The Ensemblist

On March 12, 2020, the Broadway League suspended performances for all Broadway shows through April 12 amidst rising Coronavirus concerns and bans on large gatherings. Six months later, most industries are reopening, television/film production is resuming, and many office employees are settling nicely into remote work routines.  Yet staying masked, practicing social distancing, and avoiding large crowds remains crucial in the fight against COVID-19. As a result, Broadway and many theatres across the country remain closed until at least January 3, 2021. So much remains unknown for our industry, but there is hope as live performances begin sprouting up at venues such as Berkshire Theatre Group and Weathervane Theatre. As Broadway’s Diana prepares to be filmed for Netflix. As theatre artists find ways to create work digitally. But what did the future look like for actors at the beginning of the pandemic? During the month of March, we released daily conversations with actors performing in Broadway shows, national tours, and regional productions, as they first adapted to workplace changes, then unemployment and the uncertainty. Six months later, we look back at those conversations to see if anything from the past can teach us about the months ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On March 12, 2020, the Broadway League suspended performances for all Broadway shows through April 12 amidst rising Coronavirus concerns and bans on large gatherings. Six months later, most industries are reopening, television/film production is resuming, and many office employees are settling nicely into remote work routines.  Yet staying masked, practicing social distancing, and avoiding large crowds remains crucial in the fight against COVID-19. As a result, Broadway and many theatres across the country remain closed until at least January 3, 2021. So much remains unknown for our industry, but there is hope as live performances begin sprouting up at venues such as Berkshire Theatre Group and Weathervane Theatre. As Broadway’s Diana prepares to be filmed for Netflix. As theatre artists find ways to create work digitally. But what did the future look like for actors at the beginning of the pandemic? During the month of March, we released daily conversations with actors performing in Broadway shows, national tours, and regional productions, as they first adapted to workplace changes, then unemployment and the uncertainty. Six months later, we look back at those conversations to see if anything from the past can teach us about the months ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For our third episode in this miniseries, we’re so excited to bring you a true renaissance woman in the industry. She’s been an associate to multiple Broadway choreographers, she’s been a dance captain, she’s starred in shows, and she’s also one phenomenal educator, the brilliant Lizz Picini. Currently teaching sold out classes at Broadway Dance Center, Lizz is in high demand with several other projects in the works. We’ll talk about how learning on the job has made her stronger, what insight she’s gained from being on all sides of the table, and why being present- whether that be in the audition room or on stage- is your biggest strength. All right listeners, here’s my conversation with Lizz Picini.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Karla Garcia booked her broadway debut while still a student at NYU and has continued to channel her incredible talents not just towards an impressive performing career, but also as a breakout choreographer herself. Most recently performing as a swing in Hamilton on Broadway, she’s also choreographing a brand new musical, Other World, slated for its Debut at Bucks County Playhouse in the fall of 2021. We’ll talk about what she’s learned while performing for other choreographers, how she found her own voice as a creator, and the importance of saying yes to opportunities… but we begin our conversation with how she got her start, which interestedly enough is linked to last weeks episode, choreographer Rachel Dolan.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey listeners, I’m Justin Mock and this is Choreographers Making Moves: a new mini-series highlighting female choreographers who are making a difference and making a name for themselves in the business. For our first episode, I spoke to someone who got her start working for Debbie Allen and has grown into a Helen Hayes nominated choreographer herself. She’s an educator, filmmaker, and most recently launched Best8BK, an organization creating dynamic, timely and socially conscious theatrical work for digital media: the outstanding Rachel Dolan.  We spoke about how she worked her way to the top, the magic of putting yourself out there— and how to be a brilliant disruptor. All right listeners, enjoy my conversation with Rachel Dolan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For our third guest, 2020 was set up to be practically perfect in every way. Gail Bennett had made her Broadway debut in Anastasia while her husband was headlining in Jersey Boys down the street. In addition to being a semi-finalist in Broadway.com’s “The Search for Roxie” for Chicago on Broadway, Gail was well under way in preparing for another summer at sea with Disney Cruise Line as a Broadway Guest Artist aboard the Disney Magic. As she and her daughter were planning out adventures and picking the right looks for their pictures with Mickey and the Gang, Covid struck - and a little too close to home.  With the rest of her cast finding out their contracts were being postponed indefinitely, Gail was in and out of the doctor with what had originally been diagnosed as Strep throat. Now, nearly a full year later, she is still overcoming the physical and emotional challenges many face after contracting the Coronavirus. As a woman who has mastered balancing married life with raising a daughter, and a vast performing career, listen as Gail recounts how she had to now tackle Covid-19 as the industry her family depended on began to shut down all around her.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chelsea Emma Franko’s journey up the North Mountain wasn’t all ice palaces and sparkly dresses. In fact, she began auditioning for Disney Parks and Live Entertainment at the age of eighteen and kept at it for years before ever landing a job with the company. But when she was finally #BookedAndBlessed, it was in a way that would change her career forever.  Chelsea landed the role of Elsa in the world-premiere cast of Frozen, Live at The Hyperion. The show opened in 2016 at Disney California Adventure, replacing the guest and cast favorite Aladdin, A Musical Spectacular which ran for an incredible thirteen years. Not only was there pressure on the whole team for the show to succeed, but conquering the role of Elsa left Chelsea with some pretty big ice shoes to fill . . . and cape, and gown, and reveal gown, and gloves, and tiara . . . But when the show opened, it opened with a bang! The 2200-seat Hyperion Theater was filled with guests who loved the production; a show which regularly hosted celebrity backstage meet-and-greets of stars clambering to get a warm hug from Olaf himself. So when the news came in March 2020 that the Disneyland Resort would be closing indefinitely, and later that year with the announcement that Frozen would be closing permanently because of the Coronavirus Pandemic, many were shocked. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the whole of his adult life, host Jon M. Wailin worked for the Walt Disney Company in one form or another. As a dancer on Disneyland’s Main Street USA, to the Opening Cast of Shanghai Disneyland, to a Mainstage Performer with Disney Cruise Line. he loves the magic Disney creates, and we loves sharing that magic with audiences all over the world. So imagine his devastation when in the middle of rehearsal for what would be his third ship contract, the magic carpet was pulled out from underneath him and he was packing my bags courtesy of one Miss Rona.  March 2020 did not only usher in the Broadway Shutdown, but later that same week Disney made the difficult decision to shutter both of their domestic theme parks along with indefinitely cancelling sailings on all four of their cruise ships. So now he is speaking with three amazing women who all lost their jobs performing in the company’s Parks and Live Entertainment division to see how they keep moving forward. I begin at Walt Disney World, where most of the layoffs occurred. In addition to two stints on the Main Stem and five contracts with Disney Cruise Line, Christina Sivrich has spent the past seven years performing at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Whether conjuring belly laughs as Mary Sanderson in the ‘Hocus Pocus Villains Spelltacular’ or forgetting just about everything as Dory in ‘Finding Nemo, The Musical,’ Christina has delighted in her time working for the Mouse. But that time has met the same fate of some 32,000 Disney Cast Members who were all part of the massive lay off plan from coast to coast. Like so many, Christina may have lost her job, but not her spirit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Prior to COVID-19, Walt Disney World employed hundreds of performers working on Equity contracts in dozens of shows. However, as the Parks have reopened Equity performers in live performances due to disagreements been the union and Park about safety precautions for employees. This week I spoke to Logan Benedict, a five-year veteran of Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage and Actors Equity Association Eastern Region At-Large Councilor about the tough situation he and his co-workers are in. Here's our conversation... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Making one’s Broadway debut is a momentous occasion for every actor lucky enough to do so. Sometimes it happens years into a long run on a seemingly ordinary Tuesday, and other times, it happens on opening night of a highly anticipated Broadway juggernaut. On this episode of My First Time, we invited Carleigh Bettiol into our virtual studio to chat about making her Broadway debut in the original cast of Hamilton in 2015. We discussed how Hamilton came into her life, her incredible memories of working on the show, and how the experience shaped her as an artist. Here’s our conversation... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No bones about it, Shoshana Bean is a force. She’s a Recording artist, having released four studio albums. She’s mastered the art of YouTube, creating and participating in striking collaborations that feature her powerful voice. A Broadway girl by heart, she’s received acclaim for her portrayal of Jenna in the Sara Bareilles musical Waitress. But before Waitress, before Beaches, before Wicked, Sho made her Broadway debut in a little show called Hairspray.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Usually, our “My First Time” episodes feature Broadway stars looking back at the very first time they stepped on a Broadway stage. But on this episode we are going to hear about a series of firsts from one of the biggest hearts on Broadway, Marisha Wallace.  Since making her national tour debut in 2012 with The Book of Mormon, her career has been filled with firsts in quick succession: her Broadway debut in Aladdin in 2014, to her 2017 West End debut in Dreamgirls. She joined me in the studio during a brief stop in New York, before returning to London to play Motormouth Maybelle in the new West End revival of Hairspray. Here’s our conversation... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nobody has climbed the Broadway ladder with as comprehensively as Desi Oakley. Fresh off a run as Jenna in the national tour of Waitress, when we spoke she was starring in Chicago on Broadway as the iconic role of Roxie Hart. But that stardom comes on the heels of experience, after standing by for the role of Eva Peron on the national tour of Evita, as well as swinging two Broadway musicals: Annie and Wicked, her Broadway debut. Here’s our conversation... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Todrick Hall is a trailblazer in the world of video. His work has always sought to entertain and engage, uniting his love of music, theatre and Disney with unparalleled production quality. Blasting open the possibilities of online video, he’s also created studio albums, live touring productions and award-winning music videos. But Todrick’s first love was Broadway, as is obvious from the number of times he’s trod the broads on the mainstem. Last week, he finished a run as Ogie in Waitress the musical on Broadway. But he’s also played Lola in Kinky Boots, Billy Flynn in Chicago - both here and in London. And in 2007, he made his Broadway debut in the original production of The Color Purple as a replacement in the show’s ensemble.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Berresse made his Broadway debut in the 1990 revival of Fiddler on the Roof. Since then, he's performed in multiple Broadway companies, directed a Broadway musical - even performed on Broadway as the director of a Broadway musical. He currently plays Bob Mackie and Robert Altman in The Cher Show. Here's our conversation... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, listeners! Enjoy this throwback to 2019 and the very first guest from our My First Time miniseries. Our first guest for this miniseries was Ben Crawford. In April 2018, he started creeping ‘round the Majestic Theatre as the title character in The Phantom of the Opera. But before headlining this show, before Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Big Fish and Shrek, he was a replacement in the first Broadway revival of Les Miserables, covering both the roles of Valjean and Javert.  We discussed making his Broadway debut, what he learned understudying two of theatre's most iconic roles and how he brought those lessons to playing the title character in Broadway's longest running show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

She’s defied gravity as an Elphaba standby, “werked!” as Angelica Schuyler, and controlled minds as Allison Hargreeves on Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy. But before taking on these roles, Emmy Raver-Lampman had the unique experience of performing in the ensemble of the 2010 national tour of Hair, which ending up playing a Broadway theatre the following summer. Emmy joined me in the studio to chat all about making her Broadway debut and how her experiences as an ensemblist shaped her later work as a principal. Here’s our conversation... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ashley Park's portrayal of the hilarious but lovable Gretchen Wieners in Mean Girls earned Park nominations for seven separate theatre awards last season. But as I found out when I sat down to speak with her, those are qualities that she also portrayed in her first Broadway outing five years earlier, is an ensemble member in Mamma Mia! during the show's 12th year on Broadway. Here’s a conversation... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jennifer Smith is a legend of the Broadway stage. In the last 35 years, she originated and understudies more than 40 roles on Broadway. Back in 2016, she joined Ensemblist co-creator Nikka Graff Lanzarone and I in the studio to talk about creating ensemble roles in four of her Broadway shows: Tuck Everlasting, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, The Producers and Victor/Victoria. Here’s our conversation... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jill Abramovitz slayed Beetlejuice audiences in her duel roles of Maxine Dean and Juno. She’s so incredible that we here at The Ensemblist bestowed her one of our first ever Season Standout awards. We asked this veteran of Broadway’s Cinderella and 9 to 5 into the studio to talk about how she developed those roles into some of the funniest moments in what is already a very funny show. Here’s our conversation… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices