It's good to see you again.
I was gonna say, I saw you in Hamilton!
About that, how are you?
I was so excited to talk about, with you, that Broadway
announced that it is hoping to reopen by September.
Yeah. Fingers crossed.
What were your thoughts, feelings when you heard that?
Cautious optimism, really looking forward, to obviously,
for the world to come back to the stage.
There are thousands of people whose lives depend
on being able to walk into that stage door every day.
And so it's just another one of the industries
that have been hit super hard by this whole pandemic,
but I know that folks are raring to go and really
really excited to be able to get back to work.
Well, here's a picture of you and Hamilton
Did you think?
Did you know?
Cause you did it In the Heights with
Lin Manuel,
you guys became really close.
He told you about Hamilton
while you were doing In the Heights.
Did you know?
During the show.
Oh my gosh.
On the same stage.
Okay. Did you like, did you have your crystal ball out?
Did you know this would become a cultural phenomenon,
shape-shifting enterprise?
Oh God, no, none of us did.
None of us knew it was going to be
so sought after and excite so many people
all at the same time.
It becomes such a cultural
touchstone for so many folks.
None of us could have-
Exactly. Well, another cultural touchstone
for everyone is Sesame Street.
Will you please tell me
about how that rivals Hamilton for you?
You know, I have the incredible pleasure of being a part
of introducing the autistic character, Julia to the world
in writing the initial song and working on the,
the rollout for that.
And, and given that, you know, our, our family
like so many others has been touched by autism.
It was, it was just one of the proud, things I'm most
proud of, to be honest with you.
It's one of the, even now is to sort of just kind of
shake my head, cause I know how many lives
that, that character is going to interact with,
you know, and that, that show reaches out to.
It's pretty incredible
I agree and you've been, you know, candid
about your son's autism, autism diagnosis, and you know
why did you feel that it was important to share his story
and connect with others, which it almost answers itself
in the question, but thank you for doing this.
Well, of course I, you know, I, I always
I tell the story, you know, when CJ was diagnosed, I was
we were five minutes away from starting the first like run
through off-Broadway of, of, In the Heights.
The first, you know, rehearsal.
And my wife called me up.
She was at the doctor's office, they'd gotten the diagnosis.
She was by herself.
I didn't even know what autism was, to be honest with you.
And so there was a moment of panic and there was a moment
a lot of moments of uncertainty.
And as the years have gone by and as-
as we all have grown as a family and societally
as we've all come to terms and understanding what-
what's having a disability like that presents,
what really means is that, you know,
you have to take a second stop, get informed,
inform those around you, your support system around you.
And then you have to, you know,
circle the wagons around your child.
It makes you a better parent.
It has made me a better parent
to walk in the door and not, you know,
flip on a sports center, but to actually engage
and seek that kind of engagement
knowing that it makes such a difference.
And you are working with the organization Kulture City.
How did you get involved with that?
Well, the founders, Julian Maha and, and his lovely wife,
Michelle, founded this, this organization that is geared
toward building sensory rooms and create an environment
of acceptance for folks who have sensory needs.
Some visible and some invisible. You know,
according to the last Census Bureau,
over almost 57 million people in America are touched
by with some form of, of sensory need.
And so what Kulture City does is
that we go into a zoo, a stadium,
a park,
we built sensory rooms so that when you're out engaging
with society and you need a moment to, you know
you need to disconnect for a moment,
you can do that.
We also go in and we train the staffs
of all of these places for free.
So when these folks who've learned what it means to like be
in an environment, see someone who needs some help
and then help them have that experience.
But then they go home
with that same understanding that same awareness.
It's an incredible organization.
Well, in honor of World Autism Awareness Day, our friends
at clear channel outdoor are dedicating a billboard
in the heart of Times Square!
The home of Broadway and turning it blue,
the color to recognize autism around the world.
And in addition to that, we'd like to donate $5,000
to the non-profit Kulture City in support of their
initiative on sensory accessibility and inclusivity.
Thank you Drew, thank you.
Thank you Chris, for being the face and the voice
and really bringing us into what this is.
Thank you.
And I know you're starting in your fifth season of Bull
which airs Mondays at 10:00 PM eastern and
9:00 PM central on CBS.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate you.