Happy Sad Confused - CABARET (Eddie Redmayne & Gayle Rankin)

Episode Date: May 23, 2024

CABARET is back on Broadway but this is a production unlike any you've experienced. Here Tony nominated stars Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin discuss why the show remains so relevant, their passion for the material, and the lies they've told in their careers. Taped live at the 92nd Street Y. SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! ZocDoc -- Go to ⁠ZocDoc.com/HappySad⁠ and download the Zocdoc app for FREE! Storyworth -- Go to Storyworth.com/HappySad to save $10 on your first purchase! UPCOMING LIVE EVENTS ⁠⁠Julia Louis-Dreyfus June 10th in NYC -- ⁠Get tickets here⁠ Check out the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Happy Sad Confused patreon here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! We've got discount codes to live events, merch, early access, exclusive episodes, video versions of the podcast, and more! To watch episodes of Happy Sad Confused, subscribe to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Josh's youtube channel here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

D.C. high volume, Batman. The Dark Nights definitive DC comic stories adapted directly for audio for the very first time. Fear, I have to make them afraid. He's got a motorcycle. Get after him or have you shot. What do you mean blow up the building? From this moment on,

none of you are safe. New episodes every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, true crime fans. Tired of ads interrupting your gripping investigations? Good news. With Amazon music, you have access to the largest catalog of ad-free top podcasts included with your prime membership. After all, ads shouldn't be the scariest thing about true crime. To start listening, download the Amazon music app for free. Or go to Amazon.com slash ad-free true crime. That's Amazon.com slash ad-free true crime to catch up on the latest episodes without the ads. They say seeing is believing, but with Papa Murphy's pan pizza, it's all about the tasting.

You couldn't imagine such a thick, crispy crust could be so light and airy until you take a big bite out of it. You won't believe the buttery deliciousness until you experience the... Yourself. And when you get to the last bite, you'll think, hmm, I want another slice. So for a limited time, take and bake any two-topping pan pizza for just $11.99 from Papa Murphy's.com. I once had a meeting with Martin Scorsese and he started talking about Japanese cinema from the 1930 and I lied and pretend that I had seen some of the films

and then I had to try and upkeep this conversation without having but I was so embarrassed that I hadn't and the words just sort of vomited out in my mouth before I'd had a time to realize that I was lying and now I'm going pews and that was pretty embarrassing Yeah. He doesn't know that. Yes, he does.

Yes, he does. Sorry. Just to say, I didn't get the part. It's okay. You're among friends. We've all done it. You're Tony nominated. You're an Oscar winner.

You're okay. Yeah. Have we all done it, though? Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now. Stay on happy, sad, confused. We're live at the 92nd Streetwide. with the stars of Cabaret, Eddie Redmayne,

and Gail Rankin, everybody. Thank you so much for being here. I don't know if there's any such thing as a perfect musical, but Cabaret might be right there. It is a classic. It has been a classic since debuting nearly 60 years ago on Broadway,

and I've been privileged enough to see this production. I'm sure some of you have. If you haven't, hopefully, yes, it's amazing. It both honors what you've seen before, but is so its own thing, and it is fascinating, and it is really anchored by two stellar performances. We have two amazing actors here tonight. I should say the production is nominated for nine Tony Awards.

Well deserved. Yes. Gail Rankin will break your heart as Sally Bowles and Eddie Redmayne. This is, I mean, in a career of amazing performances, this might be the role of his life. You'll understand why when we speak in a moment. I'd love to hear a warm welcome for these two amazing performers, guys. Please give it up for Eddie Redmond and Gail Rankin, everybody.

Congratulations, guys. Thank you so much for spending your night off with us. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Oh, lovely. I mentioned before, again, congratulations are in order. Gail, your first Tony nomination. I mean, as a presumably a theater kid, a theater woman,

talk to me a little bit about what it's like to get that news. Always a theater kid, never a theater woman. I mean, I'm still absorbing it. Talk about happy, sad, confused. I mean, just it's something you dream about. I think it's going to take me a long time to process, but yeah, what an honor to get nominated inside of this production. I mean, and next to now a dear friend, which is just really special. This is old hat for Eddie. I mean, 2010 is Broadway debut. You won a Tony way back when.

Got it. The main thing is it feels like yesterday, but it's Someone showed a photo the other day and I looked like a child. What are your recollections of getting that? Did that change your life? Way back when working with Alfred Molina and getting that accolade? Genuinely, it did actually change my life.

I was, not only was the experience extraordinary. This was a play called Red about Mark Rothko written by John Logan, and it was Alfred Molina and I. And it started at the Domweil War Warehouse, a little theater in London, and then it came to Broadway

and to begin with sort of no-one bought tickets and gradually it sort of built a word of mouth and I studied history of art at university and it was everything that I dreamt of really a play about art and about making art but I remember I was up for a film at the time a film called My Week with Marilyn and the producers weren't sure I hadn't done much and they didn't know whether I was like financially viable and and genuinely it was the I think one of the producers was at the Tony Awards and when I when I was lucky enough to win my agent sidled up to that but you said he's doing all right isn't he? Good enough for you now? So I couldn't so it was a real it was a and that kick started some things for me so I was very

grateful. Usually I would do something like this later on but let's do some kind of ice breakers. I want to hear from you guys who has the more bizarre pre-show ritual. Backstage if I had my eyes and yours on you what do you guys look like backstage? You know, it's interesting because there's such a kind of amazingly hedonistic, immersive, sexy, grimy experience being at the Kikad Club and the prologue, if anyone has come to see this show, it starts quite early and you can kind of absorb like the amazing energy of Berlin in the 1920s and how starkly different it is back stage. Like, we're just like,

like, trying to put on some eyelashes. Keep it down out there. We're trying to concentrate back here. There's focus. I mean, I have an altar. I have an altar in my dressing room, which is kind of, you know, witchy. Yeah.

That come from House of the Dragon. You just played a witch. I certainly did. A witch who, yeah, I can't tell you. Spoilious. A witch who was about that. That was like Josh's right. I know, a few more weeks, three more weeks.

Yeah, no, I am a little bit witchy, though, and I kind of illegal, I'm not allowed to say this either. Like, illegally burn things in my dressing room. I had this whole ritual, like, I put a candle on, I open the window, my tiny little window that's broken, and then as soon as I, like, doing my little ritual, I blow it out and, like, throw it outside and put it on the air conditioner and let the smoke go out that way.

You're kind of like 50% rebel. You don't want to go all the way. and burn down the theater. You just want to be enough to... Yeah, just to taste it. A quasi-rebel. Yeah, that's my Sally Bowles. Are you superstitious, Eddie?

Are there any routines that... I'm horrendously superstitious, and this thing develops sort of small things that you happen to do in the first preview. You know, by the end of a run is turning... I sort of have to come four hours before the show to get through the horrors of my ritual.

He lives there now. We are, our dressing rooms are next to each other, and they're divided by, basically, Balserwood. Gail has an extraordinary voice. I have to, like, I have to warm my voice up for hours, so she has to put up with me doing these sort of endless vocal warm-outs, which is called vocalizing. And occasionally things from, come through the tannoy, through the speaker system, going, no vocalizing, no vocalizing, and they're very much sort of passive-aggressively aimed at my direction.

but I'm trying to think what are those things Not burning anything, you're not We have a moment always before the show When Gail comes and she knocks on my door And she goes, are you in the mood? And I go, I'm in the mood Even if we're not in the mood No, but we must be in the mood

We have to be in the mood There's an audience waiting This show has gotten remarkable reviews If you'll indulge me, I'm going to read you a review and this is going to focus a little, let's put you on the spot, Eddie, but just indulge me for a second. There were many stars of this excellent performance,

but despite the outstanding quality on display, one actor still stood out, head and shoulders above the rest. Don't worry, Yale, this is not about you. This was, of course, Eddie Redmayne, whose performance in every respect was sensational. He was the master of ceremonies of the Kit Kat Bar,

and this title could not have been more apt. Eddie, do you know what review that is from? My agent? That is from a 1999 issue of the Eden College. College Chronicle. Oh, God. Your review.

Oh, my heart. Oh, my heart. You research hard, Josh. So for people who don't know what the Eton College Chronicle is, that was the school newspaper of the school I went to my high school, and I did a production when I was about 15 years old. I wish that you had said that was the New York Times. I think it was. Exactly. We'll just shift that.

But that is really lovely to hear. How the fuck did you find that? I don't know. I'm still a subscriber to the Eaton College Chronicle. Really quality people. I want that on a t-shirt. I think we need to start selling that as merch. I need that.

Totally. Love that. Can we have a photo, I think, way back when? Of Eddie. No. Oh, my God. No. I mean, it's still quite a hand-centric performance.

As well it should be. You mentioned, so even prior to that performance, so the first time you performed it was you were 14 or 15, you said. No, that's that. That's that one. Yeah. And then I did it at the Edinburgh Festival again when I was 18. So it's not necessarily a show I think of for a 14 or 15 year old performance. What was the sexual content?

What was the edginess level? I mean, I would say it was horrendously inappropriate when I look back on it. But yeah, we were sort of, we were, we were doing it and we were leaning into it. And obsessed ever since then with this character in this show? Yeah, I think the obsession lay in the fact that until I was cast in it,

I didn't know the show. And then when I started listening to Joel's version and Alan's version, I, and then when I watched the film and started finding, I was about to say, started finding on YouTube, it was before YouTube was invented, so that's a total lie.

But something about the show itself and the music gave me everything that I dreamt of in the theatre. I found it funny, I found it seductive, I found it thrilling, I found it moving, and I found it provocative, and it made me think. And also that this character doesn't really exist on the page. There's a moment in the piece where he sings this song, Tomorrow Belongs to Me,

and in the script it's written as the MC stands in a voice, And it's like, what's a void? Like, what is there? And that whole, the abstraction of him, the enigma of him, was compelling even at the age of 15, and has clearly remained that way, so now 42 still going back night after night to try and unpack him.

Gail, you have a history, obviously, also with this show. We have another photo, I think this is Gail about a decade ago. Yes. There we go. I love when it's blown up. because you can see that it looks like a shadow, but actually we weren't shaving our arm. It's true, and I stand by that.

I thought it was good. So when you're in that production at the Great Island, Cumming was a part of that production, of course. Like, is Sally one of those roles that every actor thinks about? Was that on your mind at all that one day maybe I get a crack at my Sally Bowles or no? I,

I didn't think I would get the chance. You know, I think it's one of those secret roles, you know. I think it's not unlike, I don't know, like, kind of like Hamlet, you know, where you're like, maybe. Like, truly maybe, because the stars, not to be cheesy, but the stars kind of do have to align in some way. Like, it's kind of a, you get really luck. it lucky. And I got

really, really lucky. And it's kind of, it feels a bit too good to be true, but you've met the moment. Having seen the show, it's a remarkable performance. Eddie, this production, which started back in London, kind of does start

with you. I mean, your idea was to kind of mount a new cabaret. And I'm curious, like, what was on your mind? Did you have, because this is, it's a different production. It's a different cabaret than folks have seen, which is remarkable. Like, how much of that was baked into the initial idea and how much of that evolved in the gathering the team around you to make this? So the Edinburgh Festival production I did was, I don't know if you guys know the Edinburgh Festival,

but it's an amazing theatre, comedy festival that happens every year in Edinburgh in the summer, in found spaces everywhere in Edinburgh turns into a performance space, from restaurants to bars to just random caverns underneath roads. And these two young guys had set up a venue there called The Underbelly, and we did all production of cabaret in the underbelly and that was just they were students at the time kind of making a buck and that then became their business and they did the the underbelly became these great site-specific comedy festivals and and theater pieces in london and those guys came to me about eight years ago and said would you ever consider doing cabaret again i was like i would

love to but but let's and and because they came from the this site-specific world. They were like, let's think of it in a new way. There was this space in London, an old music hall underground that had been sort of converted into flats, but the space itself was this gigantic concrete, what looked like a car park set in the round. So the first idea was what if we turn, which you enter via a fire exit and go down these, what if we turn that into like Bergheim, like one of the clubs in Berlin now and the audience come there and then it turns into a club afterwards. Could that be interesting? So we were looking for profound spaces in London and then the pandemic happened and during that time so many

theatres in London were barren and so when it came back it felt irresponsible not to play this in a theatre but that idea of making it an evening that fulfill all your senses remained and that's kind of where the idea of this this world in which you swim into you come off the streets and you get discombobulated through tunnels and past dancers and musicians and Tom Scut, our extraordinary designers, concocted this space that forces you to get lost

and to leave your memory of the day outside. Well, it is a show in any production that always, you know, if it's done right, the audience does feel some complicity, right? And what you guys have achieved in kind of creating this true transportation for this audience just serves that all the better. I'm curious how that affects your performance, though. Gail, like,

because the audience, it's a different audience. It's an audience that kind of like leans in, I would imagine, into the environment a little bit more than usual. Yeah, there's definitely like an invitation. There's continual check, sorry, for consent at each point. And, and, and it's, I was just talking about this today, we were talking about Cabaret, the title song of the musical and how I feel when I'm singing it. And I think there's something about that moment for Sally where she's finally able to be her kind of fully formed, unadorned self, especially as a performer. And there's something really intimate about that.

and the audience, and finally, and Sally really gets to have a relationship with the audience, so I feel very close, as large as the theatre is, it's 12,200, 1200 seats, something around that. And it's a sea of people, there's a lot of people, but it feels like I could talk to each and every single person. And so, and the production does that, and the design does that, and the lights do that, and even our costumes, there's something, that begins as kind of an explosive party and only kind of narrows into this, everything starts to distill and starts to creep closer and closer and closer for better and for worse. And that feels really complicated. As a performer, I think I enjoy it and I'm terrified. this guy's terrifying in the show

and that's a compliment this is a more terrifying emcee that I've ever seen and some of the costumes like will haunt my dreams forever I mean you kind of references I mean this might sound insane in some ways when I was watching it

and I've been privileged enough to see it a couple times both in England and here it's like as much Pennywise the clown as it is the MC he is I know you've referred to him as something of a shapeshifter I would think like there are a lot of challenges here,

but you refer to it as, you know, it's less of a character than a force of nature in a way. And I would think, like, as an actor, you would want more, like, you want backstory, you want things to kind of cling on to. So that's not this, though. Like, can you talk to me a little bit about the challenge of finding a character that's not an actual character in a way? Well, so the genesis of the character was,

in Christopher Ischewood's book, he doesn't exist. It's Sally's story. And although she's not, so the character was created by Joel Gray and Hal Prince with Kander Evan Masteroff and to connect, as the connected tissue in the story. And that kind of abstraction, I suppose, has always been the thrilling quality of it to me. And as I began to dig into him, it's like the way where the songs are placed, there's a Greek chorus quality to him. He is, in some ways, he's the soul of Berlin as the fascism is rising and it's sort of, so one of the things that interested me was this idea of firstly looking at emcees from where they arrived in like 19th century France in which these people, you would be invited to. or sorry, you would pay to go to cabarets to kind of be abused in some ways.

There was often, it was holding this mirror up and assaulting audiences in a way that people kind of paid for and enjoyed and were compelled by and kind of repelled by. So that was interesting to me, but also this idea that with Rebecca Frecknell and Tom Scott our director and our designer was talking about what they wanted to do was create the idea of the celebration of the individual. Are you looking for a movie review show

where the critic is at the top of his or her game meticulously breaking down and explaining exactly why a film does or does not work? Well, good luck with the search. Because we're having fun here on Adam does movies. Each and every week, I hit the big blockbusters, I cover the streamers,

and I even toss in some movie news for fun. Check out the show on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts, on YouTube, YouTube, and hopefully we can do movies together. Hot. Hey, Michael. Hey, Tom. Big news to share it, right? Yes, huge, monumental, earth-shaking. Heartbeat sound effect, big. Meat is back. That's right. After a brief snack, nap. We're coming back. We're picking snacks.

We're eating snacks. We're raiding snacks. Like the snackologist we were born to be. Mates is back. Mike and Tom, eat snack. Wherever you get your podcast. Unless you get them from a snack machine, in which case, call us. So each of the Kit Kat performers has their own character, their own design. They've been cast for their brilliance and their personality. And as the fascism creeps in, it's the removal of those things. It's the removal of progress, the homogenization of their...

their characters and their costume and what was interesting for me was this idea of the mc going from being the marionette or the puppeteer almost he conjures everyone he kind of brings them into the scene he introduces cliff to to sally and then by the end he's actually turned into a conductor and whilst everyone else is struggling he's going to be fine so i found that idea of mc as perpetrator rather than as victim right interesting All the HamaS with MNU Pizza Hut My Box, the new. Four of Chiarats My Box, you'll addle her on how you, and to adder it with a hodood.

I'llop my box today and let it on your dog. Pisa or Meltz, all by-kief-k. And the other part of your genupe, choose two or a or a mishroop, your your not to end uptie. Hey, your your chrothic your, that's aught of your new pizzerot-hat my-box new, with your your churotic and your pizahat I'll tell

today sadly this is a show that feels very relevant to these times and there is, you know we just have to read the newspaper if people read a newspaper anymore to know

you know fascism is out there anti-Semitism is on the rise I mean does that I would imagine that can't help but inform what your work on the stage is that

ever present in both of your minds? I would say yes, I think, yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's so deeply, like, wild, how relevant and deeply, and so bittersweet. I mean, John Cander himself will speak to it, how bittersweet it is, that cabaret is so necessary still. And it's complicated to say, I hope we never. needed to get because I love this piece of art more than more than most things but there's something also about the piece that what I find so intriguing about it is it's so specific to the period and it was written 20 years

25 years after it or 20 years after the end of the war and then in the 60s so it's so it's razor sharp in the specificity of that moment. And yet it was so relevant then. It was so relevant when Sam first did it in the 90s. Sam Mendes directed it in the 90s. There was a war going on in Eastern Europe. And it was with the Ukraine was invaded

while we were doing it in London and now what's going on in the world. There's this sort of extraordinary thing with it as a piece that it's a testament to the writing that it can be read as so specific. Or you can see it as these ripples across generations. Yeah.

And yeah. And also that, I don't think I'm looking at this with rose-colored glasses, but also that there's something at the core of it, whilst it's so much about like the horror of everything that's going on, there's like a sense of, not only is it kind of a warning in some ways or certainly there are big questions in it for the audience, but that they are is hope. There is a sense of hope somewhere at the center that is kind of left as an ellipses. In some ways, and I think inside of our production, there's some move, like, as desperately sad and as much as there's an end, there's an ellipsies of potential.

Well, again, and the audience does feel that. I feel like that in the end it's going to be up to all of us to make the right choices to avoid the easy route, which is to fall, prey to these forces that are just outside our window. Well, no, yeah, sorry. No, but there's this idea as well, I think your point, Gail, of it being a warning is really interesting, and true, but it's also a sort of compassionate warning.

Frawline Schneider's song, What Would You Do? It's one thing to be in a place of privilege and go this is where one's morality is but if you can't pay for the next day or your life depends on it, that's a different question

and I find something that I've discovered here that I had never found in London is that that song, what would you do, is promptly followed by the MC coming and singing, I don't care much. And the idea of the big question of what

would you do in this situation followed by a nihilistic kind of apathy. It feels, and, you know, Kander and Eben, master of doing something quite extraordinary. Well, and then to end with Cabaret, which is like Sally's rebuttal in some ways, it's just all questions, it's all options. And also that it's about dialogue and it's about community, really. And it's about are we turning against each other or are we coming together? And I do believe that that's theater, that's art, that's, those are our options, you know.

The whole notion of the KKat Club cabaret being an escape for an audience to leave your troubles behind and forget about everything. I'm curious, like, to personalize it for you, you guys. Has theater and the work always been a refuge for you? No matter what's happening in your personal life, good or bad, the work is there, and you can kind of escape into it? Hopefully the work is there. Another reason desperate for work.

Give me the work so I can forget about my life. I think for me, theater started as an actual escape. My first ever job professionally when I was a kid was in a production of Oliver the musical. Same. Was it really? Shut up, we haven't had that. We've never talked about this. Just one of the boys?

One of the boys? Which number, do you remember? Food Glorious Food. No, but which number Workhouse Boy? Oh, I don't. I don't know. Were you in the gang? No. Oh, me neither.

And it's so depressing because Oliver, they're like, which character in the gang were you? were you? I was like, I never went to the gang. Yeah. It was just a workhouse boy walking around with an empty bowl. Same. But this production was in London and I was about 11 years old and I got cast in it and it meant

that I used to leave my maths class at school and I would be like, I'm off to the theatre. And I would get on the tube in London and go and do this and Sam Mendes directed this production. Sam was a very young upcoming director at the time. And I was in about the 20th child cast.

There were thousands of children. But for many, many years, it remained on my CV, like Oliver, Workhouse Point Number 24, directed by Sam Mendez. And then I remember once having, once going for a meeting to meet Sam Mendes and having to be scored that out quickly before. So sorry, so sorry.

So sorry, so sorry. We never met, we never met. We are safe. Do you have a similar traumatic? About Oliver? Yeah, Oliver story. Oh, on the CV. No.

Well, no, no, I do. Oh, God, I do. I do. I do when I... I did a production of Our Town at Williamstown Theatre Festival not that long ago, which is terrifying. Brie Larson was Emily. Amazing.

And Nikki Martin directed it. I was the first dead woman. I kept that one for a long time. I thought that was good. But interestingly, you have a number, because that's like that gives the definition. Right, not just dead woman. Exactly.

Dead woman, you might help. First dead woman. It's so bad. You know, you sit in that graveyard and you do what you have to do. You know? That is a real transition for an actor, isn't it? To go from, like, nameless person, number whatever, to, oh, I have a name. I have a past.

name. I have a past. I have a life. Yeah. It really is. Sally Bowles. Yeah. What have you learned? Look, there's a long lineage of amazing emcees and Sally's. So do you, to say the least, do you have to flush that out of your brain or is it useful to talk to to that. I'm gonna flush that emcy right out of my brain. We only answer questions in musical theater songs now. I know him. I know him. so well. I'll be gone all night. I remember

it was so vividly because I thought I was going to have a panic attack. I was backstage. And for some reason, I just started thinking about Liza. Like, just. I was like, I was about to walk on stage before maybe this time and I was like, Liza, Liza, Liza. And I was like, oh my God.

And I had to get to a point where I was like, I honor you, I honor you. I am standing. standing on your shoulders, I have to go on stage now. And there's, I think there's a lot of that. It's like, how can you not be in dialogue with, and we are, we're standing on the shoulders of just tight tightens and all of our work, I hope, I can't believe I'm saying this, is like in conversation with each other, you know, and I feel so moved and bolstered and

unworthy and yeah there's something I think with I know I did a production of Richard the second in London about 10 years ago at this theatre and it was a small

theatre and there was always the Richard the second seat and it would be where Ian McKellen Derek Jacoby Ben Whishall like all these icons of theatre who played Richard the second would always be sitting in the rich And it's an interesting thing because those parts that have been made and formed by people indelibly,

you either choose to run and go with fear and go, therefore, I'm never going to touch them. Or you acknowledge that you're never going to fulfill everyone's expectations, but that you give it a shot. And certainly, we were talking about earlier with Cabaret, it is one that the MC and Sally Bowles are parts that people lost after. in the same way that directors will to direct it, but it only happens once every 10 years that you get that opportunity,

and we were just so lucky that that has come around and we get to inhabit it, but we've had, Joel came to see the show which was incredibly, incredibly moving and has been so generous. There was this, it was his 92nd birthday, and he came with John Kander and half of the iconic,

like a New York theatre community it transpires. Lin-Manuel Miranda, they're all there. Which was, I'm very pleased I didn't know, but I knew that Joel was in the theater, but a bit like you guys, the lights were so bright and I couldn't actually see anyway, except for this moment in the second act when I'm dressed as this clown, this Piero,

and I sit on the side of the stage for a minute, and I looked to this table just to my left, and there he was, and he was sitting next to his daughter, Jennifer, I also think is extraordinary. And he looked at me and he put his hand on his heart and he reached out to me. And

he was one of the best moments in my life. It was utterly extraordinary. And that's a testament to who he is as a performer but also as a person. And similarly, Alan came to, see the show. Alan came to see the show and thank God he didn't tell, he didn't, and he came,

kind of came in like disguise, God bless him, he took a little hat on and we'd both had a really difficult show and it's fair to say it was just like a, for some reason just one of those evenings, you know, it was just one of those shows and what, uh, I mean, my heart just totally exploded and he was so kind and vulnerable and complimentary and we've just received so much support from people who have spent so much of their lives devoted to this it feels like a very special club and i've like i've gotten so much support from so many of the women that've played sally it's yeah so moving kara came to see it kara deline who's playing sally the moment in london and we've been...

You probably know Jesse Buckley, I would imagine. Yes, and look, Jesse is astonishing. And we'd just shot a film together right before she was about to go into rehearsal for Cabaret. And, you know, I'm sitting on her shoulders. I feel her all the time. And this is going to continue. In 10 or 20 years, when the next iteration comes,

you're going to be in that other seat. So what would you say to the next Sally or MC? Not a lot. I wouldn't. I would just love, just love. Other than give them a real hug and go, it's bloody hard, isn't it? Yeah. But that's an interesting thing I find about like aging as an actor,

is it's when the revival comes back. I remember I did a Edward Albee play called The Goat. And then suddenly when it came back, back for its revival. I'm like, I'm how old? It's sort of age with revival. That's the secret. Everyone was like, are you going to play for Alan Schneider in 10 years?

I was like, excuse me? Excuse me? I was like, I will direct cabaret in 10 years. That's why Alan just keeps doing the same role. That's the secret. Don't let it up. Don't give it up. Same role.

I know. My big conversation with Alan was, because Alan, he was so extraordinary in the part and the reputation Goodbye. Summer movies, Hello Fall. I'm Anthony Devaney. And I'm his twin brother, James. We host Raiders of the Lost Podcast, the ultimate movie podcast, and we are ecstatic to break down late summer and early fall releases. We have Leonardo DiCaprio leading a revolution in one battle after another. Timothy Shalameh playing power ping pong in Marty Supreme. Let's not forget Emma Stone and Jorgos Lanthamos' Bougonia. Dwayne Johnson. He's coming for that Oscar in The Smashing Machine. Spike Lee and Denzel teaming up again, plus Daniel DeLuis's return from retirement. There will be plenty of blockbusters to chat about two. Tron Aries looks exceptional, plus Mortal Kombat 2.

And Edgar writes, The Running Man, starring Glenn Powell. Search for Raiders of the Lost podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. I'm Amy Nicholson, the film critic for the LA Times. And I'm Paul Shear, an actor, writer, and director. You might know me from The League, Veep, or my non-eligible for Academy Award role in Twisters. We come together to host Unspooled, a podcast where we talk about good movies, critical hits. Fan favorites, must season, and case you miss them.

We're talking Parasite the Home Alone. From Greece to the Dark Night. So if you love movies like we do, come along on our cinematic adventure. Listen to Unspooled wherever you get your podcast. And don't forget to hit the follow button. On Broadway, it was that his dressing room turned into this, like, glorious nightclub. Club coming. Club coming, yeah.

Club coming. And I was like, Hello. How the fuck did you do it? I'm like, I'm sort of a monk, I can't drink, I haven't, like, sort of, I, uh... We don't talk to anyone. We don't talk to anyone. This is like a massive deal.

That's coming out of him. And I was like, and he was like, Eddie, you'll get used to it. So I'm hoping there's going to come a threshold. I'm waiting for it. I'm like, I think July is going to be good. Our equivalent of club coming is going and getting a sort of vitamin IV. Yeah, we do. We've been in the doctor's office, like, in the next room, like, just be like, knock, knock, knock.

How you doing? Getting a bit of vitamins. That's her. That's her. You did have fried chicken. You got fried chicken today. I did get fried chicken today. And she drank sake.

So she's pretending to be a monk, but she's not a to-law. Are you shady? She's so close to the heart. Exactly what I was going to say. Gin for breakfast. Gin for breakfast. Rally the hamas with Minio Pizza Hut My Box, the new Four Chiarat My Box to addle it on how you,

and add on it with a few, I'll have a lot of my box today and let it on your dog. Pisa or Meltz, it's all by-kif you, and your general, you'll choose two or a mishroop, your your not to end uptie. These are your and your which are to love you.

Menu Pizza Hut, My Box, the new, with your rules, Pizahat, and how come today. One more clip, we're going to go to audience questions in a little bit, but we have a familiar face to a friend of yours who just returned the favor to you. Very recently, the great Tom Hiddleston was on stage with me, and Eddie was kind enough to send in a video message, and of course, Tom has to return to favor. Here's a message from Tom Hidleston for Eddie Redmayne. Hello everybody. Hello Josh and chiefly, hello Eddie.

I hope you're having the most wonderful time in New York on Broadway doing cabaret. I've always said it's your masterpiece. I don't know if you've told Josh and the assembled group about your history with this character. But I know it's very dear to you. to you and it's kind of like defining anyway you're magnificent my question to you is I was really thinking about this what do you think is the greatest challenge you have ever faced as an actor so something that you're required to do you're about to do you're standing at the base of the mountain metaphorically and you're thinking how on earth am I going to

going to do this. What was it and how did you get through it? How did you convince yourself that you'd be okay? All right. I'm just curious. I need to know. I'm just curious. I find everybody lots of love by. Amazing. Amazing. God, how lovely film to us. That's funny. I think I asked him a really stupid question for his podcast. Tom asked like a really profound question. One-up, Redmond. God. Tom and I were at school together and we did school plays together when we were kids. It's a really good question. And the answer to it, I think, was when I did The Theory of Everything, a film about Stephen Hawking, the first... The thing that scared me most about that film was portraying ALS and portraying it authentically.

And I'd spent months prepping it, but the way that films work is you, obviously, you can't shoot chronologically. And particularly, the first days of shooting theory of everything, we shot everything that was set in Cambridge because the students hadn't come back yet for terms. So we had to do all of the scenes that was exterior shots in Cambridge in the first two days. And I'll never forget that in the morning of the first day of shooting, I had to start playing Stephen Healthy and Young and then play him with one stick, and then in two different stages beyond that when the ALS had really got a grip on him. and this

it was also it was at Cambridge which was the university I went to and I just couldn't quite believe I was there knowing Stephen was up the road and he came to the set and I just felt I don't actually know how you can do this and what happened

was the night before filming I don't know how you are with this girl but every time I do a film the anxiety gets so intense that night before filming because you always start at some random scene in the middle of the arc of a character and you have to you can have done all this prep in a vacuum and at some point you have to just put your what's the expression strap your colors to the mast or whatever you know you have to and I it got to four in the

morning and I wasn't asleep and I was like I'm being picked up at six it got to five in the morning I was and I was like okay I'm just not going to I'm not going to sleep I had a bath woke up, walked through the streets of Cambridge, which was so odd because I hadn't been back since I had left university to a film set to do this thing and the day that, in answer to Tom's question, how did I do it?

I think the fatigue was so overwhelming that it was like, but all I remember is at the end of the day I had to do a full-on breakdown scene in a specific and by that point I was so tired and I was so exhausted that I think James Marsh, the director, just sort of poked me and I just went to

which was probably very helpful and may have won me an Oscar. If in doubt, don't sleep and use the anxiety. Easy enough, and then Oscars come your way. Before we come to some audience questions, a couple off-topic things I mentioned you are going to be in House of the Dragon. I'm very excited about this. I know you can't probably say much, but what was... Apparently, I'll see whatever.

More sake for gal. More sake. No. What can we expect? It's Alice. Do I have that right? Yeah, Alice Rivers, which honestly, like, and I've said this to Ryan, our show, and I'm like, doesn't that sound amazingly like an anchor?

She's like, hello and welcome to the morning show at two. I'm Alice Rivers. Right. No, but I'm a witch. A good witch or bad witch? Is that a thing? Do you wear a wig? Thank you, Eddie.

Yes, I do wear a wig. You imagine if I was like, it's not a wig? It's an exclusive. A game of phones exclusive. Wait, what other questions can we ask? I can get stuff out. Eddie, what do you want to know? I don't want to get her fire.

What will break the internet? Do you have an option for another season? Hank, look at this. He's a pro. Oh, you're terrible. You're terrible. Don't answer that question. I'm not going to answer.

He's also my publicist. He's like, no. Yes. You were going to say, sorry? I wasn't going to say anything. Well, we'll leave it big. Massively unsuccessful. It's okay.

You did your best. Here's a random one for you. I had a conversation with another old buddy of yours, Jamie Dornan, who told me an amazing story about you were hacked. Your email account was hacked. It was you that got. Your email account, correct me if I'm wrong, I want to hear it from your perspective. Your email account was hacked, all your contacts got a message, and the person, and it was basically that you needed money, right?

And the person that thought you legitimately needed money was Warren Beatty. No! True? True, yeah. Eddie what? So the story is this. Warren, who is extraordinary, really extraordinary, was, had for a long time in trying to make a movie that he had written, he was directing, and it became this extraordinary thing

in Hollywood that his process is so meticulous and he would find an actor that he would engage with and then you would go to his home over, and I went every day for three weeks and his wonderful wife and his children and you would sit in his home and read the script and talk through the script and he was incredibly generous. Actually, a testament to Warren's generosity was while I was there, a friend of mine got very sick. I got a cause, and Warren instantly

was telling me who the best doctors were. He was an amazing man. And anyway, the film, I didn't get the part. The years went by, and one day I woke up really hungover in the city to a voicemail. from Warren saying, Eddie, I'm here. Are you okay? What do you need? Let me know. And I was like, I turned to my wife, I was like, Warren Bates just left me a very strange voicemail.

And then I had another couple of similar voicemails, and it became clear that an email had gone out from my email address saying that I was in Qatar and that I was, um, and that I had been mugged on the side of a street. I was desperate for my and, and, but I will never forget that because not many people, Jamie Jordan certainly didn't come back being like, being like, being like, yeah, buddy, you all right? Just checking in, nothing, um, uh, is your password just too easy? Is it like Eddie Redmayne one, two, three?

Do you need to upgrade your- Write that down. I don't know, Josh, and I'm so computer illiterate that it's probably being hacked as we speak about it. Please don't. If you get an email from me requesting money. He's fine, he's okay.

Yeah. But also this is slightly, there's become a thing, Jamie is an old pal, and we're both like dads now, and there's not much interesting going on in our lives. And so we find doing press quite stressful, and because they make, you know, have to tell funny anecdotes.

And we're like, oh, I'm just like, God, dad, you know, like, our life is really, you know, amazing, but like it's not great sort of couch fodder. So now we just recurged to each other's stories, like, you know, to dig up, like, random. And he sort of throws me over the cliff. Well, that's what a good friend does. Kaylin wants to know your processes for the different physicalities of each of your characters in this. Very distinct physical approaches to these roles. In a nutshell, what was the guiding force?

I mean, we have an extraordinary choreographer. My name is Julia Chang. I mean, the first time that Eddie and I talked, I mean, our director, Rebecca Freckinels, also comes from a really strong movement background. So it was this kind of amazing tour-divorce female team who have really different physical languages but certainly like I'm not really a dancer

but Julia... She could do the splits. I'm flexible. I am very flexible. But yeah, the kind of combination of the way Julia and Frex kind of approach movement really sat well in my body and we kind of would spend some dedicated time just with music I mean a lot just with like music and like free movement trying to like find what felt good in in my body and so that was yeah that was my process certainly for the movement it's about drawing it out of us yeah I'm again I'm really not a dancer but we had a month a month or two beforehand with Julia and what

Julia would do is she brings from the club dancing world. She specialises in whacking and what do you say again? Punking and crumping and that's the her well and so what she did in the in the prep before we started rehearsals is we would have this space and she would have a classical ballerina, a break dancer, someone who's specialized in vogueing these different and we would all work on these improvisations together, which was her way of finding what the language was, because she didn't, she wanted the language to refer to the 1920s, but one of the things that was really important for both Julia and Rebecca, and you mentioned it earlier, Josh, was that it shouldn't be just about then. It should be about the now and it should reference what

he has referential, right? The culture of now. And also like all production, like periods of time in which this production has been done. He's also kind of just amazingly, like respectful and fresh and, yeah, I don't know, cool. Waila wants to know what your process is of getting in and out of character. We talked a little bit about how you guys get into character. Maybe how do you shake it off?

Is it easy to? Can't be, can't turn this off. Still trying to figure that out. No, I do do, I have a little tiny ritual that I do every, after we show. what is it can you tell us you're not oh you're not

you exit the other side of the stage don't you yeah you imagine what I was like I take off all of my clothes no I there's just a there's a back alley exit and I take a walk

take a walk and then I walk back it's just a walk yeah I would say for for me it's in the curtain call I get to Gail and I get to

hug and it's breaking the rules it's breaking the rules of our director but it's important for me because the last interaction we have is so vicious and it i find it really and the story ends in a dark place but i find it very cleansing yeah do either of you have a dream role besides the oliver revival that you need to do i honestly honestly can i don't want to do a one-woman sure of I'm not kidding. I've talked about it with a lot of people. I mean, seriously. One boy, boy for sale.

I can do all of the voices. Fagan, like, Nancy, like. This is your audition right now, and you're winning. You're doing it. I just did, I just did it. I think Mr. Bumble is a really important role. I was going to ask if I could have a cameo but clearly not. Well, it's a one woman.

I know. But maybe. Bit selfish. Why not? Who lets your dream role? Honestly, I'm really bad at answering that question because I've always found the most interesting parts that I've done are ones where other people see something in you. Although there was this one time when I was working on a film and this theatre director,

Michael Grandage, called me up and he said, he's an amazing theatre director and he said, I'm going to say two words to you, Richard too. You have to say yes or you have to say yes or no. He goes, Richard too. And I was too embarrassed as an English actor that I'd never read Richard II. But across my life, various people had said, you know what, you'd be really interesting as Richard.

So I said, yes. And I then went and read it. And Richard II is completely pathetic. It's a total wimp. I completely inept, incompetent. I was like, what was mildly offended? And then I went and did a play with, committed to a play without ever having read it, which is not. Well, this is ingrained in to any actor, right?

Do you ride horseback? Are you an archer? Yes. Yes. Of course, I can do all of that. I can speak Russian. Yeah. That's the history of every.

You've done that before, Gail, at some point? You've... I'm sure I have. It's like, can you use a chainsaw? Yes. Yeah. Who wouldn't? Who wouldn't, obviously?

Look at me. No, I mean, you and I are too similar. I feel like people have done that. I would be like, have you read Doll's Hush? Yes. I would love to play Alma. I spent my life pretending I've seen movies that I haven't. I've decided to start telling the truth about that, though.

No, but it's so embarrassing. I love watching trailers, but I'm quite bad at watching movies. What's one movie you're embarrassed to admit you've never seen? Let's watch it out. Let's just get it out. hundreds hundreds like like some of the like I feel like there's like some of the Kubrick's that you're like yeah yeah yeah yeah oh Barry Winden seen it a thousand times obviously yeah watched it a lot no no there's too many it's just um it's okay I'm trying to

work out whether I'm gonna tell this story Gail help me out here come on I once had a meeting with Martin Scorsese Here we go. And he started talking about Japanese cinema from the 1930. And I lied and pretend that I read some, I'd seen some of the films, and then I had to try and upkeep this conversation with him. Wow. But I was so embarrassed that I hadn't,

and the words just sort of vomited out of my mouth before I'd had a time to realize that I was lying, and now I'm going pews, and that was pretty embarrassing. Yeah. He doesn't know that. Yes, he does. Yes, he does. Yes, he does.

Sorry. Just to say I didn't get the part. It's okay. You're among friends. We've all done it. You're Tony nominated. You're an Oscar winner. You're okay.

Have we all done it, though? What do you lie about having watched? All of our movies? Yeah, I've never seen one of yours. The Happy Seg and Fused for Family Random Questions. We're going to end with this. Some theater-themed ones. Mamma Mia 1 or Mamma Mia 2.

What do you prefer? Well, Gail, this is provocative. You okay? I have seen both of this. Oh, good, okay. That's a start. Right? And I have an opinion.

As do I, as do I. I'm going to see Mamma Mia 1. Yeah. Okay, okay. Yeah. I will say Mamma Mia 1, 2. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. I will say Mamma Mia 1 as well.

but I think Lily James really gave like this having done when I did Lemme Zara I remember we were trying to it was sort of quite intense and emotional and everything was quite realistic but there are occasional moments in film musicals where you just have to grab a lamp post

and like go for it swing yourself round it and sing really like go lean fully into the musical theatreness and I feel like Lily James did that in an amazing way that is very difficult to do and she made effortless. This occurs to me. Like, I'm sure, I feel like I've heard

that you've karaokeed in your time, right? You've done that. Like, so, like, if you're karaokeing and you see Le Miz pop up, would you ever perform a Le Miz song? Is that cheating? Of course, that's cheating. Yeah.

But also, you're butchering. Although I do love Le Miz. As in the musical, not there. Right. Are you a karaokeer? Is that in your... No, I've only ever done it once. And it was only because, like, one of my ex-poor friends, like, begged me.

And I was like, okay. And it was in, I was in, like, Boston in a Chinese restaurant. Do you know what I mean? I'm not kidding. It was insane. What did you sing? Well, this is what's crazy, too. It's like, I didn't sing a normal karaoke song.

Like, I sang, because I'm me. I was sang, like, if anyone ever seen that movie, Collaborativey Jane, with Doris Day. And she says a song, is this song called Secret Love. And it's like, one of my favorite songs. It's really beautiful, and she has a soaring thing. And he's a film director, and he filmed it, and he has it on film somewhere. But we've broken up, so I have no access to it. So to go back to the previous question, Eddie, go along with me.

Let's both say we've seen Calamity Jane. We've seen Calamity Jane's great. You love it, right? What's your favorite part, the part, when it, love it. The soaring part in the song, yeah. Yeah, all the songs. What's your favorite costume? The one with the hat.

Yeah. That is a good one. What do you guys collect, if anything? Do you collect anything? Anxiety. We do, though. We do, actually. It's a bit of a disaster, yeah, and I work in together

because we're so neurotic. We're like, feed each other's. But we love each other deeply. We do. But we literally, five, they just, how's the voice? A lot of this. No, the voices. I used to collect, I used to collect

Slovenian families, which I think in this country you call Calico Critters. Is that a thing? I've heard Sylvainian families. I actually haven't heard of Calico Critters. I think that's what they could, that's, maybe what they're called. I heard some murmurs. There's some validation. I heard some, some enthusiasm.

So you used to collect those. I don't have no follow-up to that, and I'm trying to, but I was thinking about lying and creating something. So much lying. I just, why is this lying compulsion? I love it. Last actor, either of you were mistaken for? Do you ever get mistaken for anybody? Has that happened?

Never. I wish. I do. Who do you want to be mistaken for? What's manifested? I don't know. Like, who's so gorgeous? You know what I mean?

Pamela, are you Pamela Anderson? Very topical reference, wow. I did see her in person up and like, wow, wow, beautiful woman, just a wonderful and light. Well, Eddie was always a big Baywatch fan back in the day, I remember. Yeah, he's watched, you've seen Big Watch too. I watched all of them. Did you actually know that, Josh? What?

Do you actually have watched a lot of people? Oh, I thought he, I was, we were talking earlier about how. sort of forensically he researches. Not that far, no. No, I did love Batewatch, yeah. No actor you've been mistaken for recently. You're Eddie Redmond. There's only one. No, I had a thing, when I was younger

and I was doing theater in London, I was doing a play at the same time, I did a play called The Goat at the same time that Ben Whishall was doing Hamlet, and I went to the theater one day to see another play, and this woman came up to me, and she said, I just have to say,

I saw you on stage, and I just thought it was magnificent. And I was like, oh, thank you so much. She kept talking, and I was blushing, but thrilled. She was so hyperbolic. And then she was like, it was just a hamlet, unlike Anna Thesson. And at this point, she'd gone so far into it, but I didn't know whether to tell her.

So I took Ben's praise and ran away. An inveterate liar we're learning tonight. That weirdly did happen to me with someone else who has played Sally Bowles. This is so random, it just made me think about it. Really? But Maddie Brewer, someone said, it was a woman, I was renting her home in L.A. And we were texting about something. And she was just like, and you were so great in hustlers.

And I said, that wasn't me, but I'll take it. Let's end on this. Worst note you've ever received from a director. What's the one that sticks out in your brain? How much time do you have? You don't have to name names, though you could. I mean, it was the worst note and in some ways the best note, but also the most scary, and it happened on Cabaret when we were rehearsing it in London. And it was the first time, we were in the rehearsal room, and it was the first time an audience was coming in, albeit a friendly audience, friends of the production.

And I was so nervous because I've been prepping in a vacuum, really. And, um, anyway, I particularly Vilcom, and the beginning of that number is so exposed, and I had all this sort of stuff that I was doing. And Rebecca Frechnell, our glorious director, came up. She said, Eddie, it's not working. Just, just entertain us. And I was sick in my mouth. And, um, and, but it was, of course, right because I, it then did force me to humiliate myself.

I do that I was just going to say, like, I do feel like, I think about a note that I've gotten and I'm like, that was terrible. And then I'm like, well, it was actually true. I don't know. Or just, it's more about, like, sometimes in television, I've gotten some funny ones. Like, hey, you look, I did a SVU episode with my first TV job, and I was the perp.

I was like, I'd done something horrendous that I'm not even going to say out loud to you. It was terrible. the episode is called theater tricks if you want to look up anyway so the director was like I was walking in with a smoothie

to console my friend and I'm supposed to be you know like and cut I'm the character was yeah yeah the character was not Gail and I was like come in with a smoothie

and the director's like yeah yeah Gil can we check in you just look you look really mad and guilty and I was like oh that was like my nice face I was like my face at rest. And I'm like a resting.

Guilty resting face. Terrible face. And then I was like, not much I can do about that. So there you go. It's worked out in the end. You guys are Tony nominees. Well deserved. Congratulations.

It's hard to do a show like this justice of clips and talking about it. But hopefully you've got a sense. If you haven't gotten your tickets yet, I highly encourage you do so. You can get there early, enjoy the entire environment that they create at the KitKat Club. It's remarkable. Congratulations against you guys. Gail Rankin, Eddie Redmayne, give it up for Al-a-Raea-Rae. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. And so ends another edition of happy, sad, confused. to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley, and I definitely wasn't pressured to do this by Josh. Are you looking for a movie review show where the critic is at the top of his or her game, meticulously breaking down and explaining exactly why a film does or does not work?

Well, good luck with the search, because we're having fun here on Adam does movies. I talked to you like we just got done seeing a movie together, giving you the pros and cons, and I'm digging in the trenches, in the mud and muck, on streaming services, telling you which films are worth your time. Each and every week, I hit the big blockbusters, I cover the streamers,

and I even toss in some movie news for fun. Because this show, as Adam does movies. I'm obviously Adam. I probably should have led with that. But perhaps I have led you to check out the show on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts, on YouTube, and hopefully we can do movies together. Hooh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-hot.