Trading Secrets - 75: $1,700/week on Broadway? Broadway Star of Hamilton, Miguel Cervantes on the ever changing world of Broadway, using your platform for good, and not throwing away your shot

Episode Date: October 24, 2022

This week, Jason is joined by actor, singer, activist and Broadway superstar, Miguel Cervantes!    Miguel took on the lead role of Alexander Hamilton in the Chicago production Hamilton from 2016 to January 2020 where he then went on to play that same leading role on Broadway at the Richards Rogers Theater in New York, NY. He quickly became one of the more well known Broadway stars after Hamilton took the country by storm and continues to today. Beyond Hamilton, Miguel also has dedicated a big part of his life to advocacy for something closer to home.    Miguel shares insights to what it was like working on Broadway during the height of COVID and the impact it had on the live acting community, how opportunities happen when they are meant to and why preparation is the only antidote to fear and anxiety. Miguel also reveals what the typical week looks like for theater actors, the secret behind his side hustle Shu Caddy and what inspired it, his campaign “My Shot at Epilepsy” and continued support of CURE Epilepsy in honor of his daughter, Adelaide and the parallels he has with the Hamilton story. Did he always know he wanted to be a performer? What is a workshop agreement?  How is Miguel using his platform to share what CURE does? Where did the idea for Shu Caddy come from?    Miguel reveals all that and so much more in another episode you can’t afford to miss!    For more information:  CURE Epilepsy  Kelly Cervantes Blog ShuCaddy   Sponsors: Butcherbox.com/secrets for 1 10-14 lb turkey FREE in your first box Nextevo.com code TRADINGSECRETS for up to 25% off subscription orders of $40 or more   Be sure to follow the Trading Secrets Podcast on Instagram & join the Facebook group.   Host: Jason Tartick Voice of Viewer: David Arduin Executive Producer: Evan Sahr   Produced by Dear Media.   Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. Today, I am joined by actors, singer-activist in Broadway superstar Miguel Cervantes. Many of you know Miguel best for his lead role of Alexander. Hamilton, my favorite show in the Chicago production of Hamilton, which ran from 2016 to January 2020. And then he took on the role of Alexander Hamilton at Richards Rogers Theater in New York, New York. Miguel quickly became one of the more well-known Broadway stars after the rise of Hamilton took the country by storm and still does today. Today we're going to discuss

the life of a Broadway performer. What is perspectives of the Hamilton craze? and is and how he dedicated a big part of his life to advocacy of something a little closer to home. Miguel, thank you so much for being here. We are so excited to have you. Thanks for having you. This is great to be here. Thanks for the invite to be here. And everyone back home, they know I am a huge, huge Hamilton guy. This is what I hear. This is what we just saw you at U.S. Open. It was about a month ago. We were singing along. And fun fact about Hamilton, I actually work out to the soundtrack. It fires me up. There's, listen, I am a fan like everybody else. I know I say it.

Fun fact, if you're ever in a bar or something, everyone asks you, hey, do you by any chance to know what human being on the planet has played Hamilton more than any other human being? Now you know. I think it's around 1,800 performances now over the course of seven years, with a year and a half break there. But I'm still a fan. I hear some of the beats and the grooves and stuff. And I understand why people love it so much, even though it is in my bones now. I don't listen to it at home anymore. It is, I do understand what the desire and what that sort of drive is to be part of it. That's so cool.

And I have a million questions for you, but before I get, I got to ask you off the cuff. After 2,000 performances, does it get like, do you get kind of sick of the same songs? I mean, look, there's no world in which it's not a job. I go to work like everybody else, and sometimes I'm in a bad mood and life happens outside of the theater. But what you just said is kind of what drives me to go to those places. I go to the place every single night because I know that there's a lot. Because I know that there are people that just are obsessed with the show, that it means something to them for whatever reason, whether it's about their own life or their own sort of ideas of social, political, all of these things that the Hamilton embodies and messages that it tries to have to sort of put out into the world. And I know it's important to people. I know that it is. So I never want anyone to be like, oh, he looked like he was a little sort of phoning it in today. Or he looked a little bit. You know, it's still a great show, but I never wanted to feel that way for myself or for

anyone in the audience. So, you know, the done, da, da, da, da, then starts out and I go, right, on, and it's easier for me because I'm on stage for all, but about 12 of the minutes of the whole show. So there's not a whole lot of time for me to be like, I can't believe I had to do this. But there are days like anybody else,

but I take the privilege, and it is, it's a privilege for me to be up there. There's lots of people that are talented in the world and I happen to be the guy that gets to do it right now. And so I'm honored and humbled by that and I wanna sort of give, give it the justice, that people want. So I think, I know it's kind of a cheesy actor-actory answer, but it's true. That's how I feel. It's real. And I want people to come out of there getting the Hamilton experience

that they want. Absolutely. It's an unbelievable profession. The story has such impact. But I want to talk about maybe some of the lulls before the highs and a tough moment for Broadway. And I can imagine you, but let's go to timeline, right? What I saw was March 3, 2020. You take on the role is Alexander Hamilton in New York, New York. Yeah, it's like the Super Bowl. That's the dream job. You get it. It was, what, nine days later, all of Broadway shuts down. September 14th, 2021, Broadway reopens. That's 551 days. Eight days after you were given the lead of Hamilton, Broadway is shut down. How challenging was that for you and even your family? I feel such like a blur now. I remember that day sitting in the hair chair,

getting my microphone put in my hair, and I said, something feels funny. something feels weird. I'm watching the news and at intermission that day. There was an NBA game or something that got canceled. The Utah Jazz was playing. Yeah, it's right in the middle of the game. And they shut it down. They pulled it.

Yeah, I was like, what just happened? Yeah. I was like, what just happened? Yeah. And we had to go to the second act and then, and then right after Quiet Uptown, Aaron Burr, Daniel, who was playing Aaron Burr at the time, walked out and we're all, I came off. You know, we're crying and we're quiet uptown,

you know, coming off stage. And everyone's are looking at this phone. And they said, look, Tom Hanks just, just got it. And he was off shooting that movie or whatever he was doing in Australia. And I thought, wait, Tom Hank, we're done. We're all done, we're all done.

We're going down and sure enough, that was the Wednesday night and Thursday they shut it down. And then there was this just weird feeling of how long is this gonna be, how long are we gonna be here, how long are we gonna sort of sit in this place? And then it sort of really started sinking in for all of us in the show

that this was gonna be a long, drawn out thing. And then so then you pivot from, Oh, what are we going to do to what, how do we sustain ourselves? How do I, how do I sit in here with my family and, and what are we going to do? And then the heaviness of it really sinks in about people are dying. And this is, this is not just about our money and my job and our life and think, thank goodness, like my family, we were set up really well and we didn't have much to worry about as far as that goes. But the weight and there's people in my show who were going to be struggling, who had just gotten the job,

They just moved into the show in that year. You know, just a few weeks before I got there and now they don't have any money. And Hamilton treated it. They took care of us. They took such good care of us. That's amazing. And so much props to the producers

and Lynn and everybody for really looking out for everyone as best they could. But it was still difficult for lots and lots of people. And that's hard to understand. It's hard to really grasp. And then to just to look at clearly, we're going to open in the spring, right? Of course.

Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Month or two. Summer comes. Clearly we're going to open in the summer. Well, maybe it'll be in the fall. Here comes 20, 21. It's going to be, and then it just kept pushing and pushing and pushing until September. And then it's sort of like the Zoom world happened.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The Zoom concerts. And I sat in my office with my guitar and I'm saying, I am not doing away my shot. Like with my dog over there, the corner and all these people on Zoom. We sort of got used to this weird, not personal, personal. I'm looking into people's houses on the screen. Yeah. But I'm over here in my office, and that became a whole other world of performing and connection.

Yeah. That's as an actor and as someone on stage, just every day, just connecting and feeling the energy of another person and the audience. It's part of my job. It's part of why I love what I do. And to not have that was just so heart, it just crushed my heart every time. And so those were all of the things that we, I think a lot of, performers were feeling yeah that we just couldn't share that space with people anymore and then my own family every family every person had their own story sure what it was to be in the house

and dealing with all of those emotions that go with that and we had ours as well so you know when you could feel we they made the announcement you could feel it coming back I mean the the the I couldn't even imagine yeah what it was going to be like and I let me tell you what when it when we got back they applaud I don't it was just like this electric energy that I will never, ever, ever forget. Bone chilling comeback. It is so cool that that is what happened. And we went back in full force and that you felt that.

I'm glad that Hamilton took care of all you guys in general. That's so good to hear. In general, for people that are just seeing Broadway as an industry from a distance. Would you say that is the same for the whole industry? Did a lot of people just go without income for a lot? I think producers, the commercial nature of Broadway is just that. commercial venture. You know, artistic, artists and art and the beautiful theater part of it be damned, it's still a business. And they still need to make the numbers and all of these things.

So Hamilton clearly does very, very well as a business. Other shows maybe weren't quite making the numbers they wanted or all of these other things. Any other reason why any business could be sort of flush or not. And so any show that doesn't have lots of money in the coffers is going to just say we're super sorry there are avenues at the actors fund and stuff like that where these these where actors could go and say hey can we help get help with this that or the other thing health care health insurance like we work the more you work the more you get covered like a union got it so do x number of weeks equals x number of months of health care got it okay hamilton said we're going to give you that we're going to pay that for you awesome other companies

say we're sorry we that's not how we can't afford that that's not and that's just the nature of any business, right? And so I watched actors struggle and I watched other other peers of ours in the industry not know what was going to happen and sort of whether their show was going to reopen. Some shows just closed up. Closed up shop before we got back. Overhead of it. And because it was I'm not sure what the business of the rent and the electric bill and all of these things that are part of the cost of doing business. Yeah. Of a Broadway show, but it's not cheap. It's not cheap. And so I think that I watched a lot of people be they were they suffered they were insecure and then they came back to nothing it's it's and it's one of these industries I don't think we think about enough especially

during that time because there's only 200 seats there's only two 300 seats there's only so many people that can be fit in there and it's not like a baseball game where you could socially distance like I know how hard that time only that was we're we're going to be the first ones to shut down and the last ones to open yeah I mean detrimental to the industry stay tuned to the recap guys I'm going to talk a little bit more about what Miguel already alluded to, some of the ROIs on shows, some that have done really well and some that haven't done so well. We're going to get into that. But for now, I've got to ask you this. So many people listen to this podcast, and they are so lost professionally. They don't know where to go. They don't know where to turn. Then I'm looking all about you,

Miguel, and I see that you go to a high school, Booker T. Washington High School for performing in visual arts. And I'm like, could you imagine at 14 knowing like exactly the direction you want to go? Was that the case when you went to a specialized school for this? Absolutely not. Okay. I didn't expect that. I consider myself, I consider any performer who is successful in whatever industry, the exact meeting of opportunity and talent and luck.

So I happened to have talent and I didn't know where I was, I didn't know where I was going to end up. I wasn't a kid jumping up on the table, singing the songs. I was like, I'm going to be on Broadway. That wasn't me. That wasn't who I was. I was going to be a teacher as my mom was a teacher. I'm just going to be a teacher.

I was the kid with like, anybody wants to sing something. I raised my hand. I would jump in and who wants to read the thing in front of the class. That's what I did. But for the most part, I didn't know where this path was going to lead.

And then I met a person who said, hey, my friend Aaron, she said, you can dance a little bit. Why don't you come to the art school as a dancer? I said, what is that? Yeah. And I went and met this person and that person. and then transferred from dance.

I'm not that great a dancer, but I did okay. And then I moved from there to the singing and acting, and then I got a college scholarship at Emerson College and sort of that's what pushed me in that direction. But all of a sudden, as a 13, 14-year-old kid, I'm surrounded by all of these artists. And I formed an idea of what I could do. Like, what is this life?

How does my desire to sing and dance and jump in front of people maybe help me or move me in a direction that I had no real idea. And then so you put in a little bit of work, put in a little thought, and then ended up at college with a musical theater degree at Emerson

saying, okay, I can, this seems like a path worth forming, worth exploring. And, you know, failures and successes all coming in that mix led me to New York, and I came into New York and was a total failure. When you said you were a failure, was it in auditions?

What did that look like? I walked into New York City, out of school thinking that I had it all figured out. I thought, I came out of college. I was the guy. I was like the sweetheart kid, got to do all of the shows and got a lot of attention. And I thought that was all I needed. Walked into New York and happened to have a friend who was an agent. And she said, hey, you want to be? And I said, yeah, let's do that. That's how this works. Right. You just get an agent out of school. Snap your fingers. Ask any kid coming out of college if that's how it works. And it's not, that's not what they're going to tell you. But I was sort of,

this thing fell to me. And so I walked into New York thinking I had it all figured out and audition and auditioned and auditioned and just crash and burn crash and burn the only put in just enough work just enough to get into the room or into the place and then would come out of the room saying oh i don't know if i did i maybe could have tried harder i maybe could have prepared more but thought that maybe this raw talent which had got me some and and if i could go back and talk to that kid if i could go back and talk to him i had so many opportunities that i just didn't take because i thought i would just be able to wing it or ride along and so that was where and that was And also around, it was around, I don't know, September 11th, 2001 when I was doing all of this.

And so then the industry kind of had this, the whole city, the world, had this whole, it's pause. And that was a time that I sort of refocused. How do you, so I think a lot of people can relate to that. They want to pursue something. It's not working out. Whatever industry or job, that's it. That's it. But you still have to pay your bills.

You still have to take care of yourself while you're trying to go for these auditions. And you don't get paid to do auditions. So what are you doing at this time to make money but not lose focus of what you want? Well, again, I wish I could say that that's not what happened. I was waiting tables here in New York City and making money. And I just thought, oh, and so then my focus shifted to making money and surviving and away from making sure that what am I doing here? What's the point of all this? Why am I serving this chicken parmesan to these people?

It's not to make sure I get the tip here. so that I can pay my rent so that I can go, go to a dance class, go to a vocal, prepare, do the things, but I wasn't. And I just thought, you know, and so that, there was, the survival job became the focus. And I think that was another, that was another problem is I wasn't splitting my focus enough to sort of make sure that the advice that I give kids now, young people, is that you have to continue to learn and get better.

There is somebody out there that's better than you. 100%. There is always something else. And it's working harder than you. So you've got to put in the work too, and I didn't. And so, and then September 11th and New York kind of, and I ended up back in Dallas. Okay. With my family.

Interesting. And then I thought, for six months, and I was like, what is, what am I doing here? That is the point, though, that you would think, I would assume my career in Broadway, and it's done. I'm going back home. Is that the case? Yeah. I started to think about what my life looked like there, what my life has. how to form what would what could possibly be a future here

in the theater community. It was still a theatrical idea in the theater community here. And oh, maybe, maybe I don't know, I was sort of forming in my brain. And then I had another sort of life altering moment. It was a person about a girl in Boston who I knew in college. And she was like, hey, what are you doing there? What are you doing?

And maybe people don't get that. Maybe a lot of people don't get that sort of, or maybe they do and they don't recognize it. You know what I mean? I think it was, and it had nothing to do with, she just said, what are you doing? Get out of there. And I said, great.

And I went in there and we got together for like a week and it was a terrible crash and burn relationship. But she motivated you. But I got out of, and I ended up back in Boston as a 20, I don't know, whatever, 25, 26 year old guy. And I, and I refocused. And I said, okay, those days are, I can't do that. that anymore. How do I get from here? Now, now this guy, 26 year old, said, I want that.

Okay. I want that. And how do I get it? And what was the breaking point? What was the difference that made you land that first opportunity? I got an audition for Bat Boy, the musical. Okay. Which is the Bat Boy, like the Bat Boy from the Cave from the Enquirer thing back in the early 2000s. And I got this audition and I dove into this audition more than any audition I'd ever done. I looked, I I found the bootleg of the show. I watched the bootleg. I don't come get me for that. And I looked at the script.

I memorized every line more backwards and forwards. And I said, I am not going to go in that room and come out thinking I could have done something more. Love that. And that's, I said this is, and that's how I wanted to approach any other audition from now to. And I got the part. And I met the guy. And I met the writer. And he met the guy. And this guy hits, hey, you should come out me with this show.

And then I did Spelling Bee on the national two. and I met James Lepine and Bill Finn and just these sort of balls started falling into the right place. I did the first national tour of Spelling Bee and ended up doing my Broadway debut in that show on in 2000, whatever year that was, 2009 as a, now granted, like my Broadway debut was a one week stint in a show that had been running for two years.

So they were all, for me, it was my Broadway debut for everyone else, it was Tuesday. Got it, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was still like, this was it. You did it, I had it. You went from being shut down in Dallas. to now you're on a stage in Broadway. And I achieved something that so many people never do.

Right. And it took me, and some people do it when they're 21 right out of school, it took me seven or eight years before I finally saw what needed to be done. So on your debut, how old are you? I'm 27. 27, you went through a ton of failures, New York, kicked out of New York, kicked out of New York, back to Boston, now you're on the stage. In a role like that, I think Broadway performers, in my opinion, have one of the

toughest professions in the arts. You have to dance. You have to sing. You have to be live. There is no rerun it cut. And you have to entertain and engage that into your community. And not only that, but to get there, you have about 45 seconds in front of a table of people. You walk into a room and you say, hi, everybody. My name is Miguel. I hope you like this small sample of what I can do. Wow. And that's it. And that's it. That's it. All right. We're going to get back to making first impressions and how you do that before we do your first debut what is someone on broadway it's not in like a lead role that's just said like performing guests what do you make like how do you how what's the earning potential so the the minimum any Broadway minimum when I started was around $1,700 a week okay

and so and that's a that the salary works on a weekly basis got so and then anything can be negotiated above that for any number of things okay up all the way up to Hugh Jackman who he probably makes $100,000 a week. Got it, you know what I mean. And so that's sort of that. So it's not this like set lab. I don't know if you're out there. I don't know what you make.

You probably make more. But it's not this like set level. You're in this role. This is how much you're paid by the union. And it's a, is it a week to week basis? Or is it like these NFL, NHL contracts, or whatever, where they sign you for like three years. No, there's a different sort of,

there are different sort of standards for like ensemble. Okay. Folks, normally they're at they call it colored contract. I can't remember what it's called. There's a pink contract and a white contract. One is for the ensemble who are sort of at will, they can stay for as long as they want. There's no term limit as far as how the producers can say, there's always way to, there's always exit strategies for, but they are not on any sort of one or two, three year term.

Principles will be on a one year, year by year. So for the most part, you sign a year, it's close to the end of the year. They'll say, would you like to stay? We'd like you to stay. The managers get involved. the agents get involved and start negotiating for whatever things you can get and then you resign and then you're in for another year. So I just recently resigned until next September. So I'll be Hamilton at least until next September. Okay. Amazing. And then a question for you started like 27, 28 is that's when

you land the first gig since then. Have you had any kind of like setbacks where you were in that position where you're like searching for that next thing or has it been all? Have you ever met a Broadway actor? I got the first job. And if you've met you've met, a Broadway actor, then you'll know that the answer is absolutely. Got to set it up. There are some people, I think, and I've known some, who have gone from, you know, and I'm like, how, is it, how, do they know everyone because they're in this ensemble and they go to that show and then they dida, da, da, and I just watched these small group of people that would

just go into the next show or into the rehearsals. For me, I got Spelling Bee and it was an amazing time. That show came to an end and then I had to find something to do. And so I hustled And I got up at 7 a.m. and worked events where I put up the tents and the cable, the cable for all of these big, the Victoria's Secret, an annual show. I'd lay all the electrical cable for that. And then, but the auditions would come. And I'm like, nope, I can't come today. I've got to do this. And I was actually doing that job, making whatever I'm making, just trying to make. And then that's when American Idiot came along. Yeah. And that, I got this job. It was this, it was called the Untitled Punk Rock musical. And I gave every. bit of myself that I could, knowing that I couldn't focus on the other thing that was making a lot of money, but I couldn't focus on that. And I have to get, and I got it and that was this a man, Billy Joe Armstrong was there. Green Day was there. And that was the Broadway opening. Like I said, the first one, it was a week and no one was as excited as me. But this one, we did the opening night. We did the Grammys. It was this, and that was it. Unbelievable. It was

unbelievable. It lasted for one whole year. They closed. And then. Back to the Unemployed. Back to the thing. Back to the grind. You go out there and see, okay, what's coming up next? What's that? And then there was more cable laying and more events. More chicken palms to be sold. And that is the story of most broad people always think about my business. Yeah. Oh, you got it. You made it. And I thought that too. When I'm a kid, I'm like, wait, you're on Broadway. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. Unbelievable. You must be. And I even had a roommate who was in Wicked when I was still in the hustle. Yeah. She would go to Wicked every night. I'm like, wow, you really. You really. really made it. Yeah. No, but she's, I didn't realize she's living in a three bedroom apartment with three strangers. You know what I mean? And I didn't really make the connection.

I know, it's still just a job that, and we all live in New York City and there's expensive, it's an expensive city. And so I think that's the hope, or what people need to know is that it, yes, it is the best job in the world. It is one of the most amazing jobs to do, but it still has to be,

It's not automatic. Yeah. It's not automatic. By no means it is it automatic. And I finished American Idiot and I was unemployed looking for hoping someone would see me and like me. And then I got, like you said, if then came along because I did another show with Michael Gryfe, who was the director and we did that workshop for three years. Three years of workshops in studios and in front of this producer, that producer, and it finally got picked up by the public. And we did that show and it was an amazing off-Broadway production.

It didn't go to Broadway. So then it was done. It's back to the chalkboard. Are you ever scratching your head at any point in saying, I have the talent and skill set that a lot of these people on television and these big TV sets and these big movies and film productions and these big commercials, I can go do that. Do you ever think like maybe that route would be easier?

I try. In fact, I put an audition on tape yesterday for Blacklist. Oh, no way. Absolutely. That's so cool. I'm in the, but it's people say this all the time. you go do that. And I'm like, well, that's a great idea.

Let me give, let me give old Mr. TV a call. Hey, Mr. TV land, let me, can I, it, you know, I am in the, I'm in the, the people see me and, and it's, it's something that I would love to do. And I, and it's not a either or thing. Gotcha. And I think, and I want people to know that also, it's also part of the grind. I am Alexander Hamilton on Broadway. Yep.

And it's one of the top jobs. It's the coolest job. Coolest job ever. But that does not mean that CBS and Fox and HBO are saying, hey, Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Miguel, can you, we've got all these projects for you. No, I'm still just another actor trying to get another role in, and hopefully there will be one that fits this by some new writer or some whatever that I would, I feel I, I, I, I, I, I, what it does offer me is the confidence

to walk in there and say, this is what I got. This is who I am. I am confident because I get to do this every night. And that helps me to get further on. But still, still, I, it is something I would, I would love to, I've not done a ton of it. Yeah. EmT number two.

Sure. In a couple of movies. Yeah, yeah. Beat cop number one. You'll catch me as, as. Okay. It's coming. But those are, and those are the, that's the actor's life also.

It still is the grind and the hustle. So is it fair to say that the lead, Alexander Hamilton are the biggest show on the planet right now. You'll have that job till September. Even as established you are in your career, you're still thinking in October, not sure what could happen? Maybe. Maybe. I think now there's a different mentality that I have now. Okay. I'm 45 years old. I have children. I have a wife. My idea of what is next starts to get a little bit less about what's the next job, what's the next opportunity. And now how do I sort of prepare myself for the rest of my life. Broadway's hard, dude.

Oh my God. Put in perspective for people that don't know. I don't see my children go to bed. I don't spend Saturdays with them. I can squeeze in a baseball game here and there. I am actually Coach Miguel right now. Coach Miguel is on on duty for Saturday mornings and stuff. But there are things that I miss.

You don't go to weddings. You don't go to, like Tom Brady was just talking about this, about my life is this during these times. And you put everything else, Christmas, I'm like, well, Christmas, what is that? I get one day. One day for Christmas, one day for Thanksgiving. That's the job that I've chosen. And while, yes, do I enjoy? I don't know, you go to your job, write an email, send a, send a report and maybe everybody stands up and claps for you. I don't know. But they do. At my job, they do. At the end of my job, they stand up. And so there's something magical about that. But at the end of the day, I still want to be with my family. I still. So you balance these two things out and say, I mean, I've been on Broadway four different. times, four different shows, Alexander Hamilton for now all of these performances. And as long as they'll have me, listen, if they have my way, they're going to have to drag my old ass out

of there. I'm like, Miguel, it's probably time. You're 65 years old. But, you know, maybe there's something, whatever the next thing is, I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, I saw the post that you put out there. It was someone's wedding. And it was just you in the camera. And you're like, I know we can't make it. Give a shout out. And then you got everyone back on stage, giving a shout out for the wedding. So you obviously couldn't make it. But tell people so they have perspective. What does a Monday to Sunday look like in the shoes of Alexander Hamilton? Monday is dark.

So Monday we have, you know, that's your day off. Everyone's day off is Monday. And then Tuesday, we usually don't have anything during the day until showtime, which is tonight. So today is a Tuesday. In case it's not a Tuesday when you listen to this. Then we'll get to the theater an hour or so before the show, do the show. Wednesday, there's two shows.

So you're in there at noon. You're out of there at midnight. Thursday, usually some kind of rehearsal, not always called, but there's always some kind of rehearsal for understudies and swings. So get showtime Thursday night, another showtime Friday night. Normally the daytimes are empty,

plenty of time for golf. People don't understand. They say, well, do you spend all day long rehearsing? No, no, no, no. I've done it enough. I don't have to rehearse. So I do work on my golf game on Fridays and Thursdays.

We could talk about that in a minute. Okay. So the theater life is a daytime. Daytime's free mostly. And so sometimes we'll be in there rehearsing new people, rehearsing new stuff. Hey, you're out of your light right there.

those kinds of rehearsals, then Saturday, two shows, and then Sunday, one more show, and then Monday off. Is the usual Broadway life. That is a great. Do you get vacation time? Yeah, you can take it. There's, you can usually one or two weeks sometime during the year. Sick days are there available to use as you need them. But we are expected to be there for every show that we can. And there are, our Hamilton has been very good about, hey, my brother-in-law is getting married. Hey, can those kinds of things we can go do. Go do your thing. But it is, it is, I just was actually looking And today at the Christmas schedule to say, okay, we have like 16 shows in a row because of the way that days off for Christmas work.

So 16, there's no day off for 16 shows. No, every day. And some of them are. What if your voice goes? Especially the way you sing. Yeah, that's the, that's the, that's part of my job as well. Okay. To make sure that I'm doing what I need to do to stay healthy, be able to use my voice.

Now listen, there's three other guys who are Hamilton in the building. Okay. So they can go on when I'm not there. A few more Hamilton questions. And then we're going to get to the golf side hustle. So 16 Tony Award nominations, 11 Tony Awards, $1.9 million in ticket sales. The week at debut in 2016, $1772, average cost of a ticket. The show has turned into just an unbelievable success.

Lynn Manuel Miranda, when you took the role, did he offer you any type of advice? Do you have a relationship with him in any capacity? Yeah, I mean, but in terms of I was one of the, I was the very first. Hamilton cast after him. So the show was still on Broadway. Javier was going to move up into the role and I was the first Hamilton cast outside of the New York production. His advice to me was very much was kind of like more of a cheerleader than advice. He used to say like once you get through my shot then it's all gravy from there and I'm like what are you talking about there's so much more to do after that but it was but once I think he was talking about like the energy of it, the energy of getting

through my shot and then you can sort of ride that energy for the rest of the show. And he would say to me, dude, I love the way you do that. That's all I wanted to hear. Yeah. Because we were never asked to do it. I was never asked to do it like him. Even he said, no, that's my version. That's hobby's version. Your version and every Hamilton you ever

see. It's different. Yeah, I think you're going to see it soon. And you're going to see a whole other Hamilton than when you saw me do it. So, and that's part of the brilliance of the show is that we all get to bring our own, our own sort of style and flare to it and the story holds and then the emotion holds and his his involvement was much more supportive okay and not so much hey you're singing it like that I'd rather you do it like yeah maybe maybe he said some of that behind the scenes and that came through but for the most part he was a cheerleader and supportive and just and there for us to be fan of us and all of us on

the stage everyone so cool which was which was which was great because people asked me a lot how did you deal with the pressure of taking over something I said job I didn't know what to do I I listened to the thing and I was like, I can't do that, I can't do that. You can't separate the brilliance and genius of the man who created all the words, saying the words. I was like, I don't have that and they said, don't do it, you do what you do.

You make it you. And then the show will flow like that. Okay, it was really great. You touched on something there. That's a huge role to fill. Every night, you guys usually have some big celebrities in the audience and then you're auditioning. What type of tips do you have for someone

that has to perform, no matter what it is, maybe it's a sales pitch, they're giving it at a conference room. Tips of performing under extreme high pressure, how do you do it? What I, again, wish I could tell my younger self about these situations is nervousness and sort of anxiety all come,

it's gonna come no matter what, but the solution, the potion is preparedness, right? If you know everything you can possibly know and have prepared yourself. I used to go into auditions and have only sung the song once. You know, it took me two years. That's wild. Two years doing Hamilton to where I feel I know,

even if I mess up a word or I go, blah, la, la, I can find my way because it's in my bones now. Okay. Two years before I could feel like that. And I expected to go on the, and so preparation is the only antidote to anxiety and fear. And you have to know everything. and be prepared more than you think you need to be

so that you can be the best version of yourself, because that's all you get. You get that one shot, 45 seconds. 45 seconds to give them the best version and you're going to be nervous. You're gonna be. There's no world in which I'm not nervous anymore, but guess what?

It's been seven years and I have sort of figured out what the best version of my Hamilton is now. But I'm saying the national anthem in Yankee Stadium. the day, guess what? I was terrified, terribly nervous. I don't sing the national anthem every day. You know what I mean? And I was like, oh my God, what's going to happen? What if I forget the words? It was terrifying. Sure. But I sang it 10 times the day before to make sure that I knew how my body, what it would feel like in my bones. And the other thing, too, is what you said about the audition when you nailed it, the big takeaway, I'll take away. And you guys should

back home is when you walk out that door, when you finish that job, you can walk out knowing that you did everything possible to prepare. End a story. And I think that relieves a lot of anxiety. If you walk out of that room thinking there's, if I don't get this job, it's not because of me. It's because of what they need, what they see,

and how they feel. You know what I mean? It's not because I didn't give the best version of, because I walked out of the Hamilton audition. Let me tell you what, I'd never prepared for an audition like that. Maybe a bad boy when I was younger, but I did an everything I could possibly,

have done. And I walked out of that room thinking, they're going to give me that role if I'm the right guy. Yeah. It's amazing. You know what I mean? I love it. Last Hamilton question, curious from a compensation standpoint. If you have a show that's performing the way this show is performing, the average cost of ticket sales erupt. There's huge lines. You're selling out everything. You win a Tony. Is there bonus compensation built into contract? Not for the likes of me and the folks that are in the show now. Okay. At the beginning, there's a thing called a workshop agreement where if you're in the workshop of a show that it's in its infancy, they're still working on it. Hamilton, he wrote it for seven years. And so there were a lot of the people that were in the room with him working as the characters

for those seven years. And there are agreements where I think it's a 20 year term where as part of the workshop agreement, there's a percentage point that is split up amongst the people who are part of that agreement. Okay. And that is only for the original. I think the Hamilton original's ended up with a work workshop agreement. Some people like Book of Mormon, Wicked, I think they are some of them, I don't know it's past 20 years now or whatever, but there is those sort of compensation that can go to the original people who helped create. Even some people who didn't make it to the final production. Got it. Are part of that. So that's a cool way that collaborators and writers and producers can work with the original company. Folks like me who come in

after the fact, they're like, this is what you get. We could make $1 million or $5 million. You still just get that. Go get them, and it's fine with me. They take very good care of us. You're here until September. Go knock it out. Go knock out of the park.

All right, well, we got Christmas coming around the corner, and I know on a side hustle, you talked about golf already. You have the shoe caddy. So if someone out there is looking for a present, a total, total detour from Broadway, tell them a little bit about what the shoe caddy is and where they could find it for their, for their dad, brother, sister, the golfer, and the family. And I was Chicago, I was Chicago's golf guest. So everybody in Chicago saw the show.

I talked about golf and they were like, hey, come play with me. And I wanted to, I played and I learned how to play and I became addicted to the game. But my wife threatened to divorce me a few times because I keep losing my stuff, keys, wallet, all of these things. And I, so golf all the little gadgets

and do dads, the teas and stuff. So I created this little gadget. I drew it on a napkin, actually took it over to the Hamilton wardrobe people. Okay. But there's a picture of me and like my costume and we're like, we're sort of designing it in the costume department over at in Chicago.

Yeah. And it's a little clip and you slide it onto your shoelaces or your pocket and it holds a T's ballmarker, divot tool. And it's all down there by the shoe on your shoe where you use it anyway, you know, and someone's like, oh, well, I don't want to, I don't want to bend down. I'm like, dude, you're already bending down. You're already down there. Don't keep anything else in your pockets.

Don't lose all your stuff. It's been a cool, like, side labor of love, you know, the creation of it. It went from an idea in my brain to, and listen, I love Hamilton. I love doing the show, but I didn't make it. And maybe you even heard it in the tone of my voice, but Hamilton has changed my life forever. But all of a sudden, I'm like, shoot caddy. All right, listen, it's this thing that I made,

the position changed. And I want to, because I was something that was in my brain. It's yours. That I created it and it's out there in the world. So check it out. Shootcaddy, S-H-U-C-A-D-D-Y.com. It's a great stocking stuff for a golfer, like regular, listen, if you're like a four or five handicap

and you have your system and the thing, maybe not, we're not going to worry about you so much. But all of us weekend warriors, who still have a dream of going pro in between Bud Lights or whatever on the in between cracking a beer on the course. I think this is, it's a cool thing. And I just love watching people like it and enjoying it and stuff like that. How much do they go for? 1999. 1999. Online. All right. All right. We're going to give away three of those. Put in, put in the comments of the podcast. Give us five stars and put in your favorite Hamilton

song. Put your Instagram handle. And we're going to give three of those away. Before we wrap up into your trading secret. I need you to have the opportunity to quickly talk about your daughter. So in 2019, your daughter passed away from severe epilepsy. And I know you and your wife do amazing work with Citizens United in research for epilepsy. So if you could briefly just talk about the advocacy of what you guys are doing and if someone could donate to this cause, where they can go and the impact you guys are making. Yeah. So in 2015, my daughter was born. Very soon after she was born, we realized that something was not right. Seizures began, epilepsy, the word epilepsy came into our life.

It was a crazy time in our lives because in May of 2016, 2015, 2016, I was also auditioning for Hamilton. Same month, in fact, my big audition for Hamilton was the day she was getting all of these battery of tests, and I left her at the hospital with my wife to go in front of Lynn and all of these people. and it was this crazy time in my life. In fact, I came out of the room and there's a friend of mine who was just there for something else and I looked at him

and I gave him a hug and I started crying and some guy said, hey man, I'm sure you did great. I said, I don't know. Thanks, buddy, but I don't love Hamilton that much. And that began our journey. Hamilton and Adelaide and epilepsy lived. We grew together in Chicago

in our knowledge of her condition, in our pain, and we found cure in Chicago that deals with finding better treatments, better cures. Listen, epilepsy is a beast. It's seizure disorders are so much more common than you can ever imagine. One in 26 people suffer from some sort of seizure disorder, and that's a ton. And they need more refunding, more help for finding better treatments because the treatments suck and the meds that are bad.

So that's what they do. And her condition, we can never get under control. We can never figure out what was wrong. We never found a solution for her. and it just got worse and worse and worse. And she passed away in October of 2019. Hamilton closed in January of 2020. So the bookends of Hamilton for my life are very significant.

And my wife and I dedicated the Hamilton platform, dedicated our lives to be able to use the Hamilton brand and the Hamilton. And they supported me every step of the way to be able to stand up on the back of my role and shout about this condition and what they do, Cure is the name of the organization, Citizens United for Research and Epilepsy. Cureepilepsy.org is their website. We've done a campaign called My Shot at Epilepsy for the last few years.

We do gala's for them. I perform. I wrote a song for my daughter also. All in the hopes. You know, Hamilton's a lot about legacy, right? It's a lot about leaving the world different. And my wife and I, Kelly, also Kellyervantes.com is her website. She wrote a blog.

If you're ever interested, if you ever suffered a loss or something, she wrote a blog about Adelaide's last couple years and the difficulty in caring for a special needs are disabled, a family member. It's a terrible group to be part of, but we have embraced it and embraced that community. We hope that as time goes by and as the work we continue to do makes a difference

that we can leave a legacy in her name, in Adelaide's name, to maybe one day some young family with a young child won't have to go through what we did. So check it out. Check out her story. My wife is a superhero. Special families and the caregivers are superheroes.

And I was the one in our family who got to go out and do this amazing job. And I wish my wife could have gotten the applause because she deserved it. And we do all of this for Adelaide and for my daughter. That's so great that you guys do that. Guys, in the show notes, we will put the website to cure to your wife's blog and website. You can go find it there. checkout cure. I think it's amazing. And as you're telling me this, I'm just going back to the line from Hamilton. When you talk about legacy, it's your, right, you're planting seeds you'll never

see. That's what you guys are planting seeds that you'll never see and making impact on families that you might not, and never know, but you know it's being done. I mean, listen, we're given this platform and I feel like if I can't do something to help change the world, then it's not worth it. And so that's what we're doing. And there's so many ties to that story. And the show that you're performing in and the legacy that the Hamilton's, both Alexander and his wife left. We're going to wrap with your trading secret. Thank you so much for sharing that and telling us your whole story. I mean, your career journey, there's so many takeaways for people at home that they could apply to their life even though Broadway isn't their answer. But a trading

secret is from Miguel. You can't get it in a textbook. You can't get in a classroom. You can only get it from you on either life navigation, money management, or career advancement. What can you leave us with? What I have to say is this. Opportunity is on its own schedule. Just because you're ready doesn't mean that the opportunity is there. I think all you can do, the only thing you're in charge of is the product that you have to offer. And then when opportunity and your preparation meet, whenever that is, that's your shot. and do not throw away. Oh, I'm ready to go.

You did it, you got it. Listen, we're about to do a line, but see, that's my, that's my advice. And I tell young people this. Some people make it when they're 21. Some people make it when they're 40. You know what I mean? That's not on you. That opportunity's coming.

It's on its own timeline. And you meet it whenever you get there. Freaking, that is one of my favorite trading secrets. I don't say that often because we, especially our generation, millennials and genies, we got to get it and that we don't get it and we just crash and burr most people move back to Dallas and go take the teaching job and never go where they should and look at you writing the story that you should have written as opposed to someone else writing it for you it is awesome

Miguel thank you so much for your time and this has been an unbelievable episode where can people find you and get all baby like reach out to you follow you on Instagram what where your website is my Instagram I'm working on TikTok I'm trying to get a little more TikToky I got I got a TikToky? We might have to do a quick TikTok. I want to do a little tick. We can do a little TikTok. We can get that going viral. We just had one go viral. Okay. Okay. Let's make a viral one. I'm ready. I'm ready. All right. Good stuff. Miguel. Thank you so much for coming on. Go follow Miguel. Guys, go check out the show notes. We will have everything in their shoe caddy. Everything for

cure. The stuff's incredible. This was another episode of trading secrets. One, hopefully you couldn't afford to miss. Ding, ding, ding. We are closing the bell to the Miguel Cervantes episode. man David I really like I really really enjoyed my time with Miguel as you know as a fan from the show and then additionally we've been talking ever since this as you know Caitlin and I were just in Vegas we saw Hamilton the show was incredible Miguel actually hooked us up to meet the cast which is amazing the guy is just an absolute legend and I don't think I've shared this with you David but this is how you know you know my dream dream came true I asked Miguel to do this with me It's on my social media if you want to see it.

You guys got to hear it. This is Miguel and I going after it. They said, this kid is insane, man. Took a book collection just to send him to the mainland. Get your education. Don't forget from where you came. And the world's going to know your name. What's your name, man?

Alexander Hamilton. My name is Alexander Hamilton. And there's a million things you haven't done. but just you wait just you wait we got Hamilton baby how great is that well I don't know how great it was because to be honest I couldn't hear a lick of it so I'm just going to have to go over to your Instagram page and take a look at it I love that why couldn't you hear a lick of it I couldn't I couldn't hear I don't know he had the mic up to the speaker the idea was there maybe it's going to come through but if it's not we're going to have to edit that down

but go to your go to your trading the trading secrets or your Instagram page to watch that. But my guess is it's like every time that we've shared a hotel room or been on the road or a trip together, I'm guessing it sounds just like it does when you're in the shower building on Hamilton, everybody, every shower you've ever taken in your life. I think I've seen this show. Honestly, I saw it with the original performers. I've had to see it now six, seven times. So he was Alexander Hamilton in the Chicago show from 16 to 20. My first Broadway show ever was Hamilton in Chicago. No, so you've seen him live. I've seen them live.

Yeah. The first one Ash and I ever went to was in 2018 in Chicago. He's so good and his energy is so next level. I talk about just like a small town Canadian kid stumbling into a Broadway show and it being Hamilton not knowing what to expect. I like it's almost one of those things like Broadway theater where you're walking in the theater and like it's really easy to feel out of place. Like don't know how to react.

I don't know what the theater's going to look like. Didn't realize how small and intimate some of these theaters are was. blown away by the energy, blown away by the theater of it, blown away by just the professionalism. Like, it was incredible. And now I've seen it twice. And I mean it when I say it that I think they have the toughest job in entertainment. Like their schedule is relentless. And the way they have to sing and dance and act and be live and engage. It is ruthless that schedule. I need them wearing Apple watches or like Fitbits and finding out how many calories they burn per show. because it's electric too.

And like even he said like, look, I've done 1,800 to 2,000 performances. It's every much a bit apart like I go to my job. I have a good days and bad days. But he was just saying when he gets on that stage and he feels the energy and people stand up and applaud for him at the end of the day. You don't get that in your day to day a lot. So like doing it 2,000 times, he still see the like energy and the joy of like just belting that out and performing it.

Like it's an unbelievable show. If you haven't gone, I know it's been. around forever, you have to go. Yeah, it is so good. I also love the concept he talked about how many times he failed. Like, you don't realize, like, these guys don't have these contracts where they're locked in for life. It's another misconception, I think, in the media industry. You just assume he's Alexander Hamilton, must be caked up for life. He's grinding. He's still grinding. And I love his story about how he knew that Broadway was for him, but monetarily it wasn't working out, got sent back to Dallas and had his, you know, X or whatever the fling was,

give him the wake-up count like ring his bell like dude what the hell are you doing and i think if you're home thinking what the hell am i doing maybe this is the wake-up call you need i think too for me the episode before we get kind of the nuts and bolts of it it really hit home for me um my my sister who's my only sibling who's one of my best friends she grew up a dancer very successful performing the world hip-hop festival uh went to school for dance so being in the theater kind of reminds me of going to watch her shows. But she also had epilepsy, diagnosed at 17, never forget her first episode when I was 13 years old. And it just happened when they were getting ready for school, no signs of it before. And I had a grandma seizure in the shower. And it kind of changed her life

and see how she kind of approaches her life to this day, not being able to drive a car and having two kids and living downtown Vancouver and, you know, shuttling them through public transit to where she needed to go and from a young age. And I just wanted to bring light to that, you know, the cure epilepsy.org. Obviously, his daughter passing away at four years old, him having to go through the entire Chicago grind of Hamilton while, you know, his daughter's getting all these tests done, obviously not at her healthiest. I just wanted to put that out there and tell everyone that epilepsy is a crazy disease. It hits, you know, people of all ages and all shapes and sizes. And it really derails the way that, you know, we wake up and go to bed in our lives. So I just wanted to bring

attention to that as it hit close to home and really respected, you know, his, like you said, planting the seed to have something grown to something that, you know, when he's not around, it'll still be affecting people. So just wanted to throw my two cents around that. No, I appreciate you. Thank you so much for even sharing that. And like you said, it's like one of these things, epilepsy can hit you anywhere. And you get it hit you in the shower. And there's so many people where we'll hit him in the shower and family's not home. And that could be it. And it is just a terrifying disease. And guys, please, please, you can stop listening right now. And if you want to go to the show notes and make that the priority, please do that.

We have her blog. We have everything about Cure in there. And David, thanks for sharing that. Yeah, and it must have hit close to home for you a little bit in terms of just the Broadway aspect. Your brother, Stephen, I think, is really the Internet's favorite Tardick. He works on Broadway. Does he not? He's more involved on the business end than the acting end. Yeah, he's worked on Broadway for 10 plus years now. He was working for a marketing firm and then left to get equity in a firm called RPM. And they do all Broadway digital marketing for the biggest shows. I mean, they work. I don't want to say some of their clients, but you name a big show, similar to the one we're discussing, and they work with them. And it's really cool to see

his involvement in how active he is at the Tonys and to see his firm and work he's done win a Tony. It's really cool. And Broadway is near and dear to his heart, and I'm obsessed with it. I love it. What's your favorite show? Is Hamilton your favorite or do you have a favorite show? Without a doubt. Hamilton's my favorite show. No doubt about it. I would say I think one of the most classic features that like is just one, everyone should go see A to Z. Whether you're 70 or you're 12, Lion King is just a gorgeous, gorgeous production. And then what I always say for recommendation, if you have the bros, then the bros are like, I'm not into Broadway. It's not my thing. Take them to Book of Mormon. Like it is the, if you can't laugh and have a good time

at Book of Mormon, you're just like not a human. So those are my three recos. went and saw frozen i mean frozen's incredible patty murren used to be the lead she's my girl yeah that was that was really incredible can you can you can you bust out a line or two from hamilton right now i'm going to put you on the spot it's 855 in the morning can you can you can you bust out a line you'll be back you'll receive don't remember you belong to me you're on your own awesome wow don't you remember that's pretty good right there let's give a round of applause clap my favorite is like, John Adams, I know him that can't be. That's that little man who spoke to me all those years ago.

Okay, we're done. So he crushes at this guy. So Caitlin's been on Broadway before, right? Is that like a manifesting thing if you were to get asked? Do they do like guest appearances or do you have to lock in for a show? She had to lock in for a show. It was like a very influencer-based show. So like everyone there was like a big influencer star.

and she was on for like eight weeks or so. The show didn't really work out. It got canceled pretty quick. And I think that's a good point to talk about. So it got canceled pretty quick. But Caitlin Bristow can say for like two months, she was full time on Broadway. She got paid.

It was a dream for her. For me, like I honestly, I don't think I would ever, first of all, I don't have a talent, but I would love to go to like dance classes or singing lessons like in the same world that they go to just for like fun, just to be like kind of like I gave jujitsu a shot.

Like just for fun. Just do it. Well, I think you say you had no talent, but not many people can openly on a podcast that gets, you know, 50,000 downloads an episode, be able to be confident enough to bust out a Hamilton team. I know you. If you got the opportunity and someone said, hey, I think you, you apply yourself and learn the skills. And I don't think you'd be afraid to do it. I would love to see it. I'd be front row hoot and hoot and hollering like I'm at a bills game or something.

All right. Let's manifest it. Let's get on Broadway. What is off Broadway theater? Is that, you know, and speaking of different opportunities in Broadway, I've heard like off Broadway. What is that? Great question. So what's cool about Hamilton is it came from the public theater. Public theater is a non-for-profit that gives just writers that really don't have much infrastructure or shot to make something happen. For a show to go from public theater

to Broadway is almost impossible. It's almost impossible. It's unheard of. Hamilton and the writers and the actors that were in the original Hamilton, this was in a public. theater where you could get a ticket for two five ten bucks then it moved its way to off broadway or off off broadway off off broadway is when there's a hundred seats or fewer okay so that's a small production you're you think about what you see in a broadway show it is very very uh low budget then you go to off broadway that's about 100 to 500 seats Broadway 500 seats plus as i'm thinking about this i'm thinking about money in production i also want to give a shot out to Mulan Rouge in Chicago to other unbelievable productions.

But that's the breakdown of public, off-off-Broadway, off-Broadway to Broadway. And if you look at the ROI, I wanted to ask you to ask about this, because investors will invest in shows all the time. Majority of time when investors invest in shows, it's more of a passion ego project. I don't want to say ego. It's a passion project. Like these people have huge money. They want to say they have ownership in a show.

Almost no one is investing in Broadway shows to get a return. Now, you invest in Hamilton, Wicked, you're getting paid for days. But only like literally 10 to 15% of these shows actually will see a return on investment. It's a highly, highly unprofitable business. It's a passion, passion-based business for sure. And just the history and lore of Broadway is something that kind of holds its reputation through. He talked about making $7,100 a week on Broadway kind of when he started, mentioned the Hugh Jackmans of the world that make $100K a week. By the way, what's Hugh Jackman doing on Broadway making 100K a week?

Do you know what his show is? I don't know, but Hugh Jackman, if you're doing 100K a week, that was his estimation, right? You are clear, like, that's $5 million. That's low for Hugh Jackman. But I think that when I talked to my brother recently, we should have him on at some point. He was saying that's now that seems to be the trend that used to be you'd work your way through Broadway. And then what you would do is go to the big leagues.

Well, now they're taking a lot of like the really big people and bringing them to like the guy who was on, I'm blanking on his name. He was the lead in Breaking Bad. He's all over. What's it? Brian Cranston. Brian Cranston. Yeah. And then Hugh Jackman's show is the music man.

So that's, you know, I mean, but just to go see Hugh Jackman is unbelievable. Oh, do you have Hanson? That's another good one. Okay. Take a breather, Jason. How much do you think he's making now doing Hamilton? I mean, given the numbers that we've got, we've got to. to talk numbers he never he didn't really fully say for himself but what do you think he's making yeah

i think so he started around 1700 like a backup role hamilton hugely successful show my crack if i'm guessing and guys i'm guessing here no insight but i'm gonna i'm gonna say around 10k a week yeah i think that that's five to 10k a week i think i'd like to think a little more just based off the success the show but he kind of alluded like you kind of signed sign into your contract but it's like the OG people who are on the back end like the 20 year workshop agreement of the people who really wrote it and kind of crafted at the start those are the ones who are going to kind of see the big performance and related bonuses and things like that so I think you know just overall like hearing him talk man and like putting myself in like a

shoes of a professional athlete Broadway's got to be one of the hardest industries to make it not just in the moment, but I want to talk like, okay, you can only do Broadway in the prime of your life while you're fit while you're athletic enough to navigate through a show to maintain the lifestyle. How do you prepare for life after Broadway? Do you think that there's a union that helps them with 401Ks and investment of retirement plans and savings? Because it sounds like it's an absolute fucking grind. It does sound like a grind, dude. But I think if you're in the union, they have pensions and stuff so that you're paid on some type of residual. But I also do want to kind of like stop you there and say like, it's a grind.

But the first person I'm thinking about is Sarah Highland's dad. And when she was telling the story about how like they would give baths to Sarah in the sink. Like they lived in a tiny little place. They weren't making that much in the city. And he's still to this day. And I think he's in his 60s. He still performs all the time on a Harry Potter. And the other thing about that I thought was cool is like what he, what Miguel referred to,

I think about the grind physically, but also the time off. And he's like, yeah, I get Christmas off. That's it. Syria Highland's dad got, I think it was like, shit, man. I think it was like two, three days he could get off for the wedding. And I was like, oh, you stay in for the week or whatever. He's like, no, no, I got a show tomorrow at noon. And he's in his like 60s, you know?

And so it's just to me, I think you could do this if you're in the right role for a very long time. But I think the union does hopefully set you up. But this isn't, you're right. This isn't the NFL. this is totally different. It's crazy, really, really crazy because even when you make it, you still are grinding. I want to end with this real quick. I wonder if, and I'm curious what your predictions are out there, everyone, send in five stars.

Go follow us on Trading Secrets Facebook page and Instagram and David Ardoin at Instagram, Jason Tardick at Instagram. Go follow us all. But I'm curious, give us a review, five stars. Do you think the landscape of Broadway will change? Think about how much money they are leaving on the table. The only way they make money, truly. is by people sitting in those chairs.

Imagine if there was a virtual component. Imagine if there was a way to buy in to Zoom. Imagine if they did more advertising. Like there were commercial breaks. Like just like every other show in sports arena and entertainment is done, I don't know how the landscape will change. Something tells me within our lifetime it might. I like that a lot.

I like that a lot. Well, this episode kind of hit home for me with a lot of things, just having seen him live, hearing about the epilepsy, I thought it was really great. What's hitting home for me, obviously, as we announced last week, is Ashley is pregnant. We had an ultrasound yesterday where we heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time. So shit is getting real. When I think of shit getting real, I think of a baby in my house, throwing food all over the place and creating absolute chaos and carnage.

and you had mentioned branch basics and I just wanted to touch on that because I think I'm going to need a whole bunch of branch basics cleaning products in my house in a couple months here. So feed me that code again and tell me a little bit more about branch basics. I love that you're already planning. Anything to save people a couple bucks I'm here for. So this is probably the last week. You'll probably saw it. If you follow us on Trading Secrets, Instagram, we have deals with a week every week in branch basics.

This is the last week. But what essentially it is, it's this one concentrate model, right? So right now, prices of everything have gotten out of control. So like one bottle of the branch basics concentrate will get you three all-purpose bottles, three streak-free bottles. They get you three bathroom bottles, three foaming wash bottles and then 64 loads of laundry. And for me, I'm the numbers guy. If you do the price breakdown, that literally is 27 cents for a load of laundry. So it's so much cheaper than all the other expensive competitors out there. And you probably saw on our Instagram, If you guys are listening to this, we had that code.

It's just trading secrets, all caps, for 15% off. So check that out. Save some money in a world like today. When everything is going up and the market's going down, you've got to save bucks of David and Ranch Basics. Make sure you check it out. Of course, trading secrets. And I think that's it.

Do you have anything else, the Curious Canadian? I got one more thing. Let's hear it. I got to give a shout out in the reviews. Julie T. NYC left an awesome review, five stars. She said she loved the reflection piece from us. in the divorce attorney episode. She said she's been divorced for seven years.

She loved our reflections on it. But she did say, she corrected us. She goes, if you have a 250K retainer and the amount that needs to be paid is only 100K, you do get the 150K back. So you don't have to eat the whole retainer. So that was a nice little tidbit. Just wanted to share that with people, people helping people. It's powerful stuff there.

People helping people. Make sure to give us five stars. tell us your story. We will bring it up on the podcast. And let me tell you what, we were in New York City. You guys obviously know we got Hamilton, Miguel Cervantes, who one of the few guys from the trading secrets or girls that I have had on the show that I'm like, I'm going to be friends with that guy.

I fucking love him. He is a great dude. David, me, you, him are going on the golf course. He's a big golfer. You would love him. But we have some huge guests coming down the pipeline. Huge, huge. We got Caroline over from Real Housewives of New Jersey.

The everyone knows Caroline Mantos. She is massive. We got Shannon Ford. We got Kelly Flanagan with some hot news. We got Steve Wilcos from Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. We have Bree from BFS podcast with Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards. That episode is going to be absolutely electric. We have Clayton, the former bachelor.

It was a big, big week here in New York City, David. And we got some big names coming down the pike. It was awesome to see. I just wanted to be in the room for all of them. These are some of the guests that I've really, really wanted to get on the pod. So I know you did them in person. I know you crush them and are they're going to be good. I can't we can't recap them.

I just want to be in the room where it happens. The room where it happens. Everybody, have a great week. And thank you for tuning it to another episode of Trading Secrets. One, you can't afford to miss. Money and money living that dream Making that money, money, money Pray on me

Making that money Living that dream Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.