals are being shot to Broadway for. Not me. I get press comps. I'm not paying.

[3:28] Mo Brady: So no, but maybe in the future.

[3:30] Mo Brady: There were a couple standouts for me. I mean, I enjoyed everything. I'm one of those people that I would be a terrible critic because I'm always looking for the positive in everything. I'm like, oh, I like that for this reason, like that for this reason. Freestyle Love Supreme for me just blows me away in the amount of talent that all of those people have on stage.

[3:48] Alan Seales: Sure.

[3:49] Mo Brady: I mean, it's a different kind of talent because everybody obviously on a Broadway stage has muckus of talent coming out everywhere. A performance like a spectacle. Moulin Rouge for me.

[4:01] Alan Seales: Oh, yeah.

[4:02] Mo Brady: Like that is a show to see.

[4:03] Alan Seales: Well, sure. That's also a very theatrical experience.

[4:05] Mo Brady: Yeah. Yes. It's not like the story. You know, the story, the story is not profound, but it's just, oh my God, the set and the dancing and the arrangements are.

[4:14] Mo Brady: You walk into that theater and it's all like they've transformed the whole house.

[4:19] Alan Seales: Yeah, exactly.

[4:20] Mo Brady: The whole house is the Moulin Rouge. Yeah, it's incredible. You know where your money went to or where other people's money went to while you got your music licensing.

[4:30] Alan Seales: Yeah. Did you like talk to me about Oklahoma? Did you like the new Oklahoma?

[4:35] Mo Brady: I liked the new version of Oklahoma more than I probably would have liked a traditionally staged production of Oklahoma. Did all of the concepts work for me? No. Did some of them work for me? Yes. I just like they did something weird with it. I don't know. I did like I just thought it was interesting.

[4:57] Alan Seales: Yeah, I did, too. I have never seen a staged performance of the traditional. Oh, I think I've seen like high school, but I saw like, you know, the movie and and but this this worked. Like I said, it mostly worked for me and I got it. I got what they were trying to do. And I really loved it. And of course, just the inclusivity and and the fact that Ali Stroker is in it and being in a wheelchair was not it was just her. It wasn't there was no attention called to it.

[5:25] Mo Brady: I didn't see Ali. I saw her understudy.

[5:29] Alan Seales: Oh, really?

[5:30] Mo Brady: Or standby such a hushings. And she does not perform in a wheelchair. When I knew when I saw she was going on, I was like, oh, she'll be doing the track of Ali. Yeah. And she walks out and does the whole thing on two feet. And that was really fascinating to me was sort of the theater crafting of it is like you've created a role around someone in a wheelchair. How does it get manipulated when that person doesn't have a wheelchair? That was interesting for me. Of course, Ali is also great. She made history this year for winning the Tony first actress in a wheelchair, actor period in a wheelchair to win a Tony Award. Just incredible, which also the Tonys were another standout for me because I was on the red carpet of the Tonys.

[6:11] Alan Seales: Oh, look at you. That was an experience. What were you doing?

[6:15] Mo Brady: Press for this podcast.

[6:21] Alan Seales: Oh, I've heard of it.

[6:21] Mo Brady: You mean the Theatre Podcast?

[6:26] Alan Seales: The Theatre Podcast. Available on Broadway Podcast Network. Yeah. I was there doing interviews with people walking by and that, it was like to be on the other side of the camera. I was standing next to James Corden's parents who were also interviewing people as they came by.

[6:40] Mo Brady: Oh, that's funny.

[6:40] Alan Seales: So I got a fun interview with James Corden's parents while they were in between interviews. So that was interesting. But that was really cool. In terms of plays, I didn't think I would love this as much as I did Darren Brown's Secret.

[6:57] Mo Brady: Oh, I haven't seen it.

[6:57] Alan Seales: I am in love with that show. And Darren Brown is, he's a UK phenomenon anyway, a mentalist, right? And I was so nervous to interview him.

[7:02] Mo Brady: Oh yeah, because you're like, he's gonna get my brain.

[7:05] Alan Seales: He's gonna get my brain and control the conversation. But he's sort of an opposite of his stage persona, in that he's kind of shy and he's very reserved. And I'm sure he's picking up on things. He just wasn't going there because he wasn't on, you know, I put in air quotes. But Frankie and Johnny, I really loved. I think it closed too early. Closed way too early, I think. Did you see that?

[7:27] Mo Brady: No. I mean, it was the incredible, incredible performances. The most recent thing I saw was Cyrano. I mean, did you?

[7:34] Alan Seales: Oh, no. You see more things than I do. You're a dad, but you live in New York City, so you get to see more plays. I just have a very loving and understanding wife. Crystal, shout out to you.

[7:44] Mo Brady: I do not have a very loving and understanding wife.

[7:50] Alan Seales: No.

[7:51] Mo Brady: You have a loving and understanding husband?

[7:55] Alan Seales: Yeah, yeah, that one.

[7:58] Mo Brady: Do you have a favorite play? What the Constitution Means to Me.

[8:00] Alan Seales: Yeah, of course. Of course.

[8:00] Mo Brady: I just, it made me rethink what a play could be. And I loved the form movement of it. You know, I just didn't know what was coming. And I just, I loved that.

[8:14] Mo Brady: You know, a standout performance for me was Adam Driver in Burn This. That, dude, I mean, like, all I know...

[8:22] Alan Seales: Oh, is Adam Driver a good actor?

[8:24] Mo Brady: Yeah, he's totally a good actor. All I knew of him was a couple episodes of Girls that, you know, I didn't really watch Girls. And then I, of course, Star Wars. But then I was like, oh, this dude, this Star Wars guy is gonna be on stage. He's gonna be good. Blew me away.

[8:43] Mo Brady: Yeah, just incredible where he went to with that character.

[8:49] Mo Brady: And then even Jake Gyllenhaal too for Seawall of Life. Again, and Tom Sturridge too, Dom and Jake both. A, love the idea of putting two one acts together. It worked. The theme, you know, is all about parenting and dad life and whatnot. It worked. But both of them, I just, I saw it twice and I looked around and like their sniffles and sobbings and like grown men talking about or thinking about their children. It was an extremely well produced and well directed play. And I think when it moved to Broadway from Off-Broadway, well deserved and it worked. Did you see anything that was like off Off-Broadway?

[9:33] Alan Seales: I saw 11 Off-Broadway shows, but nothing particularly off Off-Broadway, I would say. Oh, I guess I saw We Are the Tigers. That was pretty Off-Broadway. But most of the things I saw were like Rock of Ages or Broadway Bounty Hunter.

[9:48] Mo Brady: I love Broadway Bounty Hunter. Annie Golden is a gem. She is a treasure. Made it all the way to the public to see Soft Power, which I really enjoyed as well. I really thought it was interesting. I would love to see another draft of it, to be honest. I think there's still things to be figured out. And I don't know what the future of that show is, if there is one. But the way they were playing with the form of musical theater, I just thought was really interesting and entertaining at the same time.

[10:19] Alan Seales: Speaking of playing with theater, one of the things that I will count for 2016, even though it's opening next year, is six.

[10:26] Mo Brady: 2019?

[10:27] Alan Seales: Where are we?

[10:28] Mo Brady: This year is 2019.

[10:29] Alan Seales: You sure did. Because I'm looking at six, the musicals launch event. I will count for 2019. I went to the launch, the press launch event for six. And I didn't know anything about it. I saw some clips and things and whatnot from their out of town run. But the Broadway launch, I'm so excited for that show, even though it's coming in 2020. I'm still counting that as one of my favorite moments of 2019.

[10:53] Mo Brady: The launch event was worth it for you. That's cool. I have been specifically staying away from six because I love walking into a theater blind. I love that experience of not knowing what's going to happen. I know there's six queens and they're going to sing like Spice Girls music at you, but I don't really know any of it. And I look forward to that experience when I do get to see it and be shooketh.

[11:20] Alan Seales: Well, that's nice. I get the press comps too. And it's nice going before the press, the reviews are out. So we get to go see these things like final previews mostly is what I try to go see. I saw Jagged Little Pill last night, and it was after opening, but I stayed away from reviews. I was like, I want to go in as blind as I can about this thing that everybody is talking about. Because I want to go in and I want to have my own experience.

[11:45] Mo Brady: What did you think of it?

[11:47] Alan Seales: I think there are some really incredible moments in it. And there are some things that didn't work as well for me. I think the cast is almost uniformly great.

[11:56] Mo Brady: They're amazing.

[11:57] Alan Seales: I think the cast is really spectacular. And I enjoy Ezra. Not by any actor in the show. Really an interesting ensemble in terms of being unique personalities. It's called a chorus, but it's kind of the opposite of a chorus because they're also unique. They all work together to make this like cacophonous sort of ensemble. So like you were saying, they all stand out individually, but together, it's all like one solid block of talent.

[12:21] Mo Brady: Yeah. Is anything else from the year that sticks out in your mind?

[12:25] Alan Seales: Performances. I talk about ensemble performances all the time. So I was actually thinking, what leading performances really stood out to me this year? Because I don't get a chance to talk about those very often. And I'd love to say too, Erika Henningsen in Mean Girls is so good. Erika is a Broadway star. She has such a heavy lift in that show. And she does it so well. And she's so vocally strong. Don't sleep on Erika Henningsen. That's what I have to say, people. She is going to blow us all away. I mean, not that she isn't doing great work in Mean Girls, or did great work in Les Mis. I think she made her debut as a Fontaine in Les Mis. But Erika Henningsen is so good. And then Alex Brightman. He's such a force in that show.

[13:13] Mo Brady: Absolutely.

[13:14] Alan Seales: That looks exhausting. And the vocal tricks that he's doing. And the way that he's able to ride that line of humor and sort of being unlovable but lovable at the same time. I just think he's-

[13:32] Mo Brady: Did you see it out of town in DC?

[13:33] Alan Seales: No, I've seen it twice here.

[13:35] Mo Brady: Because they completely reworked it. Because it got pretty bad reviews in DC. And they were saying that it was borderline, like highly offensive. And then when I was talking with Alex Timbers, he was just saying, like, after the reviews after DC that came before, between then and New York, they completely shifted the tone so that he was less of a jerk and was able to find that line. So the fact that you're calling it out, like, is a testament to how well they've reworked it.

[14:04] Alan Seales: Yeah.

[14:05] Mo Brady: Good on them.

[14:10] Alan Seales: Good on them for doing that. All right. Well, it's been an amazing 2019. 2020, let's hope it's gonna be just as good.

[14:20] Mo Brady: I mean, it always is, right? There's always something. There's always something.

[14:24] Alan Seales: Yeah. What are you looking forward to most? Other than Six, not the press launch?

[14:30] Mo Brady: Oh, goodness. I was really looking forward to Music Man until all this politics with Beetlejuice came in. And now I feel like I want to stand in solidarity with Beetlejuice. But I still want to see Music Man. I just hope the theater situation can get worked out. I'm a huge fan of Hugh and Sutton, both. What are you looking forward to?

[14:51] Alan Seales: I mean, this is already playing, but West Side Story. What the heck is happening down there?

[14:58] Mo Brady: I don't know. I don't know. But in that same way that like, I don't know if it's gonna work. I don't know if it's not gonna work. I don't know if I'm gonna like it. But like, yeah, let's do crazy stuff with like the Oklahoma thing. Like, let's do crazy stuff and just see if it works. I mean, it's not my money. So if it doesn't work and it closes, sorry, guys. But I am excited by the idea of throwing new ideas at classics and seeing if they work.

[15:30] Alan Seales: You know what, I'm gonna put this out in the universe. I want to see everybody's talking about Jamie.

[15:36] Mo Brady: Oh, sure.

[15:37] Alan Seales: Come from the West End to Broadway.

[15:39] Mo Brady: I saw it on West End.

[15:40] Alan Seales: Oh, yeah.

[15:41] Mo Brady: Love it. Love the soundtrack. Love the story. Based on a true story.

[15:46] Alan Seales: Do you think it's going to translate well? Do you think it would translate well?

[15:49] Mo Brady: I think it would. I really do. I mean, there's a couple like UK specific types of words.

[15:56] Alan Seales: No, they're definitely not. Yeah.

[15:59] Mo Brady: I only want people to speak to me in American.

[16:02] Alan Seales: Well, you know, like, we have to change chips to fries because we call them different things here in America. But I think it's a story about a teenage kid who wants to be himself. And I think that translates. I hope it translates because it needs to.

[16:19] Mo Brady: I wonder if it's living in the same world of becoming Nancy and maybe one will eke out a Broadway run and the other one won't. I don't know. They sort of, in theory, are the same kind of story. But I haven't heard either.

[16:35] Alan Seales: I want Dreamgirls over here, too.

[16:37] Mo Brady: Yeah, that sounds well, probably not that far off. I'm excited about Six and I'm excited about Carolina Change because I have never really listened to either of those. And those you know, one has been around for much longer than the other. But I don't really know either. And so I'm excited about Walking in Blind and having an experience that other people have really enjoyed in the past and seeing how it lands at the.

[16:59] Alan Seales: Well, it's going to be a great year, I think. So anyway, we'll wrap this up. Thank you for this incredible conversation, as always.

[17:07] Mo Brady: Yeah, thank you, sir.

[17:08] Alan Seales: And where can we find you?

[17:10] Mo Brady: You can find me at The Ensemblist. We are on Instagram and Twitter and we are in your podcast feed at The Ensemblist and we are at TheEnsemblist.com.

[17:20] Alan Seales: All right. And of course, Theatre Podcast, Theatre underscore, podcast on Instagram and Twitter, TheTheatrePodcast.com. And thank you, Mo Brady, for this year and wrap up. Here's to a 2020.

[17:32] Mo Brady: Here we go.

[17:32] Alan Seales: Clink.

[17:34] Mo Brady: We need real glasses.

[17:36] Alan Seales: Take a deep breath, make the world a little colorful.