-Our first guest tonight is an Emmy-, Tony-,
and Grammy Award-winning actor, singer, and director
you know from his work in the show "Pose"
and "Kinky Boots" on Broadway.
His movie "Anything's Possible" is streaming now on Prime Video.
Let's take a look.
-I keep telling her there is no place safer
than right here at home with me.
-Mom, law of averages.
-Fine. Fair enough. -Wait, what is that?
-It's just this rule we have where I'm not allowed to ask her
anything that the average mom won't ask the average girl.
-Mm-hmm. [ Cellphone chimes ]
-Now I really got to go.
It's so nice to meet you, "Kha-leed."
-Yeah. -It's "Kha-lid."
-What is it? -Kha-lid.
-Kha-lid? -Mm-hmm.
-You're both failing, but that's okay.
-You know what?
-Please welcome back to the show
our friend Billy Porter, everybody.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
-Hello! -Resplendent, as always.
Billy, I'm so happy to have you here in person.
And congratulations on this film.
Not only did you direct it,
you also wrote music for the soundtrack.
-I did. We did the soundtrack --
Republic Records, who I'm signed to now.
Getting ready to do my own music.
So get ready for that.
-Very exciting. Very exciting.
-I'm back. The bitch is back in the music business.
But, yes, Justin Tranter and I --
Justin Tranter's camp and myself,
we wrote five new songs for the soundtrack.
And we also curated artists who are queer.
I think I could say probably like 90% to 95%
of the artists on the soundtrack are queer.
You got to go listen to the soundtrack, too.
-Did you -- Was it --
Did you write the songs and curate the songs --
was that something you were doing
while you were making the film,
or did you wait till you had the finished product before?
-Yes, we were doing both. -Okay, gotcha.
-You know, I was writing along the way.
Being a music artist and a musical theater artist,
I've always told stories through music.
And that's a really, really important part for me
as I take on this director's thing.
You know, it's inside of the music that I find the rhythm,
that I find the music of the piece.
-I certainly knew your connection to musical theater.
And that's somewhere, you know, where you've always shone.
I didn't realize how young you were
when you knew this about yourself.
But you were 15 years old
when you went to audition for "Dreamgirls"?
-[ Laughs ] Okay, so I was bit by the bug in sixth grade.
-Okay.
-And "Dreamgirls" came out that year.
-Uh-huh. -And I was obsessed.
And I was trying to get out.
'Cause I needed to get out, honey.
-This was getting out -- -Out of my house,
out of my neighborhood, out of all of it, right?
So, I was getting "Backstage" magazine.
For those of you who don't know what that is,
that's the trade magazine
that lists all the auditions and stuff.
-Gotcha. -And so I was getting
that magazine at my house at 15 in Pittsburgh.
And I would circle the auditions that I would go to
if I had lived in New York City at the time
and if I was old enough.
So one day when I was 16,
a "Dreamgirls" audition came up, and it was on a Friday.
And I had the Friday off, and I had my own money.
And I lied to my mother and said I was going to a friend's house.
And I went downtown, bought myself a train ticket,
rode the train for 13 hours, went to the audition in Chicago.
This is before cellphones or anything like that.
They told me I was fabulous and that I was too young
and to keep my eye on the prize.
And I went back on the train.
I went right back to the train station
and came back home, crying for 13 hours.
[ Audience aws ]
-And when you got home, did your mom say, "That took a while"?
-No, she didn't know until, I would say, maybe right now.
[ Laughter ] No.
No, she -- [ Applause ]
She has known.
I told this story at some point somewhere else,
and she was like, "What did you do?"
Said, "It's over, darling. I'm 30 years old now."
-But, so, it's interesting, 'cause you were talking about,
you know, wanting to get out of Pittsburgh,
and then, though, you ended up going to college
at Carnegie Mellon, which is a wonderful theater school.
-One of the greatest in the world.
-How old were you when you realized
it was right in your backyard?
-I was 17. -Uh-huh.
-And I was in drama school,
the Creative and Performing Arts high school,
where we shot the movie, actually.
-Yes.
-Not the same building, but the same school.
And my drama teacher and mentor
found out that I was planning on graduating from high school
and just going to New York.
And I got yanked by my ear, and they were like,
"You're not going anywhere but Carnegie Mellon."
And I was like, "What?" You know.
And it was right down the street.
And this is what I mean -- this is what we mean
when we talk about opportunity and access.
I lived 12 -- a 12-minute drive away from Carnegie Mellon
and had no idea
that it was one of the greatest drama schools in the world.
Right? It wasn't until some white people told me.
[ Laughter ]
So I'm grateful. You know, I'm thankful for that.
You know, 'cause they said, you know, "You sing like a dream,
you know, you dance your booty off,
and every time you open up your mouth to speak,
it's a disaster." [ Laughter ]
"You need to go learn how to act."
I'm so grateful somebody, you know, was looking out.
I call them my angels. They were looking out for me.
-Well, I mean, that is the best thing a teacher can do.
Sure, they can teach anybody, but the thing about talent,
right, you either have it or you don't.
And I think sometimes teachers, when they recognize it,
they're like, "Look, we're going to help you down the path,
but you're going to realize your own talent.
We're not going to give it to you,
but we know the place to point you."
-I was so blessed to have people like that.
-I want to talk about the movie
and how you went back and did it in Pittsburgh.
We'll be right back with more from Billy Porter.