Behind the Awards welcomes back their resident awards expert Matt Stashin to play Tony Nominator before the actual nominations are announced.

Also in this episode - The World Premier of Cheap Seats from the Theatrical Experience Label-Less created by Lea & Drew Lachey and performed by Diana Hutchinson.  This single can be found anywhere you download music with the full Album available May 1st!

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Director and Creator Zhailon Levingston joins Behind the Awards to share his vision for the upcoming Wonderful Town at New York City Center Encores.  Zhailon also talks about Cats: The Jellicle Ball and the future of the show and his collaboration with Playwright Douglas Lyons.

Link to Wonderful Town Tickets - https://www.nycitycenter.org/pdps/2024-2025/wonderful-town/

Also in this episode - Christine Ebersole 2007 Tony Win for Grey Gardens.  Review of Stranger Things on Broadway.

Zhailon Levingston is a Louisiana-raised storyteller, director, and activist. He is a Board Member for the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, which he co-created, and teaches the Theatre of Change course at Columbia University.

He is a Music Mentor Fellow and has done work with Idina Menzel’s A Broader Way Foundation. His directing credits include: Neptune (Dixon Place, Brooklyn Museum), The Years That Went Wrong (Lark, MCC), The Exonerated (Columbia Law School), Chariot Part 2 (Soho Rep., for The Movement Theatre Company), Mother of Pearl (LaGuardia Performing Arts Center). He is the associate director of Primer for a Failed Superpower with Tony Award winner Rachel Chavkin, and Runaways at The Public Theater with Sam Pinkleton. Most recently, he directed Chicken & Biscuits which premiered on Broadway in 2021 and Patience which premiered at Second Stage UPTOWN Summer of 2022. Zhailon is also the former resident director at Tina: The Tina Turner Musical on Broadway and the associate director of Hadestown in South Korea.

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Tala Ashe unpacks her Lortel Nominated performance as Elham in Sanaz Toossi’s Pulitzer Prize winning Play English at The Roundabout Theater.  Tala also compares this to her work on Legends of Tomorrow and Smash.  

Also in this episode - Heather Headley's 2000 Tony win for Best Actress in a Musical for Disney's Aida plus Dead Outlaw Review.

Tala Ashe received a Best Actress Drama Desk Award nomination for her performance in English, Sanaz Toossi’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama at the Atlantic Theater Company and will reprise her role for the Broadway transfer in 2025. For five years, Tala was a series regular on DC'S Legends of Tomorrow playing “Zari Tomaz,” the first Muslim-American superhero on television. Her other TV work includes the upcoming Girls on the Bus for HBO Max, recurring stints on Smash and American Odyssey both for NBC, as well as a host of guest starring roles. Tala has worked at numerous Off-Broadway and regional theaters including: The Atlantic Theater, The Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, LCT3, The Old Globe, and OSF.

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Tony Winner Beth Leavel pays a visit to Behind the Awards to chat all things Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends.  Beth talks about working with Bernadette Peters, Lea Salonga and what to expect at the Samuel J Friedman theater.  Beth also talk about working on The Prom. Drowsy Chaperone and Gypsy.  She also gives an answer to the burning question do you go the Yankee game or see Angela Lansbury in Mame when you visit NYC at age 11.

Also in this episode Angela Lansbury Tony win for Blithe Spirit and a review of Boop!

Beth Leavel is a Tony Award-winning stage and screen actor, who was last seen on Broadway as The Baroness in Lempicka. 

For her performance as the title character in The Drowsy Chaperone, she received Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and LA Drama Critics Awards. She also received Tony, New York Outer Critics Circle and other nominations for her roles as Dee Dee Allen in The Prom and Florence Greenberg in Baby, It’s You. 

On Broadway, Beth also originated the roles of June Adams in Bandstand, Emily in Elf, Mrs. Bixby in The Civil War and Tess in Crazy For You. Other Broadway credits include Donna Sheridan in Mamma Mia!, Frau Blucher in Young Frankenstein, Dorothy Brock in the revival of 42nd Street, Ellie in Hal Prince’s Show Boat, and Anytime Annie (her Broadway debut) in 42nd Street. 

Other New York credits include starring as Lucille in the New York City Center Encores! production of No, No, Nanette, as well as the off-Broadway productions of Lone Star Love and Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays. 

Regionally, Beth has performed some of the most iconic roles in musical theatre – from Mama Rose in Gypsy at The Muny and Dolly Levi in Hello Dolly at Cape Playhouse and The Muny, to Sally Adams in Call Me Madam at the Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, the Witch in Into the Woods at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, and Miss Hannigan in Annie at the Paper Mill Playhouse.

She also starred as Miranda Priestly in the Chicago premiere of the new musical adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada, directed by Anna Shapiro and featuring music by Sir Elton John, lyrics by Shaina Taub and a book by Kate Wetherhead.

Beth has dazzled and delighted sold-out audiences with her cabaret act, which she has taken from 54 Below in New York City to other venues across the United States. 

You might also recognize Beth from numerous commercials and TV shows/films, including Ghosts of Christmas Always, The Bite, Walking Dead: World Beyond and the final episode of ER.

She holds an MFA and an honorary PhD from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.

Of all the roles she has played, on stage and off, Beth is most proud of being T.J. and Sam’s mom. She is helplessly in love with her husband, Adam Heller, and grateful to their cat, Malcolm, for keeping her sane over the past few crazy years!

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Teenage Producer/Director Charles Kirsch & Tony Nominee Brad Oscar stop by to talk about their upcoming concert version of the musical Coco.  We also discuss Brad’s current run as the Wizard in Wicked and Apple TV Hit turned musical Schmigadoon.

Also in this episode - Nora Ephron presents Meryl Streep with a Lifetime Achievement Award and a review of John Proctor is the Villain

54 SINGS COCO BY ALAN JAY LERNER AND ANDRÉ PREVIN

APRIL 14, 2025

This performance will also be livestreamed. For tickets and more information, click here.

A 4-time Oscar winning star in her first Broadway role. The man who wrote My Fair Lady and Gigi. The choreographer of A Chorus Line. All of these legends came together to create the 1969 Broadway musical Coco, which tells the story of the iconic fashion designer Coco Chanel. An all-star cast of beloved Broadway divas will give the score a rare New York hearing in this one-time-only concert at 54 Below. So get out your favorite dresses from “Orbach’s, Bloomingdale’s, Best, and Saks” and let “The Money Ring Out Like Freedom” as you buy tickets to an evening that’s sure to be anything but a “Fiasco.” The evening will be produced and directed by Charles Kirsch, the host of the podcast Backstage Babble, and musically directed by Michael Lavine.

Featuring:

Tony Award® nominee Christine Andreas (My Fair Lady)

Steven Brinberg (Funny Girl)

Paula Leggett Chase (Tootsie)

Britney Coleman (Company)

Tony Award® nominee Josie De Guzman (Guys and Dolls)

Ali Ewoldt (The Phantom of the Opera)

Sara Gettelfinger (Water for Elephants)

Adam Grupper (My Fair Lady)

Ben Jones

Jay Aubrey Jones (Cats)

Tony Award® nominee Isabel Keating (The Boy From Oz)

Neal Mayer (Les Misérables)

Tony Award® nominee Brad Oscar (The Producers)

Jean Preece (Coco)

Tony Award® nominee AJ Shively (Bright Star)

Tony Award® nominee Jane Summerhays (Me and My Girl)

Lenny Wolpe (Bullets Over Broadway)

Penny Worth (Chicago)

and more stars to be announced!

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Writer Rick Elice joins Behind the Awards days after Smash’s first preview.  Years in the making thanks to the Pandemic co-writer Bob Martin and the rest of the creative team, Marc Shaiman, Scott Whitman and Susan Stroman tackle the hit TV Show with Robyn Hurder and Brooks Ashmanskas leading this musical comedy.  Rick also takes us on a trip down memory lane sharing how he go into Broadway via Advertising for such shows as Cats and A Chorus Line.  We were so lucky that Rick shared this story of meeting his husband Roger Rees which lead to their 35 year relationship.  

Also in this episode - Nelson Aspen talks about his new book Kindred Spirits and his life long obsession with the Titanic.

Rick Elice is a four-time Tony Award nominee. His work can currently be seen on Broadway in Water for Elephants, for which he was a 2024 Tony Award nominee for Best Book of a Musical. Jersey Boys, Rick’s first Broadway credit, co-authored with Marshall Brickman, won the Tony Award, the Grammy Award and the Olivier Award for Best Musical, and entered the record books as the twelfth longest-running show in Broadway history. With Marshall Brickman and Andrew Lippa, he wrote The Addams Family, starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth. For the past eight years, The Addams Family has topped the list of the most-licensed musicals in North America. Rick’s first play, Peter and the Starcatcher, won five 2012 Tony Awards. For the past seven years, the play has been among the top ten most-produced plays in North America. Also for Broadway, Rick wrote the two-time Tony-winning The Cher Show, directed by Jason Moore. In addition to Smash, Rick is teaming with Tony Award-winner Bob Martin on The Princess Bride. In the pipeline: Silver Linings Playbook, a musical adaptation of the popular film, directed by Jessica Stone; The Marvels, a musical adaptation of the popular novel, directed by Rebecca Taichman; Harold and the Purple Crayon, an adult adaptation of the iconic children’s book with music and lyrics by indie pop band AJR, directed by Maria Friedman; and, with 2021 Ed Kleban Award-winner Benjamin Scheuer, Treasure, an original musical about the rivalry between Charles Darwin and Peter Roget, love, death, madness, and the creation of Roget’s Thesaurus. From 1982-1999, Rick was Creative Director at Serino Coyne Inc, the prominent theatrical advertising agency, where he created and produced ad campaigns for more than 300 Broadway shows, from A Chorus Line to The Lion King. From 1999-2009, Rick served as first-ever creative consultant for The Walt Disney Studio. Charter Member, American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Mass. Trustee, The Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors’ Fund). BA, Cornell University. MFA, Yale School of Drama. Teaching Fellow, Harvard University, 1980-81. Rick’s book, Finding Roger, An Improbably Theatrical Love Story, a tribute to his late husband, Roger Rees, is published by Kingswell.

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Stage and Screen Star Norm Lewis drops by to give us an early look into his upcoming show Ceremonies In Dark Old Men at St Clements Theater.  Norm also recounts his time with A Soldiers Play, Les Miserables and working with Billy Porter on Pose. 

Link for tickets -https://www.thepeccadillo.com/

Also in this episode - Joe Morton Emmy Win.  Review of The Last 5 Years.

Emmy, Tony, and SAG Award nominee, NORM LEWIS (Russell Parker) was recently seen onstage starring in the national tour of the Tony Award-winning production of A Soldier's Play and in Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End Concert of Love Never Dies. He starred in Spike Lee's critically acclaimed, "Da 5 Bloods," and in the groundbreaking FX series, Pose.  Additionally, Mr. Lewis can be seen starring opposite Hilary Swank in the feature "The Good Mother," Amazon Prime's newest series, Swarm, and Hulu's, Up Here.  He was also seen as 'Caiaphas' in the award-winning NBC television special, “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert!,” alongside John Legend, Sara Bareilles, and Alice Cooper. Mr. Lewis returned to Broadway in the Fall of 2021, starring in Chicken and Biscuits at the Circle In The Square Theatre. He previously appeared in the Broadway revival of Once on This Island and as Sweeney Todd in the Off-Broadway production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at the Barrow Street Theatre, receiving the AUDELCO Award for his performance. In May of 2014, he made history as The Phantom of the Opera’s first African American Phantom on Broadway. He has been seen on PBS in the Live From Lincoln Center productions of Showboat with Vanessa Williams, Norm Lewis: Who Am I?, New Year’s Eve: A Gershwin Celebration with Diane Reeves, as well as American Voices with Renée Fleming and the PBS Specials First You Dream – The Music of Kander & Ebb and Ella Wishes You A Swingin' Christmas. He can be seen recurring in the VH1 series, Daytime Divas, also alongside Vanessa Williams. His additional television credits include Women of The Movement, Law & Order, Dr. Death, Mrs. America, Better Things, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Bull, Chicago Med, Gotham, The Blacklist, and Blue Bloods, as well as in his recurring role as Senator Edison Davis on the hit drama Scandal. Mr. Lewis is a proud, founding member of Black Theatre United, an organization which stands together to help protect Black people, Black talent and Black lives of all shapes and orientations in theatre and communities across the country. He received Tony, Drama Desk, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle award nominations for his performance as Porgy in the Broadway production of The Gershwins’ Porgy & Bess. Other Broadway credits include Sondheim on Sondheim, The Little Mermaid, Les Misérables, Chicago, Amour, The Wild Party, Side Show, Miss Saigon, and The Who’s Tommy. In London’s West End he has appeared as Javert in Les Misérables and Les Misérables: The 25th Anniversary Concert, which aired on PBS. Off-Broadway Mr. Lewis has performed in Dessa Rose (Drama Desk nomination, AUDELCO Award), Shakespeare in the Park’s The Tempest, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Drama League nomination), Captains Courageous, and A New Brain. His regional credits include Porgy in The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (A.R.T.), Ragtime, Dreamgirls (with Jennifer Holliday), First You Dream, Sweeney Todd, and The Fantasticks. His additional film credits include Christmas In Tune (starring opposite Reba McEntire), Magnum Opus, Winter’s Tale, Sex and the City 2, Confidences, and Preaching to the Choir. Norm's albums "The Norm Lewis Christmas Album" & "This is The Life" can be found on Amazon.com as well as cdbaby.com.

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Boom Box Icon Ione Skye stops by Behind the Awards to discuss her new book Say Everything and the movie that made famous Say Anything.  Ione is brutally honest as she discusses her life, career, famous father and romances with Jon Cusack, Keanu Reeves, Anthony Kiedis.

Also in this episode - Tina Fey Emmy Win. Review of Lea & Drew Lachey’s Label-less.

Ione Skye made her film debut opposite Keanu Reeves in River’s Edge, followed by her iconic role as Diane Court in Say Anything. Skye has appeared in other notable film and television projects including Zodiac, Wayne’s World, Fever Pitch, Arrested Development, Camping, Good Girls, Beef, and much more. In addition to acting, Skye is a painter who has exhibited and sold her work for twenty-five years. She is the author of the children’s book, My Yiddish Vacation, and cohost of the weekly podcast Weirder Together. Ione is the mother of two daughters and lives in Los Angeles with her husband, and collaborator, the musician Ben Lee.

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Carra Patterson dropped in to talk about Elsbeth and what it’s like to be on a network series in 2025.  Carra also revels what it was like originating a role in the August Wilson Play Jitney and being directed by George C Wolfe.  Listen as Carra talks about working with co-stars Carrie Preston & Wendell Pierce, plus her take on Self-Tape Auditions.

Also in this episode - Martin Sheen 2001 Golden Globe win for West Wing and Operation Mincemeat Review.

Carra Patterson was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida. She graduated from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts. She made her big screen debut appearing in an supporting role in the 2010 romantic comedy-drama film, Why Did I Get Married Too?. 

In 2012 she made her Broadway debut in Manhattan Theatre Club production of Wit starring Cynthia Nixon. She later performed in off-Broadway productions of Luck of the Irish, Significant Other and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark. In 2017 she starred in August Wilson's play Jitney.

Patterson appeared in the biographical drama film Straight Outta Compton directed by F. Gary Gray. On television, she made guest appearances on The Good Wife, Blue Bloods, Elementary and Instinct. She played Josephine Baker in an episode of HBO series, Lovecraft Country. Patterson starred in the Disney+ action comedy series, Turner & Hooch. In 2023, Patterson played civil rights leader Coretta Scott King in the biographical drama film, Rustin directed by George C. Wolfe.  Later in 2023 she was cast opposite Carrie Preston in the CBS comedy-drama series, Elsbeth.

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Behind the Awards welcomes Constatine Maroulis to give us the back story about his new immersive show Avalona.  We do a deep dive on American Idol, Rock of Ages, Jekyll & Hyde and Jesus Christ Super Star.

Also in this episode - Debbie Allen’s Emmy Award Win, Buena Vista Social Club Review.

CONSTANTINE MAROULIS (he/him) was born in Brooklyn and raised in Jersey. Best known for his Tony Nominated star turn in Rock of Ages on Broadway and as a finalist during the heyday of American Idol with superstar Carrie Underwood. Constantine is a 2x Tony Nominee, 3x Drama League Nominee for Distinguished Performance and is a past recipient of the Broadway.comStar of The Year. Credits include: Frank Wildhorn’s Jekyll & Hyde, The Wedding Singer, Spring Awakening, RENT, Jacques Brel, Jesus Christ Superstar, Postmodern Jukebox, Rocktopia, Williamstown, Eaglemania, Foreigners Journey, Rock and Roll Man and many more. He’s toured extensively with his original music. Recent singles include: Daydream and Comeback. More to come! Training: Boston Conservatory at Berklee.

Make sure to check out Eila's book, "The Tony Awards", and all her other amazing books: https://amzn.to/43WMu5Y.

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