Happy Sad Confused - Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, & Lindsay Mendez (MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG)

Episode Date: April 11, 2024

For decades MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG was the Sondheim musical that never worked on Broadway. No longer! Here Josh chats with the amazing trio of actors who have turned this show into a beloved hit, Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, and Lindsay Mendez. It's a conversation filled with a ton of laughter and a lot of tears (mostly from Jonathan). SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! ZocDoc -- Go to ⁠⁠Zocdoc.com/HappySad⁠⁠ and download the Zocdoc app for FREE BetterHelp -- Visit ⁠BetterHelp.com/HSC ⁠today to get 10% off your first month UPCOMING LIVE EVENTS ⁠Cabaret (Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin) May 20th 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

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had a great time. So, cats. Yes, Dad. Hmm, just had a good takeout that night, and you were just... There's some... choices that have been made all over that film, but I really, really appreciate it. And I had, as I said, very good time.

Everybody to Dan's house after this are watching cats. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now. Hi, guys. Hello, hello, hello. Save it for the important people. Hi, guys, I'm Josh Horowitz, and today on Happy, Sad, Confused, we're live at the 92nd Street Y with the cast of Merrily,

we roll along, guys. Are you ready for this? I can tell you're ready. How many of you have actually gotten a chance to see? Merely, we roll along on Broadway. Yes. This show, to paraphrase the show itself, it's a hit. The reviews are in.

It is a phenomenon. It's been playing since October. It is thankfully playing till July. If you haven't seen it yet, get your tickets, because this cast that are just a few feet away are so talented. They are singing, dancing, acting behemoths. I'm so thrilled to welcome them to this stage. Some are newbies to the podcast.

Some are not. I want you to give a warm, warm welcome to Lindsay Mendez. To Jonathan Groff. Jonathan, come on out. And to Daniel Radcliffe, everybody. Come on out. Hello, thank you. Hi, guys, welcome.

Hello, thank you for having us. Thank you. First of all, many congratulations are in order, not only on the show, breaking news. Congratulations, Lindsay, just yesterday announced just having a baby. Congratulations. Also an important day for Jonathan,

Beyonce announced her track list yesterday. Equally as important. Freaking out, I'm so excited. Have you more excited about this, obviously, more important. Thank you. That is the right answer. Well done. Dan, is there anything comparably exciting? How was your fantasy football in the last few months? It was very bad. Football was very bad for me this year. The Lions did well, though. That was nice. Yeah, that was fun. Good. And then it ended in heartbreak, as a lion's season should, I suppose. But it was,

no, it was great. This show is amazing. We're going to dive in deep. This is, what a story. As I'm sure this audience knows, Meryloughby Rollong has quite a history to it, and you guys are going to forever be known as the folks that made it a hit, that really brought it back to Broadway in the way that Sondheim, I'm sure, always dreamed it would be. So that's my last congratulations of the beginning, but we'll come back to it. Talk to me a little bit about your history with Sondheim and specifically this musical. Has anybody ever played in this show in theater and school at all prior? I didn't know

my first introduction to this show was seeing this exact production in London in 2013 I think I wasn't aware of any of the history of what had happened when it first came out the documentary obviously wasn't out at that point and so I hadn't seen that so I only ever knew it as a show that really worked

like I didn't have any kind of like complicated feelings I was like I watched Damien Humbley do an incredible version of Franklin Shepard Inc and I was like oh my God what an incredible song And I very rarely think this, but I did at that time think, God, I would love to, I would love to sing that song one day. But yeah, I did.

And my history with Sondheim is, I did listen to a lot of it growing up. My parents, I think, are here somewhere. What? They played a lot of, not this show in the car, but we used to, like, Sondheim show tunes were, like, a big thing on, like, road trips and stuff. So I listened to, like, company a lot and follies and many other shows that the sound fact of Chicago used to terrify me.

So, yeah, it was a lot of, I was introduced young. So when this comes around for you guys, I mean, you must have known the story history, obviously, loving musical theater as much as you guys do. Is there trepidation or excitement? Like, I mean, is there a thought, like, maybe there's a reason why it didn't work in the first place? Or is it more of like, we can turn it around

and we can expose folks to what people were missing in the first place? What was kind of your attitude when it kind of came out? We were lucky to have this off. Broadway run at New York Theater Workshop. And I, yes, New York Theater Workshop. Yes. And I like Dan, so I had seen the documentary about Merrily, but I hadn't seen a production until I went on YouTube,

and you can still, like, spoiler, you can go on YouTube and see Maria's production from London, it's still on there. And it's incredible, and it's the same set and costumes and concept, as our show. And I remember seeing that and feeling like, oh, wow, this is a hit.

But when we were doing it off-Broadway, it was so interesting to feel like it's such a delicate, nuanced piece of theater. And Maria Friedman, our director, has directed the show within an inch of its life. And we got this experience downtown of getting to refine and figure out every little look and every little gesture

and every little bit of comedy and bit of drama with this amazing ensemble group of actors. So it was like excited to do the piece, but I feel like we found our version of it off Broadway. So when we came to Broadway, we kind of knew what we were doing. It wasn't like we thought it was gonna be a hit, and we were going to bring this back to Broadway,

but we knew the story that we were telling when we finally... You liked it. You were happy. And we knew what we were doing. I remember we, they put the tickets on sale for the off-Broadway run before we started rehearsal. And the three of us were doing group chats that we would send video messages.

And we heard that it sold out in eight minutes, that run, the entire run. And I remember saying to you guys like, oh, shit, people are coming. And there's an expectation. Like, we better get this right. I felt all of a sudden it was like, I was very panicked about like, is this going to be a disaster and everyone will see the disaster? Like, so I think, you know, it was definitely like,

we had our heads down and we were working our butts off downtown to just like get it, get it right. This is a show about friendship. and either you guys are amazing actors or you clearly really legitimately love each other. It's really wonderful to see the camaraderie between all of you. But some of you didn't know each other necessarily,

Dan, you didn't have a history with these guys prior to this. No, no. I mean, weirdly, me and Jonathan have one mutual friend who years ago had said to me, like, you, I just feel like you need to meet and be friends with Jonathan Groff at some point. Like, you guys, I know you're going to hit it off. And then, yeah, I mean, and you guys knew each other already.

And then Jonathan, you know, started sending... Jonathan started sending video messages. And you both started sending video messages back and forth. And then my reaction to that on the chain was like, oh my God, do I have to do videos now? Isn't it enough to do the show? So they would, like, they would, you know, just clearly be just throwing off a video quickly

while they're doing something else. So Jonathan's walking around Times Square with his helmet on and, you know, telling a story. And I just like... I was like, I was literally like, okay, make notes on everything that they've said so you can address all the points that they've made in their videos. So you can make sure to send it all that. And I was like, starting again, I was like, no, this is rubbish. I've said something wrong.

You've gotten so much better, though. Now I don't care. Now I know that, well, now I know you've, like, no stage anymore. Yeah, exactly. Now I know there's less pressure to, like, feel like I have to try and make a good impression. I don't know. What is, what is a typical Jonathan Gruff video message entail? What would, uh, what?

A lot of nudity. It always ends with, okay, bah! Doesn't it, Dan? Yes, absolutely. See you guys later! Jonathan, is that a conscious decision or you're just not good with the end button? Are you...

I like building to a climax that never ends. You're... That seems like failure is more than that. You're better to what justice said. This is a fun game. Every sentence that Jonathan Groff says can be taken out of context and be horrible. Yes, that is so true.

So rather than hear one of you guys give a synopsis of the play, I want to hear what this show is about from each of your character's perspectives. From the vantage point of the character you play, what is Merrily we roll along about? You should start. You want me to start? You should start.

Okay, I think, let me defend Frank here for a second. I think the show, this is my mom came to see us off Broadway and I was, she lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and is a gym teacher. And so I was so fascinated to see what her take was going to be of the show afterwards. And I feel like what she said is kind of Frank's perspective of the show, which is it's a show about, people's ability to accept, or like inability to accept the fact that we're all changing all the time. And whether that's an internal, okay, whether that's like an internal change or like people around you changing, just the idea of whether or not you're able to accept change. That was my mom said that. Isn't that great? That's amazing.

Yeah. As a side note, his dad just calls me Charlie. He came backstage and he just called me Charlie the whole time and I loved it. Yeah, my dad, I asked my dad what he thought and he said, well, I still can't figure out the hearing aids, so I didn't really hear anything, but all the acting looked great. Great movement. Anybody want to talk about it from Charlie and Maria's perspective? perspective for what you think the show is? I think

I mean for Mary she's she meets these guys and she finally feels like she has a place in the world with them and they push her to be her best and

and she clings to them and that and is desperately trying to hold it together as she doesn't want to accept that things change. Yeah, very sad. And yeah, I think it's, to me, the most interesting conflicts in any story are where no one's really wrong.

Like, everyone just wants different things. And that's what I think, you know, there's been a version of this show that is talked about where it's like art versus commerce and Charlie is talked about as like the purist who just wants to do right stuff. And like, I have a real hard time with, you know, all Frank wants to do is make movies. I love making movies. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with that.

You know, and so it's the story of this, yeah, of these, of Charlie meets these two extraordinary people who he falls, like, deeply in love with both of them. And it's about them, you know, him trying to, you know, all the times he's saying to Frank, you know, why won't you, why do you want to make these films? Why can't we just work on the show? All he's really saying is,

I just want us to be us together. I don't want any of this other stuff. And, you know, that's, yeah, there is a sadness to it. And also, Charlie is kind of the only character that ends up pretty okay. Like, Charlie has, like, a wife and four kids and has a lovely life, and, you know,

he kind of gets out all right. But, yeah, to me, it's just, it's about people trying to hold a friendship together. And as your mom really brilliantly said, like with their inability, with various levels of being able to accept the change that we all go through. I think one of the many reasons it works is that I found myself, I've been able to see it twice, but at different points in the show, you relate to all the characters, right? You've been, we've all been all three of these characters in our lives.

I was talking about your personal relationships. I'm curiously your philosophy on this. Like, can great chemistry, can great acting, rather, outrun a lack of chemistry with somebody off screen? Would this work, in all honesty, if one of you didn't necessarily like the other person? I don't like them, so I think it's working. That's fair. Have you ever, we're not naming names Needles to say,

but have you ever worked with somebody that you haven't necessarily enjoyed? God, yes. I think, honestly, the thing that it makes, this is probably a really boring, like, non-artistic question, too, to this for this answer, but the thing that it makes the best is the press. Like, doing press, when you're doing a show with somebody that's like in any way, you're like, supposed to be really good friends or you're this, you're that, doing that with somebody that you're not even like, Hey, Michael. Hey, Tom. So big news to share it, right? Yes, huge, monumental, earth shaking. Heartbeat,

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in which case, call us. 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, VEP, 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, musts season, and in case you missed them.

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I don't know. I mean, I think chemistry is ultimately. just like people being open and curious about each other and we're spending a lot of time together and you know and yeah so I mean I think it was it was pretty instant with us and I'm very very grateful I do sometimes think about what this show would be like to do with people that I did not enjoy and it would be a nightmare um yeah so I'm I'm we're very we're very lucky We're going to have to address the elephants in the room of the Jonathan Groff spitting phenomenon. I'm contractually obligated as a journalist to bring it up.

I apologize, Jonathan. But everybody knows about it. Jonathan Groff secretes a lot of fluids from every part of his body. And I've seen it. Secreets is not the right word. They come out. They come out, yeah. There's nothing gentle about it.

So, have you ever had a co-star complain? Have you ever had somebody be like, dude, you got to control this thing? So, um... Is this a yes? You have a yes? Oh my God. No, I was just going to say that, well, first of all, I can't believe how patient these two are with the amount of fluid that's coming at them.

And it's like, it's real love. And I, and I, and not a day goes by, hey, where I'm not grateful for that. and like the love and I like because it's disgusting and so some days at the at the end of act one of spring awakening when I would be in the hayloft with Lee and Michelle some days I would be sweating so much that and we were simulating sex and it would like if I had done Bickram yoga that day that was really when it would happen because my system would be like amped maybe skip the Bikram yoga dude.

The yoga dude. So that I would, I would like do, I would do the yoga, and then I would go to the night show, and I'd be like, oh, my God, I'm soaking wet. And then I would be on top of her in the hayloft, and the water would be coming down my face and then go to like a kind of like a, like a low faucet, like where it's just dripping in a straight line onto her body, and it would do the insertion, which was the and find the blackout. And then she would go, in the black,

and she would go, oh my God, get off of me. We do sometimes leave the stage, because at the end of Act 1 in our show, we're all, a huge amount of the castes on stage at the end, and Jonathan's just unseen where he is crying, crying makes other stuff happen, it's all happening, and there are some moments where, like, Jonathan exit stage right,

and we all exit stage left, and there are some moments where, we do all come off and you just hear everyone go, Jesus, he is disgusting. But I will say, yes, but I will say. Or like I've slipped in your puddles? Yes, it's true. I have slipped in your puddles.

Is there nothing that medical science can do? We saw, we found a cure for COVID and we can't fix the Jonathan Groff's sweating. It's really, I will say. The best is seeing the front row hold their playbill up like this. Very occasionally, people in the front of, row will not know and you'll see somebody be like oh my good yeah they um the other day there was a fifth throw program that went up over a face and i was like whoa it's like that i didn't yeah

it can be i will say this is again a testament because if i was being spit on this much by an actor i even slightly dislike i would be so annoyed yeah um and i'm really not it's like he drools on me more than my son and i don't care like i really i i i took for the acting that i get with it i take it every day. 100%. I've got 10 more questions on the spitting. No, don't right. Can I address something else? When we did our first round of press for this,

we talked about how late he gets into the theater, and I would like to amend that. We need to amend that. Because it is not quite true. He is always in the theater by half hour. He's just not in his dressing room until like sometimes two minutes before the show. But he is always

ready. He's in the building. And he is always in the building. I just want to say that because Some people got very... He got a lot of heat for that. And he is always there. He is always that. He just takes his time to get to his costume. Yes.

We're going to deal with all the issues about Jonathan Groff by the end of the show. This is like a therapy session. I should pay you. Do you leave the show feeling optimistic or sad about this story? You feel hope? You feel because it's all the facets of friendship, right? What do you feel coming off that stage? Amped.

amped, amped at the beginning, amped at the end. I think we feel great. I mean, the second act is so fun for us, barring the one breakdown I have to have. It's really so sweet and wonderful. And I think the gift that this show has given us is that we don't take anything with us. As soon as that scene's over,

it can't live in our DNA anymore because we can't know anything that we just did. So we don't, I mean, we are effing around until right when we come out there. We don't, like, I don't have to get mad before the show starts. You know what I mean? Like, it's just, it's like instantaneous.

It's like a light switch, every scene. You can just jump into the moment. And that's also the gift of the writing and just the story that lives in us, but we're elated when the show's over. It's my favorite scene. It's so fun. I've always found it fascinating,

like, talking to actors over the years about, like, the showbiz lifestyle and retaining friendships, right? Like you have this intense relationship during production, whether it's a Broadway show or a film or TV show. And then the nature of it is sometimes you'll never see these people again or you'll see them very rarely. And you've just had this intense experience.

Is that something that you have gotten used to? You found like a balance over the years. Like are you the kind of folks that keep actors and crew in your life after a production? Yeah, I mean, you can't keep everyone, obviously. There's so many people that you work with. Will Jonathan make the cut after? Yeah, these two are like, yes.

I mean, I would say I have made probably more really, like, lasting, wonderful friendships with people that I've worked with on stage than I do on film. I think there's something about the nature of how you work together in theater that is very, very bonding. And yeah, I think there's, you know, it's the reason, like, I remember the last day I had on my first job, which was David Copperfield. I, like, wept, and I didn't really understand why. And I think there was just some knowledge that, like,

I would not see all of those people again, and all of those people felt so special. And I think that's something that I've got better at as I've got older, and I still have a bunch of friends from Potter and from how to succeed, and from, you know, I met my, I was about to say wife, we're not married, but, you know, to all intents of purposes, my wife, I don't kill your darlings.

You know, I've had, I've been lucky to meet and keep a lot of these people in my life. and find some acceptance of the fact that there are also relationships that you're super close when you film and then it doesn't exist in that same way, but you're always like, be friendly and be... But this is different.

If I don't know these guys for the rest of my lives, I will be devastated, so the pressure is on. Although for the narrative of the show, it would kind of be very poetic if you guys lost touch and... Shut up, Josh. Oh, God. Every time Jonathan says that line,

the years from now, who I get emotional? Because I'm like, we will do that. And I think every night when he says it, I don't see us. I don't see the characters anymore. I just see the three of us. Like, really, that in 10 years from now,

we'll still think about this moment, this incredible moment that we've had together. I really do. I have never been so emotionally connected to a show for so long into the run. Like, there are still moments. that, and you're right, there are moments when I don't, I stop seeing the characters

and I am just seeing us, and... Or when I remember the day I told you guys I was pregnant. Oh, my God. And also, congratulations to us. We kept it a secret. Yes. Yeah, sorry, bigger congratulations.

Doing our time that night. Doing that song that night, the three of us were a disaster. Something is stirring. Yeah, what are the lyrics? Something. Something is stirring, shifting ground. It's just begun.

And we were just... We were dead. There's moments in Franklin Shepard Inc. when I look at him, and the wonderful thing about, you know, this job is one of, in some ways, it's the most challenging, one of the most challenging things I've done, in some ways it is the easiest I've ever had it as an actor, because I just have to look at these two. And everyone else on that stage, but like, Jesus Christ, these, like I, like it was when Lindsay does that song at the beginning, I am just like, and I'm about to do a big song and I can't be crying that much, but it, like, ruins me. The same with Jonathan at multiple points during the show I can just look at them and suddenly

any emotion that you need to be there will be there. By my count I think you carry Dan at least twice during the show. Is that right, Jonathan? And then one balletic lift into the air.

Is that the most stressful physical moment of the show for you? I look forward to it every night. Dan? Dan. Is it stressful for you? I feel like...

He's very strong. I weigh 135 pounds soaking wet. We're fine. In Swiss Army men, weren't you carried around a lot too? Yeah, bless Paul Dano. They offered him a dummy, and he was like, no, I want the weight. So, yeah, he did carry me a lot. It's just an interesting motif in the career.

There's many weird things, yes. But being carried by incredible actors is a real perk of my life. Is there at this point, so far into the run, like a stressful moment in the show? Is there something that you think about when you wake up in the morning, like, oh, there's this part of the show that I need to get right. I mean, yeah, I rehearse Franklin Shepardink constantly backstage. It's more out of superstition at this point than anything else. Like, I know it.

But, and I think there are like lines that I'm always aware of as like, oh, you have to negotiate this in a certain way to make it work or make it right. But no, there's not like, I don't, not for me, there's not like a particularly stressful moment anymore. Bobby and Jackie and Jack used to be very stressful because it's so frenetic in all the choreography, but now we've gotten to a point where we know it so well that things can go really wrong. Like last night, we have a box full of props that we use in that thing, and then we have a line of cutouts of faces that we use at the end, and we have to pick them up

in a really specific order. Two seconds before we went on for that number last night, Jonathan, I don't know how, managed to upend the box of props so that everything inside, which is very specifically placed, so we know where everything else, was completely jumbled up and knock like four of the faces off the table. But then like we know it so well and that number is just these guys doing a number in a nightclub so it can be really messy and we know it well enough

for it to be messy and still be good. Right. Yeah. You mentioned superstition. Who's the most superstitious in the group? Me. Yeah. How does that manifest? Doing Franklin Shepardink a thousand times backstage before the show and that's...

I don't think I have any other superstitions particularly. Do you just that you're dressed by half hour. Because the show might start early. You know. You never know. You never know. One day they might just be like,

everyone's here and in their seats. Let's go. This is probably the same answer. Who's like the toughest on themselves? Who's like the most self-critical? Yeah, me again. Okay. Okay.

I will have you know, this is a little bit of a side note. I mentioned to you backstage that Gary Oldman was on stage here recently, had a great chat with him and he called his work in Harry Potter mediocre and the entire audience yeah what did what you're doing and shook their head and gasped I mean yeah he's told

I won't say what he he asked me on the last day of his filming I think for the fifth film he was like have I been a good serious and I wanted to cry I was like yes oh my God what like yeah he's you know he's he's also really self-critical I think and

But, you know, I, but also it's insane that he thinks that way. It's crazy, yeah. Yeah, Gary Oldman is being critical of his own acting. What hope is there for any of this? Right, yeah. It never ends. Who's most likely to have a wardrobe malfunction? What?

You ripped your pants open. And you ripped your pants the other day. I didn't rip my pants, yeah. Yeah. I just only have one costume, because there are two costumes. No, but they've gone way more wrong than our stuff. Who's most likely? outside of the show to have burst into song,

just any minute of the day. Jonathan. Really always. Yeah, always. If you say a line that's inadvertently a line from a song, and the musical, it's already happening. And he will sing it. Yeah.

Oh, my God. Who is the biggest karaoke here? Do Broadway stars do karaoke? That feels like a... I love karaoke. I love karaoke. Yeah. Yes. I don't think you do, do you either.

No, no, yeah. Which is nice for the rest of us because they're really good singers, so it's good for them to keep away from it. That would be the worst nightmare to see Wednesday or Jonathan walk into your karaoke room. Like, come on. What's your go-to karaoke of choice lately?

I mean, me and my girlfriend do a duet of, it's all coming back to me now. Yeah, and because the lyrics in that song are insane. And Bloodhound Gang, bad touch, that's one Erin does mainly. Yeah, those would be, I've done them a lot. You all have many amazing credits on Broadway by now. What's the biggest difference between the first day

you stepped on stage on Broadway versus yesterday? When you think back to the actor you were when you first stepped on a Broadway stage, what do you think of? Lindsay, were you nervous back then? Or were you like, I'm born for this? This is where I belong. no dear I was

no I was totally a nervous wreck but I guess the difference now is I think when I started I thought I had to be perfect and now I know that like the best is in the unexpected and in the change every night and in whatever I bring that day is going to be the best performance I'm going to give

is whatever I went through that day. And I didn't know that when I started. So that's the biggest difference for me. Jonathan, take me back to first day on a Broadway stage. I think it's funny. I feel like that, your answer just inspired me to, I feel like I used to act to escape myself. Like in my life, anyone?

We had one woo. probably my publicist in my life was my first Broadway show and then spring awakening and I was closeted during both of those shows and I think I was like it was like

acting and getting the chance to be on Broadway was like this escape from my real life and it was like this childhood dream and this place I could go to express myself and feel safe and not address what was happening in my real life. And now it's the exact opposite. It's like now I act to push myself further and to dig in

deeper and to offer up everything that, like what you're saying about not being perfect. I relate to that too, like to show, to show and explore every side of myself and hopefully invite the audience to explore every side of themselves as well. That, like, that to me now is the opportunity. It's less escapism and more, like, investigation. Dan, for you, it must have, it would have. been Equist, I suppose. Yeah, it was Equus in London and then on Broadway. I mean, I think for me, coming from sort of the Potter films and going on stage for the first time, there was a real sense of like, do I belong here? Like, and is this going to be okay? Like, I don't know. And particularly

with how to succeed, like even more so, a musical, like I'd never, I'd grown up listening to musicals, but I think I had always wanted to do one, but I hadn't pictured that it would happen that quickly. And yeah, I think I had a huge complex about like, yeah, like do I belong here? Am I just being given this opportunity because I'm famous

because I'm Harry Potter? And I think I have a lot less of that now. Like I've got more of a sense. Like when I step into a rehearsal room now, I'm like, no, I've done like, this is my fifth show. I've done this. Like I know what I'm doing.

I can bring, I'm not, I can't sing like these guys can, but I can bring something to a show that is of value and is mine and, you know. Dan, you sing down. I sing, fine. Fine. Stop.

You got to let that go. Some nights is very good. Some nights is fine. I cannot believe you say that. You're going to drop it, Dad. Come on it. You're genius. Come on.

Yeah. You're not allowed to say that after doing like five or six different ball of later. And you're doing Sondheim, like the hardest musical theater there is. And you're slaying every night. Yes. Yes. This may further embarrass you, but this is too good to pass up. I look through old conversations, and this is a conversation I had 10 years ago

with the late-grade Alan Rickman, and we were talking about you. And I just wanted to share it with you, because it's a pretty, I don't know, it's a special piece of tape. Let's take a look at this. It's remarkable to see what's come of the kids in their adulthood to see the kinds of careers they've crafted, and personally how cool they are all are. And is that something that surprises you, that excites you? I mean, you have a very unique vantage point on their evolution.

Well, I think it's a relief as much as anything else because... Could have gone another way. Well, you just, you know, you watch that situation. And as much as I was only doing it and the rest of us for seven weeks, they were doing it 52 weeks. It was, this was their life from 12 to 22. And you would watch it from the sidelines at times and try to. to throw the odd lifeline in

because there was so little time for that and it's only in recent years that for example I've managed to sit down in a cafe in New York with Daniel at one point he was down the road in one theatre and I was up the road

in another huge pride to go and see him in the musical funny so how to succeed or How does it succeed? And you see, what is he?

It's how dare he be dancing as well as the New York dancers because he worked at it. Thanks for showing me that. I've never seen that before. Thank you. I will say, Alan was somebody, I was so intimidated by Alan Rickman, because how could you not be by that voice?

Like, even just hearing that voice, you forget. You forget quite how low that voice was until it echoes through you. I was so intimidated by him for the first like three movies I was just like terrified of him and I was like this guy hates me and somewhere along the line I think you know he he he saw that like I really wanted to do this and I really wanted to work at it and he was

goodbye summer movies hello fall I'm Anthony Devon 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 Salome playing power ping pong in Marty Supreme. Let's not forget Emma Stone and Jorgos Lanthamos' Bagonia. 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, too. 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. Hi, I'm Brandy Passanti. For the last 15 years, I've starred on one of the most successful reality shows of all time, storage wars. On my no show, The Real Reality, my guest and I will reveal the real story of what it's like navigating fame and notoriety.

We will explore their unique story, what really happened on and off camera, how becoming famous has truly impacted their lives and what their vision is for their future. This is the real reality. Subscribe now wherever you get your podcast. He cut short a vacation in Canada to come and see me in Equest. He saw every piece of stagework I ever did while he was alive. He would take me out afterwards. We would talk about it. He was like, you know, he was like one of the first people to say, like, hey, you should look at like voice coaching and Alexander technique.

And like all this stuff that like he was like, you're probably not going to get this otherwise. So like you should just like investigate all this stuff. Yeah, I'm so, so lucky to, and yeah, to hear him saying that's really lovely. Thank you for showing me that. Okay, it's official. We are very much in the final sprint to election day, and face it, between debates, polling releases, even court appearances. It can feel exhausting, even impossible to keep up with. I'm Brad Milkey.

I'm the host of Start Here, the day. daily podcast from ABC News. And every morning, my team and I get you caught up on the day's news in a quick, straightforward way that's easy to understand with just enough context so you can listen, get it, and go on with your day. So, kickstart your morning. Start Smart with Start Here and ABC News, because staying informed shouldn't feel overwhelming. So I think this is another topic that you have different philosophies on. A show like this brings out amazing folks to the theater. I think J-Lo came by the other night, as far as I saw.

Now, do you want to know who's in the audience? Do you like to make eye contact? I do not want to know who's in the audience. Absolutely not. Never. I love knowing when people are there. It's a shocker. I'm kind of right in the middle.

Like, I don't need to know. I don't really, I don't care. It's not that I don't care. It's just like. Wow. No, I don't mean it like that. I mean, like, I'm going to, I think I'm like, I'm going to do the show no matter what, like for all the other people that are here. And it'll be lovely to meet them after, you know, if that happens. But, yeah, I don't know. Are the, we have some young children in between the group here. Have they been into, see the shows, the music of Merrily in their lives? Yeah, in both of their lives. I mean, Lucy, my daughter, she's going to be three in a couple weeks.

and she comes to the theater like twice a week and hangs out and during the overture she comes down and dances with all of us offstage and it's like the cool it's like her favorite she's always like Uncle Jonathan are we going to dance and she loves it and then and then my partner like whisks her out into the side door and she's always like have a great show like so loud or see you guys like she is but it's um This has like already put such a mark on her, which I'm just so thrilled about. She just, she loves the theater. It's so awesome. We've got another one. And my son is too young to like be dancing, although he hasn't started walking and doing something that resembles dancing. But I mean he, I held him while I was learning some of these songs. You try singing our time holding your new baby.

It's impossible. It's you will just cry. And this one gets to hear it eight times a week. I know, yeah. But yeah, no, he's, he's, it's going in subliminally. Yeah. Are you going to be literally the only parent that doesn't read Harry Potter to their kids? I mean, I think I'll, I'll read it if he wants me to read it to him.

Like, if he gets into it. Yeah, of course I will. Like, I'm not going to, I think it's, I do think I'm going to have a really weird time over the next few years of like, like, this is a beautiful time when he is not aware of me being anything else but his dad. and that's going to be really, really hard to, like, I just want to, like, keep me being famous a secret from him from as long as humanly possible. Lucy loves Frozen, and she has no idea that Jonathan is Krista.

None. This will be quite the revelation. Her head is going to come off. Like, I don't... It really is. I don't think I want her to know. I just... I think I want to keep that separate as long as I can.

Like Santa, you know, just want to, like, Just keep a lid on that. I love it. All right, some questions from our lovely audience. If you can choose a musical to star in Next Together, which would it be and why? I want to do... What? What are we going to say?

Just the first image I had was the three of us doing, there's got to be something better than this from Sweet Charity. I thought we said we were going to do Follies. Oh, yeah, Follies, like 20 years from now. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. That's a real answer.

Although my answer was real. I do want to do, like, I love dancing with you guys. That can continue after the show, just in real life. And yes, what Alan Rickman was saying about your dancing and how to succeed, it was like off the chain. We all have had a real life. watch of the Tony Awards when Dan was on the Tony's and doing his dancing, because we put a little piece of choreography into old friends one night to surprise him. He had some notes for

me. He was like, you have to get higher on the balls of your feet. But it is wild that you were like dancing better than the New York dancers. It was not dancing better than the New York dancers. You were, Dan. I was holding my own and doing that is still absolutely one of the things I am proudest of that I've ever done. I actually rewatched that because we had a how to succeed reunion like a few weeks ago. And I, I, I, because it was in my head and I re-watched that. And I was like, wow, man, that's really good. I was really impressed. I have to, I'm very rarely watching anything I've done and I'm impressed by myself, but that I watched. And I was like, that's, yeah, that's, that was cool. It's crazy, Dan has agreed to do all the choreography

right now live for us. That's shocking. Are there any group warm-ups or rituals you do as a whole cast? Do you, like, have any moment backstage or are you each doing your own things or? There's some unmentable, unmentionable ones. What? But we always sit in Lindsay's dressing room. We often sit in Lindsay's dressing room, the three of us. And then during the overture, Lindsay makes her entrance as the Lady of the Hudson, which is her name. So her dressing room is like next to Dan's on this upper level offstage.

I have like a balcony outside of my room. And I make an entrance at a certain point in the overture and everyone down the floor of the stage gives me a round. And I do a different dance every night, depending on how I'm feeling about that particular day. And that's how we start the play. How has your approach to the character evolved from the beginning of rehearsals to now?

What's the biggest difference you think in how you're approaching your respective characters? When I watched the show on YouTube and Frank said, I've made only one mistake in my life, but I've made it over and over and over. That was saying yes, when I meant no. I was like, that line went through my body and I was like, I have to play this part because I, I've done that so often in my life and do that so often in my life. And I'm interested in investigating what's happening with this guy. And then I, and, and then I would

listened before we started rehearsals to our time and I couldn't, why is this coming up for me now? I don't know why, but I couldn't, I couldn't listen to it without hysterically crying and I couldn't understand why. And I think that like the, like, there's something about like the, my God, I'm a fucking mess. What the fuck? Oh my God. I think. there's something about the the like purity about those characters

at the beginning of the story like you said beginning of the story end of the show that I think we militantly have to protect in ourselves I'm so sorry this is hilarious we are going to wait

and so I guess like that like the The difference being, although you wouldn't know it now, I found a way to harness that uncontrollable crying into the playing of the show. So now when we're actually playing the show, there's something very spiritual about it for me

and for the audience. And we're about to do our 200th performance on Broadway since we opened on Sunday. And there's like, So I guess the difference, to answer the question, I'm so sorry. To answer the question, it was like, it felt like there's something in here that I need to find for myself in this character and in this show. And it has totally changed into, I am dying to offer this up to this audience

and to share this piece with this audience. And not a performance has gone by where I haven't felt just like such incredible gratitude to be able to offer it up as a gift that we get to do this amazing show that only ran for two weeks on Broadway 42 years ago and that it's a hit. And so now it feels like it feels like a mission almost every time I get to the theater and we get to go out and do that. It's like it feels like such a beautiful responsibility and an offering to the audience. No, but I mean, I kind of alluded to this at the start.

I mean, the narrative of the history of this musical is forever changed. It was the musical, the infamous, the Sondheim musical, that closed after 16 performances, and now it's the show that was rediscovered and was a hit. That's really nice. I think there is recency bias in this as well. There will be other great productions of this show. We are very happy to be like a part of that, but I think we can, you know, see what I mean? Perfect example.

Right on Brown. And yeah, and we are like, you know, I'm thrilled. Look, obviously we are all thrilled with the reaction that this show has gotten and that people are loving it and that we get to do it for these amazing audiences that we're getting. But yeah, I'd also like to say that, like, you know, there's going to be other great versions for other generations to see. This is a great show. And if we can be a part of, like, highlighting how great a show this is, then that's fantastic. We're going to end with the Happy Second Fused

profoundly random questions. Some theater-specific ones, musical-specific ones. Mamma Mia one or two, which do you prefer? I've only seen one, so I guess by default, one. Okay, okay, okay, okay. I actually just recently re-watched Mamma Mia one. That's what we're calling it. Yeah.

And it is so. Good. And Amanda Seyfried is like, ugh. That's, for those listening at home, that's a nice noise. That's good. That's good. She is so effing, amazing in that, to sell, to have the camera in your face and be like, dot, dot, dot, you know, in the beginning.

She's, you know, that... That movie is so good. is so good. So I'm going to pick Mamma Mia 1, but I haven't seen Mamma Mia 2, but now I've got to wait, I don't see Mamma Mia 2. Oh my God. Your mind's going to... Are you a Mamma Mia 2? I'm an equal opportunity. I don't want to pick favorites. Cats or Phantom?

I've never seen Phantom. I watched the movie of cats, and for various reasons, had a great time. So cats. Hmm, just had a good takeout that night and you were just, you were just... There's some choices that have been made all over that film that I really, really appreciated. And I'm, I had a very, as I said, very good time. Everybody at Dan's house after this, we're watching cats.

When you started saying that and you said cats or fans, I looked over and I saw that thing on your card and I went, I didn't put together I thought you were going to say cats or dogs, and I hadn't made the connection that you were to... So I was like, wait, the animal, cats and the show phantom, it seems like a really weird choice. My questions are odd, they're not that odd. Barbie or Oppenheimer? Oh, that's genuinely really hard.

Oppenheimer's one of my favorite films I've seen for a long. But Bobby was incredible. Bobby is an incredible film and a feat of filmmaking. The fact that Greta Gowig got a massive corporation to make her let that, make that version, of that movie and make it so weird and delightful and insane. It's like, and Margarobi and that, obviously Ryan goes amazing, but like, Margarobi is essentially like, he gets to have the time of his life playing Ken.

She's doing a, like, a seriously dramatic performance in every scene. It's, I can't, that one I can't choose. Wait, which Ken do you want to be in the sequel, Dan? Have you decided? Oh, I mean, any. I mean, I don't know if they're costable is that after Gosling. Anyone else to know? You almost, you had a little dalyons with Barbie.

Barbie almost came into your world, didn't it? You were up for a part. What they say? For the record, the only part of the night afternoon when Jonathan was quiet. So I got silent. What do you guys collect? Does anybody collect anything here? What do we collect?

Yeah, anything you collect. Take out back. So Jonathan is single and lives And he lives alone That's why I'm crying on all these handsets And the first time we went over to his apartment He was like, I just have to clean up a little And he had literally

What, Dan? seven or eight sweet green takeout bags all on the floor and because he eats every meal out and and just always has a million takeout bags but also like do we want to how deeply do we want to go into this yeah very deeply we're here we're here sing your sing the song sing the song that you've done don't think out bags I live alone and they're my takeout bags that's what I collect. Oh, and then also, he has to take out the trash. He has to take out the trash at a specific

time because he's so embarrassed by the amount of takeout bags that he has that he doesn't want his doorman to see it. He doesn't want his door attendant to see him taking out his trash. We've told him many times, that guy does not care. He does not care how many tegap bags you have, but he still, he does it under a cover of darkness. And the thing

is, so in my basement of my building, they separate the paper from the plastic from the trash from the compost. So I have two trash cans in my apartment

for the plastic and the trash but the takeout bags are paper. So they're collecting over there. And there's so many. Anyway, that's what I collect. Wow, there you go. Glad you didn't start crying during the paper

or plastic conversation. For the record. What's... What's the... Keep it together, everybody. We're in the home stretch. Worst note a director has ever given you. On stage, on screen, on a set. Just feel it.

Just feel it? Just feel it. I need you to feel it. Thanks, mate. Do it less gay. Whoa! Oh! You know it's not funny.

it's not funny, but Andrew Rannels was on the stage, basically had the exact same kind of note he described someone gave him. We are sadly out of time. Thank you guys for coming to this Jonathan Groff Therapy session. Live alone. Take out back.

Coming to off, off, off, Broadway next season. Take out bags of the musical. In all, honestly, congratulations on this show. It is such a special piece of work. Merrily, we roll along. It's continuing. It's continuing. July 7th is the final performance. If you haven't checked it out, check it out. If you have checked it out,

check it out again. Give it up for the amazing cast of Merrily. Thank you so much for coming, everybody. Thank you, Jill. Thank you. And so ends another edition of happy, sad, confused. Remember 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. American history is full of infamous tales

that continue to captivate audiences, decades, or even hundreds of years after they happened. On the infamous America podcast, you'll hear the true story. of the Salem Witch Trials and the escape attempts from Alcatraz, of bank robbers like John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd, of killers like Lizzie Borden and Charles Starkweather, of mysteries like the Black Dahlia and D.B. Cooper, and of events that inspired movies like Goodfellas, killers of a flower moon, Zodiac, Eight Men Out, and many more.

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