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--Welcome to the Broadway Across America report coming to you from our studio in Times Square.
I'm Ryan Lee Gilbert, national editor for Broadway.com
--And I'm Julie James, program director and host of Sirius XM On Broadway.
--This episode will fill you on on who will be leading the national tour of the Tony winning
play The Humans and go inside Love Never Dies star Gardar Thor Cortez's dressing room
to show you how he transforms into the Phantom.
--Plus, we've got exclusive interviews with The Color Purple's Adrianna Hicks and School
of Rock's Rob Colletti, as well as a delicious music video featuring Waitress leading lady
Desi Oakley. So let's jump right in and get you caught up on all this exciting stuff.
--The cast of The Humans' national tour will feature Emmy winner and Tony nominee Richard
Thomas as Eric, Parks and Recreation star Pamela Reade as Deirdre, Tony winner Daisy Egan as
Bridget, Laurin Klein as Momo, Therese Plane as Amy and Luis Vega as Richard.
This fall, Steven Karam's Tony winning play kicks off its coast to coast national tour
at Seattle's Repertory Theater before moving
on to engagements and markets all across the
United States.
The Humans tour will feature the entire creative team from the Broadway production led by Tony
winning director Joe Mantello.
So, get your tickets to see this outstanding show right away.
--As Celie in the touring production of The Color Purple, Broadway alum Adrianna Hicks
is giving a must see performance and blowing audiences away with her rendition of the empowerment
anthem
I'm Here night after night in theaters across the country.
We recently chatted with Hicks
about taking on the demanding role and what it means to be part of this Tony winning production.
--Back when I did the production on Broadway, my favorite number, like my really aside from
I'm Here of course and the dynamic of that.
--Right --Of course but my favorite number was the opening
because we literally take on the concept of breaking the fourth wall and we invite the
audience in. There's a lot of musicals there are some musicals who do that but this
one is different because like we're going to church, and hello. We used to shake hands with people
in the audience and wave and and it just creates
a sense of relaxation and creates a different
presence in the room. So that number has always sparked a fire within me. I love that number.
--Experience The Color Purple for yourself when it comes to
your city.
--Award-winning Icelandic opera star Gardar
Thor Cortez previously played the Phantom
in the German premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies, the Phantom Returns, and
now he's leading the show's North American premiere.
While the touring production was playing Baltimore's Hippodrome theater, Cortez was kind enough
to invite us into his dressing room and reveal how he becomes the iconic character.
--My favorite thing about the Phantom is that he's so diverse. He's so he's so difficult.
He's so, he's so troubled.
You know, he's he's a genius, but still crazy.
I can't say that I'm exactly like the Phantom
and I think I'm quite pleased that
I'm not, but his his feelings that he does have, that's what I like about this
character, he's so, you know, there's so many colors to him.
He's musical, and I'd like to think that I have some kind of musicality. And his outbursts
and his his sensitivity and part of this madness, I think we all have that, or at least I can,
I can see it in myself.
But you you learn to control it, and you and you never go as far as a person like the Phantom
does and always has done. --Don't miss your chance
to see Love Never Dies with this incredible
cast.
--In other Andrew Lloyd Webber news, the celebrated composers hit Broadway show School of Rock
is also crisscrossing the country with its first national tour.
The show's star Rob Colletti, who plays Dewey Finn recently stopped by Broadway.com HQ to
talk about why theater goers should be clamoring to see this hard rockin, headbanging, fist
pumping musical extravaganza.
--The show, it's such a big hit.
People love it.
What about it do you think makes it so successful
and makes people so enthusiastic
about it?
No one walks away from the show without saying, I had the best time in there.
Right?
Where do you think...? -- I keep coming
back to the kids.
But truly like this, in my humble opinion, is Andrew Lloyd Webber's best score, since
like, Phantom of the Opera.
--Yeah. --Truly.
Yeah.
Obviously the song from the movie that exists is great,
but so many of the other things
that have been added since are like, infectious.
And I caught myself singing things that I
didn't know the words to, just the melodies looped in my head for days after I saw it.
So the music is definitely at the core of that.
And obviously like again, the children being
the focus of this story, as opposed to Dewey
being the only person that you're kind of focused on really elevates the stakes and
the journey and your wanting to witness it.
--There's nothing else like School of Rock so secure
your tickets to this one of a kind concert
now.
--Stage favorite Desi Oakley is playing Jenna
Hunterston in the national tour of Sara Bareilles'
Waitress, which is serving up pies, cries and laughs in cities all across America.
Oakley swung by the Broadway.com studio to perform the show's emotional ballad What Baking
Can Do, and we keep going back for seconds and thirds and fourths.
♪ I'll place it on display, ♪
♪ and then I'll slice it and serve my worries away. ♪
♪ I can fix this. I ♪
♪ can twist it into sugar, butter covered ♪
♪ pieces. Never mind what's underneath it. ♪
♪ I have done it before. ♪
♪ I'll bake me a door to ♪
♪ help me get through. ♪
♪ I learned that from you. ♪
♪ Mama, it's amazing what ♪
♪ baking can do. ♪
--See what we mean?
So dry those eyes and find out when Waitress is coming to your city pronto.
--And that's it for this episode of the Broadway Across America Report will be back soon with
new buzz and updates about your favorite touring Broadway productions.
--In the meantime, be sure you tune into Sirius XM On Broadway on Channel 72 to keep up with
all of the exciting programming that's planned.
--And for more Broadway and tour buzz, visit Broadway.com.
And to find out when all of these hit shows are playing close to your home,
visit BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com
See you next month with a look behind the scenes of the best that touring Broadway
has to offer.
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