Get Your Head in the Game: ALYSON REED

The one and only Ms. Darbus is here!

From Broadway to the spring musi-CAL, Alyson Reed is talking to Bart Johnson about her career and how she landed the role of the infamous theater teacher.

Plus, find out the origin of how she made the role of Ms. Darbus her own.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Wildcats, this is Bart Johnson and you're listening to
get your.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Head in the game.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hey, everyone, welcome to get your hint in the game.
I'm so excited for my first guest.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Now.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
You may know her as the passionate, eccentric and lovable
drama teacher Miss Darbus at East High School in the
High School Musical Trilogy. I am so excited to talk
to her. Please welcome my longtime friend, be lovable Allison Reed.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Hi, honey, Allison, my friend.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Oh my gosh, forget it here, get it here. Oh
my gosh.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
I miss you so much.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
I miss you so much.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Ah, you're lucky you're out there.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Person. I'd be smothering you with kisses right now. I
miss you so much. Allison. How are you?

Speaker 1 (00:54):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (00:54):
I'm so good. I was like it just it warms
my heart to see you. I just got the greatest
memories looking at Jim beautiful face. Me too.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
I can't believe twenty years. I can't believe how and
it feels yeah, it feels like yesterday, and it feels
like fifty years.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
It's another lifetime and it was yesterday. I totally agree.
It's wild.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
Yeah, it's like it was always there or yesterday.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, yeah, what a crazy bizarre thing.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
My gosh, well, let me let me let me officially
welcome you to the podcast here, so you know, the
audience realizes the presence of greatness that they are in
Alison Reed, The Mother of Us. I'm gonna treat the
incomparable the amazing My Dear Friend by Miss Darvis Alison Reid.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Welcome, Welcome, Oh wildcats. In real life poor friends?

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Do you get people asked that, like did you got
were you guys really at each other's throat? I was like, oh, yeah,
totally like has friends as soon as they say cut
but yes.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yeah, always always, oh so honest to goodness. I think
what last time I saw you was when we shot
right the Oh my goodness, the high School musical, the musical.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
The series yay, very good.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
So such an easy name they chose, yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah, and they just whip off the initials like this.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah right, But I want to I want to ask
you about that.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
But I just first like want people to realize, like how,
because I didn't know myself, like how amazing? Alisondrea, it
is your history where you come from on Broadway with
Keny Ortega, Cassie, horus Line, Cabaret.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Well, all the Maryland, right, Maryland is what you do
it with, Kenny.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Yeah, Oh my gosh, it's just incredible way you've done Alison,
like the Broadway Superstar, just absolutely spectacular.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
Thank you, thank you. Yeah. I worked fifteen years on
Broadway and gratefully worked my way up to doing leads.
I did a bunch of national tours. I did Pippin
when I was twenty, I took over. They had a
break in the National and I took over for Betty
Buckley as Catherine. I had auditioned as a dancer and

(03:16):
I said I'd like to read for Catherine, and they
had someone else in mind, and so then I read
and sang and I got the gig. And but yeah,
but I started doing ballet when I was four, and
musical theater when I was seven.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (03:30):
And I started working professionally when I was twelve as
a dancer.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
And I was a serious ballet dancer. I was an
apprentice in a company for Mishap and I have in
the ballet world. He's very, very very known. And then
I became a company member out here in La started
in Orange County in LA. I grew up in Anaheim,
five minutes from Disneyland.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
I think you worked at Disney too, if I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
I did. I did Alis in Wonderland amazing.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Oh that's cool.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
For Disney, which I'll tell you about. And I always
did Civic Theater, which is so important, and we have
some left, but I wish they would come back. I
did like three to four shows a year. Best training
I've ever gotten, even better than Broadway.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
Wow, Yeah, community theater the.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
Best, that's right by the way. That's all my.

Speaker 3 (04:20):
Oh is it the best? And you learned so much?
And then when I did Summer Stock, I mean I
was nine years old and was sewing on buttons and
painting sets. I mean, so it's not only the actings
and singing side. You learned about learned all about the
whole of theater, you know, hanging, hanging flies, everything.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:42):
So yeah, so then I did. I was working at
the Music Center and that I had already done the
National of Pippin, And then I was doing Bells Are
Ringing at the Music Center with Florence Anderson and Dean Jones.
They were both just but the show was really bad.

(05:02):
Michael Kidd directed it and the cast called it Bells
Are Boring. It was really bad, but we had so
much fun. Incredible cast. I'm still friends with many of them.
And we were up in San Francisco before the LA opening,
and I came down to audition for the International Company
Touring Company of Course Line and got the gig. I

(05:24):
opened LA, was here like two days and then left.
I did that for nine months, and I came home,
and then I went to New York just for a
month vacation and literally to see what my competition was like.
Because I only ever, I never wanted to do TV
and film. I wasn't one of those people. I only
wanted to do theater. That was it. If I'd have

(05:46):
done that the rest of my not happy happy. So
I got dancing my first Broadway show with Bob Fosse.
Five days after I got in town. Wow, I had Yeah,
And I had just gone to the audition. It was
a private call and I invite only, and I'd just
gone to the audition through some dancer friends. I didn't

(06:07):
want to do the show. I'd seen it in LA.
I loved it, but I'd been doing roles and I
didn't want to just dance again. And even though it
was with him and friends, said, you know what, come
to the audition anyway, of you know, of the dancers intel,
you will see the best of the best. You will
see who your competition is in New York, you know.
And I'm really glad I did and I got it,

(06:28):
and I turned it down because they wanted a year
contract and anyway, way, went back and forth, back and forth,
and mister Foss actually called me himself and we said
three months. Yeah, cut with three month contract because I said,
I wound up staying nine months. But I said, I
I came here on a vacation. I have a whole
life in La. This is my I did three national tours.

(06:48):
I wasn't expecting the you know, so anyway, and then
knock on whatever. The next three and a half four years,
I literally went from We're her sing, I left to
go do Oh Brother, which was like Mary Elizabeth Mouster,
Antonio and Judy k and Alan Weeks and Joe Morton,

(07:09):
I mean, incredible cast anyway, and then went to do
Allan J. Lerner's last show. And I literally went where
I'd rehearse one show during the day and do the show.
I was leaving at night because you had to give
a two week notice, So I mean that one on
and knock on wood. Nothing against regional theater because regional
theater does incredible work, and I think some of the

(07:32):
most exciting theater is happening in regional theater. But for
the next fifteen years I just worked on Broadway the
whole time. Wow was unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yeah, wow, I can't even imagine. I started in community theater.
I did a did show after show, which is great.
I did a couple shows in La at Equity Waiver Theater,
like really small, which is another beautiful thing. We do
a really small, intimate, you know shows. That's a beautiful thing.
But really it's a much easier to get people to
see your show out of the state than it is

(08:02):
in Hollywood.

Speaker 3 (08:04):
Yeah, no, it's hard here, it's really.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
But all this to say, Alison Reed is a Broadway legend,
and people don't realize like how amazing you are and
what you've done. And then when you see miss Darbus
on for me like the reason, like you are so
amazing as you could pull from all that experience, you know,
of all the all the drama that exists, and some
of the big characters out there on that are for real,
and you're able to harness that in and.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Make your character so great. I just love it.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
So I actually based her on a middle school seventh
or eighth grade I can't remember seventh That must have
been English teacher. Who would? Who would? And I know
now as an adult she was totally pulling our chain,
totally teasing. I thought she was serious as kids, and
if we would act up instead of screaming at us,

(08:53):
she would say the gods of England girls might be
and we'd be like, what the hell? So I based
on her and a dance teacher actually ballet teacher kind
of together.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
So that's who you based miss Darbus.

Speaker 3 (09:11):
After Yeah, Kenny and I did a show, I replaced
a woman in a show called Marylyn and American Fable.
I took over ten days before first previews.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
Oh my gosh, whoa.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
Yeah, I met. I met the Arthur Miller. I learned
the show in four days. This was when I was junk.
That's crazy, singing, dancing, choreography, dialogue everything for did you sleep?

Speaker 2 (09:46):
I mean that must have been so pretty much no.

Speaker 3 (09:48):
Pretty much no. And then also trying to research her,
you know, watching old movies of her together.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
Yeah, I'm forget about the technical now you got to
bring the art to it.

Speaker 3 (09:58):
Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah, crazy crazy anyway, Yeah, I
met the I met the Arthur Miller our first tech
on stage. I had not even met him in rehearsal
because they just had me rehearsing with readers and stuff.
So it was like, Hi, I'm doing Alison. Hi I'm
Marthur Miler. I was like, oh, okay, so, oh my god,
it's a whirlwind. Yeah. Anyway, So but Kenny or Taga

(10:19):
was directing it and choreographing, and then he wound up
stepping down with other long story with the stuff of
the producers, first time Broadway producers, so it was a
bit of chaos. But then cut to and I always
tell kids, you know, what's the most important thing? Two things?
And I say always say two things. But number one
for me is work for everyone. Well, even if you

(10:42):
hate the gig, even if you hate the role, even
if you cannot stand what the director's telling you, work
for everyone well, because number one, they're the ones that
were hired and their vision was the one that got hired.
That's number one, so out of respect for entity itself
the bigger picture. But number two, it's ethically the right

(11:06):
thing to do. But number three, you just never know
when you're going to come across people again. And cut
to twenty three years later, I get this audition for
I think this adorable little after school special and on
my I call it the idiot sheet. You know where
your agent prints out the thing that says where you're

(11:27):
going to time address all of that right and under
director it said to be determined, So I didn't know
who was directing at all. And I had my hair
was long then, and I had it piled up on
top of my head and stuff. And I went in
and someone announced the The reader walked me in and said,

(11:51):
this is Alison Read. She's reading for Miss Darvis. And
Kenny was facing the other way, and he turned around
and went Alison Read, and I went Kenny or taken.
He hadn't looked at the list, so he didn't know
I was even coming in. WHOA, it was so bizarre.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
But did he did he track you down first to
bring you in in the first place?

Speaker 2 (12:11):
Who This was just happened to be.

Speaker 3 (12:14):
This was just agent submitting me that was it.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
Oh my gosh, Allica, this is this is crazy. I
had no idea. I thought he tracked you down. Was like,
I need I need a big dramatic teacher who who
would be amazing about.

Speaker 3 (12:30):
Whoa no, and get this. This is a sweet story.
You know who was sitting next to me at the
audition one of my idol's, Nissi Nash Oh, and she
was reading for Darbus. And we sat there and she
chatted for like twenty minutes while we were waiting. Oh
she I just love her. I said, I'm I'm gonna
fangirl on you, I said, I that's when she did

(12:51):
Reno nine one one. Oh my god, one of the
funniest shows.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
Hilarious, Yeah, hilarious.

Speaker 3 (12:57):
So we sat and she was just fabulous. Such a
we'd never met before, and I've actually since been up
against her on some stuff. I never mind losing out
to people who are wonderful.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
You know, it makes it so much easier, doesn't it. Yeah?

Speaker 3 (13:12):
Yeah, maybe disappointed, but not devastated. Yeah, someone good abot it.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
I always thought like I would pay anything to go
back in a time machine and see who that lineup
of miss Darbus's was, because you know, I tell people
I think they don't really know that. It's it comes
down the same handful of people all we know them all,
and it's like you feel so unique. I mean you
get a room, I guess, oh there's like six guys
just like me that like, any of these guys could
be a coacher, you know, and.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
Then like it's tough.

Speaker 1 (13:39):
It's tough to win that part when they're like they
look like that clone. Right, But I would have loved
to see your list.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
You know, at my age, I mean I'm like a
good ten years older than you. At least i'm fifty.
I'm sixty seven, so I'm much older than you. And
so at my age for the last even twenty years,
I always say, especially for women, anybody who's ill in
the business that hasn't quit it has been around forever

(14:05):
like me, and they're good. Yeah, yeah, there aren't any
really bad people my age anymore. They're just starn't And
like you said, uh, that's one thing since COVID, I
so miss going in the room, which gratefully they're starting
back again. Instead of just doing for the audience, we
usually do video or a zoom audition anymore, and since

(14:26):
COVID and I so miss it because I miss my gals.
It always winds up, like you said, being the same
six people that I'm always up against, and it's like
old Home Week, and none of us feel bad if
one of us gets it. We just don't, you know.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I love that.

Speaker 1 (14:44):
It's like it's the small like Hollywood already is a
small world. But I think as like as as we
get older, the people that don't work as much, they're
like I've had enough, they done done, And then us
that are like weather in the storms, like there's it.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
It becomes a smaller and small, smaller pool.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
I do have this the same thing, like all my
buddies that I always see at a producer session.

Speaker 3 (15:04):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, so it's great to run into them. Yeah,
so Kenny. Then after I thought I had a really
good audition, they laughed and laughed and anyway, so I
was walking to the elevator and Kenny came and followed
me and you know said, you know, I hope you
don't have you know, it was very sweet about it.
I hope there's no leftover weirdness because I left Maryland

(15:26):
and you know, all this stuff and I said, honey,
I knew that had to do with the production company.
That had nothing to do with anyone. You know, they
brought in Tommy Walsh on it later. So but I
I just said, you know, I was just trying to
stay afloat, so, you know, so sure it was. I
knew it was not about me or any of the
cast or anything. You know, it was about the production itself.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
Right, I'm going to guess that Kenny knew you were right.
He wanted you for the show, and he's like, I'm
me just go make sure this is going to be cool,
and followed you out to make sure, like cool.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
Then she's darbus for sure.

Speaker 3 (16:01):
That was very sweet. That was so I thought. I
told friends that, you know, knew the thing way back
in the day, and I said, that was just the
classiest thing. I thought, you know, him just checking to
make sure there was no blad blood or anything. And
of course we love and adore him, love and adore him. Yeah, yeah,
all of that. I tell everyone, you know, the script

(16:22):
was great and and I knew when we did. I'm
sure you did too. And we did that first reading
in Utah. We did his table read and they had
the music playing at the time, and I thought, can.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
We talk about it?

Speaker 1 (16:35):
Should we tell people about that, like paint the picture
what that looked like, because that's probably yeah, interesting to hear.

Speaker 3 (16:40):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. This was a This was It
was in a hotel and before a show starts or
a gig starts, you you even if you're doing guest
spots on a TV show, they'll usually have a lunchtime.
They call it a table read, and everybody sits around
usually tables in a big circle shape or big square,
and then everybody reads through either the next episode or

(17:01):
reads through the project you're working on. And so we
were at the everyone was called in and we were
at the hotel and then we were in like a
dining room or convention room or something where they had
everybody come in and we all met each other, no
one knew each other and everything, and so then we
did a reading and I thought, I thought it was

(17:22):
a great script, but I thought cute little after school specially,
I'd be thrilled to be a part of this. Just
thought it was adorable. And then so we did the
reading and they played the music on the pre records
they'd done on a just a push button tape recorder,
old school. Yeah, and all of a sudden midway through,

(17:43):
I started tingling, and afterward it was like the air stopped.
And I went up to Kenny and I said, Kenny,
this is going to be huge. I thought this was
going to be a little sweet thing. This is going
to be huge. And I said, this is going to
be this generation's Grease. I remember flat out saying. And

(18:06):
he said, did you feel that too? I said, it
shifted like midway through, and he said, I thought the
script was great and all our material is great, the
songs and everything, but he said, same thing when everyone
started making these characters come alive and everything. He said,
I went, wait a minute, yeah, yeah, so right then,

(18:30):
And I remember telling Vanessa and Zach like third day
of shooting, I said, get ready, hang on, because you
guys are going to be huge, and it sometimes might
be difficult to find your way in that. But you
guys are great kids, and you have terrific parents, and

(18:50):
so I'm sure they will help you on this journey.
But yeah, just knew it, just knew it.

Speaker 1 (18:57):
The table read was special with the music playing the music,
and then we read part of the script and get
to the song part they play a song like, oh
my gosh, it's coming alive, Like right here at the table,
the entire cast.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
You see what all the characters.

Speaker 1 (19:09):
Look like, like, we're all here, amazing, it's all coming together.

Speaker 3 (19:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
And they were babies, babies, Oh my gosh, they were
so young babies.

Speaker 2 (19:18):
I was.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
I was like, I never was that young, even at
that age. I never, I was. I was older at
age fourteen than I am now.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
Now, Alison, do you remember when people want to know
an impossible question?

Speaker 2 (19:34):
Do you remember when we met you, you and me?

Speaker 3 (19:37):
Yeah, I think it was on set. I don't think
we shot yet. I think you and I were just
chit chatting off at the side.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
Like a rehearsal for everybody else or something.

Speaker 3 (19:48):
Yeah. We were by a corridor. I remember we were
by one of the corridors and we were in a
one of the door jams.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
Huh.

Speaker 3 (19:55):
And we were at a place for everybody watching when
they when we when you shoot, you're shooting somewhere else
And then they have live video on it, and then
the director and producers and writer and everybody sit and
watch the video and have headsets on and all that,
and they call that video Village. So I think you
and I were about ten fifteen feet away from video

(20:18):
Village and kind of just hanging out there because I
think we were up next or something, and we both
saw each other and said you must be you must
be and da da da da, and so we said, hey, yeah, yeah,

(20:38):
So what did you think when you read the script?
Tell me about you with How did you You knew
Kenny before? Right?

Speaker 2 (20:45):
I knew Kenny. I met Kenny on the set of Newsies,
so way back.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
When I thought it was Newsies.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:51):
And I spent some time on that set and became
friends with the cast and they were all my age
of like these young guys, like we were all like
twenty one and uh, and they were like work. That
was the first time where I thought, well, you guys
are doing this for a living, Like you guys like
that you own a home and you.

Speaker 2 (21:07):
Don't look at their parents, Like that's crazy to me.

Speaker 1 (21:10):
You know, these cool they live these cool houses in
the Hollywood Hills. And and then I spend a little
time with the lead girl, Ellie Keiths. She's awesome, like
still like a dear friend, a lover to death. Uh
and yeah, kind of like really started to see that
these these guys were taking acting like very serious and
you know they're they're doing Some of them were pretty serious.
Actually a lot of them were pretty serious with theater,

(21:31):
and I think they had a background there.

Speaker 2 (21:34):
It's I mean, it's it's probably the best way to
it was.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
A very theatrical piece as well.

Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yeah, right right, and then and then you end up
with singers and dancers where you're gonna find them, well, yeah,
in musical theater.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
So yeah, that's right. That's where I got the bug.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
So I knew he he was, you know, I saw that.
Then he made of course he made hocus Pocus next.
But I love newsies, like I listened.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
To the soundtrack. I love the dances. I've seen it
so many times. So when he said I'm doing a musical, like,
oh oh, oh oh, I need to be Yeah, I
want to. I want to be in that musical.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
I mean singing on the Reins my favorite movie. I
love musicals, I thought, I can't I get to.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
Be in a musical?

Speaker 1 (22:10):
Yes, yes, yes, And then and then of course I
get I read the script.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
I'm like, uh, where do I sing? Where do I dance?
Where's Where's that part.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
They're like, oh no, no, no, You're gonna stand over
there and watch everybody.

Speaker 2 (22:21):
I was like, yo, this was my chance, my moment
to shine.

Speaker 3 (22:26):
No a Disney Channel, it's my kids, no.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
Reason had no place in my imagination. A yeah, So
I was I was pretty uh well, plus you know.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
Like like like I remember news he's like the Bill Pullman,
like he had an amazing dance number and that's I'm like, yeah,
So I just didn't even process. I wasn't reasoning, you know,
I was just I was excited and so like excited
about being in the project.

Speaker 2 (22:53):
So uh yeah, I crush.

Speaker 3 (22:57):
So you so you auditioned? Did he know you were in?
Did he request you? Or did you just audition?

Speaker 2 (23:03):
He requested me he got he did he did?

Speaker 1 (23:07):
Yeah, well, you know, they only gave him like Disney
approved actors that had already been on Disney Channel shows,
Like they want him to pick from these eighty people,
Like here's eighty people in this age group, pick whoever
you want. And he saw everybody and he's like, I
st I'm not feeling it. So he called me, goes,
you're my coach. I'd known him for a while. He

(23:28):
sprung me out of jail at that point, so like yea,
so he uh he uh. He asked me to come in.
I went in for the audition. I didn't get it.
And then a few days later he said what happened?

Speaker 2 (23:39):
So I don't know?

Speaker 1 (23:40):
I want to and he's like, what did you wear?
I'm like, like T shirt and jeans, and then he's like,
what you're supposed to be Zac Efront's dad. You can't
be worried.

Speaker 2 (23:47):
And I was like, well, who's that?

Speaker 1 (23:49):
Like you know, like at that point, like you know,
so uh, so he got me to come back. I
went saw Natalie hard Ja's Leopardora over Universal and got
me by big chance at a screen test ish thing,
and uh, I had I put gray in my hair
and acted.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
I tried to act as an adult outfit.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
I tried to go buy a sports coat, never had
one before.

Speaker 3 (24:10):
Yeah, and you wore a Newsy's outfit instead of an
adult outfit exactly.

Speaker 1 (24:15):
I still thought I was going to be singing to
dance and I don't think I saw I don't think
i'd seen the script.

Speaker 2 (24:19):
I just saw my sides.

Speaker 1 (24:20):
So yeah, I went back in and acted like an adult,
and then I I got the part.

Speaker 3 (24:26):
So, yeah, that's great, And aren't you so proud? We've
talked about this before, but you know, and I'm so
grateful and I'm so lucky for the career I've had.
But and there's many things I've done I'm proud of.
I mean, you know, Cabaret with Hal Prince and Joel Gray,
and I mean just all sorts of stuff, Bob Fosse

(24:46):
and I mean Michael Bennet, I worked with like legends,
and I consider Kenny in that group too now. And
I'm so proud. I always tell people, I'm so proud
of two things. Number one, it made musical theater and
the arts cool for kids again. Yeah, they said that
statistics that choir enrollment went up, band enroll rollment went up,

(25:12):
drama class enrollment went up. After this became famous, it
wasn't like nerdy and and made fun of anymore. All
of a sudden, it was hip and cool. And then
number two, Yeah, and then number two is the bigger
picture theme of we're all in this together, you know,
and that you're and that you're exactly perfect, exactly the

(25:36):
way you are.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
Yes, you don't have to change.

Speaker 3 (25:39):
If you you know, like that number stick with the stuff,
you know, everyone saying, oh, they're paranoid and they don't
want to be in this group, or but that's showing
we can cross many lines.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
We don't have.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
Only one thing, you know. And I think for that
to be a message to kids, especially when they're trying
to find themselves and find they fit in their person suit,
you know. Yeah, I'm so proud of those two things.
And shows like Glee and Smash and all those other

(26:12):
shows never would have happened, right without us, the revival
of West Side Story all that, none of those things
would have happened because no one would put money into
musicals at all. So I'm very, very, very very proud
of that.

Speaker 1 (26:26):
Yeah, Kenny changed the trajectory of an entire generation, he
really did.

Speaker 3 (26:31):
Yeah, and following generations, following generations and following right, I
still play it.

Speaker 1 (26:37):
Yeah, you're right, You're right. I get recognized by five
year old kids, like the movie came out fifteen years
before you were born.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
How was Listener possible?

Speaker 1 (26:44):
And and then I look at the parents they are like,
I'm raising my kid, right, I said yeah, yeah, yeah, And.

Speaker 3 (26:49):
I think they played in a loop on the channels.

Speaker 1 (26:51):
Still I think, Yeah, yeah, I see it all I
was on the I just took a plane.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
All three movies were on the plane.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
Oh there you go.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
See. Yeah, yeah, it's pretty it's pretty amazing. But I'm
with you, Alise.

Speaker 1 (27:01):
I think the messages in the song, even though it
was in like a Disney movie, and I think there's
something about it being like in a hyperreality and just
kind of so wonderful and big and magical, but a
really special message inside could like almost resonate almost more
than like a hard reality series.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
You know.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
It's something about like opens up your heart and you're like, yeah, man,
I agree.

Speaker 3 (27:25):
All the silliness and the fun and all that stuff,
and exactly as you said, an exaggerated reality and all
that it it it catches you off guard, so that,
like you said, you open up and you become vulnerable
and then all of a sudden you're moved and you're
into it and you don't know how it happened, you know.

(27:47):
But I always tell people, I mean, the script was great,
and the material, the songs, everything's great, but all of
that excitement and whack a doodle and that's all Kenny,
you know, and all that right in the rollic and Kenny.
It's just Kenny.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
It's all Kenny.

Speaker 1 (28:04):
I'm gonna have a problem with this podcast because we're
just gonna sit around a gush about Kenny deservedly so
like he's he's a genius.

Speaker 2 (28:10):
He's a genius. I think.

Speaker 1 (28:12):
I sometimes I think about how we shot the movie.
It was a you know, it's like a four million
dollar movie. It was just a small, little busy channel movie.

Speaker 3 (28:18):
They didn't it in three weeks.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
I think it was a total four week with a
one week rehearsal and then four but no special advertising,
no special pr just your typical whatever. And for some reason,
just from the trailers.

Speaker 2 (28:32):
When the movie premiered.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
It got eight million views opening night, like the biggest
opening of a can of all time, of ever in
the history of television.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
The biggest opening eight million views opening night? Why? How
like what?

Speaker 3 (28:49):
I remember he called me from Paris from the opening
in France, and I said, how'd it go? And he
said crazy, like police barricades, like like the Beatles, like
the Beatles kind of crazy. And I said, the world
is just ready for this. The world wants to feel

(29:11):
good and happy and hopeful and all that stuff. It
just fit in this right time, in the right place.

Speaker 2 (29:19):
You know.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
Yeah, you know, it reminds me of that expression of like,
you know, we're life. We're on this journey and we
do all these things and have these accomplishments, we have
these failures and setbacks and challenge all this stuff that
make us who we are.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
And I just think Kenny.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
To do what he did with this movie to change
and touch the lives of so many millions of people.
He had to do Broadway, he had to Corey GoF
Michael Jackson for fourteen years, He had.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
To do the big dacas and Hocus books.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
He had to do all that stuff for this moment,
and he put you know, he didn't phone it in.
He didn't say, well it's Disney cham I'm used to
doing these big movies, well Disney Champ.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
No. Put.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
He treated us with such special care and passion that
it's yeah, we know, it's it's all Kenny's doing.

Speaker 3 (30:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. And Chucky and also.

Speaker 2 (30:06):
Bonnie Bunny story.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
Bonnie.

Speaker 3 (30:09):
I was just I was gonna say Bonnie, and I thought, no,
you're wrong. And Bonnie, the two of them, man, his
assistants and co choreographers, incredible, amazing, incredible the stuff they
came up with. And I love also that Kenny gives
them full credit for the stuff that they brought to
the party, you know, which is great.

Speaker 2 (30:27):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is amazing.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
He's so the team he assembles, and then how much
love he has for them, like everybody would go to
war for Kenny, Like we'll take a bullet for Kenny.
Like it's it's amazing. And then they everybody brings their
a game, I mean completely.

Speaker 3 (30:41):
Oh and also you know he I mean we've talked
about this. I love techies and I think it's from
my theater days because techy's were always like kind of
mom and dad on the stage, you know, and and
could make or break you. And and also but I
just you know, really love them and have such an
affinity and they work their butts off and they you know,

(31:01):
they're the first ones in and the last ones out
on everything, and you know, especially and also in TV
and film, especially in TV and film when we're going
back and having a little lie down in our trailer,
they're moving things to the next setup, I mean, endlessly
on their feet. And again, first ones in, last ones
out all that, and he was he was great with them.

(31:21):
But he was really great with the background actors and
watching him, like, remember the graduation. We were out in
this field. Remember it must have been number three if
it was graduation. Yeah, and we were out in this
field and Zach was given a speech to the graduation speech,
so it must have been. And there were all of

(31:44):
these background actors where we were on the dais, and
and also the ones the kids out in the audience
because they made all those fabulous over the headshots with
all of the logos I forget what that's called, with
the cards and everything with.

Speaker 2 (31:59):
Their hat yeah, yeah, all the.

Speaker 3 (32:01):
Designs, yeah, amazing, which they brought in someone who did
the Rose Bowl to choreograph that, right, I mean crazy.
But there were also bleachers outside on the track full
of background actors, and we're sitting in the hot sun
all day, I mean all this, and he was endlessly
getting on the mic and say, I see what you

(32:23):
guys are doing back there, and I appreciate your focus,
and I see you clapping for people's speeches and reacting
to what's going on. Don't think it's not being seen.
I mean, he was so great with that, so great,
and like you said, because of that then people just
want to give and give and give and give, you.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
Know, yeah, yeahah yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:46):
And he's so genuine with it and as busy as
he is choreographing and doing the music and the dialogue.
I mean, he's so invested in every little aspect, much
more than your typical director, and then still have time
to make sure everybody's take care of their scene.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
They're appreciated right emotionally. Yeah, yeah, special Allison.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
I've got a million questions for you, but the fans
want to know do you have a favorite? And I hate,
I really do not like this question, but do you.

Speaker 2 (33:09):
Have a favorite? One? One, two, or three?

Speaker 3 (33:13):
I can't pick a favorite, but I guess the most
sentimental one to me is number one because because of
all the things we just talked about, you know, it's
it was the beginning, it was the dawn of all
of it. And again, the script I thought was so clever.
I thought the music and stuff was incredible, and the

(33:33):
numbers and everything, and I think it broke norms and
and did things that hadn't been done and all sorts
of stuff like that. You know, I think, uh, yeah,
I think probably number one.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
Because of that, I say the same thing.

Speaker 1 (33:48):
When people ask me, I'm like, I mean, people are
very passionate about this question.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
You know, it is fair.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
I have some people stop me on the street and say, listen,
this is a real problem.

Speaker 2 (33:58):
You have to tell which one is the best one.
There's a big fight our group.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
I'm like, it's different because I experienced and I was
there and went through it. Like Number one is so special.
It was a weird meeting each other for the first time.
We were becoming a family for the first time. They
all have their own special thing, of course. And I
think number two people really like because you're like away
from school, you're like on summer camp. But the kids
around I get the summer vibe is pretty cool. But

(34:24):
then number three was so big.

Speaker 2 (34:25):
Do you know this, Allison.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
Number one we did for four million, Number two we
did for six million, Number three thirty five million dollars.

Speaker 3 (34:33):
It was it got right, Well, no, I didn't know.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (34:39):
And then number three is special too, because all of
those things we started and number one kind of come
to fruition and the kids were grown up, and like
you said, we were beyond family by then, and it
was so sweetly sentimental. And then when we went back
to do the series. I remember us all walking and
you were the first person I saw, and I remember

(34:59):
it and Momo Monique Coleman. I remember all of us
walking into the gym the TV series.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
On the TV series, this is just like.

Speaker 3 (35:09):
All of us had tears in our I remember. It
was like the last time I'd been in there was
when we shot Number one. We're all in this together,
the big closing with everybody, and I danced with the
with the mascot and everything. That was the last time
in the gym for me, and I was like, oh

(35:29):
my god. I was so emotional that day.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
So we had we had exchange in that scene. The
end of scene, I said, Bravo, Missus Starvis.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
Yeah, there was some exchange.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
Oh yeah, we've made friends. By the end of number one,
we weren't truly numbers anymore.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right, that's right. Yeah, we'd
uh yeah, we found the love.

Speaker 3 (35:54):
Yeah yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (36:04):
But yeah, okay, so let's let's let's go back to
we get this phone call. Well, you did a show
called Madison. Hi, do you want to talk about that
at all? That was interesting?

Speaker 2 (36:12):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (36:13):
Yes, I did. They did a spin off and Miss
Darbus moved to San Diego and it was on much
smaller scale. I think there were only like eight ten
kids leads, and it was really kind of only them,
and it was a very intimate, a real modern school.

(36:34):
The auditorium and everything was very modern that seventies eighties,
you know, real raped audience and all that stuff and
thrust stage and everything, and we did all of our
rehearsals on the stage and everything. So and it was
a little more introspective. I love the script on that
one as well. It was a bit darker. It wasn't

(36:56):
as much silly fun, but I liked that it. The
kids talked about there as an exercise in the in
the English class kids talk, I mean, in my drama class,
kids talked about their background, their family and stuff like that,
and so some of them were kind of heavy and
things like that, which I thought, you know what, for
the kids watching, this might be a really good thing,

(37:17):
you know, that they can associate, you know, because some
of the things weren't pretty that people were talking about,
you know, and I think they didn't pick it up.
They told us it was going for four seasons. But
the good news is I've been around long enough and
I am jaded enough to go, guys, yeah, when we
signed the d we'd all sign the fields. But I said,

(37:39):
when when we sign off? I mean, I've done eight pilots.
None of them been picked up. One of them was
two days before the Upfronts. For everybody listening, that's when
they announced with all the networks what shows they're doing,
and they bring the new casts and stuff. So we
were two days from the upfronts and they canceled the pilot.

(37:59):
So you know, just yeah, so you just cannot count.
So I had even said to the kids and to
the parents when they would say, get used to each other.
You're going to be around for four years, and I said, guys,
until it's on the line. I mean that would be lovely,
but let's not. Let's not do this to ourselves. And
I'm so glad I did because they they are you know,

(38:22):
not argued, but I guess they discussed it back and
forth and then they decided not to pick it up.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
So it was following Miss Darbus as she moves to
a new school, did.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
They was there?

Speaker 3 (38:31):
Fallow were moving? She just wound up?

Speaker 2 (38:33):
She was there and is there? Was there?

Speaker 1 (38:35):
Much like like if you were to watch that show
was there many calls to East High or High School.

Speaker 3 (38:41):
There were a lot of callbacks through me, and it
was the same kind of style that there. But it
was very modern. There were very it was very updated.
They very much had all of the oh what do
you call? Because I don't do any social media and
all that. Still I don't do it. I'm fine if
any one does, but it's just not my thing. But
they had all that in it, you know, all the

(39:03):
techno stuff in it. I'll DM you and all this,
you know what I mean. It was very much. It
was very current, you know. And they had just all
the extreme personalities in the kids, in the characters, some
really funny different characters that were great. The kids were
incredible again, another group of incredible and incredibly talented kids

(39:29):
that I've just loved working with. In truth, they never
told me why, but I think it was just a
little too dark, and I for me, I think it
was and I've never said this before. I think it
was directed also a little too dark. When I read it.
It was not as dark. It was silly to me

(39:51):
when I read it, and then when it was done
it was a little bit different. I think. I think
and I think in contrast, because as we were coming
off this huge hit, even though it was years later,
I think, and I'm just guessing this. Like I said,
no one ever told me the details, but I have
a feeling it was too far away from the zany

(40:16):
kookiness of ours.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
You know, not to not to throw shade because I
never saw the script, the or the show, but I
feel like everybody kind of has this desire to like, oh,
let's let's be real, let's keep it current, let's be
more gritty, And I would feel like everybody's doing that,
Like that's not original anymore. That's like a hundred percent
of the shows are trying to do that very thing.
And high school Musical is like it's the hyper reality

(40:40):
of it. It's that that that fantasy of a of
a high school that people what we always yes, yes,
people that tell me they said, hey, I went to
high school.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
Was nothing like high school musical. You know.

Speaker 3 (40:52):
Actually my high school was Yeah, where was that in
Anaheim School? Yeah? And it was it was just I remember.
The big thing was my senior year, a group from
outside the school came and fought with the group inside.
But there were not fights in the school any of
that stuff. It was just like everybody got along.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
You know. I agree with you. It happens. My kids
went to school in LA.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
But my youngest son is going to a school called
Wassatch High and the first day of school there.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
Was cheerleaders out there. They're all the universe. Wellcome welcome
to day. What I'm like, this is everybody's in bright colors.
I'm like, this is it does happen?

Speaker 1 (41:31):
It still exists twenty twenty five, Like it's happening.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
Yeah, maybe not maybe.

Speaker 1 (41:37):
Not East High like I guess, yeah, yeah, but it's
it happens in this country in some places anyway.

Speaker 3 (41:43):
Yeah, yeah. I think it was also though, I think
the difference in tone was also a reflection because Glee
had happened and Lee was you know, so I think
they maybe again I'm making this up, but I think
this is what I've come to in my own head.
I think they were adjusting it thinking because Glee now

(42:03):
was the new hit. Kids were used to that way
of thinking now and not the hyperreality. So I think
that's what it was. I think that's what it.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
Was, right right, Well, you know, that's I'm grateful I
did it.

Speaker 3 (42:20):
I'm grateful I did it, and you know, you just
got to do them and let go of the outcome,
you know.

Speaker 1 (42:24):
I you know, Allison, I wish they'd put those out
there somewhere so we could put them on Vimeo or
Netflix or something where we could, like you made, you
spent the money, Let's watch the show.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
You know.

Speaker 1 (42:35):
I would love to see it, but like you know,
don't really make it available. I think the hardcore fans
would love to see it.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
Yeah, who knows. I don't know. I never even saw it.
I never even saw it. Oh wait, that's not true.
Did I see I can't remember. If I saw it
assembled or if I saw dailies, I can't remember.

Speaker 1 (42:51):
You probably did some voiceover work on it at some point,
probably and saw some something.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
Yeah, and I.

Speaker 3 (42:55):
Saw some numbers. I think they showed me some numbers
because they still had numbers with the kids dancing in
the quad.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
Cool. That's cool to see.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
So okay, So then you get the call for High
School Musical, the musical the series. Yes, out of the blue,
they just call you, right, yes, yes, and.

Speaker 3 (43:12):
Well yes, Well, first they called me to meet Julia Lester, Yes,
the brilliant.

Speaker 2 (43:18):
Oh she's amazing. She's amazing.

Speaker 3 (43:20):
Yeah, in touch amazing. Really I felt like Nessa and stuff.
I met her when she was like fifteen, like when
they like Nessa. She was a baby, and she came
she they asked me to come in to watch the show.
They were gonna show me the pilot and show me
an episode, and I said to my agent, I have

(43:43):
a feeling they're going to ask us to be on,
because why else would they be doing that. So they
did kind of a publicity thing where they filmed us
meeting each other and they had it on all social
media and stuff like that, and she was oupdoorrible and
could be my daughter. We have very's the same kind
of features and stuff. So she crazy talented and she

(44:05):
was I remember, in white overalls and a little purple
top and came in and she started crying and she
gave me a scarf and I gave her flowers and everything.
And then they brought us in a room and they
had Darbus in balloons blown up and that we stood
in front of and did dark Miss Darbus poses and
it was real silly. So we did that first and
then sat and watched the pilot and another episode, and

(44:29):
I just thought it was brilliant. And so then they
introduced me to Tim. Tim came in later he was shooting,
and I just said, you are crazy genius. I mean
he's like Kenny Ortega two. You know, I think the
man is like crazy nuts genius.

Speaker 2 (44:43):
Genius, super talio.

Speaker 3 (44:45):
Yeah, his scripts and his directing everything, and again made
it current, but made it that hyper reality and made
everything very here and now and gets into some heavy stuff,
but in a really fun way. Anyway, I just thought
it was brilliant. I thought it was a great new
take on it. And anyway, he was like, oh, thank you,

(45:08):
thank you. And then a couple of weeks later they
called and asked if I would do an episode or two,
and I said, sign me up.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, hell yeah, that's great. So and I did.

Speaker 1 (45:21):
Uh, I did an episode or two without anyone else.
And I didn't see anyone else a couple of the
new members in the newcast, but not any of the
O G Wildcats.

Speaker 2 (45:30):
I didn't see you.

Speaker 1 (45:31):
Yeah until the reunion episode, which I think was the
very last episode of the series, or second to last
episode the series. Uh, was called the reunion episode, and yeah,
we all got the call and it was going to
be you me, Corbyn, it was moment casey uh, mister

(45:52):
Muson coach and Lucas and all of us like, and
I love these people like I love them to death,
and we're all we're all gonna be like in character
in costume, like back on the basketball court where so
many beautiful things happened, the championship game, that we're all
in this together, dance all that stuff.

Speaker 3 (46:10):
Yeah, and talk about still I mean, people that you
don't lose it, either got it or you don't after
all those years are working hard, but talk about still
talented and the four of those guys up there busting
their patuities, dancing their patuities off take after take on
the reunion, I mean, amazing, all those years later, amazing

(46:33):
and still just as sweet as everything. Monique and I
have stayed in touch a lot, and Lucas and I
as well have as well, and in fact, oh in Corbin,
in fact, Lucas and Corbyn for a while, which I
do want to talk about arts education, but for a
while I worked with lausd Arts education branch and I

(46:53):
brought in two initiatives that they love, so they hired
me on and I came in and did something da
da da and we had a big uh fundraiser benefit slash.
This wasn't my initiative. What do you like a fair
like a state a city fair on the on the
open grounds at Grand across from the Music Center downtown

(47:17):
and those three big open blocks that have a big
parkway there, and it was all set up there and
they had bands and they had the kids performed from
all the schools and it was fabulous, fabulous and they
had sign up for colleges for the kids and all
sorts of stuff. And anyway, I asked Lucas and Corbyn
to come to the main stage and talk with the kids,

(47:39):
and they were incredible and they stayed for like an
hour and a half afterwards, signing autographs that the kids
went insane, insane And it was at the end of
this really long day and the kids like just stayed around.
Oh my god, so good, so good.

Speaker 1 (47:56):
Yeah, that's amazing. It was so fun to beat together
with everybody.

Speaker 2 (48:01):
You know.

Speaker 1 (48:01):
What's interesting that when we got to the set for
the first time, remember Tim had us all go in
a circle and kind of went around and had to
got to speak, you got to share what was ever
on your mind. That's not that was such a canny thing.
You know, Kenny would always have all these little magical
little circles, and now Tim's doing the same thing. I
got like so emotional when it came to I like,
oh my gosh, this is so special because you know,

(48:22):
aliceon you and I've been around long enough to know
like something a project like this comes by once if
you're lucky, yeah, and this is.

Speaker 2 (48:30):
Such a special one. So to be together again, yeah, and.

Speaker 3 (48:33):
To be able to do it twice, Oh my gosh,
I have two and to have two incredible experiences. Yeah,
I had. I had the best time on the whole thing.
I see it on the set a lot, even when
I wasn't shooting, just because again I think Tim is
just really special and I think he's going to be huge,

(48:54):
I really do. He just he has a mind. He's
so fast, yeah, and he's and he yeah, he gets
it and and was so open. I know he was
with you as well, because we got to play not
only Miss Starbus and Coach, but we also got to
play Alison and Bart and and so some of the
stuff that he that was written would not have come

(49:17):
out of my mouth that way. And so I said
and also he didn't know some of Miss Darbus's background.
Some of the dialogue was so stuff that Kenny and
I had kind of made up a little backstory for her.
So I told him that I suggested different things and
d and he said, oh, absolutely, I'm fine with it

(49:37):
and had them write it down and you know, changing dialogue.
He was really opened all that.

Speaker 2 (49:41):
So, yeah, I love that. That's amazing. Yeah, Tim was great.
Tim's terrific.

Speaker 1 (49:47):
What a what a genius that guy to be writing
those scripts and creating the show and and.

Speaker 3 (49:52):
Uh producing and directing and and and.

Speaker 1 (49:55):
I mean yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was and
he brought it back. You know, there were several different
versions of that series before. I'm sure you've you've you
and I were in a lot of different versions of
that series until Tim came along and made this one.
But uh, yeah, it was it was it was bound
to happen one way or another. It was definitely gonna happen.

Speaker 3 (50:14):
Yeah, But he took the basics and then again made
it current, you know, for today's kids and all the
stuff they're going through and everything. And then again I
felt so lucky, Sophia, all of those people, Tim, the
cast members, crazy talented, crazy hard workers and kind as hell.

(50:36):
Again a second round of being able to be around
these amazing kids. And I text Sofia sometimes as well,
just to catch up and see where she is and
all that. Excuse me, but I just I just I
just came again. I came away so filled, so like

(50:56):
optimistic and hopeful for the world and for that generation
and you know everything else. It just yeah, it was what.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
A collection of sweet kids.

Speaker 1 (51:07):
I mean, they were so kind to us, the entire cast,
and Tim was like so respectful. He's like, oh the
OG's draw on set today, guys, and just like made
us feel like like what you wished someone would make
you feel when you come back and visit your world.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
And it was Tim was. It was like so gracious
and so kind to us.

Speaker 1 (51:26):
And and this collection, I agree with you, like the
collection of casts that he found. I mean, there's no
no wonder why they're becoming big superstars in the music
in the Broadway world and doing so well.

Speaker 2 (51:36):
So what a what a collection, I agree.

Speaker 3 (51:39):
And also talk about our techies, and so many of
our techies were there.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
Yeah, props to.

Speaker 3 (51:45):
All sorts of people. It was just so great.

Speaker 2 (51:48):
It was wild it.

Speaker 3 (51:49):
Was love family.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
It was so fun to see right back now, Allison.
I know we're going to run out of time soon,
and I want to know what you're doing. I just
want to say, I turn on the TV. I see
you all the time. I saw you the other day.
I clicked on something you were a judge and you
were so mean.

Speaker 2 (52:04):
I was like, oh, she was.

Speaker 3 (52:05):
Like, oh, I've done lots of judges.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
Oh you're amazing as a judge.

Speaker 1 (52:09):
Oh my gosh. But it's always great to see what TV.
But I know, other than acting, you're you're also doing
other beautiful things.

Speaker 2 (52:16):
Do you want to well, you're very sweet?

Speaker 3 (52:18):
No, you know what, I'm not working anything right now.
I actually had taken some time off and just I'd
been working a lot, and so I just was like,
I just need some time to kind of breathe, and
I worked on my house and stuff like that. But
I'm starting back. I'm just starting back now actually this month.
But yeah, like I said, I was working part time
with lausd Arts Education Branch. Very difficult job but one

(52:42):
of the most fulfilling things I've ever done in my life.
And I approached them with these two ideas. I had
an arts education program called the Active Learning Series, where
I would go around to low income schools. I actually
went to five. It started in Utah. A friend of
mine at the time produced it and through Salt Lake
Acting Company, they sponsored it and I came over and

(53:04):
we went to five low income schools and I did
assemblies of no less than three hundred kids. Sometimes it
was from kindergarten to tenth grade. So try and make
those that group pay attention. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So basically
I used them me playing Miss Darbus. I didn't come
to Miss Darbus. I came as me because you know,

(53:25):
Disney owns Miss Darbus, but also I wanted to be me.
But because I'd done Miss Starbus, the kids were willing
to listen to me, So I used that. So I
got on the stage and my whole theme was if
you can think it, you can be it. And then
I used theatrical skills in their daily life. So we

(53:49):
did a ton of theater games and theater exercises that
and they were up the whole assembly. They were not
sitting down, they were working the whole assembly. And we
did that. They in the beginning they stepped forward and
said their name and you wouldn't believe how many mouse
and embarrassed and all this. So we worked on breathing.

(54:13):
We worked on I've taught them box breathing, which I
don't know if you know about it, where you you
breathe in a you hold it, breathe in six, you
hold it for four, then you breathe out six, hold
it for four. Actually, Navy seals use it just before
they do a thing because it focuses you and calms
your anxiety and everything. So taught them about that. Then

(54:33):
raised hands. Where else can you use this telling your
parents a crappy thing you did, apologizing to someone, you know?
So we we jammed on where these things could be
used in everyday life, doing a speech whatever. Then diction, projection,
eye contact. I had them hold up their fingers and

(54:54):
pretend like it was icon, then look down and hold it,
and I said, and I don't want you to look away,
and I'd count just for a minute, and you'd be
surprised how hard that is, especially for kids to do,
you know. So anyway, went through all these things, posture,
but bu bu bu by, and by the end we
stood up. They stood up. They stepped forward and to
their own hands to their own fingers, full eye contact

(55:16):
and said Hi, my name is BA. And the difference
was like crazy night and day, and they were clapping
for themselves and screaming and it was just amazing. From that,
I had a foundation behind me here and I'd approached
I just called emailed the head of the Arts education
branch at that time, and said, I wanted to start

(55:39):
doing these in schools, especially middle school, because I think
that's a real transition time. And so I did it
at the middle school and it was it's right over
by bronze and studios, and I was talking to the
teacher who I'm still friends with afterward, and the drama
teacher and asked, you know what they needed this, and
I'm seeing studio in the background. In two seconds, I

(56:02):
got this idea for a thing called Studio Adopter School,
because studios have all these old sets and costumes and
lighting and stuff like that that for them are already
pass a but for us our gold. And so I
wrote it all up and I approached the superintendent set

(56:23):
me up quickly, I mean within two weeks with the
head of the Art Education bats who'd just been hired
a visionary named Rory Pullins and they'd been trying to
get him out here for fifteen years. He had turned
around Duke Ellington in d C, which is now the
pre eminent arts school in the country has been and

(56:44):
they finally offered him enough and enough budget and enough
perks within getting equipment and all that that he came
out well cut to and he brought in so many
innovative things. I pitched it to him, he loved it.
We started doing it, and then it changed it because
there weren't enough studios. Changed it to a bigger thing
called Creative Coalition for Lausd Arts. So I reached out

(57:08):
and got all the studios because only like four or
five had things with Lust. Did cold calls to all
of the heads of maintenance and operation or vice presidents
or whatever and hooked me up and got meetings, which
was really hard. I'm very proud of myself because Lausd
had such a bad rep in truth that's a gospel truth,

(57:30):
and I would say, you're right, but we have a
new sheriff in town. Just meet us. If you still
feel that way, then thank you for having a meeting,
and we're fine. But I know you will love his
innovative ideas. And all this stuff, and he had so
many things himself. So we came in and from the
meetings got every single studio in town to be working

(57:52):
with us. I've got sound equipment from bad Robot, we
got live sets from Nickelodeon. So not only was I
in that part, but I wound up learning all of
the in LAUSD techies who would go the truckers and
stuff who would go pick stuff up and deliver it
to the school, and then the techies at the studio

(58:12):
that I would call to have the stuff ready, and
then I would go to the studio and be there
when they did the thing, and I'd go to the
stool when they delivered. So I mean I was doing
like ten jobs at once, and it was pretty crazy,
but it was so fulfilling, incredible. Got the Writer's Guild
to work with the kids. They had kids come and
finish screenplays, classic screenplays that weren't finished. They wrote endings

(58:37):
to them. They had writer We had writers coming in
once a month to middle schools. That became a regular
program after the first year that came in every single
month and did projects with the kids. I mean, incredible
stuff went down. Incredible stuff went down, started fundraising for
a thing called portable performance kits because I went around

(58:58):
to over fifty schools with some of the people because
I said, I want to see what shape they're in
from Elementreida High School, long invol story, but the details
are they're a hot mess. And the principals and teachers
told me that they also need for this time now
things that could work anywhere on campus. So some schools
had theaters, some schools had wreck rooms, some had only

(59:20):
a classrooms and whatever. So I came up with this
idea of portable performance kits where it was two amps,
the cables, a new soundboard and then same thing, two
light trees, all the lights, a light board, the whole thing,
and a projector that worked in ambient light because a
lot of the rooms didn't have curtains. So we got

(59:40):
this package. It was worth seven grand. It I got
bids from everybody in the Hollywood. Light and Sound won
the bid, and I said, come on, man, make me
a rock start. And I got them down to three
thousand dollars a kid. Yeah, And I did it like
the adopt a highway thing, and I started sending stuff out.
Carol Burnett donated JJ abrams Tom Hanks did three kits

(01:00:06):
and so we told the schools who it came from
and all that stuff. And then unfortunately, just as I
was starting that part, we were only on that like
four months. All of this took like three years, that
I'm telling you. And when we were on that for
four months unfortunately, and we had a big fundraiser at
the Chandler with Geena e all sorts of people everything.

(01:00:29):
My boss, he Rory Polands, had hired myself and three
other people as independent contractors. We did not work for LUSD.
We hired through him, and even though you know they
paid us, it wasn't a lot. It was a part
time thing, was mainly for the love. But he stepped
down and I do understand. So had to call all

(01:00:50):
the studios and all these people that I'd made relationships
with and did pass it on to two really terrific
LAUSD employees. The outreach of the of the Creative Industry Coalition.
I don't know the status of it. I have not
kept in touch, but yeah, it was. It was very fulfilling.

(01:01:11):
And I was like, look, this is embarrassing that this
is not standard. We are the entertainment capital of the world.
We should be leading the nation and showing them how
to do arts education, you know, with surrounding business supporting
so anyway, So I'd love to say to anyone out
there listening, they need help financially, you know, and arts

(01:01:34):
education is not I don't want people to go into
the business. In fact, the opposite, I really don't want
people to go in the business. I want people to
do it for fun, because we both know it's a
tough business to make a life business, very fulfilling, but
a tough business. I absolutely want people to do it
for fun. Sing and dance for fun, act for fun,

(01:01:54):
read for fun, be a techie for fun. There are
so many other things. You could be a stage manager,
you can be a producer, you can do online content,
you can do all sorts of stuff. Anyway, when I
was doing that, it's it's a necessity. It's not just
an elective. I just want everyone to know this that
I saw actual footage, they have studies now that it's

(01:02:17):
not just an elective and silliness. It's needed. The arts
that they had real time MRIs, especially from kids age
two to ten, and they watched videos with all different things.
Math is that and not saying I was a math
head in school, not saying that's not important sciences, math
love them, but only when they watched something to do

(01:02:42):
with the arts and I saw the footage neuropathways in
the brain happened in real time. It was amazing. So
they know it does so much for brain development, and
it does so much again like my workshops, it does

(01:03:03):
so much for kids just knowing what they're capable of
in their bodies, in their minds, in controlling nerves, in
breathing through anxiety situations, in problem solving, all of those
things that we know how to do because of doing
mainly theater, but theater and film. Those are life skills

(01:03:25):
that will stead them if they become the CEO of
a company, if they become president, if they become a
dog walker. You know, it'll stead them in any kind
of career they go into. So I'm just saying anybody
out there, if you have a dollar, if you have
ten cents, if you have ten dollars, if you have
ten thousand dollars, please send it to your school, your

(01:03:50):
local public school, no private schools, public school, and right
on their care of Arts education department only and write
that on I'm going to make this up at the
Alison Reid School, Alan, and when you write the check
Alison Reid School, put Arts education department on the two

(01:04:12):
line or in the memo line so that it doesn't
get lost in the larger budget, so that it really
goes to arts education. So that's what I would love
everyone to do, no matter where you're hearing this from
great local public.

Speaker 2 (01:04:27):
School, act locally. Yeah, I think that's great. That's terrific.

Speaker 1 (01:04:31):
And then it goes you know, it'll go direct if
you do it that way. This is good, that's great.

Speaker 3 (01:04:36):
Yeah, thank you for letting me talk about it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
I know, I think it's so important.

Speaker 1 (01:04:40):
It's like so important that it's you saying this because
you've touched so many people that.

Speaker 3 (01:04:44):
This well, I gotta tell you. Thank you. But my MoMA, man,
she passed years ago, but she's my idol. She did
more for the arts education than I could ever do
in my whole life. She got she got museums to
put art in buses and took them to element three
school so kids could walk through the bus and see
things like that. She would take them to parks and

(01:05:06):
have productions done in parks. I mean all sorts of
stuff that again just opened up these kids' lives to
know that there's a great, big world out there outside
of the You know, most kids only exist within ten
blocks of where they live. They don't know of all
these things that are available to them.

Speaker 2 (01:05:26):
Yeah you know, yeah, yeah, oh that's great. That's great. Well, yeah,
that's a that's a great message to end on. Alison.
You are a treasurer. You are such a beautiful and
beautiful soul. I miss you so much. I can we
got to get together.

Speaker 1 (01:05:40):
I hope we do a movie together, a series together, something,
but it's least like, let's go to lunch until then.

Speaker 3 (01:05:47):
All right, sweetheart and have fun and say hi to
everybody else for me that you're talking to.

Speaker 2 (01:05:52):
I sure will, I sure will. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (01:05:54):
Thank you for sharing so much and making it so
personal and so beautiful you are.

Speaker 2 (01:05:59):
You are beautiful soul.

Speaker 3 (01:06:01):
Thank you, honey, you as well. Okay soon and bye,
everybody buye Wildcats?

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
Bye Wow, Thanks ausand thanks miss Darbus.

Speaker 3 (01:06:09):
Thank you.