Shebrew in the City
Shebrew in the City is a podcast exploring all things Jewish. Combining interviews and informational episodes, join Nicole Kelly as she discusses her journey with motherhood, spirituality, and everything from Hanukkah to the Holocaust. Giving a voice to modern Jews and spreading love and joy, whether you're Jewish, Jew-ish, or not anything resembling Jewish at all, there's something here for everyone.
Shebrew in the City
"Broadway Baby" - An Interview with Actor Josh Lamon (Part 1)
Join us for Part 1 as broadway's vibrant world comes alive as we sit down with my dear friend and celebrated performer, Josh Lamon. Discover the magic behind his roles in iconic productions like "Hair" and "Wicked," and learn about his current spotlight moment in "Death Becomes Her" at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. As we reminisce about our friendship, you'll also hear about Josh's personal backstage experiences and difficulties working as a Broadway Actor. Get ready for an intimate, behind-the-scenes glimpse into the life of a Broadway star, complete with delightful cameos from my theater-loving dogs. (Sorry for the Barking!!)
Explore the harmonious blend of a Jewish upbringing and a passion for musical theater as Josh unveils his personal journey to the Broadway stage. Anecdotes from his formative years, including a pivotal bar mitzvah trip that fused faith and theater, paint a vivid picture of cultural identity shaped by show tunes and synagogue spiels. Laugh along with us over tales of Broadway-themed celebrations and the amusing challenges of balancing religious studies with a love for iconic musicals like "Beauty and the Beast."
With Josh's experiences as a backdrop, we traverse the thrilling landscape of theater, from the heartwarming support of family to the formidable world of auditions and workshops. Unpack the highs and lows of a theater career, as we reflect on the emotional impact of groundbreaking productions, the financial intricacies of staging a show, and the dream of working with renowned directors. This episode promises an inspiring blend of art, identity, and the resilience needed to thrive on the Broadway stage. Stay tuned for the excitement of part two later this week!
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Nicole Kelly:So I, along with my producer, patrick, decided it might be nice if we did a little intro to each episode to kind of introduce the guest, a little bit talk about if I have a prior relationship with them and you know how the episode came about. So for this first little intro, I am super excited to talk about my friend, Josh, and Josh is an amazing human and one of my favorite people and I actually met Josh before I met him. So Josh is a Broadway performer, he's in a lot of original Broadway casts and he was in the first national tour of Hair and if you know anything about my family, we are obsessed with Hair. My sister named her dog burger and she was literally just telling us she's going to name all of her dogs for the rest of her life after characters from hair. So, like very pointed references, um, and josh was in the first national and when we first met him, my husband was like I'm pretty sure I danced with him in the in the um the aisle of the pantages theater. When I mentioned to josh, he's like, yeah, that sounds about right. Also seen him in a couple of shows. I'm pretty sure I saw him when he was in the national tour of Wicked as Bach. I definitely saw him in the cast of A New Brain at City Center and I remember him and that was a very fun summer because I got to see basically everything playing in New York at the time because my husband was out of town for a gig and I was really excited to see the show and I definitely remember him. And what's great about Josh is he's super talented but he's also a really good human and that's one of the reasons I think he's worked so much is because people really want to be around him and I love spending time with him and I'm super excited for you all to get to know him.
Nicole Kelly:Josh is actually in previews for a brand new musical and we're going to talk a little bit about that in the episode. So he is in the new musical Death Becomes Her, which is playing at the Lunt-Fontaine. They started previews on Wednesday and me and my sister and my husband were there and if you want to see a little preview of that, you can check out my TikTok and Instagram, which are both SheBrewInTheCity. I posted a little video and Josh is a featured character and actually gets his own song, which I thought was really cool because I was unaware that was going to happen, and my family loves Death Becomes Her. So if you're a fan of the movie as well, I would definitely check that out. It is fantastic.
Nicole Kelly:My husband also is one of the producers. He did a show with her, so we're very, very invested in this show. We want it to do really, really well. So I'm really looking forward to all of you getting to know Josh and, because we had so much to talk about, this is actually going to be my first two-part episode, so we're going to be releasing one half today and the other half later on this week because we had so much to talk about. You'll also get to enjoy hearing one of my dogs kind of crying in the background a little bit. I apologize for that. We have moved apartments, so it's going to be a little bit easier recording moving forward, even when I have people in person, but I want to apologize ahead of time, so please enjoy this episode.
Nicole Kelly:Hi, this is Nicole Kelly and this is she Shebrew the City and today I'm sitting down with one of my favorite humans in the entire world Broadway star , J osh Lamon. How are you today, Josh?
Josh Lamon:I'm wonderful. Nicole, how are you?
Nicole Kelly:I'm good. I'm so glad that we were finally able to make this happen, Josh sit down with you, and in person, because I don't do this in person too often. It's usually digital virtual, digital virtual, both, whatever you want to call it. If you hear my lovely dogs in the background, they are locked up, so they are upset about that.
Josh Lamon:They're just big fans of the show! They, they want to be involved, they're just really excited.
Nicole Kelly:to be involved, so let's jump right in. So what I usually start out by asking is about people's Jewish backgrounds. So, how were you religious growing up? Did you go to Hebrew school? Did you have a bar mitzvah? What was that like?
Josh Lamon:I've never really been religious, so to speak, but I was. I grew up Jewish. I did go to Hebrew school and it was very much a part of my childhood and my upbringing. We always went to Friday night services and of course I had a bar mitzvah. It wasn't as epic as I think I wished it was, because you know like, growing up you go to some bar mitzvahs or bat mitzvahs, and some of them are like they're fine, and then you go to others where they dropped like hundreds of thousands of dollars or whatever. So mine was pretty simple. Um I I decided that my parents were like we can either throw you a massive party or we can go to israel as a family. And, being, you know, 13 and a theater kid, I was like, well, I'll see your trip to israel, but you know we have to stop in new york so I can see my first broadway show. Oh, cool, and they agreed to that what was the show that you saw?
Josh Lamon:oh, my goodness, nicole. So we stayed at um. There was like a double tree where the palace theater was yeah or is? Yeah, we stayed there. My first first meal was at the Olive Garden.
Nicole Kelly:You know, I went there for my birthday one year before we went and saw that revival of Sunset Boulevard and I was working at a restaurant at the time and one of my managers was like you are a hospitality professional, why were you at Olive Garden?
Josh Lamon:Why are you not at Olive Garden? I wanted breadsticks.
Nicole Kelly:And I remember I told Patrick I was like I want to go to Olive Garden before the show. He was like what?
Josh Lamon:I took Caitlin and Izzy, the two lead girls, from prom to Olive Garden during tech, because Izzy had never been no, no, and we had so many breadsticks. I swear I got sick from it.
Nicole Kelly:They're good.
Josh Lamon:They're great but they don't hold up, because I remember being like I need more to go and yeah, but anyway, so off topic, okay, judaism me wow.
Josh Lamon:Yes, so you went to Olive Garden, oh yes, and the show that I was dying to see was the original Broadway company of Beauty and the Beast. So I spent some of my bar mitzvah money on a single ticket. I don't know why my parents were like, yeah, go by yourself, but I did. I sat in the orchestra and I remember on the playbill there was this little note from Disney being like if this is your first time seeing a Broadway show, welcome and all this stuff. And I was just over the moon, I mean, I remember just like on the plane ride, looking down over New York and being like, wow, susan Egan is down there right now.
Nicole Kelly:Like that's what a dork I was you know, susan Egan was Patrick's principal at OSHA you stop it.
Josh Lamon:I mean, I I never met her. I always joke, I'm. I'm always like oh, susie Egan. So, susan, if you're listening, I love you. Yeah, so I did that and it was epic. And then my mom and my sister and her friend and I went to go see Miss Saigon after that. And that was very, very sad. Yes and yeah.
Nicole Kelly:Definitely the antithesis.
Josh Lamon:Yeah, the right word, the antithesis of Beauty and the Beast.
Nicole Kelly:You know, ironically, beauty and the Beast is the first Broadway musical I saw at the now defunct Schubert Theater in Los Angeles oh wow, and I think my sister's too. So I feel like Beauty and the Beast. My mom still talks about it like it's the pinnacle of musical theater. Like she'll see something and be like, but it's not as good as beauty and the beast, nothing is mother, I know well, this is also back before they cut the entire chorus oh sure when there was like a full ensemble yeah, so yeah, I love that um, but naturally, going back to judaism, I had a broadway theme, bar mitzvah, yes, um, which I mean it wasn't fancy.
Josh Lamon:The party was at the temple but all the tables were different broadway shows and, uh, to give you a peek into how popular I was, the kids table was sweeney todd, just a demented little like musical theater kid, I used to listen to the opening of sweeney todd on napster dating myself napster all the time, because that's that's what millennials do.
Nicole Kelly:We did something similar to our wedding that all the tabers table tabers I love tabers I do too. All the tables were named after musicals that have weddings in them. So like fiddler on the roof, funny girl, uh, wedding singer, showboat that had like wedding dresses and wedding stuff. So we did something kind of similar. Did you sing through your bar mitzvah? My mom loves to tell the story that I like, instead of kind of just chanting, I sang the entire thing, which I guess I did.
Josh Lamon:But she talks about it? Yeah, I just, I belted my hauteur.
Nicole Kelly:Baruch atah, adonai. Yeah, I know the lick at the end of Wicked.
Josh Lamon:Amen, I sang like the Torah portion, but I was also a terrible Hebrew student. You know, I think I have ADD or ADHD, I'm not sure, but it just was not gelling. Also, I was always just a terrible student. My mother would insist that I practice and I'd put in the cassette tape of the cantor chanting and whatnot, and then I'd put on my headphones and listen to show tunes on my walkman in my room.
Josh Lamon:So I remember the cantor at one point being like you have to take this seriously or we are canceling your bar mitzvah, which was like a shonda being yeah you know it's, yeah, you don't cancel your bar mitzvah and um yeah. So I got my act together and figured it out I feel like that's the story for most people.
Nicole Kelly:I was like super student and had it like uber prepared way before time. I took it very seriously, I'm sure I did. Um, that's why my mom, they thought that I was going to be like a cantor or rabbi or something and then, ironically, I found theater and that kind of replaced that yeah, my mother always, I think still wants me to be a cantor and I'm like that day has that ship has sailed, mother you know there's a lot of cantors.
Nicole Kelly:I know who used to be musical theater performers sure and then they're like I don't want to do this anymore Because being a musical theater performer is hard, so I'm going to join the clergy.
Josh Lamon:Oh, believe me, I would if I could, but it's so much work. Though my cantor growing up, cantor Lori Frank, who I love, she was a performer as well, and then my first professional audition as a kid she coached me on it, oh cool.
Nicole Kelly:I love that. So we've talked a little bit in the past personally about how your mom is a huge fan of Debbie Friedman.
Josh Lamon:Oh yes, she loves Debbie Friedman. I do too.
Nicole Kelly:Can you explain to people listening who that is? Because I did not know for the longest time and did exposure to music with Debbie Friedman kind of help shape your career in any way.
Josh Lamon:Well, I think it's how to describe Debbie Friedman. Maybe you know, back then she was sort of like the Taylor Swift of Judaica music, you know, very folk song-y but also just remarkable. Music has always been just. It just transports me, it makes me feel things, it makes me feel understood, it makes me feel seen in a way, and even as somebody not totally religious, her music always, always stuck with me. I don't think it really, you know, pushed me into theater or had much impact necessarily on my career, but the storytelling always did, and especially like going away I would go away to a Jewish sleepover camp in the summer, which is rare for people on the west coast.
Nicole Kelly:That's a very east coast thing.
Josh Lamon:oh, and it was fancy too. I didn't know this at the time. It was in Malibu. It was called, I think, ginling Hilltop Camp or something. It was super, super fun, but my favorite part about it was we would always sing, like in the cafeteria. We'd always sing these songs together, and so Debbie Friedman always had an impact on my life, for sure.
Nicole Kelly:I definitely think that's something that kind of drew me when I was younger to Judaism, the musical aspect, and then when I realized that there was a whole musical world of theater outside of Judaism, I think that's one of the reasons I fell in love with theater is because I had fallen in love with music and storytelling and all of that through synagogue with music and storytelling and all of that through synagogue.
Josh Lamon:Yeah, I mean, my synagogue was also very performative. I guess we would have these giant shows every Purim, you know.
Nicole Kelly:The spiels.
Josh Lamon:The spiels, we would have our spiels, and then we belonged to two synagogues. Growing up In hindsight I'm like okay.
Nicole Kelly:That's a lot of work.
Josh Lamon:One of them had a uh, you know for lack of better terms company, a children's theater group called showbiz, which was show beth, israel students, and, uh, kara friedman was the woman who ran it and she would write original jewish rock rock operas for kids, oh cool, and we would do a new one every year and it was always really fun. So I guess, in that regard, you know, it did really feed that dramatic need for me or theatrical need for me.
Nicole Kelly:So first exposure to your future career through one of the two synagogues that you're in. I do know someone who's a member of three synagogues.
Josh Lamon:Whoa.
Nicole Kelly:It's complicated. It had to do with preschool admissions, I think. Oh, okay, that makes sense, but I think in New York it's common because of that. So was this your first exposure to musical theater through this showbiz.
Josh Lamon:Not really, though. I remember seeing my sister in the musical version of Noah's Ark. There was a rock opera that they wrote called Esther that I was obsessed with, and I remember the song where they're trying to find the new queen. It's like the search is on, the search is on the search, and just being obsessed with this when I was a kid. But my first real exposure there's this group, this company called San Diego Children's Theater or San Diego Junior Theater, in San Diego and Balboa Park.
Josh Lamon:A lot of incredible people got their start there Casey, nicola, annette Bening, greg Barnes so many wonderful, wonderful performers. And my mom got us season tickets when, I mean, I must have been about three or maybe even younger, and we had front row, center seats and we would see every show and, for whatever reason, I knew that that's what I wanted to do. And it was also fun because after the show all the kids would come outside and their costumes and you could get their autograph and take pictures with them. And, granted, they were like teenagers, but as like a two year old, they were like teenagers but as like a two-year-old, they were celebrities to me. And so, between that and an obsession with the Muppets, I was obsessed with the Muppets. I still am, and I would like put on costumes like my sister's old dance costumes from her recitals. I'd put those on and just perform in front of the television to the Muppet show.
Nicole Kelly:That's what we were saying. Our daughter does like she. She likes to wear costumes. We were I would turn on like a like a period show with women wearing obviously like huge dresses. It was set in like the 1870s and she made me put on like a party dress for her and I understand that because I always feel like the date for the first dress rehearsal was always my favorite day doing a show.
Josh Lamon:Yeah.
Nicole Kelly:Because it really kind of gels together everything, because you physically feel like the character in their outfit.
Josh Lamon:Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Nicole Kelly:Were these San Diego. You said Junior Theater.
Josh Lamon:Junior Theater.
Nicole Kelly:Were these the first shows that you saw what was your first professional show?
Josh Lamon:I don't remember the first professional show that I saw, your first professional show, um. I don't remember the first professional show that I saw, but I do remember seeing um uh at the starlight bowl, which doesn't exist anymore. It's an amphitheater in balboa park and it's unique because airplanes fly over it and then you have to freeze the actors on stage. It's hilarious, but um I remember seeing chess there when I was little and that made no sense to me.
Nicole Kelly:I think of Make Witch version. There's like six versions.
Josh Lamon:Who knows what version. I just remember being like this is boring. We saw Evita there and again even like at, like you know, fourth grade or whatever being like okay next, and I loved shows like Joseph, you know yeah. Okay next and I loved shows, like Joseph, you know. But yeah, and I also remember. But my family knew that I love theater so much that they just always took me with them. I think I was the only, like six year old, that saw the national tour of Follies you know, and I don't know why my family was like Follies is coming to town, let's take Josh.
Josh Lamon:Let's take Josh because he'll identify with people going through like a past midlife crisis and falling out of love with each other. That's great. That's great for and the like bananas.
Nicole Kelly:Second half of the second act. That makes no sense to me as an adult. That most recent revival was really cool visually, but I still like I'd never seen it in person. So that's that part where they just go crazy.
Josh Lamon:Oh yeah, I'm like what is happening oh, I love the show though, but I remember I saw I saw the revival a few times at the intermission once this woman next to me, this older woman who was just very, very moved, and I forget what she said exactly. But we looked at each other and I was like how are you enjoying the show? And she's like it's wonderful, I'm just so sad. I was like is it too early for a cocktail? Tears before bedtime, dear it's never too early for a cocktail in the theater.
Nicole Kelly:When I moved here. That was such a shock to me because you don't drink in theaters in LA and it's something that's really pushed here.
Josh Lamon:Oh yeah.
Nicole Kelly:So when I first moved here, first started seeing shows on Broadway, I was like what is this craziness of? Like you can get sloshed before the show?
Josh Lamon:even starts. Oh yeah, yeah, it's a miracle sometimes.
Nicole Kelly:Yeah, for some shows it's necessary.
Josh Lamon:I will say, and it's fine if we air it. I saw K-Pop, which was a very, very short-lived show here.
Nicole Kelly:Yeah, yeah, and which was a?
Josh Lamon:very, very short-lived show here. Yeah, yeah, and you know as far as, like, the book was sort of a mess and whatnot. Was it a great show? No, but my friends and I had the most fun that we've ever had. Yeah, like at a show with the dancing and a little bit of booze, you know.
Nicole Kelly:Yes, yes, I'd prefer getting drunk and seeing a Broadway show than getting drunk, drunk and going to like a club and, depending on the show, like it could be a club, like I could see with a musical, like that, like getting drunk with your friends and like I don't know. When I saw Beautiful Noise with my sister, I wasn't drinking and she was like, why are you screaming, singing Sweet Carol? She was so embarrassed I think I posted something on the internet and my mom was like I sent you to school for theater and this is what you sound like. But yeah, there are, there are some shows that that alcohol definitely helps. How old were you when you started doing shows? How old were you when you started doing the children's? Did you do? I'm sorry? So I'm assuming you worked with san diego, uh, junior I did not until, um, not until elementary school.
Josh Lamon:I started performing at a local like a community junior theater. Yeah, um, I believe starting in first grade was when I started, and then my first professional job was in fifth grade. It's the one that my cancer coached me on. It was a gypsy, oh um.
Nicole Kelly:Starring karen morrow, oh my god, I love karen morrow we love karen morroworrow, who I feel was born a decade too late, which is a very arose thing, because she was very much an Ethel Merman but was just young enough that musical theater was starting to change, that she didn't become a superstar like Ethel Merman, but she actually came when I was in college would come and teach an audition technique class.
Josh Lamon:She's such a sweet lady, she's remarkable and she was so kind to the kids and um. So that was my first job. I I sang um. It's a jolly holiday with Mary for my audition. And the canter, even like gave me choreography to do with it, but what got me the job was at the time I played trumpet terribly, and there's that part in the beginning.
Nicole Kelly:Yeah, where the kids are doing, they have like the kids that do the different because it's like a variety show.
Josh Lamon:Yeah, In the Broadway production it was Clarence and his clarinet, and in this version it was Tommy and his terrific trumpet. Not so terrific, though. Oh, I was awful.
Nicole Kelly:At least you could be awful. I feel like if I I ever tried to instrument I, I wouldn't even be awful, but it's just. It's just not how my brain works sure so at what point did you decide you wanted to pursue this professionally, like seriously, like I know a lot of people, you know a lot of people who are performers, like I've always wanted to do this. But at what point did you decide, okay, this is literally what I want to do. I need to get professional training for this.
Josh Lamon:Always.
Nicole Kelly:Always.
Josh Lamon:And always I knew that this was going to be my career. You can ask anybody I grew up with, and a part of that was sort of why I felt like I didn't need to take school very seriously when I was growing up. I remember a math teacher in high school coming up to me and being like you need to study harder or take this class more seriously.
Nicole Kelly:And I was like no, I don't, I'm going to be an actor. I need to count to eight.
Josh Lamon:And she was like well, you're going to need to know the dimensions of the stage. And I was like, no, I won't, that's not my job. Like I was such a jerk about it, but from a very young age it I knew that this was what I was going to do yeah, I love that.
Nicole Kelly:I love that this is, and you made that happen. I feel like so many people have this dream and, for various reasons, it just doesn't work out, sure, but you know it's.
Josh Lamon:It's a matter of being talented, sure, but but also luck. There's so many people that I know that are geniuses, that, for whatever reason, um, it just hasn't swung in their favor yet. Or you know, whatever, it's a. It's a brutal, brutal industry that makes very little sense.
Nicole Kelly:Which kind of leads me to my next question. So I know that the journey kind of from bright eyed New York city transplant to like to my next question. So I know that the journey kind of from bright eyed New York City transplant to like to actual working actor even Broadway is super different for everybody.
Josh Lamon:How long did you live in the city before you started booking bigger gigs? Oh, I was here. I came here in 2003. But I started auditioning here in around 2000.
Nicole Kelly:Okay.
Josh Lamon:And my first major job I didn't book until, I think, 2005 or 2006. So it was a couple of years. It was a while and plus there were so many just ups and downs. I really did not make it easy on myself and put myself in a lot of really bad situations when I was younger and I really learned the hard way and just sort of had to pave my own path.
Nicole Kelly:I think that's true for everybody. No, no one journey is the same. I feel like there's people who moved, you know, get cast in Broadway shows out of college, and then sometimes there's people who it takes a decade. Yeah, it's just, it's not a one size fits all thing.
Josh Lamon:Yeah, well, also being like a character guy, you know, being like this heavyset 18 year old kid or whatever. I remember coming up to audition because I was living in Philadelphia at the time for the non equity tour of Cinderella, and at the audition I sang my song and the director behind the table just said, like I need you to know that you're fabulous. I have nothing for you, but if you stick with this long enough, you're going to do great, and that's a really nice thing to say, because normally they just say thank you.
Josh Lamon:Yeah.
Nicole Kelly:Speaking of you being a character actor, are there things that you think you face, as you have challenges that you face that maybe, say, a leading man wouldn't have to deal with? I mean, I know I had a casting director say to me once cause they were like if you were an ingenue and you weren't working I'd be concerned. But because you're a character actress, you have plenty of time, but I feel like that doesn't make you feel better when you're going to start working in your early 40s. What are some of the challenges you think you've faced as a character actor, as opposed to some other type of leading man?
Josh Lamon:Yeah, well, I think it all varies. There are so many different challenges for no matter what type you are, but it all depends. I think the business in general is a challenge because, also when I booked Wicked, I had just lost all of my weight very rapidly thanks to the Atkins diet and depression.
Nicole Kelly:Depression will do that.
Josh Lamon:But I lost it so rapidly I couldn't see it. So I was still stuck in this like self loathing kind of place. But then I was also in a new arena. Now I wasn't with the other heavyset funny guys, now I was with all these twinks and not just like there were so many of them there's not as many character people and there's an ocean of twinks not as many character people and there's an ocean of twinks and um.
Josh Lamon:So that itself was challenging, but what I found is that I've worked at every sort of size I've been um, but I think the challenges get more, you know like, as you get older. Um, yes, there's more work. So I guess the biggest challenge when you're young is hanging in there, especially if you're not a dancer.
Nicole Kelly:I feel like if you're a dancer and you're young, you can work a lot, yeah, and it's really easy to work. But again, as a character actor, it's kind of like, well, I'm just kind of biding my time and there's nothing new getting added to my resume, because I'm not right for anything.
Josh Lamon:So it can be really frustrating, but not right for anything. So it can be really frustrating, but nowadays they expect you to dance as well, which I can't stand. I think it should be illegal. I agree with you.
Nicole Kelly:I think that there's a lot of stuff I've auditioned for in the past that, because I wasn't a dancer, I didn't get Sure Like. I can name literally some of the auditions.
Josh Lamon:Yeah.
Nicole Kelly:But I want to go back to Wicked, which I think I saw you and I've seen Josh in several things before I even knew him.
Nicole Kelly:That's bananas, because that tour came through Los Angeles at the Pantages so I probably saw you. So this is a show that has a lot of technical aspects and effects. So what are some of the challenges in doing a show like this? For those of you who don't know, theaters can be very dangerous places even when there's not a lot of technical effects, and I've never done a fancy show like that, where there's like a dragon on stage.
Josh Lamon:So don't want to spoil that for anybody who's never seen Wicked.
Nicole Kelly:But there's a dragon on stage. So, as an actor, what are some of the challenges or perks of doing a show that's crazy, with the effects like that?
Josh Lamon:Sure, well, it was never. That was never dangerous for us because it's such a. It's such a machine and if you're not Elphaba, you don't have to worry about flying. I'd say the big dangers were like the bubble that Glenda flies in. Bubbles come out of it and that makes the floor a little wet sometimes. Bubbles come out of it and that makes the floor a little wet sometimes. And there was an entrance. It was as I was leaving the show actually, which was a very emotional time for me, and my replacement was shadowing me backstage and I just was very stoked and I was like, listen, brad, sometimes the bubble juice gets on the stage, so just be aware of that as you run out. Because, uh, the character runs out and is put in a spotlight and freezes, and as soon as I was like gave him the warning, I ran out and I slipped and just in slow motion fell flat on my back and looked like a dead roach in a spotlight, while glenda just looked at me with shame um so there was that.
Josh Lamon:But also it was so exciting Wicked was so new at the time it was the biggest thing. It was the beginning of it being a global phenomenon. So there was this built-in fan base. So, like I'm 25 years old-ish, nobody knows anything that I've done. I'm a nobody. And now, all of a sudden, I have all these fans, and not because I'm magical, just because they're obsessed with the show. Yeah, um, so that was thrilling and also sort of um, very, very intense, because nothing really teaches you how to prepare for that.
Josh Lamon:And then, when you leave the show, nothing teaches you how to be prepared for that, to go back to you know, like for nine months I was like a theater celebrity in that ring of you know show fans, and now I'm back to being unemployed looking for barista work or anything. Yeah, you know. So I would say that's the biggest emotional kind of challenge when you're doing your first big show. Yeah, and the only other thing I think that happened with Wicked that would have been dangerous was something happened with the flying rig for Elphaba and oil spilled on like half the stage and so like half the stage, like you really couldn't walk on but you had to. And again I had another like fly into the air and land like a dead bug during curtain call. So yay me.
Nicole Kelly:It's hard sometimes to be graceful when there's oil on the floor. So I wouldn't be too hard on yourself, I wouldn't be too hard on yourself, I wouldn't be too hard on myself. So you made your Broadway debut in the revival of Hair after being on tour.
Josh Lamon:Actually I booked it. I did the show on Broadway before I did the tour. I didn't know that.
Nicole Kelly:So your Broadway debut was Hair. Okay. So how did you end up on the tour after being on Broadway? Did you have to audition? Was it an offer thing? I'm always curious, when people kind of transfer to other productions, what the process of that is.
Josh Lamon:That was an offer and usually they are in that case because it's easier for them. Also, it's sort of like a thank you for doing the Broadway production we would love for you to continue on. It's just easier. We don't have to spend money on new costumes, wigs, blah, blah, blah, yeah. But it was a real thrilling journey and it actually came around when I was ready to quit. I, after Wicked, I'd been doing a regional theater and a lot of it, but I wasn't able to book Broadway and you know, there's only so much time that you can spend living out of a suitcase making very little money, not having, you know, like roots anywhere. Yeah, any relationship that you try to be in ends immediately and it just was very depressing and I remember going into the hair callbacks being like if I don't book this, I'm done. I just can't do this anymore and I I figured that I'd be a therapist and uh, which is something I think you would be good at.
Josh Lamon:Thank you, I think so too, and um, so I went. The final callback was insane. They were looking, it just finished in the park, it was transferring to broadway and they were looking for five swings and a swing. Is somebody an offstage understudy?
Nicole Kelly:that covers most everybody in the show um, it's literally the hardest thing to do in musical theater.
Josh Lamon:Oh, it's wild. Yeah, it's easily the hardest job in theater, so there must have been like 50 of us in that final callback.
Nicole Kelly:That's a lot of people for a final callback.
Josh Lamon:Oh they were not kidding and Diane Paulus, the director, who I love, she really wants to see every option that she can and you know it's not easy for her, I think, to make those decisions because she wants to see everybody and she wants to see what everybody can bring. And so that callback I might be exaggerating but I feel like it lasted for five hours. It started off with a dance combo and this dance combo was like insane A it's hair, so like you're not really dancing.
Josh Lamon:You're flailing around. You're also portraying young people on a lot of drugs. So there's that aspect and it got nuts. One man at the audition broke his knee what yeah, and um now helps run a theater company in uh connecticut, but that was sort of the end of his road oh my gosh.
Josh Lamon:Um, in that regard, and I remember, uh, after the dance and after, like, putting us in groups and singing and blah, blah, blah, we all got sent into the hallway to wait for our turn to come in and read the sides and the sides are pieces of the script, you know and um, so I was out there in that hall for up until the end. I remember sitting there with casey levy.
Josh Lamon:We knew each other through the, through the wicked family a little bit and um, but also, everybody there had been in Broadway shows or they're currently in Broadway shows, and so I felt very like self-conscious, very less than. And then, finally, it was my turn. I went in, I did what I could do and I left feeling defeated. I called my agent at the time and left him a message saying I think I'm done, I can't do this anymore. And the next morning I woke up I think I was probably dieting at the time because that's just what I do, for that's my hobby Um, and I was like screw it, everything's terrible. I'm ordering pancakes or something dramatic. And then my agent called and he was like hey, I got your message, are you okay?
Josh Lamon:And I was like no, and um, he was like I know you want to quit and that's totally cool, I get it. But do you want to quit after you do hair because you have an offer?
Josh Lamon:oh my gosh and I remember, just like I don't remember if I cried, but when, when so many years of bs just pay off in one second, it's a very, very powerful thing. And to be able to call your mom and to be like I'm making my Broadway debut, when you spend years wondering what it's like to get that phone call and then all of a sudden you're getting it, and that will never grow old for me. I'll never not appreciate that moment, because it's rare, it's uncommon, it does not happen for the majority of people.
Nicole Kelly:Yeah.
Josh Lamon:And I do not take that lightly. So I started as a swing. For the first six months of the show I covered, I think, 12 people.
Nicole Kelly:Oh, my gosh.
Josh Lamon:It was very stressful.
Nicole Kelly:Yeah.
Josh Lamon:Also because it's hair and it's so loose, it was almost impossible to be exactly where somebody is on stage when they are doing their show. So I would sit out in different parts of the balconies and I would follow one person every performance and I would memorize everything that they did, all of their traffic patterns, and it sort of became an obsession. I think I had a script for every person that I covered and different graphs and diagrams, and now and then you would take a break. The swing dressing rooms were on the sixth floor of the building, a walk-up, mind you. We called it 125th street, um, and sometimes we would just like have enough and just throw a swing party on the swing floor and just like do that during the show, but most of the time I was in the mezzanine yeah, you're following people.
Nicole Kelly:You're shadowing, yeah, shadowing.
Josh Lamon:And then six months in. Uh, my dear friend and incredible performer, theo Stockman, left the show to go do American Idiot. And they came to me and they said do you want to take over? And I was like yes. And it was my first, I guess, role on Broadway. And then we were all going to London to do it on the West End and I understudied Margaret Mead in Claude's Dad, and the brilliant Andrew Cober is just one of those performers who never call out.
Josh Lamon:and then he, at the last minute, took a vacation and so which is rare in Broadway vacations so I was finally going on and Diane came to see I think my first or second performance, and immediately after the show I was asked to stay in New York and take over for Andrew and not go to the West End, which I'm glad that I did. At the same time, I really regret not getting that experience of going across the pond, but yeah, so I stayed and took over, and then the show was closing and they said will you take it on the road? I said absolutely, and then we were supposed to go to japan that summer. Oh, and then the tsunami happened, so japan was canceled and we ended up coming back to broadway I remember that my sister saw that.
Nicole Kelly:Come back to broadway production yeah because she saw the production of Hair you were in, I think, four or five times because she loves hair.
Josh Lamon:Her dog is named Burger and I think she wants to name all dogs after, after hair characters.
Nicole Kelly:I'm not exaggerating this.
Nicole Kelly:She loves it so much and I think that production might have been a little bit gateway into her appreciating musical theater a little bit more. And you were in that and you were part of that. Oh, that means a lot. You do a lot of readings and I'm assuming you do some workshops as well. Oh yeah, and those are two different things. Can you, like I said I prefaced your questions with I know the answers to this, but I want to hear you tell our people listening who may not know the answer, all this information, because you would probably be able to explain it better. So what's the difference between a reading and a workshop and what is the process, kind of from casting to presentation, for that Sure.
Josh Lamon:Well it's. It actually is very different from show to show. Sometimes there's a reading and it's for development, where they just want to hear the piece, they want to hear what they want to change, they want to, they want to hear new voices bring what they have to the table. Other times it's really more of an audition where, not not for the performer but for the piece itself, they're not really developing it yet, they're trying to get money.
Nicole Kelly:Yeah and and um, which is the number one issue with getting a, with doing a show, is money money there's never enough money.
Josh Lamon:It's always about money, which I understand, because a typical 29 hour reading meaning you have 29 hours to put it up, um, which is like a basic typical work week, um, and then a presentation that can cost at least $30,000.
Nicole Kelly:It's so expensive. I mean and the actors are the cheapest part.
Josh Lamon:Oh yeah.
Nicole Kelly:Always. The actors are always the cheapest part of doing theater, sadly, because so many people will do it for free. That's the thing and this is not. It's not like a dentist is going to fill a cavity for free. But actors love performing so much, it's so much part of who they are. The producers have figured out they will do it for free, which is why we have community theater or stipend theater or non-union regional theater, where I would work for like $125 a week in equity points. They figured out that people will do that.
Josh Lamon:But so that's typically what a reading is. A workshop, or a lab, as they call it these days, is much more intense. It could be a process of where you're putting up the show and you don't have the actual set pieces, but you have pieces that mimic those pieces. Sometimes there's costumes, sometimes there's a full orchestra, oftentimes you're like in a fancy mic, you know, and you put up the show to see how it works. And again you're doing it for money, people or you're you know, or you're working for a company like, let's say, universal Theatricals. Who's doing my next show?
Nicole Kelly:Yeah, we're going to talk about that.
Josh Lamon:But where it's like the money is there, it's not really an issue.
Nicole Kelly:They're just trying to see what needs to be changed, tweak it and, like you said, also an audition, because a lot of the time people who do workshops or readings end up in the original cast of stuff. So that's the key, friends, if you want a Broadway career is get in with people who do readings and make friends with the creatives, because you're much more likely to feed an OBC if you've done the reading.
Josh Lamon:It's very true. Um, a lot of the shows that I've done, um, well, I guess, uh, prom and finding Neverland, specifically, you know, all started from the very, very first reading of it. But yeah, so that's sort of what a workshop is. But what people forget is that everything is an audition. Your performance in the reading will affect if you are being considered for the workshop. Even you know, oftentimes you do the reading and then they're like great, will you audition for the workshop? Can you dance, Can you do all this? Because in the reading there wasn't a choreographer. Now there is, and then you do the workshop. And again, that is an audition. They don't need to take you with it to the next step. So you know and just like, then you do an out-of-town tryout. That is also an audition.
Nicole Kelly:Yeah, sometimes people don't make it out of the out of town tryout Exactly.
Josh Lamon:So it's always high stakes? Yeah, it's stressful, yes. And it's not even just your actual performance.
Nicole Kelly:It's how you gel with the director and everything, because you could be a very talented performer, but if the director's like you're a son of a bitch, they don't want to work with you. You're a son of a bitch, they don't want to work with you. Patrick and I talk about sometimes that people want to work with their friends. It's fun, people want to have fun, they want to work with people they like. So we've all been in a production where there's some guy or girl who kind of is not like the rest of the cast and it becomes like a whole thing. There's drama. So it makes sense that through this entire process you're not only auditioning with your performance but with yourself.
Josh Lamon:Yeah, Sometimes it's do I want to spend eight to 12 hours with you. Are you going to keep the dressing room a happy place?
Nicole Kelly:Yeah, you know, you get one negative person. It kind of ruins the whole thing.
Josh Lamon:It ruins everything, absolutely everything. No that makes a lot of sense.
Nicole Kelly:So in addition to all your Broadwayway shows and readings, you've also done quite a few broadway off broadway shows. Can you explain to our listeners what that means and how that's different from everything else?
Josh Lamon:sure. Well, technically speaking, um, it's really just a matter of the size of the house. Um, I think it's uh, off broadway is like what 500 and lower. I think I'm looking at patrick. Right now 499 seats are um to 99 seats are off broadway um and 99 and under is off off. So technically that's what it is, but really here in new york off broadway is basically just like, depending on on the show. Of course it's a broadway show, just much less money is involved yeah um, and sometimes it's not anywhere near a broadway show.
Nicole Kelly:Sometimes it's really like ratchet and poop, but um, you know, because anything can technically be off broadway as long as they can secure the space, it could be no set and no costumes, yeah, or it can be. You know there's some, or it could be the public.
Josh Lamon:Yeah, or it could be the public, which is major. Yeah, you know where there's a lot of money involved. You're not making it, but there's a lot of money involved. Are the actors?
Nicole Kelly:ever the ones making it, unless there's a lot of money involved? Are the actors ever the ones making it? Unless you're someone like Bette?
Josh Lamon:Midler or Kristen Chenoweth? No, but even then, when I did Shakespeare in the Park, we were all making the same amounts of money and I was like, well, amy Adams can afford to work for this amount of money. I live here in New York and I would like a raise.
Nicole Kelly:Speaking of that, is it true that the cast of Hair all made the same amount of money In the amount of money in the park? No, no, on broadway.
Josh Lamon:No, I didn't because someone told me that everybody made the same amount of money lies. Okay. Well, um, oftentimes they'll do something called oh gosh, what's? I hate it so much favored nations, which really means nothing. There's no contract, there's no legality to favored nations. It just means everybody gets the same. But that's not true. Um, if you're a lead performer on the show, you're going to be making much more money, period. Yeah, they even announced uh, I mean, there's no point not saying the name, you can google it but they announced eden espinoza as the lead woman. As sheila and hair.
Josh Lamon:When her contracts weren't done and they were trying to pay her very, very little, and so very publicly, she was like Nope, I'm not doing the show, bye, and you know, like that's yeah, but no, not, not everybody makes the same amount of money it's.
Nicole Kelly:There's all different levels. It also has to do with how fancy you are or your agent or all sorts of stuff there's. There's lots of different levels, yeah, in in the arts. So you kind of mentioned a little bit out of town tryouts. You've done several of these and I've seen out of town tryouts. One of my really good friends was the assistant md and then the md on doubtfire, so I saw in seattle in january of 2020 and then I saw a a dress rehearsal preview and then I saw it. So I saw kind of all the versions of this, the shows that you've done. How much do they change from the out of town tryout to Broadway opening?
Josh Lamon:It really depends on the show. The prom did not change very much. Some jokes changed. I might be confusing the out of town with the lab, but the original I I Just Wanna Dance With you ended very quietly with her just being like and a song. And then it just like ended. And then when we got to Broadway, it was like and a song. You know like it was because it's Broadway and you gotta skelter everything because it's.
Nicole Kelly:Broadway there's no nuance in Broadway anymore and as far as like females and this is something I got yelled at all the time in Conservatory for is that everything doesn't need to be at a 10, nicole, because I'm a loud singer and I was young and didn't understand nuance. But now I'm like but look at all this. There's no nuance. You are a female who can belt or mix, and there's no nuance they don't want that depending.
Josh Lamon:Yeah, you know, like yeah, um which? Is not how iondheim's supposed to be sung but uh, there are other shows that, like finding neverland, that changed, which I also saw with my mom. I saw I saw.
Nicole Kelly:I remember I saw it with my mom. Um, I don't remember why we specifically chose that, but I really liked it and I I don't think she'd seen the movie and I was like this is sad um, it is sad but it's like bittersweet sad, like there's level like that woman at folly's, like there's levels of sad and you can splice this in.
Nicole Kelly:I, when I saw the um revival of folly's, I saw it with bernadette and we saw it in la too, but I saw it first year because I was I think I was auditioning for a summer stock production of annie and I came to the city by myself and I was like what am I gonna see foies?
Nicole Kelly:and there's a moment at the end of the show where brad peter's character is the last person to leave the theater and she was by herself and nobody breathed for about 30 seconds yeah she was just like having a moment and I was like this is acting because she's so amazing yeah, she's a genius it's always crazy to see performers that are just on such a different level.
Josh Lamon:Yeah, they're aliens. Yeah, I don't. It's not fair. Yeah, it's not fair, they're just it's kind of.
Nicole Kelly:It's kind of crazy. So you mentioned the prom, so so for those, I mean you can explain the plot better than I can. But as a gay man, was this experience because it was kind of a groundbreaking show Was this something that was very emotional, especially close to you, as opposed to some of the other shows you'd done?
Josh Lamon:Absolutely. For people who do not know the show, the musical is about a teenage lesbian in the middle of nowhere that and this part is actually based on a true story that tries to take her closeted girlfriend to the prom and the P her closeted girlfriend to the prom, and the PTA reacts by canceling the prom. And the fiction part of the musical is there's this group of Broadway sort of has-beens. These like egomaniacs that are so full of themselves and the only way to save their careers to get some good press, and so they decide to like become activists, but not like actual activists and then they read about this lesbian in indiana on twitter and they storm this tiny, tiny little town to force these people to have a lesbian prom.
Josh Lamon:It it's very funny but very moving. And we performed on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and it was the first time in the parade's history that there was a same sex kiss and this wasn't like making out. It wasn't raunchy, it wasn't dirty, it wasn't anything that hadn't been on the parade in the sense of like, we see straight couples kissing all the time, yeah, and we do not bat an eye. But this blew up and Macy's very much was very proud of this.
Nicole Kelly:Good for Macy's. Yeah, very much. Saying like this is what we want Macy's, which was owned at one point by Jews who died on the Titanic. Fun fact for you, hey.
Josh Lamon:Yes.
Nicole Kelly:Bringing you back to the judaism thing. Ida is doris strauss um oh right, yeah, they're the, they're the old, which I am so excited to see that yeah because titanic is my jam uh again sad musical but it's so good but yeah, owned by jews um yeah, but, macy's, they were insistent that they wanted that on the broadcast.
Josh Lamon:But after that, I think I tweeted back when I had Twitter, something about this being gay history and all of a sudden news programs across the globe picked up that tweet and every hate group in the world came at us.
Nicole Kelly:Wow.
Josh Lamon:And to the point that there were death threats.
Josh Lamon:We had to have security escort us out of the theater, some performances, one of the lead people one of the leads in the show somebody got their phone number and started leaving death threats on their voicemail, you know, and it got very scary, so the whole.
Josh Lamon:There's a song in Act Two where this person is coming to terms with their sexuality and calls it her unruly heart, and so we sort of formed this thing called the Unruly Hearts Club between us and the fans of the show, and we would meet so many people that were struggling with coming out, so many parents who knew that their child was gay or queer, whatever and um, but their child hadn't told them yet and they were struggling with how to support them. So many people that were very against their kids being gay and having to come to terms with that on their own. And for me it just it was a moment of like having an unruly heart. I even got a tattoo of a heart with like a rainbow on it and it's really cute. But you know, it did have a big impact, as well as being like a plus size person, a plus size gay guy To be able to like be center stage and sing a song. You know like that's very, very powerful.
Nicole Kelly:I love that you were able to have that experience.
Nicole Kelly:I think, this is one of the things I love about theater is it can be really groundbreaking and life changing for people in a way that I think sometimes film and TV can't. Yeah, um, you can also take a lot of risks, even though we talked about it being money in theater that you wouldn't be able to take with like a major big budget Hollywood film. So and that's one of the things I think makes theater so great is you're able to sometimes do groundbreaking, risky work that may not be embraced by the larger community.
Josh Lamon:Yeah.
Nicole Kelly:So kind of jumping into people. You've worked with, the people you want to work with. You've worked with some of the biggest directors on Broadway, Do you find? Did you find this intimidating auditioning for them or working with these people? Or how do you, how do you deal with that? Because I feel like if I got in a room with Casey Nicholaw I'd be like, oh my God.
Josh Lamon:Oh, casey's a sweetheart. It depends on the director. There are some that are extremely intimidating, james Lapine being one of those people. He is a genius and he's also terrifying, and you know, when he likes you, he's great. When he's not liking you, it's scary. When he's not liking you, it's scary, but at the same time, I love him and I respect him and he is a terrific director, he's a genius. And then there are people like Diane Paulus who like initially, yeah, I'm intimidated to meet, but then you work with them and it's like, oh, you and I work in the same way. We feel the same way about this process, we both get excited about the same things and we love working together and I consider you a colleague and a friend rather than a person, a gatekeeper, a person in power.
Nicole Kelly:I love that so much. One of my favorite things I ever did was a production of Fiddler on the Roof in Northern California and it was such a collaborative work and it's just everyone worked together and the director was very on the same level and I feel like that doesn't happen a lot. I feel like you know whether it be regional theater and there's not enough time to kind of play and collaborate. But I love when everybody's on the same team and the director isn't like sitting on a pedestal and is like you, you, down there, you do this like on a god mic yeah, I don't love working for people like that
Josh Lamon:yeah, um, it's not fun, no, but also I just get annoyed the order that I get because I'm like you realize we're not fighting isis, we're doing a musical you know people take it that seriously though. And.
Nicole Kelly:I've worked with those people too. It's like tap dancing is the end-all, be-all guys.
Josh Lamon:And that's fine for them, but I think that's what I hate about the industry and people in general. It's what I hate about people in general, like if you're not saving baby Jessicaessica in the whale in the well, like get over yourself it's true you know, I know patrick and I'll be like. We're not curing cancer here, we're giving a tour of soho yeah, like everybody calm down also like oh I know, you're brilliant, lucky you.
Nicole Kelly:You know, it's just like I well, the most brilliant and talented people don't need to show you or tell you, they just are yeah. And they're confident in that they are.
Josh Lamon:Or they don't need to be mean, but oftentimes the mean ones just don't have any social skills or they have much bigger problems than they take it out on you. So those are. You know you're going to have great experiences and you're going to have less great experiences, like anything in life.
Nicole Kelly:Is there a director you have worked with that you'd want to work with?
Josh Lamon:Yes, yes, I love Ivo van Gogh's visions, I love what he does. It would be a dream. Jessica, I think. Daniel, I think her name is I'm terrible with names and it's terrible because she's my friend's wife. She directed.
Nicole Kelly:Kimberly Akimpo, christopher Seaver's wife. That's Jessica. That's who Heather did. Google this. That's who Heather did Grease with Stone Jessica Stone.
Josh Lamon:Jessica Stone, that's it.
Nicole Kelly:Who was an actor.
Josh Lamon:Yeah, chris Fitzgerald's wife. Yeah, they met performing at encores which I love. Yeah, that's so fun, fun, but yeah, I think she's brilliant. Yeah, there are so many people that I would love to get a chance to work with is there an actor that you haven't worked with that you'd want to work with? Oh my gosh. I mean who doesn't want to work with Patti LuPone?
Nicole Kelly:she's no longer a member of Equity, so I don't know if she'd be able to do shows with you, I'm sure they'll figure it out. Yeah, she's, she'll be back I mean, I don't blame her. She was like there's nothing new. I hate theater. It's all you know.
Josh Lamon:It's all rehashes of movies yeah, and also, like broadway is hard, it is not for the innocent, it is not for the weak, it is very hard, it's harder than people think.
Nicole Kelly:Well, it's nonstop and you've mentioned to me, because we talked about my journey if I was to do a Broadway show, I'd probably be an understudy and you're like you'd never see your daughter. Ever, Because you get a day off and then during the day, on the days you're not getting shows, you're doing understudy rehearsals. So it's, it's you don't get and you don't get vacations. And if you get sick, you know you don't call in sick unless you're dying yeah, or you know, if you get sick you lose a lot of money.
Josh Lamon:Yeah, um, your dressing room is probably on the fifth or sixth floor of a walk-up of a building that was built you know, like when moses was around and you know the dancing, it's nonstop. Your body the older that you get, the less your body wants to handle it. And also, like you're working until you get home around 11 at night.
Nicole Kelly:And then it's really hard to like come down, because I feel like when I do a show especially you know I've done Fiddler a billion times you're so hyped up and so emotional and you're like now I have to go home and sleep like no, like that's why actors go out after shows, because they want to like kind of wind down anything from everything well.
Josh Lamon:Also like whether you have, like food issues or not, the they say like oh, don't eat after 10 or whatever, but it's like you?
Nicole Kelly:when were you gonna eat?
Josh Lamon:I started work at seven yeah so and I got home at got home at 11. So, like 1130 is dinner.
Nicole Kelly:Not to mention that, as people are always bringing food to the theater and there's like a cake or cupcakes and you're like God damn it why why, are you bringing this stuff? Cause you're so hungry because you are starting your job when dinner starts and it's like well, there's snackies here.
Josh Lamon:Yeah.
Nicole Kelly:It's easier, yeah, it's.
Josh Lamon:It's not a good thing not to mention that actors all have, regardless of their size, have body self-image issues because of all sorts of what a world.
Nicole Kelly:Yeah, yeah, I know they're getting a little bit better about it, but it's like a token person I feel like they've gotten a lot better.
Josh Lamon:But you know, but also I don't blame it it is the entertainment industry, it is a industry of giving people a fantasy and whether that is a Barbie doll or a Barbie movie, things look certain ways and I don't. You know, like I'm not saying that diversity isn't good, body diversity I think it's brilliant and important.
Nicole Kelly:But I also understand the other side of it yeah and you know it is a business yeah, you want sometimes the dancers to all, especially in certain shows. You want all the dancers to kind of look the same yeah, depending on on what it is, you know yeah, so you have yet to do a non-musical on broadway, like what we what we in the industry call a straight play. Is this something you'd be interested in doing? Have you auditioned for these?
Josh Lamon:Oh, that's my dream. I have not auditioned for one, but that is the dream, could you imagine? Could you imagine not having to sing into the stratosphere or dance, just like get on stage and talk? That is a dream.
Nicole Kelly:And they're usually shorter, so you're out earlier.
Josh Lamon:Yeah, I mean speaking of Paulus Diane. During Neverland, during tech, my character flew in the beginning of that.
Nicole Kelly:I remember this. It was like an accident, like you weren't supposed to go up and then you did, or something like that. You're like I don't even remember.
Josh Lamon:I was swinging across the stage and fake fall and all this stuff. Yes, I remember this and getting into the harness was the most uncomfortable thing in the world, where I had like these burly tech guys like strapping me into this harness and it just felt like the corset from hell and Diane was sitting there and I was just yelling like, put me in a play. Put me in a damn play, you monster, you know, yeah, yeah, I'd love to be in a play, please, please.
Nicole Kelly:Just a little reminder. This is a two-part episode. Josh and I still have a lot more to talk about. We're going to be releasing that second episode later this week, so be sure to subscribe and check it out. Thank you so much.
