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>>commentator: So welcome everybody to our first, well not our first, but first branded
Broadway@Google Series.
I'd like to welcome some of the cast members from West Side Story.
[applause and cheering]
I guess we can start talking about ?
since this is an old show that was brought back to Broadway and how kind of the history
of the producers, the writers, the book, and how it kinda came back and what brought it
back to Broadway now.
>>John: So you wanna know everything about the show right now, huh?
>>commentator: Everything about the show. So why did it, so it came back in what 2009,
right? January?
>>John: Yeah, 2009. We started rehearsals 2008, early 2008 about October 2008. Took
it to D.C. for out-of-town tryouts in December of '08 and came back to New York and opened
on Broadway March 19th of 2009.
Right? [laughs]
It's been a, I came in as a, as an understudy for Riff, Action and Diesel and took over
the role August 4th of last year. So I actually wasn't in the show from the beginning, from
the get go and either were these guys either.
But we were, we had the pleasure to join the show and actually kinda take it and develop
it and run with it and make it our own after the original cast had left.
>>commentator: So when the original cast left was it, did it slowly happen over time or
did it like character by character --
>>John: Yeah people, I mean --
>>commentator: What happened?
>>John: [sighs] People-people come and go in on Broadway really quickly. Most people,
most principals sign a year contract and do that for a year and then either stay with
the show or-or move on.
And I guess you guys both came in after the year was up, right? For everybody?
>>Shina: Almost. I came in August; they opened in March and I came in August.
>>John: Uh-hum.
>>Mikey : And I came in December and I have a hand-held mic.
[all on stage laughing]
>>commentator: I'm sorry. I know.
>>Mikey : No worries. I like it.
>>commentator: Time, time is tough in [unintelligible]
>>Mikey : Yeah, I think when I came in December there was, there was a big cast changeover
there was about five or six people, Tony, Chino,
>>John: Action --
>>Mikey : Action, myself, playing Big Deal, all changing over.
So there, that was kind of like a big shift in the cast and there was some more, they
redid the, what we'd do, the table reads with Arthur and like kinda like reworked the show
a little bit and gave it a little bit of new energy.
>>John: So Arthur Laurents is a 93 year old man who ?
>>commentator: And he's your --
>>John: He's our director.
>>commentator: Okay.
>>John: He wrote --
>>commentator: What's that like?
>>John: He wrote [laughs]
>>commentator: Lot of bathroom breaks?
>>John: He wrote [laughs] no actually not.
>>commentator: [laughs]
[laughter]
Excuse me I'm gonna --
>>John: He's, he actually wrote the book of West Side Story. As Lee pointed out it was
originally called East Side Story.
>>commentator: Do you know why?
>>John: 'Cause it was set on the East Side.
>>commentator: Do you know why?
>>John: Shina probably knows better.
>>Shina: And it was, and it wasn't, and it wasn't the Puerto Ricans and --
>>John: Polish.
>>Shina: the Polish, it was --
>>Mikey : Jews and Catholics, I think.
>>Shina: No. Yeah.
>>John: Catholics and Jews. Um-hum.
>>commentator: Okay.
And then do you think that was adapted when they, so that was, that was changed before
the book was released or before the original Broadway production was --
>>Shina: Before, when they were still in works for it.
>>Shina: I was actually reading an article on it the other day somewhere and they were
talking about right around the time they were writing the show, then there were like news
articles in real life of the fights happening in New York between the gangs 'cause it was
supposed to be set in Califo--, I think Los Angeles between the Jews and the what did
you say?
>>Mikey : The Jews and Catholics.
>>Shina: And Catholics. And then they were like well there's all these gang fights happening
in New York where the Puerto Ricans and the Poles, let's try to make this happen and then
that's when they changed it.
>>commentator: I see.
>>Mikey : Yes.
>>John: But he's, it's been a really incredible process 'cause I mean this is a man who was
one of the most brilliant librettists on Broadway period, ever.
He's had, he's had what five hit Broadway shows --
>>Shina: Yes.
>>John: if not --
>>Shina: Gypsy --
>>John: more.
>>Shina: plays and musicals.
>>John: Plays, musicals, everything. He's brilliant.
>>Mikey : And movies.
>>John: Movies.
>>Mikey : The Way They Were.
>>John: And-and we've had the opportunity to work with him --
>>commentator: Yeah.
>>John: and being, I mean for me being-being a-a pretty young guy coming into the Broadway
scene and this being my Broadway debut, to work with somebody like that was incredible.
We and we, our producers are really great. We have, we have, our two main producers are
>>Shina: Jeffrey --
>>John: Jeffrey Sel --
>>Shina: Seller.
>>Mikey : Jeffrey Seller.
>>John: and Kevin McCullum. And they're phenomenal; they produce a lot of Broadway shows and I
believe that they came to Arthur like 10 years ago or something like that and said, "We want
you to do West Side Story on Broadway again."
>>commentator: Um-hum.
>>John: And he was like, "The time's not right." It's like it's not right for the time.
So then I think the way the Spanish was adapted into the show, Arthur's lover saw the show
in South America somewhere and saw the Puerto Ricans speaking in Spanish.
>>commentator: Okay.
>>John: Which kind of made them the antagonists rather than the protagonists;
>>commentator: Hum.
>>John: I mean which made them the protagonists rather than the antagonists. Instead making
the Jets being like the focal point at the end, the Sharks became the stronger of the
two because they were speaking in their native tongue.
>>commentator: Right.
And the audience is different too.
>>John: Absolutely.
>>commentator: Right.
>>John: So I mean the feel of that, but he wrote it out and Arthur found it in his original
manuscript after he died and-and decided to bring that back to Broadway.
And so our show has quite a lot of Spanish in it and Shina is one of the Shark girls
>>Shina: One of the Sharks.
>>Mikey : [laughs]
>>commentator: And then what role are you, what's your character?
>>Shina: Consquelo, she's the Shark that dies her hair blond. She's one of the, one of the
girls.
>>commentator: So you have a wig you have to put on every night?
>>Shina: I do.
Blond with black roots.
[laughter]
>>commentator: That's cool.
So yeah tell me about just what you, I guess some people go to school, some people go to
grad school, some people make a career of going to school studying acting, some people
just go out and do it, like what, and everyone's path is unique. Just tell me about what brought
you to, and how you landed in these roles.
>>John: Um.
I love your questions 'cause they're just like tell me everything.
>>commentator: Yeah.
[laughter]
I'm working on this, I'm working on it.
>>John: That's cool. Well get it --
>>commentator: Getting better.
>>John: We'll get it.
>>commentator: I have a supportive audience.
>>John: Absolutely. Hi guys. Hi, everybody.
>>John: No, I came into the business when I was eight years old and I was living in
Greenwich, Connecticut at the time and then slowly I began to fall in love with-with singing
and-and acting and being on stage and I thought it was a lot of fun to do and it took me out
of my own world and my crazy family life [laughs] --
to tell you the truth. And it gave me something to do. That was an outlet and it allowed me
to be somebody else for a minute.
And so as time went on we did a lot of shows in North Carolina together and then I moved
to New York. I went on the European tour of West Side Story. I was there for two and a
half, almost three years. And then came to Broadway and was blessed to be cast in West
Side Story on Broadway.
So I've been doin' West Side Story for a while.
>>commentator: Are you sick of it yet?
>>John: No.
>>in unison: [laugh]
>>John: Not at all. Love it.
>>commentator: [laughs]
>>John: No it's some, I mean it weighs on you definitely, but it's a really great show
to do.
[pause]
It changed my life. And it, and it actually allowed, it opened my eyes to a lot of different
things about myself.
I mean I play, I play a guy who's racist and who hates everybody.
>>commentator: Right.
>>John: And playing that eight times a week can really open your eyes [chuckles] to see
who you really are.
>>commentator: [laughs] What did you find out?
>>John: No, no just like things that I don't like that to feel you know what I mean?
>>commentator: Sure.
>>John: different feelings and like --
>>commentator: Yeah.
>>John: things to definitely stay away from within myself and I mean not like I didn't
find out that like I'm some guy who hates everybody you know what I mean, but --
>>commentator: That's nice. That's nice to know.
But I mean I guess some people have their like their prejudices and --
>>John: Absolutely.
>>commentator: they know them or not. Some of 'em --
>>John: It was good for me because I found out a little bit who I was. A little bit more
of who I was; and-and could discover that.
But the audition process for me was actually a lot different than the regular audition
process.
The guy who was playing the role that I'm playing now got hurt in the rehearsal process
before they went to D.C. for the out-of-town tryouts and I got a phone call two days before
they left for D.C. And, have you heard this story?
>>Shina: Huh-uh. Have you? Do we have to?
>>John: I got a phone call two days before they left for D.C. at 10:30 in the morning
and I was unemployed. And Joey McKneely who as the, he reset Jerome Robbins' choreography.
Jerome Robbins was the original choreographer of West Side Story.
And Joey McKneely, who directed and choreographed the European tour gave me a call and he's
resetting the Broadway choreography, anyway, he called me at 10:30 and goes, "What are
you doing today at 12?" And I go, "Let me check my calendar."
[laughter]
And I go, "Nothing. I'm not doing anything." And he goes, "Okay, well you're coming in
to audition for Arthur Laurents."
Now at this time, my girlfriend was in the show as the dance captain and-and so I knew
what was going on and I was really kind of sitting at home bummed out that I didn't get
the job.
So I went in to the audition and he said, "I have no quarrel with you, you're hired."
>>Shina: Hm.
>>commentator: That fast?
>>John: On the spot.
And so the stage manager asked me to wait outside. I wait outside. And he comes out
and he goes, "Ah. He actually can't do that." And I'm like, "Don't ruin my high, man"
I was like, "I just got-got cast in my first Broadway show."
>>commentator: Here's everything. Now take it away.
>>John: Yeah. And he goes, "Well it's actually up to the producers as well. They have the
final say."
>>commentator: Sure.
>>John: And I'm like, "Ahhh." Seriously about to slit my wrists at this point.
>>commentator: Yeah.
>>John: This sucks! I'm done. [claps]
But then he goes, "But what Arthur wants he usually gets."
It's like, "Okay, that gives me --
>>commentator: That gives you a little dose of reality.
John: Absolutely. But then they--, I'm --
still have to get to D.C. and it was, it was an amazing opportunity. And I got the chance
to go on for two months before I took over the role in August.
So I was on for, from May, June, and July; the end of May to July. I took over August
4th and it was, it's been a blessing every since; I've-I've been loving it.
Workin' with these guys; they're great.
>>commentator: So Shina, you wanna tell us your story? How you landed in this role.
>>Shina: Um, I grew up in Wichita, Kansas and did theater there. We have a summer stock
music theater in Wichita and I grew up doing shows there; ended up going to University
of Michigan for musical theater, which is my favorite place in the world.
>>commentator: Yeah.
>>Shina: The best place in the world besides New York.
[laughter]
And then I graduated in 2008 and then moved here.
And actually when I graduated in May, they started having, May 2008, they started having
auditions for West Side Story. And I was like, "I have to, I have to be in this show. I have
to be in the show."
I went in eight different times from May 2008 until I got hired July 31, 2009.
And I was like, "I am going to get this if it kills me." Like, "I am going to be in this
show."
'Cause the last time I went in what, it was down to four of us and we were at a studio
just across the street from the theater and we were waiting for Arthur to get there so
we could audition for him, and he was actually running rehearsal at the stage and didn't
know, he said they forgot to tell him that they had this audition.
So we walked in our audition clothes across the street to the theater while their rehearsing.
They're like in rehearsal on stage. They're like, "If you guys could just wait in the
audience for a second we should be with you. Arthur has to finish this rehearsal because
he won't be focused on your audition if he's not finishing the rehearsal."
So we're like, the real cast is on stage, I'm in the theater,--
I'm stretching still trying to focus on what I'm doing, and then two hours later they're
like, "Its cold in here. Can you guys wait out in the alley ?
Commentator: What?
>>Shina: behind our theater that actually looks like the scene for America>"
[laughter]
And so we were like, "Okay. It's 90 degrees outside; it's like 20 degrees in the theater.
I'll wait outside." Just practicing. And then finally they're like, "Alright. Arthur's done,
but he's got like 20 minutes. We're gonna bring you on stage. We're just gonna dance
you and then sing and read and go."
And we're like, "Oh, gosh."
So we danced on the Palace stage, the four of us. Then one by one he was like, "Okay,
sing."
We all sang and we all read and as he's sitting like in the third row from the stage so you
can hear him, but I don't think he knows how to whisper anymore.
[laughter]
So literally on stage reading-reading the sides I hear him what I think was, "Oh, she
didn't get it." Loud. And I was like, "Okay."
>>commentator: Oh, no.
>>Shina: Still reading, still reading, finish. Then they bring me back and the stage manager
gives me another thing to read that has more Spanish 'cause at the time when I joined most
of the Sharks' lines were still in Spanish.
And so then I'm leaving; I'm on my way to work like running out the door like two hours
late for work, and one of the casting directors pulls me aside and he's like, "Um, I might
be calling you tomorrow." So find out and I get the call the next day. He didn't say,
"She didn't get it," she said, "Oh, well she got it."
Like right there in front of me, but I thought he said, "Oh, she didn't get it."
Meaning like, I'm terrible at the Spanish, I didn't get it. And I was like, "Oh, so I
got the," after eight months of auditioning I finally got to be in West Side Story.
[applause and cheering]
>>John: That's when I met you though, was in the alleyway, huh?
>>Shina: Yeah.
They were smoking in --
>>John: Of course me in the alleyway just like, "Oh God, here I go again?"
>>Shina: "You guys auditioning?" "Yeah."
>>John: What are you doin' over here?
[laughter]
>>commentator: So Mikey, [unintelligible] yours.
>>Mikey : Uh, I got into musical theater from the dance perspective. I was a dancer growin'
up; soccer and dance; and then dance kinda took precedent and controlled my life for
a long time.
But it's great.
I went to college at Western Michigan University, the kid brother of --
>>Shina: Yeah.
>>Mikey : U of M; another great place though to be. And I graduated in 2009 and came out
here.
I had, when they started rehearsing originally I was doing a production of West Side at the
Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera actually with Shina.
And ever since then I did a production directly after that at school and then I did a production
at NCT of West Side. So basically I had my own strange rehearsal process to get into
this show.
But after, after I got back from North Carolina my agent called me and he said, "Hey, they
wanna see you back in for West Side." It would be my second time going back in. I said, "Alright,
this is it. I'm gonna get this."
Went in. I just was like ate everybody alive in the studio and just they said, "Alright
you're gonna come back on Tuesday. Be ready to meet Arthur." And I'm like ?
>>Shina: Oh my God.
>>Mike Winslow: "Oh my God."
"This guy's a legend in my mind."
It's my favorite show and he wrote it and this is a big deal for me.
So I go to my call back; it's Tuesday and they told me to just know all the Jet lines,
just they don't know what I'm gonna read, they just-- be ready to be anybody.
[laughter]
Great, great, great.
So I go in and I don't have to dance, I just I sing my song and then I read, I read for
Baby John, which is a character that I've played twice before this.
Now the guy reading with me, whew, he was a --
>>Shina: Who was it?
>>Mikey : I don't know who it was, but he must have been from a soap opera or somethin'
--
[laughter]
So this, so the scene is these two little kids and it's the beginning of Act 2, the
leaders have died, and they're all scared, and Baby John is like, "Oh my God, did they,
where-where's everybody." And this guys like, "They take you yet?"
He's like, "No."
>>Shina: Oh my word.
[laughter]
>>Mikey: It's just like, "What is this guy doing?"
And so we did it and it went alright and Arthur-Arthur walks up to me and he says, "I can tell you
get it. You're doin' great. I can tell you love this show. I just wanna give you a note
or two." And he gives me notes.
We do the scene again; feel a little bit better about it. And he comes up and he says, "Alright.
Mikey we're gonna have you read for action." Action's like the angry gang member; he kind
of takes over after Riff dies.
He says, "Mikey you're not right for Action. I just wanna see what you do with it."
And so we go into this scene where Action and Riff are arguing about Tony who hasn't
been around in a while. And so I'm like, "Alright."
"I am just gonna eat, I'm gonna get this guy. I'm gonna like just put him in his place."
And I just get in his face, well his face is like three feet taller than mine, but I
like gettin' in his face and we finish the scene and it felt good and I look over to
the table and-and Arthur just, "Yeah. You're in."
[laughter]
What? I'm standing there and the table, I'm just like kinda floating in like space and
like, "What's going on?" And the music director like hands me my book and the-the casting
director like ushers me out and my knees --
are, huhh, what's. I was so, I didn't know what was happening. But we got out of the
room and the casting director said, "Alright. You got it." And I said, "I'm gonna be playin'
a, I'm gonna be a swing in the show." 'Cause I thought there was a swing track open. And
he's like, "Oh no, no, no. You'll be playing Big Deal starting in three weeks."
I was on the ground.
[laughter]
I couldn't believe it. And that night I was at the theater watching the show and I swung
the show for three weeks and then I jumped in.
And ever since then it's-it's been what it's been.
>>commentator: It's amazing.
>>John: But you don't understand.
Like ?
people don't cast on the spot like that anymore.
>>Mikey : No.
>>John: Like that-that's old school.
>>Shina: Yeah.
>>John: Like that doesn't ha, like they-they look at you and they audition you for months
and months and months and months and months and months.
And then three weeks later you go home and you're-you're down in the dumps 'cause you're
like, "I don't have a job."
And then they- they call you and they're like, "Oh yeah. So remember that audition you did
for us like three months ago?"
>>Shina: Right.
>>John: "We want you to do it."
You're like, "Really?"
Like after all this time you're gonna sit here and finally, it's-it's just like hurry
up and wait, you know.
So it's-it's really interesting to have that instant gratification. It's really nice to
be able to have --
commentator: So like once-once you hit a Broad, a major Broadway show and you feel like, "I
made it. I'm here. I'm gonna have a steady job for a while." And then what happens?
What are the things that can happen?
>>John: I mean there're no guarantees in this business. That's the, that's I mean I think
that's kind of the reason why I got into it.
Is because there's, I mean, I know it sounds, it sounds weird but in the, at the end of
the day I gotta, I gotta do what I love to do and it's fulfilling to me. I gotta go on
stage and bare my soul and do my thing and-and try to help people in some way, shape, or
form, but at the end of the day I can do something else.
>>commentator: Sure.
>>John: You know what I mean? And --
>>commentator: So it's worth the risk?
>>John: I-, yeah
>>commentator: [laughs] I guess time will tell. What do you think?
>>Mikey : I mean it's, there's been plenty of people who say or who I've heard say, "To
be a Broadway performer like those are the luckiest people in the world." Because honestly
we do love what we do and we get to do what we love and get paid for it.
And that's, I mean I feel very blessed to be able to do that and I think the other side
of it is that they can pull the rug at any moment and say, "Well, that was great and
all, but --
>>Shina: January 2.
>>Mikey : Yeah, January 2, pull the plug.
>>John: Oh yeah, and by the way,
>>commentator: So it's closing right?
>>John: we're closing, we're closing January 2nd.
>>Mikey : Oh yeah, that's right.
Yes, it has been announced. I'm not breaking any rules here.
>>commentator: Two weeks ago, right? So it's gonna --
So the last performance is January 2nd?
>>Mikey : Yeah, January 2nd.
>>commentator: Interesting day to choose.
>>Shina: It's a Sunday.
>>commentator: It's a Sunday.
>>John: Well, --
>>Mikey : The old one-two punch.
>>John: December 20th marks the longest running West Side Story in New York City.
>>commentator: As a show from when it was opened or-- ?
>>Shina: Any ?
>>commentator: just this revival?
>>Shina: Broadway productions of --
>>John: Any Broadway production of West Side Story.
>>commentator: Oh, wow.
>>Shina: We will be the longest.
>>John: We will be the longest running West Side Story.
[laughter]
>>Mikey : Like Dude, you got it, okay, bam!
>Shina: Bam!
[laughter]
>>John: They just hit their-their point and they're like, "Nope. Bye."
>>Shina: [laughs]
>>commentator: So do you think the seasons are mainly based because of the business,
because of the money? I know like Broadway's changed a lot in the past couple years; a
lot of shows have closed.
>>Shina: It's up to the producers when it comes down to it.
>>commentator: Yeah.
>>Shina: It, what do you think?
>>commentator: I mean do you see like a trend changing in like production value. I know
like a lot more money is spent --
>>Shina: Yeah.
>>commentator: I mean there's always the union discussion there's --
>>Shina: Legally Blonde ran longer than us.
That's all I'm gonna say about that.
[laughter]
>>John: I-I think --
[laughter]
>>John: I think, I think it, I think it depends on a lot of different things. I think the
world in general is changing. And I-I think that-that that just allows everything to change.
Whether or not it's for the better or for the worse, who knows? I mean that's-that's
something that time will tell.
When you lose, when you lose your history, and the classics you know what I mean?
>>commentator: Um-hum.
>>John: I feel like that's-that's a little detrimental to-to society as a whole. I mean
that's just me. I'm not saying that I'm mad that we're closing. I mean it's upsetting,
definitely.
>>commentator: Sure.
>>John: But I mean I think that it-it's leaving the window open for new things to happen and
new dreams to come true.
But I mean it's always --
>>commentator: I have feeling West Side Story's gonna be, come back again. Do think so or
do you think once?
>>Shina: It'll take a while, I think.
>>John: It'll take a long time. I mean if it comes back --
>>Shina: [unintelligible] it won't be a --
>>John: 10 to 15 years.
>>Shina: At least.
>>commentator: It's been around for what, 60 year, almost 60 years.
>>John: Almost 60 years.
>>Mikey : It's always gonna have some social relevance, sorry, relevance whenever it does
happen.
>>commentator: Sure.
>>Mikey : And the tour just started what, they opened on Thursday?
>>John: They open on Wednesday night.
>>Mikey : Wednesday night. And they immediately --
announced that they were extending it for 88 weeks, it's a full year ?
and a half run now. So there's-there's definitely desire to see the show and people are gonna
be buying tickets and it's gonna be around.
>>commentator: That's cool.
Anyone wanna open up to questions? Does anyone have any questions for these guys? We have
some microphones up here. I was hoping -- oh yeah, what's up?
>>male #1: I've always heard that Arthur Laurents was a real hard ***.
[laughter]
Is that, is that true?
>>commentator: The question is is Arthur Laurents a hard ***?
>>Shina: Well, he's-he's so old school. I think honestly, in my opinion, that I did
not get to do the entire process with him, and since I'm not one of like his main focuses
in the show I don't get to work with him a lot.
But growing up, how I grew up and the training I got, he is what I, how I've always known,
maybe not in the way he goes about, he is so good with his words that he has such a
way of explaining things to people to get his point across that it might not be the
best way to say it or the best time, the best circumstance, but he --
so he has been a real hard *** and I've seen --
>>John: I've-I've been in the process for quite a long time. I love Arthur Laurents
to death. I think he's brilliant. I think the way that he approaches people is on a
very personal level.
I think that sometimes he can take it to a level; he believes in this show so much and
believes in his work so much that if you don't wanna be here, get the *** out.
You know what I mean? Don't waste my time. Go.
And that's just kind of how he is. It's real cut and dried.
You know what I mean? And he feels, I-I think he feels sometimes personally attacked or
personally offended if somebody moves on with their life to do another show or not complete
their contract or so on and so forth.
I mean I've seen, I've seen the stages of going from the love to the hate to the mending
to everything. You know what I mean? And it-it comes in cycles.
And I really feel like he's been doing this for so long and he has so many different productions
of it going right now, I mean a tour and a Broadway show for a 90, almost 94 coming in
December, year old man is a lot to remember.
I mean you can only have so many personal assistants [laughs] that can remember every
single note that you take. But in the end they're not gonna argue with you 'cause you're
Arthur Laurents.
But I just, I feel that sometimes he gets them confused and gives notes based on another
production or-or what he saw three shows ago.
So I mean the brilliance is always gonna be there. And yes, he's a hard ***, to answer
your question.
>>commentator: I mean it's-it's kinda his legacy. It's I mean --
>>John: This, yeah.
>>commentator: So when you talk about like the culture adaptations I mean it was adapted
from I guess Romeo and Juliet and then it was originally adapted again in the '50s and
then again now, like what-what do you think, how do you think it applies to our society
today?
>>commentator: Who wants to start with that one?
>>John: I mean I think that there will always be hate in the world. I think there will always
be love; that's how it was in the beginning; that's how it will be in the end. You know
what I mean?
>>commentator: Um-hum.
>>John: I feel like the common emotions that people feel stick around and stick with you.
>>commentator: Yeah, but that has nothing to do with like who you're hating.
>>John: No. I'm not talkin' about who. I'm not even, I'm not even playing into the race,
racial scenario of the show at all, I'm just talkin' about period.
>>commentator: Okay.
>>John: Love/hate common emotion. But when-- when it boils down to it the relevance of
the racism aspect, with the racial innuendos or whatever you wanna call it, I believe that
still to this day it's very --
very revelant. I mean we, we have an African-American President now, Obama, rock 'n roll, blah,
blah, blah. It's great, but at the same time you still got people hating. You know what
I mean? And, I mean I think the revelance is always gonna be there for West Side Story
just because I feel it, I feel like it is.
And there will always be something trying to overcome love. There will always be a force
of nature that's always in like direct conflict with just somebody trying to be simply be,
live whatever.
>>commentator: Sure.
>>Mikey : I think also, I mean racism in the country today I'm not super informed on the
subject, I-I do watch Gangland on the History Channel a far amount and I-I find that sort
thing interesting especially with the production and taking that in and trying to use in the
production and I don't think that it's such a cut and dried thing like, "Oh we hate Puerto
Ricans, oh we hate whites, oh we hate blacks."
I think that there's a lot less specificity maybe in it, but there's still, like John's
saying, there is hate all over the place. You find it everywhere; you find it when you
when you're walkin' on the street; somebody is just in a hurry and they bump and all of
a, you have this response, it's like, and where is that even comin' from?
So I think that the hate and the love, that balance, is important because although in
the show it is cut and dried, it's Americans versus the Puerto Ricans, it's-it's a chance
to show any audience, "Here's a solid explanation, here's a solid story about two people hating
each other for whatever reason and what happens because of that hate."
And so I think that it, when you see that and when you see the consequences and when
you see how some characters change and some characters don't, and you project where will
these characters within the story, what's their, what's gonna happen to them, where
are they gonna go?
I think that opens up people's minds, young people's minds. We have a lot of student groups
that come in and when they see it I-I hope that they can have a realization about just
what's really important in life. Hate, love; find your place and find, find something to
love rather than find something to hate. I think you can get that outta the show no matter
what.
>>commentator: I agree. I agree, definitely.
>>female #1: So I was wondering like did he ever get to do the whole show with the cast,
that's like or do you ever get to go out and say, "Okay we're havin' a rehearsal for-for
this guy or-or do you just go in and that's the first time you've ever done it?
>>John: Well-well, Billy Elliot's different. They rehearse the Billy Elliot kids constantly.
There are five different, there are four different Billy's and the rest of the cast. You know
what I mean like they're-they're rehearsing constantly. We rehearse, we have two section
days out of the week to rehearse, Thursdays and Fridays.
There are other rehearsals that happen for understudies or new members of the cast to
go in and we have what is called a put-in for them where we all show up like twelve
o'clock in the afternoon or two hours before the show, and we run through everything that
they do; all the scenes and dances that they do so that they're comfortable and so nobody
runs into you and they know where they're going and they can basically kind of get a
feel for where everybody else in the cast is. I never got that.
>>commentator: [laughs]
>>John: I-I was --
>>Mikey : I think there's been a fair amount of slashings to the put-ins actually they're
kind of shady about how that all happens, but there's always some sort of rehearsal
process to get you slightly accustomed to it.
>>female #1: So like the first time you do the whole thing that's pretty much the audience
time.
>>John: Oh, yeah.
>>Shina: 'Cause you never get to do it all with every aspect before you're actually on
stage like doing it in performance. 'Cause if you have a put-in you're not in costume
or no one else is in costume so for you sometimes you're not. I was the only one in costume
but I didn't have lights, you don't have like the blinding and all the sets, you don't get
that until --
>>John: Well I was, I was thrown on in the middle of a show and I had never even done
a rehearsal with those guys that were on stage.
That was fun.
[laughter]
I mean so it's-it's really you-you just have to be on top of your game as an understudy
or a stand-by or swing or anything on Broadway I mean like those guys work really, really
hard. And everybody's like, "Oh well you're a swing." Yeah, but I know three roles, four
roles, five roles, seven roles, fourteen roles, and I have to know every single track and
no all my blocking and know all this and know all the choreography, know all the different
notes, know all of this, blah, blah." It's a lot of information.
And you know you go on from one role and then like you actually fall into another role,
you know what I mean? Like it's so easy to do.
>>Mikey : It's especially tricky with this show because there's the blocking is very
minimal and there's a lot of kind of leeway in what we do on stage and there's a lot of
adlibs and there's a lot and you don't really get any of that --
when you are getting your initial put-in you just get used to it. "Okay, I'm standing here
and then I cross over here and then something happens the next minute or so and then all
of a sudden we're singing."
And for the swings especially it's-it's constant work because they have to be watching pretty
much every show and see what are they doing differently; what do I need to make sure that
when I go on for that character, what do I need to make sure that I 'm doing for these
other characters that isn't necessarily in the blocking book or isn't in the choreography.
They have to keep up with where the show is kind of morphing. 'Cause it's like a living
organism, the show is. So it's-it's a tough job, they, and they do a really good job of
it so.
>>commenator: In all fairness I think she was second to-to ask, and then we'll come
to you sir.
>>female #2: Hello. If you were not in West Side Story right now what character would
you wanna play on Broadway?
>>John: That's a good question.
>>commentator: Shina.
>>Shina: I actually, I would really wanna be in How to Succeed in Business Without Really
Trying. It's coming in March or April.
That's the show I wanna be in right now or there's like I really wanna be in Lion King
or --
>>John: [singing]
>>Shina: Memphis.
>>John: [singing]
>>Shina: You could be in it too.
[laughter]
>>John: No.
>>Shina: You can only play--
>>John: Actually, no.
>>Shina: Only play--
But yeah, those are the ones I'd be in; want to be in.
>>commentator: Mikey.
>>Mikey : Oh, you know I-- it's kinda always changing I just saw American Idiot on Sunday.
And the Billy Joe Armstrong, the lead singer of Green Day, he, it's his whole concept and
he was in it all last week and so right now I'd say American Idiot --
'cause it was just the coolest thing I've ever seen. But I don't know just anything
really. Just, I think coming out of West Side where it's not really the traditional ensemble
in a musical, I would love to just do something classic, somethin' just be in the back and
dance and sing at the same time. And just anything to progress the trade of learning
classical musical theater further than I already have. I think that's.
>>commentator: John.
He's been agonizing --
>>John: I mean, I mean this is a hard ques, somebody asked me this the other too. I-I
did the same thing.
I mean the, my thing is is what I want, the next thing that I wanna do is originate a
role. I wanna start from the ground, from the beginning of the process and work a role
until I put it on Broadway. And just develop it and be able to create it with the creative
team, with the writers, with the directors, with the producers, and just be able to find
this guy who, I mean whatever show it is, I don't know. It hasn't come yet.
>>Shina: [laughs]
>>John: It wil at some point.
>>commentator: Are you gonna write this show?
>>John: No, no, no, no, no.
>>commentator: [laughs]
>>John: No. But I mean tthat's like, that's part of the process that happens. They-they
do the workshops and the readings and all that stuff and I just, I wanna be a part of
a show that starts at ground zero and works its way up to the top. At least --
>>female #2: That sounds like a cop out.
[laughter]
>>John: Stacey Jackson, Rock of Ages.
[laughter]
>>commentator: Oh you would be so funny.
>>John: I
actually wanna be Billy in Billy Elliot but it's --
too old.
>>commentator: Too old.
>>John: So I guess not.
>>male #2: So I was amused by your story so I-I think for a lot of engineers coming to
Google is like the-the Broadway experience like it's what you shoot for, it's and-and
the funny thing is the interviewing process takes forever.
[laughter]
>>John: I'll bet.
>>male #2: you go home and then once you get to the point where you're told that you probably
have the job they, there's this little codicil where they say, "But Larry Page has to make
a decision." And you're like --
>>commentator: He's old school, right?
[laughter]
I'm gonna look at everybody that comes through here.
>>male #2: Right. And then you're like, "Wait, I'm a computer janitor and the co-founder
of the company has to make a decision so, I thought that was really funny.
But I do have a question which is that I-I saw the show in previews and then there was
a lot more Spanish and from what I read, I haven't seen it, I've seen it once since,
but I haven't seen it like several times since, but what I heard is that-that at several different
points they pulled back on the amount of-of Spanish.
And I thought it was just brilliant the first time, although my-my Spanish is at the "'Me
llamo" how do I finish this sentence stage.
>>Shina: [laughs]
>>male #1: Spanish, but even so I thought it was brilliant. I mean you knew just from
body language what was going on. Do you think that the show's been watered down for-for
a mass audience.
>>John: I think what's happened is the Euro, I mean the national tour has gone out and
I mean when you're playing Podunk, Iowa, I mean if anybody's from Iowa I'm not knocking
it I'm just saying, you know what I mean like I feel like, I feel like they kind of watered
it down for that. I feel like they-they took some of the Spanish out because it would be
more acceptable to a touring audience.
>>Mikey : I-I've actually put a fair amount of thought into this and I think that when
the show first opened they have to find a reason, they have to find a reason for the
revival: what's gonna be different about this show.
And the Spanish was a great idea and it affects the audience; half the audience or however
many people in the audience don't speak Spanish or don't speak Spanish well enough to understand;
it separates them and it puts this weird, this not understanding and I think there's
a lot of frustration with that in the audience and when you're talking about a Broadway musical
and entertainment, piece of entertainment that's on, in Times Square right there in
the heart of it all, there has to be a push towards making the masses not say happy because
it's not a happy story, but entertaining them.
And so I think when they first started having all the Spanish it was a great way to have
the revival and a great way to send this message of, "Oh, even if you don't get it, that's
what we're trying to say is that these people don't understand each other." And that's where
this comes from and you have to look past that.
But then once you get past Tony season and you just started into the run now and it's
just about getting ticket sales and getting people in, I think they had to make some adjustments
so that they could keep selling it because- because no matter how well people look at
why the Spanish is there, they're gonna be like, "I don't understand. I don't know the
lyrics." And this is, "I loved that song but I missed the lyrics." And so I think they
had to --
>>male #2: Well sure but, musical theater isn't opera, but they, why not supertitle
so if people go to the Met.
>>John: Super-- we did, we did subtitles in D.C. and they were absolutely horrendous.
They were horrible. When I mean they were --
>>male #2: Yeah. It sounds like a bad idea.
>>John: It didn't work.
>>male #2: Just because of the timing it doesn't work?
>>John: It just didn't work. And we tried it up top, we tried it down low,
we tried it on the sides, we tried it everywhere. It just didn't work.
>>commentator: What about like the seat in front of you like --
>>John: Well I mean that's in an opera house in Paris. They, you don't do that you know
what I mean like, I mean --
>>commentator: Sure.
>>John: It would have been perfect if it was on the back of the seat, but then you're lookin'
at the back of the seat rather than on stage.
You know what I mean in opera it's a lot easier to-to read what you're, what they're singing
because they're usually standing still and singing. I mean --
>>Mikey : It's more about listening to it and understanding it and not watching it all.
>>John: And letting-letting it just like wash over you, you know what I mean? And kind of
just engulf you into the music.
>>commentator: And I kinda like what you said about kind of creating and dividing the audience.
And you were talking about some of the like the early processes of creating a divide on
stage on well.
>>John: Right.
>>commentator: Like actually you said they rehearsed the-the Jets and the Sharks separately
so they wouldn't even bond with each other or feel like they were part of one cast.
>>John: Jerome Robbins rehearsed the Sharks and the Jets separately for Jerome Robbins'
Broadway.
>>Mikey : I believe originally.
>>Shina: Yeah.
>>John: Origi-, was it originally?
>>Mikey : Um-hum.
>>John: But I-I know, I know this story because I know the Sharks let Jerome Robbins back
off the stage and fall 20 feet into the orchestra pit because they hated him that much.
[laughter]
I'm not kidding.
>>Mikey : He didn't know he was leaving notes and he just backed up and no one said anything.
>>John: He was givin' notes and they just looked at him --
[makes falling noise]
>>commentator: And he's out of the show probably. It's like take that, Jerome.
>>John: And he was the choreographer.
[laughter]
And the director and he was just dead.
>>commentator: Oh, oh, oh.
>>Shina: That's not how he died.
>>John: No, he-he, that's not how he died, sorry.
[laughter]
False advertisement, ah.
But yeah so I mean we didn't do that, but --
that-that was just the style that he did to- try to really get-get his message across.
>>commentator: Right.
>>John: But he-he would talk down to them very badly. I mean I-I, we've, I-I don't know
if you guys have heard the stories, but I've heard some stories about them, him really,
really, really kinda of just gettin' in there and saying, "Take that." You know what I mean?
>>commentator: Sure.
>>John: [whistles]
>>Mikey : Yeah, you think Arthur Laurents is a hard ***; Jerome Robbins is a hard ***.
>>Shina: Um.
>>John: I mean he would look at you and just call you names. Just to make you think that
you're family was horrible and that you were the worst thing on the world, in the world
and --
>>commentator: Yeah, I can imagine that's tough to take.
>>John: He would just, he would rip it out of you. 'Cause if-if-if 'cause he was workin'
with all dancers you know what I mean at the time they were like all just dancers that
were doing the show because he was, Jerome Robbins is a choreographer. Like that is,
that is his job and he was, he was, he's choreographed for-for the ballets, the New York City Ballet,
right?
>>Shina: Um-hum.
>>John: So he's done, he's done everything. But that, he just want, he wanted to get that
point across.
>>commentator: Yeah.
>>John: Maybe he got this from Arthur.
>>female #3: Sure. I have question. So this is not necessarily West Side Story specific,
but can you tell us about an oops moment you've had in your theater history --
sort of in your career that's just something that was either really embarrassing or just
funny or just something that didn't go according to plan during a show?
>>commentator: Mikey, you wanna start?
>>Mikey : Oh no, I gotta think of one.
>>John: I had an oops moment three weeks ago. I'm-I'm, tonight is my first night back in
the show --
>>Shina: [clapping]
>>John: Thanks guys.
>>Shina: [laughs]
>>commentator: Why were you out of the show?
>>John: The first time I've ever fallen on stage --
like ever; like really fallen on stage. I mean I've slipped up, every --
>>Shina: Ah, okay.
>>John: now and then, but like this is the first time I went up and just [makes sound
effect of falling] on my ***.
>>Mikey : It was pretty big.
>>John: In the middle, oh I was in the middle of the stage as well, in the front, by the
way. Just to let everybody know.
>>commentator: Did you injure yourself?
>>John: I sprained my ankle.
>>commentator: Did you have to get carried off stage or did you --
>>John: I did not. I finished, I finished the dance.
>>commentator: Okay.
>>John: I finished my variation which I don't know how much adrenaline I had but I did it.
I was probably screaming through that.
>>Shina; Yeah.
>>John: But then I slid, I slid from I slid from the curtain all the way to the side of
the stage. I mean to the wall at the end of the stage after-after the number. And yeah,
I was not a happy camper.
>>commentator: Shina.
>>John: That was a, that was a whoops moment for me.
>>female #3: Did you have ropes or how did you --
>>John: Oh no-no. My foot came out of my shoe; my shoe was too big. They were my backup pair
of shoes 'cause my other ones were getting fixed and I went up for the jump and my foot
slipped out of the shoe so I couldn't, I couldn't touch the floor at all and rolled over my
ankle and popped it that way and then sat back on it and popped it again.
It was a really, it was really good. It made me feel good. So, and everybody else is on
the other side of the stage 'cause it's-it's like an across the floor move, so everybody
goes and I'm sittin' there on my knees just goin' "Come back."
[laughter]
"Come back." It was, it was rough.
>>Shina: I in-in our show the-the Shark girls have really big skirts with petticoats underneath
and they, every single girl has had their heel get caught in their skirts, because the
heel goes up and you get, there's like layers and layers.
I, it wasn't, it wasn't one of my first weeks, but we were doing the dance right in the front
row, like ready to do the big dance break and my heel gets caught right as I'm pushing
to go down. I ended up on my side somehow and I was like, "Well while I'm down here
and I can't get up right away 'cause it's still caught in my heel, I'm gonna do a spin."
[laughter]
So I tried to spin but my heel was still caught in my skirt so I ended up like a turtle on
my back, just like --
[laughter]
I'm spinning and I see the girls coming towards me with the choreography and I was like, "I
have to get up right now." And I'm like eye level with the first row which is the worst
feeling 'cause you're like --
[laughter]
Get up real fast so I spun, I turned to spin, got up right in time before she crashed into
me and then we did the dip. But then the rest of time you're like, "Ooh, I'm the girl that
fell on the ground --
[laughter]
I'm lookin' at you, awesome."
[laughter]
It was awful.
>>commentator: That's two; that's two for wardrobe. Alright.
>>Shina: Right.
>>Mikey : Mine was definitely all on my own --
[laughter]
I'll say that. There in the number Cool, the-the Jets dance there's this moment called the
pow circles and there's three circles, three guys, four guys, three guys and we're all
moving around really fast doing this little chasse ball change.
And sporadically throughout the three or four sets of eight that we do this there is these
accents. And everybody has their own pow, you know POW! You batman and you say, Pow
as loud as you can. It's just like an explosion of energy, just like gettin' it out.
And one day I, the guy who powed before me, in my brain it sounded weak and so I was like,
"I'm going to POW like I have never powed before.
[laughter]
And now you have to understand it's like dim lighting and they kind of like accent you
when this happens; really quick; but you're at the front of the stage and there's everyone
is else below and all of a sudden you just pop up and I kicked so hard that I just flew
right up in the air --
>>Shina: Score.
>>Mikey : totally horizontal --
[laughter]
down at the very edge of the stage. I hit the ground --
and Action, the angry guy right, he's comin' up right behind me like a locomotive train.
I'm like, "He's." I hit the ground and bounced back up and just [yeew] got back into it.
[laughter]
Oh man. So it's like POW, down, up, here, kick, and run like -- oh man.
[laughter]
I swear I thought I got hit by a bus.
[laughter]
You know you go on and-and you laugh about it now so, yeah.
>>commentator: That's funny.
Anybody else?
Questions?
>>female #4: So now that you know that the curtain is going down --
>>John: Projection.
>>female #4: lights are going off forever, what's the process of your next show like
getting it? Are you auditioning now, are you networking? How do you pull out going from
one to the other with not enough like [unintelligible] down time [unintelligible].
>>John: It's-it's hard in this business to go from one job to another. I mean it really
is. There-there are few, there are a few people that do it.
>>Shina: They're lucky.
>>John: I'll tell ya I've been at the theater like three times this week and I swear to
God if I hear one more word about another audition I'm gonna shoot my brains out.
>>Shina: And I'll say it right out. I had four this week.
>>Mikey : Yeah.
>>Shina: So in between doing shows and now that we know we're closing our agents are
all working to get us the next job so we're gonna be auditioning so it's hard to balance
between being so sore I can't move, and still doing the show and auditioning and giving
like a hundred percent 'cause this is what, now I need this job.
>>Mikey : Yeah, it's strange too 'cause you go, you go to an audition in the morning and
it will go well and maybe you get the call back and you're like all excited and it's
a totally different thing; you're tap dancing and you're smiling and-and then all of a sudden
you're like, "Oh wait. No. Now I gotta go be a gang member --
again and here we go.
Yeah, it is kind of interesting to balance it 'cause a lot of times there'll-there'll
be call backs at noon or one or whatever and you've got a show at 2:30 and you're like,
"I gotta do this really fast, but I gotta calm down because I gotta be cool." It's a
little tricky but right now there's a lot of auditionings happening which is nice.
>>Shina: Yep.
>>Mikey : Comforting for the moment.
>>commentator: I think we have time for one more question. Okay.
>>male #4: You all, all of you seem supremely confident physically; like the way you carry
yourselves and all that. Like you really seem like performers. Is this something you-you've
had your whole life or did you learn how to get this. It's just interesting to see especially
because working with programmers they can be such "julubs".
[laughter]
>>male #4: I'm kidding.
>>commentator: All see is parallels is drawing here. This is good.
>>Shina: I think we've all just don't wanna speak for everyone, I think we've all had
it. That's what like part of the reason I wanted to be in it; 'cause I've always been
a loud, not attention grabber, but like just always wanted to, I don't know, do stuff.
[laughter]
>>commentator: Change the world.
>>Shina: [laughs]
>>Mikey : I gotta say that I don't think I was always that way, but especially doing
this and being on stage every day, sometimes twice a day, eight times a week, does give
you just this, "Well I'm in front of people again." You kinda like lose track of all the
wishy washiness and you just, you learn to be yourself really well I think when you're
constantly performing and constantly on, on the stage I guess. That's how it's been for
me.
>>John: I was just larger than life. I had so much energy; so much energy.
>>commentator: Yeah, so I was the stage manager before.
This is kinda interesting the question as well. So there's a theater, North Carolina
theater had a theater camp so when we would do our four prod, main stage productions in
the summer to keep us employed, we'd do this theater camp for the kids and like all the
stage moms and like, "Well my kid is the best little kid and is gonna be famous, " and all
this stuff. "
So like this is one of the kids that shows up; and was the problem kid, of course.
But like, I mean programs like that I think help people kind of discover themselves and-and
kind of start them, I don't know. --
>>John: I mean --
>>commentator: vocalist or good dancer, they're--
>>John: Yeah, I mean it's-it's, over time it develops. You grow up; you mature; you
find out what your strengths and weaknesses are and if you just go with what your strengths
and weaknesses are and you know what they are, you know what I mean? If you really,
really, really know what makes you tick and what makes you happy, you can do a lot.
It's all about giving something so I can take somebody out of their world for five seconds
and make them feel something different; make them feel alive or make them go back to a
time and a place when I sing a song so they have a memory of their father or their mother,
that maybe wasn't the best memory but all of a sudden it's good.
Like things like that; it's the magic of-of theater. And it's the fact that it's live
and you can see and there's an interaction and there's-there's a realism that's there
>>commentator: And you feel that, you feel that emotion.
--
>>John: and a passion and there's a passion that you can feel.
And I'm all about feeling emotions. If I don't feel it, I don't want it.
So I mean that's why I do it. And I think that's where my confidence comes from.
>>commentator: So Shina any last comments before we wrap it up? Mikey --
>>John: Besides you just being loud.
>>Shina: I've just always been like a loud person.
>>John: [laughs]
>>Shina: I don't know. I, sometimes I forget I'm not on stage too. And I'll like be having
a conversation with someone and me, my best friends are exactly like me too, like really
loud and animated. So I've just always been like that.
>>Mikey : Yeah, I think once you get into this business especially like this far in,
you're surrounded with theatrical people so much that it just never really is over.
>>Shina: [laughs]
>>Mikey : The curtain comes down, but not really.
[laughter]
We're still on stage. Let's be serious.
>>Shina: Yeah.
[laughter]
>>Mikey : We don't mind. We like to be fun, big, and goofy.
Spazzy you know.
>>commentator: Everybody give 'em a big round of applause and thank them for coming to Google.
[applause]
>>John: You're welcome.
[applause]
>>commentator: And I'm sure we'll come and see you see. We have discounts so --
>>John: You're the man.
>>commentator: you'll see some Googlers.
Thanks again guys.