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November 14, 2023 52 mins

Broadway star and powerhouse vocalist Idina Menzel joins Kevin on the podcast this week. The two discuss the downside of green stage makeup, their shared goal of raising good humans, and Idina’s dream of amplifying the power of every young woman and gender-expansive youth through her organization, A BroaderWay Foundation. Executive Director Torya Beard joins the conversation to share the impact the organization is having and their dreams for the future. 

*Note: this interview was recorded before the SAG-AFTRA strike took effect.

To learn more and get involved with A BroaderWay, head to ABroaderWay.org. To support more initiatives like this program, text 'BACON' to 707070 or head to SixDegrees.Org to learn more. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The following episode was recorded before the WGA sag Aftra
strikes of twenty twenty three.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
You know, theater is something that has really been important
to me in my life. I moved to New York
and was really really tapped into the New York theater
scene off Broadway. Still go to theater all the time,
see as many shows as I can.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
And today's guest is something that I have never been,
which is a major, major Broadway star. So whether you've
sung the song Defying.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Gravity or let it go on repeat, there's no doubt
that you have heard her name, Adina Menzel.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
This is going to be a good one. I'm glad
you're here. I want to introduce Dina Menzel, who is
an incredible performer, a giant of Broadway, of all entertainment.

(01:06):
Thank you so much for coming out and hanging out
with me today.

Speaker 4 (01:10):
Thank you for that incredible introduction. I'm so I'm one
of your I'm been a fan of yours since forever.
So just to hear you say all that and then
be included in this is is is such a gift.
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
Hey, listen, we don't I got I have. I'm embarrassed
to say this we were chatting before we broll. But
you know, I am I'm getting to the age where
I start to forget who I've worked with and who
I haven't worked with, And so.

Speaker 4 (01:45):
I have not worked with you.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
We have not worked together, yes, but I want I'm
embarrassed to say that I've just I've figured out a
way that I can avoid getting into a situation with
someone that I'm meeting for the first time and saying
nice to meet you, and then they turned around and said,
you know, we did a love scene, yeah, ten years ago.
So there's a thing called the call sheet for people

(02:09):
that don't know. And it's this piece of paper that
you that you can look at your on your way
to the work if it's a movie or a television show,
and it tells you all the people that you're about
to work with. And I go onto this website and
I'm not going to mention the name of the website
because they're not paying me anything. But there's this website
where you can put people's names in. I can put
my name in. Then I can click on this little
button that says connections, and it will actually tell me

(02:32):
the connection to the person. In other words, it's almost
playing the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game for you
or for anybody else. So I clicked on it, and
here are our connections. Maybe you know or maybe you
don't know. The first one that popped up was that
you were in a movie called Just a Kiss with
Kira Sedgwick. Yeah, so that is our connection. And the

(02:57):
other one I also have to mention, which is a
little bit more obscure, but all so super cool is it?
In nineteen seventy seven, I was in acting school with
Winnie Holtzman.

Speaker 4 (03:10):
Huh oh really that's a great one.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yeah, great connection. Who you can tell people what Whatny
Holtzman did.

Speaker 4 (03:16):
Winnie Holtzman, she wrote the was in his screenplay. She
is writing that too. She wrote the book to Wicked
the musical, and she's did my so called life and
tons of things Wicked. She gave the voice, the speaking
voice to Alphaba and Glinda. And yeah, she's a friend,

(03:37):
had a great actress. She's actually in she's in Jerry Maguire.
She's one of those women's sitting in the living room
where they're all doing that like men bashing thing, and
she's one of those women.

Speaker 3 (03:48):
Yeah, yeah, that's right. That's right. Well, for those of
you that don't know, Adina was in Wicked in an
incredible She was wicked and wicked and just me, it
was such age and.

Speaker 4 (04:01):
You were nice. I don't know if you remember, and
it's totally okay. It's about it's for me to remember
because I was new and upcoming, and anytime celebrities came
backstage that's a big deal for me. And you probably
did it like every day of your life. But you
and Kira and all the kids came backstage after Wicked
and said hi to me.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
Oh, I had a feeling we might have, but I
didn't want to embarrass myself and say that I had
done that when I hadn't.

Speaker 4 (04:22):
Oh, that's awesome, And I want you to know also
that probably because I was meeting you, I still want
to be respectful of your wife, but because you're cute
and sexy, I probably wanted to get my green makeup
off before I met you so I could meet you
like as myself and not as a green witch, which
which was probably was one of the the occupational hazards

(04:44):
was when I meet like the cute men, I'd have
to like either I'd have to run in the shower
and try to get the green off quickly and then
like look pretty, or I just meet you as the
wicked witch and then you never knew who I was
when I meet you in other places.

Speaker 3 (04:58):
That's so funny. So we waited like four hours to
meet you?

Speaker 4 (05:02):
Then, No, I didn't make you wait four hours.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
But oh, that's really interesting. Okay, So did you always
take did you always take everything off? I mean like
if the president came or.

Speaker 4 (05:15):
Something, you wouldn't yet, well know, because I didn't want
to keep people waiting, So maybe weren't as important because
it's there you go.

Speaker 3 (05:21):
Okay, So I didn't make the I didn't make the
met or in the makeup list.

Speaker 4 (05:26):
No, it's all about vanity and looks and putting on
a good, you know face for you. How do you know?

Speaker 3 (05:31):
I feel about that backstage thing, Like I'm kind of
conflicted about it sometimes because I kind of feel like,
I don't know, you know, when we go to the theater.
On one hand, if I if I really appreciate some
someone's performance, you know, I I want to go back
and tell them. On the other hand, I feel like
sometimes it like the backstage hang can become a performance

(05:53):
of its own and it and it is it's it's
like asking too much, do you know. I mean even
like vocally right, you know, it's you know, your your
instrument is like so tired and to keep and talking,
as we know, is really much harder on your voice
than singing is. So yes, like to have to chat
it up with KB and KS and they're annoying kids.

Speaker 4 (06:15):
I mean, yeah, that was my pleasure, and it was
probably it was one of the highlights, I will say,
but I hear you. It's it's all part of the job.
Like I find. Yeah, it's hard because you don't want
to talk too much and you're trying to do eight
shows a week, or when I'm on tour in a concert,
you know, I try to do the meet and greets after,

(06:36):
not before. But but then you'll also have to enjoy it,
you know. I mean it's just it's so isolating, especially Broadway,
when you have a big taxing role and then you're
just you know, you're not socializing and you're going home
or you're just seeing a movie or you know, and
so you got to take in those moments when people
like you I've looked up to my whole life, you know,

(06:57):
are coming backstage and I've seen my performance. I have
to take those moments in and I think I started
realizing more. I realized that more when I had walked
orod my son, who's now twelve. You know, having a
baby helped me just chill out a little bit more
as far as the performance and the perfectionism part of things,
because it was like, I'm not going to hit that

(07:18):
no one, but he had a fever. I was up
all night. I wasn't gonna like not be with my
son when he was sick. So I'm gonna sound shitty
and that's it. And then I'd end up sounding actually
really good because I was just more out of my
head and just happy I showed up. And you know,
so the expectation changed of myself and would that I

(07:40):
became more more liberated. I found so the more I
tried to just enjoy and not think of oh my god,
you know, I mean, I'm smart and I don't drink
and smoke and all that in the middle of a run.
But that allowed myself to have a life.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yeah. Well that's interesting because a lot of people, I
think have the misconception that when you have children that
now you have given up the fire in your belly
in some kind of fig and that you can't and
that you can't make these two things exist in one
perfect sort of combination, or that you will lose somehow,

(08:21):
you know, the edge. They feel the same way oftentimes
about you know, getting married or or you know, other
other sort of normal kind of things. And and to
hear that you actually feel more relaxed as a performer
once you once you have a child and and the
balance of your problems kind of shifts and you start

(08:42):
to appreciate that. That's a that's really cool. But by
the way, I don't know if there is a note
that you can't hit, so oh.

Speaker 4 (08:50):
You can find them, uh, and they're out there, especially
with social media, and they're not fun, but yeah, thank
you for saying that, but they're definitely out there. Because
the other thing is that I'm not from the auto
tune generation, so which I'm not judging by the way,
because there's some great stuff you can do, and that

(09:10):
actually is a we can get into that after. But
the point being is that because I'm from the theater too,
and I was a wedding singer when I was when
I was like teenager before I got, you know, my
first professional job. I just I'm all about, you know,
being real and being live, which means that if you're

(09:31):
in New Year's Eve in Times Square and it's zero
degrees weather, lip syncing might be a good thing for you,
you know, because then you just sound great. You don't
have to worry that your voice closes up when you
hit the heiha at the end of the song. But no,
I had to just you know, I knew that all
the all the fans in the theater would be want
to know if I hit it, if I sang it

(09:51):
in the original key, So I kept it in the
original key. I mean, so much ego involves, Like sometimes
my ego gets the best of me, and I think
I have to sing it in the original key and
want to do it for Brila and be the real deal,
and then I end up, you know, screwing it up,
and then people say horrible things about me. So well,
where are a lot of people out there that use
it as a tool so that they can keep going.

Speaker 3 (10:13):
And I think that you have a certain you know,
you've got a certain kind of pressure on you because
you have such an incredible instrument and such a range
that you know, and and and and and and the
ability to sing with such force and such such you know,

(10:36):
volume and passion that people tend to, uh, you know,
want something from you technically, you know what I mean,
and and and that you know that like I I mean,
I'm someone that can really appreciate a voice like yours

(10:56):
and admire it and also appreciate Bob Dylan, you know,
I mean I exactly.

Speaker 4 (11:01):
There are times where I wish I was I I
enjoy I wish the people that I listen to are
the people that have those textures to their voices that
maybe aren't as acrobatic as me, that tell a story
just with one note because the sound of living in
their voice. And I actually try to counteract some of

(11:23):
my technical aspects and the technician and me. And also
have found that those times when I've been performing under
the weather, really bad argument with someone in my life,
you know, something whatever, something going on that first of all,

(11:47):
people won't realize half the time unless it's New Year's even,
but they don't. They still feel, they still feel the
emotion of the performance, and they don't need all that stuff.
And so that it's something I've had to learn that's not.
I'm not wrapped up. That's not my identity, you know,
all wrapped up in these high notes, like you're saying that.

(12:09):
I get it. But I can still move people and
just tell a story with my voice. I don't have
to sing these crazy high long notes. I don't have
to impress that all the time.

Speaker 3 (12:19):
And let me just say that, you know, very impressive
is your own uh songwriting and you're singing of your
own stuff because Broadway is nothing. You know, you're you're
delivering someone else's, uh your spin on someone else's material.
But they're but correct me if I'm wrong. You know,
the notes are very specific. They're they're they're they're written,

(12:39):
and you're supposed to sing them the way that the
component wrote them. There's no there's no really for improvisation
in a in a Broadway score. But I mean I
listened to okay, I mean I really I'm sort of
feeling bad about this because we were just talking about it.
But uh uh Queen of Swords, which I think did
you write that one?

Speaker 4 (12:58):
I co wrote it?

Speaker 3 (12:59):
I can't write yeah, no, oh, I love that. I
love that song and there is that quick but what
is that note? There is a crazy note in there.
I mean, I'm sorry, sorry to bring it back to that,
but that was me.

Speaker 4 (13:11):
Yeah, those are moments where I'm like, I'm going to
try to emulate what Chaka Khan would do. At the
end of this, I usually give myself little in the studio. Yeah,
people go, how do you bel to Dina teach it?
I'm like, oh, I just listened to shakakanor Areta and
then I try to imitate them and whatever comes out
close to that.

Speaker 3 (13:30):
But it's a really super cool song. I love that.
It kind of reminds me a little of like Toto.
I don't want to get too much in the weeds
on yeah, on the on on your your songs, But
I mean there are a couple more that I just
want to mention that I also love, which is, uh,
I do did you write that one too?

Speaker 4 (13:48):
Yeah? I can't believe you're picking up these cool songs
that people do not know and that I'm very proud of.

Speaker 3 (13:54):
Well that you don't know them, you should check them out.
I mean, uh, Dina, you know the.

Speaker 4 (13:59):
Truth that it's your making the songs that have a
kind of an edgier vibe, and that's you know, like
if a Dell Disese put out an album, she would
put out some crazy efanescence like rock headbanging. I mean
there's a side of me that wants because I can't
seem to shed the Broadway just to digress for you know,

(14:22):
no matter what music I put out, it will always
have like Broadway people. If you listen to these people,
then you would like this music. And I'm like, this
is a like a funky ass rock to And now
you're putting you know, Carol Channing as a listening let

(14:43):
me go, let me reply, you know, so thank you
for picking those songs that have some edge too.

Speaker 3 (14:54):
But I can just mention one more and that is
a perfect story and the reason that I love this song.
I think about this song. I mean, you know, if
you go to I think it should be required listening.
You know, when you go to a wedding, it's you know,

(15:15):
selling very good time or having a gel or you
know whatever it is. And then there's that's that's that
green Day song that they always play graduations and and
this song should be required for children of divorced parents.
It is such a touching, moving the story about what

(15:43):
sort of how to how to handle that I mean,
I you know, my my wife is a child of
divorced parents, and and uh she thought the song was
beautiful and and uh, I'm not. But I just think
it's I think it's just think it's a gem.

Speaker 4 (15:59):
Thank you. It's funny that whenever I go to the
studio to work on new music, my son walk Girls goes,
could you write me like a happy song? Only something
you wrote for me is sad divorced song to writes
something about me being like a powerful boy and good
at basketball. I'm like, I'll try, I'll try to fit that.
But yeah, it's us. It gets better for anyone out

(16:23):
there going through it. And and my ex husband, Tay
and I are good friends. And he is in that
movie with Kira that're talking about, and there's probably he's
probably you guys have probably done something together. I don't know,
but it's hard. It's just the most important thing. I
really just stressed to people because I watch friends doing
it even now. It's just not speaking badly, disparagingly about

(16:47):
each other to in front of the kids. It's just
whatever you do, it's just and that's and that's no
matter what differences we had. He's been really incredible about
both of us, about respecting each other in that way,
but just yeah, just like kind of failing and not
that I came from divorced parents, so I had sworn

(17:08):
I wasn't going to do that, you know, and that
idyllic perfects upbringing whatever that means, quote unquote and failing
my son and not giving that to him. Of course,
now he's twelve, and I realize what a cool kid
he is, and he's got this great dad and a
great step dad and they love each other, and he's
got like two rooms and lots of two things and

(17:30):
lots of love, and he's going to be a really
cool person, probably grown up because he's experienced this in
his life. So I wish I would have let myself
off the hook back then, but I just felt so
like such a failure, you know.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yeah, and you're also trying to I mean I think that,
you know, I can't speak for a woman's experience, but
I would think that also trying to have a career
and be a mom at the same time is a
I mean, I've seen it, you know secondhand that it
is a very very challenging life.

Speaker 4 (18:05):
Yeah, it's wanting things for yourself when you're supposed to
be giving everything to your family. You know, it's so contradictory.
They're just contradicting terms and it doesn't need to be,
but it just it's constant, just feels it's constant guilt,

(18:27):
and you know, being away and how long and is
that okay? And or just being in my home and
not giving them all my time and you know working
and yeah, so.

Speaker 3 (18:41):
Speaking of parents, were your parents how did they feel
about you choosing this life? Was there like a day
when you told them?

Speaker 4 (18:48):
Or was it just just I was always saying how
about you? I was always singing, you know, jumping up
from behind the couch. And uh, my dad was a
little bit more uh hesitance, you know, made sure you
mine are in business. My mom was always do what
you love, got me the lessons, told me she didn't

(19:09):
want me to work as a kid. Kid. How young
were you when you started? Were you really young or
just wow? Teens?

Speaker 3 (19:16):
Well, I mean professionally, I kind of guess I kind
of started when I got out of high school.

Speaker 4 (19:22):
Okay, but yeah, she didn't want me doing it before then,
so which I'm glad. I'm glad about that because uh,
you know, I went to summer camp and had pretty
normal life and was in the school plays. And because
it comes in Long Island, says at Long Island. Yeah,
and then I went to n y U and that

(19:44):
was even hard to be. And I went there to
tish and everything for theater. But it's even hard to be.
I know, everyone loves at school, but it's hard to
be in Manhattan studying. You feel like everyone's doing something
and you got it's like I'm ready to be I
was ready to be out instead of just being some
we're on a campus somewhere and just enjoying learning and
studying and being in the school place. You know, a

(20:05):
clock already. And so I always tell people go somewhere more.

Speaker 3 (20:10):
Yeah, there's a lot of distractions in New York. Yeah,
and you have You've got you know, Broad Broadway there
just screaming at you.

Speaker 4 (20:17):
You know, yeah, you should be doing something, you should
be going in Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (20:22):
I mean, I mean, on the other hand, I would
think that that became, you know, a kind of a
driving force for you, you know, at a pretty young age, right.

Speaker 4 (20:30):
And the diversity and outside of school, like just being
surrounded by so many people with different passions and that
I mean, I think being in Manhattan is the education
itself at that age, you know, coming out of that
very homogenized white neighborhood and Long Island and being able

(20:54):
to see the rest of the world there. So that
was the the education really. Yeah, but yeah.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
That's a great education. Uh you know, but you know,
I like to I like to say that we one
of the things that is important to in terms of like, uh,
living your life and trying to expose yourself to a
lot of different kinds of people is that that's what
you're gonna have. Those are the people you're gonna have
to play. You know, You're you're you're probably not going

(21:28):
to be asked to play, uh, you know, a Broadway
singer too often, you know, so you have to you
have to go and and uh make yourself available and
keep your heart open and and and and that's one
of the great things that I found about. Yeah. I
moved to New York when I was seventeen, and that

(21:48):
whole giant I mean, even though I grew up in
the in Philly and the city, but that whole world
was so influential on me in terms of the people
that I was going to have to play and continues to.

Speaker 4 (22:00):
But you've played such a variety and so then it
makes you probably the empathed person that you are because
you've you've played people from all sides of politics and
spectrum of you know, people's morality and I mean everything.
So you've really you're forced to really look at life
from so many different through so many different lenses. That

(22:22):
makes you That's why, like what you're saying in your introduction,
with these six degrees and everybody sort of seeing something
in one another, that's probably why you're the perfect one
to do this because as an actor, I mean, as actors,
we we can get typecasts, but you don't. You play everybody,
and so you've had to like really do research.

Speaker 3 (22:43):
And I try, I try, just keep doing shit against
the wall to see what sticks. So when you talk
about I mean, I'm so many people have mentioned this
to you before, but you happen, you don't happen. You've
been in these incredibly iconic sort of UH projects and

(23:04):
roles like Wicked and Rent uh which which by the way,
we also loved that we probably didn't come backstage, or
did we You might.

Speaker 4 (23:14):
Have had and and I want to remember it if
you did.

Speaker 3 (23:18):
I mean I think I I think I probably went
to so I read probably four times. But uh Frozen obviously,
I mean, wow, what what you talk about? Iconic piece
of pop culture? Uh, Glee, all these things. I don't
think it's obviously there's no coincidence that you keep bending

(23:41):
up in these things. You are obviously a big part
of what makes those things explode in the way that
they do. Do you ever like that has your career
journey or where you've ended up. Does it ever take
you by some prize? Do you ever stop and go

(24:02):
I'm surprised, like something like something really surprises you.

Speaker 4 (24:07):
Yeah, all the time. Well, first of all, let me
bring it down here. Yes, I'm very proud of those
zeitgeist moments that I'm a part of, but they are
like once each decade, So in between them, there's a
lot of uh am I going to work again, obscurity moments,
getting dropped from record deals, you know, different things that

(24:33):
maybe are the things that give us the enduring, you know,
the endurance that we need to stay afloat and keep
wanting to be in this business. Maybe, so that's not
all like it happens to me, and then it goes away.
So then I have to appre I appreciate where I've
been and that I had to work myself back up
to get there. And so yeah, but but yes, I'm

(24:55):
starting to say to myself, now, oh there's a nice
there's a nice pattern. They're of these these beautiful roles
that are all sort of all connect with like a
young audience, no matter how much older I keep getting.
It's about really helping people embody and and and be uh,
their their strength and the you know, celebrating the the

(25:20):
unsung hero, the the maybe the marginalized person or whatever.
What is that about? What is it about for me?

Speaker 3 (25:28):
That?

Speaker 4 (25:28):
And so chicken or the egg? Of course, I don't know.
I'm just I don't look at gift horse in the mouth.
I'm just I'm happy because I don't know. I don't
know why I have I'm just very seekful. I mean, yeah,
maybe I have a way of recording, I have a
way my voice has something in it, you know. I
don't know. I just I know that when the understudy

(25:50):
comes on, nobody they all still come in and watch
the show. They don't leave, they don't all return their tickets.
So it's obviously this I always see is my way
of putting myself down. And like Kevin Bagin's, give me
a couple of it. Just take it, you know, just
shut up. Yes, I'm amazing. I don't know why.

Speaker 3 (26:09):
It's because you have the ability to find the humanity
in a witch, you know. I mean, like, so that's
that's really what it's about, you know, for for an
audience to sit there and and you know, see a
witch and find humanity or or an animated character and
you know, bring it to life. I think that's really

(26:31):
to me that that's what that's what that's what I
would I feel. Thank you, you know, and thank you
for pointing out that we do have peaks and valleys
in our careers, because so often people just look from
afar and you know, I think that at a certain point,
not everyone thinks that the struggle is over. And I

(26:54):
don't think I've ever talked to an actor that just goes, okay,
that's it now. I can just ca I did it.
I can just kick back, you know. It's it's we're
we're we're because we've all been unemployed and because we
well I can't talk for everybody, I can tell you
for myself. If I'm when a job ends, that's not

(27:18):
a vacation, that's like the beginning of the hunt for
the next day. So like I've tried to learn in
my life.

Speaker 4 (27:28):
To enjoy that time a.

Speaker 3 (27:31):
Week, no, not really, but to take a week to
actually call something a vacation, right, because I know that
the time in between is not it's I mean, I'm
getting a little better at it, but but but I
do think that, you know, I'll mention to people, well,
you know, that was a really kind of a rough time,
and you know, in my career, they're like, what what,

(27:53):
why are you what are you talking about? Because they
just don't nobody can really like understand that there are
these peoples and valleys and that, as you pointed out,
we are oftentimes very very hard in ourselves.

Speaker 4 (28:07):
But even within the job, even within the I'm sorry, no, no, no,
and in the job and for me, I'm going back
and forth to theater and film and TV and record
it in a studio which is a very solitary place,
and then being on tour in front of lots of
people singing myself, you know, like I feel like I
never my Like right now I'm doing a film and

(28:30):
I always feel like it's the first time because I'm
going back and forth to different medium. So the muscle
I'm flexing is always I'm like, wait, what camera is
as closed as this?

Speaker 3 (28:40):
What?

Speaker 4 (28:40):
You know? I just I never feel experienced when I
go back to something, even the same with going back
to do the stage thing, and it's like, and that's
beautiful that there's I'm not it's not predictable, but I
also like to feel like an expert once in a while,
and I never do.

Speaker 3 (28:56):
You know, Wow, I just want want to ask you
one more, uh show biz question, and that is about
Uncut Gems, which is one of my favorite movies. I
absolutely love that movie. I loved you in the movie,
you know, Adam Sandler was fantastic and and Kevin Garnett,

(29:17):
Oh my god, what a what a what a performance
uh ag gave. I mean I just was like not
knocked out by that. I'm not expecting it, and uh,
I just wanted to, you know, ask what that what's that?
What is that like with the Softy Brothers, Like, I mean,
it just the movie has such a like a crazy

(29:38):
energy fanaticism.

Speaker 4 (29:40):
Yeah he as, It's not as chaotic as it feels
because I was actually trying to think about that when
I was on set, like how did they Once I
saw them, was thinking, how did they achieve this? What
is it? Is it the steady cam?

Speaker 3 (29:56):
Is the thing?

Speaker 4 (29:57):
Is it the environment? They said on set? I mean
for Will has two of them, right, and Ben Benny
Saffie holds the boom really so he's yeah, so he's
like holding them boom. By the way, he's an amazing actor.
People probably don't realize that he's starting to do more
and more, but he's an incredible actor. You know, you're
starting to see him in a lot of things. But
he holds the boom and gives you direction right there

(30:19):
and then good yeah. And then you have his brother
behind the monitor and they're both yelling out things to you.
Most of the time they're in sick Sometimes they're and
they're contradicting one another.

Speaker 3 (30:33):
But faster slower, faster slower.

Speaker 4 (30:36):
Yeah, or it's more like, okay, leave the script alone
and it just improvise it and then they're like, okay,
go back to the lines. I'm like, what the fuck
are the lines anymore? But that's why Anam was just
I just want him to get his his his due.
I think he is now, but he's just God. It's
just really easy, you know. I mean it would be
the same with you. I mean people that are just

(30:56):
inhabit the character and the world. All you have to
do is to listen and then I sort of relaxed myself.
He's just incredible that way. So, I it was so
much fun. Plus it was a darker film for me.
You know, it's like, it's not it's not a Disney princess.
So I'm trying to break out once in a while.
I mean, I'm trying to access the other parts of

(31:18):
my character and my personality that people aren't aware of
when you play a Disney princess. And uh, so that
was fun to just do something a little darker.

Speaker 3 (31:29):
Well, you were fantastic in the movie, And for people
that haven't seen it, go check out in uncut gems.
It's it's a really good movie and it's it is dark,
but but she's awesome in it, and uh and and
definitely not a Disney princess, so it's it's good.

Speaker 4 (31:46):
Disney Jersey no long Island Princess.

Speaker 3 (31:49):
Yeah, yeah, it's great.

Speaker 1 (31:57):
If you were inspired by today's episode, please join us
and supporting six degrees dot org by texting the word
bacon to seven zero seven zero seven zero. Your gift
empowers us to continue to produce programs that highlight the
incredible work of everyday heroes, well also enabling us to
provide essential resources to those that need it the most.
Once again, text b a c N to seven zero

(32:22):
seven zero seven zero or visit six degrees dot org
to learn more.

Speaker 3 (32:29):
Now, I want to talk about a broader way, which
is the foundation that you started. So we're going to
bring out your executive director, Tori. Yourbeard is here, so
tell me how did you guys meet?

Speaker 4 (32:46):
We have a mutual friend named Philip McAdoo, right, who
is in Lion King and Toy is in Lion King. Yes,
how did I meet Philip? Philip through Tay my ex. Anyway,
we we met and Janine too? Sorry wait is that how? Yeah?
So Geno stories as as most of you out there,

(33:09):
I know, very wonderful and very successful Broadway composer and
and so okay, I had this vision. I had gone
to summer camp for the six years of my life.
I was very lucky to do that. It was a
very bunch of entitled girls in a camp. And as

(33:32):
I got older and I started to have some of
these roles that were and that were really connecting me
to young women, mostly young boys too, or theys as
we would say now, but kids really searching for themselves
in our identity. I found that I wanted kids to
have this experience of going into getting out of the city,

(33:53):
going up into the country, being able to rewrite them
the themselves, rediscover themselves as young people during the summer,
and use the arts to help them do that. So
I called, actually called George Wolf and said, will you
help me with this? And he said no, but you
should call Janine And he said no in a lupping way,

(34:15):
he was busy at the time, that you should call Jeanine.
And then Janine brought in Toria and this whole team
of wonderful, beautiful people that are now my good friends
that run that run this with us. And so what
we had started with thirty girls from mostly Harlem on
the Lower East Side, and now we're not going on
a twelfth yere door. Yes we are young. The youngest

(34:37):
girls have now come around and are going to be
counselors and are taking sort of ownership of the foundation. Itself.
And that's always kind of what we hoped for, that
we would sort of be able to step back a
little and let let them do their thing.

Speaker 3 (34:50):
Is it well, is it in the summer or all
the time?

Speaker 5 (34:54):
Be a round the campus in the summer every summer
the program is on year round.

Speaker 4 (35:01):
It's grown. Yeah, because we realized that sorry, after the
like ten days of being together, that it wasn't you
know how like after a film you have a you crash,
you could come down from all these wonderful people and
this incredible experience you've had. And then so especially with
these young people that we were with, I mean they

(35:21):
were going back, some of them going back into environments
that were challenging for them, and we just we wanted
to stay connected, and so we had to keep raising
money in order to keep the the programs throughout the year.

Speaker 3 (35:36):
So tell me what the experience would Let's just start
with the camp. Let's say what would what would the
experience be for for the for for the girl who
goes through that?

Speaker 4 (35:47):
Yeah, do you want to go a Dina? Do you
do it? So?

Speaker 3 (35:50):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (35:50):
Yeah, it's ever changing.

Speaker 5 (35:53):
Yes, it is that. I guess I'll tell you about
what it's like first, and then we'll talk about this
ever changing aspect because is that is that's like one
of the coolest parts of it to me. But camp
is the beginning of the broader way journey. So you
start camp, you would start camp between in the summer
between fifth and sixth grade, and be welcomed by a

(36:16):
whole bunch of people who are super excited to meet you,
who feel like they know you already because they've been
staring at your photos or your audition submissions, speaking to
your parents, speaking to you, and trying as best as
you know they can to get to know you. And
then we do an orientation, a lot of like contract

(36:41):
building with the community, our community to say, like what
languages do we what language do we want to use,
how do we want to treat each other? All of
those things, and then much fun ensues after that. Many
classes and what we used to call fundamentals, but that
has so have expanded over the years, Like they take

(37:03):
many many classes and many creative disciplines, filmmaking, choreography, dance,
vocal music, what else, theater, spoken word.

Speaker 4 (37:15):
A lot of fine arts stuff they have. We we've
moved around, but the facilities that were able to lease
the space from usually have these great, great facilities so
they can they do a lot of like painting as well.

Speaker 3 (37:30):
And it's an overnight. It's an overnight in summer.

Speaker 4 (37:34):
Like ten days over. And yeah, and we should say that,
we say audition, but we are first thirty girls. All
we had what thirty girls audition and we took.

Speaker 3 (37:44):
All thirty that's audition only kind.

Speaker 4 (37:52):
Yeah, yeah, because we're finding that it's the arts. It's
not just about what your quote talents are. The arts are,
like we were talking about before Toy came on, Kevin,
you know, it's about empathy. It's about walking to someone
else's footsteps and understanding other people's experience in life. And

(38:12):
for a lot of these young women, I keep saying,
I keep hesitating toward because I want to we're struggling
with how we how do we say it because we
want to be inclusive of everyone.

Speaker 5 (38:24):
Yeah, we it's every evolving as we get more information
back from the folks in our community. But we were
saying young women and films or female identifying young folks,
and now really I think we're moving towards saying young
women and people on the gender expansion or gender expression spectrum.

Speaker 3 (38:47):
That's awesome, that's fantastic.

Speaker 4 (38:50):
But the point being that they that they all we
all need to find our voice and like and that,
you know, I relate to it because I feel like
everyone thinks I have this huge voice and that means
I can find a way to express myself on my
own personal life because I have to speak voice. But
it's not true. I'm constantly searching that voice and how
to you know, challenge tackle things in the world. And

(39:15):
and and you assume I made them. I made the
misconception of assuming that these girls were from really tough neighborhoods,
so to speak, which was a misconception to begin with,
and then assuming they were going to come in and
be loud and often they were actually really shy and insecure,

(39:36):
and we needed to help them even just be proud
of saying their name and introducing themselves. So it's the art.
I'm not doing a good job at this tour. I'm
a little out of practice, but like using these the
arts are so much more than just for the kid
that can kick their leg up to their head or
sing out some great no you know, it's they help

(39:58):
these our young and really find who they are. And
experiment was all different kinds of it was all different
kinds of creative outlets to do that.

Speaker 3 (40:09):
Toria, let me ask you, you are a performer, and
what was it about your own experience. I don't know
a whole lot about your history, but that made you
think that this was something that you wanted to get
involved with, because obviously, whenever anybody is out there doing
good work, there's always a million other things that you

(40:31):
could be doing. Was there something in your life that
kind of drove you towards this? And also sort of
two poor question, what is it that you get out
of it?

Speaker 5 (40:44):
Okay, Well, first, I started my artistic journey as a dancer,
and I had wonderful mentors, but I was also in
small dance companies or smaller regional dance companies at in
the beginning, and we had to do a lot of outreach.

Speaker 4 (41:03):
It was part of how the.

Speaker 5 (41:05):
Companies made money or earned, you know, money or grants
or whatever to exist to sustain themselves. So I started
teaching at a very young age, and I had teaching
modeling to me at a young age.

Speaker 4 (41:18):
So from that once.

Speaker 5 (41:20):
I began to develop my own practice as an educator
and also deep in my practice as an artist.

Speaker 4 (41:28):
It was it became very important to.

Speaker 5 (41:30):
Me for really using teaching dance specifically as a way
of connecting with young people and as a way of
expanding all of our like our vision about what life
can be. So, like Adina said, I had been working
with Philip to develop some programs with young folks around

(41:52):
New York and in South Africa at the time, and
it was just part it's part of my personal mission.

Speaker 4 (41:59):
I love spending time with young people.

Speaker 5 (42:01):
I have grown so much, like my world has completely
opened up because of this opportunity to partner with Adina
and everyone else at a broader way, including the young folks.
I have seen myself change. I've seen the way I
think about myself and my place in the world has

(42:21):
changed because of a broader way. I understand accountability in
a very different way. And I also learned at a
certain point, maybe like a little bit more than halfway
through my time out of Bay, which started in the beginning,
that as much as I think I'm teaching, if I
will just stop talking, I can.

Speaker 4 (42:41):
Actually learn a lot.

Speaker 5 (42:43):
So I have learned so much from the young folks
that I am in collaboration with, even as a mentor.
You know, now I have a different idea of what
that can be. I think peer mentorship is important. I
think it's important to allow ourselves to be mentored by
people who are younger and maybe less experienced in certain
ways than we are. So and it's been so wonderful

(43:06):
to continue to work with Adina as your I mean,
I feel like we're so different now than we were
in the beginning, but we've you know, sometimes people grow apart,
and I feel like we've continued to grow together, which
is so beautiful.

Speaker 3 (43:19):
Yeah, you know, I think that you've You've what I've
been working on a lot in my life in the
past few years is just shutting up and listening. That's
and you can imagine, as you can imagine, that's been
very challenging for a guy like me. But it really,
it really is a really really uh I think that's
a really good lesson. That's really uh the inspiring to
hear you hear you say that, and tell me a

(43:41):
little bit, Torri about the about the impact that you've
seen on some of these uh people that that that
have attended the program or or continue to come back
or or I think I think you mentioned that they
sometimes end up working there.

Speaker 4 (44:01):
Wow, let me think about that. I mean, I've seen.

Speaker 5 (44:06):
Young people go from being very shy and withdrawn to
being fierce advocates for themselves and other people. I've seen
the realization that, you know, if I am the first
person in my family to go to college, I don't

(44:27):
have to pick like a safe career, or I don't
have to follow the path that I've seen other people follow.

Speaker 4 (44:34):
I can chart my own course. I can do something different.

Speaker 5 (44:39):
And most recently, one of our original campers we call
them the ogs, joined our board of directors. Oh wow,
that's a massive and we have many that are counselors
and that work with us in other capacities, But that
that was the mark I think we were we've all

(44:59):
been waiting for. And to have her voice in there,
like guiding the organization is incredible.

Speaker 3 (45:07):
Are the counselors. Are the counselors people that are professionals
in the industry or people that you know that people
come up and do sort of like drop in seminars.
I mean, tell me about the staff.

Speaker 5 (45:23):
Both they're both professionals and some people drop in. Adina's
brought in many incredible guest artists, and then we have
a roster of creative team members that say we know
or anybody knows that wants to come and work with
the young person. Thing is is that once they do
it one year, they typically always want to do it,

(45:44):
so the roster doesn't rotate as much as it as
it could, I suppose. But the counselors are usually young
people who are studying social work or social justice or nursing,
you know, people who really have the desire to work

(46:06):
with young people in this capacity because you know, it's
hard to be away from home. Like Adina was saying
in the beginning, some of these young people have never
been away from home, or they they've never been outside
of the city environment. So you know, the bugs, the darkness,
there's a lot.

Speaker 3 (46:25):
Sure, sure, sure, yeah, yeah, wow, that's amazing. So then
in the rest of the year, tell me about the
other programs that happened outside of the summer camp.

Speaker 4 (46:34):
Mhm.

Speaker 5 (46:35):
We so we have a school year program for the
younger participants and they do many of their workshops, but
we we most like they'll do like choreography workshops, and
we meet up every month to do like what what

(46:56):
we call a workshop. But it's really like a long
check in and we usually have a topic that are
something that's happening that we are gathering around and discussing.
We have guest artists come in and just guest speakers.
And then we started a program named after Jeanine Tasori,
which is is an authorship program, so they make work

(47:18):
mentored by professionals in choreography, songwriting, filmmaking and spoken work.

Speaker 4 (47:27):
So that's been really important to Torri and myself, especially
that we weren't just this camp in the beginning and
this organization that the kids were doing a bunch of
revivals of shows that they don't even have a connection
to or you know, And so for us, it was
about how can we allow them to create and help

(47:49):
them execute their own visions. So Janine would have them
write a lot in the beginning. We found that their
writing turned into their spoken word or so while someone
was performing their spoken word their poem, someone else was
choreographing a modern piece behind them, and then someone else
would compose music to going to neither that kind of thing,

(48:12):
and then we'd have more of like a recital where
we felt was the celebration of all of their work
and teaching them that theyre authors of their own lives
and you know as well, and that they have that
we want to we want to hear and see what
they have to offer.

Speaker 3 (48:28):
So it sounds like you're not doing a production of
Footloose there.

Speaker 4 (48:35):
Not out of the rol up possibility.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
Yeah, it's not, but it could use a little bit
of an update, I think.

Speaker 4 (48:40):
But yeah, we would just su mess with it a little.

Speaker 3 (48:43):
I think you'd have to. Well, that is really incredible.
I mean, Adina, I know that from myself, stepping into
this world was like of you know, trying to figure
out how to in some way give back or use

(49:03):
whatever kind of celebrity you have to do something in
a positive way. Was a little like was overwhelming, and
actually sometimes continues to be kind of overwhelming. But it's
but it feels as though you found something that's just
very much a natural fit with you and where your
your heart lives. And certainly to find Toria, you know,

(49:29):
and and for you guys to get connected and be
able to put this thing together is you must feel
really good about it.

Speaker 4 (49:35):
I do. She she and the whole our whole group.
They've made me a better person. Honestly, I've learned. I
learned more from Toria, the our staff, and our young campers.
I've learned more about myself through them than they probably
have learned from me. But yes, it is very rewarding
and and we I think what we pride ourselves on

(49:59):
is that we are malleable and that we are learning
and growing. And we we always had this uh illustration
of a of a tree that we sort of have
these roots that we all need, you know, in the ground,
that hold us strong and steadfast, and then we have
our branches. But branches can't be brittle otherwise we break.
So we have to be able to move and grow

(50:21):
and evolve. And it's kind of something that we take
an image we take with us and I think as
an organization we're doing that as well. And so we
so tell us how hold each other accountable.

Speaker 3 (50:34):
Tell us thank you, tell us how people can help out,
how they can where they go to find out what
you're doing, to to donate or to volunteer, or how
they can get involved.

Speaker 5 (50:46):
W w W do people even still say that BroaderWay
dot org a broader Way dot org?

Speaker 4 (50:56):
Yeah, And you can, like just you could you could
sponsor a camper just to get started, like one camper
for the summer would be amazing help.

Speaker 3 (51:03):
You know the greatest idea. I love that.

Speaker 4 (51:07):
Yeah, so they can get in touch and it will
help them, will make it easy for them to help.

Speaker 3 (51:12):
That is awesome. Yes, ser well, thank you guys so much.

Speaker 4 (51:18):
Amazing you for having us on and allowing us to
shine light on this organization and just letting me hang
out and talk with you is a big buffet list
thing for me.

Speaker 3 (51:28):
It was really fun, I really really fun, And thank
you both and I will see you down the road.

Speaker 2 (51:37):
Hey, guys, thanks for listening to another episode of six Degrees.
And if you want to learn more about A Broader
Way and all the good work that they are up to,
head to our website, a Broader Way dot org.

Speaker 3 (51:49):
You can find all the links in our show notes, and.

Speaker 2 (51:52):
If you like what you hear, make sure you subscribe
to the show and tune into.

Speaker 3 (51:56):
The rest of our episodes. You can find six Degrees
with Kevin Bacon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you next time.

Speaker 4 (52:09):
M
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