I'm so excited to welcome back Broadway & Television actor Claybourne Elder. Today, Claybourne is Baring It All with Call Me Adam about family, fatherhood, gay parenting, lessons learned & living out his HGTV dreams.

Listen to Part 1 of our interview! We discussed Claybourne's career on Broadway and TV.

Claybourne is getting ready to return to the acclaimed Broadway revival of Company starring Patti LuPone, which will raise its curtain once again on December 20, 2021.

Claybourne Elder's Broadway credits include Company, Bonnie and Clyde, Sunday in the Park with George with Jake Gyllenhaal, and Torch Song Trilogy revival with Michael Urie. He was nominated for a Lortel Award for his performance in Allegro and a Drama Desk for One Arm. Elder was a series regular in the CW's The Carrie Diaries and appears in the new season of FBI.

Website: www.callmeadam.com

Facebook: @CallMeAdamNYC

Instagram: @CallMeAdamNYC

Theme Song by Bobby Cronin

Podcast Logo by Liam O'Donnell

Edited by Drew Kaufman

Outro Music Underscore by CueTique

He stole our hearts in Broadway's Bonnie & Clyde, melted them on the CW's The Carrie Diaries & just before the pandemic hit, Claybourne Elder was seducing us with "Barcelona" in the Broadway revival of Company.

Today, Claybourne Elder is Baring It All with Call Me Adam about the ups and downs of a Broadway career including rehearsals, backstage antics & audition secrets. We also discuss transitioning into television and having the same birthday as Patti LuPone.

Claybourne Elder's Broadway credits include Company, Bonnie and Clyde, Sunday in the Park with George with Jake Gyllenhaal, and Torch Song Trilogy revival with Michael Urie. He was nominated for a Lortel Award for his performance in Allegro and a Drama Desk for One Arm. Elder was a series regular in the CW's The Carrie Diaries and appears in the new season of FBI.

Website: www.callmeadam.com

Facebook: @CallMeAdamNYC

Instagram: @CallMeAdamNYC

Theme Song by Bobby Cronin

Podcast Logo by Liam O'Donnell

Edited by Drew Kaufman

Outro Music Underscore by CueTique

Award winning composer Michael Mott discusses the music behind the composer! Known for his theatrical pop sound, Michael's latest EP, The Only One takes the listener on a journey through love, quarrels & the ending of a relationship. I'll be talking with Michael about love, loss, & what he learned as well as his new theatrical project, In The Light: A Faustian Tale, whose highlights album will be released by Broadway Records on June 25, 2021.

This highlights album features Jeremy Jordan, Solea, Ciara Renée, Antonio Cipriano, Bobby Conte Thornton, Aisha Jackson, Anne Fraser Thomas, Zachary James, Derrick Davis, and many more!

Michael Mott is an internationally critically acclaimed award winning composer/lyricist, songwriter & vocal producer. He moved to New York City in 2007 & enjoyed a successful career performing in numerous Off-Broadway, regional & national touring shows. In 2012 he decided to shift his focus to writing & was accepted into the prestigious BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Writer’s Workshop. He has since been named one of Playbill's "Contemporary Musical Theatre Songwriters You Should Know" & won the Broadway World 2020 Cabaret Award for 'Best Original Song' for his piece Jingle My Bells written for The Boy Band Project. 

Michael's original musicals include In The Light, A Faustian Tale (book by Nathan Wright and Justin Silvestri), Mob Wife, A Mafia Comedy (book by Corey Skaggs), Lucifer (co-lyricist, Mike Squillante, book by Corey Skaggs) and Riding Out The Storm, a ten minute musical (book & lyrics by Christine Toy Johnson). He recently scored his first short film, Sundown, A Dance Short.

Michael is best known for his recording studio work. His debut album, Where The Sky Ends, was co-produced by Mott & legendary orchestrator/producer, Kim Scharnberg. The LP spawned Mott's most famous song, Gone (featuring vocals by Ben Fankhauser) which has surpassed 4 million streams on Spotify. Where The Sky Ends was released by Grammy Award Winning label, Broadway Records. Michael next composed a Christmas single for Broadway star, Laura Osnes, co-produced by himself, Scharnberg & Jeremy Roberts. Christmas, Will You Stay? This began the creation of Mott's own independent label, Motta Music. 

Michael's follow up studio album, Abandoned Heart was also released by Broadway Records. This time, Michael took a much broader approach honing his voice & focusing more on a top 40 sound. This record offers a variety of feel good pop, anthemic soul & introspective ballads co-produced by Mott & Rich Matthew. In 2019, Michael began to write original material for NYC based boy band, The Boy Band Project. Mainly a cover band, Get Behind My Love, their first original single, was released in 2019. Their follow-up single, Jingle My Bells was released later that year. 

Michael is currently an Advanced Member of the BMI Musical Theatre Writer's Workshop and proud member of Actor’s Equity Association. 

Website: www.callmeadam.com

Facebook: @CallMeAdamNYC

Instagram: @CallMeAdamNYC

Theme Song by Bobby Cronin

Podcast Logo by Liam O'Donnell

Edited by Drew Kaufman

Outro Music Underscore by CueTique

From All My Children to Mama's Family, I'm beyond excited to be catching up with two-time Emmy Award Winner Dorothy Lyman whose new virtual play, We Have To Hurry starring Alfred Molina will be streaming June 5th & 6th, 2021 on Broadway on Demand.

Dorothy & I talk about her legendary career in television, including how Fran Drescher gave Dorothy a directing career, branching out from acting to playwriting and much more! 

Dorothy won two Emmy Awards for her iconic portrayal of "Opal Gardner" on ABC's All My Children (1982 & 1983) & is widely known for playing "Naomi Harper" on Mama's Family which ran from 1983-1990. Dorothy also directed 75 consecutive episodes of Fran Drescher's hit show The Nanny.

We Have To Hurry streams at Broadway On Demand on June 5th, 2021 (8pm) & June 6th, 2021 (3pm).

The play will stream on a monthly basis with a rotating cast of stars.

Dorothy Lyman is a two-time Emmy© Award-winning actress for her work as "Opal Gardner" on All My Children and is widely known for her co-starring role on Mama’s Family, alongside Vicki Lawrence and Carol Burnett. In addition to her numerous film and television appearances, Dorothy also directed 75 episodes of the Fran Drescher sitcom The Nanny.

Her other plays are Enemy (an adaptation of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People), A Rage in Tenure and Soft Landing (directed by John Tillinger) all developed and produced by Players Workshop in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. In The Bleak Midwinter, the prequel to We Have To Hurry was produced in New York City and Westchester in 2019.

Dorothy’s directing career began in 1980 when she produced and directed the original off-Broadway production, and subsequent tour, of A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking starring Susan Sarandon and Eileen Brennan, and the subsequent national tour starring Elizabeth Ashley and Susan Anton. Her feature film, The Northern Kingdom is available on Netflix.

Website: www.callmeadam.com

Facebook: @CallMeAdamNYC

Instagram: @CallMeAdamNYC

Theme Song by Bobby Cronin

Podcast Logo by Liam O'Donnell

Edited by Drew Kaufman

Outro Music Underscore by CueTique

Debra Ann Byrd is Baring It All with Call Me Adam about how she defied race, gender, and a tough upbringing to achieve her dreams of performing Shakespeare Classics and becoming one of the most sought out actors to play Othello.

Debra's memoir play, Becoming Othello: A Black Girl's Journey will stream via Livermore Shakespeare Festival from May 27-May 30, 2021. Join Debra Ann Byrd on Saturday, May 29, 2021 at 5pm for a special virtual live Q&A.

Listen to Part 2 of our interview!

Debra Ann is the Founding Artistic Director of the Harlem Shakespeare Festival and the founder of Take Wing and Soar Productions where she currently serves as Chief Executive and Producing Artistic Director. Debra Ann has guided the company's growth from its birth in 1999 into a viable support organization serving women, youth, classical artists of color and theater arts groups throughout New York. She is an award winning classically trained actress, scholar and producer who was recently named Writer-in-Residence at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Artist-in-Residence Fellow at the Folger Institute, A’Lelia Bundles Community Scholar Arts Fellow at Columbia University and Artist-in-Residence at Southwest Shakespeare Company, where she recently reprised the role of Othello, winning her the 2019 Broadway World Phoenix Award for Best Lead Actress.

Her classical roles for the stage include "Queen Elizabeth" in Richard III, "The Choragos" in Antigone, "Mrs. Malaprop" in The Rivals, "Volumnia" in Coriolanus, "Winter" in Love’s Labors Lost, "Hippolyta" in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, "Cleopatra" in Antony & Cleopatra, "Othello" in The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice, "Marc Antony" in the all-female production of Julius Caesar and "Lady Bracknell" in The Importance of Being Earnest; the latter, for which she received Best Lead Actress and Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role nominations from AUDELCO and the NY Innovative Theatre Awards.

As an actor, producer, arts manager, and business leader Debra Ann has received more than 20 awards and citations, was recently selected for inclusion in the 2012 Editions of Who’s Who In The World and Who’s Who of American Women; and is the recipient of the 2009 LPTW Lucille Lortel Award and the 2006 Josephine Abady Award for Excellence in “Producing works that foster diversity”. This award winning theater arts professional received a BFA Degree in Acting from Marymount Manhattan College.

Debra Ann received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Acting from Marymount Manhattan College and completed advanced studies at Shakespeare & Company, The Public Theater’s Shakespeare Lab and The Broadway League’s Commercial Theatre Institute.

Website: www.callmeadam.com

Facebook: @CallMeAdamNYC

Instagram: @CallMeAdamNYC

Theme Song by Bobby Cronin

Podcast Logo by Liam O'Donnell

Edited by Drew Kaufman

Outro Music Underscore by CueTique

I'm so excited to welcome back New York Theatre Barn's Artistic Director Joe Barros & Associate Artistic Director Jen Sandler to discuss the lessons Joe & Jen have learned from running a non-profit theatre.

Listen to Part 1 of our interview! We discussed how New York Theatre Barn pivoted during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Join New York Theatre Barn on Wednesday (5/19/21) at 7pm for their first Choreography Lab of 2021, JoAnn M. Hunter (School of Rock, Harmony), Denis Jones (Tootsie, Honeymoon in Vegas), and Lorin Latarro (Mrs. Doubtfire, Waitress) will mentor three choreographers who will create conceptual choreography for a new musical in development called The Lesson. Watch the Choreography Lab virtually on New York Theatre Lab's YouTube Channel

The Lesson is a reimagining of a chance encounter between a revolutionary Beethoven and a more-established Mozart in Vienna in 1787. Music/Lyrics by Avi Amon and Nolan Doran (Head Over Heels). Book by Ty Defoe (Straight White Men). The show was featured in New York Theatre Barn's award-winning New Works Series and was included in the Choreography Lab (with choreography by Shiloh Goodin) earlier in its development. The company has partnered with Full Out Creative who will collaborate with the choreographers on filming their pieces.

New York Theatre Barn is an anti-racist non-profit theatre company that serves as a home for original culture shifting musicals during incubation. The company has been dedicated to incubating new musicals in front of live audiences since 2007. New York Theatre Barn also values musical theatre as one of the world’s supreme healing tools, and creates space for artists to dream about how beautiful and extraordinary the world can be.

New York Theatre Barn has three innovative core programming platforms that allow them to incubate new musicals in front of a live audience.

New Works Series presents pre-premieres of new musicals in the early stages of development in front of a live and virtual audience.

The Choreography Lab is the only curated choreography platform where choreographers and writers collaborate to develop movement for new musicals during incubation.

Residencies, mainly for new musicals, have been featured in their New Works Series and Choreography Lab. These shows are chosen for further exploration and development which have included readings, table readings, workshops, writers work sessions, and developmental productions.

Website: www.callmeadam.com

Facebook: @CallMeAdamNYC

Instagram: @CallMeAdamNYC

Theme Song by Bobby Cronin

Podcast Logo by Liam O'Donnell

Edited by Drew Kaufman

Outro Music Underscore by CueTique

Before the pandemic, T. Oliver Reid was in the Tony Award winning musical Hadestown. Now, this powerhouse performer joins me for a great conversation about Broadway re-opening, being a black performer on Broadway, Black Theatre Coalition & his latest project Black Writers Amplified. 

Black Writers Amplified is an album that will be released by Broadway Records featuring all black musical theatre writers. If you want to be featured on this album, submissions are due by Monday, May 17, 2021. Visit Black Theatre Coalition for more information.

T. Oliver Reid has spent the past 20 years working on Broadway (Hadestown; Once On This Island; Sunset Boulevard; After Midnight; Sister Act; Mary Poppins; The Wedding Singer; Chicago; La Cage Aux Folles; Never Gonna Dance; Thoroughly Modern Millie; Follies; Kiss Me, Kate), which have amassed more than 20 Tony Awards from the American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards.

He is also an accomplished cabaret artist and multiple award winner for his solo show, Drop Me Off In Harlem which he directed, wrote and starred in. He has produced and directed concerts for Feinstein’s 54 Below and continues to work in film and television. He is on faculty at NYU-Tisch’s Grad Acting Program and Columbia University School of the Arts’ Grad Acting program. He sits on the Board of Visitors for the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He’s currently in the critically acclaimed, Hadestown on Broadway.

Website: www.callmeadam.com

Facebook: @CallMeAdamNYC

Instagram: @CallMeAdamNYC

Theme Song by Bobby Cronin

Podcast Logo by Liam O'Donnell

Edited by Drew Kaufman

Outro Music Underscore by CueTique

Iconic, legendary, Grammy nominee, Queen of Cabaret are just some of the terms used to describe the ever so vibrant Marilyn Maye. After a year of no live performances due to the global pandemic, at 93 years young Marilyn is back where she belongs, LIVE on stage! I talk with Marilyn about her illustrious career, upcoming Feinstein's/54 Below concert Broadway, The Maye Way, survival, & so much more!

Broadway, The Maye Way premiere stream is on Saturday, May 8 at 7pm and will stream May 9-29, 2021. UPDATE: Due to popular demand, streaming has been extended through June 19, 2021.

Marilyn Maye is a highly praised singer, actress, director, arranger, educator, a Grammy nominated recording artist and a musical treasure. Her entire life has been committed to the art of song and performance.

The award-winning Maye appeared 76 times on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson - the record for a singer. His usual accolade for her came after one of her show-stopping appearances on The Tonight Show when he turned to his audience of millions, Carson said, “And that, young singers, is the way it's done.”

She was “discovered” by Steve Allen who presented her various times to his national television audience. That led her to an RCA recording contract, seven albums and 34 singles.

Her recent CBS Sunday Morning feature with Mo Rocca was an outstanding tribute to her career and talent. She was interviewed and sang on Harry (Harry Connick Jr.) NBC TV.

Her place in American music history was assured when the Arts Council of the Smithsonian Institution selected one of her recordings, “Too Late Now” for the Smithsonian produced album of the 110 Best American Compositions of the Twentieth Century.

Marilyn performs many symphony and big-band concerts throughout the United States: Feinstein's/54 Below, Birdland Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center and countless others.

In the Wall Street Journal last year, Will Friedwald wrote, “When going to hear Marilyn Maye, you'll find on one side of the room are the Broadway and cabaret people, who tend to like their singing big and theatrical, with a lot of drama and stage presence. On the other side is the jazz crowd, who want everything hip and cool and understated, and will split the scene if anything doesn't swing. Ms. Maye is the only pop-song diva working today who can satisfy both crowds at once”.

Marilyn conducts Master Classes and coaches privately in New York and in many United State cities. Sharing the techniques and experiences of her lifelong career brings great joy and inspiration to her.

Website: www.callmeadam.com

Facebook: @CallMeAdamNYC

Instagram: @CallMeAdamNYC

Theme Song by Bobby Cronin

Podcast Logo by Liam O'Donnell

Edited by Drew Kaufman

Outro Music Underscore by CueTique

Broadway's original Aladdin, Adam Jacobs showed us "A Whole New World" eight times a week, he stormed the Barricades as "Marius" in Les Miserables and roared as "Simba" in The Lion King. Now, Adam Jacobs is baring it all Behind The Curtain with some great backstage stories!

Listen to Part 2 of our interview!

Adam's docu-concert, Behind The Curtain will be available Friday, April 30, 2021 at midnight for Streaming & DVD/Blu-ray purchases. Use promo code ALADDIN to get 20% off your purchase.

Originally from Half Moon Bay, CA, Adam Jacobs began his early performing career as a pianist studying at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. After playing for eight years (ages 5-13), he decided to forgo the concert pianist route and try something new. He found his artistic outlet through art classes and musical theater. After playing “Oliver” in Oliver! and “Curly” in Oklahoma! in 7th and 8th grade respectively, he auditioned for a role in the local community theater–Peninsula Center Stage’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Even though the show had been fully cast by the time of his audition, the creative team decided to foster his young talent and create a role of a “13th apostle” or “apostle wanna-be” just so he could be in the show.

One night after a high-school performance of Evita, a representative from the SF Opera who happened to see the show invited Adam to audition for the new upcoming documentary opera based on the life of Harvey Milk, the country’s first openly gay city council member who was assassinated along with the mayor of SF in 1978. As a result of this invited audition, he was cast as “Young Harvey.”

Adam’s big break came with the opportunity to play “Marius” in the national tour of Les Miserables. This job led to him being cast in the Broadway revival and his subsequent Broadway debut. Within the short 14 months that the show played the Broadhurst Theater, he had the benefit of working with many Broadway veterans including Lea Salonga, Judy Kuhn, Gary Beach, Daphne-Rubin Vega, Norm Lewis, Ann Harada, Aaron Lazar (seen in photo), among many others.

Since Les Miserables, he has journeyed from the islands of Mamma Mia! to the African pridelands of The Lion King. He’s gone from the tropics of Once On This Island to the Arabian deserts of Aladdin. His mixed ethnicity has allowed him to play varied roles, and he thanks his parents for their whole-hearted encouragement to pursue a life in the arts.

Adam, his wife Kelly, and their sons Jack and Alex now make their home in Chicago. After touring for two years with the first national tour of Disney’s Mary Poppins as a dance captain and swing, Kelly happily joined the Broadway company and stayed with it until its closing in 2013.

Website: www.callmeadam.com

Facebook: @CallMeAdamNYC

Instagram: @CallMeAdamNYC

Theme Song by Bobby Cronin

Podcast Logo by Liam O'Donnell

Edited by Drew Kaufman

Outro Music Underscore by CueTique

I may have jumped out of my seat four times watching Tonya Pinkins' new horror film Red Pill, but I am staying seated today for this incredible conversation. Tonya Pinkins is a Tony Award Winner. Her career encompasses nine Broadway shows, 20 years on daytime television, podcasting, writing, motherhood & now you can add filmmaker to this impressive career.

In the first part of our interview we discuss Tonya's new award winning horror movie Red Pill, starring on Broadway, motherhood and so much more!

Listen to Part 2 of our interview!

Red Pill can be seen in the Micheaux Film Festival from April 26-May 2nd, 2021.

Tonya Pinkins is a multi-award-winning actress, author, & educator. She has won a Tony, Obie, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle & Lortel Award. She teaches privately & at The Atlantic Theater School’s NYU program. Tonya is the author of Get OVER YOURSELF: How to Drop The Drama and Claim The Life You Deserve (Hachette Books). Tonya works with The African American Policy Forum & actively supports #SayHerName & TheMovementForBlackLives among other causes & organizations. 

She is 2019-2022 Fulbright Specialist. Her short film, What Came After, which she produced, directed & adapted with Christopher Oscar Pena from his play, premiered at The New York Short Festival in 2016 & was an official selection in 2017 Sociopolitical Short Festival, Artemis Women in Action Film Festival, National Black Film Festival - Houston, Equality Film Festival, Blow-Up International Arthouse Festival - Chicago, Womyn in Media Newark, Women’s Only Entertainment Film Festival, Queens World Film festival, New Filmmakers New York Festival & WIM-Ns Women’s Film Festival. She directed Lighthouse Lili for RipFEST. Tonya has trained with esteemed directors such as Michael Satrazemis (Producing Director Fear of the Walking Dead), Charlotte Brandstrom (Madam Secretary), Melanie Mayron (Famous In Love), & Nick Copus (Gotham).

Tonya co-wrote, produced and directed Truth and Reconciliation of Womyn (The Tank, Deepak Home Base, The Commons, & The #HealMeToo Festival). Tonya's directing credits include: Till We Meet Again at the 14th Street Y, Paul Robeson: The Opera at Trilogy Opera Company, Bring It On at Black Spectrum Theater, Exit: An Illusion by Marita Bonner for American Bard Theater’s “Visionary Voices,” The Gospel According to Miss Roj from The Colored Museum for Project One Voice at The Kimble Theater, Vagina Monologues for V-Day at The World Health Ministry Conference in Mexico, The Klucking of Hens by Carol Lockwood at New Professional Theater, Lord’s Resistance by Camille Darby at the National Black Theater Festival in Winston Salem, & Dead People’s Things by Patricia Ione Lloyd at Red Circle Rising. Tonya co-directed Laryy Powell’s Easy To Love in the Fire This Time Festival & For Colored Boys by Jesse Alick in 48 Hours in Harlem. She has been developing Blaine Teamer’s #BoxSeats at NYTW and National Black Theater's Monday Night Reading series.

Website: www.callmeadam.com

Facebook: @CallMeAdamNYC

Instagram: @CallMeAdamNYC

Theme Song by Bobby Cronin

Podcast Logo by Liam O'Donnell

Edited by Drew Kaufman

Outro Music Underscore by CueTique