11-29-11 – Click here to listen to the Interviews

Interview with Laura Osnes
Director Jeff Calhoun describes Laura as “beautiful inside and out” and it is definitely true. The term unaffected is old-fashioned but seems to apply here; Laura seems almost unaware of her beauty, talent and sweetness. And her story is perfect for her; from the beginning others saw the potential star in her and encouraged it. Listen to the remarkable way her career simply unfolded, including how she won her starring role in Grease on a reality show. From there she captured roles in South Pacific and Anything Goes, but they were roles others had created. On Dec 1st Laura gets her chance to define a role – she will put her stamp on Bonnie Parker, beloved partner of Clyde Barrow. If you want to catch a rising star – hurry on down to the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, and see Laura launched.

Interview with Don Black
If Laura Osnes and Jeremy Jordan are on the cusp of their careers, Don Black the lyricist for Bonnie and Clyde the Musical is riding the crest of his. With more than 1000 songs for film and stage to his credit, mega hits – To Sir With Love and Born Free among them – Don continues to write songs which perfectly establish and define the characters for whom he is writing. Lyrics like the exuberant “When I Drive” and the poignant “My Bonnie” help us see the Clyde behind the gun. And the lyrics for “You Love Who You Love” and “Dying” help us understand why a “sweet girl like Bonnie” would give her life to a “bad boy” like Clyde. A tried and true veteran Don continues to love the life he’s chosen, to appreciate the opportunity to dream. He says that old song writers maintain a “twinkle,” and a spring in their step, this is definitely true of Don. Listen to him twinkle and .hear his beautiful lyrics.

11-22-11 Interview

Jeremy Jordan is charismatic bad boy Clyde Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde the Musical, which is now in preview and will be opening on Broadway 12/1/11, but he didn’t intend to be an actor. From the beginning Jeremy could sing and his Mom encouraged him to audition for shows at the community theater, but his first auditions were “horrible” and he “couldn’t even get cast in Peter Pan or Oliver Twist.” But he didn’t mind because he was a really good student and thought he was going to be an engineer. Just before his junior year in high school Jeremy attended a prestigious conference to jump-start his engineering career and realized that he had no interest in the field. As he says, “when you go for your career and return remembering only a couple of pretty faces, you know something is wrong.” Not knowing what he was going to do with his life Jeremy let life lead him. He sang in chorus in school and was heard by someone who offered him a role in a play. Jeremy was hooked and knew that this was the life he was meant for. And it must be true because at 26 he’s already had starring roles in Grease and West Side Story, Newses and now, he will be creating the role of Clyde Barrow, Listen to Jeremy describes the difference between telling people you are an actor (before you’ve had any success) and then when you can say you’re on Broadway….and hear the many sides of Clyde Barrow and the multi talents of Jeremy Jordan as he sings 2 songs from the show.

8-9-11

Even though she was singing in front of her church by the time she was three years old, Sunny Thompson was always shy. She studied theater at college, where she got an opportunity to perform in every production. Broke after graduation she took a job as a hostess at a local restaurant. Still shy, she went to observe an audition and not only got the job, but eventually married Greg Thomson – the producer of the show. Sunny has starred in all kinds of plays and reviews and even has a gold record. For the last four years she has been giving an amazing performance as Marilyn Monroe in Forever Blond, the one woman story of Marilyn’s life – which has just finished a run at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota Florida, and will be one of the first productions at the brand new Powerhouse Theater in Walla Walla Washington. Listen to Sunny’s contagious enthusiasm and another song from the show.

8-2-11

Stephanie Shine began dance class at three years old because the doctor said it would straighten her “wobbly ankle.” No one expected it to it to be the genesis of a life’s work. The mini-musicals she danced and sang in at the Linkletter Tot n Tot studio, and seeing musicals like Peter Pan, cemented her ambition to make a life in the theater. And seeing Franco Zeffirelli’s film Romeo and Juliet began a lifelong love affair with Shakespeare. Stephanie has worked as an actor and director and spent 25 years as the artistic director of the Seattle Shakespeare Company Stephanie met Sunny Thomson (listen to Sunny’s interview next week), and became the director of Sunny’s one woman show called Forever Blond, an homage to Marilyn Monroe. Listen to Stephanie’s description of the passion she and Sunny share to honor Marilyn Monroe on stage and hear Sunny bring Marilyn to life in a few of the songs from the show.

2-8-11

Apparently born with words in his mouth. Steve DePass was rhyming from the moment he could speak and performing on Broadway with Jimmy Durante at five years old. Nelson Rockefeller, who was then the Governor of New York, dubbed Steve America’s Singing Poet and brought him to the White House to perform when he became Vice President. Steve kept the title and has not only played for many Presidents, but in venues all over the world. Born in New York City, Steve was a very sick child so his parents returned to their native West Indies to love him into health with a combination of “coffee and stimulation.” Steve learned the lessons of love and it became his driving force. Listen to his remarkable story and the unique and special songs he writes.

January 14, 2011

Interview – When he was nine years old Mark Winkler told his parents that he was going to be a singer and surprisingly his parents said “of course you’re going to be a singer.” As luck would have it Mark’s aunt – a band singer introduced him to Jimmy Haskel a very successful arranger. Jimmy had little interest in meeting Mark, but a lot of interest in dating his beautiful aunt. And although the romance didn’t work out, Jimmy heard something in Mark and suggested that he start to write songs, and as they say – the rest is history. Listen to the rest of Mark’s story, his wonderful voice and terrific songs.

December 21, 2010

Interview – Jeremy Jordan is originating the role of charismatic bad boy Clyde Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde the Musical, but like Kevin he didn’t expect to live his life as an actor. From the beginning Jeremy could sing and his Mom suggested he audition for shows at the community theater, but his first auditions were “horrible” and he “couldn’t even get cast in Peter Pan or Oliver Twist.” But he didn’t mind because he was a really good student and thought he was going to be an engineer. Just before his junior year in high school Jeremy attended a prestigious conference to jump-start his engineering career and realized that he had no interest in the field. As he says, “when you go for your career and return remembering only a couple of pretty faces, you know something is wrong.” Not knowing what he was going to do with his life Jeremy let life lead him. He sang in chorus in school and was heard by someone who offered him a role in a play. Jeremy was hooked and knew that this was the life he was meant for. And it must be true because at 26 he’s already had staring roles in Grease and West Side Story and now, as Clyde Barrow, he is almost certainly going to find himself on Broadway again – this time creating the role he’s playing.

December 14, 2010

Interview –Kevin Massey is originating the role of Ken – the good guy – in Bonnie and Clyde the Musical – which is playing at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota and expected to go to Broadway very soon, but Kevin never intended to be a performer. Like the rest of his family he was “very musical” but no one thought of “doing it for a living.” Really good in school, Kevin liked and did well in math and science, even attending college as a pre-med major. But even though he was told that “if you’re good in school why would you throw your life away a performer,” life kept letting Kevin know that performing was definitely his path. Arriving in New York (just for a year off) a month before 911, Kevin “instantly became a New Yorker” and a series of happenstances cemented his choice (at least for now) to pursue a career as an actor. In a very short while Kevin was a working actor, winning a role in Big River as his Broadway Debut and now almost certainly destined to return to Broadway in Bonnie and Clyde.

November 2, 2010

Interview with the extraordinary jazz singer Cathy Segal-Garcia. Hear about Cathy’s life long love affair with music, the interesting way she’s combined that love with her desire to “make communities,” and enjoy 2 songs from her CD’s, listening especially to her extraordinary voice and “artistic approach” to her music.

December 29, 2009

In this show I am playing what I believe to be the last interview given by my friend, the glorious jazz singer, Carol Ettman. Carol was not only the consummate professional; she was dedicated to discovering and bringing to light little known but terrifically interesting songs. Carol was always exploring, testing limits and in every aspect of her life, she was also the soul of generosity. In this show I am also playing several songs from Carol’s CD and one tune on which we just have Carol on piano and voice – in which you can hear not only her skill but her spontaneity and joy.

October 13, 2009

Interview – The second half of my interview with Nate Jacobs, in which he tells the story or his mission to create a theater company with and for “people who look like me.” I also interview another founding member of the troupe delightful, 28 year old Leon Pitts, who began to work with Nate when he was 9 years old, and who had no plans for his life until Nate convinced him to audition for a part and it was “lights, camera, action from then on.”

October 06, 2009

Interview –The first half of my Interview with Nate Jacobs, Founder and Creative Director of the Westcoast Black Theater Troupe. Nate’s story is of a man who took a long time to believe what everyone was telling him – that he was a talented singer, dancer, actor, and story teller. For many years he told himself that “they were just being nice.” In this half of his interview Nate tells the often hilarious tale of his discovery and acceptance of himself and what it forced him to do with his life I also play an interview with gregarious and talented 26 year old Tsadok Porter, a founding member of the Troupe who began working with Nate when she was 5 years old.

September 01, 2009

Discussion – Do you have qualities, capacities, abilities you didn’t know you had? Perhaps they are hiding Undercover while you just present your Cover Story – I will be taking about that in this show.

Interview – with singer, writer, painter Kitt Moran, who knew at 3 years old she was going to be a singer – even though she didn’t know if she could sing. Listen to her hilarious tale of making a childhood career out of Peter Pan, and to the remarkable talent that was waiting to be released. As a child Kitt knew that she was born to be a singer, and she was right.

June 23, 2009

Do you know if who you are pretending to be is actually all that you are? In this show I describe how pretending to be who we think we are defines who we chose for a partner and how this predisposition stops us from doing things we would want to do. I also present a memorial retrospective to singer-songwriter Kenny Rankin who died June 7th at 69 of Lung Cancer. I play several of his own songs and several others which over his 3 decade career he recorded – and which had a profound influence on the music industry.

June 03, 2009

How do you change a role assigned to you in childhood? In this show I explain that sometimes you can do it with the help of a sibling who is equally unsatisfied with his or her assigned role. Then I interview Katt Hefner a tall, beautiful and remarkably talented singer. Born into a family where music was an everyday essential and she and her brothers rapidly became a “band.” Katt’s story is inspiring and entertaining.

April 21, 2009

Here I continue to talk about the families need for balance and encourage you to try the Small Change exercise to see if your family is balanced and in what way. Sharon reviews Murderers, and I interview Actor, Musical Comedy Star of the cult favorite Merrily We Roll Along, Druid, and self proclaimed Grail Maiden Annie Morrison.

March 22, 2009

In this show I describe my trip to Vienna VA and Washington DC – showing my dyslexia how made it doubly hard to find my way around a strange city. I air the interview there with singer/actor Sandy Bainum, and play two songs from her CD.

September 23, 2008

I believe that this trick is self-explanatory. Our unconscious is often (for some of us it is always) playing background music in our minds. Surely you have experienced the song you just can’t get out of your head. This is almost always a message from your unconscious and when you learn to decipher these messages you get access to a new and very important source of information. In this show I air the 3rd pianist Elliot Roth, a 25 year old wunderkind, who is also playing since he was 3 years old and now can’t decide whether to focus on his playing, his singing or his writing. I’m sure that like me you will hope that he chooses all three.

July 22, 2008

Because Past Dangers were often created in our childhood, we may have forgotten or be in denial for the events which caused them and therefore they can be difficult to identify. This show continues to explore the area of Past Dangers. In this show I also interview exciting Jazz singer Carol Ettman – the girl form the “land of yes!”

May 13, 2008

After recapping the creation of a Cover Story I explain how and why we hide some of our most important qualities Undercover, and that these qualities which we have, but deny, can be the very ones we need to do some things we’d previously been unable to do. Using brief descriptions of two movies “Juno” and “Miss Pettigrew” I talk about the importance of strong female role models in fiction and then play the second ½ of my interview with Sharon Lesley, who is not only a powerful role model but has written three theater pieces which highlight the lives of powerful woman.