The Ensemblist

Performing on Broadway comes with certain rites of passage: first costume fitting, first performance, first backstage birthday cake. But 2020 has brought a new rite of passage: visiting your darkened theatre to clean off your dressing room station with the prospect of your being closed for at least a year. Here to share the story of his experience visiting the Richard Rodgers Theatre is Hamilton’s Preston Mui. He joined the show in late January playing the role of George Eacker and in the show’s lauded ensemble. Here to share the story of his first time back at the Rodgers in three months is Preston Mui.

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“The Phenomenon” premiered on May 4th, 2013. It was written by Jordon Nardino, who last wrote episode 9 of this season “The Parents,” and season two showrunner Joshua Safran, who last wrote the premiere of this season “On Broadway.” Star Trek fans rejoice, the episode was directed by B'Elanna Torres herself, Roxann Dawson, who last directed episode 13 of season 1, “Tech.” “The Phenomenon” experienced the second-highest jump in ratings in the entire series, second only to a jump early in season 1; this week’s viewership hit a total of 2.28 million viewers, up by .39 mil from the previous week.

This week’s episode included five featured songs: two covers and three originals. The covers included Radiohead’s “High and Dry” performed by Jeremy Jordan, and Billy Joel’s “Vienna” serenaded by Christian Borle. We again heard an excerpt of Iconis’ “Broadway Here I Come” but the two full-length originals came from Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman: Bombshell’s “At Your Feet” and Hit List’s “The Love I Meant to Say.”

Sam Strickland’s put in rehearsal to replace Jimmy is in three hours, but Karen and Derek are screwing around on the couch - that is until Jimmy breaks onto Karen’s fire escape, catches the two in her apartment and runs off. Tom gets a call from his former one-night stand Kyle’s phone, but instead of a booty call it's the police letting him know that Kyle was killed in a car accident. 

Eileen Rand is ready to talk about a Tony campaign, and Bombshell is the show to beat. Ivy Lynn may be nominated twice: as Best Actress in Bombshell and Best Supporting Actress in Liaisons. But all that Tony talk is put on hold when the Bombshell company learns about Kyle’s death, with even Ivy calling in sick to be with Derek down at Manhattan Theatre Workshop.

In a series of flashbacks, Kyle’s friends remember their own favorite intimate moments with him: Julia in storyboarding Hit List, Tom in a boudoir serenade, Karen in an lobby chat during Bombshell’s opening, and Jimmy in brainstorming Hit List ideas along the East River. Finally with a justifiable reason to be sad, Jimmy uses a song from the show to memorialize “the love he meant to say” to his dear departed best friend.

With Gabe and the company of Hit List understandably shocked, Derek cancels the evening performance. But the Hit List fans show up anyway to honor Kyle’s memory, and a seated reading at music stands for a standing room only house turns Hit List into a phenomenon destined to move uptown to Broadway (funded by Eileen’s ex-husband, Jerry.) And as a parting gift, Julia gets the lights of the Lily Hayes theatre marquee dimmed in Kyle’s honor.

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This week, we’re sharing our conversation with Kevin Carolan. Perhaps best known for his performance in Newsies, Kevin’s many credits include Dirty Blonde, The Ritz, and the national tour of Chicago. At the time of the Coronavirus shutdown, Kevin was playing Claude & Others in the national tour of Come From Away. In this episode, Kevin chats all about his career - from summer stock to regional theatre, pre-Broadway tryouts, tours, Broadway & beyond. Enjoy!

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“The Producers” premiered on April 27, 2013. It was written by Becky Mode, whose last episode of Smash was season 2 episode 7, Musical Chairs, and was directed by Tricia Brock, whose last episode was season 2 episode 9, The Parents. The viewership dropped again by 20,000 viewers, to a total of 1.89 million.

We had a lot of music this episode, mainly from Hit List! Our one song from Bombshell was an excerpt of Shaiman and Whitman’s “20th Century Fox Mambo” performed by Megan Hilty (and Kathie Lee Gifford?), and our one cover was Jeff Buckley’s “The Last Goodbye,” sung by Andy Mientus. The remainder of our songs come from Hit List: we hear excerpts from Pasek and Paul’s “Rewrite this Story,” and Joe Iconis’ “Broadway Here I Come.” Two new songs were another by Joe Iconis called “The Goodbye Song,” and “Don’t Let Me Know,” written by Lucie Silvas and Jamie Alexander Hartman.

Without much competition for new musicals on Broadway this season, Bombshell is poised to make a splash at the Tony Awards in June. But with slow ticket sales, Eileen is going to have to pray for a miracle to keep Bombshell open til June. So she is whoring out Ivy for press events right and left, anything from the Today show to an appearance at the Brighton Beach Senior Center. 

Adding insult to injury, producers Daryl Roth and Kevin McCollum are duking it out with ten other producers ready to write a check to move Hit List to Broadway this season. But there may not be a show to move if Jimmy shows up late and high for photo calls. Derek attempts to solve the Jimmy problem by hiring former Bombshell ensemblist Sam Strickland to understudy him. 

Things are looking up for Julia, with the announcement her new non-musical version of Gatsby going to Manhattan Theatre Workshop next season. Now that Tom isn’t in line to direct the City of Angels revival, he wants Julia to create the show with him. The conflict comes to a head at one of Ivy’s many press events: Julia feels Tom told her under no uncertain terms he only wants to direct, while Tom believes Julia is only interested in being a writing partner when she gets her way.

With tonight seeming to become the most important night in Hit List’s life, Derek gives Jimmy an ultimatum: shape up or ship out. But Jimmy doesn’t take the threat seriously, showing up late onstage, making up choreography and causing an onstage accident that leaves Karen with a bleeding gash. The performance is the last straw for Derek, firing Jimmy on the spot. But the journey for Hit List may be dead in the water anyway, as every potential investor is scared off because the show isn’t financially viable enough to make it on Broadway.

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In October 2017, The Ensemblist launched its fourth full season: Broadway at Every Stage. In this series, co-creators Mo Brady and Nikka Graff Lanzarone sat down with six seasoned Broadway actors to dive into their decades-long careers. They discussed getting started in the theatre, the ups and downs of show business, and the longevity of their careers. Over the next six weeks, we’ll be sharing some of the best moments from this series.

First up is Adinah Alexander. Adinah made her Broadway debut in Parade in 1998, two decades after moving to New York City. She’s since performed in the original casts of Urban Cowboy, Wicked, The Wedding Singer, and most recently, Kinky Boots. From piano bars to Off-Broadway’s The No Frills Revue, from mega-flops to mega-hits, Adinah told us all about her extraordinary career. Here’s our conversation…

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“Opening Night” premiered on April 20, 2013. It was written by Bathsheba Doran & Noelle Valdivia, and directed by Michael Morris, all three being prolific Smash veterans; Doran’s and Morris’s last episode was season 2’s The Song, and Valdivia’s was season 2’s The Bells & Whistles. The viewership rose from last week’s downer, growing by .11 million viewers to a total of 1.91 million!! Hooray!

We only had two featured songs this week. We had a cover of Frank Sinatra’s That’s Life, sung by Marilyns past and present, Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty, and we got the chance to revisit Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman’s tour-de-force finale, Don’t Forget Me, this time performed by the Bombshell victor herself, Megan Hilty.

The curtain comes down on Bombshell’s final preview and things are looking up for Ivy! That is until she dives into reading Broadway message boards, where she’s being touted as a “career chorus girl.” But backstage before the overture, Ivy’s mother and co-star tells her that her experience has made her into the star she is today. She brings the house down with a glorious performance ending with ‘Don’t Forget Me,” which leaves Karen visibly shook.

Even before opening, Julia is already pitching Tom ideas for their next show: a musical version of The Great Gatsby. But Tom may have found his own new project without her, directing a Broadway revival of City of Angels. When she confronts him about the rumor at the opening night party, he admits that all he wants to do right now is direct, not write another musical.

Downtown, Hit List has sold out the rest of its off-Broadway run. Eileen has invited the company to come uptown and see Bombshell’s opening, which makes Karen feel like she’s watching her ex-finance walk down the aisle. Jimmy implores her to go and that she’s got him in her corner. But it’s Jimmy that implodes at the opening night party, getting into a fist fight with his drug-dealing brother in the middle of the event.

The reviews are in and Variety calls Bombshell “The finest musical of the season.” But it’s the New York Times review that has everyone on edge and Ivy hiding in the restroom. The current Marilyn confides that she can’t get the former Marilyn out of her head, but the mutual admiration society is there in full force as Karen admits that she was watching Ivy play Marilyn. Ivy promises Karen that she’ll make it to Broadway herself soon enough, but off-handedly jokes for it “not to be this season.”

That promise may be going down the drain as Derek hatches a rumor that Hit List is heading to Broadway. It doesn’t stop the two leading ladies from dueting at the party on an impromptu version of “That’s Life.” But that’s not the most surprising pairing of the night, as Tom and Kyle end up leaving together while Ivy gives Derek blue balls. Surprises abound, as Eileen doubles down on their so-so New York Times review, declaring “Screw the Times! We’ll sweep the Tonys!”

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This month, we are resharing our favorite episodes from our 2017 season on Ensemblist Essentials. Think of them as the essential essentials. That spring, our co-creator Nikka Graff Lanzarone and I spoke to some of Broadway’s most venerable performers about the most monumental moments in the creation of a Broadway musical. 

In this episode, we spoke to an incredible six performers about what makes an opening night on Broadway so garsh darn special. Throughout the episode, you’ll hear from Jenifer Foote, Tyler Hanes, Bre Jackson, Anastacia McCleskey, Linda Mugleston and Eric Ulloa. Enjoy...

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Scanning the pages of Broadway ensemblists on social media, its hard not to take stock of the number of performers who are moving out of New York City. While some of these moves are temporary and others seem more permanent, what I'm struck by is the fact out performing artists have a reason or means to stay in one of the most expensive cities in the country.

One of those artists is Lindsay Northen. A 12-year veteran of Broadway's Wicked, she and her husband, actor Jared Bradshaw, recently moved out of their New York City apartment and headed south. Here to tell us how and why is Lindsay Northen.

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“The Dress Rehearsal” premiered on April 13th, 2013. It was written by Julia Brownell, who last penned episode 6 of this season, and was directed by Mimi Leder, who last directed episode 7 from LAST season. The viewership of Smash hit its all-time run-of-show low this week, bottoming out at 1.80 million, which was down from the previous week by 80,000 viewers. Silver lining: it only goes up from here!!

We had all original songs but nothing new this week. We were able to revisit excerpts from Bombshell’s Let Me Be Your Star, Our Little Secret, and Dig Deep, all written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman, and a new acapella prologue version of Broadway Here I Come for Hit List, written by Joe Iconis.

Even though he isn’t an actor, director/liberrist Tom Levitt is having actors’ nightmares before Bombshell’s invited dress. The run-through is riddled with mistakes - a surprise nude scene for Ivy, the house did not come in for “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” and poor Brian pulls a muscle - which means that Sam might be going on for him. Eileen recommends cancelling Bombshell’s first preview but Tom thinks it’s an invitation to the press to sharpen their knives. So Eileen gives him a challenge: fix all the problems by 3pm today or she’s going to cancel the performance.

Jimmy has been pulling all-nighters writing nine new songs for Hit List, a task which he is sure has been laid on him by Derek as retribution for Karen and Jimmy dating. Derek is finally reinspired to make changes to Hit List - adding reprises and a new framing device that tells the story in flashback. Jimmy is having a fit about the changes, but it’s hard to know whether that’s because of his ego, his all-nighters, or his coke habit. Kyle and Ana are hype about the rapid-changes Derek is making to Hit List, but Karen is convinced they are simply retribution for dating Jimmy.

Tom isn’t able to fix all of the problems of the invited dress in six hours, but lies to Eileen so she doesn’t cancel the first preview. But when Tom isn’t able to get the intermission down to 15 minutes, Julia pinch-hits with a new staging idea for the top of Act II that allows it to be staged in the audience instead of the stage. 

Even though Ivy’s nudity in the dress rehearsal was a mistake, it’s given the show a spike in both buzz and ticket sales. Eileen and Tom ask Ivy to keep the nudity, a decision she doesn’t make until she onstage for the first preview. When she finally decides to keep the nudity, it ends up making a show-stopping moment that is perfect for the scene.

But all is not good with Bombshell. After not being put on to cover an ailing ensemblist, Sam quits the show saying that his career is “going in the wrong direction.” And New York Times publishes an article saying the spirit of Marilyn Monroe is alive and well onstage, but in Hit List. The Grey Lady calls Hit List “edgy and occasionally brilliant, bound to take the theatre season by storm” and leading the way for Hit List to move uptown toward the Main Stem.

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No matter if watching the filmed performance of Hamilton on Disney+ is your first time viewing or your tenth, one thing is clear when watching: this is a very good show. Numbers like “Schuyler Sisters” and “The Election of 1800” not only tell story and develop character, they are also thrilling to watch. On stage and on screen, Hamilton is chockablock with good musical theatre moments. And as will be a surprise to no one, those thrilling moments of stagecraft are due in part to the show’s ensemble.

With only 11 members, Hamilton’s ensemble is as featured as any in recent memory. Imagine the future high school productions of Hamilton, where dozens of young people will play American civilians, British soldiers and cabinet members. Here, we see all of that expertly handled by less than a dozen performers. 

One of the 11 who took on this monumental feat for this filmed performance is Hope Easterbrook. Joining the Broadway company in March 2016, she played the Women 2 track. Hope joined me this week over the phone to talk about her roles in the show as well as her experience filming the show for posterity. Here’s our conversation...

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