In the previous episode, you heard actress and singer Ann Harada share her stories of grinding it out as an Asian actress trying to fit in with what she thought casting directors wanted but then discovered her superpower as an artist, being herself. Now she’s back to share more lessons she’s learned and answer the Final Five Questions in this bonus episode of Why I’ll Never Make It.

To get more bonus content like Auditions Stories and get early access to these full conversations ad-free, become a subscriber by going to whyillnevermakeit.com and click Subscribe.

Podcast theme music created by host and producer Patrick Oliver Jones.

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Ann Harada will be the first to tell you that finding happiness and satisfaction in the acting business didn’t come quickly or easily for her. In fact, her first Broadway credit came as a production assistant, not as an actor. She followed that up with ensemble roles in M. Butterfly and Suessical. But between those two shows was a ten-year gap, and it wasn’t until her next Broadway show that Ann Harada truly made a name for herself as Christmas Eve in Avenue Q. In our conversation, she talks about those lean years before Avenue Q but also how she has had continue working hard and pushing herself even after her breakout role at the tender age of 39.

Listen to Ann's recent performance in BPN's audio drama TWITS.

Subscribing helps support this podcast, while also giving early access to extended conversations and other bonus content. Donating can be done on a one-time on ongoing basis. So whether you subscribe or donate, your financial contribution to this podcast is greatly appreciated!

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Why I’ll Never Make It is an award-winning, Top Theater Podcast with actor and singer Patrick Oliver Jones and is a production of WINMI Media. Background music is by John Bartmann and Blue Dot Sessions is used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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Last week you heard actress, writer, and entrepreneur Lydia-Renee Darling share her stories of growing up in an immigrant household and then her own experiences of living and working in other countries as an artist. Now she’s back to answer the Final Five Questions in this bonus episode.

To get more bonus content like Auditions Stories and listen to these full conversations ad-free, then become a subscriber by going to whyillnevermakeit.com and click Subscribe.

Podcast theme music created by host and producer Patrick Oliver Jones.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lydia-Renee Darling is the very definition of a well rounded, multi hyphenate artist. She got her BFA in musical theater from Webster University in St. Louis and a Masters in writing for stage and broadcast media from the Royal Central School in London. She’s a filmmaker and a playwright and founded her own DEI entertainment marketing and virtual production company called Oh! (My Gosh) Creative. Being someone who has both embraced and been challenged by changes throughout her life, Lydia-Renee shares with us how they serve as a motivation to continually better herself as an artist and an individual. 

Subscribing helps support this podcast, while also giving early access to extended conversations and other bonus content. Donating can be done on a one-time on ongoing basis. So whether you subscribe or donate, your financial contribution to this podcast is greatly appreciated!

Follow WINMI: Website | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

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Why I’ll Never Make It is an award-winning, Top Theater Podcast with actor and singer Patrick Oliver Jones and is a production of WINMI Media. Background music is by John Bartmann and Blue Dot Sessions is used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As an actor I fully appreciate and recognize that I couldn’t do what I do without a writer doing what they do. Their words and characters are the basis for any work I’ve had in theater, television, or film. The writer’s strike this past summer highlighted just how important they are, because without them there is no entertainment industry.

In part one of my conversation with writer Steve Cuden, we talked about the process of creating the musical Jekyll & Hyde with Frank Wildhorn. For this second part of our discussion, we dive into his work in television, where he's written for shows like The Avengers, Biker Mice From Mars, Extreme Ghostbusters, and Pocket Dragon Adventures. Steve also gives us a crash course on what it takes to craft an engaging story that not only touches an audience but more importantly means something to the writer personally.

Listen to StoryBeat with Steve Cuden and find his books here.

Subscribing helps support this podcast, while also giving early access to extended conversations and other bonus content. Donating can be done on a one-time on ongoing basis. So whether you subscribe or donate, your financial contribution to this podcast is greatly appreciated!

Follow WINMI: Website | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

----------

Why I’ll Never Make It is an award-winning, Top Theater Podcast with actor and singer Patrick Oliver Jones and is a production of WINMI Media. Background music is by John Bartmann and Blue Dot Sessions is used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the first guest of this season, I’m talking with writer Steve Cuden, who was a part of a musical and its beginning stages, but was eventually replaced right before it began to take off and become the hugely iconic Jekyll & Hyde musical we all know.

In fact, it was Steve's first foray into writing with another unknown composer and writer at the time, Frank Wildhorn. And in part one of our conversation, Steve opens up about their personal and professional relationship in ways that he has not done so before publicly.

A little backstory...Steve and I actually met last year when he reached out to me via email after listening to an episode of my other podcast Closing Night, which focuses on theater history. That began a series of emails back and forth that eventually led me to invite him onto this podcast to share his side of the story. A side of the story that Frank Wildhorn himself doesn’t really talk about in his own interviews.

The 1986 demo version of "Murder, Murder" featured in this episode can be found on Cuden's website.

Subscribing helps support this podcast, while also giving early access to extended conversations and other bonus content. Donating can be done on a one-time on ongoing basis. So whether you subscribe or donate, your financial contribution to this podcast is greatly appreciated!

Follow WINMI: Website | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

----------

Why I’ll Never Make It is an award-winning, Top Theater Podcast with actor and singer Patrick Oliver Jones and is a production of WINMI Media. Background music is by John Bartmann and Blue Dot Sessions is used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For Season 8, we're diving deep into the world of theater once agin with guests from Broadway, West End, and regional theaters near and far. From seasoned veterans to fresh faces on the scene, each episode is packed with candid conversations and inspiring stories about life in the performing arts industry. 

Join me as I sit down with actors, directors, writers, and more to explore the highs and lows of chasing dreams in the spotlight. Subscribers will continue to get audition room horror stories as well as early access to every episode. 

I'm also excited to bring back bonus episodes featuring the Final Five questions, where they share candid thoughts on life, love, and everything in between. These bite-sized episodes will follow each main interview, offering you even more insight into the personal lives and careers of our esteemed guests. 

And just to give you a taste of what to expect this season, here are the final five questions I asked Lisa Howard last season (which was only available to subscribers). In these series of questions she opens up about the unpredictability of this industry and how embracing these challenges and uncertainties is so important as well as what “making it” means to her.

Season 8 officially starts Feb 5th with the wonderful playwright and director Steve Cuden with a fascinating tale of how brought Jekyll & Hyde to life with Frank Wildhorn, yet it was another lyricist who actually took it to Broadway. It’s a fascinating look behind the curtain of one the most iconic shows of the last 30 years.

Producing this podcast is a rewarding experience, but it's also costly and time-consuming as I’m essentially a one-man operation. By subscribing you’ll be supporting these podcasting efforts, and have access to extended conversations and other bonus content. Whether you subscribe or donate, your financial support of this podcast is greatly appreciated!

Follow WINMI: Website | Instagram | YouTube

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Five years ago, "The Band's Visit," a musical defying convention, closed on Broadway after a year and a half of acclaim. Composed by David Yazbek and written by Itamar Moses, it emerged as a masterpiece, transcending Broadway norms. At the 2018 Tony Awards, it earned 11 nominations, winning 10, including Best Musical, beating stiff competition like SpongeBob Squarepants and Frozen.

Now, in 2024, amidst current Middle East headlines dividing people, let's revisit this Arab-Israeli musical that explored human connection over 598 performances with an encore presentation of my 2018 interview with Jeff Theiss, associate conductor of "The Band's Visit." We delve into its score, unique storytelling, and its focus on shared human experiences beyond political divisions.

Join me on this journey rediscovering the timeless beauty of "The Band's Visit," reminding us of the profound commonality that unites us all.

Learn more about Closing Night and listen to it on your favorite podcast app.

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Just like this podcast, Closing Night is also a production of WINMI Media with Patrick Oliver Jones as host and executive producer.

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With politics becoming more and more a part of our daily lives, the theater and acting profession are certainly no strangers to it influence and impact. While it can be a force for change and understanding, my guest today talks about the ways in which it can further divide as well. In the first part of my conversation with Clifton Duncan, he shared deeply personal reflections on the complexities of the theater industry's response to the pandemic and the challenges he faced as an individual in the midst of it all.

For part two, our conversation turns to a thought-provoking exploration of "groupthink" and the influences of social media on theater and the broader society as a whole. He offers valuable insights into the impact of differing viewpoints, the blurring of what is considered extreme, and the need for open-mindedness in the arts and beyond. Also, in the latter half of this episode are some bonus conversations with Clifton, offering a powerful conclusion to an episode filled with honesty and a quest for deeper understanding and introspection.

Producing this podcast is a rewarding experience, but it's also costly and time-consuming as I’m essentially a one-man operation. By subscribing you’ll be supporting these podcasting efforts, and have access to extended conversations and other bonus content. Whether you subscribe or donate, your financial support of this podcast is greatly appreciated!

Follow WINMI: Website | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

----------

Why I’ll Never Make It is an award-winning, Top Theater Podcast with actor and singer Patrick Oliver Jones and is a production of WINMI Media. Background music is by John Bartmann and Blue Dot Sessions is used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meryl Streep once said that "acting is not about being someone different. It is about finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding myself in there.” She is in essence urging us to discover the common threads in our seemingly diverse experiences. And the final guest of the season has had quite a few experiences these past couple of years.

Clifton Duncan is a seasoned performer on stage and screen, with appearances in critically-acclaimed productions on and off Broadway and a TV slate that included work for NBC, Fox, CBS and Starz. But after the pandemic, Clifton’s adherence to “authenticity” meant that opportunities slowly dried up and his agent eventually dropped him. His story in and around the effects and consequences of covid, vaccines, and theater shutdowns may be one you relate to or it may confuse or even anger you. But I hope that you can hear him out as I did and understand where he’s coming from and the place he ultimately came to.

Producing this podcast is a rewarding experience, but it's also costly and time-consuming as I’m essentially a one-man operation. By subscribing you’ll be supporting these podcasting efforts, and have access to extended conversations and other bonus content. Whether you subscribe or donate, your financial support of this podcast is greatly appreciated!

Follow WINMI: Website | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

----------

Why I’ll Never Make It is an award-winning, Top Theater Podcast with actor and singer Patrick Oliver Jones and is a production of WINMI Media. Background music is by John Bartmann and Blue Dot Sessions is used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices