If the last show isn’t as familiar to you as the first five, composer Jerry Herman (Hello, Dolly!) considered it his best show. Even though it includes a slew of some of his finest songs, the show has struggled to be successfully produced. The original Broadway production (with Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters) ran for just 66 performances and won none of the eight Tony nominations it had received.

Mack & Mabel, which is centered around silent film director Mack Sennett and silent film star Mabel Normand, is being performed in a concert presentation this weekend at North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre. This All Roads Theatre Company production is being directed and choreographed by Scott Thompson. O’Connor is playing Lottie Ames, a film star who takes Mabel (Jenna Lea Rosen) under her wing. Dermot Mulroney plays Mack. Update: All performances of Mack & Mabel have sold out.

Last week I spoke with O’Connor about the reasons why Mack & Mabel hasn’t been successful, how the show is a throwback to when stars were the stars of the show and if time heals everything O’Connor has gone through in her career. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview with O’Connor, please go to our YouTube channel.

Q: Jerry Herman said that Mack & Mabel was his favorite of all of his works, but it was sadly his least successful. You were in the 1995 UK production for which you received an Olivier nomination for your performance as Mabel. Why do you think historically this show didn’t find an audience and what did the audiences miss by not seeing it?

We ran for about seven months, maybe a little bit more, which I think is probably the longest run of Mack & Mabel. I think that theater is quite often like fashion. I think it opened around 74, didn’t it? Weren’t we getting things like A Chorus Line and more modern musicals, maybe even Chicago? Those sorts of shows [meaning Mack & Mabel] seemed more like a revival. Whereas the modern shows like A Chorus Line, Godspell and things like that, it was just fashion and theater was changing. I just really believe that sometimes you see six revivals in a row. Suddenly that’s the thing and then suddenly brand new musicals. So I just think maybe the timing wasn’t quite right. 

Mack & Mabel shares something in common with Stephen Sondheim‘s Merrily We Roll Along. They have both been considered shows with many of their composer’s best songs. But until this season’s Broadway revival of Merrily We Roll Along, the show wasn’t fully embraced. Late in the second act of Mack & Mabel there’s a song, I Promise You a Happy Ending. Mack sings, “If you’ve had a bad beginning, you’ll come out winning in the close.” Do you think Mack & Mabel will ultimately have a happy ending the same way Merrily We Roll Along has?

Possibly. I mean, of all the places to do this show, Los Angeles is probably the right place. Just because of the subject matter, it being about a movie director in a movie studio. If we can’t do it here and for it to be understood and appreciated, then it’s difficult to know. I think it could be a show like those that come around and people go, wait a minute. This is a sensational. An amazing score. It’s been criticized quite a bit over the years, but I have to say Scott is doing a really sensational job of the show now.

Jerry Herman was still with us when you did the 1995 production. Was Jerry Herman around during that production?

He came to Leicester to be with us during the rehearsal period. Which you can imagine was absolutely thrilling. There’s nothing quite like having the the actual composer in the room. He just had the biggest grin on his face the entire time he was there. I think he was just so thrilled to be seeing the musical come back to life. Then opening night, in London, he was there and it was everything you could possibly dream up.

This 1995 production had the most major changes in the book.

We had quite a few changes during the rehearsal period. Quite a few went into the show. There was a slight nervousness about how it would be received. I just think it’s best to just tell the truth. You know, the real story. It’s not a happy ending. Mabel Normand had a pretty tragic life at the end and died very young. Their love was never what it probably should have or could have been. So there was a lot of tweaking backwards and forwards and everyone was very nervous.

What do you think your perspective was on Lottie Ames in 1995 and how has it shifted now that you’re taking on this role?

We had a wonderful actress called Kathryn Evans who played the role. She had a voice from heaven and was a wonderful dancer. So my recollection of the role is that it was brilliantly done by her, but also a lovely role. What I like about this female character within the show is that quite often you’ll have two female characters sort of against each other or competing with each other. I think it’s quite interesting in this show that Lottie becomes quite protective and supportive of Mabel. So it’s quite nice to have that sort of dynamic between the characters and it’s interesting. 

I really enjoy playing her now just because I love the show. It’s so strange. Everything’s flooding back in the room. [I’m] getting quite emotional thinking about it because it was such a great time of my life. So I feel blessed that I’m getting to experience it again, but also to play this other role.

Lottie’s second act number is Tap Your Troubles Away. What do you do to get over your troubles?

I’m never happier than I am when I’m at work. When I’m at home I do tend to sing around the house. I’ve got a little miniature poodle and she’ll sing along with me, howl along with me. I live in Queensland, which is like God’s back garden. So I spend a lot of time with lovely friends. But I’d have to say what makes me happiest is when I’m actually working.

You had previously done a concert version of Mack & Mabel in Melbourne in 2001. You also did a concert version of My Favorite Year at 54 Below in 2017. What are the differences for you as an actor in doing a concert performance as opposed to a fully realized production?

I don’t think it’s that different, to be honest with you. I think you approach it in the same way. You still try to find a full-bodied character. Of course, there’s not as much choreography when you do it in that way. But you have to do a lot of the learning in advance. 

You’ve played Cassie in A Chorus Line. You’ve played Phyllis in Follies. Some of the greatest musicals that we’ve ever had came out of the 1970s. Do you think that musicals from that time offer performers and audiences more than perhaps musicals do today? 

Yes I do. I can’t really put my finger on it. When I moved to England in the 80s, I really noticed that star vehicles were not the important issue anymore. It was that the show was becoming the star. Not the roles that you aspire to play. I do think that we got to the end of the 70s and they stopped writing things in that capacity. Which is a shame, because it gave you something to aspire to. I’ve always grown up going, oh my God, I would love to play that part that so-and-so played. So yeah, I think the fashion definitely changed. And the roles, even though they were still important, they weren’t seen in the same capacity anymore.

You mentioned roles that you’d like to play based on who else had played them. What are those roles? 

I did Gypsy and I loved Ethel Merman growing up. When I was a little girl growing up in Australia, I was probably about 11, I’ve got a cassette of me singing Rose’s Turn with Ethel. It’s funny to me because I didn’t want to play Baby June. Obviously I want to play Mama Rose. I just loved the sound. And I remember thinking, that must be what Broadway is, because I didn’t know what Broadway was. I used to listen to the albums and think that sound, that big orchestra, and you could hear the character coming across. I couldn’t see them, but I could tell every emotion. Of course, Angela Lansbury in probably everything. And Chita Rivera, of course, probably my greatest inspiration, because she was also such a magnificent dancer. I did four of her shows: West Side Story, Chicago, The Rink and Kiss of the Spider Woman. The dream is that you get to create a role that somebody else would like to play in the future. 

You also had the distinction of having been in Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! as Nini. Which means you got Tango Roxanne as your big on-screen moment. Why do you think Moulin Rouge! resonates with people as strongly as it does?

The music primarily has to be part of it because of the recognition. Everybody feels comfortable when they hear something that they recognize. The experience for me was one of the best of my life. Very unexpected thing that happened, too. I didn’t think at that stage of my life as a dancer, because I was in my late 30s, that I was going to get the call to do something like that. I don’t think we’d seen a musical movie in quite some years. He brought them back into fashion again.

You’ve been doing this for four decades at this point, which means you’ve had good times and bum times and you’ve seen it all. When you look back on your career, does time heal everything that wasn’t so great and offer perspective on those things that were?

Yes, I think so. I remember the George Burns quote, which was that show business is a hideous bitch goddess. And I thought, that’s so true because you love it. It’s very hard work. It can be very disappointing as well. You have to hang in there. You never who’s going to produce what. There’s no plan. You just always have to be ready to be prepared and to be able to go for something. So I think that time does heal everything. Sometimes you have great disappointments. I know over the years you think, gosh, why didn’t I get to do that? And then something else marvelous to come along. So, yes, the unexpected is always a wonderful surprise. This certainly was an unexpected surprise. So may they long continue.

To see the full interview with Caroline O’Connor, please go here.

Main Photo: Caroline O’Connor (Courtesy Caroline O’Connor)

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Chita Rivera is a living legend. It was just announced that the 85-year-old superstar will be awarded a special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement at this June’s ceremony in New York. And no wonder. She originated the roles of “Anita” in West Side Story, “Rose Grant” in Bye Bye Birdie, “Velma Kelly” in Chicago, the “Spider Woman” and “Aurora” in Kiss of the Spider Woman and was most recently on Broadway as “Claire Zachannassian” in The Visit. To date she has two Tony Awards and 8 other Tony nominations. So what do you ask someone who has probably been interviewed more times than just about anyone else in the world?  I wasn’t sure either, so here goes…

In Seth Rudetsky’s Broadway Diary Volume 3, he quotes you as saying about him, “You’ve really got it, don’t you? Every fucking word you say is funny?” What makes him so funny and how does that humor influence the conversations you have with him in these shows?

I can guarantee I did not say the F word. I can guarantee that’s Seth! But it sounds better if you stick that in. I love when it comes back to me and my face twists. He does. He absolutely can’t help himself. He’s so funny and he’s so smart and he’s so interested that I think he’s sometimes more interested in people’s careers than they are. He describes situations and shows and he’s been in many an orchestra pit and he knows what it’s like to hear it and play it. He’s a great musician. I defy anyone to be as funny. He’s so -effing funny. (Yes, she really said -effing instead of dropping the F-bomb.)

In an interview prior to your 54 Below engagement in March, you said you get bored talking about yourself. How does your relationship with Seth make those conversations not boring for you?

Because he does things in an easy and jovial way so that I can enjoy it. When he tells a story or reminds me of something he’s not so serious. It’s a drag when you take yourself really terribly serious. It’s in the past now. I don’t live in the past, but I’m grateful for the past. Seth has a way of spinning things and making them fresh. I enjoy it. He celebrates it.

When I spoke to Seth about his book, I asked him which shows he would like to go back in time to see. He immediately said Funny Girl to see Barbra Streisand and West Side Story to see you as “Anita.”

He’s never said that to me before. That’s wild. That’s a good thing you told me, because I’m going to ask him what’s the thing about Anita. Of course West Side Story itself, the whole doggone piece is extraordinary and still is. It blows my mind that the story in West Side Story is still very…it’s still a serious problem. We even have more problems on top of it with what’s been happening with the ladies and all of that. The prejudices are just blowing my mind. It doesn’t seem as though people really understand what it is when they say they want us all to be equal. You really do have to care for a human being for who they are. That’s called love, affection, understanding. It blows my mind and makes me angry.

This appearance with Seth is tied to the celebrations surrounding the centenary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth. What’s the one thing you think people should know about him that perhaps they overlook?

I think pretty much people appreciate he was an amazing teacher, forgetting about the God-given gift. He was the sweetest and warmest and most loving. This was man who really understood appreciating the difference between people and genders. He treated everybody the same and he had a great sense of humor. To see him conduct, from our point-of-view, the Quintet [in West Side Story] is just to drop dead. He pulled it out of us using his own energy and his own physical body. So much so he fell through the chair. He was pulling and tugging and making sounds and he suddenly disappeared and went right through  the chair. It was pretty funny.

I recently spoke with Tommy Tune with whom you sometimes tour. He quoted you as saying “nobody told me to stop.” Can you imagine yourself not dancing or singing or entertaining?

Oh gosh no. Because it’s a language to me. It’s a way to relate to each other. It’s a way to express myself. It’s just a part of my DNA. I can probably say more in a dance than I can with words. That’s probably stupid to say. If I had the words, I’d have to move my body to express it all. Without music, without dance, I can’t survive. I really can’t imagine it. I say to my audience during “Sweet Happy Life,” I tell them to move their body any way you want and let it go. Then I say to them, “How does it feel when your spirit says hello to your body.” When it does it turns to dance.

In Part 2 we continue our conversation with the legendary Chita Rivera and show some rare rehearsal footage from the original production of Chicago. To see part two of this interview, please go here.

Photo Credit: Laura Marie Duncan

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I want to pick up with something else Tommy Tune told me. He feels that he is now obsolete and that there isn’t a place on Broadway for him. He also can’t bear to work without his regular collaborators who have passed away. How do you handle loss and what do you do differently than Tommy?

I just stay. I keep my eyes and ears open and say yes. I look forward to tomorrow. I absolutely do. It keeps me young and in it. It keeps my laughing. it keeps me a part of it. Freddy is gone [Fred Ebb – lyricist for Chicago and Kiss of the Spider Woman] but his lyrics have not. His memory is not. If the opportunity comes, why not if you are asked to? Why not? Why not seek another view or way of doing things? I’m always hungry for new things. And I’m loaded with old things. And they are good. You know listening to scores you love that they are still relevant. They are still exciting, beautiful and moving.

With YouTube a lot of people can see some of your old television and stage appearances. For example, I watched you perform “I Got Plenty O’ Nottin'” on Judy Garland’s show. How do you feel about that?

With that hair? Have you ever seen so much hair in your life? You’d think there would be three little people underneath all that hair! I think it’s fabulous. It’s wonderful. I’m not really a part of this new age. I don’t do all that Facebook and all that stuff. It’s great, except sometimes people think they are critics and they are heard now and they kind of go crazy with their opinions. People aren’t nice enough today. They think criticizing is far more interesting than adoring or liking something. They think that darkness is more valuable. I don’t. I think the light is far more interesting and alluring.

Whatever happened to class?

Freddy had it absolutely right But mind you, they are two murderers who sing that song. That’s what’s funny about it. That they had the audacity to ask, but they are the least classy people to ask. But yes, whatever happened to class.

Can you believe the revival of Chicago is still running?

I’m so glad it’s running now and I’m so happy for the kids. But it just doesn’t compare with Tony Walton’s original sets and the show the way Bobby [Fosse] directed it. It just doesn’t compare. You just sort of wish people had seen it in its original state. That big elevator that Velma came up on. Amazing design.

Speaking of class, as a Puerto Rican, I have to believe you are less than impressed with the US Government’s response to Hurricane Maria.

Oh please. [She lets out the biggest sigh.] I made a promise I would wake up every day and not turn on the news. I think it’s disgusting and disgraceful. I’m embarrassed and ashamed and I’m angry. And you know who I’m angry at. I don’t even like to say his name. I don’t understand. I don’t understand that or the people who put him there.

One time when I spoke with your Sweet Charity co-star Shirley MacLaine, she said “I’m so old. But I’m current. If there audience is with you, there’s nothing like being on stage.” Do you agree and, if so, do you still feel that way?

That’s exactly right. I totally agree. I guess I would add with her…it’s just that age brings a whole other fantastic bit of, what can I say, we bring our adventures, our knowledge and our history with us. And so we have a double thing going. We’re current because Shirley is not going to give in. She’s not going to go anywhere. She’s going to go with what’s going on. She has to know. Just like I am. She’s a bit more curious than I am. On top of the years she has been here she has all the other lives before. She’s got a bag bigger than anybody’s. She was the cherry on the top of my adventure of doing the film of Sweet Charity. That’s what’s nice about having all these fabulous people who are my friends. I still have them and I will always have them.

Ever the pro, Chita knew exactly when our allotted amount of time was up. But she one more thing to say which surprised me.

I had an interview just before you. I could not have been more bored. I thank you for saving my day. You have a wonderful sense of humor and great background and questions. Thank you.

Even if I didn’t know what you ask someone who has been so peppered with questions her whole career, I guess it didn’t go too badly after all. Thank you Chita!

Chita Rivera and Seth Rudetsky appear on Thursday, May 10th in two performances of Broadway @ The Wallis: Chita Rivera.

For part one of our interview, please go here.

Main photo: Chita Rivera in Kiss of the Spider Woman. Photo by Martha Swope. Courtesy of the NY Public Library.

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But it didn’t to Mizrahi. Fashion was the surprise, music was the first love.

On Saturday Mizrahi will be making his Los Angeles-area singing debut at The Wallis. So what better time to talk to the perfectly frank Mizrahi to discuss his passion for music, the songs and singers that inspire him and the place where fashion and music overlap.

What follows are excerpts from our conversation. To see the full interview, please go to our YouTube channel. And I recommend you do. Everything he says is even better when you hear his voice!

But before we get started…a little of the musical stylings of Isaac Mizrahi.

I saw an interview that you did before you started performing at the Carlyle and you said that the eighth grade version of you would have been very surprised that you went into fashion and would have assumed that you would have gone into music. What would that eighth grader think of you performing at venues like the Cafe Carlyle, somewhere in Beverly Hills or around the world?

I think that the eighth grader would have been way less surprised, but also extremely, extremely proud and happy. What I love is that I’ve lived this incredible life which kind of informs my stage presence, you know? I mean, even when I’m acting. I just got through on Broadway as Amos Hart in Chicago. When I’m actually playing a character that is really informed by the past like 35 years of my life pursuing something so fervently and doing a lot.

I do a lot, you know, And at the same time that I was making these clothes, I was I was still performing with my band and working with Ben Waltzer and doing these small gigs. Now it’s kind of taking center stage in my life.

There was a time when I thought I had kind of chosen the wrong path. I really mean it. Why did I do that fashion thing when it makes me so happy to be on stage and to be performing? I mean, fashion makes me happy, but in a completely different way. It’s the damage control side of me. I like being this this person who runs after people and re-ties their bows better, you know. So that’s sort of what that’s about. And I still do it. Let’s face it, I do have a really big fashion business and I’m very pleased about that. 

As you’re talking the idea of you playing Amos Hart is rather ironic to me. A man who isn’t visible, who isn’t being seen. That seems like it is exactly the polar opposite of you.

There is a part of that I can so relate to. You know, I don’t care who you are. I don’t care how flamboyant you are, how sort of like beautiful you are. There is a side of you that always feels not seen. That is what I tapped into.

You’re quoted as saying “I don’t like people to feel completely described by the clothes they wear of mine. I want them to feel that they’re describing themselves.” What can we learn about you from the songs you choose to perform and the way you choose to perform them?

The funny thing is this is going to sound like a trite answer to such a smart question. I feel like the songs choose me, you know, the way clothes choose you or the way a pastry chooses you when you walk into a bakery. The thing just calls out and you look at it, you go, I must eat that, you know? It’s the same way.

There are certain things that I feel really comfortable wearing because I feel like they fit well and there are certain songs that are just begging to be done by me. It’s really a very mysterious and emotional process by which you pick songs. At the end of the day, you know, when you’ve rehearsed it and put it together and it’s in the show, it makes a lot of sense.

There’s one thing I love about the press release that came out for the show at the Wallis, because it says you’ll be you’ll be performing soon-to-be classic songs. How do you define what a soon-to-be classic song is?

To me Billie Eilish is a genius, right? So if she writes something, it is soon-to-be classic, you know? You know what else is soon-to-be classic? Well, you’ll see. I don’t want to spoil stuff. 

I just wanted to get a definition of what soon-to-be classic is.

Some songs that may in the past have been considered silly fluff which I absolutely think are not silly fluff and I absolutely adore. Like my opening number, which at the Annenberg will probably be I’ll Plant My Own Tree from Valley of the Dolls. It’s this amazing arrangement that we killed ourselves over. I feel like maybe that’s not considered a classic, but soon-to-be considered classic after you hear my cover of it. And darling, you might hate it, so maybe it won’t be classic. That’s why I say perhaps soon-to-be classic.

Your Instagram account has a couple of photographs of encounters you had with Stephen Sondheim. His music is is apparently going to be part of your show. What do you remember most about your encounters with Steve? 

His is a kind of resonance in our backgrounds. He’s a native New Yorker and so am I, so there’s this kind of similarity in the way we see the world. There’s a similarity in our senses of humor. His wicked, wicked sense of humor. And I look up to him. Of course, everybody looks up to him.

I went to the revival of Merrily We Roll Along and I just cried for the entire two-and-a-half hours. I was just sobbing through the whole thing because there’s a way that he has of looking at the world that I always aspire to. There has never been a greater teacher to me in terms of, not necessarily how I look at musical theater, but just the way I look at life.

I groomed myself to be like a sort of a living, breathing Stephen Sondheim character. I can’t drink as much as all that because I’m allergic to it or something. But that’s the only thing about me that is not like typically Sondheim in, you know, not just in terms of the music that I do or my love of musical theater or something, but as an adult person. 

You don’t just have the perspective as a singer with Stephen Sondheim’s music. You have the perspective of having directed A Little Night Music in 2010 [at The Opera Theatre of St. Louis]. How does the director who had that experience influence the singer who now performs the songs?

Knowing Steve and really knowing this person for a very long time, he didn’t really regard singer’s voices to be the greatest things. He loved a good singer. Let’s face it. He loved Barbara Cook. He loved people who could really sing and produce a sound. But I think he valued more people who could tell stories like Beth Howland [the original “Amy” in Company]. He adored Beth Howland. He adored Barbara Barrie [the original “Sarah” in Company]. These are not necessarily people you would cast for their singing voices. He loved the way [Elaine] Stritch could sing.

I was supposed to have [Stritch] on my show. And they said, if you want to do a pre-interview with her the only time she could do it is 3:00 in the morning because she’s like this big insomniac. So I called her at 3:00 morning because I am, too. 

She said, Oh, I’m such a great raconteur, you know, blah, blah. And I thought, No, darling. I said you are a great musician. Kristin Chenoweth is amazing and she can produce almost an operatic sound. It’s an incredible instrument. And I know Sondheim adored the way she sang. But to me they are equals as musicians. Kristin Chenoweth and Elaine Stritch were the same to me.

What do you see as as what fashion and music have in common?

Clothing is a lot about styling, you know, put juxtaposing things next to each other that are extremely interesting that have not been done before. So I’m really good at arranging the song in the way that I want it to be presented and then perceived. But more than that, darling, don’t bother me if you’re going to do the song in exactly the same way or worse than the way the person who did it. I give it my way of making it something a little to me better, or at least better from my perspective. 

You have your riffs and and your patter that you bring into your concerts. I love the whole idea that you said in one of the clips on your Instagram page that when you get older you do not get better looking. 

It’s just the truth. 

What is your relationship to getting older? 

This is part of what I’m going to be talking about in this particular show. I’ve turned some kind of crazy corner on my whole life. I look at pictures and I’m reading Instagram and there’s like 17 complimentary comments. There’s one hateful thing that somebody says and I’ve started to like them. I started to like the haters almost more than I like the likers. It’s like liking the haters. I love these pictures of myself where I look like a fat old Jew. I love it. I recommend these pictures of me as a fat old queen.

It’s also nice to take the hate away from the haters, too, isn’t it?

By going “Darlings, I never meant for you to like me.” I adore the controversy. Yes.

You’ve directed a production of Peter and the Wolf, you’re singing around the world, you’ve directed opera, you’ve designed clothes for opera. Are you spending the next chapter of your life trying to prove F. Scott Fitzgerald wrong that there are truly second and third acts in American life? 

Yes. The answer is very simple. One of the things that Steve used to say to me all the time, he’s like, “Oh, darling, you’re a polymath.” And I thought he was like Oh, you’re such a polymath, right? That means you suck at everything, whereas he is this great master.

By the way, Stephen Sondheim and Mark Morris, my friends. Go figure that out. They do one unbelievably exquisite thing. That’s all they do, right? Steve just wrote those words and that incredible music and made those shows. Mark just makes those masterful poetic dances. That’s all he does. Here I am doing cooking videos and I can’t not be that person. Now I’m kind of thinking of those words of Steve going, “Oh, you’re such a polymath.” And I think he really meant it as a compliment.

It must be nice to have that gift from Steve now that he’s no longer here.

It is. It really, really is. At least in my fantasy, by the way.

To see the full interview with Isaac Mizrahi, please go here.

Main Photo: Isaac Mizrahi (©David Andrako/Courtesy The Wallis)

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Perhaps the most common image of a performer singing, dancing or playing an instrument in a train station is one that conjures up ideas of people in subway stations in New York or perhaps London. Busking, as it is sometimes referred, is a centuries-old tradition. So when you find Broadway star Brandon Victor Dixon at Union Station in Los Angeles this weekend, don’t mistake him for a busker.

MUSE/IQUE, headed by Rachael Worby, has been celebrating Sunset Boulevard and the many people, artists and locations that have called that street home across its nearly 22 mile length. The final concerts of this series will take place on Saturday, November 12th and Sunday, November 13th at the beautiful train station built in 1939.

Dixon may be best known to audiences for his Emmy Award-nominated performance as Judas in the 2018 live performance of Jesus Christ Superstar on NBC. On Broadway he’s appeared in The Color Purple (the original production), The Scottsboro Boys, Hamilton, Shuffle Along: Or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All that Followed and he just wrapped a run as Billy Flynn in the revival of Chicago.

In addition to his career as an actor, he’s also a producer of Broadway shows (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Moulin Rouge! The Musical) and the Maryland branch of the Jimmy Awards (which celebrate the best in high school musical theater) has named their awards after him. Dixon is from Gaithersburg, MD.

Earlier this month I spoke with Dixon about the state of Broadway today, his Broadway career and most importantly what he’d like his life to feel like moving forward. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity.

How did you feel when the Maryland off-shoot of the Jimmy Awards wanted your name for this branch’s awards?

I was apprehensive at first. I really wanted to think about what that meant and what it meant to put your name on something like that and joining an organization that creates a portal for children. I think it’s a responsibility and I had to think for a moment about all that had brought me here and really measure if I felt that I had earned that.

How did you come to the realization or the acceptance that you had earned it? 

I accepted the fact that there are young people out there who do what I used to do. They sit in their room and listen to cast recordings of me. That is what I used to do and I recognize the power of that. I recognize that matters. Every instance in which I’ve been able to participate in something like that it means something.

As somebody who was listening to cast albums, when did you start envisioning what you thought your career might be? How much of that vision has been realized so far?

I’ve held a vision of the kind of career I’ve molded from a very young age, which I think has helped enable me to to craft it. In many ways it does. In many ways it does not.

I tell young people now when I speak to them, I wish I had spent more time thinking about how I wanted my life to feel as opposed to how I wanted my life to look. We often talk about what you want your life to look like in five years and ten years. Now what do I want my life to feel like is the more important thing.

But I do think many of the things that I envisioned have fortunately come true. There’s still some boxes I want to check off.

When I was young I didn’t think about being in television or being in films. I really only thought about being on Broadway. I wanted to be the 19-year-old sensation on Broadway. I didn’t quite make it there, but that’s what I always wanted. Once I got The Color Purple, The Lion King [on tour], then it’s really interesting. What does life look like once you’ve achieved, quote unquote, your dream? 

When you’re approached about something like MUSE/IQUE’s series, what are you looking for in those opportunities? How did this concert fit in to what what you thought would be the right thing for you to do?

I connected with Rachael and she described to me her background, her love for music and her vision of the value of its place between people and wanting to create unique live musical experiences for communities. That is something that aligns with my own personal philosophy.

Then when she described the scope of this year’s curation I really thought it was a pretty fantastic way to illuminate these elements of music and culture that people don’t necessarily know too much about. So I was grateful to do the the inaugural concert Sunrise on Sunset and very grateful that they’ve asked me to come back for this one.

This series is exploring Los Angeles and what the music that comes from here mean to this city. What does the music of Los Angeles mean to you personally or professionally? 

I’m an East Coast boy. I enjoy the time that I spend on the West Coast and that I spend in Los Angeles. But this project and becoming a part of this organization is helping me really learn a lot about Los Angeles and its music culture. It’s really through this experience that I am starting to learn a lot of things and where these intersections lie.

As we’re speaking you are in your last week as Billy Flynn in Chicago on Broadway with openly transgender actress Angelica Ross (Pose). What do you think her casting in this production says about whether or not Broadway is truly making serious strides in opening up how shows are cast?

I don’t know what it says about Broadway as a whole. One of the interesting things is when we talk about Broadway, we talk about Broadway as if it’s a company called Broadway Incorporated with a board of directors and a CEO and human resources department. And it’s not. It’s a geographical location that consolidates a series of resources that entrepreneurs come in to create art. Really there is a spectrum of producers and the vision they have and how ready they are to create space, to move things forward in terms of the projects they want to produce; the creative teams they’re willing to put together to produce them and the cast that they’re willing to put together to put them out there.

A lot of the artists with whom I’ve spoken in the last couple of years have said what Broadway needs is braver and bolder producers. It’s not that there’s a lack of talent, either creative talent on stage or off, but there’s a lack of of true courage on the producing side of things. Do you agree with that?

Broadway has, until this kind of interruption, a cultivated audience. It cultivated a set of tools that are designed to cater to that audience and to create products that that audience wants to consume. You see it even in the increasing commercialization of projects. There’s a lack of diversity, not just in kind of the demographics represented in creatives or in design or other projects. But there’s an increasing lack of depth and risk in even the mainstream productions. They’re mostly brand-driven. They’re looking for built-in audiences, looking to ensure a product. They’re increasingly at odds in an environment like this, which makes it harder for people to make those kinds of choices.

I felt like this season that just ended in June was potentially very risky since producers were putting a lot of bets on shows that had been created by people of color. My fear is that if they didn’t do well, the money people would just say, well, we tried. That they would not allow any opportunity to fail. How important do you think it is for artists such as yourself or playwrights or designers to actually fail in order to achieve the greatness that they believe and probably do have in them? 

I think that kind of fear you have is a very real one. Particularly when you do decide to produce these projects in a very severely challenged commercial environment already. A lot of these works would need ideal circumstances under the the old model before all of this happened. But when you’re trying to produce them under this duress, those fears are even more.

As for The Scottsboro Boys, which I loved and think is one of the most powerful musicals ever written, it strikes me that this show would probably resonate far more strongly today and be more widely seen and accepted now than it might have been 12 years ago when it was originally produced. What are your thoughts on the staying power of that musical and whether it was ahead of its time? 

I think The Scottsboro Boys is definitely ahead of its time. I think it’s a masterpiece and I don’t know if this environment is one in which it would be better received. I think the topics in that show are very sensitive to an American audience. So I don’t know.

Was the London experience better? 

I won’t say whether it’s better or worse, but I think the London experience was a very good one. I think the London experience was a great one. The show won the Evening Standard Award. It was very well received. It was pretty much a sold-out run. The thing there is that the British audience is able to distance themselves from personalizing some of the more challenging elements of the project and able to just appreciate the storytelling and the incredible theatricality of the work.

When you were asked to interrupt the curtain call speech at Hamilton to address Vice President Mike Pence, who was in the audience, what did getting that kind of request meant to you? Why do you think of all the cast members who were currently in the show at the time you were the one chosen to say what Lin-Manuel Miranda had written?

At that time we were giving the Broadway Cares speech after this show. That’s the time at the curtain call when we traditionally speak to the audience – at least during that season. I was the individual who had been giving those speeches at that time, for the most part anyway. So I don’t know that there was any special reason outside of the fact that this is already kind of the circumstance we were in.

Were you surprised at the conservative backlash? 

I was because I thought the statement was certainly non-partisan and fairly innocuous. So on one hand I was. Then on the other hand, considering the nature of our political discourse, even just at that time, I shouldn’t have been surprised.

Five years ago, you did an interview that was published in Case where you said, admittedly by the writer with “a mischievous grin” that “This republic’s probably only going to last another 20 or 30 years.” Five years later, whether as a joke or not, are you hopeful that that this republic is going to last?

In its current form I don’t think it can. It has to change. I don’t know how that will manifest itself. Things are coming to a breaking point in certain areas. If we don’t release the pressure valves I think things will either change with difficulty or they can change hopefully with more ease. But I do think that the republic, as we know it, will have to change.

As you said earlier in this conversation, the advice you give to people is not to think just about what it is they want to do, but how they want their lives to feel. So if you could look forward now to what the next 20 years of your life, what do you want your life to feel like?

That is a question I do not have an answer for today. I will be honest with you. I want it to feel well-lived and well-given. I want to know that I honored the people in my life who have helped give me all the opportunities that I’ve had and that I have. But beyond that, I do not know. But I hope to soon so that I can forge the path. 

Main Photo: Brandon Victor Dixon (Courtesy MUSE/IQUE)

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So it was quite a surprise to me when in the late afternoon last Thursday I was asked if I could do an interview with White in advance of her appearance with Seth Rudetsky at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills on November 3rd. I wanted to talk with her, but I was pleasantly surprised that it came about so quickly.

Two hours notice to interview her after that evening’s performance of Hadestown. There were no ground rules. Nothing was exempt from conversation. At 10:30 PM in New York and 7:30 PM in Los Angeles we connected via Zoom, each of us with a glass of wine at our side. She had white wine, I had red. Her dinner was cooking, mine would be afterwards.

Before we get into the interview, White has made a name for herself on stages around the world. In addition to her role as Sonja in The Life, White has appeared on Broadway as Effie White in Dreamgirls, Mama Morton in Chicago, Grizabella in Cats and Funmilayo in Fela! In Los Angeles she appeared in a production of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom in the title role.

What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. The interview was very enjoyable and I had hoped to post the video, but she asked me not to due to the incessant attention she was getting online. The end result is a slightly longer interview than I usually post, but hopefully an enjoyable one.

Since we’re doing this post-show, what are your post-show rituals?

Our post-show rituals depends on the night. Tonight is Thursday night. So we had an early show tonight. We had a 7:00 show. On Tuesday nights I come straight home because I have two shows on Wednesday. But on Thursday night I will have a glass of wine. And maybe not. And I cook something to eat. I feed and take care of my animals. I have a dog and a cat. I just relax and chill and maybe watch a movie, maybe watch something on TV. I try not to watch the news too much because it makes me sad. But I watch the news enough to keep up with what’s going on in the city and in the world.

My post-show rituals on other nights include coming home and getting something to eat, taking a bubble bath with candles lit and just kind of taking off the day and getting ready for the next day. When you’re in a Broadway show you pretty much live for the show. Everything you do is to prepare and to be prepared for the show the next day, over the next two days, over next week. So that’s what I do. I try to take care of myself. 

I saw Hadestown on Broadway before it won the Tony Award. When I first heard that you were taking on the role of Hermes it answered the question that I had as to whom could possibly replace André de Shields? I know that a friend suggested this part to you and said you should think about this. At what point did it make sense to you? What was your response when the producers said it makes sense to us, too?

Susan Davison and I were sitting right here at this table, I believe, and we had heard that André was leaving. I said I’ve got to do that role. I only said that because I’d seen the show opening night and I just thought it was a magnificent show. It was very moving. It was very timely. It has a lot of very important messages for the world that we’re living in today. I just thought, Oh, I’d love to do that role. I didn’t think anything else of it. I really just didn’t dream of it.

So Susan said, “Well, you should call your agent”. So I did and my agent said, “Wow, that’s a great idea, Lil. I’ll talk to the people.” They thought it was a great idea and that’s how it happened. 

That is the best possible example of going for what you want.

And positive thinking because the word “no” never came into my mind about this. It just didn’t. I’m not being egotistical or anything like that. I just thought it would be a great idea. 

You saw the show from the audience’s perspective. Now that you’re on stage and have been doing it for a number of weeks, has your perspective on why the show works as well as it does changed? Do you have new insights as to why Hadestown resonates as much as it does? 

As Hermes I get to see it a lot from my own perspective. And I think that it’s moving, it’s an emotional ride and it speaks to the times that we’re living in. Even though based on mythology, there’s a lot of truth in what’s being told on the stage in Hadestown. The actors are bringing it. They are giving you the truth of the story.

I keep saying it’s timely. They talk about building a wall. Why would somebody build a wall to keep other people out? Who are the people being kept out? It’s the love and the caring for someone and the self-doubts that we all have from time to time, maybe on a daily basis, maybe not. But we all have some doubts about what we can do to make our dreams fulfilled. And so there are lots of things that I see now because I’m on the stage.

I see and I hear that rumble of Hades voice every night. I see the love between the Eurydice and Orpheus every night. It’s really, to me, a demonstration of what our realities can be if we pursue them, if we pursue the right kinds of things. It’s a different perspective watching it every night, watching the workers every night sweating. I get to see that every night and I get to look at the audience. I get to watch them watch the show and it’s very telling. I mean, I saw a man in the audience and, to me, he could have been the devil because of the way he was responding to a particular moment in the show. It could be my imagination, but maybe not. 

You and André got to work together in a musical a lot of people don’t know about called Gotta Dance (2015). As the baton got passed from him to you did you have any conversations with your former stage mate or did he offer any advice to you?

We talked very briefly and he’s thrilled for me as I am thrilled for him to, too. He’s moving on to a wonderful show, Death of a Salesman. One of the things that he said to me that I really held on to was it’s a lot of work. When he said that I was just beginning rehearsals.

Now I really understand what he meant because the role is not just standing and reciting and telling the story and moving the story along, but it’s also remembering cues about props. Then where to stand and where to walk and when to say what. It’s a lot of mental work. What I’m finding is that this is not one of those shows where you can kind of walk through it. You have to really be in it and be aware of what’s happening in every second – which you should do anyhow.

I don’t like to walk through anything. I like to be in the moment, every moment, because that’s what translates to the audience. That’s how you get people to understand what the story’s about and to see the characters that you’re portraying. I think that you have to stand in them, go 50/50, because, of course, you have to be who you are – your personal self has to be in the mix there to portray the character. You have to give 100% every time because every night, every show, there’s someone there who’s never seen it before. 

I don’t want to rehash the challenges that you’ve been through in the last week and a half or two weeks. 

No, we’re not going to talk about that. 

But I want to know from an actor’s perspective what are the challenges of keeping all that noise outside and not let it impact the work that you want to do? 

I think the blessing of it is that I do have a character to portray. So I can throw myself 100% into that character and forget about all this other stuff. Because in the scheme of things, the people who come into the show to watch the show the next day and the next evening, they don’t want to know about any of that. They want to see the show. They want to know what happens to Eurydice and Orpheus. They want to know what Hades has to say. They want to see what Hermes is going to do.

So I don’t want to bring any of that into what I’m doing on a daily basis. There are certain things that are going to be addressed. And they should be. But that’s that. 

How do you, with all of the distractions, find happiness at this point? 

Listen, I am blessed. I’m a mother, a grandmother. I have pets. I have plants. I live in a beautiful apartment in New York City. I’m healthy and I’m loved. So that’s what keeps me going. I’m loved and I know that without a shadow of a doubt. So with all of this other stuff that has been happening, this is what I know for sure. That tiny little bit of people who don’t, don’t count. Because I’m only coming from love, you know? I think that’s one of the things that really keeps me going and keeps me grounded.

What excites you most about still being on stage at this point? 

Oh, it’s always the work. The play itself. The music. Listening to these wonderful musicians on stage and the audiences. During the lockdown I did some work here in my apartment with my music director and we did several performances that were videotaped and live streamed. It was fun and it was good, but there’s nothing like having people in the house or people in the audience.

Even if I had people here in my apartment it would be nice. It’s the people; the reactions and the interchange of energy. Whether you’re a jazz singer or blues player or an actor who does acting and doesn’t sing, or whether you’re somebody who only sings and doesn’t act, whether you’re a dancer or a painter or a sculptor, it’s about people witnessing what you do and their reaction to it. It’s tied to your heartstrings and that’s what does it for me.

it’s interesting that you said “whether you’re a jazz singer or not,” because I came home from running some errands today and I listened to TSF Jazz radio out of Paris. The first person that came on was Dinah Washington, whom I happen to love dearly. I was thinking, God, I would love to see a show about her. Then when I found out we were talking two hours ago and saw that you did Dinah Washington, I thought I have to ask you about her. 

She’s a heroine of mine. She was a force of nature. She was a business woman, she was a tough cookie and she demanded excellence from everybody around her. I loved playing her because I got to play an icon – a really wonderful iconic figure in Black music who didn’t stand for any mess. She did what she wanted to do in terms of the music. She spoke loudly about civil rights and she contributed to the success of the civil rights movement. She wanted things the way she wanted things and so she had it that way. I loved playing her.

In December of 2000 Stephen Holden in the New York Times wrote a review of your cabaret performance. He said, “Listening to this gifted theatrical pop soul singer, it is easy to wish that belters like Patti LaBelle and Aretha Franklin would show a similar sense of balance and sensitivity.” When you aren’t just reviewed favorably in their company, but set up as an example for them, what goes through your mind? 

That’s the first time I ever heard that quote from Stephen Holden. Stephen Holden has written me many love letters and I’m really very happy that he gets me. 

I’m speechless to be honest with you because these are the people that I grew up listening to. I think they’re brilliant, not just singers, but brilliant musicians in the way that they can turn a song and make it palatable and make it honest. I feel like that’s the best way to be as an artist – to be honest. If I’m honest with what I’m doing the audience is going to get it.

In August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom here in Los Angeles you acted more than you sang. What did you like most about that role and about being part of that production?

What I liked most was the acting, the ability to bring that character to life. I love to sing, obviously, but there are other aspects to my artistry and I like being able to explore that part of it. I felt very fortunate to have the brilliant cast that we had and to have Dr. Phylicia Rashad as the person leading the helm. She really helped me so much get into that character and make it real, make it truthful.

So let me ask you something about risk taking. I’ve been a longtime Fela Kuti fan and I when I saw Fela! in New York I thought it was a brave show for Broadway. The show ran 463 performances. In an environment where pre-sold entities are given top priority I love the fact that a show like Fela! could be on Broadway. Do you believe Broadway can be as equally brave today as it was when Fela! was put on stage? 

I absolutely do. I think it just takes brave producers who are willing to put their money where their mouth is. Fela! was something that made people a little bit uncomfortable. They stand up and dance a little bit. You had a man with his shirt off smoking weed on a stage. You had a man with 27 wives saying these are all my wives. And you had a woman, me, playing a ghost. She was literally a ghost of his of his mom coming back.

It wasn’t your typical Broadway show, but I think that that’s what makes the world go round. We can portray the sharp edges of humanity, of intelligence, of art. I think it’s important for us to view and experience all of it.

We have to open our minds because the world is so big now. It’s big and it’s small because we can travel from here to Japan in a day. People’s ideas change about marriage, about the feminine and masculine and all of that. There’s so many different things that are going on. We have to keep up. 

When you received the Tony Award for The Life I loved the dance that you did. I revisited this today and was moved when you thanked your grandmother for putting you on the table to show your family your talent. If your grandmother could see you on stage in Hadestown today, what do you think she would say about everything you’ve accomplished so far in your career? 

Oh. [She takes a minute before continuing.] I think she would say “You did good, baby.” I think that she would probably not love everything that I’ve done so far. I don’t suspect that my grandmother would have loved to have seen me in The Life, but my mother did and my Aunt Lillian did and my uncles and my aunts and my cousins. Everybody in my family who came to see it understood that this was my job to play this role. I don’t know that my grandmother would like that at all. But right now she’d be very happy. 

And what would you say to her? 

Grandma, thank you for coming. Thank you for coming, Grandma. Are you hungry? You want to eat something? Because she would do that for me. She’d say, “Baby, that was good. Baby, you’re hungry? You want to eat?” Yeah. She’d feed me and give me kudos – as with all of my elders in my family.

With that Lillias White’s dinner was just about done. Our planned thirty minute conversation had lasted over 45 minutes. To think, three hours earlier that day it wasn’t something either of us imagined doing.

Main Photo: Lillias White in Hadestown (Photo by Matthew Murphy)

Update: In an earlier version of this story, we posted that Fela! 28 performances. That number was inaccurate. It has been updated to reflect the actual run of 463 performances. Cultural Attaché regrets the error.

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If Cilento’s name sounds familiar to you it is perhaps because you know him as the original “Mike” in A Chorus Line or as the choreographer of the musical Wicked.

His latest role is as Director and Musical Stager of a revival of Dancin’ which now has the name Bob Fosse’s Dancin’. The show is running at The Old Globe in San Diego through June 5th. The production has already announced it will open on Broadway at a theatre and on a date yet to be determined.

Cilento appeared in the original production of Fosse’s dance-musical Dancin’. The show ran for 1,774 performances and was nominated for seven Tony Awards including two for Fosse (he won Best Choreography) and one for Cliento as Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

Recreating Fosse’s work and bringing into a 21st-century focus was an enormous undertaking for Cilento as he revealed when we spoke via Zoom earlier this month. What follows are excerpts from that conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview, please go to our YouTube channel.

For seventeen years Fosse’s daughter, Nicole, has been trying to get a revival of Dancin’ off the ground. Why did all the pieces come together now?

I think maybe it’s probably the best time after the pandemic; celebrating him in a different way. My whole approach was getting him back out there the way he was as a dancer, what inspired him and what drove him to create what he created. So I did a lot of research and I went back. I know that Dancin’ was something that was out of the ordinary in 1978. He did it in a dance format, three acts, which was unheard of. There was no plot and no storyline and no particular reason to do it. But he wanted to explore and express different styles of choreography and music. I have to hand it to him. It’s a rough thing to do.

If anyone could do something like that it could only have been Bob Fosse.

Exactly. He was always pushing the envelope. Always looking for something new and fresh and innovative; pushing buttons, politically, socially, whatever. Just do it.

Even though you were in the original production, re-assembling his work from 44 years ago must have been an enormous challenge.

I can’t tell you how complicated it is. The big thing with this show was reconstructing Bob’s work. And it wasn’t about me as a choreographer or anyone as a choreographer filling in pieces and making the show work. It needed to come from Bob’s work and I was adamant about that.

Without any complete film of the original production to rely upon, how much did your own personal muscle memory allow you to recall what you had done before?

I was in every number in Dancin‘. It was very complicated. But there’s parts of my body that will just fall right into it. I didn’t do Crunchy Granola, so I have no body awareness. I sang it so I knew what I did up on the ladder, on the sides. I did Percussion, too, so I know what that was. I didn’t know the specific steps. Christine Colby [Jacques], who was in the original company, helped reconstruct all of the dancing material.

Then there’s a whole other part of this show that I wanted to insert viewers in this 21st century kind of world. So we can update it and lift it up into a place where, if Bob was doing this today, what would he do? So that was going on in my head. Corinne McFadden Herrera is my associate and Lauren Cannon is the assistant dance captain/assistant choreographer. They got into it and did the reconstruction, like looking at film work and looking at pieces of choreography and figuring it out. It’s such a long process. So first you have to identify what we want to reconstruct.

Did Fosse leave behind any archives with material you could access?

No. We’d identify the pieces that I wanted to dig into. The girls went and they pulled out the work and started. Then we started picking out pieces of the choreography or steps from the pieces of choreography that we want to string together to represent the number without doing the whole number. Needless to say it’s a very complicated job to take on. But when it’s done correctly, it’s completely rewarding because it’s the essence of him and the essence of his work as a choreographer and as a performer. I hope I managed to capture that and put it on the stage.

The original production was notorious for how strenuous it was on the dancers. There were countless stories of injuries. Is Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ just as difficult to do as the original?

I didn’t water down the the project at all. But the choreography is the choreography. And the dancers today are amazing in their training. They’re so rounded in technique: street dancing and hip hop and all of that stuff. I think their capability of picking up stuff is a little bit faster and easier for them. It’s just the specific style that slows them down because he’s very unique. He had a posture. He was very technical, but yet he wasn’t turned out like a ballet dancer. He was turned in. He wore a hat. He wore his head down, which brought you his vocabulary. He was a little bit hunched over, so it rounded off his shoulders. He had a built in mechanism that kind of like identified his style. It depended how far he wanted explode and how far he wanted to really pull it in.

The revival of Chicago has been running for so long, is there a built-in expectation amongst dancers that what that show presents is textbook Fosse?

It’s very successful and Annie [Reinking] did a really great job. But again, her building was in the style of Bob Fosse. Does that mean that’s Bob Fosse? Kind of, but not really. I think she created a format and a style within Bob’s style. And it became very specific. And I think the derbies and the black clothes and very exaggerated, beautiful body posture moves and stuff like that became iconic in itself. I think it misled a lot of people in thinking, oh, that’s Bob Fosse. This is what he does. And yes, he does that. But he also does 100 other things. And he’s an explosive dancer that wants to fly and he flies. And that’s a complete contradiction to what you see in Chicago. Everything’s very still, very isolated, very perfect. It’s beautiful, but that’s a different part of him.

If A Chorus Line gave an identity to the dancers in a Broadway show who heretofore didn’t have much of an identity, what did Dancin’ do? 

What Michael [Bennett] did was an idea from dancers that I danced with like Tony Stephens and Michon Peacock. They were at a point where they were disgusted that we as ensemble dancers in the show do production numbers, the thing that is carrying the show forward. It could be a horrible show, but the choreography could be amazing. So they wanted to do a show about dancers and they got Michael involved with that to get some dancers in a room. And I think he did an amazing job, too. To have dancers have a voice and a life and a history; where we were coming from and how we got to Broadway and were auditioning on the line.

I think what Bob did with Dancin’ was he made 16 of us principal dancers that were going to do an evening of dance. And we did everything. We sang, we read, we danced. We held the whole show together. So he put us up on another level. When Annie [Reinking] and I got a Tony nomination for Best Supporting Actors in a musical that was completely unheard of. But that’s what he did. He made the world recognize that we were as talented as principals in Broadway shows. We were a principal in a Broadway show, so he really pushed it over the edge for us.

I urge you to watch the full interview to hear stories of how Wayne Cilento got cast by Fosse in Dancin’, the big name star (and former collaborator with Fosse) whom he left to join the show, his experiences performing one of the most emotional parts of Dancin’ – “Mr. Bojangles” and how he chose to reinterpret that number for the new production. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable conversation.

Main photo: The company of Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ (Photo by Julieta Cervantes/Courtesy The Old Globe)

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As you can imagine, Broadway has been hit hard by the pandemic with shows closed for months and likely to remain so until next summer at the earliest. So how did this show come to be? The host, Tiny Fey, certainly had a lot to do with it.

Not only has she starred in two hit shows for NBC (Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock), she is also the writer of the book for the musical, Mean Girls, based on the 2004 film she wrote and starred in along with Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams. The musical was still running when Broadway was shut down.

Amongst the musicals being represented in One Night Only are Ain’t Too Proud–The Life and Times of The Temptations, Chicago, Jagged Little Pill, Diana: The Musical, Jersey Boys, Mean Girls and Rent.

Diana: The Musical has yet to open on Broadway. Rent hasn’t been on Broadway since 2008. Jersey Boys is off-Broadway after concluding its Broadway run. The latter two shows remain amongst the most popular shows of all-time.

Cast members from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will also appear.

Joining Fey in the two-hour broadcast are Annaleigh Ashford (Sunday in the Park with George), Antonio Banderas (A Chorus Line in Spain), Lance Bass (Hairspray), Kristen Bell (The Crucible), Kelly Clarkson, Brett Eldredge, Jesse Tyler Ferguson (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Sutton Foster (Anything Goes), Peter Gallagher (On the Twentieth Century), Josh Groban (Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812), Jake Gyllenhaal (Sunday in the Park with George), Sean Hayes (Promises, Promises), Ron Cephas Jones (Of Mice and Men), Patti LaBelle, Nathan Lane (The Producers), Camryn Manheim (Spring Awakening), Rob McClure (Mrs. Doubtfire), Alanis Morissette (Jagged Little Pill), Jerry O’Connell (A Soldier’s Play), Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton), Mary-Louise Parker (The Sound Inside), Billy Porter (Kinky Boots), John Stamos (Bye Bye Birdie), Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl), Aaron Tveit (Moulin Rouge – The Musical), Blair Underwood (A Soldier’s Play), Vanessa Williams (Into the Woods) and Susan Kelechi Watson (A Naked Girl on the Appian Way).

The show will raise funds for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

One Night Only: The Best of Broadway airs at 8:00 PM local times.

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Hair – 1969 Tony Awards

Nominated for Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical, Hair opened on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre and ran for 1,750 performances. The show, directed by Tom O’Horgan, did not win any Tonys. Amongst the original cast members were two of its creators Gerome Ragni and James Rado, Diane Keaton and Paul Jabara. The 2009 revival of the musical won the Tony Award for Best Revival.

Purlie – 1970 Tony Awards

Purlie was nominated for five Tony Awards including Best Musical. Cleavon Little and Melba Moore won Tony Awards for their performances. The show, directed by Philip Rose who co-wrote the book, first opened at the Broadway Theater and later moved to the Winter Garden and the ANTA Playhouse.

Chicago – 1976 Tony Awards

The original production of Kander and Ebb’s musical Chicago was nominated for 11 Tony Awards. It won none of them. Directed by Bob Fosse and starring Gwen Verdon, Chita Rivera and Jerry Orbach, the show ran for 936 performances at the 42nd Street Theatre.

A Chorus Line – 1976 Tony Awards

This is the reason Chicago didn’t win any Tony Awards. Michael Bennett’s show, with music and lyrics by Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban, was nominated for 12 Tony Awards and won nine of them. Its run of 6,137 performances made it the longest running Broadway musical. It is now number six on that list. Ironically, the revival of Chicago, still running in New York, is currently number two on that list with 9,692 performances so far.

The Act – 1978 Tony Awards

This is also a Kander and Ebb musical with the unique distinction of being the only Broadway show directed by Martin Scorsese. The show received six Tony nominations with the only win being for Liza Minnelli. The Act played at the Majestic Theatre and played for 233 performances.

Sweeney Todd – 1979 Tony Awards (though I have no idea who is sitting in as Sweeney)

Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s musical was nominated for nine Tony Awards. The show won eight of them including Best Musical, Best Actress for Angela Lansbury and Best Actor for Len Cariou. Directed by Harold Prince, Sweeney Todd played at the Uris Theatre (later renamed The Gershwin Theatre) for 557 performances.

Evita – 1980 Tony Awards

Evita, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, was nominated for 11 Tony Awards. The show won seven including Best Musical, Best Actress for Patti LuPone and Best Featured Actor for Mandy Patinkin. Directed by Harold Prince, Evita played at the Broadway Theatre and ran for 1,567 performances.

Dreamgirls – 1982 Tony Awards

Dreamgirls was nominated for 13 Tony Awards and won six of them. The show, directed by Michael Bennett, played the Imperial Theatre and ran for 1,521 performances. The Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen musical featured the staggering Tony-winning performance by Jennifer Holliday as “Effie White.”

Cats – 1983 Tony Awards

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical inspired by T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats was nominated for 11 Tony Awards and won seven including Best Musical. Trevor Nunn directed Cats which played the Winter Garden Theatre. The musical broke A Chorus Line‘s record for longest-running Broadway show with 7,485 performances. Betty Buckley won a Tony Award for her performance as Grizabella who sings the show’s best-known song.

Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur – 1988 Tony Awards

Jerry Herman’s musical Mame opened in 1966 and was nominated for eight Tony Awards. Amongst the three winners were co-stars Angela Lansbury (as Mame Dennis) and Bea Arthur (as Vera Charles). 22 years later they reunited on the 1988 Tony Awards and performed their classic duet from the show. (This was the year The Phantom of the Opera won Best Musical.)

Grand Hotel – 1990 Tony Awards

Grand Hotel was nominated for 12 Tony Awards and won five including two for director and choreographer Tommy Tune and one for Michael Jeter as Otto Kringelein. The show opened at the Martin Beck Theatre and later transferred to the Gershwin Theatre. Grand Hotel ran for a total of 1,017 performances

Kiss of the Spider Woman – 1993 Tony Awards

Kander and Ebb won yet another Tony Award for this musical based on Manuel Puig’s novel (which also inspired the Academy Award-winning film.) Kiss of the Spider Woman received 11 Tony nominations winning seven of them including Terrence McNally for Best Book of a Musical and for the performances by Chita Rivera as “Spider Woman/Aurora,” Brent Carver as “Molina” and Anthony Crivello as “Valentin.” The musical, directed by Harold Prince, opened at the Broadhurst Theatre and ran for a total of 904 performances.

Passion – 1994 Tony Awards

The film Passione d’Amore by Ettore Scola was the inspiration for this Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine musical. The musical opened at the Plymouth Theatre near the end of Tony season and ran for only 280 performances. Donna Murphy, Jere Shea and Marin Mazzie starred in Passion. All three were amongst the 10 Tony nominations the show received with Murphy taking the Tony for Best Performance by an Actress. The musical won Best Score, Best Book and also Best Musical.

The Wild Party – 2000 Tony Awards

Composers Michael John LaChiusa and Andrew Lippa wrote musicals called The Wild Party. Both were based on Joseph Moncure March’s poem of the same name and both were produced the same year. LaChiusa’s show, directed by George C. Wolfe, made it to Broadway’s Virginia Theatre where it was nominated for seven Tony Awards. It did not win any and closed after a run of only 68 performances. The cast featured Toni Collette, Mandy Patinkin and Eartha Kitt.

Caroline, Or Change – 2004 Tony Awards

Playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America) and composer Jeanine Tesori teamed up for this 2004 musical (also directed by George C. Wolfe) that received six Tony Award nominations. Anika Noni Rose was the sole winner for her performance as “Emmie Thibodeaux.” Caroline, or Change was scheduled to have a revival this season, but those plans have been postponed until next season. For anyone who saw the show at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre during its brief 136 performance run, Tonya Pinkins‘ performance of “Lot’s Wife” will stand as one of the greatest performances in modern Broadway history.

Fela! – 2010 Tony Awards

Fela! electrified audiences when it opened at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in 2009. The musical was nominated for 11 Tony Awards and won three (including Best Choreography by Bill T. Jones). Jim Lewis collaborated with Jones (who also directed) on the book of this musical about legendary Nigerian musician Fela Kuti. The show ran for 463 performances.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch – 2014 Tony Awards

It took 16 years for this Stephen Trask and John Cameron Mitchell musical to finally make it to Broadway. The show began its life off-Broadway at the Jane Street Theatre in 1998. Directed by Michael Mayer and starring Neil Patrick Harris and Lena Hall, the show was nominated for eight Tony Awards. Harris and Hall both won and Hedwig and the Angry Inch was awarded the Tony for Best Revival of a Musical. The show ran for 507 performances at the Belasco Theatre.

The Color Purple – 2016 Tony Awards

Alice Walker’s novel inspired this musical by playwright Marsha Norman and composers/lyricists Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray. This revival, directed by John Doyle, opened at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre and was nominated for four Tony Awards. It won for Best Revival of a Musical and for Cynthia Erivo’s performance as Celie. The Color Purple ran for 450 performances.

Hamilton – 2016 Tony Awards

Much like A Chorus Line (which also began its life at The Public Theater), Hamilton was the juggernaut at the Tony Awards that couldn’t be beaten. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical was nominated for 16 Tony Awards and won 11 of them. The show, directed by Thomas Kail, is still running at the Richard Rodgers Theatre with 1,919 performances so far.

What makes this performance particular emotional is that the Tony Awards took place just after the mass shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. Given the recent events the cast opted not to use the prop guns that are usually seen in the show.

Those are 18 of my favorite Tony Awards performances. Let me know what your favorites are by posting your thoughts in our comments.

The post My Favorite Tony Award Performances appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Yazbeck began his Broadway career as a replacement newsboy in Arthur Laurents’ revival of Gypsy with Tyne Daly. He has played Billy Flynn several time in Chicago. He was Al in the revival of A Chorus Line; Tulsa in the revival of Gypsy with Patti LuPone and Gabey in the revival of On the Town. He received his first Tony Award nomination for that performance.

There may be a reason he’s in so many revivals. It isn’t just that Broadway likes to produce them. It’s where Yazbeck feels most at home – as I discovered when we spoke by phone about Gershwin, Broadway and loving simpler stories.

Not only for this concert, but you’ve done other shows celebrating Gershwin’s music. Why does his music speak to you?

I was raised as a kid with this music. It was maybe my father’s favorite music. I started dancing at four-years-old watching Fred Astaire on television. I think the first movie I saw was Shall We Dance which is where a lot of these songs we love got introduced. These were songs that were ingrained in me and made me happy in a simple way. 

Whether or not they are part of this concert, but are there specific songs that resonate most with you?

Michael approached me with the songs. He has such a library of songs that are arranged for symphony orchestras. You don’t want to mess with them because most are derived from the original arrangements. I looked at them and said, “What can I do with these and put my stamp on it and still respect it?” There’s one number I’ll throw my tap shoes on for it. A ballad I’m singing is probably my favorite Gershwin song of all time: “How Long Has This Been Going On?” I think it is underrated. It resonates with those who find a connection and felt it was there forever. I’ll do like three numbers. If he asked me to do more, I know half the repertoire in my head already.

Most of your Broadway credits are revivals of classic musicals. As a song-and-dance man, do you think you were born too late? Or do you have the opportunity, perhaps the responsibility, to keep this great work alive by doing it now?

That’s a good question. I feel like I’m devoted and the reason I’m still in this business is that very question. We want to affect an audience. I was greatly affected by this music and this style when I was younger. It had nothing to do with the 1980s.

It’s a deep question: do we embrace technology now or do we say this has a place and “children…look here!” But I think it’s embrace it. We’re all on our phones all the time. People can’t look at a video for two minutes before their mind wanders. It will be fascinating to see what happens in the future. There is room for this thing, but we need to find writers and creators who can write new material based on the simple styles we heard like Gershwin back in the day. As amazingly beautiful as their melodies and arrangements are, they were simple. Somehow we decided simple wasn’t enough.

Even your 2016 album, The Floor Above Me, is more of a celebration of older material. Do you worry about an industry, meaning Broadway, that feels like Donna Summer, Cher and now Neil Diamond are the best sources for new musical material?

Everybody wants to feel immortal. That’s my first instinct as a dancer. It’s probably wrong. I don’t know why everyone needs to feel even more acclaimed and famous later in life after they’ve had their multiple decade careers. My thing is, is there a great story? Are they going to tell it in a way that’s brand new? 

When I was in Gypsy with Tyne Daly in 1990-1991 coming to the city every day there was a magic and spark to it that isn’t around anymore. It’s about popularity and fame and “I want something in a certain way and I expect it and I’m going to get exactly what I want,” rather than buy a ticket a be completely surprised and overwhelmed by what I saw. That was the beauty of Bob Fosse or Michael Bennett – they gave the audience something to think about. We’re just spoon-feeding them what they know. 

George Gershwin said, “True music must repeat the thought and aspirations of the people and the time.” Why does his music continue to do this almost 100 years later?

I think because honestly, a lot of things don’t change or really haven’t. It’s a little scary to think about. It’s crazy how we can’t learn after 100 years. We have music like Gershwin’s “Strike Up the Band.” You have this music that has fiery, angry heartbreak under this simple joyful melody.  I think that’s why this music stands the test of time. In joy there’s darkness and vice-versa.

I learned a lot from Arthur Laurents. He said the emotional tone of Gypsy is melancholy. It was about an angry frustration under the dream that Tulsa had. But he has a fire underneath it. Nothing will stop him. On the top is bubbly joy, but underneath…If this isn’t like so much music out there that needs to be communicated. If this isn’t the heartbeat of us all. Like Gershwin. It will stand the test of time.

Photos courtesy of the Pasadena Pops

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