Stage Whisper
Whisper in the Wings Episode 578
(upbeat music) - Welcome back in everyone to a fantastic new whisper in the wings from stage whisper. We are heading back to Broadway to one of the hottest shows playing right now and we are so excited about the artists joining us. We have been a long time fan of their incredible work and so now we get the chance to speak to them about their latest show. Joining us today, we have the ensemble member, one of the sugars Curtis Ballin, who is currently in The Great Gatsby The Musical, which is now playing at the Broadway theater. You can get your tickets and more information by visiting telecharge.com. We have the immense pleasure of seeing the show back in May right before the Tony's before it won a Tony Award for Best Costume Design, a well-deserved Tony Award, I may say. And this is such a brilliant adaptation of the classic American story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This cover, I mean, this is one of those things where like if you see a film and you're like, "Oh, the book was better than the movie." No, you will not feel that way about the show. It's so, so brilliant. Incredible dancing, incredible vocals. This show I can watch again and again, it's so good. So we are excited to talk more about this with our guests and with that, let us welcome on our guests, Curtis, welcome in a Whisper in the Wings from Stage Whisper. - Bye, thank you for having me. - I'm so happy you're here. It's so great to see you again. And I'm over the moon about your role in the show. Seriously, the ensemble is insane in the show. The dancing, get out of here. It was just, I mean, I got tired. I got my daily cardio just watching you all over. (laughing) - Oh, thank you. - The music is so much fun. The costumes are beautiful, the set, everything. I can't stop raving about it. The show is brave. So why don't we start at the beginning and have you tell our listeners if they're not familiar? You know, what is the show about? - So the Great Gatsby is based off of the American novel about Jay Gatsby, who is a millionaire who comes from nothing and uses his power and influence and some low-down deals to become a very rich and successful person in this world where if you want to get rich, you either start with money or you work extremely hard to get money, which is, you know, where the American dream really comes in. And all of this is in the attempt to win the affection of his once-love Daisy Buchanan, who is now married to a very, very, very old money rich man, Tom Buchanan, and things just spiral. And in the middle of it, you know, we're in the 1920s. We are in the end of the Great War and everyone is ready to party. Everyone is ready to rage. Everyone is ready to drink. And so there's a lot of partying. There's a lot of lavish scenery and lavish parties. And then you get to our show and you get a lot of phenomenal dancing, a lot of phenomenal singing, a lot of phenomenal acting, and just a good time at the theater. - That is the best way to put it, just a great time. And also don't forget that little high drama that definitely leads up at the end. Oh my gosh, it was so-- - Oh yeah. - That ending, I'm not even gonna give it away, but I was like, I wonder how-- Oh my gosh, oh, sorry. So I'm really curious to know, I mean, prior to Broadway, obviously the show played at the Playhouse, how was it that you came upon this piece? - I auditioned, we just had a simple call for it. And I went into the call for the ensemble. We had to do a combination, a dance combination that was maybe four counts, eight counts of eight, let's say. And we did partnering, we went in, we partnered, then we tapped, and then we sang. And then we left, some people got cut, some people got kept to stay, we did final callbacks, and did that exact same thing again. We partnered more just to make sure, because we have a few lists in the show that are a little extensive, so they had to make sure that we had to acumen for it. Once they found that out, once they found out that we could hold a note more than happy birthday, then we were able-- (laughing) Then we just all waited. And I think we waited maybe three weeks before hearing that we either got the show or didn't, or more so you either hear that you got the show or you don't hear anything at all. And that's how we started rehearsals. It was really as simple as going to audition, either get kept to get cut and do the gig. (laughing) - That's amazing though, wow. The true on the pavement, like the typical kind of story to get to the show, that's fantastic. - Yes, and a lot of things these days are beginning as pre-Broadway runs, but just because you're doing the pre-Broadway run is not a shoe-in that you're gonna do the Broadway production. And so when you're auditioning, you're only auditioning for that moment and for that out-of-town trial, we were only auditioning for Paper Mill at the moment, just hoping that then if we got the job that our work ethic and our talent and what we were bringing would also then transfer us with the show if it went to Broadway. - Well, with you kind of being with the show from the start over in New Jersey, now here you are in Broadway, what has it been like developing the show through these different iterations? - You know, it's a living thing, which means that it changes, it gains some weight, it loses some weight, it, you know, it just, it continues to evolve. It's never the same person twice. She'll cut her hair, she'll grow it out, you know? (laughs) And that's what makes it so beautiful is that I'm never doing the same show and even coming and doing the show on Broadway, it wasn't like it was a copy and paste of what we did in Paper Mill, everyone, and actually one with that Dom put it one time. And if you don't know when I say Dom, listeners, Dom is Dominique Kelly, our choreographer, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful man. He told us once when we were in previews for Broadway, we had a note session and he said, just remember that everyone is here working on something. No one is here just saying, go here, go there for their own, for the fun of it. Everyone is here to say, I'm doing this because I'm trying to make the best version of my product. The choreographer is saying that, the director is saying that the dancers are saying that, the actors are saying that the music director is saying that everyone is saying, I'm trying to make my work the best that I can. The writer is saying that, which means that there are constantly rewrites, there are constantly changes in choreography, there are constantly changes in vocal lines, there are constantly changes in the choices that we make as dancers and actors. And because of that, we are all always working. So there was never time to get stagnant and never time to say, oh, this is what the show is, I'll just wait until four months from now when we open and nothing will change. Something is always changing, it's alive, it is alive, it is alive. - Amen, say that. - Absolutely. And I feel like that also starts deep in rehearsal back to like your main point of how has it changed. Even in rehearsal, we just don't get the chance to say, I'm set with this choice right now, because no one around us is saying that the whole room is always thinking, how can we be better? - Yes, yes, yes, yes. Well, let me ask with this well-known show and the well-known story, is there a message or a thought you're hoping that audiences take away from your show? - You know, there is and it's not as simple as what I hope they get from the story, because that was the book's job. The book already told you what to take away from the story. And everyone interprets that even differently, I always interpret it as what it means to pursue the American dream and how that affects the way that you live and how that affects the way that you treat people. But more than that, what I want people to take away when they see our show is a group of people, again, and I might overuse this word today, but a group of people that are completely alive on stage. This isn't just a robotic performance. Everyone is there and fully present and showing up as their full selves. And there's something really beautiful about that. I think this is a show. And I've had it in other times, but because of how old I am now, this is the oldest that I've been. But I am in a space where I am getting to perform in a way that I find very comfortable and in my wheelhouse as a black gay man, I find it really, really, really, really poignant the way that Dom has given us the choreography. I find it very relatable. I resonate with it. I eat it up. I love it. It's perfect for me and I'm having a great time. But everyone is doing a version of that in our show where they feel very much themselves and are just able to breathe and exist. So I love for the audience to be able to feel that and then take that and make their own art and their own work with it. - That is a beautiful answer. I love that. Very inspiring. - Well, my final question for this first part is who are you hoping to have access to The Great Gatsby, the musical? - Anyone who wants a good time, really, I think this is a good show for, first off, this is a great first show. If you have never seen a Broadway show, this is a wonderful first show to see. I think that it is big Broadway. It has, and you know, everything that typical, stereotypical big Broadway has. It has great vocals. It has great scenery, great costumes. It has tap dance in it. You know, you're getting everything that you kind of think of when you think Broadway. And that's wonderful. I also hope that it reaches, I hope that it reaches literary purists who can learn to let an adaptation of a novel live adjacently and not try and be a carbon print of it. Because our show is not, it's just simply not only the book. It is the book plus a little bit more. A few changes here and there are some things that make the show live next to the book, not inside of the book. And I think that I hope that that shows not only purists, literary purists, but just anyone that you're allowed to take something and be inspired by it and not do it verbatim. Take it, be inspired by it, give it the homage that it deserves, and then take it and put your stamp on it, make it yours, and let it be fun. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Well, on the second part of our shows, we'd love giving our listeners a chance to get to know our guests a little bit better. We'll have the curtain back, if you will. And I would love to start with our regular first question, which is, what or who inspires you? What playwrights or composers or shows have inspired you in the past? Or just some of your favorites? - I always have to start by saying that my parents are my biggest inspiration because they taught me how to dance. They had a dance studio for 27 years and I would not be here if it weren't for them. So I always start by giving them the props that they deserve, that's the literal least I can do. And then from there, I start thinking about all the mentors and teachers that have been there, whether they knew me or not. Like my real teachers, my real mentors, my drama teacher in middle school, Tinesha Sidel, my second dance mother, Meg Sagrado, they're just people in my lives. And then we move into celebrities and the idols of the time that my parents were in and the time that I grew up in. Hidden battle, Gregory Hines, Savion Glover, these masters of dance and tap dance, just wonderful. Then because I love tap dance so much, then we have to go back into like Jimmy Slide and John Bubbles. It just is rooted very much for me in black theater history and this burv and fight that I have watched so many black performers dance with even in times when they weren't accepted in the spaces that they were performing in. And so that is something that keeps me going because as we're talking about getting too dark and philosophical, microaggressions still exist. And so there are sometimes still very small ways that what my ancestors went through, I am still going through today. And so to then be able to connect with that by recognizing why they performed the way that they perform helped me cope with the small microaggressions that we have today and remember the love of theater in the first place. I also have to say the names of Audre McDonald's, Billy Porter, Brian Stokes Mitchell, because they were always with me during shuffle along and that was my debut and they were my introduction to what leading a company looks like and that was very special. And I also have to say the name of our current guard for Dominique Kelly, who is again, and it just means so much to me to see someone who looks like me at the helm of a room. And not only black, now we're talking black and gay, so the way that he moves is again, a version of black and gay because there are a million, but a version that I resonate with and a version that was imbued into his choreography and dance, and he didn't ask for everybody to dance like a black gay man, he asked for everyone to express themselves as fully as they could and that in itself is inspiring, to just say, I want you to exist on this stage. And it reintegrated not only me, but a lot of us who can sometimes get into a cycle of staleness, not even by choice, but just by repetition. - Yes, I love all of that. All of that. Well, I know you've been very busy with The Great Gatsby, the musical. I mean, it is just, it's not a show. It is a very hot show right now, not just because we're in a heatwave, but have you ever been able to see any great theater lately? You might be able to recommend to our listeners. - I, and hear me out. I have two musicals that I think everyone should see, even if let alone from a dance standpoint, go see MJ The Musical and go see Illinois. Those are my two recommendations. MJ The Musical and number one, I'm so biased because I have friends and both who are working so hard and dancing so much and dancing so well. Like this level of dancing is, I look at it and I say, this is what dancing on Broadway is. And granted, there are so many other shows. I'm only highlighting two of the millions and I have friends and many who are also working their butts off, but I remember vividly thinking, the kids in MJ are working hard, non-stop for the whole show. And then I saw Illinois maybe a month ago and thought the same, where again, dear friends of mine, existing, and it feels similar to what our show does, where my friends who are so good at what they do, getting to exist and breathe in themselves wholly and just get to live and dance and exist on stage without putting an extra thing on. They get on stage and I say, that is my friend, that's Ben, that's Gabby, that's Fred, that's Amad, and they're just being them. And I'm so glad that the world gets to see them, just be themselves. Like the authenticity of it is so beautiful. And then Justin Peck's choreography on top of that is so beautiful and so cinematic. I think that Illinois and MJ are my picks. - I love those. Let me ask you, what is your favorite part about working in theater? - The people, I love the people. And I also, working in theater is like many people, hopefully many people listening to this can resonate where it really has been my whole life. Like, and not only theater, but just performing has been inside of me since I was, since I was born. And I even think, I would go as far as to say that for people listening, that could even mean, like if you love to just like sing Kara Ryoki every day, that's still considered performing. Like we're all creators and performers. And I just resonated with that part of me so early on. And then to be able to get here when I was 20, 21 and start on Broadway at the age of 21 and just go from there, I learned most of my life lessons through the theater. And like that was truly the place where I grew up. And so it just has a very special place because this is home, I've been here for 10 years now and this is the place where I've become an adult. And it's beautiful and that's because of the people that I've met and the people who saved space and grace for me when I would go off the rails and come back, the people who led me in the right direction, the people who gassed me up when I was feeling good about myself, the people who supported me. And then on top of that, my family who has been the rock of that, like theater has just been a place of love the whole time, the love of theater, the love of each other, the love of the people who you don't get to see all the time but then you pick up the phone and you all are just back where you started. It's just, it's a sin in them for love. - I love that answer. And it's a great lead-in to my favorite question to ask guests which is what is your favorite theater memory? - Oh gosh, okay. Oh gosh, I have so many. I can only say one because I have so many but I remember when we closed shuffle along and I wasn't, I'm not sure. I'm gonna, there are two ways I can answer this question. I'm gonna choose it this way. I'm gonna choose my favorite theater memory that I'm involved in. But my, when I was doing shuffle along on our closing night, everyone is emotional. It was a very spiritual show for all of us. And it, because it was kind of meta because it was talking about creating the show shuffle along in the 1920s. And but at the same time, when we were closing, we started to feel ourselves experiencing a lot of the things that our characters in the show were going through because it was about the making and the opening and the closing of a show and we were closing the show. And so everything was just a little bit more heightened. And there was a moment in our show where Audra McDonald has a song that she has this thing in her song called "I'm Just Wild About Harry" and the way that the character, that her characters, that her character has received the song from UB and Blake is that she, that they wanted to be very operatic in like three, four, like triplet time, like, "I'm Just Wild About Harry." And she's like, "This just looks like it has me sold." So she calls my character over and she says, "Just like stomped out a beat for me." And like, "Just stomped for me." And so we started to do this acapella trade of my tap dancing and her singing this very soulful, jazzy version of "I'm Just Wild About Harry" which is supposed to be like this workshop version of "Scat Something" and I'm just gonna scat back, just play that rhythm and I'll just, I'll get it back, which then begins this whole montage into our final dance number of act one. And it was always such a spiritual experience. But on the last night, she looks at me, she goes, "Stomp" and screams at the top of her lungs. And the way that we were just locked and synced knowing that this would be the last time that we get to do this together was a memory that I hold in my heart forever. And after that, I have a quick change. I went off stage and I balled my eyes out while I was putting on a while. I took the scene off of it, so. (laughing) But it just showed, it showed a experience, you know, an experience, you know, multi-tony award-winning artist, recognizing, looking into my eyes and recognizing exactly where I was and being able to say, "I know how you need to get this out right now." And in the moment, dropping being an actress and just becoming a human and saying, "You're gonna love if you just stomp this out right now." And doing all that through the line. Like, it's just genius, she's genius. She's amazing, she's wonderful. I love Audrey McDonald. (laughing) And I hold her near and dear to my heart for that reason and many others. But that's my theater experience that travels with me daily. - What does that mean? - I love that memory. - Yeah. - As we wrap things up, I would love to know if our listeners would like more information about the great cats beyond Broadway or about you, maybe they'd like to reach out to you. How can they do so? They can actually go to our Instagram or TikTok @bwaygatsby or they can go get tickets at Broadwaygatsby.com. - Wonderful. Well, Curtis, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today, for sharing your amazing show. I really appreciate your time. Thank you so much. - Andrew, thank you, this was wonderful. - Thank you. My guest today has been the amazing performer who's currently in the ensemble and part of the sugars. Curtis Holland, he is performing eight times a week in the great gap through the musical, which is now playing at the Broadway theater. You can get your tickets and more information by visiting telecharge.com. We also have some contact information for our guests at his show, which will be posted in our episode description, as well as on our social media posts, but seriously run, get your tickets now. It is one of the hottest shows on Broadway and there's a reason for it. You will not be disappointed by this. The show is the great gap to be now playing at the Broadway theater. So until next time, I'm Andrew Cortez, reminding you to turn off your cell phones, unwrap your candies, keep talking about the theater. - In a stage whisperer. - Thank you. (upbeat music) - If you like what you hear, please leave a five star review, like and subscribe. - You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at Stage Whisperer Pod. - And feel free to reach out to us with your comments and personal stories at stagewhispererpod@gmail.com. - And be sure to check out our website for all things Stage Whisperer and theater. You'll be able to find merchandise, tours, tickets and more. Simply visit stagewhispererpod.com. Our theme song is "Maniac" by Jazar. Other music on this episode provided by Jazar and Billy Murray. You can also become a patron of our show by logging on to patreon.com/stagewhispererpod. There you will find all the information about our backstage pass as well as our tip jar. 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