The Ensemblist

Welcome back to the second part of my interview with director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw about some of his favorite numbers in his Broadway shows.

If you don’t know Casey Nicholaw by name, you’re certainly familiar with the shows that he has worked on. He’s the director and choreographer of Mean Girls, Something Rotten! and Aladdin. He’s a Drama Desk winner, a Drama League winner, an 11-time Tony Award nominee, and one time winner for The Book of Mormon. He’s basically a winner. 

He’s also on the record for sharing that in every production he helms, there’s one number he’s most proud of. I thought this was a fascinating topic for a mini-series: for an acclaimed director/choreographer to walk us through some of the most famous and crowd-pleasing numbers in the musical theatre canon. We talked about his time as a Broadway performer, the inspiration for those numbers - as well as how he build a number from an idea to a Tony Award-winning hit.

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In a recent interview, Broadway luminary Casey Nicholaw stated “I’m just a bouncy chorus kid.” And while it’s true that he performed in eight Broadway shows over 11 years, he’s also launched a second, rather successful, career as a director and choreographer. So it got me thinking, what is it about a bouncy chorus kid that made him into such a prolific leader?

If you don’t know Casey Nicholaw by name, you’re certainly familiar with the shows that he has worked on. He’s the director and choreographer of Mean Girls, Something Rotten! and Aladdin. He’s a Drama Desk winner, a Drama League winner, an 11-time Tony Award nominee, and one time winner for The Book of Mormon. He’s basically a winner. 

He’s also on the record for sharing that in every production he helms, there’s one number he’s most proud of. I thought this was a fascinating topic for a mini-series: for an acclaimed director/choreographer to walk us through some of the most famous and crowd-pleasing numbers in the musical theatre canon. We talked about his time as a Broadway performer, the inspiration for those numbers - as well as how he build a number from an idea to a Tony Award-winning hit. 

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Host Christine Shepard leads a roundtable discussion of the return of Broadway with Ixchel Cuellar, Sara Edwards, Cody Renard Richard. They discussed what they want to the new Broadway to look like and how that can be achieved.

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Karla Garcia booked her broadway debut while still a student at NYU and has continued to channel her incredible talents not just towards an impressive performing career, but also as a breakout choreographer herself. Most recently performing as a swing in Hamilton on Broadway, she’s also choreographing a brand new musical, Other World, slated for its Debut at Bucks County Playhouse in the fall of 2021. We’ll talk about what she’s learned while performing for other choreographers, how she found her own voice as a creator, and the importance of saying yes to opportunities… but we begin our conversation with how she got her start, which interestedly enough is linked to last weeks episode, choreographer Rachel Dolan. 

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I knew there were other regional award ceremonies that recognize ensemble work, perhaps most notably, the Dora Awards in Toronto. Ahh…: Finally here I thought I could find a sustainable awards model. Like New York City, Toronto is a national mecca for the performing arts, with a long and esteemed track record of both scrappy small shows and major commercial productions. Certainly here I could find an idea of how to move forward.

Only to find out that the Dora Awards have recently scrapped their ensemble awards for musical theatre. What is going on here? Not only was I finding that few theatre communities could figure out how to celebrate ensemble work, but some of them are even getting rid of the recognition they once had? I spoke to Dora Awards Manager Scott Dermody about the history of celebrating ensembles at the Dora and why the recognition for musical theater ensembles was recently scrapped. Here’s our conversation... 

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Robert Walters is a three-year veteran of the Broadway company of Hamilton. A native Australian, he recently made the trip to Sydney to join the original Australian company of Hamilton. Of course, that journey included the well-known two week quarantine mandated by the Australian government for anyone entering the country. 

During his two week quarantine, Robert was kind enough to send us daily voice memos about his life in lockdown. Each day he received a question from me about Hamilton or quarantine or both, and then send me a voicemail with his response. Today we share the second half of Robert’s quarantine experience, where he shares what he imagines life will be like living in his home country for the first time in over a decade. Here, in his own words, in Robert Walters…

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Today, we have some really fantastic stories to share from five actors who made their Broadway debuts in 2018. This quintet of triple threats sat down with us in front of a live audience at BroadwayCon 2019 to share what it’s like to have their dreams fulfilled by performing on Broadway. 

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After hearing from Broadway ensemblist Darius Barnes about his decision not to include a category for Best Ensemble in the inaugural Antonyo Awards, I was curious about this anti-Ensemble award sentiment. Certainly every time that The Ensemblist has posted in favor of this kind of recognition, we see lots of positive feedback in the way of comments, shares, etc. But Darius’ decision had me wondering if there was a “silent majority” of performers who see a Tony Award for Best Ensemble unnecessary.

So I reached out to one of my favorite performers in the biz, Afra Hines. She’s a veteran of eight Broadway musicals, including two that have take home the Tony Award for Best Musical: In The Heights and Hadestown. She joined me recently to talk about how she feels best ensembles are already being celebrated and how her experience storming the stage at Radio City was, in her esteem, a celebration of her personal contribution to creating a Best Musical. Here’s our conversation...

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Hey listeners, I’m Justin Mock and this is Choreographers Making Moves: a new mini-series highlighting female choreographers who are making a difference and making a name for themselves in the business.

For our first episode, I spoke to someone who got her start working for Debbie Allen and has grown into a Helen Hayes nominated choreographer herself. She’s an educator, filmmaker, and most recently launched Best8BK, an organization creating dynamic, timely and socially conscious theatrical work for digital media: the outstanding Rachel Dolan. 

We spoke about how she worked her way to the top, the magic of putting yourself out there— and how to be a brilliant disruptor. All right listeners, enjoy my conversation with Rachel Dolan.

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