[00:00:00] Speaker A: Aside from the show's content which I don't want to give too many spoilers, I'll just say bring tissues. But aside from the show's content, the parallels between 1800s London and 2026America are more striking than you might think.
We see themes of greed and corruption and loss and class discrepancies and exploitation.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: This is what we do. Okay, take two. So we're back. Yes, take two. We are back from summer break.
Stan's already on remedial podcast duty as we welcome in good friends to both the Stan and Shen show. And tell me your story the combination of both as we have two wonderful people here. From my new favorite thing to do with my bride.
There's no better dinner and a show than dinner in downtown Schenectady and then going to a Schenectady Light Opera Company show as now as as members card carrying members as we bring in today we bring in the wonderful Jake Goodman and the ever talented Heather Liz Cobbs who finally I got her on here all my faults.
She had some great stuff going on and I just dropped the ball for like three months.
So we bring them on as we're going to talk about Jekyll and Hyde premiering opening opening opening September 11th this upcoming Friday at Skinny Light Opera Company. And Jaden is here for emotional support for myself as well as Jake who's hanging out here and just talking about how great it all is and how everything is wonderful and kidding around about the centennial year and and Heather Liz Cops is here as the centennial chair as well as the wonderful emcee of the 100th Centennial Kickoff Show.
[00:02:01] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:02:01] Speaker B: Performed and hit everything and I'm supposed to tell you phenomenal shoes for my wife.
[00:02:07] Speaker C: Oh thank you. They were actually custom laducas for my wedding.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: Hey, how often can you get it? Twice.
[00:02:12] Speaker C: I know right? I use them in auditions now.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: It's great.
[00:02:15] Speaker B: See that's see there's a tip ladies.
Heather Liz Cops, plan ahead.
So young Jake.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:02:27] Speaker B: So if you add the three ages in the room you're almost up to Stan.
But Jake Goodman, just tell me about yourself and then we're talk a little bit about Jekyll and Hyde. So the youngin. Yeah, you started with Slok in 20. The aughts.
[00:02:45] Speaker A: Yeah, I started with Slok in 2018. I grew up in the capital region, fell in love with musical theater when I was a young kid and when I was I was going into my junior year of high school and I auditioned for their youth production of Grease on a whim and I was cast as in the role of duty.
I sang and played guitar on stage, and it was so much fun. And to this day, that truly was one of my favorite theatrical experiences I ever had.
Um, just such an amazing cast and team, and I was among people who are still some of my dearest friends, and it was. It was like a really, really formative experience for me. And then the following year, my senior year of high school in 2019, I played Bert and Mary Poppins in the youth program, which was equally as rewarding. It was. It was just. It was really, like I said before, it was very formative, especially before I went to college. And.
[00:03:41] Speaker B: And.
[00:03:42] Speaker A: And I got a BFA in musical theater, and I'm not sure I'd be able to say that I did that if it weren't for my time with the slack youth program.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: So again, as we say, much to many people should gr a sports writer for 25 years.
[00:03:56] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: Where. Where do we go? Where would we go to high school?
[00:03:59] Speaker A: Oh, I went to Columbia High School in East Greenbush.
[00:04:01] Speaker B: All right.
[00:04:02] Speaker A: I went to Pace University for.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: Yeah, all right, fantastic.
And then directing debut.
[00:04:09] Speaker A: This is my. So this is typically, I'm a music director, I'm a piano player, but this is my big directorial debut with slok.
Being able to come back as a director for an adult production following my time in the main stage is really full circle and has been nothing short of rewarding and humbling and educational. And there are so, like, the team that we've assembled for this show has been just a dream to work with every single one of them. I got all of my first picks for who I wanted on my. My immediate creative team, and it's just been. It's been a dream. I can't believe we're already opening. It flew by.
It's crazy.
[00:04:55] Speaker B: All right. And we're gonna follow Stan's golden rule of age before beauty. So now we're gonna go to the lovely Heather here and talk about your foray because you are no stranger in my short time to the slock stage, being there in the past year, you know, I'm like, literally a newbie, but married to a theater gal and support everything and just. I'm in awe. And I say this all the time when I bring in these talented people is I can carry water, but I can't carry a tune.
So it's like the cat meows, like, if I'm in the shower trying to sing anything, you know, to Sirius.
So my wife is just all theater and love It. And I love watch performances and I love watching talent. And every time we leave Slok, I'm just like, mind blown. I'm like, why don't we just take the jet right down to, you know, LaGuardia and just go right over to Broadway and just drop them off, you know, and just stick them in there and say, what do you kept. What are you doing? Just right here, right here, right here, right here, you know.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: Oh, my God.
[00:06:00] Speaker B: Just. I. I just see, you know, Slock is. Is like the talent combine. I'm like, the best of the best. Here we go. Just ship them down and take over. So you, young lady, you've got many shows under your belt and things like that. Yeah. And not revealing the year because we already did that during sound.
The. You graduated from the big Ugly. Graduated from, you know, Shenandoah High School.
My backyard for 25 years. A sports writer, so I know it well.
So when did the bug bite you?
[00:06:33] Speaker C: I have been performing since I was in kindergarten. I did my very first show for elementary school. I went to Don't Stewart, and when I was in kindergarten, they were doing a production of the Sound of Music, and they needed all the Von Trapp children. So I went to audition and got called back, got. Went in, ended up getting the role of Gretel. And I have been performing now for.
I'm going to age myself, but I'm going to do it. My birthday's Thursday. It's fine for 34 years, so. And I've lost count of the number of shows I've done in that time because it's been pretty consistent through that time period.
But, yeah, it caught early. I was singing before I was walking. My parents, you know, had that this old. This is also going to age me cassette tape of Andrew Lloyd Webber's greatest hits. And I used to listen to it all and specifically rewind the Phantom of the Opera sections. And so when I was about seven, they took me to Broadway to see my first show. And they say, we paid for the whole seat. You used about an inch of it. And they had to remind me that I wasn't supposed to be singing along with the show because I already knew every word and was so excited to be there. And it's just been a part of my life ever since
[00:07:48] Speaker B: because of your experience and happy birthday.
[00:07:50] Speaker C: Oh, thank you.
[00:07:52] Speaker B: And so, just for your birthday, we're gonna open Jekyll and hyde for the 100th season.
[00:07:57] Speaker C: Perfect. Love it.
You, as it should be,
[00:08:03] Speaker B: put you on this favorite show that you've Done that I've done. Oh, I know you talk about Les Mis. I beg a chance.
[00:08:11] Speaker C: That was in high school. I think as an adult, there's probably like a three way tie.
[00:08:16] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:08:17] Speaker C: Sweeney Todd at Slok.
What was that? 2016, I think. And that one was a big one for me. I played the beggar woman in that production. And it was such a great experience for me because I came in and auditioned and at that point in my life, I was always playing the ingenue. And so I just assumed I was. If I was going to be cast as anything, it would be Joanna. But I really wanted to try for something different. And I was so grateful that the production team and director and music director were willing to take a risk and let me do something like that. And I loved every minute of that role. It was so much fun vocally, acting wise, and it was so different from anything I'd ever done.
Next would be Cabaret at Slok. Again, I think that was 2017. I've lost track of the years at this point. Anything pre Covid feels like a different time period. Yeah.
[00:09:02] Speaker A: Dan talks about it a lot.
[00:09:03] Speaker C: Yes. And that's how I met the music director for Jekyll and Hyde was the music director for Cabaret. And first of all, it's just such a beautiful show.
One of the most powerful pieces of theater that sadly still remains relevant through every age, especially right now.
And that production kicked my, you know what as a dancer in the best way possible. And that was choreographed by Greg Theodore Marsh, who's gonna be choreographing A Chorus Line in January, which seeing his choreography alone will be reason enough to come. And of course, the director, Peter Caracappa was wonderful too. And just it was a really challenging show physically, emotionally. It was absolutely wonderful to be a part of. And then because I got to play my dream role of dream roles, Evita at Not so Come, we did it in concert, so it was pared down production.
But I got to work alongside Michael Anelick, who played Che, and Mike Bilotti, who was Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha at Slok last season. He was our Juan Perron. And I also got to split the role with Dashita Cortez because neither one of us could do the full run. So it was perfect. We each did a weekend. And getting to work on something like that was really, really special. And I've loved that role for ever. And so finally getting to play it was really, really special.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: So we're gonna stay with you just for a second.
[00:10:20] Speaker C: All Right.
[00:10:20] Speaker B: So you are the Centennial chair. Yes. As Slok celebrates, as we all will. A 100th.
My lips to God's ears.
Did you miss a meeting and they made you the Centennial Chair? Did you want to be the Centennial Chair?
[00:10:39] Speaker C: I was the crazy person that raised her hand years ago and said, I want to do this and I want to make sure that it's not just a gala to say, we're doing that. Don't worry. But I didn't want it to be just a gala and then let it go. I wanted this hundredth year to be really special.
So that meant really being thoughtful about picking our season and the directors that we chose to bring on. That meant, you know, what are we looking at? What can we do that's special for the company as a whole? And I'm sure we might talk about this, but we have a capital campaign going on right now. Our staging, the future.
There's a lot of work that needs to be done on our facility. Our facility is wonderful, but it's an old church that we've rehabbed several years ago when we moved in. And things that weren't maybe a priority, I wasn't around at that time. I was away at school. But, you know, the backstage area is not ADA compliant. Actors who need the use of mobility devices can't. They can't do our shows, unfortunately. And we have very talented people that have different mobility issues that deserve a chance to be a part of our company. So that was something I really wanted to see is what can we do in this hundredth year, maybe? And the opportunity presented itself and the wonderful chairs that we have of that committee reached out to Santa Barbara's office and made something really wonderful possible. And we're really grateful for that.
But yeah, I raised my hand because I'm apparently, I don't know, I just have to give myself difficult things to do.
[00:12:03] Speaker B: And we gotta give credit to somebody in Santa Barbara. I mean, he made it rain. Yeah, he made it rain.
[00:12:08] Speaker C: He and Speaker Hasty just. I'm so thankful I was there walking
[00:12:13] Speaker B: through as a photographer and I know Ted Remsteiner was there writing the story when he was on Sky City and the conversation with the wonderful Johnny, which we're going to. We're going to talk about Slo's dating.
I don't know how that's a screening thing or it's. Or it's the next new thing. We need to go out and explore and market.
Your husband's there and he saw and. And.
And Speaker Hasty's talking To your husband, he goes, so how much you need? Like, you know, very honest, but like a million.
And then like hazel, like, like one and a half to two and a half. And like, the number goes up and just watching your husband's eyes grow. And I'm behind the camera going, holy crap.
And I'm just there as a photographer. I had not been engaged with Slok at that point in time, and I was still like, are you freaking kidding me? So that was awesome for him, for him to be a part of that and everything he's put into it and. And he can't get away. Yeah. As the co producer of Jekyll and Hyde. So let's go back to the man in front of the curtain, but in the, in the seats.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:13:24] Speaker B: He's not doing too bad, Jaden. He's. He's. He's crushing it.
[00:13:31] Speaker A: So don't speak too soon. You haven't seen it yet.
[00:13:33] Speaker B: This is again, having the wonderful Michael Bilotti on and have our current president on. And, you know, you, in a sense, you kind of have to audition, I think, for these director roles. Right. You got to go and say, I have an interest. They have an interest. How does that. Yeah, you're on the spot. This isn't just like, I'll pull it out of the hat or, he's available. Yeah, you got to bring it.
[00:13:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I applied for it. I applied for it back in. I remember applications were open, and it was the last day that they were open. And I was thinking, I let. So last summer, I had officiated a wedding. Two of my dear friends. Wedding, who are. Who are very involved in the sloth community.
[00:14:11] Speaker C: He did a great job.
[00:14:13] Speaker A: Thank you. And I, I was just. I was talking.
I was talking to a few sloth community members because the entire community was there.
[00:14:22] Speaker C: We were all there.
[00:14:22] Speaker A: We were all there. And I was like, you know, I really. I'm really starting to get interested in directing. You know, I did it a little bit in college. I did it a little bit in high school.
But I've always branded myself as a performer first and then a music director and then. But I never just quite, quite got to, you know, try directing to the extent that I wanted to. And, you know, like I said, I had done it a little bit, but I was talking to some people at the reception of this wedding, and I
[00:14:47] Speaker B: was like, you know, I think I
[00:14:49] Speaker A: might, like, apply to Director's Lock show next year. You know, it'd be so full circle. I don't know. But, you know, I Was just kind of toying with it. I didn't know if it would be able to come to fruition.
And then it was the last day that applications were open, and I said, you know what?
Why not? And I wrote a whole pitch about why I wanted to direct and how I think it would be, you know, such a wonderful opportunity and how I feel like I have so much I could bring to the table.
And not long after that, I got an interview. And not long after that, they offered me the show, which was crazy.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: So the director comes first and then the show. Or did you.
[00:15:26] Speaker A: So I had to pitch a show that I wanted to. That I wanted to do, and that the show that I pitched was not chosen, but they still wanted me to direct. So they offered me this show to direct. Yeah.
[00:15:39] Speaker C: Yeah. We did it a little differently this year. So usually we'll ask directors to submit a show or several shows that they might be interested in and tell us what time of year they're available, who their potential team might be. And then we go through that. We cull through. And by we, I mean our show selection committee, which changes up every year, but is led by the artistic director.
[00:15:58] Speaker B: And.
[00:15:59] Speaker C: And then we go from there and we assemble a season based on the submissions that we get and what we think is going to work. But for the hundredth. And this is one of the things I was really passionate about was that we select the shows first.
We didn't put it out to the public. And that changed as we saw what I mean, we had a slate of shows. I think the only one that survived was A Chorus Line that we started with that we thought would be the shows for the year. And it didn't even stay in the place where we thought it was going to be.
And a lot of that became a part of, well, what's available for rights and then what directors have submitted and which ones do we think are the right fits and based on who we think their teams are gonna be? Cause we didn't wanna have too many overlapping people from team to team. We wanted them to really focus on one show, make it really strong for this hundredth year.
So we did it a little bit differently. And it was nice because we were able to go, okay, so we have these shows that we're looking at and these directors that we're really interested in who's gonna make the right choice to put these shows together. And it was a.
And it took us a good amount of time, But I think that the committee that we had this year worked really, really Hard and put a really solid hundredth season together. And I'm so excited to see it. And one of the things I think is really cool, and we talked about a little bit with Jake is that he's one of two directors this season that actually graduated from our youth program and is now at the helm of a main stage show, which I think is just a testament to the importance of theater education and that legacy that SLOK has built. Because that didn't exist when I was in high school. My first Slok show, which was Jekyll and Hyde in 2004, was a regular production. We didn't have youth shows. You wanted to get in the show. There either needed to be a kid's role for you to play or be like, I was a high school student that could pass as an adult and be in the show that way. So it's great to see that that opportunity is available now. And not only is it available, but it's producing some amazing talent out of our area and some that are coming back and sharing their talents with us again. Yeah.
[00:17:53] Speaker B: So just, just for a reset again, back from summer school.
This is the Stand and Friends combination podcast. So stand in Friends and Tell Me youe Stories. I have two wonderful people here from Schenectady Light Opera Company.
We have the director Friday opening. Jaclyn Hyde, Jake Gooden and the ever talented Centennial Chair.
Everything to slot on stage and off.
Heather, Liz, Cops.
And we're talking about Jekyll and Hyde and SLOK as a whole. And the 100th season.
And the Hunter season kicks off. Opens, opens. Kickoff happened last Friday. Forget that. It opens September 11th with Jekyll and Hyde. First show of the year. And then we go to November, Hunchback of Notre Dame, which is the.
[00:18:44] Speaker C: It's the youth production.
[00:18:45] Speaker B: The youth production.
And then the much anticipated, never released.
This is like a 50 year seal on this. Like the public would never know. Finally announced A Chorus Line January 15th to the 24th Company get a little bit of a break.
Company will open on March 12th through the 21st. And we'll close out with, from what I understand, every actor's favorite favorite of all time, Something rotten opening on May 7th through the 16th. So it's a good one.
[00:19:22] Speaker C: It's gonna be a bloodbath at those auditions.
[00:19:24] Speaker B: Well, that's, I mean, good one. It's like you said, the pieces move based on the directors and the shows and stuff like that.
What notes did young Jake provide during his interview? And stuff that you, that you're familiar with the Committee liked and what he was bringing to slok for a direct for a debut too. This is an unknown.
[00:19:52] Speaker A: I'm excited to hear this.
[00:19:53] Speaker C: Well, we ended. We tend to keep the talkings of the committee private because, you know, But I will say this like, he's incredibly talented.
[00:20:01] Speaker B: No known.
[00:20:02] Speaker C: What we know is that he's incredibly talented.
We knew him as a musician, we knew him as an actor, and his reputation precedes him. And he's, as you can tell, very kind, very polite.
And he's smart. You know, he understands theater, he understands storytelling. And for a director, that's incredibly important. And I speak as a director on this one. You know, it's. And also the fact that he has the music capabilities too. This show is so music heavy. And I didn't realize it until I did it years and years ago just how much singing is truly involved. Because I listened to the cast album. I mean, I was a kid in the 90s and early 2000s that for musical theater kids was one of the albums to be listening to at that time. And I knew all the solos and all that kind of stuff, but I didn't pay attention to how much ensemble singing there was behind all of those solos until I got into it.
And so knowing that show and knowing his musical talents as well, I knew he would be. And I'm sure other people on the committee shared this, but I knew he could handle it. And not just handle it, but do it well and use it for the storytelling ability that that music is supposed to provide. And the cast he has put together is incredible. I mean, there isn't a weak link in that group. And I'll tell you, he had what, 85, 86 people auditioned for this show.
And post Covid. Those are incredible numbers.
[00:21:33] Speaker A: They told me it was the other than a youth productions, it was one of the biggest tournaments in the history. It was.
[00:21:38] Speaker C: It was huge.
[00:21:39] Speaker B: Until chorus Line, which will be, you know, we selling the downsell have like
[00:21:42] Speaker C: 500 people and look at them all.
[00:21:44] Speaker A: What's cool is that this show is full of singers and the chorus line call will be full of dancers and something rotten will be probably a mix. You know what I mean? So.
[00:21:55] Speaker C: And that's part of what goes into making that season is separating those shows out because we said, you know, we can't put a chorus line right next to something rotten because we have to have time for the dancers to have a break.
[00:22:09] Speaker B: You throw your hat in the ring.
[00:22:10] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I went for it.
[00:22:13] Speaker B: Then you get the call is that when things get A little weak in the knees, and you're like, oh, crap. What did I do?
[00:22:22] Speaker A: It definitely hit me in waves, right? So I remember when I got the call, I was watching the Emmys with my best friend in New York City.
I. And it was late at night. Michael Camello, the artistic director, called me at, like, late. It was like 10:30 or 11 this past January, and I was watching the Emmys with my best friend in Brooklyn, and I was like, hold on, I got to take this. And so I answered, and he offered it to me. And then I. Obviously, I was so, so excited. And then, you know, in the coming days, in the coming weeks, I was like, oh, oh, this is the. This is their hundredth season.
Oh, wait.
This is also the first show of the 100th season.
[00:23:04] Speaker C: No pressure.
[00:23:06] Speaker A: Also, wait, I'm also graduated from the youth program, so that's like a whole other layer. So it was just, like, in waves. It's come in, like, oh, crap moments. But, like, like I said, it is. It has been the most rewarding thing. And the team, like, obviously, the cast is extraordinary, and we.
I. I perfect. But, like, I got every single one of my first picks for our creative team, which does not always happen.
And. And I.
The people that I like working with, I keep very close to my chest, and I don't take it for granted.
And this show has been. This experience, rather, has been a testament to that, you know, I. One of my. My very best friends in the world, Josh DiMarco, is my choreographer, and he's doing an amazing job.
Our music director, Dan Gallagher, is truly one of the best musicians I've ever met. He plays our instrument flawlessly. It's insane. It's actually. It's actually insane how brilliant he is.
[00:24:06] Speaker B: Really.
[00:24:07] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, it's unreal, but he was my first pick. Another one of my dear friends. And then at the 11th hour before we started rehearsals, I started to think maybe I could use an assistant director, because I, as we've said, directorial debut, you know, it's always good to have another set of eyes on things. And so really, at the 11th hour, like, a couple weeks before we started rehearsals, I reached out to our now assistant director, Grace Glassetter, and she is. I feel silly to call her an assistant director. She's been just as much of a director as me, and she has really, really, really helped shape the show to what it is today.
And working with her has been incredible. And I echo those sentiments for Josh and Dan as well. Yeah.
[00:24:56] Speaker B: So as the directorial debut prior to this because we have Lily Jaden here.
[00:25:03] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:25:04] Speaker B: The heartbreaking days.
This was your last heartbreaker was when you had to make these decisions for your cast. You're done with that role now, right?
[00:25:12] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No more heartbreak. Oh, yeah.
[00:25:16] Speaker B: So being an actor and then being a director and then doing, like, sitting on that side of things for, you know, a Chorus line and making that call, what was that like? Because you've been on stage, you've been doing the ask and you've been doing the performing, you know what the Blood and sweat, tears, soul prayers.
[00:25:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:40] Speaker B: And then we, like so and so for this. Thank you.
[00:25:46] Speaker A: You know, it's given me a completely new perspective on the art form as a whole. Honestly, it's. You know, I've been a music director many times in my life, but a director proper is something that is still relatively new. And having that.
That new sort of perspective has been really eye opening. And you really learn that there.
There's nothing personal that goes into casting. It's just you. You cast a show based on who you see fits the roles the best. You know, I mean, you. You are. You are piecing together a puzzle. And whoever fits that puzzle the best is what you go with. There is. There is nothing personal about it.
And I think as an actor, I sometimes have a hard time remembering that, you know, when you go into, you know, you know, a final callback in New York City for something and it's like you walk out and you don't get something, it's tough to not take it personally. But this has really, really kind of provided that reinforcement that it's like, you know what? It's sometimes. Sometimes you are right for something, and sometimes it's just. Just makes more sense to go with somebody else. There are so many other people that could be playing the roles that our cast is playing.
But this was just the best. This was just the best option. These are just the people who fit the roles the best.
[00:27:17] Speaker B: And then only because of experience.
Young Heather, what is up with the Capital Region? I mean, we have. So we have. And again, newbie neophyte to community theater.
We've got them all over, so. And we've got different shows and we've got people that I've seen at Slack that are playing other places that I'm like, oh, crap, I really want to go because I loved you in this, I want to see you in something else.
What is it about again? Sports analogy, section 2. But the 5, 18 with this talent,
[00:27:58] Speaker C: I have a theory.
[00:27:59] Speaker B: Okay, share, please.
[00:28:00] Speaker C: And it's very personally related too, because I think it's how I wound up back here. So I went to school for theater as well. I went to Marymount Manhattan College and got my BA in theater arts and directing and then got my master's at Catholic University of America in theater history and criticism and then ended up through life changes, coming back to the 518.
And part of that was, you know, I had been auditioning or, you know, submitting to direct places and through circumstances out of my control, things got canceled, blah, blah, blah. Came back here and I was like, all right, well, while I'm back, while I'm figuring out life, let me audition for some shows. And I did and I realized that. And it's grown since then. We're talking back 2012 when I came back to the area and in that time there were a lot of companies and I feel like it's grown and grown and grown as has the talent pool. And I think part of it is we are close to the city. Several people like myself went down there, went to other places, tried it for whatever reason, decided it wasn't the right thing for them. I know for me it became a matter of I love the art of it. I hated the business of it and decided that I would rather do this for joy and be able to pick and choose my projects rather than having to say yes to something I wasn't crazy about because I needed to pay my. My rent. And I know there are others that are in a similar place or that said, you know what, my, my type isn't going to keep me employed or whatever it might be. Your life just took them in another direction. And so we just have this really high concentration.
Plus, I think in the recent years with the uptick of youth productions and all this, there's been a market for youth voice teachers and youth acting coaches. And so people are building up from a younger age to this talent that I don't think we expected. You know, when I was a kid, we didn't have that stuff around here. Like I said, you had to get. There was either like a show in the summer that kids could do with, with their parents or something like that. And then slok was doing shows and maybe one or two other theaters and you had to, you know, cull through the newspaper to find the audition notices, things like that.
So. And it's a lot easier to send out your notices for auditions now. It's a lot easier to get people involved. And I think people are just building and training from a younger age. And also, people just enjoy it, so they want to do it more and they want to create opportun.
And I think there's good and bad to that. The good thing is that there's an interest and there is clearly a market for it around here, which is wonderful because the arts are essential for a thriving economy. They're essential for just quality of life. I think if you don't have. If the art scene is dead, whether it's performing visual music, it's. If it's. If the art scene isn't thriving, there's also other things going wrong.
So the fact that we have this much says a lot about our community.
However, there is such a thing as over saturation. And I say this as my own personal views. This is not necessarily the company's views. This is my views that I think we're hitting a point of oversaturation. Like you said, it's hard to go see everything.
I've missed many shows that my friends have been in because maybe I've been in a show at the same time, or there just isn't enough time to get to everything. There isn't enough money to get to everything.
And I am a believer in quality over quantity. But I think there is a happy medium somewhere between where we are and where we were. And some of these companies sadly won't make it, and some may have revitalizations. I think, you know, Fort Salem is a good example of that. It had an. A previous owner who I worked with. It's gone to a new owner. They are unfortunately now selling as well. And I hope that somebody wonderful comes in and takes that over, because I think especially that far north, it's. It's a little bit different of an area, but they were doing wonderful things. This new iteration, as was the old one, very different in style, but, you know, they're one I'd love to see. Keep going and keep doing some great work. Just like I want to see Slok go on for the next hundred years, you know, well beyond the time I'm gone.
It's great to see that we have so many artists, and I love that for us. And I.
I hope it continues in a way that continues to produce great art for our region.
[00:32:12] Speaker B: And I'm just going to reset real quick because this is basically my commercial break for Sloky Light Opera Company. So if you didn't know what Slack was, you're. You're in my. My camp. I'm like, what, Slack? What do we. Schenectady Light Opera Company, again, I'm Sold. I was sold the first minute I walked in there and things like that. But I'm here with Jekyll and Hyde debut director Jake Goodman. You just call him Just Debut. That'd be his nickname from there. And then the Centennial.
The. It's on my notes here. Stanley, find it. The. The 100th anniversary. The centennial. Chairperson, Heather Liz Copps. Jekyll. And High Day opens September 11th, Friday, 8pm and runs through the 20th. Thursday, Friday, Saturday shows at 8pm and then the Sunday shows are at 3pm on the 13th and 20th, with the American Sign Language show on September 13th at 3pm and you talk about the oversaturation and how far your money goes, and everybody's fighting for the same dollar.
Apologies to those that are blocks away, that have huge names arriving.
It is the best ticket in town at Slock.
[00:33:33] Speaker C: Oh, thank you again.
[00:33:35] Speaker B: We're gonna. We're gonna. I'm gonna. So this happens all the time. So this is like nothing new. I fanboy before the show, and then Rita fanboys at the show. Okay.
[00:33:45] Speaker A: At the show. Okay.
[00:33:46] Speaker B: At the show. So she. So somebody's getting a hug from Rita. I don't know who's gonna be.
So. You know Michael Bilotti, Manala Mancha. My favorite, my number one all time. He's in. He's sitting across from me, and I. I wanted to have him on the podcast just because he was the lead. It's. It's my musical. I got to talk to this guy. He sits down and said. I said, what's the deal? He goes, oh, I graduated from Stanford, so it's a school smaller than mine.
[00:34:12] Speaker A: Yeah, okay.
[00:34:13] Speaker B: Last year, they graduated 26 kids. Okay, 92 when I was there, but that's because we had two states joined. So he graduates from saying, I'm like, they had theater. Goes, yes. What'd you guys do that?
I was in the Navy. I said. I went to Annapolis. I said, so you graduated as lieutenant, and then what'd you do? Five years on submarines. Really? Then what'd you do? I tried to make it in New York. Didn't happen. Had my first son, and I'm back here, and I'm like, are you serious?
[00:34:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:38] Speaker B: Yep. Then I see the show, and I'm
[00:34:40] Speaker A: just like, yeah, he's great.
[00:34:42] Speaker C: That's amazing.
[00:34:43] Speaker B: And then we follow it up, and then we had the mystery Edwin Drood on and talent there.
And then.
I'm sorry.
I am sorry. American idiot.
I will never forget my entire life. I will never forget that show. I will never forget that show everyone I tell about it. I go, yeah, I spent. As he hits that, I go, Yeah, I spent 35 bucks. And I watched the concert. I watched Green Day in concert with talent. They're like, really? I said it was the most amazing, you know.
[00:35:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:35:16] Speaker B: Again, because of my age and my wife's age.
Yeah. We knew when it dropped.
[00:35:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:35:21] Speaker B: You know, we knew when American Idiot.
[00:35:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:35:23] Speaker B: We were in line, like, getting Springsteen tickets in line to pick it up and play it.
[00:35:28] Speaker C: Oh, I remember getting that album.
[00:35:30] Speaker B: Oh, my God. And just. But just that talent. And I'm just like, just the funnel. I mean, and we talked about, like, the dollars. We're fighting for the dollar. Fighting for the dollar.
You got to bring it. If you're going to take. If you're going to get me at a show other than slack that I'm not going to see for a friend.
[00:35:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:35:48] Speaker B: If you're going to make us an annual, you got to bring it.
[00:35:52] Speaker A: That makes me so happy. I'm so glad you love it.
[00:35:54] Speaker B: It is such a great experience, and thanks to our friends on the board. Maury Neufeld was a big introduction to that. And then Rito's on Easy Sell for theater. And.
And the first show we saw, the Mystery of Edgewell and Drood.
[00:36:09] Speaker C: And isn't that such a fun one? I had never seen it before. And it.
[00:36:13] Speaker B: This is the great moments of podcasting where we're sitting here and I'm sitting here and they go, rupert Holmes. And I'm like, sitting there and I'm going, pina Colada song. I'm like, are you freaking serious? So we spend the whole time the song that's on my playlist, and my wife comes on all the time. We listen 70s on 70s. It's on all the time. And it makes my wife laugh so hard. She's like, you know, they're talking about cheating on each other every time. The song that comes on every single day, Rita goes, you know, talking about cheating on each other. Right. I go, yeah. You know, I'm talking about taking a personality in the newspaper. So let's. Okay. So let's go. Okay. This song is also, you know, 100 years old. And let's get over it. It's a great song.
[00:36:56] Speaker C: But here you pro print news, right?
[00:36:58] Speaker B: This is exactly. This is, you know, a song that's. That's in our lexicon. And then this songwriter then takes this unfinished Dickens piece and creates this. And was delivered.
So just incredible. So we were sold right off the rip.
So Jekyll and Hyde so Jekyll and Hyde. Debut director.
[00:37:19] Speaker A: Debut director.
[00:37:21] Speaker B: Tell us about Jekyll and Hyde. Because I read some things and I don't want to say what it is in case I'm wrong. So tell me about Jekyll and Hyde.
[00:37:27] Speaker A: Yeah, so it tells the story of this, this doctor, this brilliant doctor who is probably too smart for his own good, who attempts to separate the ideas of good versus evil in humans to try to create a better society. And obviously the story, obviously the experiment backfires or else there wouldn't be a musical. But aside from the show's content, aside from the show's content, which I don't want to give too many spoilers, I'll just say bring tissues. But aside from the show's content, the parallels between 1800s London and 2026America are more striking than you might think.
We see themes of greed and corruption and loss and class discrepancies and exploitation.
All those themes run rampant through the entire piece, see, from day to day. And when I read the script for the first time, because admittedly, when I got this show, I knew some of the music, but I didn't know it inside and out like obviously I do now.
So I had to do a lot of research and I had to learn a lot about these characters and really dive into to who these people are. And the most interesting thing that I found was how similar, yet how dissimilar yet similar the these themes and this story is to today's society. And I hope that when people come and see it, they.
It makes them stop and think and reflect a little bit about how far we've come, but also not how far we've come.
It is, I think, as Heather was saying, the arts are always on the chopping block and we need the arts now more than ever.
And even though this story is not necessarily a happy, happy, go lucky story, sorry I'm not giving any spoilers, but there's not too many laughs just to sit in the theater and feel something and make our audiences think about where we are today.
That's what's really important and that is what I am aiming to do with this production.
[00:39:46] Speaker B: All right, Jayden on the hot seat. Has he been a Jekyll or a Hyde during this process?
[00:39:51] Speaker C: I've actually purposely not learned anything so that the night of the opening, say Jekyll.
[00:39:58] Speaker B: Jekyll, just his. How's he been to be with over the past several.
Okay, just. He's chill. He's like entire heart and soul to this. Okay, all right, okay, chill.
[00:40:10] Speaker C: But he's incredible.
[00:40:12] Speaker A: Definitely not a joke.
[00:40:14] Speaker C: No director is keel. And sure. Yes.
[00:40:18] Speaker B: Most of it's within reason.
[00:40:20] Speaker C: You're very.
Okay.
[00:40:21] Speaker A: Dedicated.
[00:40:22] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:40:23] Speaker A: I have. I have given a lot to this.
[00:40:25] Speaker C: She sounds like a keeper, Jake.
[00:40:26] Speaker A: I would agree. I would agree.
[00:40:28] Speaker B: They were walking in together, and I'm like, okay, is this. Is this gonna be. It's gonna be Blake. Is this Hannah bringing in?
[00:40:34] Speaker A: Surprise, surprise.
[00:40:36] Speaker B: I'm like, yeah.
From there, it's the big one. Well, Chorus Line is the big one because that gets top billing as far as what it is and things like that. And emotionally, what it means to everyone involved in the seats and then on the stage.
And then something rotten means something to everybody. Again, with any inclination of what it is in the seats and on the stage.
But it's the first show. And like, how did.
How did Jekyll. And again, being not a Nemo, not a Les Mis, not what everybody.
They think they know, but they don't know.
How'd that move to the first spot?
[00:41:19] Speaker C: A couple different ways. One was actually had to do with the rights to A Chorus Line.
It did.
As people know. It was our mystery show. We had to wait because of rights.
You know, there's funny little things in theater contracts. And so we couldn't announce until July. And we said, well, we can't announce it. We can't hold auditions in time. It's just not gonna work. So we had to move A Chorus Line. And then as we did that, that shifted other things and other directors and all this kind of stuff around. And then eventually we decided we need an opener show. And we looked through some of the shows that we had put back on the shelf that we were looking at, and we said, let's look at those audience. Cause we did a huge social media survey of what were the shows that people wanted to see. And A Chorus Line was the number one request on that. Jekyll and Hyde was up there probably top 10. And so we looked back on it. I said, well, we haven't done it since 2004. So it's been. We didn't. Haven't even done it in this particular theater that we're currently in. That was back at the old State street place.
And so it had been a while it was requested. It's one of those shows that musical theater folks know and love that because the score is absolutely beautiful.
[00:42:30] Speaker A: Second to none.
[00:42:31] Speaker C: It is one of the most beautiful scores I've ever had the privilege of singing, and I absolutely love it. And it's. It's a great ensemble show, which is always a good one to start off with, with a bigger cast.
And it's a story that people are familiar with. And, you know, not to give anything away, but it's not a strict adaptation of the book. There are characters. It's actually closer to a 19, I want to say 32 film adaptation.
And it brings in some characters that don't exist. The women, for example. There are no women in this book.
You know, Jekyll and Hyde. The strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is about a 74 page novella. It's short.
There's not a ton in there.
The film that they take a lot of this from expands it and has a female counterpart for each side of him to work with. And it brings a lot of those in and beefs up things that aren't in the. In the novella.
And so there's more intrigue, there's something new.
It's not your everyday Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde case. So I think that's one of the great things about it. And also it's September, we're getting into fall. Spooky season is right around the corner.
So what a perfect way to do it and kind of kick things off. And I think that was kind of what finally made us go, yeah, we got the right director, it's the right time of year to do the show. We haven't done it in forever and people love it. And I think for those that are coming in that don't know it, they're going to leave with new songs stuck in their head or one of the most, like I said, one of the most beautiful scores and a really wonderful emotional experience. And we've got great, great people in all of. All of the characters that. All the actors that Jake has cast are phenomenal, especially Jekyll and Hyde with James.
[00:44:13] Speaker B: Alexandra, just looking at my notes, I was just gonna say is like, how much hard is it to get a two for one deal?
[00:44:19] Speaker C: I mean, when you got James, I
[00:44:20] Speaker B: mean, you've got to go. You've got to play both ends of the spectrum.
[00:44:23] Speaker A: I have goosebumps right now thinking about him singing the. Those songs.
He is.
It's insane the way he just switches back and forth because that's what you have to do. You know, the role is a heavy, heavy lift and he just switches back and forth between Jekyll and Hyde and Jekyll and Hyde the entire show. And he does a really, really great job. And I just, I have to also shout out Hannah Destefano. And Blake Zard, our. Our Lucy and Emma, the, the women that have been added to this, this story. And, and partly because of the writing and partly because of this production, I think it's easy, particularly for the role of Emma to just become a typical, like the ingenue. And I was super interested in really diving into who these, particularly Lucy and Emma are as people. And I think Blake and Hannah have both delivered tenfold in giving these women depth and giving them a voice and really kind of representing.
Representing where they are in terms of class at the time.
And so I just. I had to shout out those two as well. They are just exceptional, as is James, obviously. But the three of them as, as a unit are, Are something special.
[00:45:45] Speaker B: Opening night. Friday, Friday, 8pm yeah. September 11th.
[00:45:49] Speaker A: Three days.
[00:45:50] Speaker B: Scaffold Opera Company.
You nervous?
[00:45:53] Speaker A: Yep. Yes. Yes, I am, but I am. I'm. I'm also so excited. I really am. I feel like we just did auditions yesterday. I can't believe we're opening. It's crazy.
[00:46:02] Speaker C: Let me just tell you, as someone who's directed at slok.
[00:46:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:05] Speaker C: When the show opens, it's like.
It's like sending your kid to school for the first time. It's like letting go. Yes, I remember. So I directed 1776 for those that don't know back in 2019. And I remember watching from. There's like a. The show was sold out, which I'm sure Jekyll and Hyde will be too. There's like a little spot near our lighting booth that you can sit on just like folding chairs and watch the show. So my producers and I sat up there and watched the show.
And when it was over, I think I might have collapsed when the lights went out before curtain call and I was like, it happened. It happened.
[00:46:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:39] Speaker C: Be prepared. It's an emotional moment, but it is magical to watch your work come to life and go, I did what I needed to do. It's in their hands now. It's scary. And every night I white knuckled it. But they delivered and they, as will your cast. And it's going to be amazing.
[00:46:53] Speaker A: 100.
[00:46:54] Speaker C: So enjoy it.
[00:46:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, that's. I feel the same way. It's like up until now, it's only been us. And in three days it's going to be the world. It's going to be an audience, it's
[00:47:04] Speaker B: going to be sold out.
[00:47:05] Speaker A: It's going to be. Oh, yeah.
[00:47:06] Speaker B: I've been very fortunate. Rita and I've always gone to opening shows. Just. It just happened to work out. And again, dinner and a show is a cool thing that we claim.
And now our season tickets are, you know, opening nights, you know, all five,
[00:47:20] Speaker C: which means you get the opening night party afterwards too.
[00:47:22] Speaker B: So that was. That was an easy sell to read. Yeah, the designated passenger was all for it. Our.
[00:47:29] Speaker C: Our amazing partners over at Vice and Virtue. They joined us two seasons ago when they. When they opened and they've been wonderful partners to us. And now we're excited to be having our opening night parties over there.
There'll be cash bar, just a great opportunity to celebrate all the work that they've done. Come, you know, if you're there in the audience that night, come on over, have a drink, meet the cast, give them your praise. They love it.
We're glad to have that tradition back. It was something that we had for a long time pre Covid. We used to do it at our own theater, but now we've taken it off site so we don't have to worry about doing that work. And with a wonderful partner like them who always puts on amazing food, great coffee, and also a great spot to grab a slock tail before the show. We have a great partnership with them. Every dollar, or there's a dollar off of every sloc tail will come to sloc. And I believe they're also running two extra drinks during the run of the show. A Jekyll and a Hyde.
So, yeah, I believe the high. I don't know the full ingredients. I was there last week, but I forgot what's on it. But I know the hide is, I believe, a whiskey base.
[00:48:33] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:48:34] Speaker C: And the Jekyll is a.
Is it a champagne based or.
[00:48:37] Speaker A: No, something a little lighter.
[00:48:38] Speaker C: It's a lighter. I know that one might be vodka, but either way we have a little like little smokiness and a little sweetness. So definitely come by one of those three cocktails, you'll not only have a great drink, but you'll be supporting the theater too.
[00:48:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
We're gonna get you out of here.
[00:48:52] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:48:55] Speaker B: We're gonna talk about the co producers real quick. Sarah Fredericks, I will soon meet. And then there's this other guy.
[00:49:00] Speaker A: That guy.
This guy.
[00:49:03] Speaker B: Past president.
[00:49:04] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:49:05] Speaker B: Your husband. And how we're gonna pronounce John's name. We already screwed this up with me mispronouncing names to start.
[00:49:10] Speaker C: So how do we pronounce Johnny Maglino?
[00:49:13] Speaker B: Maglino. Yep.
Past president. And I comes down as co producer. And I'm like, this guy does not want to be home. I'm like, what is going.
[00:49:20] Speaker C: Sometimes I Ask the same thing.
[00:49:23] Speaker B: So again, just a quick side, just a quick side piece because we got to make this super funny and embarrassing for everyone.
When, when we Talked about the 100th Centennial show and you did such a wonderful job with the sit downs with the director. It was just being that podcast fan first is how this all started those years ago.
The atmosphere and the delivery and that conversational piece just made it so great. Along with incredible performances, including yourself.
[00:49:54] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:49:56] Speaker B: How many, like how many relationship, long lasting relationships started at Slack?
[00:50:03] Speaker A: Because it's like so, so many.
[00:50:06] Speaker C: I mean, I'll tell you, there's so
[00:50:08] Speaker A: many of them we're going to. Actually I'm still learning about them.
[00:50:11] Speaker B: And is it just. Is it just like, like minded people just. You found a home.
[00:50:14] Speaker C: I think it's part of that. I know I've seen a lot of them firsthand over the years and actually that's gonna be part of our centennial celebration that we have at the GE Theatre at Proctors on Saturday.
Um, it's about celebrating not just the theater that's been done, but how SLOK has affected the community, including the relationships and children that have come out of it. Um, and you know, it's funny, there's a longtime couple that I remember met last time Jekyll and Hyde was done at Slok, um, Heather D' Arcy and Eric Shova. Eric was playing Mr. Utterson and Heather was playing Lucy.
[00:50:47] Speaker A: Oh my God.
[00:50:48] Speaker C: They met during that show. They are still together now and have two beautiful little girls.
I met my husband Johnny while we were in Curtains together at SLOK a few years back. And I can honestly admit, and he hates this, but I've dated a lot of guys that didn't last that I met at SLOK between that and those times.
[00:51:08] Speaker B: So it's not a true proving grant.
[00:51:10] Speaker C: It doesn't always work. But I know plenty of couples that have met through the theater. And I think part of it is you put a lot of yourself out there. You spend a lot of time at the theater when you're involved in a show and when you're in those close prox. In close proximity with people, relationships build at a quicker rate than I think they do in any other environment. And because unlike a sports team or something, it's, you know, it's usually co ed except for a couple shows, but you know, it's. So there's more opportunity, I think, for those types of relationships to bloom and to blossom and you know, it's funny. And my husband's sister, Christine Miglino, does A lot of shows with us, done a lot.
She's so talented and I mean, I remember going and seeing her in shows before I even knew he existed. And, you know, she told him when he moved back to the area because he took a hiatus and went off to other things and came back and said, johnny, you know, you did shows in high school. I think you should get back into it again because I guarantee you're gonna meet a really nice girl doing this. And sure enough, he's dated one or two others. But then, like, we met and we've been together since shortly after Curtains Closed. We were actually seeing other people during that show, but that's where we met and got to know each other.
That was March of 2018 and here we are now. Our daughter turned four yesterday, so it clearly it stuck. And, you know, it's incredibly important to us. I know our dear friends Matt and Trish Dembling met at auditions for not our most recent production, but the production before of Joseph and the Amazing Technical at Dreamcoat. I could name so many other couples that have come out of there. And I think it really is, it's a place of passion for the art that we do. And it's just the community is really a part of it and you find your partners within community. And so it's not surprising to me that there is a theater to family pipeline in there.
[00:52:57] Speaker B: Totally gonna stay with you. Real quick, how can we continue to support slack in its 100th?
[00:53:06] Speaker C: So, as I mentioned, we have our Staging the Future campaign.
We, you know, we got a generous gift from the State of New York of $2.5 million.
That's not everything we need. We need to raise between a total including that 2.5, three and a half to 4 million. With the way things are going with the cost of everything these days, it's probably going to get closer to that four because not only are we working on revamping our backstage area, so that means bringing the stage to the same level as the backstage. People don't know it, but you have to get up steps to get from the backstage onto the stage. Putting an ADA compliant ramp in to allow access to the stage door. We're also. That means widening the backstage, having proper dressing rooms. Right now we all get dressed and hope nobody cares.
So we'll have proper dressing and changing areas, proper makeup stations, instead of all of us hovering over one mirror and hoping we get it all done right.
And then there's also going to be a set building facility so that we can work on things without disrupting the work on stage and having the backstage space.
And then we're revamping our lobbyist part of it too. Because while our lobby is technically ADA compliant, and I say technically with probably some air quotes on it, we want to expand it. We want to make it bigger, adding more bathrooms, which I know especially the ladies will appreciate at intermission, and expanding that space and really just making it a more welcoming environment for our patrons and so contributing to that campaign. You can learn more about it by visiting Slock Theater, and that's theater with an ER staging. The future. You can reach out to
[email protected] I'd be happy to answer questions and talk to you about how you can make a meaningful pledge. And we will take anything from your $5 to your 500,000.
We and we're happy to take pledges over multiple years for this project, too.
And then of course, there's our annual contributions. You know, you want to donate 100, 200 to the theater company, we always can appreciate that. It helps, helps us keep the shows going. Ticket sales don't cover everything. They cover a lot, but it's not everything.
And you know, come to a show, that's probably the biggest thing that you can do is come to a show, tell a friend, bring a friend.
We have this wonderful program that we started a couple seasons ago where you can buy flex passes. So if maybe you can't commit to every opening night, but you know, you want to come to the shows, buy a Flex 5 pass or a Flex 3 pass and then you've got five tickets or three tickets that you can use to any show throughout the season. You just got to go online and pick your dates while they're available.
And it's a great, easy option so that you don't have to feel locked into that date. And I know I utilize that now because I never know my schedule and I was never a subscriber until we had that option because I could never commit. And then also too, if I was in a show, well, then I got tickets for a show I can't go to because I'm in it. So it's a wonderful option, you know, Visit
[email protected] Learn more about our upcoming productions. Also, if you're interested in getting involved as a performer, we have auditions for A Chorus Line coming up on October 8th and 9th.
Details on that are on our website. And we would love to see, you know, all the great dancers of the capital region come out for this show because it's going to be absolutely fantastic. I. I plan on auditioning. I'm probably there for a good time. Not a long time, but any chance to dance with Greg Marsh, I'm up for. So I really hope to see a lot of you there.
[00:56:28] Speaker B: All right, Mr. Goodman.
[00:56:29] Speaker A: Yes, sir.
[00:56:30] Speaker B: You ready?
[00:56:30] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm ready.
[00:56:33] Speaker B: Is he ready?
[00:56:34] Speaker A: I think so. What am I?
[00:56:36] Speaker C: Johnny says you're ready.
[00:56:37] Speaker A: So Johnny says I'm ready. Johnny says I'm ready.
In check.
[00:56:46] Speaker B: So I can't thank you enough for coming in. I can't wait to get this out and help support the show in every way that we can here at Daily Gazette with our powers that be and then our dollars that be through the bank of reta trust making all this happen to make sure that we're there on opening night for that to happen. And it's so.
I will probably never get over this.
Sportswriter for 25 years.
Break a leg. And it just.
It's just so wrong.
So many levels.
But it comes from my heart now versus.
[00:57:25] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:57:25] Speaker B: If he doesn't play, then. And, you know, we'll see. But. But yeah. So what's the. You tell. I mean, Rita's told me, but I.
[00:57:33] Speaker A: The stages used to be raked, and so some dancers used to.
You know, it used to be more of a risk for them to break their legs on the stage. And that's where that stems from.
[00:57:43] Speaker C: Okay. So I have two other versions that I've heard of theater lore of where this comes from.
[00:57:47] Speaker A: Really?
[00:57:47] Speaker C: Yeah. Oh, wow. One of them comes from vaudevillian eras where you'd have the shows going on and sometimes you wouldn't even get onto the stage. And with the side curtains on a stage are called legs.
And so to break the legs and get on stage was a good luck. Like maybe get out there.
[00:58:02] Speaker A: See, I like that better.
[00:58:03] Speaker C: And then the other one I hear goes back to Elizabethan times when audiences were rather rowdy in Shakespeare's days.
So, you know, the idea of, like, throwing fresh produce, that was the real thing that happened. It's because people would come from the market. It's in the middle of the day when you had to do shows. Cause there was no indoor lighting back then. And you didn't like somebody, you threw stuff at them. But also, actors that were really liked, people would try to touch them and. And sometimes someone would grab a leg, Someone would fall down on stage. So there's a bunch of different lures.
[00:58:30] Speaker A: Wow. I like both of those better. So I might.
[00:58:33] Speaker C: I had never heard.
I never heard that one.
[00:58:36] Speaker A: Courage.
[00:58:36] Speaker B: I love the courage.
[00:58:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:58:38] Speaker B: So to you and all, do not break a leg, Gene.
[00:58:43] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:58:45] Speaker B: But to. To my continued friends at slack. Break a leg. I cannot wait very much for. For the evening of September 11th. And again, it goes through the 20th. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 8:00pm The 11th through the 20th. The Sunday show, 3:00pm on the 13th and 20th. With the American Sign Language show, Sunday, September 13th, also at 3:00pm and here's to another hundred. It's luck.
[00:59:11] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:59:11] Speaker A: Thank you very much for having us. Thank you. My gosh. Thank you.
All those themes run rampant through the entire piece.
[01:04:48] Speaker B: And.
