June 15, 2022 • 47 mins
Pride month continues as Jonathan and Jaymes fire up the big gay spotlight as they’re joined by world reknowned American theater director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell!
It’s a stroll down memory lane as they discuss how musical theater changed their lives, gave them a sense of pride and they dish on some behind-the-curtain stories from some of the most famous musicals of all time.
If this episode were any more fun it’d be made into a musical itself.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Pridecast with Jonathan Bennett James on I Heart Radio.
All Right, every one is the real deal. This is
it in three two what Hello everybody, and welcome to
a new episode of Pridecast on My Heart. I'm your host,
Jonathan Bennett, and I am joined with my husband James Vaughan.
(00:24):
We are here to give you your weekly dose of love, laughter,
and hopefully a little bit of inspiration and to what James,
to remind people to what be proud of who you are.
I mean, it's Pride month. This, I mean, this is
the reason for the season, guys. This is this is
why we woke up today because it is Pride Month.
(00:46):
It is the gayest month of the year, and I
love it. Oh baby, I love it too. But I'm
a little nervous about what we're gonna talk about today
because you're already I'm so excited about before we go
into it, because it's it's Pride Month and we're talking
about the gayest thing in the world on this podcast.
And then on top of that, I have to tell
everyone I did to our lights out front of our house.
(01:07):
We have all these little lights that like shine up
on our like bushes. You know, we have like twenty
of them. So if you haven't seen on the Instagram
and the TikTok what we did our truck for Pride,
we covered our niecean in um rainbow flags. But then
also on our bushes, I found a way to change
our lights two colors and then I found a way
to make them flash. So there's like twenty lights out
(01:30):
front of our house that look that are just multicolored
and they're all changing at different times and it looks
so tacky and I love it. It's just such like
a Pride celebration. And we have the gayest house in
the world. We're gay, our house is gay, our dog
is straight, our dog loves loves football, loves football and girls.
(01:52):
But other than that was the gayest house in the world.
It is the gayest episode ever because we have talking
about can say who's on the show? Can I just
can I just take this thunder from you, so you
just have a minute to take a breath, because I
know you're gonna be so excited you might burst into
glitter nice coffee. Hold on, every g this is my
(02:12):
calling for all of you, calling all gays, calling all gays.
That's the sound of the ice coffee, back away from
the microphone calling all gays. Our guest today on Pridecast
is Broadway Legend superstar director, choreographer creator Jerry Mitchell, which
means we are going to be talking about musicals. It's
(02:33):
the musical episode. It's about musicals. And if you don't
like musicals, don't hang up or change your podcast. Keep
listening because we're gonna talk about a lot of other things,
but we have to talk about Musicalsabe, do you remember
the first musical you ever saw? Wait, look, I gotta
give everybody a little backstory here. If you haven't followed
Jonathan up to this point, Jonathan eats, sleeps, and breathes
(02:57):
musicals that he is a music theater game in every
sense of the word. He listens to musicals to relax,
listen to musicals to get hype, listen to musicals in
the shower. He listens to musicals basically anytime I'm not
I listened to musicals at the gym like everyone thinks
I'm listening to like probably like you know, pop music
or rock music. I'm listening to Harris Spray. All right,
(03:17):
so let's back it up. You asked me the first musical.
First musical, first musical I ever saw, first musical I
ever saw. We talked with this one podcast before. I
think mom was at a church. Mom was one of
the church musicals, and the angels were flying in the
air singing about Jesus being born, and I just remember thinking, like, man,
these queens are really living their life suspended from the ceiling,
(03:38):
like like just free to to sing and dance and
I mean, no offense. But that's not that's not a musical, babe.
That's a church production the first time I saw. But
that's not a real where they were singing and dance
living their life. Your first musical, Damn Yankees, I know.
I'm sorry. Sorry, sorry. I saw Anything Goes at my
(03:59):
high school when I was in seventh grade. My mom, no,
I'm sorry. When I was in sixth grade, my mom
took me to the high school production of Anything Goes.
And I sat there glued to the seat, and I
remember seeing all the people coming out dancing to the
same song, doing the same choreography. And I looked at
my mom and I go, what is this And she's like,
(04:22):
it's a musical, and I was like, how do they
know to do all that, and I was so confused
and I didn't understand like improv. I was like, did
someone tell them what to do? How do they do
it all together? And I was I wanted to understand it.
And then she went and bought the VHS copy of
Anything Goes from the high school and took me back
to see it aired two weekends and I went every
(04:43):
single show, every single matinee and night performance. I went
to every single performance of it. And that's when I
got bit by the musical theater gauging. And so that
was the first time you saw one first musical I
was in because we were both in musicals. So with
the first musical you were ever in, um I was, well,
first musical I was. Everyone was in seventh grade where
(05:05):
I played the Mayor of the Munchkin City in the
Wizard of Oz production in Burlington, North Carolina, the Community
Theater Wizard of Oz production, and um I was. I
was a mayor of the munchin because I was a tall,
little little homosexual and so they put me in a
glittery hat and the lion was drunk every night. He
was totally drinking, like just whiskey out of a flask. Backstage.
(05:28):
Glenda was like having sex with like the tin man.
It was like a whole situation. But no, just like
in general, it was like a whole drama and it
was it was so much fun. But then the first
musical I was in was Dan Yankees, and Dan Yankees
was like my first time was actually in a show
where I performed. Did you play? Um? I was the
bat boy? What does that mean? No lines, just part
(05:51):
of the chorus. Way did you get to like singing dancing?
But I wasn't talented enough to actually like have a
solo or any things, so they just put me in
with like the baseball players. However, I was a freshman,
so I couldn't I was an eighth grader, so I
couldn't actually be a baseball player because I looked too young.
So they just put a little outfit on me and
called me the bat boy, and I was just kind
(06:12):
of in the back all I didn't care. I was
on stage and I was tap dancing, and I was
living my best gay life. Hunt Oh wow. I always
wonder what would have happened if I had known you
back then? Well, like what our love is probably not
have been attracting something well Baby, because I don't think
you know this, but I was. I was a musical
theater gay back then too, because no, that was where
(06:34):
I found my way to express myself. So as soon
as I got to the high school, I went to
the high school so I could do the musical as
a perform in the show choir. And so my first
musical do you know what it was? You know this
think I've told you what? Guys and dolls, which I'm
not entirely sure it was appropriate for a high school
production based on Adelaide and the Hot Box Girls. They
(06:57):
were kind of under the Dallas is like the most done.
I'm just saying they were doing the most at my school.
The dress code was not followed by the Hot Box Girls,
is all I'm saying. But I played a character name
I'm embarrassed to even do it. He had a New
York accent, and Jonathan knows I'm terrible at accent. I
(07:18):
was Benny South Street. Okay, we have to get Joe
Mitchell on on the because this is just gonna go south.
But I sang the title song. He's the character of
that sings the title song with the other guy who's
named um No, this is his name is? This is
so embarrassing. Nicely, we have broad Ba legend like Multitny
Award winning drama desk like everyward winning. I can't have
(07:39):
my music theater MoMA. No, no, no, you blast right.
You can't remember the name of them. I am recalling
character in any musical. I can tell you their backstory.
I can tell you what they sing. I can probably
tell you when they come on stage. Did all right?
Then whin does Benny south Street first come on stage
and guys and dolls? He doesn't because no, I'm just
kidding out of I have I don't remember. I just
(07:59):
remember reason the title song and I remebod. I had
a crush on the guy that I sang that song
with and we had like the first big number, right,
and you get to the very last note of the
song and it's and it's that's when it finally splits
and like you're doing harmonies together, right, And I looked over, Yeah,
I'm on opening night. Never messed it up ever? Opening
night a baby. If I didn't go into a key
that was not in anywhere in that musical, And the
(08:23):
way he looked at me and I was I was mortified. Um,
so that was my big shining Benny south Street moment.
The next two nights, I got it right though. We
had three nights performances. But well, that's pretty gay. And
speaking of other things that are gay, Jerry Mitchell is
joining us. Are you looking at me like that? I'm
so excited. All right, We're gonna bring on Broadway legend
(08:45):
Jerry Mitchell right after this? What the hell is happening? Uh? Wait?
Where I hear the voice, I see the face. Oh
my god, Jerry Mitchell is in the house. Happy pride, Jerry.
(09:08):
Happy Betty Book Day. Oh boo boo boo boo boo.
I um, I just got home from a workshop. Today
was presentation day of a new musical based on the
comic cartoon character Betty Boop. Oh so it literally is.
It's it's presentation Betty Book Day, presentation, Betty Book Day
to day and tomorrow it's a brand new musical written.
(09:30):
How I feel about it? David Foster heard of him.
We love a good David Foster. David Foster and Bob
Martin and Susan Berkenhead and uh, it's really good. I mean,
we've got a long ways to go, but you always
do on these things. And so we finished the presentation,
and we kept talking and meeting and talking and meeting,
and I just walked in the door and then I
saw your email and went, oh shit, I know you
(09:52):
didn't miss it. Jerry. We would say, how are you married?
People were married. We're married, and the only difference is
we go to the bathroom with the door are open.
Now you know that is not allowed. That's what married
life be allowed to happen. It's well, Ricky and I
have had left the door open for years, honey, if
I had a nickel, you know, I mean it really.
(10:15):
Last week we had Nina West your Edna Turnblatt in
Hairspray the tour with us, and now we have Jerry
Mitchell with us, who is a Broadway legend. No, Jerry Waite,
do you remember I remember the first time I met you?
Which I have Were you about to say that? Do
you remember the first time? You know he doesn't remember,
but I remember the first time. I remember the first
time I met both of you. Okay, the first time
(10:37):
I met well, James, you tell him the first a
baby Okay, the first time that you was at the
Pantageous Theater, Kinky Boots Kinky Boots, and I went and
saw Kinky Boots at the Pantageous and I am the biggest.
Like to say I'm a Jerry Mitchell fan is an understatement.
To say I'm a musical fan is the understatement of
the universe. So I was like in my element already,
like my endorphins were through the roof. And I remember
(10:58):
You're standing there in like the little meet and greet
after opening night at Kinky Boots at the Pantags, and
I come over to you and I'm like, Hi, I'm
nice to meet you. I'm a big fan, and you
go I voted for you on Dancing with the Stars.
And I literally was like, oh my god, you know
I am, And I like almost started crying, and then
(11:21):
I was I remember telling you. I was like, I
was like, I want to be Laura Bell Bundy when
I get married. I want to come out of the
stage in a pink box and enter my wedding how
she did and legally blonde. I want to be l
Woods And you say to me, you go, well, Laura
Bell Bundy is standing right over there, if you want
me to introduce you to her, And I was like, no,
(11:42):
I can't. I can't, And like I start breaking out
in hives under my clothes, and You're like, okay, I'll
walk you over. So you walk me over and I
meet Laura Belle, and the only thing that I could
say to her was I want to come out of
the floor like you and legally wanted my wedding. That
was all I can muster. That was it that we
would have ways that happen. We could have made that happen.
(12:02):
I've been to the place in Mexico where you guys
got married. You went to Unico. I've been to that.
I was up the up the street at up the
beach at Rose with Mayacoba. But I went to that
hotel for dinner one day. Isn't it beautiful? It's gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous,
And you met Jared Chip's so glad. Let's back up
on you were new lad, when you also had a
(12:24):
kinky boots meeting. We did have a kiky we we had,
we had, we had several encounters. But I want that
what they're calling it nowadays. I want to back up though,
because like, how would we have made a hydraulic stage
happen at the beach but this is what I'm most
glad about. So Jonathan, from like the day we met,
had told me that's how he wanted to get married, right, Like,
this isn't a joke because of like we're friends with you.
It's it's like, for real. I've said this a million times,
(12:46):
and all I could think was like, oh my gosh,
I am gonna marry this guy. But how do I
make sure that does not happen at our wedding. There
are so many places that's appropriate, but at our wedding
that is not appropriate. So I'm so glad this conversation
is happening two months after our wedding because I know
Jerry Mitchell and Jerry Mitchell would have found a way
to make it happen that happen full out, full out wedding,
(13:06):
full out. Jerry's tag on is full out, and he
would have made it. Would have just had to build
up the sand. Yeah. So yeah, so we Jerry and
I first met when Peep Show was in Vegas and
I was singing at Chippendale's and a bunch of y'all
came over, and I remember being so upset because Jerry
Mitchell was coming to the show and I was like
(13:27):
battling a week long like strep throat scenario where I
had been using six tracks to get through with your
sick tracks. Are y'all that don't know is that you
would actually play a track of you doing the show
one another night and you would just basically lip sync
to it, so it looked like you were still singing live.
And I was like, no, Jerry Mitchell is coming, I
will sing live. This will happen. And it wasn't that good.
(13:47):
But he's damn as he pretty with the shirt. But
Jerry is so sweet. Jerry come up to me after
the show and made a point to tell me how
great the show wasn't how great I was, And I
was like, are you lying through your teeth that you
were so sweet? Thank you? It was a great show.
I remember that show. But you know where I really
remember us was when you interviewed Cindy and I for
Kinky Boots. Cindy Lauber, Yeah, we were we were there
(14:11):
for the Kinky Boots opening in Vegas and you did
the interview. YEP. That was when I was hosting Okay
TV and you guys came in and that was I
was just talking to Jonathan about this today at lunch,
about how sweet you are. And that was the moment
when I realized truly the Jerry Mitchell factor of we
have a friend Tony Gonzalez, who was also a Broadway guide.
(14:32):
It's the same kind of thing. It's like the ton Yeah,
and it's it's the same thing, like everybody just wants
to be around yall. Everybody just wants to be in
your presence. You're so warm and fun and funny. And
it's like, that's why Jerry is the man, because not
only he's so smart and brilliant and creative, but like
you just want to be around him, and you and
Cindy in that interview. I remember being in stitches, y'all,
(14:53):
let me try on the kinky boot. I couldn't quite
get my last fourteen in it, but I tried, and
and that's the closest now every get to that role.
I remember, I remember Cyndi adjusting all your lights. She's
but she did. We gotta get the light right, but
you know, she made him better and we catch that
(15:15):
set up from there on out. Her and Marie Osmond,
those are the two people that on our show adjusted
the lights for us and made them better to icon
so good. I got a picture taken and I still
use that picture to this. Yes, it's it's his Facebook photo,
it's his Instagram cover photo. He uses it for everything.
When you get that good when you use it, you know.
(15:37):
Um Now I'm wearing Jerry. I'm wearing the Hairspray T
shirt because I got this hair Hairspray T shirt when
I went and saw the national tour of hair Spray
that is touring right now with our dear friend Nina West.
And we heard last week on the show her tell
us about you having you had your Joseph an amazing
technicolor dreamcoat moment. You had a dream of her and
(16:00):
you said, any dream will do, and she said, no, no,
just this one. And I want to hear about this
dream and how Nina West became two Hairspray. So I
was a big I've been a big fan of Rue
Paul's Drag Race. Have watched it all, you know, watched
it for seasons and seasons and seasons. And I even
told Greg Barnes, I said, Greg, you gotta watch Ru Paul.
(16:21):
Look at what the drag queens are wearing. Look what
the kids are doing. When we were creating Kinky Boots
and and so the season Nina was on and she
did Harvey fire Steam for Snatch Game and she was
really really good, and I just clocked that right. And
then she did a magic trick with like some canisters,
(16:45):
very vegas, like you know, the magician's assistant kind of thing,
and I remember it was so funny, funny, it was
so funny, and I thought, and then we were this
this tour of Hairspray was coming up, and so I
called you O'Brien and said, Jack, I think Nina West
should play Edna. And he said, who's Nina West? And
(17:07):
so I sent him all the stuff online of Nina
to Jack and he went and he loved the idea,
and so uh Adam flew in. He flew into New
York and we had a proper audition. Matt Lenz was there,
who's the associate director or co director for Jack O'Brien,
and myself and Jack and we put put put him
(17:30):
through the paces and he was fantastic and he left
and we just said, it's a no brainer. It's a
no brainer. He is cut from the cloth, you know,
divine Harvey Nina. It just goes right down. But most importantly,
he brings a genuine love and warmth to the role.
(17:52):
And and the other thing that was amazing about him
was because it's a different experience to be in a
musical and play a all and and Adams had tons
of musical theater experience and he kind of grew up
in our world. But it's a big show. He's sort
of the anchor of this tour. And he came to
(18:12):
the state, he came to the rehearsals, and he came
to the experience as if he knew nothing and wanted
to learn and was willing to listen and and take
that journey with Matt and Michelle, my associate choreographer, and
and Jack and I and it's just it's wonderful to
see how he has blossomed and made the role his own.
(18:34):
And I couldn't be more proud of him and and
his his and he's really he's really delivering out on
the road. And he's really it's when when when you
see the show, and if you haven't seen it, they're
they're they're in a sit down right now. But the
tour starts back up. I think it will by the
time this airs. It's it's up and running again. You
can go to tickets for hair Spray. It's Hairspray Tour
(18:54):
dot com. Yeah, I think hair Spray. Yeah, hair Spray
on tour dot com. Just Google. We live in Google
and Google tour. Got see it run, do not walk
to see the national tour of hair Spray with Nina West.
It's amazing. But when you see when you see him
play the role, what I think it did, which what
you said with you have divine Harvey, Nina, But the
(19:15):
way you said you had was it Jack watched uh
watch Rue Paul's and see what the kids are wearing,
see what the kids are doing. It's very much that
you see the new version of what Edna Turnblato is right,
you see it's it's it's got this this you like
(19:36):
youthfulness to it and kind of a reinvention while still
keeping with the same tropes that you want when you
see ed Edna play the role. You know, when you
see Edna and hair Spray, you want or you want
certain things to happen, and they happen, but they bring
this new kind of fun, drag energy to it. Yeah,
I think I think I think that's the thing. That's
also exciting for the show because hair Spray is twenty
(19:56):
years old. Can you believe it? I know, I wasn't
even born. It was first and so you know, here
it is out on the road. And yet Nina from
Rue Paul's is bringing a younger audience that light her
to see this musical, and the musical is being introduced
(20:17):
to a whole new couple of generations. New of young
people were coming to see and don't really know anything about.
They might know the movie, they might have seen it live.
But to see a musical like Hairspray live and in
person in a theater, it's a completely different experience than
seeing it on film or you know, on TV. It's
just live theater. Man, nothing like, nothing like it. I
(20:39):
mean I can talk for two for hours about it.
The the that when you see a Jerry Mitchell musical
it is. I said this to James, I said, this
is James, you have you have kinky boots like my favorite.
You have kinky boots, legally blonde hair Spray, pretty woman
right like you see the musicals and when you when
you see it, it's the gayest, most amazed sing thing
(21:00):
in the world because it's everything you want a musical
to be. It's like, you leave singing the songs, you
leave skipping, you you're you laugh, you cry, you're moved,
and it's just big. It's over the top, but it's perfect.
And that's what all and the and the lead characters
in each of them. You know, you have Lola, you
have Tracy um and what's the through ll sorry, and
(21:26):
you see them l Woods obviously, but you see oh god,
I mean we can talk about when I saw that
for the first time. That's whole another story. But they
the characters, the leads. You watch them on their journey
of trying to fit in and find their place in
the world. And I think that's the common denominator in
in in all the leads and I but they're so
they're such powerful characters, and they go through such a
(21:49):
growth in each musical. So you just they're exactly what
you want a musical to be when you see them,
because they find the lead of the musical is always
a character who's a little bit larger than life, I mean,
or is dealing with something that's larger than life. I mean,
I think that's easy to make them sing and dance,
but Also, most of the musicals that I'm attracted to
(22:12):
in those stories that you've mentioned, their musicals that I
think the audience leaves with a sense of hope. I
hope they leave with a sense of hope, you know,
for something a little bit better than when they walked in.
I mean, come on, that's that's something. When you walk
out of the theater, you've been entertained and you leave
with a sense of hope. I'll take that any day
of the week, any single day of the week. And
(22:34):
I wanna I was telling James about this because I
have in each of the musicals, I have three each
of your. My three favorite musicals are Kinky Boots, Hairspray,
Legally Blonde, and Wicked or four. Those are my four
favorites right now. I can ask you about three of them,
but I will ask you about the fourth two. But
in each of them, there's always each Jerry Mitchell production,
there's always something really special that is so minute and
(22:58):
so stupid and so silly that it sticks with me
and it's my favorite part of the musical. It's my
favor I'm gonna tell you my favorite parts musical. Are
you ready? Legally Blonde? Legally blonde. The choreography is so
dumb when you when when the when the girl when
(23:22):
she comes in and oh my god, you guys, the
song and the girl brings the new dress and all
the girls go to the side of their mouth. They
realize that the jig is up and they've caught the
sales girl and it's not gonna happen. The girls go,
oh my god, Oh my god, you guys, and then
they're talking out the side of their mouth. And then
when it gets to the point where she says that
(23:45):
they have the new dress and everything's happening, and she
changes into the new pink dress, and it's the whole thing.
The choreography. The girls are so stunned and so excited
that they can't do anything except jump up down and
move their arms like an inch because they're so stunned
and excited that they can't do it. And that's how
(24:08):
I feel when I'm watching a Jerry Mitchell musical. I'm
just like, oh my god, oh my god, you guys.
And that was the moment that I related to the
girls on stage. I go, yes, you can get it. Yes,
do you know what I'm talking about? I know exactly
what you I I demonstrated it for them. I want
to know. I was watching you do it. It's it's
my favorite part. Number two favorite part Kinky Boots when
(24:32):
she's singing into the air gun and her hair blows back.
What's the name of the song, I'm too excited to
think of it. Yeah, when she takes the air gun
and she blows it. Whose idea was that? Was that? Yours? Yeah?
I mean, just a genius. But come on, it doesn't
matter what you do. When you have Annalie ash For
(24:54):
to create a number by you're done. You have the
greatest comic uh you know, clown clown heart heart, clown
with a heart in the in the world. Annalie Ashford,
who was an original, my original Margot and Legally Blonde,
don't forget that's right. Yeah, Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh.
(25:16):
So those are my two favorite parts of those musicals.
We'll get to the next one. I want to know
what are your favorite parts of each, Like, there's a
little moment in hair Spray, there's a moment in Kicking Boots.
There's a moment Legally Blond that happens. You're you, You're
it's your They're all your babies. But what's your like
one favorite moment of each of these musicals. I've always
wanted to ask you every second of them. I mean,
(25:36):
you know, there's gonna be something that just sticks out
where you go, oh that always makes me chuckle. Really,
really really, there's so many crazy moments that were created,
and just so many moments that were cut that were
you know, you end up cutting from shows that you think, oh,
that's really great, and then it gets in front of
the audience it just dies and you go have to
cut it. But uh, you know, too many, too many
(25:58):
favorite moments create e The conveyor belt number in Kinky
Boots was a highlight. Being able to do the whole montage,
the Legally Blonde, all of those big sections, the Legally
Blonde remix, the opening section, but the Irish dancing with
Andy carl and or Fay. I mean, you know, there
were a lot of people who really didn't think it
(26:20):
was funny. They said, nobody's gonna laugh at and I went,
let's just wait and see what happens. Let's just wait
and see. And of course we got in front of
an audience and they lost their ship and I said, yeah,
I think it's funny, and I think other people think
it's funny too, So you know, you just gotta trust
your gut and go with it, and um, you know, Hairspray.
(26:41):
For me, the thing that was most exciting about hair
Spray was being able to create that musical with Mark
and Scott, who I was friends with for like twenty
years before Hairspray happened, and to be able to be
there with them on their very first Broadway views goal
and then it becomes such a big successful hit that
(27:04):
was just you know, amazing. Yeah, so y'all talking musicals
and all this Broadway stuff, But like you remember, I'm
a Vegas boy. I spent all that time in Vegas.
I remember what a lot of y'all might not know.
I'm gonna use I'm gonna use this voice to tell
you Jerry had an adult show in Las Vegas called
Deep Show and on another level, like it just Broadway show.
(27:29):
This is how Jerry Mitchell does a Vegas adults show.
And the number for me that stood out in that
I still remember the way you did milkshake in that show.
Oh my gosh, it was so good. Uh it was.
It was. It was a revealing number to say the
least um but oh my got we got an a
milk tank and took a milkbath, as one does in
(27:52):
any Jerry Mitchell. Anytime you with Jerry, you're in a
milk bath, because it's always like with Jerry, it's like okay,
like what what you would normally do, and then Jerry
like mantages to find the thing that's like that time's ten.
I don't know where they find the budgets for these things,
but they remember. I remember flying into Vegas when I
had the idea to put the girls in a tank
of milk. And and Armando far Fan, who works there
(28:16):
and does all the apparatus is and the flying stuff
and everything, and he did he did all the stuff
for like pink and and I said, Armando, I need
somebody to build the milk tank that will hold the girls.
And they're gonna like push up against the glass and
show pieces of them and they will disappear against the milk.
And he said, let me call some people. You know,
those people who created the big fish tanks at Caesar's
(28:37):
Palace when you go through the mall. I think they're
the ones who built the milk tank because you know,
once you get a big tank and you fill it
with water and milk, you know, that's a lot of
pressure on the walls. And they had and people get
in it, and how is it not just gonna like
bust apart and milk go all over the stage. They
had to really do some some research on how to
(28:59):
be on that milk tank. Wait, Jerry, was this real
milk in there every night? No? You know what it was?
They went to Costco and bought those big things a
creamer creamer like right, but they would put water in
and then fill it with creamer, and they had to
put a heater and so when the girls got in
it wasn't too cold. It was a whole It was
a whole situation. That's why everybody a show has such
(29:22):
good skin there every night exactly. And you know what,
And it was based on it was based on your
legendary show Broadway Bears, which we're going to talk about
when we get right back. Al Right, we are with
(29:46):
Broadway legend Jerry Mitchell, and we were just talking about
how his show in Vegas, Peep Show, was based off
of Broadway Bears, which is a legendary event that happens
in New York City for what thirty years out twenty years?
What is it? This is going to be the thirtieth
anniversary show this year this year. But and for people
(30:06):
listening that might not know, can you explain to them
everything about what Broadway Bears is. I was in a
little show called Will Rogers Folly. It was the last
show I danced in on Broadway, and I was in
the opening production number. I was one of the wranglers,
but I also was the Indian of the Dawn and
I danced in the zig Field production number with a headdress,
(30:27):
bells on my wrist, spells on my ankles, and nothing
on my backside. So my bum was basically on stage
on Broadway every night for the whole audience to see.
And if you've seen the photos of Jerry back then,
you understand what's why he's so popular. Go on, I was,
I was. I had a very popular bum back then,
(30:48):
and you know I was snatched. And you know Broadway Broadway, um,
the zig Felt follies. You know the girls used to
get diamonds and sapphires and flowers and backs them. Well,
during the Will Rogers Follies, I was getting the diamonds
and sapphires I got. I got a diamond and sapphire
necklace sent to me backstage from Valentino and other gifts.
(31:13):
Jerry Mitchell's asked, was that good, guys other admirers sent me?
But um, and it was lovely and very sweeten you know,
we got to meet and it was lovely, but um,
but I basically um just realized. Oh and my my
dressing roommates. We were trying to raise money for Broadway
Care Secuity Fight Saints at the time, and uh some
(31:36):
and you know you can only do so many bake sales, right,
So somebody said you should go dance on the bar
and splash downtown in that costume and raise some money
for Broadway cares. And literally a light bulb went off
over my head. I had never choregraphed to Broadway show yet.
I wanted to choreograph Broadway show, but I was trying
to look for that opportunity. So I called some friends.
I put together my version of the Chippendales or Magic
(31:58):
Mike on stage at Splash. Eight guys, we made eight
thousand dollars. I said, I can do this better. All
add girls we made seventeen thousand dollars. Six months there,
I said, I can do this better all add of theme.
A year later we did the third Broadway Bears. We
made thirty seven thousand dollars at bump USA and it
just kept building and building, and it went from eight
(32:18):
to thirty, to forty to fifty to a hundred dancers
until this year. The last one we did before the pandemic,
we had two hundred dancers and we made two million
dollars in one night doing a burlesque show at Hammerstein
Ballroom in New York. This year will be the thirtieth anniversary.
We have over a hundred and fifty dancers participating, backstage designers, choreographers,
(32:42):
and we will hopefully well over a million dollars. And
we've made collectively since the first Broadway Bears to this date,
I think something like twenty three million dollars for Broadway Cares,
Equity Fight States, and it all goes to Broadwaycares and
Fight Sates. It is inspired Vegas Bears, San Francisco Bear.
We just did the second Italy Bears. We've done ten
(33:03):
versions of Weston Bears, and all of these organizations are
running money, raising money for AIDS organizations locally and to
fight the stigma associated with HIV and AIDS. And that's
sort of that's sort of what it does. Just phenomenal.
I mean, it is phenomenal. Here you say that number,
and and here you say how it started and to
(33:23):
where I got Maybe you know I did the Vegas
Broadway bears? Did you did you show your ass? It's
a great as if you slide into my d M
if you want pictures of it. It was hone of
a prime. I was like, let's let's make some money
for for babe. James. My husband right now is you know,
in his late twenties, but when he was in his
(33:44):
early twenties and was doing Chippen nails, he was his
his everything about him physically was just on point. And
I always see photos of it and I go, how's
come you wasted that on all your ex's. I don't
get Chippendale's James heart. You know what I get his heart,
And that's just much that's much better. And that's that's
what I'm here. I mean, it ain't bad for me,
(34:09):
Like I like when Jonathan has a couple of extra cheeseburgers,
Like I like that he's always trying to feed mens.
So you're getting you getting the daddy version of me.
Which but so But Broadway Bears, let me tell you this.
I remember the first time when and saw it. It
was with my late friend Michael Lane, who passed away
but since then, but we we went in two thousand
(34:29):
one or two thousand two in New York to see it.
You were that young, you must have lost your mind.
I had just moved to New York City from Ohio,
like you know, Midwest theater kid, just wide eyed and
bushy tailed, and Michael goes and knowing I was the
biggest musical theater freak in the world. He and also
being from Ohio, you didn't see many like attractive guys
(34:50):
that were like also gay or also performers. Right, it
was like there were slim pickens in my town. You
get to the show, and the whole Broadway Bears show
happens where everyone's scantily clad and living their best, fiercest life,
and everything's about raising money for AIDS, and everyone just
talking about it openly. And I just remember looking at
him and I just go, this happens Like I couldn't
(35:15):
imagine a world where like this existed, and to be
sitting there and watching it for the first time, it's
it literally takes your breath away. So if you don't
have tickets and you're listening to this, or you you
want to go see it and you're debating, please please
please go online check it out. You should go see
the show because it's unbelievable. It is, it's unbelievable. You
can go to Broadway Cares dot org. We're gonna do
(35:37):
the show on June at Hammerstein Ballroom, which is Gay
Pride Sunday Night here in New York City. It is
going to be the gayest night of the year. That's right.
We're celebrating thirty years of Broadway Bears. What a great
way to celebrate pride. You can go to the Pure Dance.
You can come to Broadway Bears. Then you can go
with your friends to out dancing afterwards. You can just
(35:58):
have the gayest night of your life. You really can
like And that's the theme of the show. This month
is the gayest time of our lives. And speaking of that,
we are we are all about this is podcast, So
we're all about celebrating pride and and and talking about
gay history and in order for us to know where
we're going in the world with our history, we always
(36:19):
have to remember where we came from. So we like
to do a little segment Jerry that we call this
Week in Gay History. James, what do we have this
week in Gay History? Alright, So this one actually we
chose because we know we're talking to Jerry Mitchell in
New York, basically like the King of New York. At
this point, this is a New York history moment. So
let's take it back to this week. In nineteen twenty six,
(36:41):
the Greenwich Village Ball took place. It was an extravagant
ball at Webster Hall. Our producer gave us the address,
so it must be iconic. So I'm gonna say one
nineteen East eleventh Street in New York City. Yeah. So
these balls were a common thing back in the nineteen twenties.
What was cool about it was it was a place
where queer endo viduals could come and be themselves and
(37:03):
safely be themselves. And they were originally invited by different
groups that we're having these parties, and then that eventually
led to the gay and queer community throwing their own parties.
Where I mean this is the nineteen twenties. Guys were
coming and drag they were coming and just to be
expressing themselves and and being themselves and dancing with one another.
And it was it was a I guess, like the
(37:25):
kind of a movement. It was really the birth of
a movement. But like you have to think about, like
we talked about this history stuff, so we can realize
where we're at now and how far we've come and
make sure that we learned from it. They were able
to do this in the nineteen twenties because they were
paying off the police. They were doing everything they could
to keep from being raided, to keep from being stopped.
And so now like when we get to have these
beautiful moments where we get to enjoy each other's company
(37:45):
and be ourselves, like we got to remember like work.
I recently read something about the balls at Webster Hall
in the twenties, and you know, have you been watching
the new HBO series Gilded Age. Yes, so a lot
of the very wealthy families attended these balls. They went
down there and attended these balls because the asters and
(38:07):
the others went to these balls, not because their family
members were gay. But maybe that's why. But also because
it was such a celebration of life and something that
was not going on, you know, in other places openly.
And um, I was reading something about it. I read
it online. I'll have to find it and send it
(38:27):
to you. But there's something about they were being attended
by some of the aristocrats, aristocrats of New York at
the period. You know, by the way we did that's
where we did Peep Show at Webster Hall. Wow. So
that isn't we have two Broadway Bears at at Webster Hall,
the Bears Show on Earth seven and eight Peep Show,
which then was the Peep Show that came to Vegas
(38:50):
starring Melby and Holly Madison. Wow. Think about that. So
like the nineteen this was all starting and it led
to being able to have something like Peep Show and
Broadway Bears. There are so you always got to think
about what the people before us did and be very
appreciative of what they did to get us to where
we are. So thank you to the gay Eldes going
down in the twenties and here we are on pridecast.
(39:11):
I want to ask you, Jerry, because it means so
much to so many different people, and it always means
it's a different definition for each person. We like to
ask what does pride mean to Jerry Mitchell um. I
think for me personally, the journey of being proud and
being gay from where I came in Michigan, where I
(39:35):
didn't know a single gay person when I was growing up.
There was no will and grace. Right, I'm a I'm
a little older than you boys, not much, but a
little much. But but you know that the the the
idea that I was always proud. I just didn't know
there was anyone like me. And suddenly I got to
college in St. Louis and that was the first time
(39:56):
I met another gay person. And then I got to
New York City and I met so many young gay
lesbian people. It was also the beginning of the AIDS
epidemic in the nineteen eighties, which inspired me to do
Broadway Bears. But the pride is really in celebrating when
you know, I do say full out, but this month
I spell it f U l L lower case upper
(40:20):
case oh U T. Because the truth is, you have
to live your truth. You have to be completely out completely.
You have to let people know who you are and
what you stand for and what you believe, and it's
the only way to live a full life, whatever it is, right,
live your truth, live full out, and the rest will
take care of itself. No, that's so beautiful. I I
(40:43):
identify with that so much because be you know what
you just said with the will and grace, it really
triggered something in me. Being an actor. And you'll probably
understand this because you've probably seen other actors as well
and yourself being in shows. There was a difference between
growing up and being I was in movies like Mean
Girls and you know, all My Children and all the
(41:04):
soaps and all the things that I worked on for years.
This was pre Glee. This was pre the Ryan Murphy effect, right,
This was when it wasn't it wasn't so okay for
your male leads to be out and gay and living
their full life and doing what they what they want
to do. And then all of a sudden, all those
shows happen and the Ryan Murphy effect and all the
other things happen, and they say, Okay, now it's fine,
(41:27):
everyone can be out. And we have some actors like
me and some of my friends are sitting here who
have been had to be shoved in the closet because
we're told we weren't allowed to do that. And then
all of a sudden you have everyone saying Okay, it's fine,
and we're like, wait, guys, what about us, Like you
told us not to, but now you're saying we can.
So then we have to figure out how to live
full out and we have to figure out that journey
of how to come out again. Right, you have your
(41:50):
original coming adjustment a second time and make it publicly
when it was something you always were and wanted to be,
but we're told by the people in your business us
that it would hurt your career. Correct, correct, And when
you have when you have everyone handing you everything being
like when you've worked your whole life, like I've always
wanted to be an actor in my whole life, and
when you've worked your whole life for it and you're
(42:11):
given the opportunity to shine and you're finally you've you know,
quote unquote made it, and they're like, you can keep
all this as long as they don't know who you are,
because the minute they find out, this whole thing goes away.
So you'll do anything to protect that because it's your
whole dream. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, now that the term full out.
It is one of my favorite things. Anyone that works
(42:32):
with Jerry Mitchell knows of the term full out. It
is on his Instagram. It is what you use daily.
It is probably one of my favorite. Uh I want
to say branded moments for someone. I would call it
a branded moment for you because everyone that works with
you when they talk, they use it in their day
to day language. So explain where it comes from and
(42:54):
what it means, because it's just such part of theater culture.
I've been using the term with dancers for forty years
and I just scream it when I expect them to
go for it all the way, don't hold back, no marking,
full out, show me everything, full out, all every every
ounce of energy you have, put it into the number right.
(43:17):
It's kind of how I dance anyways, as a person
when I'm when I was a dancer, I never marked.
I was probably people probably hated me when I was
young because I was. They probably called me spastic, really identify,
but you know, you know, I, um, yeah, I I
I'm I'm. Anne Miller was full out right every time
(43:37):
I saw her dance. She was full out when I
danced with her, said, Erice was full out. I danced
with her, you know, old school full out. Absolutely. I
always say you can mark when you're dead. Yeah, yeah,
you can mark when you're dad. Before we go, Jerry,
when want to do a couple of things. We want
to shine our big gay spotlight on someone. Every week,
(43:57):
we picked someone in the lgbt Q plus can unity
to shine our big gay spotlight on that's doing things
that are extraordinary for the community. Maybe it's someone that's famous,
maybe it's someone you don't know, but the point is
we want everyone to know how awesome this person is. James,
who are we shining a big gay spotlight on today?
All right, I'm shigning a big gay spotlight on I
hope I say her last name correct. Tina Cootech. Now
(44:19):
she's hoping to make political history again. So she was
the country's first out lesbian speaker of a state House
of Representatives back in She broke barriers once again now
because in Oregon, she is the Democratic nomination for governor.
So that would make her the first lesbian governor in
(44:41):
the United States of America. If she wins this race,
that's pretty cool because that just shows we are making
progress in all kinds of places, including Oregon. Jerry, is
there anyone you want to shine your big gay spotlight on?
Oh no, there's no want, want Okay, I want to
(45:02):
shine in the whole city of New York and the
whole country really for this safe and happy and wonderful
Pride month limit Yeah, it's important. Speaking speaking of Pride,
I want to ask you a question, because we asked
this to everybody. Jerry, what is the best part about
being part of the lgbt Q plus community. What's your
(45:23):
what's the best part of being gay? The Margharita's stupid.
Probably the dance moves. For me, it really is, it
really is. I mean, gays we just dance better. We
just do and and it's because we have more assassin
(45:44):
assassin our step and I think that's it's better. And
we dance longer, even older. That's right, because you know
what we are what full out we live out life.
Jerry Mitchell, thank you so much for joining us on
this episode podcast. I love you guys so much, and
I'm so glad I was here, and I'm sorry I
was late, but boy, I'm so happy you're doing this.
(46:06):
It's so important. We will always wait for you. We
will always wait for you, except if it's a five
minute till curtain, then the curtain is going up, whether
you're there or not. All right, I hope I see
you in l A soon. Alright. Go check out National
Tour of Hair Spray. Go check that out, Go watch,
go go online. Look up Broadway Bears, Egoity Fights next.
They're all happening right now live in person. Check them out,
(46:28):
Go get tickets, go see the shows. Jerry Mitchell, thank
you so much, And our small reminder to everyone as
we leave podcast, to remind everyone to be proud of
who you are and remember you are never too much
and you're always enough. Baby. You sped me through my
story at the beginning as soon as I said I
had a crush on the guy I didn't see because
(46:48):
I'm your husband and we had Jerry Mitchell waiting. So
why do you think I spent you through? But you
want to tell your story? Tell me? Was that I
got to be on stage with somebody that I had
a crush on, and I ever locked eyes with somebody
in a moment like that until that moment, and everybody
remembers their first game moment like different things along the
way right. And I remember my first game moment literally
(47:09):
taking the pitch out of my mouth because when I
locked eyes with him and was like, oh, he's cute.
I forgot completely how to sing in that moment. And
that is my Guys and Dolls experience. And maybe the
way that he took the pitch right out of my
mouth is the way you take my breath away every
time I see you, every single second of every single day.
(47:33):
So you don't gotta worry about if I had a
crust of somebody when I was fourteen years old. Guys
and Dolls, who I'm sorry, I'm throwing up right now.
We'll see you guys on the next episode of podcast
by
This is Pridecast with Jonathan Bennett James on I Heart Radio.
All Right, every one is the real deal. This is
it in three two what Hello everybody, and welcome to
a new episode of Pridecast on My Heart. I'm your host,
Jonathan Bennett, and I am joined with my husband James Vaughan.
(00:24):
We are here to give you your weekly dose of love, laughter,
and hopefully a little bit of inspiration and to what James,
to remind people to what be proud of who you are.
I mean, it's Pride month. This, I mean, this is
the reason for the season, guys. This is this is
why we woke up today because it is Pride Month.
(00:46):
It is the gayest month of the year, and I
love it. Oh baby, I love it too. But I'm
a little nervous about what we're gonna talk about today
because you're already I'm so excited about before we go
into it, because it's it's Pride Month and we're talking
about the gayest thing in the world on this podcast.
And then on top of that, I have to tell
everyone I did to our lights out front of our house.
(01:07):
We have all these little lights that like shine up
on our like bushes. You know, we have like twenty
of them. So if you haven't seen on the Instagram
and the TikTok what we did our truck for Pride,
we covered our niecean in um rainbow flags. But then
also on our bushes, I found a way to change
our lights two colors and then I found a way
to make them flash. So there's like twenty lights out
(01:30):
front of our house that look that are just multicolored
and they're all changing at different times and it looks
so tacky and I love it. It's just such like
a Pride celebration. And we have the gayest house in
the world. We're gay, our house is gay, our dog
is straight, our dog loves loves football, loves football and girls.
(01:52):
But other than that was the gayest house in the world.
It is the gayest episode ever because we have talking
about can say who's on the show? Can I just
can I just take this thunder from you, so you
just have a minute to take a breath, because I
know you're gonna be so excited you might burst into
glitter nice coffee. Hold on, every g this is my
(02:12):
calling for all of you, calling all gays, calling all gays.
That's the sound of the ice coffee, back away from
the microphone calling all gays. Our guest today on Pridecast
is Broadway Legend superstar director, choreographer creator Jerry Mitchell, which
means we are going to be talking about musicals. It's
(02:33):
the musical episode. It's about musicals. And if you don't
like musicals, don't hang up or change your podcast. Keep
listening because we're gonna talk about a lot of other things,
but we have to talk about Musicalsabe, do you remember
the first musical you ever saw? Wait, look, I gotta
give everybody a little backstory here. If you haven't followed
Jonathan up to this point, Jonathan eats, sleeps, and breathes
(02:57):
musicals that he is a music theater game in every
sense of the word. He listens to musicals to relax,
listen to musicals to get hype, listen to musicals in
the shower. He listens to musicals basically anytime I'm not
I listened to musicals at the gym like everyone thinks
I'm listening to like probably like you know, pop music
or rock music. I'm listening to Harris Spray. All right,
(03:17):
so let's back it up. You asked me the first musical.
First musical, first musical I ever saw, first musical I
ever saw. We talked with this one podcast before. I
think mom was at a church. Mom was one of
the church musicals, and the angels were flying in the
air singing about Jesus being born, and I just remember thinking, like, man,
these queens are really living their life suspended from the ceiling,
(03:38):
like like just free to to sing and dance and
I mean, no offense. But that's not that's not a musical, babe.
That's a church production the first time I saw. But
that's not a real where they were singing and dance
living their life. Your first musical, Damn Yankees, I know.
I'm sorry. Sorry, sorry. I saw Anything Goes at my
(03:59):
high school when I was in seventh grade. My mom, no,
I'm sorry. When I was in sixth grade, my mom
took me to the high school production of Anything Goes.
And I sat there glued to the seat, and I
remember seeing all the people coming out dancing to the
same song, doing the same choreography. And I looked at
my mom and I go, what is this And she's like,
(04:22):
it's a musical, and I was like, how do they
know to do all that, and I was so confused
and I didn't understand like improv. I was like, did
someone tell them what to do? How do they do
it all together? And I was I wanted to understand it.
And then she went and bought the VHS copy of
Anything Goes from the high school and took me back
to see it aired two weekends and I went every
(04:43):
single show, every single matinee and night performance. I went
to every single performance of it. And that's when I
got bit by the musical theater gauging. And so that
was the first time you saw one first musical I
was in because we were both in musicals. So with
the first musical you were ever in, um I was, well,
first musical I was. Everyone was in seventh grade where
(05:05):
I played the Mayor of the Munchkin City in the
Wizard of Oz production in Burlington, North Carolina, the Community
Theater Wizard of Oz production, and um I was. I
was a mayor of the munchin because I was a tall,
little little homosexual and so they put me in a
glittery hat and the lion was drunk every night. He
was totally drinking, like just whiskey out of a flask. Backstage.
(05:28):
Glenda was like having sex with like the tin man.
It was like a whole situation. But no, just like
in general, it was like a whole drama and it
was it was so much fun. But then the first
musical I was in was Dan Yankees, and Dan Yankees
was like my first time was actually in a show
where I performed. Did you play? Um? I was the
bat boy? What does that mean? No lines, just part
(05:51):
of the chorus. Way did you get to like singing dancing?
But I wasn't talented enough to actually like have a
solo or any things, so they just put me in
with like the baseball players. However, I was a freshman,
so I couldn't I was an eighth grader, so I
couldn't actually be a baseball player because I looked too young.
So they just put a little outfit on me and
called me the bat boy, and I was just kind
(06:12):
of in the back all I didn't care. I was
on stage and I was tap dancing, and I was
living my best gay life. Hunt Oh wow. I always
wonder what would have happened if I had known you
back then? Well, like what our love is probably not
have been attracting something well Baby, because I don't think
you know this, but I was. I was a musical
theater gay back then too, because no, that was where
(06:34):
I found my way to express myself. So as soon
as I got to the high school, I went to
the high school so I could do the musical as
a perform in the show choir. And so my first
musical do you know what it was? You know this
think I've told you what? Guys and dolls, which I'm
not entirely sure it was appropriate for a high school
production based on Adelaide and the Hot Box Girls. They
(06:57):
were kind of under the Dallas is like the most done.
I'm just saying they were doing the most at my school.
The dress code was not followed by the Hot Box Girls,
is all I'm saying. But I played a character name
I'm embarrassed to even do it. He had a New
York accent, and Jonathan knows I'm terrible at accent. I
(07:18):
was Benny South Street. Okay, we have to get Joe
Mitchell on on the because this is just gonna go south.
But I sang the title song. He's the character of
that sings the title song with the other guy who's
named um No, this is his name is? This is
so embarrassing. Nicely, we have broad Ba legend like Multitny
Award winning drama desk like everyward winning. I can't have
(07:39):
my music theater MoMA. No, no, no, you blast right.
You can't remember the name of them. I am recalling
character in any musical. I can tell you their backstory.
I can tell you what they sing. I can probably
tell you when they come on stage. Did all right?
Then whin does Benny south Street first come on stage
and guys and dolls? He doesn't because no, I'm just
kidding out of I have I don't remember. I just
(07:59):
remember reason the title song and I remebod. I had
a crush on the guy that I sang that song
with and we had like the first big number, right,
and you get to the very last note of the
song and it's and it's that's when it finally splits
and like you're doing harmonies together, right, And I looked over, Yeah,
I'm on opening night. Never messed it up ever? Opening
night a baby. If I didn't go into a key
that was not in anywhere in that musical, And the
(08:23):
way he looked at me and I was I was mortified. Um,
so that was my big shining Benny south Street moment.
The next two nights, I got it right though. We
had three nights performances. But well, that's pretty gay. And
speaking of other things that are gay, Jerry Mitchell is
joining us. Are you looking at me like that? I'm
so excited. All right, We're gonna bring on Broadway legend
(08:45):
Jerry Mitchell right after this? What the hell is happening? Uh? Wait?
Where I hear the voice, I see the face. Oh
my god, Jerry Mitchell is in the house. Happy pride, Jerry.
(09:08):
Happy Betty Book Day. Oh boo boo boo boo boo.
I um, I just got home from a workshop. Today
was presentation day of a new musical based on the
comic cartoon character Betty Boop. Oh so it literally is.
It's it's presentation Betty Book Day, presentation, Betty Book Day
to day and tomorrow it's a brand new musical written.
(09:30):
How I feel about it? David Foster heard of him.
We love a good David Foster. David Foster and Bob
Martin and Susan Berkenhead and uh, it's really good. I mean,
we've got a long ways to go, but you always
do on these things. And so we finished the presentation,
and we kept talking and meeting and talking and meeting,
and I just walked in the door and then I
saw your email and went, oh shit, I know you
(09:52):
didn't miss it. Jerry. We would say, how are you married?
People were married. We're married, and the only difference is
we go to the bathroom with the door are open.
Now you know that is not allowed. That's what married
life be allowed to happen. It's well, Ricky and I
have had left the door open for years, honey, if
I had a nickel, you know, I mean it really.
(10:15):
Last week we had Nina West your Edna Turnblatt in
Hairspray the tour with us, and now we have Jerry
Mitchell with us, who is a Broadway legend. No, Jerry Waite,
do you remember I remember the first time I met you?
Which I have Were you about to say that? Do
you remember the first time? You know he doesn't remember,
but I remember the first time. I remember the first
time I met both of you. Okay, the first time
(10:37):
I met well, James, you tell him the first a
baby Okay, the first time that you was at the
Pantageous Theater, Kinky Boots Kinky Boots, and I went and
saw Kinky Boots at the Pantageous and I am the biggest.
Like to say I'm a Jerry Mitchell fan is an understatement.
To say I'm a musical fan is the understatement of
the universe. So I was like in my element already,
like my endorphins were through the roof. And I remember
(10:58):
You're standing there in like the little meet and greet
after opening night at Kinky Boots at the Pantags, and
I come over to you and I'm like, Hi, I'm
nice to meet you. I'm a big fan, and you
go I voted for you on Dancing with the Stars.
And I literally was like, oh my god, you know
I am, And I like almost started crying, and then
(11:21):
I was I remember telling you. I was like, I
was like, I want to be Laura Bell Bundy when
I get married. I want to come out of the
stage in a pink box and enter my wedding how
she did and legally blonde. I want to be l
Woods And you say to me, you go, well, Laura
Bell Bundy is standing right over there, if you want
me to introduce you to her, And I was like, no,
(11:42):
I can't. I can't, And like I start breaking out
in hives under my clothes, and You're like, okay, I'll
walk you over. So you walk me over and I
meet Laura Belle, and the only thing that I could
say to her was I want to come out of
the floor like you and legally wanted my wedding. That
was all I can muster. That was it that we
would have ways that happen. We could have made that happen.
(12:02):
I've been to the place in Mexico where you guys
got married. You went to Unico. I've been to that.
I was up the up the street at up the
beach at Rose with Mayacoba. But I went to that
hotel for dinner one day. Isn't it beautiful? It's gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous,
And you met Jared Chip's so glad. Let's back up
on you were new lad, when you also had a
(12:24):
kinky boots meeting. We did have a kiky we we had,
we had, we had several encounters. But I want that
what they're calling it nowadays. I want to back up though,
because like, how would we have made a hydraulic stage
happen at the beach but this is what I'm most
glad about. So Jonathan, from like the day we met,
had told me that's how he wanted to get married, right, Like,
this isn't a joke because of like we're friends with you.
It's it's like, for real. I've said this a million times,
(12:46):
and all I could think was like, oh my gosh,
I am gonna marry this guy. But how do I
make sure that does not happen at our wedding. There
are so many places that's appropriate, but at our wedding
that is not appropriate. So I'm so glad this conversation
is happening two months after our wedding because I know
Jerry Mitchell and Jerry Mitchell would have found a way
to make it happen that happen full out, full out wedding,
(13:06):
full out. Jerry's tag on is full out, and he
would have made it. Would have just had to build
up the sand. Yeah. So yeah, so we Jerry and
I first met when Peep Show was in Vegas and
I was singing at Chippendale's and a bunch of y'all
came over, and I remember being so upset because Jerry
Mitchell was coming to the show and I was like
(13:27):
battling a week long like strep throat scenario where I
had been using six tracks to get through with your
sick tracks. Are y'all that don't know is that you
would actually play a track of you doing the show
one another night and you would just basically lip sync
to it, so it looked like you were still singing live.
And I was like, no, Jerry Mitchell is coming, I
will sing live. This will happen. And it wasn't that good.
(13:47):
But he's damn as he pretty with the shirt. But
Jerry is so sweet. Jerry come up to me after
the show and made a point to tell me how
great the show wasn't how great I was, And I
was like, are you lying through your teeth that you
were so sweet? Thank you? It was a great show.
I remember that show. But you know where I really
remember us was when you interviewed Cindy and I for
Kinky Boots. Cindy Lauber, Yeah, we were we were there
(14:11):
for the Kinky Boots opening in Vegas and you did
the interview. YEP. That was when I was hosting Okay
TV and you guys came in and that was I
was just talking to Jonathan about this today at lunch,
about how sweet you are. And that was the moment
when I realized truly the Jerry Mitchell factor of we
have a friend Tony Gonzalez, who was also a Broadway guide.
(14:32):
It's the same kind of thing. It's like the ton Yeah,
and it's it's the same thing, like everybody just wants
to be around yall. Everybody just wants to be in
your presence. You're so warm and fun and funny. And
it's like, that's why Jerry is the man, because not
only he's so smart and brilliant and creative, but like
you just want to be around him, and you and
Cindy in that interview. I remember being in stitches, y'all,
(14:53):
let me try on the kinky boot. I couldn't quite
get my last fourteen in it, but I tried, and
and that's the closest now every get to that role.
I remember, I remember Cyndi adjusting all your lights. She's
but she did. We gotta get the light right, but
you know, she made him better and we catch that
(15:15):
set up from there on out. Her and Marie Osmond,
those are the two people that on our show adjusted
the lights for us and made them better to icon
so good. I got a picture taken and I still
use that picture to this. Yes, it's it's his Facebook photo,
it's his Instagram cover photo. He uses it for everything.
When you get that good when you use it, you know.
(15:37):
Um Now I'm wearing Jerry. I'm wearing the Hairspray T
shirt because I got this hair Hairspray T shirt when
I went and saw the national tour of hair Spray
that is touring right now with our dear friend Nina West.
And we heard last week on the show her tell
us about you having you had your Joseph an amazing
technicolor dreamcoat moment. You had a dream of her and
(16:00):
you said, any dream will do, and she said, no, no,
just this one. And I want to hear about this
dream and how Nina West became two Hairspray. So I
was a big I've been a big fan of Rue
Paul's Drag Race. Have watched it all, you know, watched
it for seasons and seasons and seasons. And I even
told Greg Barnes, I said, Greg, you gotta watch Ru Paul.
(16:21):
Look at what the drag queens are wearing. Look what
the kids are doing. When we were creating Kinky Boots
and and so the season Nina was on and she
did Harvey fire Steam for Snatch Game and she was
really really good, and I just clocked that right. And
then she did a magic trick with like some canisters,
(16:45):
very vegas, like you know, the magician's assistant kind of thing,
and I remember it was so funny, funny, it was
so funny, and I thought, and then we were this
this tour of Hairspray was coming up, and so I
called you O'Brien and said, Jack, I think Nina West
should play Edna. And he said, who's Nina West? And
(17:07):
so I sent him all the stuff online of Nina
to Jack and he went and he loved the idea,
and so uh Adam flew in. He flew into New
York and we had a proper audition. Matt Lenz was there,
who's the associate director or co director for Jack O'Brien,
and myself and Jack and we put put put him
(17:30):
through the paces and he was fantastic and he left
and we just said, it's a no brainer. It's a
no brainer. He is cut from the cloth, you know,
divine Harvey Nina. It just goes right down. But most importantly,
he brings a genuine love and warmth to the role.
(17:52):
And and the other thing that was amazing about him
was because it's a different experience to be in a
musical and play a all and and Adams had tons
of musical theater experience and he kind of grew up
in our world. But it's a big show. He's sort
of the anchor of this tour. And he came to
(18:12):
the state, he came to the rehearsals, and he came
to the experience as if he knew nothing and wanted
to learn and was willing to listen and and take
that journey with Matt and Michelle, my associate choreographer, and
and Jack and I and it's just it's wonderful to
see how he has blossomed and made the role his own.
(18:34):
And I couldn't be more proud of him and and
his his and he's really he's really delivering out on
the road. And he's really it's when when when you
see the show, and if you haven't seen it, they're
they're they're in a sit down right now. But the
tour starts back up. I think it will by the
time this airs. It's it's up and running again. You
can go to tickets for hair Spray. It's Hairspray Tour
(18:54):
dot com. Yeah, I think hair Spray. Yeah, hair Spray
on tour dot com. Just Google. We live in Google
and Google tour. Got see it run, do not walk
to see the national tour of hair Spray with Nina West.
It's amazing. But when you see when you see him
play the role, what I think it did, which what
you said with you have divine Harvey, Nina, But the
(19:15):
way you said you had was it Jack watched uh
watch Rue Paul's and see what the kids are wearing,
see what the kids are doing. It's very much that
you see the new version of what Edna Turnblato is right,
you see it's it's it's got this this you like
(19:36):
youthfulness to it and kind of a reinvention while still
keeping with the same tropes that you want when you
see ed Edna play the role. You know, when you
see Edna and hair Spray, you want or you want
certain things to happen, and they happen, but they bring
this new kind of fun, drag energy to it. Yeah,
I think I think I think that's the thing. That's
also exciting for the show because hair Spray is twenty
(19:56):
years old. Can you believe it? I know, I wasn't
even born. It was first and so you know, here
it is out on the road. And yet Nina from
Rue Paul's is bringing a younger audience that light her
to see this musical, and the musical is being introduced
(20:17):
to a whole new couple of generations. New of young
people were coming to see and don't really know anything about.
They might know the movie, they might have seen it live.
But to see a musical like Hairspray live and in
person in a theater, it's a completely different experience than
seeing it on film or you know, on TV. It's
just live theater. Man, nothing like, nothing like it. I
(20:39):
mean I can talk for two for hours about it.
The the that when you see a Jerry Mitchell musical
it is. I said this to James, I said, this
is James, you have you have kinky boots like my favorite.
You have kinky boots, legally blonde hair Spray, pretty woman
right like you see the musicals and when you when
you see it, it's the gayest, most amazed sing thing
(21:00):
in the world because it's everything you want a musical
to be. It's like, you leave singing the songs, you
leave skipping, you you're you laugh, you cry, you're moved,
and it's just big. It's over the top, but it's perfect.
And that's what all and the and the lead characters
in each of them. You know, you have Lola, you
have Tracy um and what's the through ll sorry, and
(21:26):
you see them l Woods obviously, but you see oh god,
I mean we can talk about when I saw that
for the first time. That's whole another story. But they
the characters, the leads. You watch them on their journey
of trying to fit in and find their place in
the world. And I think that's the common denominator in
in in all the leads and I but they're so
they're such powerful characters, and they go through such a
(21:49):
growth in each musical. So you just they're exactly what
you want a musical to be when you see them,
because they find the lead of the musical is always
a character who's a little bit larger than life, I mean,
or is dealing with something that's larger than life. I mean,
I think that's easy to make them sing and dance,
but Also, most of the musicals that I'm attracted to
(22:12):
in those stories that you've mentioned, their musicals that I
think the audience leaves with a sense of hope. I
hope they leave with a sense of hope, you know,
for something a little bit better than when they walked in.
I mean, come on, that's that's something. When you walk
out of the theater, you've been entertained and you leave
with a sense of hope. I'll take that any day
of the week, any single day of the week. And
(22:34):
I wanna I was telling James about this because I
have in each of the musicals, I have three each
of your. My three favorite musicals are Kinky Boots, Hairspray,
Legally Blonde, and Wicked or four. Those are my four
favorites right now. I can ask you about three of them,
but I will ask you about the fourth two. But
in each of them, there's always each Jerry Mitchell production,
there's always something really special that is so minute and
(22:58):
so stupid and so silly that it sticks with me
and it's my favorite part of the musical. It's my
favor I'm gonna tell you my favorite parts musical. Are
you ready? Legally Blonde? Legally blonde. The choreography is so
dumb when you when when the when the girl when
(23:22):
she comes in and oh my god, you guys, the
song and the girl brings the new dress and all
the girls go to the side of their mouth. They
realize that the jig is up and they've caught the
sales girl and it's not gonna happen. The girls go,
oh my god, Oh my god, you guys, and then
they're talking out the side of their mouth. And then
when it gets to the point where she says that
(23:45):
they have the new dress and everything's happening, and she
changes into the new pink dress, and it's the whole thing.
The choreography. The girls are so stunned and so excited
that they can't do anything except jump up down and
move their arms like an inch because they're so stunned
and excited that they can't do it. And that's how
(24:08):
I feel when I'm watching a Jerry Mitchell musical. I'm
just like, oh my god, oh my god, you guys.
And that was the moment that I related to the
girls on stage. I go, yes, you can get it. Yes,
do you know what I'm talking about? I know exactly
what you I I demonstrated it for them. I want
to know. I was watching you do it. It's it's
my favorite part. Number two favorite part Kinky Boots when
(24:32):
she's singing into the air gun and her hair blows back.
What's the name of the song, I'm too excited to
think of it. Yeah, when she takes the air gun
and she blows it. Whose idea was that? Was that? Yours? Yeah?
I mean, just a genius. But come on, it doesn't
matter what you do. When you have Annalie ash For
(24:54):
to create a number by you're done. You have the
greatest comic uh you know, clown clown heart heart, clown
with a heart in the in the world. Annalie Ashford,
who was an original, my original Margot and Legally Blonde,
don't forget that's right. Yeah, Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh.
(25:16):
So those are my two favorite parts of those musicals.
We'll get to the next one. I want to know
what are your favorite parts of each, Like, there's a
little moment in hair Spray, there's a moment in Kicking Boots.
There's a moment Legally Blond that happens. You're you, You're
it's your They're all your babies. But what's your like
one favorite moment of each of these musicals. I've always
wanted to ask you every second of them. I mean,
(25:36):
you know, there's gonna be something that just sticks out
where you go, oh that always makes me chuckle. Really,
really really, there's so many crazy moments that were created,
and just so many moments that were cut that were
you know, you end up cutting from shows that you think, oh,
that's really great, and then it gets in front of
the audience it just dies and you go have to
cut it. But uh, you know, too many, too many
(25:58):
favorite moments create e The conveyor belt number in Kinky
Boots was a highlight. Being able to do the whole montage,
the Legally Blonde, all of those big sections, the Legally
Blonde remix, the opening section, but the Irish dancing with
Andy carl and or Fay. I mean, you know, there
were a lot of people who really didn't think it
(26:20):
was funny. They said, nobody's gonna laugh at and I went,
let's just wait and see what happens. Let's just wait
and see. And of course we got in front of
an audience and they lost their ship and I said, yeah,
I think it's funny, and I think other people think
it's funny too, So you know, you just gotta trust
your gut and go with it, and um, you know, Hairspray.
(26:41):
For me, the thing that was most exciting about hair
Spray was being able to create that musical with Mark
and Scott, who I was friends with for like twenty
years before Hairspray happened, and to be able to be
there with them on their very first Broadway views goal
and then it becomes such a big successful hit that
(27:04):
was just you know, amazing. Yeah, so y'all talking musicals
and all this Broadway stuff, But like you remember, I'm
a Vegas boy. I spent all that time in Vegas.
I remember what a lot of y'all might not know.
I'm gonna use I'm gonna use this voice to tell
you Jerry had an adult show in Las Vegas called
Deep Show and on another level, like it just Broadway show.
(27:29):
This is how Jerry Mitchell does a Vegas adults show.
And the number for me that stood out in that
I still remember the way you did milkshake in that show.
Oh my gosh, it was so good. Uh it was.
It was. It was a revealing number to say the
least um but oh my got we got an a
milk tank and took a milkbath, as one does in
(27:52):
any Jerry Mitchell. Anytime you with Jerry, you're in a
milk bath, because it's always like with Jerry, it's like okay,
like what what you would normally do, and then Jerry
like mantages to find the thing that's like that time's ten.
I don't know where they find the budgets for these things,
but they remember. I remember flying into Vegas when I
had the idea to put the girls in a tank
of milk. And and Armando far Fan, who works there
(28:16):
and does all the apparatus is and the flying stuff
and everything, and he did he did all the stuff
for like pink and and I said, Armando, I need
somebody to build the milk tank that will hold the girls.
And they're gonna like push up against the glass and
show pieces of them and they will disappear against the milk.
And he said, let me call some people. You know,
those people who created the big fish tanks at Caesar's
(28:37):
Palace when you go through the mall. I think they're
the ones who built the milk tank because you know,
once you get a big tank and you fill it
with water and milk, you know, that's a lot of
pressure on the walls. And they had and people get
in it, and how is it not just gonna like
bust apart and milk go all over the stage. They
had to really do some some research on how to
(28:59):
be on that milk tank. Wait, Jerry, was this real
milk in there every night? No? You know what it was?
They went to Costco and bought those big things a
creamer creamer like right, but they would put water in
and then fill it with creamer, and they had to
put a heater and so when the girls got in
it wasn't too cold. It was a whole It was
a whole situation. That's why everybody a show has such
(29:22):
good skin there every night exactly. And you know what,
And it was based on it was based on your
legendary show Broadway Bears, which we're going to talk about
when we get right back. Al Right, we are with
(29:46):
Broadway legend Jerry Mitchell, and we were just talking about
how his show in Vegas, Peep Show, was based off
of Broadway Bears, which is a legendary event that happens
in New York City for what thirty years out twenty years?
What is it? This is going to be the thirtieth
anniversary show this year this year. But and for people
(30:06):
listening that might not know, can you explain to them
everything about what Broadway Bears is. I was in a
little show called Will Rogers Folly. It was the last
show I danced in on Broadway, and I was in
the opening production number. I was one of the wranglers,
but I also was the Indian of the Dawn and
I danced in the zig Field production number with a headdress,
(30:27):
bells on my wrist, spells on my ankles, and nothing
on my backside. So my bum was basically on stage
on Broadway every night for the whole audience to see.
And if you've seen the photos of Jerry back then,
you understand what's why he's so popular. Go on, I was,
I was. I had a very popular bum back then,
(30:48):
and you know I was snatched. And you know Broadway Broadway, um,
the zig Felt follies. You know the girls used to
get diamonds and sapphires and flowers and backs them. Well,
during the Will Rogers Follies, I was getting the diamonds
and sapphires I got. I got a diamond and sapphire
necklace sent to me backstage from Valentino and other gifts.
(31:13):
Jerry Mitchell's asked, was that good, guys other admirers sent me?
But um, and it was lovely and very sweeten you know,
we got to meet and it was lovely, but um,
but I basically um just realized. Oh and my my
dressing roommates. We were trying to raise money for Broadway
Care Secuity Fight Saints at the time, and uh some
(31:36):
and you know you can only do so many bake sales, right,
So somebody said you should go dance on the bar
and splash downtown in that costume and raise some money
for Broadway cares. And literally a light bulb went off
over my head. I had never choregraphed to Broadway show yet.
I wanted to choreograph Broadway show, but I was trying
to look for that opportunity. So I called some friends.
I put together my version of the Chippendales or Magic
(31:58):
Mike on stage at Splash. Eight guys, we made eight
thousand dollars. I said, I can do this better. All
add girls we made seventeen thousand dollars. Six months there,
I said, I can do this better all add of theme.
A year later we did the third Broadway Bears. We
made thirty seven thousand dollars at bump USA and it
just kept building and building, and it went from eight
(32:18):
to thirty, to forty to fifty to a hundred dancers
until this year. The last one we did before the pandemic,
we had two hundred dancers and we made two million
dollars in one night doing a burlesque show at Hammerstein
Ballroom in New York. This year will be the thirtieth anniversary.
We have over a hundred and fifty dancers participating, backstage designers, choreographers,
(32:42):
and we will hopefully well over a million dollars. And
we've made collectively since the first Broadway Bears to this date,
I think something like twenty three million dollars for Broadway Cares,
Equity Fight States, and it all goes to Broadwaycares and
Fight Sates. It is inspired Vegas Bears, San Francisco Bear.
We just did the second Italy Bears. We've done ten
(33:03):
versions of Weston Bears, and all of these organizations are
running money, raising money for AIDS organizations locally and to
fight the stigma associated with HIV and AIDS. And that's
sort of that's sort of what it does. Just phenomenal.
I mean, it is phenomenal. Here you say that number,
and and here you say how it started and to
(33:23):
where I got Maybe you know I did the Vegas
Broadway bears? Did you did you show your ass? It's
a great as if you slide into my d M
if you want pictures of it. It was hone of
a prime. I was like, let's let's make some money
for for babe. James. My husband right now is you know,
in his late twenties, but when he was in his
(33:44):
early twenties and was doing Chippen nails, he was his
his everything about him physically was just on point. And
I always see photos of it and I go, how's
come you wasted that on all your ex's. I don't
get Chippendale's James heart. You know what I get his heart,
And that's just much that's much better. And that's that's
what I'm here. I mean, it ain't bad for me,
(34:09):
Like I like when Jonathan has a couple of extra cheeseburgers,
Like I like that he's always trying to feed mens.
So you're getting you getting the daddy version of me.
Which but so But Broadway Bears, let me tell you this.
I remember the first time when and saw it. It
was with my late friend Michael Lane, who passed away
but since then, but we we went in two thousand
(34:29):
one or two thousand two in New York to see it.
You were that young, you must have lost your mind.
I had just moved to New York City from Ohio,
like you know, Midwest theater kid, just wide eyed and
bushy tailed, and Michael goes and knowing I was the
biggest musical theater freak in the world. He and also
being from Ohio, you didn't see many like attractive guys
(34:50):
that were like also gay or also performers. Right, it
was like there were slim pickens in my town. You
get to the show, and the whole Broadway Bears show
happens where everyone's scantily clad and living their best, fiercest life,
and everything's about raising money for AIDS, and everyone just
talking about it openly. And I just remember looking at
him and I just go, this happens Like I couldn't
(35:15):
imagine a world where like this existed, and to be
sitting there and watching it for the first time, it's
it literally takes your breath away. So if you don't
have tickets and you're listening to this, or you you
want to go see it and you're debating, please please
please go online check it out. You should go see
the show because it's unbelievable. It is, it's unbelievable. You
can go to Broadway Cares dot org. We're gonna do
(35:37):
the show on June at Hammerstein Ballroom, which is Gay
Pride Sunday Night here in New York City. It is
going to be the gayest night of the year. That's right.
We're celebrating thirty years of Broadway Bears. What a great
way to celebrate pride. You can go to the Pure Dance.
You can come to Broadway Bears. Then you can go
with your friends to out dancing afterwards. You can just
(35:58):
have the gayest night of your life. You really can
like And that's the theme of the show. This month
is the gayest time of our lives. And speaking of that,
we are we are all about this is podcast, So
we're all about celebrating pride and and and talking about
gay history and in order for us to know where
we're going in the world with our history, we always
(36:19):
have to remember where we came from. So we like
to do a little segment Jerry that we call this
Week in Gay History. James, what do we have this
week in Gay History? Alright, So this one actually we
chose because we know we're talking to Jerry Mitchell in
New York, basically like the King of New York. At
this point, this is a New York history moment. So
let's take it back to this week. In nineteen twenty six,
(36:41):
the Greenwich Village Ball took place. It was an extravagant
ball at Webster Hall. Our producer gave us the address,
so it must be iconic. So I'm gonna say one
nineteen East eleventh Street in New York City. Yeah. So
these balls were a common thing back in the nineteen twenties.
What was cool about it was it was a place
where queer endo viduals could come and be themselves and
(37:03):
safely be themselves. And they were originally invited by different
groups that we're having these parties, and then that eventually
led to the gay and queer community throwing their own parties.
Where I mean this is the nineteen twenties. Guys were
coming and drag they were coming and just to be
expressing themselves and and being themselves and dancing with one another.
And it was it was a I guess, like the
(37:25):
kind of a movement. It was really the birth of
a movement. But like you have to think about, like
we talked about this history stuff, so we can realize
where we're at now and how far we've come and
make sure that we learned from it. They were able
to do this in the nineteen twenties because they were
paying off the police. They were doing everything they could
to keep from being raided, to keep from being stopped.
And so now like when we get to have these
beautiful moments where we get to enjoy each other's company
(37:45):
and be ourselves, like we got to remember like work.
I recently read something about the balls at Webster Hall
in the twenties, and you know, have you been watching
the new HBO series Gilded Age. Yes, so a lot
of the very wealthy families attended these balls. They went
down there and attended these balls because the asters and
(38:07):
the others went to these balls, not because their family
members were gay. But maybe that's why. But also because
it was such a celebration of life and something that
was not going on, you know, in other places openly.
And um, I was reading something about it. I read
it online. I'll have to find it and send it
(38:27):
to you. But there's something about they were being attended
by some of the aristocrats, aristocrats of New York at
the period. You know, by the way we did that's
where we did Peep Show at Webster Hall. Wow. So
that isn't we have two Broadway Bears at at Webster Hall,
the Bears Show on Earth seven and eight Peep Show,
which then was the Peep Show that came to Vegas
(38:50):
starring Melby and Holly Madison. Wow. Think about that. So
like the nineteen this was all starting and it led
to being able to have something like Peep Show and
Broadway Bears. There are so you always got to think
about what the people before us did and be very
appreciative of what they did to get us to where
we are. So thank you to the gay Eldes going
down in the twenties and here we are on pridecast.
(39:11):
I want to ask you, Jerry, because it means so
much to so many different people, and it always means
it's a different definition for each person. We like to
ask what does pride mean to Jerry Mitchell um. I
think for me personally, the journey of being proud and
being gay from where I came in Michigan, where I
(39:35):
didn't know a single gay person when I was growing up.
There was no will and grace. Right, I'm a I'm
a little older than you boys, not much, but a
little much. But but you know that the the the
idea that I was always proud. I just didn't know
there was anyone like me. And suddenly I got to
college in St. Louis and that was the first time
(39:56):
I met another gay person. And then I got to
New York City and I met so many young gay
lesbian people. It was also the beginning of the AIDS
epidemic in the nineteen eighties, which inspired me to do
Broadway Bears. But the pride is really in celebrating when
you know, I do say full out, but this month
I spell it f U l L lower case upper
(40:20):
case oh U T. Because the truth is, you have
to live your truth. You have to be completely out completely.
You have to let people know who you are and
what you stand for and what you believe, and it's
the only way to live a full life, whatever it is, right,
live your truth, live full out, and the rest will
take care of itself. No, that's so beautiful. I I
(40:43):
identify with that so much because be you know what
you just said with the will and grace, it really
triggered something in me. Being an actor. And you'll probably
understand this because you've probably seen other actors as well
and yourself being in shows. There was a difference between
growing up and being I was in movies like Mean
Girls and you know, all My Children and all the
(41:04):
soaps and all the things that I worked on for years.
This was pre Glee. This was pre the Ryan Murphy effect, right,
This was when it wasn't it wasn't so okay for
your male leads to be out and gay and living
their full life and doing what they what they want
to do. And then all of a sudden, all those
shows happen and the Ryan Murphy effect and all the
other things happen, and they say, Okay, now it's fine,
(41:27):
everyone can be out. And we have some actors like
me and some of my friends are sitting here who
have been had to be shoved in the closet because
we're told we weren't allowed to do that. And then
all of a sudden you have everyone saying Okay, it's fine,
and we're like, wait, guys, what about us, Like you
told us not to, but now you're saying we can.
So then we have to figure out how to live
full out and we have to figure out that journey
of how to come out again. Right, you have your
(41:50):
original coming adjustment a second time and make it publicly
when it was something you always were and wanted to be,
but we're told by the people in your business us
that it would hurt your career. Correct, correct, And when
you have when you have everyone handing you everything being
like when you've worked your whole life, like I've always
wanted to be an actor in my whole life, and
when you've worked your whole life for it and you're
(42:11):
given the opportunity to shine and you're finally you've you know,
quote unquote made it, and they're like, you can keep
all this as long as they don't know who you are,
because the minute they find out, this whole thing goes away.
So you'll do anything to protect that because it's your
whole dream. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, now that the term full out.
It is one of my favorite things. Anyone that works
(42:32):
with Jerry Mitchell knows of the term full out. It
is on his Instagram. It is what you use daily.
It is probably one of my favorite. Uh I want
to say branded moments for someone. I would call it
a branded moment for you because everyone that works with
you when they talk, they use it in their day
to day language. So explain where it comes from and
(42:54):
what it means, because it's just such part of theater culture.
I've been using the term with dancers for forty years
and I just scream it when I expect them to
go for it all the way, don't hold back, no marking,
full out, show me everything, full out, all every every
ounce of energy you have, put it into the number right.
(43:17):
It's kind of how I dance anyways, as a person
when I'm when I was a dancer, I never marked.
I was probably people probably hated me when I was
young because I was. They probably called me spastic, really identify,
but you know, you know, I, um, yeah, I I
I'm I'm. Anne Miller was full out right every time
(43:37):
I saw her dance. She was full out when I
danced with her, said, Erice was full out. I danced
with her, you know, old school full out. Absolutely. I
always say you can mark when you're dead. Yeah, yeah,
you can mark when you're dad. Before we go, Jerry,
when want to do a couple of things. We want
to shine our big gay spotlight on someone. Every week,
(43:57):
we picked someone in the lgbt Q plus can unity
to shine our big gay spotlight on that's doing things
that are extraordinary for the community. Maybe it's someone that's famous,
maybe it's someone you don't know, but the point is
we want everyone to know how awesome this person is. James,
who are we shining a big gay spotlight on today?
All right, I'm shigning a big gay spotlight on I
hope I say her last name correct. Tina Cootech. Now
(44:19):
she's hoping to make political history again. So she was
the country's first out lesbian speaker of a state House
of Representatives back in She broke barriers once again now
because in Oregon, she is the Democratic nomination for governor.
So that would make her the first lesbian governor in
(44:41):
the United States of America. If she wins this race,
that's pretty cool because that just shows we are making
progress in all kinds of places, including Oregon. Jerry, is
there anyone you want to shine your big gay spotlight on?
Oh no, there's no want, want Okay, I want to
(45:02):
shine in the whole city of New York and the
whole country really for this safe and happy and wonderful
Pride month limit Yeah, it's important. Speaking speaking of Pride,
I want to ask you a question, because we asked
this to everybody. Jerry, what is the best part about
being part of the lgbt Q plus community. What's your
(45:23):
what's the best part of being gay? The Margharita's stupid.
Probably the dance moves. For me, it really is, it
really is. I mean, gays we just dance better. We
just do and and it's because we have more assassin
(45:44):
assassin our step and I think that's it's better. And
we dance longer, even older. That's right, because you know
what we are what full out we live out life.
Jerry Mitchell, thank you so much for joining us on
this episode podcast. I love you guys so much, and
I'm so glad I was here, and I'm sorry I
was late, but boy, I'm so happy you're doing this.
(46:06):
It's so important. We will always wait for you. We
will always wait for you, except if it's a five
minute till curtain, then the curtain is going up, whether
you're there or not. All right, I hope I see
you in l A soon. Alright. Go check out National
Tour of Hair Spray. Go check that out, Go watch,
go go online. Look up Broadway Bears, Egoity Fights next.
They're all happening right now live in person. Check them out,
(46:28):
Go get tickets, go see the shows. Jerry Mitchell, thank
you so much, And our small reminder to everyone as
we leave podcast, to remind everyone to be proud of
who you are and remember you are never too much
and you're always enough. Baby. You sped me through my
story at the beginning as soon as I said I
had a crush on the guy I didn't see because
(46:48):
I'm your husband and we had Jerry Mitchell waiting. So
why do you think I spent you through? But you
want to tell your story? Tell me? Was that I
got to be on stage with somebody that I had
a crush on, and I ever locked eyes with somebody
in a moment like that until that moment, and everybody
remembers their first game moment like different things along the
way right. And I remember my first game moment literally
(47:09):
taking the pitch out of my mouth because when I
locked eyes with him and was like, oh, he's cute.
I forgot completely how to sing in that moment. And
that is my Guys and Dolls experience. And maybe the
way that he took the pitch right out of my
mouth is the way you take my breath away every
time I see you, every single second of every single day.
(47:33):
So you don't gotta worry about if I had a
crust of somebody when I was fourteen years old. Guys
and Dolls, who I'm sorry, I'm throwing up right now.
We'll see you guys on the next episode of podcast
by
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