ALAN SEALES: This show is very unique, and partially
why I enjoy it so much is because I feel like this
is more musicians on stage versus actors more or less.
I mean, do you guys find a distinction in that?
ANDY TAYLOR: Somebody else talk.
JOANNA CHRISTIE: It does feel like playing in a band,
for a lot of the show.
But we're all pretty much primarily actors,
I think, really, that just play instruments as well.
So I don't know.
There's no distinction.
It's all blurred.
We're doing what the show requires,
which is acting and playing and singing.
ARTHUR DARVILL: On my tax return, I put actor/musician.
AUDIENCE: [LAUGHTER]
JOANNA CHRISTIE: If that helps.
ANDY TAYLOR: I have to say, I've done a show-- if you're like,
oh, it's so amazing.
There are shows where the actors play instruments.
I was in one that won all the words.
And it was Sam Mendes who did "American Beauty"
and it was his "Cabaret."
And they're reviving it actually recently.
But that was much more like a couple of hot Kit Kat girls
who quit playing violin in fifth grade.
And then they were in the band later on.
Whereas these guys could all-- sure,
we could all actually play our instruments
pretty much before we got the gig.
We've learned to play other things more, but we're actors,
but all of us have had that 10-year immersion
thing where we got good at something.
ALAN SEALES: So do you enjoy playing your own instruments
on stage more than playing with a band.
ARTHUR DARVILL: Yeah.
I've never been in a band that's this big before.
I've always had a dream of having a massive band.
And suddenly, I've got it.
It's great.
And it keeps it fresh and alive.
It's slightly different every night,
because someone's in a bad mood or someone breaks a string.
ALAN SEALES: Well, what happens, then,
if you guys break a string?
Do you just say stop the show, I gotta' restring.
PAUL WITTY: Well, we do theater.
We do theater.
We're used to it.
Stuff goes wrong every night.
The audience never realizes it, but stuff is always
going wrong.
AUDIENCE: [LAUGHTER]
PAUL WITTY: And like all the little things that go wrong,
we hear it, and we see it, and we
know kind of what's happening.
But it's all about improv-ing in that moment
and staying with it.
BROWN SHIRT BACK: And there's contingency plans for that.
Like, if Arthur breaks a string during the very first song,
there's somebody else that's assigned
to pick up that song, to pick up the guitar on that song.
I mean, there's a whole list of who
takes what when a string breaks.
So for the sake of the sound guys
not going "who the hell's playing?
Oh God," we have an actual contingency plan.
ALAN SEALES: Right.
How many of you guys are original cast?
Are any of you?
BROWN SHIRT BACK: Yes.
ALAN SEALES: So you recorded the soundtrack not
in isolation booths, right?
PAUL WITTY: Yeah, well, we did it with Steve Epstein,
was the producer of the album.
And he had just done an album with Yo-Yo Ma and Chris Seeley.
He did the goat rodeo sessions.
And the way they recorded that album,
it was like they did it in like a farmhouse.
And they all sat in the same room
and played together, rather than each being in isolation booth,
listening with headphones.
So Martin, our music director and Steve Epstein,
kind of got together and they decided
that that's kind of what they wanted to do with this.
And make sure that it felt like we were all
playing together, rather than playing to a track.
And so hopefully, what came off was a very kind
of raw session sounding-like thing.
ALAN SEALES: Yeah, that was another question I guess I had.
I was thinking about it.
The music is so raw.
And I think it's written and designed to sound like that
and to come together in that sort of thing.
But it's well rehearsed and the pre-show music, the pre-show
that you guys do, you have set songs.
Do you do the same songs in the pre-show every time?
ANDY TAYLOR: Yeah, anybody else?
ADAM WESLEY BROWN: Well, we have a rotating list
of about 20 or 30 Irish and Czech folk songs.
And part of the cool thing about, like Arthur was saying,
about being in a band is that you come in every night,
and right where you sign in, they normally
have a list of the songs that are going up that night.
So it's like you come in and find out
what the set list is before you go out
and get on with the band.
DAVID PATRICK KELLEY: And when we started,
we were asked to bring in songs.
And so we contributed a lot of them, the things we had.
And you know, the thing that's great about
is it gives-- you know, there've been other shows where
musicians have played, but it gives you ownership.
You really feel like you're participating.
I know you here at Google know a lot
about the strategy of making people
feel like they're participating.
And that really helps us.
We own the songs.
We help express the other characters' emotions as well as
our own when we step on to do it.
But the songs, in particular, in the beginning are meaningful.
If you've brought them in, and just by happenstance
they wanted things that weren't such Irish cliches,
and it comes from John Tiffany, our director, and from Glen
Hansard, of course, the pub culture, where
people would get in the pub and if you couldn't express
your emotions through words, you could sing it.
And so that's the idea of that.
ALAN SEALES: Oh, and we have microphones in the aisles
if you guys want to ask questions from the audience.
ARTHUR DARVILL: We'll sing.
AUDIENCE: [LAUGHTER]
ALAN SEALES: Or sing.
ANDY TAYLOR: (MOCK DEEP VOICE) Well,
the problem with that is--
ALAN SEALES: The choreography, as well, in the show
is very, very unique.
And I haven't seen anything like it.
And I quite enjoyed the choreography,
How did that come about?
It was a lot of improv to start, right?
ANDY TAYLOR: Yes, Steven Hoggett is our movement
director/choreographer.
And why are you guys laughing?
Zygo, why don't you answer it, Zygo?
J. MICHAEL ZYGO: Sure, in the process
of creating the show-- I'm one of them all.
I feel like I'm hiding behind everybody-- people
were asked to contribute movements.
And all of the movement is based on the emotion.
It's very rooted in the motion of everything.
And there's nothing like, you'll see in "Newsies," where there's
pas de bourree, turn, turn, turn, kick, you know.
ANDY TAYLOR: We're not "Newsies."
J. MICHAEL ZYGO: We're not "Newsies."
ANDY TAYLOR: Cause no one could.
We would put it in if we could do it.
J. MICHAEL ZYGO: But yeah, it's all
meant to enhance and kind of embellish upon the music.
And so everything is really cohesive
and works together, so that you never
notice one thing more than the other.
And everything is just kind of an accent to everything else.
ANDY TAYLOR: Right.
If I may, Hoggett broke us up in Boston
when we did this workshop and not really
knowing what was going to happen with the show.
Hoggett broke us up into groups and said, you're bored,
you're sitting at a table.
And we can just come up with a story of a couple of gestures
that you could teach one another.
And so we would all do it in our little groups.
And those little pods of actors came back and taught movement
to everybody else.
And I'd say 60% or 70% of certain songs
are all extrapolated from movement that people came in
within that little session.
And they were like, you're bored.
It wasn't specific, but then in the bank scene,
when they're trying to get money from this sort
of jaded old banker, they awaken.
Their little gestures that they make that are very small,
but they're very, very powerful in capturing
the emotional essence of the scene or the music
in a very simple gesture, like a classic iconic move
or something.
And it's all from the actors.
ALAN SEALES: Is it all set now?
ANDY TAYLOR: It's all set now.
But it was found material from the actors.
Steven Hoggett's has got a company in the UK
called Frantic Assembly.
And I don't know, like 15 years or something.
And it's really established and really well known in the UK.
And it's totally like his signature, his style.
If you see all their work is really similar to this.
It's all like what Zygo was saying
about from an emotional place.
It's not just move your arm here and then
it's all right, gut rolling.
It's amazing to watch.
J. MICHAEL ZYGO: And then one of the other challenges
was creating choreography that people could do well
playing instruments, like the end of Act One.
That song we just played "Gold."
Every one of us who was playing that song and singing it
is also dancing.
And I remember the first day I got into rehearsal down
at the New York Theater Workshop,
I was the only new guy there.
And they'd all already established most of it.
And the first thing we did on the first day
was started to learn the choreography for "Gold."
And I was already intimidated, but then I looked over
across the room, and this guy's got
a cello strapped to his chest.
And I'm like is that guy dancing with a cello?
AUDIENCE: [LAUGHTER]
J. MICHAEL ZYGO: What the hell is this?
ANDY TAYLOR: Not well.
I didn't have to do either play, sing or dance particularly
well, obviously.
ALAN SEALES: You have a cello harness.
ANDY TAYLOR: Yeah, we kind of invented it.
PAUL WITTY: I want to tell the story about when
we were learning "Gold" in Cambridge and all
in fear of losing our jobs because we couldn't dance
and play instruments at the same time,
and Andy was particularly freaking out
because he was like, well, I don't
want to get cut out of this number.
He's like I got a fricking cello.
It's like what am I going to do.
So he had a belt on, took his belt off, wrapped it
around his neck and he tied it to the cello.
And I was like that is baller.
It was so good.
And I was like, all right, if he can figure out
a way to dance with his cello, I think
I can figure out a way to do it with my guitar.
And it was inspiring to see everyone
sort of rising to the occasion.
It was a lot of new demands and we fueled each other that way.
You'd see someone sort of rising to it, and like OK.
Yeah, I should do that too.
ARTHUR DARVILL: It's great the moment
that you-- I'm looking out towards the audience.
You guys are all dancing.
But as soon as you start dancing,
I see people just going, oh my god, look [WHISPERING] doing.
(AMERICAN ACCENT) Oh, that's amazing.
ALAN SEALES: You're saying, the choreography
represents emotion, and it represents
the meaning behind the songs, right?
So I mean every night, like show after show,
you do eight shows a week.
I mean, it's got to be very emotionally taxing.
Because this is about anonymous guy and girl,
but the whole ensemble-- you guys
are all very involved and onstage constantly.
ANDY TAYLOR: I think that's an underrated tas-- I mean,
it is trickier than it looks to just night after night,
just be sort of detached, be an audience member.
ADAM WESLEY BROWN: I will say that I think all of us
are big fans of not only the story that is told,
but the movie that was a hit, that won the awards, and also
Glen and Marketa's music.
I know for a fact that myself, when I first
saw the movie years and years ago, it struck me in such a way
that I said if there's ever a show or something like that,
I got to be a part of it.
But I think it fuels us each night,
like we were talking about with the pre-shows set list,
But as well with this company of people,
I mean, we all love what we do so much
and have so much damn fun doing it that it really never-- I
mean, sure, It gets tiring because you
do it eight show a week.
And we hang out with each other all the time.
And we get on each other's nerves.
And it's like a family though.
And it's really lovely to go out.
I think we're very blessed in that we
get to go out every night and tell the story
and sing these songs.
And people are so moved afterwards,
that it kind of keep us going.
I don't think there's ever a time we go, oh, I
don't want to go into work today.
ANDY TAYLOR: Except today, apparently.
I mean, most of the time, I agree
we usually are really eager to get to work.
ADAM WESLEY BROWN: Laugh it up, laugh it up, fuzzball.
Laugh it up.
ANDY TAYLOR: Sorry, he missed out on the tour of lunch.
So he missed out.
ARTHUR DARVILL: I was going to say the guys who
started the original cost of this,
you've done over 600 shows.
And it's like I've never done that many shows a day.
I've never done anything that many times at all.
DAVID PATRICK KELLY: Yeah, it's a blessing, you know.
As an actor, for 43 years you can't-- when you're in a hit.
It's so rare.
And the thing about this show is that so many things
came together, like an aligning of the stars.
As Joanna said, Steven Hoggett had
this company Frantic Assembly.
They did the same kind of work with actors and tables
and chairs for many years, 20 years or so.
But it wasn't until this, until something really came together
that was bigger than everybody.
And they all have that look on their faces
where we've discovered something that nobody quite owns
but we all do beyond all of us.
And Tiffany came when we moved to Broadway, finally.
We started in Cambridge with 100 seats.
And then when we were moved to Broadway,
he, almost tears in his eyes, came up to us,
and said we may close early.
And it may not get very far.
But we've come this far, and it's really great.
And nobody knew that we would go on like that.
ALAN SEALES: You won Best Musical.
DAVID PATRICK KELLY: Say it again?
ALAN SEALES: And then you won Best Musical.
DAVID PATRICK KELLY: Yeah, best musical.
But the idea of people playing their own instruments
and telling a story that since Elvis, since the Beatles,
on and on, blues folks forever, the drama
of holding your own instrument and telling a story there
is really intense.
And we've known it for a long time.
And it has this global impact.
I see people on the line afterwards,
when we're talking to folks, from around the world.
And some don't speak English.
And they're still moved, because they
know the iconography of this images
there, all the different characters.
And so it's really the thing that is beyond us all.
ALAN SEALES: Oh yes, question.
AUDIENCE: So, I apologize, I haven't seen the show yet.
Clearly, I have to go see it.
MALE VOICE: Yes, you do.
AUDIENCE: I notice it seems like it's the kind of show that
would be the kind of thing you want
to do in a 100-seat theater, with like an intimate thing.
What was it like moving something
like that, where you're breaking the fourth wall so
much, to Broadway where you've got
this-- all these people and all this stuff going on.
DAVID PATRICK KELLY: Well, we were scared.
We had to have workshops when they had workshops
with the vocal coach to fill that theater,
to try to bus it up.
And once we're relaxed and got into it, we understood.
It was OK.
It was a natural thing.
That's amazing that it really didn't change that much
from 100 seats to this big theater.
It really did not adjust that much.
A few lines came and went.
Things like that.
But it just sort of blossomed all along the way.
And you just had to adjust a little bit.
PAUL WITTY: At New York Theatre Workshop,
it was a 200-seat house.
You know, it was very intimate.
And in Cambridge, even less.
I think it was about 100 in that little place.
And so, I mean, all of us were quite worried about the move
uptown and into an 1,100-seat theater and what that was going
to do to the delicacy and the intimacy of the show.
But I think, in fact, it had the opposite effect
that we felt it was going to have.
Rather than the show sort of overwhelm New York Theater
Workshop, it overwhelmed that 200-seat house, because there
was so much sort of happening on that stage,
even thought it was a very delicate story.
And I think in the bigger space, it feels much more delicate.
It feels ooh, look at that little thing up there.
ALAN SEALES: I think there's more energy to share.
Because when I watch it, even in like the sound check earlier,
I was stressed out, herding all you guys together,
straggling in.
And I sit and then all of a sudden, you guys start playing.
And I'm captivated by the energy coming off the stage.
ARTHUR DARVILL: The nicest thing about the way
the play works as well.
I mean, you guys haven't seen-- well,
you watched it the other day.
You haven't seen it, but I watched before I was in it.
And I was amazed by-- you go to a Broadway show,
and you're like, oh wow!
It's very funny-- it's very different to London.
I walked in and the ushers were like (CARNIVAL BARKER TONES)
welcome to the show of your life!
And you're like oh wow.
OK, great.
We're going to have a riot in here.
And then you sit down, and this very, very quiet show starts.
And you're like is meant to be humming?
And then you're just completely sold.
It's mesmerizing.
It's an amazing thing to be part of.
We kind of play with that on stage,
bring you down as far as we can without people--
but it's amazing.
You see people just lean in-- you can hear a pin drop--
and listen.
And when it works-- there's moments when it really works--
it's amazing to be--- yeah.
ALAN SEALES: We've got time for one question,
then we got to get out of here unfortunately.
AUDIENCE: This is a question for Joanna and Arthur.
Just wondering what I was like coming in
and being replacements for the original cast.
What it was like, if you had the opportunity
to reinvent the characters yourself.
I've seen the show a couple different times,
so I know it's a little different with you
guys as the leads, and great, I may add.
JOANNA CHRISTIE: We had total freedom.
We barely rehearsed.
ARTHUR DARVILL: We barely rehearsed.
We just learned it and did it.
JOANNA CHRISTIE: John Tiffany, our director, was amazing.
We learned and rehearsed the music back in England,
while we were waiting for our visas to come through.
And then we got two days notice that we
were coming, that we were actually flying.
So they called us on Friday and said,
we booked your flights on Sunday.
We were both OK.
And then they're like, and your first show's on Friday.
We were like what?
ARTHUR DARVILL: We had two rehearsals, one [INAUDIBLE].
JOANNA CHRISTIE: We had two rehearsals with these guys,
and then the dress rehearsal, and then we were on.
John Tiffany's very clever, I think,
because actually we both found that liberating,
as opposed to scary.
We found it freeing.
ARTHUR DARVILL: That's also like John's very, as a director
that we had some-- hey.
As a director, John is amazing.
I don't know if any of you've seen "Glass Menagerie" yet.
If you haven't, go and see it.
It's the most amazing-- and it's the same team
who put together this.
And I said to John after, so I said,
how did you get those guys to act so well?
And he was just, I just let them get
on with it, which is him doing himself down completely,
because it's not as easy as that.
But he has this way of just empowering actors
to make you feel like you can do anything
and that you can be confident.
JOANNA CHRISTIE: And also he didn't try and replace--
I mean, obviously we're both so different from Cristin
and Steve anyway.
And I think he was clever in not trying to just
find reincarnations of them as actors.
He just started from scratch almost,
and just looked for the relationship between the two
characters, as opposed to trying to find another Cristin
and find another Steve and see if it works,
because it just wouldn't.
And when we were auditioning-- so
we flew over here for our last audition.
And we saw the show, which could have been a horrendous mistake,
as I was watching Cristin being amazing.
And I was like, oh God, I've got to try and do this tomorrow.
But John came to me before my audition
and he said, just do what you did in London.
And so it gave me the confidence to go,
OK, I can't try and be Cristin.
I can't do that.
So I just have to have faith in what I do.
And so, yeah, we were given a lot of freedom.
And that was liberating.
ARTHUR DARVILL: Yeah, the material can be [INAUDIBLE].
And the character's called Guy and Girl, you know what I mean?
I'm really excited about coming back in 10 years
time and watching other people do it.
And I think it's those kind of part-- you'll still be there.
AUDIENCE: [LAUGHTER]
ANDY TAYLOR: I'm the only one with three children.
ALAN SEALES: Well, we are at time.
And unfortunately, we have to wrap this up.
But the show is currently playing at the Jacobs Theater
here in town.
Go to OnceAMusical.com to get your tickets.
And everybody go please see it.
It's amazing.
The whole show was incredible.
Thank you guys so much.
AUDIENCE: [APPLAUSE]