The Ensemblist

Helen Hayes panelist Matthew Kacergis is a DC based arts administrator and arts advocate. He has a long history of performing at regional theaters across the country, and now works as a Project Associate at the DeVos Institute of Arts Management. We talked about the Helen Hayes Awards, the categories they use to celebrate ensemble work and what kind of performances typically get celebrated in those categories.

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Eva Price is a Tony Award-winning producer for her work spearheading the recent Broadway revival of Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! Originally conceived for a cast of principals and chorus, this revival directed by Daniel Fish did away with the show’s traditional chorus and made an ensemble of twelve leading characters. Eva is also one of the lead producers of Jagged Little Pill, a musical with a chorus of 13 performers that work as the conscious of the show’s leading characters. She recently joined me to talk about these two different kinds of ensemble - and how in the commercial Broadway theatre, awards for performances are the kind of thing that can make or break a show’s life. Here’s our conversation...

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After speaking to producer Eva Price about the commercial Broadway theatre, awards for performances are the kind of thing that can make or break a show’s life. So if awards ultimately behoove the theatrical landscape, why not have more of them? Well, that’s exactly what happened in 2020 when a new awards ceremony was added to the New York theatre industry: the Antonyo Awards. 

The Antonyo Awards were created in 2020 by Drew Shade and Broadway Black, an organization that supports Black theatre. Named as a light-hearted reference to the Tony Awards, these awards acknowledged Black artists from both the Broadway and off-Broadway theatre communities. The inaugural ceremony was produced by Shade and a committee of associates, including Darnes Barnes. 

Darius Barnes made his Broadway debut as a replacement in the Tony Award-winning musical Memphis in 2011. In the decade since, he’s performed in five additional Broadway musicals: as a replacement in Mean Girls, Cinderella and Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark and an original company member of the 2019 revival of Kiss Me, Kate and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He is also slated to open the new Broadway show MJ the Musical when Broadway returns. 

In addition to his obviously busy performing schedule, he worked on the production team of the Antonyo Awards. He joined me recently to talk about how the team created an awards ceremony from scratch - and why he made the decision not to include a category for Best Ensemble. Here’s our conversation...

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So where do we go from here? When host Mo Brady started this mini-series eight episodes ago, he was positive that there was a way to recognize theatre ensembles. He was so sure of it that he figured the best and most equitable way to do so was to ask the Tony Awards to add a new competitive category for Best Ensemble. At the time, he assumed that recognizing ensemble performances was a no-brainer and that we only had to figure out what we were celebrating in order to move that plan forward. 

Oh, how wrong he was. 

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Today, we celebrate the Broadway sensation Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations. The shows follows the Temptations journey from the streets of Detroit to the Rock n Roll hall of fame. In order to the five actors playing the Temps themselves, the 16 onstage cast members play a myriad of real life personalities, including Berry Gordy, Johnnie Mae, Smokey Robinson and more. 

Prior to the shutdown, Ain’t Too Proud had played more than 400 performances at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre. On today’s episode, we share some of our favorite stories from ATP cast members originally shared on the podcast or on our blog. 

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Today we talk to Soft Power's Billy Bustamante about his favorite musical, the 1990 classic Once On This Island. Somehow, the alchemy that is a musical can help us feel seen, heard and valued. So we here at The Ensemblist are talking to some of our favorite musical theatre performers about their favorite musicals.

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Today’s episode guest has indeed run the gamut, A to Z. E. Clayton Cornelious has graced the boards of Broadway an unbelievable eight times during the twenty years since his debut. The show then was Disney’s The Lion King, and today this Broadway ensemblist is bringing to life the electrifying story of The Temptations in Ain’t Too Proud. 

Throughout the years his career has span the gamut, performing in everything from The Scottsboro Boys to A Chorus Line. And in addition to his work onstage, he is a producer and investor on shows including Caroline, or Change and Hadestown.

E. Clayton joined me over the phone to discuss how he keeps the momentum moving forward in his career, as well as how it is never too late to learn something new. Here’s our conversation…

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Somehow, the alchemy that is a musical can help us feel seen, heard and valued. So we here at The Ensemblist are talking to some of our favorite musical theatre performers about their favorite musicals.

We couldn't think of a better person to launch this mini-series with than our co-creator Nikka Graff Lanzarone. She joined me over the phone from her home in Brooklyn to talk about her favorite musical, the 1975 seminal hit A Chorus Line. Here's our conversation...

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Creating a character in a new Broadway musical is a gift for any artist, because you get to infuse the show with your own artistry. But it is the lucky few who get to create characters multiple times in multiple musicals. By originating roles in multiple musicals, they helped in a small but meaningful way to shape the legacy of musical theatre for generations to come.

...at least, that’s easy for me to say from the outside. But does it feel like that to the actors who create these ensemble roles? Do they think about the characters they create once the shows close? I posed this question to five of the most experienced and storied ensemble actors working on Broadway today before a live audience at BroadwayCon 2020. Currently performing in Broadway’s Beetlejuice, Chicago, Frozen, Hadestown and Wicked, they each shared stories about the small but mighty influence they’ve had on some of our favorite musicals.

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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. 

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