I Wanna Be Like You with Elbi Cespedes

Simon Leary is a New Zealand based actor who's making in his NYC debut off Broadway in a new play titled Heartbreak Hotel at the DR2 Theatre running now until April 19th! Originally from Timaru, NZ, Simon has since moved to Wellington where he's performed in numerous productions at the Circa Theatre including The Glass Menagerie, A Servant to Two Masters and more! On top of all this, he's written and starred in many pantos which are family friendly productions based on fairytales that are especially prominent in the UK as well as New Zealand. We get to talking about all that, the time Sir Ian McKellen saw him perform, his time working as an Orc on The Hobbit: The Demolition of Smaug, and the biggest differences between New Zealand and New York theater! GO SEE HEARTBREAK HOTEL AT THE DR2 THEATRE NOW THRU APRIL 19!

Michael Sommers is a drama critic currently working for New York Stage Review. He served as the president of the New York Drama Critics Circle for two terms as well as freelanced for the The New York Times and Backstage to name a few. Michael was a longtime chief of The Star Ledger as well as the Newhouse News Service! We get to talking about the history of drama critics, whether or not being a critic still holds much weight in a time where influencers' opinions dominate, and what he's looking forward to this season.

Currently nominated for an Olivier Award for his work on Shucked in the West End, Robert Horn is a Tony Award winning Book Writer for his work on Tootsie alongside David Yazbek! Prior to working in theater, Robert had a successful career in TV/Film writing on Designing Women, Living Single and High Society to name a few. He’s penned some successful television movies for Disney Channel including the High School Musical spinoff Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure, The Suite Life Movie and Teen Beach Movie! Robert began his career writing musicals by working alongside Jason Robert Brown on the musical 13 which starred Ariana Grande and subsequently wrote the film version that Netflix acquired in 2022. Since winning his Tony, Robert wrote the Tony Award nominated musical Shucked which is currently on tour and in the West End as well as the stage adaptation of Hercules currently running in Germany and the West End! He’s got many new projects in development and gets to discussing the keys to comedy as well as what makes a successful book for a musical!

IN HONOR OF OUR 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY WE'RE RE-RELEASING EPISODES ALL WEEK! RE-RELEASE FROM JUNE 2025!

Currently starring in Schmigadoon on Broadway, Brad Oscar has received 2 Tony Award nominations for starring in the original companies of The Producers and Something Rotten as Franz Liebkind and Nostradamus respectively.He just wrapped up 8 shows a week in Wicked on Broadway as the Wonderful Wizard of Oz! He’s also originated the casts of Jekyll & Hyde and Mrs. Doubtfire on Broadway! Most recently, Brad played Mayor Menlove in the stage production (as well as multiple readings) of Schmigadoon! based on the TV show at the Kennedy Center this past spring eyeing a Broadway transfer. We get to chatting about it all!

IN HONOR OF OUR 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY WE'RE RE-RELEASING EPISODES ALL WEEK! RE-RELEASE FROM NOVEMBER 2025!

Currently starring in Dog Day Afternoon on Broadway alongside Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bacharach, Michael Kostroff is an actor with over 100 TV/Film credits! He’s best known for his role as the defense attorney Maurice Levy on The Wire as well as the executive producer Marshall Pike on Disney Channel’s Sonny with a Chance! Upcoming, he’ll be starring in the new live action Marvel/Sony series Spider-Noir premiering May 27th based on the hit Spider Verse films alongside Nicolas Cage on MGM+. His most prominent theater credits include Thenardier on the national tour of Les Miserables as well as Max Bialystock (u/s) on The Producers National Tour! He’s also an author of the book The Stage Actor’s Handbook! We get to chatting about the most helpful audition advice (as he served as an acting/audition coach for many years) plus the biggest nuanced differences between stage and screen acting!

IN HONOR OF OUR 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY WE'RE RE-RELEASING EPISODES ALL WEEK! RE-RELEASE FROM MAY 2025!Currently starring as The Dentist in Off Broadway's hit Little Shop of Horrors, Andy Karl is an Olivier Award winning and 3 time Tony Award nominated actor whose career spans widely amongst screen and stage. He's most well known for his Olivier Award winning performance as Phil Connors in Groundhog Day the Musical which he performed on Broadway (Tony Award nomination), London's West End and most recently in Australia. He's originated musicals including Rocky the Musical (where he played the titular role and received a Tony Award nomination), Pretty Woman, Legally Blonde and many more! He had a significant recurring role in Law and Order: SVU where he played Sargeant Mike Dodds throughout Season 17. Currently, he stars on stage as The Duke of Monroth in Moulin Rouge on Broadway! Most importantly however he was been Elbi's I Wanna Be Like You since he was a kid, someone he's looked up to since he was a child. A true joy and honor it is to be chatting today with ANDY KARL!

Thank you for watching and listening to I Wanna Be Like You with Elbi Cespedes for one whole year! Here's to many more!

Rob Rokicki is best known for composing and writing the lyrics for the cult musical The Lightning Thief based on the hit book series Percy Jackson & The Olympians! The musical has gone on to be performed all over the world and we get to talking all about the new Original London Cast Recording whcih Rob also co-orchestrated and is OUT NOW! What started as just a Theater For Young Audiences production became a full length musical that ran on Broadway, the West End is currently touring the UK! Aside from this, Rob currently works at MTI Theatricals helping develop the Junior versions of their shows!

Janine LaManna is a Broadway star who's most well known for originating the role of Gertrude McFuzz in Seussical! Her other Broadway credits include Evelyn Nesbitt in the original production of Ragtime, Kiss Me Kate, The Drowsy Chaperone and more! She also starred in PBS' version of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego as Carmen Sandiego! She also performed multiple times at the White House during the Bush administration! She joins us to discuss her career, what Broadway was like post 9/11 and how the role of Gertrude is one she'll cherish forever.

Andrew Keenan-Bolger is a Broadway veteran most well known as the original Crutchie in Newsies on Broadway! He's also an author with his new debut solo YA novel Limelight OUT NOW! He also starred and created the webseries Submissions Only which lasted 3 seasons on YouTube! Some of his other Broadway credits include Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins and Tuck Everlasting! We get to talking about his time originating Jojo in Seussical out of town in Boston, his Newsies journey and co-writing his first couple of novels, the Jack & Louisa series!