November 16, 2025 • 26 mins
Join host Buzz Knight as he takes a walk with the extraordinary Charl Brown, a Tony-nominated Broadway star whose career is nothing short of extraordinary. From his celebrated portrayal of Smokey Robinson in Motown the Musical to his unforgettable performance in Jersey Boys, Charl’s impressive resume showcases a journey through music history that reveals the depth of his extraordinary talent. In this captivating conversation, discover how this multi-talented performer has made his mark on Broadway’s biggest stages and why his latest passion project exploring the golden era of Doo-Wop is capturing hearts and taking audiences back to a timeless sound. Whether you’re a Broadway enthusiast or a lover of classic vocal harmony, this episode offers an intimate look at an artist who continues to push creative boundaries while honoring the roots of American music.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
My father especially has come to now understand that I
am following in his footsteps, and then I actually am
an athlete. And we won't even get into all the
stairs you got to climb backstage and the costume changes
and the backstage choreography of it all. So it really
is like, you know, doing going out there and playing
the game.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
I'm buzznight and welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast. Now,
most people remember exactly where they were when their dreams
came true. Charles Brown remembers where he was when his
dream almost ended sliding at second base in an eighth
grade All Star baseball game in San Diego. The broken
arm that followed led to a casting director suggesting he
(00:38):
auditioned for Annie. Now that accident became the origin story
of a Tony nominated Broadway career. Now he's touring with
something called the Do Wop Project, what he calls the
Avengers of Do Wop, and he's releasing his first original music.
We're gonna hear from Charles next on Taking a Walk.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Well, Charle, welcome to Taking a Walk. It's very nice
to be with you.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
It's great to be here. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
I wish we were taking a walk in person, but
too Yeah, well, we're going to talk about that, but
we're gonna first talk about if you could take a
walk with somebody living or dead. Do you know who
you would take a walk with and where would you
take that walk?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I do know. I think anyone who knows me will
know that my answer is Beyonce and my walk would
be from backstage to on stage with a microphone in
my hand.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Oh, making the magic happen right away.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I mean, if we can leave in the dream world,
I might as little be honest about it.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
That's fantastic. Now do you ever walk through the theater
district differently now than when you first came to Broadway
with Sister Act back in twenty eleven.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Absolutely, I do. I have a lot of memories now,
to say the least in the theater district. It's, you know, now,
having been in four Broadway shows and two off Broadway,
and a bunch of readings and things that rehearse in
the district, it really you know, I'm actually going to
be celebrating twenty years in New York next month, congrats,
(02:14):
And so you know there's every time I'm walking anywhere
in that theater district area. I have a specific memory
about most of the places that I've either worked in
or I have shows I've auditioned for and haven't gotten,
or the ones that I have, or things I helped create,
you know, did readings or workshops of but didn't necessarily
(02:34):
do on Broadway, things of that nature. So it now
has a lot of really great memories in that area.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Now you were in Harlem, right, That's where I'm in Harlem. Yes, yeah,
it's what's your favorite part of that neighborhood to walk in?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Well, I live now in the Hamilton Heights section of Harlem,
and I live one block from the Hudson River. So
my actual favorite thing to do is to walk over
to the riverbank park over here, and it's just beautiful.
I mean there is, there are restaurants, there's a carousel,
there's a roller roller skating rink, slash ice skating rink,
all of the trees and places to picnic and to barbecue.
(03:11):
I ride my bike through there for my cardio day.
So you know, the river aspect of my neighborhood is
actually what keeps my mental health together because I can
just like hop over there one block and all of
a sudden being nature and out of the busyness of
the city. So I think that's been really important for
me now.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Since playing Smokey Robinson. Do people walk by you and go,
wait a minute, could that be?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Not so much now? But that you know, it does happen,
especially if I'm at an event in the theater industry,
people will definitely, you know, recognize me from that and
from other things that I've done on Broadway and off.
But you know, when the show was running that happened
a lot.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Now you earned a Tony nomination for playing Smokey Robinson.
Take me back to when you first got that particular call.
Where were you?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
So, I at the time was living in the East
Village and I didn't even really remember that the nominations
were coming out that day. When I tell you, it
took me by surprise. I really was not expecting it
at all. But for whatever reason, my body woke me
up early that morning and I looked at my phone
as we often do. Unfortunately, first thing, and I had
(04:25):
noticed that the nominations were coming out within like the
next ten to fifteen minutes. So I was like, you
know what, I might as well, watch and see if
our show gets nominated. I had lots of friends. One
of my best friends, Stark Sands, who was nominated that
year for Kinky Boots. I wanted to see if he
was gonna get nominated. I wanted to see, you know,
how well our show would do, not really thinking that
I would be nominated, but also in the back of
(04:46):
my mind, you know, it was my first time being eligible,
so I thought, if it's going to happen, I want
to be awake to see it happen live and lo
and behold. Especially with my last name being Brown, I
was the first one in my category to be name
and my picture went up, and then my phone blew
up and the rest is history.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
How do you prepare to embody someone as iconic and
still living as a Smokey Robinson.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
So for me, it was really about his iconic sound.
I think you have to get that right in order
to play someone with such a legendary voice, and I
mean speaking voice as well as singing voice. So I
think the first thing I did was try to quote
unquote imitate his sound, but also bring my own spin
to it and also my own interpretation to it as well,
(05:37):
so that was the first thing I tack But luckily,
you know, we live in a day and age that
we have YouTube and so I can I could research
a lot of the clips of him being interviewed and singing,
so I tried to get that down first. But then also,
of course I read his autobiography, which really gave me
a lot of insight to his point of view and
his mindset, what he may or may not have been
thinking throughout the show. So with the those two things combined,
(06:01):
I definitely was able to craft my interpretation of the
legend and the iconic voice and person that he is.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
And you were ultimately able to bring that performance to
London's West End. Yeah, how did UK audiences respond? Was
it anything different the way they responded to you?
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I it wasn't different. But that's what surprised me, because
you know it Motown being such an American art form
or an American music label. I didn't realize the impact
that it has had globally and overseas. Of course I
know about it intellectually, but I didn't quite understand that
until I got there. But people came to the West
(06:42):
End to have a good time. The audiences were rowdier
on the West End than they were on Broadway, which
I found to be very surprising because Americans are known
for our outgoingness, we'll say, but the UK audiences were
even more so, so much so though we even have
to stop the show a couple of times, if I recall,
because of the rowdiness of the crowd. So that was
(07:05):
actually pleasing for me to have them be so engaged
in the story and to understand and know the music
and the songs so well. And I think that also
was having worked with mister Gordy Erry Gordy himself on
Motown in America and in London, I came to understand
that that was really important for him to take the
Motown brand global, and I think you know, when they
(07:27):
had their first hits in the UK, that really was
an important moment for him, which is why he was
so determined to make sure it happened on the West End.
And I think that that came full circle with Moltown
the Musical. So I was very honored to be a
part of that and the only one from the Broadway
company who got to experience that.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Will take us to back to Tony Night. What was
it like that moment and describe what that's like being
there and obviously being nominated.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
So I have been acting for thirty years. I started,
you know, when I was a pre tea. I went
to Performing Arts High school. That's where I got bit
by the bug of theater. And so the Tony Warts
has been on my radar for a very long time.
And so to be pulling up to the red carpet
after having done my matinee from my Tony Award nominated performance,
(08:16):
to get out of the car and have the cameras
flashing and be on me and people wanted to interview
me on the Tony's Red carpet. I mean, I will
start crying if I start talking about it too long.
Got gif really was one of the best moments of
my life. And then to be greeted with such kindness
from everyone in the community, A lot of people had
nothing but kind things to say about my performance. And
(08:38):
then to be sitting there when they announced my category
and to have not gotten the award, I really though,
felt for the first time what they mean when they
say it's an honor to be nominated, because I wasn't
sad or disappointed whatsoever. In fact, I was relieved in
a way because I didn't have to make the speech
that I had been practicing since I was twelve, but
(09:01):
I was just I had a feeling that I did
not expect, which was, you know what, like, no matter what,
they can never take this away from me. I will forever,
you know, be a Tony nominee until I'm a Tony winners.
But you know, and so I think that that sense
of gratitude really set in. I remember very distinctively, it's
set in in that moment that I have nothing to
(09:24):
but pride for having, you know, gotten to that point
and gotten that far. And then directly after that, being
whisked away to go do my first Tony Awards performance
with my cast in Motown was another magical experience. So
that entire evening was like, I you know, I think
about it now and I feel like I was living
through a dream, and I was living through a dream,
(09:45):
but it almost doesn't seem real.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
And there's another part of your story that's a bit
of a dream. You break your arm in an All
Star Baseball game.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Oh, you've done your research okay in eighth.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Grade, which led you to being cast in any how
do you have a moment like that going from a
trial by fire and then suddenly turning out to be
your path to a career.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
You know, yes, so it should be pointed out. I
come from a very athletic family. My dad and uncles
were all high school and college football stars. Both my
brothers were high school and college football stars. My dad
just retired this past season, but was a high school
football coach, you know, my whole life. So you know,
athletics was a big part of my upbringing and was
(10:32):
sort of like quote unquote expected of me. So I
didn't like football. I wasn't into the running or the tackle.
But I really found a neck and a talent in baseball,
So you know, I played that all throughout my childhood.
And then in the eighth grade, in the All Star
game that summer, I was sliding into second base. I
(10:53):
don't know why I was sliding into second base. I
was into the eighth grade, but I was sliding at
second base and I broke my arm and I couldn't
play anymore. And that very same year was the year
not only did my parents take me to Broadway for
the first time that summer, but also I started at
the San Diego School of Creative and performing arts. So
my whole world and thought process shifted in that one
(11:16):
year when I thought I would go on. You know,
I had high school recruits who had been following my
career because they knew my dad and stuff, that were
wanting me to come play for their high schools in baseball.
But then I got into the performing arts school and
that became my passion, and that became what I do still,
So it was a very integral time in my life
to eighth grade.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
What are the parallels here to being an athlete and
being conditioned and prepared, and the parallels of the rigor
of the work that you do as a Broadway performer,
which astounds me when I think about that. You know,
that work, that discipline, So what are the what are
(11:58):
the parallels in your mind?
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I love that question because there are a lot of parallels,
and it's taken me a while to quite grasp the
fact that actually we are athletes. You know, what we
do is not only very athletic, but you have to
have the same discipline and conditioning off the stage or
off the field that the athletes do. So for me,
it has been a testament to my upbringing in athletics,
(12:21):
and with my you know what I naturally gained from
my family as far as discipline and conditioning, but thinking
of it in that way adds another level of respect
I think that we all deserve, especially those of us
who do eight shows a week, and you know, on
top of eight shows a week, you have auditions throughout
that same week, you have rehearsals, you know, when you're
(12:42):
in the preview process six days a week on top
of doing the eight shows a week. So it really
is really taxing on your body and your mind and
everything and your spirit and everything else. So I think
in many ways, my father especially has come to now
understand that I am following in his footsteps, and then
I actually am an athlete. And we won't even get
into all the stairs you got to climb backstage and
(13:03):
the costume changes and the backstage choreography of it all.
So it really is like, you know, doing going out
there and playing the game.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk Podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
I'm going to be speaking with f Marie Abraham, who is,
as you know, starring as David Siegel and the musical
The Queen of Versailles. So from one Broadway performer to another,
do you have a question for f Marirae Abraham?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
My question would be what is what is your ritual
before the show? Because we all have our own rituals
and things that we do every you know, every before
every show in one capacity or another. So that would
be my question.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Oh, that's awesome, Thank you for doing that. Yeah, you
toured Europe with with Hair for two and a half
years and you became close friends with Adam Lambert. He
is it true he had to lend you clothes in
the South of France.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
You are a great interviewer. Oh my goodness. Yes, wow,
so we'll be okay. So this was back in two
thousand and three. We had just begun the tour and
our producer wolfgame Bosch Concerts at the time, they had
booked us to go to the Grand Prix and be
(14:31):
on a private yacht with these other pop stars named
No Angel, which was a pop group back then, and
we were all, you know, the cast of Hair and
No Angel, where we were the talent on the group
on the ship during the Grand Prix for this very
select you know group of people who were also passengers
on the ship. So we fly into Nice from Germany,
and you know, for those of you who understand the geography,
(14:54):
it's about what an hour or so drive from like
from the Nice airport to Monte Carlo, which is where
we got on the boat. So I got to the
airport and my luggage was lost. I had no clothes.
I'm in Monte Carlo for the first time, in the
south of France, trying to live this extravagant lifestyle on
this you know, exclusive yacht parked. I mean we were
literally docked or you know, we were anchored right across
(15:16):
from the Onasa's boat, the Onastas yacht. I mean it
was insane, and I have no clothes. So Adam Lambert
was my roommate and he was the only person tall
enough for me to borrow clothes from, so I had
to borrow his clothes the whole trip.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
That is great.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Wow, So let's talk about the do Wop project. You're
now touring with it in The Avengers of dou Wop. Yeah,
how do you go from playing motown legends to preserving
do Wop?
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Well, you know, it's sort of a natural progression. You know,
all of us met doing Jersey Boys on Broadway, which
is you know, which the four Seasons were basically a
do our group, but you know, sounds of the fifties
and sixties is really kind of what we focus on.
And then I did Motown after that, so I already
had sort of the background in this style of music.
(16:06):
But we decided to start the group because we need
side gigs. You're not always going to be starring on
Broadway or in hit Broadway shows that run for a
long time, or being able to act on a TV
show that runs for a long time, so we you know,
naturally need something other than you know, performing in those
mediums to do. So we thought it would be a
good idea to just get a group of guys together
(16:27):
who enjoy the same style of music, and we have
a pedigree in this style of music on Broadway. To
the guys in our group played Frankie Valley on Broadway,
another Dominic Nolfi, he played Tommy DeVito and it was
in the original cast of Jersey Boys. I of course
played Smokey Robinson. And then we have our base man,
Dwayne Cooper, who did Hairspray. He didn't do Jersey Boys
with us, but he was in Hairspray, which was across
(16:48):
the street from the August Wilson Theater where he did
that show. So we all, you know, naturally have an
inkling for this style of music, as it's been a
big part of our careers. So we thought we could
help make ends meet by touring the performing arts and
the symphony circuit with our show. At the time, we
were only doing like five six gigs a year. It's
now grown to about seventy five gigs a year, and
(17:10):
we just released our fifth album and we have a
brand new show called Echoes of the Street. So it's
kind of been this little engine that could. I don't
think any of us saw back then that fifteen sixteen
years later we'd actually still be doing this and thriving,
and there would still be a demand for it all
across the country and the world. We've gone as far
as China and Bermuda, So it really is has been
(17:35):
quite a blessing in disguise. It's like one of those
things that you never could have thought would work the
way it has, but there is a demand for it
and a lot of people love this music. I think
it's universal. I think you know, it's our songs are
about mostly about love or about the experience of loving,
you know, breaking up and things like that, and it
(17:56):
takes a lot of people back to a more innocent
time in their lives. The best part is that four
generations of family members can come to the same show.
And I think that's what makes us so unique. You
can bring grandma and your mom and your kids to
the same show and it have it be appropriate for
all the age groups, and even the kids will find
something new in this music. And we also do wopify
(18:20):
pop songs, so we make it relevant for the younger generation,
and we also are we have the nostalgia for the
older generation, and there's good music throughout, so it really
is for everyone in between.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Talk about community and in terms of certainly the way
you just described audiences and all different types of audiences
and why you know, certainly Broadway and community around music
is so important more than ever.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Well, the reason why I think it's more important than
ever is because we're seeing the advance of technology and
we're seeing you know, things like AI that are coming
for different parts or different corners of our industry. But
the one thing that is irreplaceable is the experience of
live music. Or live theater together with other beating human
hearts in the same place, having this one experience in
(19:10):
these four walls together, and I think that's something that
harkens back to the beginning of mankind itself. I think
there's always been the ritual of coming together and expressing
oneself through song or through spoken word, or through dance,
or through visual arts or some sort of the arts.
That really is what makes us human and you can't
replace with machines or technology. So I think now to
(19:32):
be on a journey to save doop and this specific
style of music I think speaks just to the universality
of music itself. I think we can all respond well
to good sounds and good stories and good memories, and
I think that's what we've tapped into. And I think
that's what keeps us going is because on one level
(19:53):
or not, every human can relate to love of you know,
even the kids can relate to loving their parents, you know,
teenagers can relate to their first love, and adults can
remember all of the above and break up and all,
you know, all the things that we sing about our
universal themes that no matter what your ethnicity is, no
matter what your financial status, is no matter even what
(20:15):
country you come from. I think that was the biggest
thing to discover when we went all the way to
like Beijing, that there were fans out there who knew
all the words in English and knew the music and
could relate to it. And they still, you know, stream
us on Spotify and things like that. I think it's
because music is a universal language that we all speak.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
And speaking to the rigors of Broadway, how does touring
with the Do Wop Project differ from doing a mere
eight shows a week on Broadway show?
Speaker 2 (20:48):
So there are ups and downs to everything that eight
shows a week are is definitely not easy. We don't
we don't do We don't typically do eight shows a week,
you know. I think we cap it. We try and
cap it at shows in any you know, especially when
we're on our annual Florida tour. We'll pack them in
because we can perform you know, Monday through through Saturday
(21:08):
out there. But it's different that, you know, we're not
home all the time. We don't get to sleep in
our own beds, and it's typically one night ers or
a couple of nights in the same town. If we're
with a symphony or so but you know, you really
have to. The travel is what takes a lot out
of us. And like as I said, we've been doing
this for over fifteen years, so we're not as young
of men as we used to be. So having to age,
(21:30):
you know, while touring on the road and all the
things that come along with being so mobile and not
being with your family and your loved ones, you know,
takes a toll on you. And I think that's why
all of us two do appreciate when the Broadway shows
or the off Broadway shows do come along that we
do get to sit home and only do eight shows
a week only.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Now you mentioned with my f Murray Abraham question the rituals,
So how do the rituals differ from the Broadway rituals
versus the touring rituals.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
So for me personally, I have one ritual that is
the same, which is I will work out at the gym,
you know, harkening back to the athleticism of at all.
I'll make sure I work out at the gym every day.
Every time I have to sing, I will make sure
that I get to work out in that day, which
not only keeps me me fit for you know what,
it takes to do the show. But also I found
(22:29):
that when my body is warm, my voice is warm,
So it's sort of like my warm up is to
go to the gym, and I feel like I can
sing a lot better once I've done that. As far
as you know the rituals doing inshows a week and
being at home, what makes it nice, especially once you
get into the flow of the show, is that I
can make my dinner at home, and I can plan
(22:49):
out when I'm going to eat a lot easier. When
you're touring, they will provide a meal before the show,
but you know, all throughout the day you have they're
trying to figure out how to eat and how to
eat healthy, which is another thing I try and do
because you know, when you're traveling so much, you need
your immune system to be good because you're around people
on airplanes and trains and you know, automobiles and the like.
If one of us get sick, we all get sick.
(23:10):
We just went through this last month where one person
was sick and by the end of it, all five
of us have the same sniffles and head cold by
the end of that month. Because that's just the nature
of things. So I think that for me, that's the
difficult thing is trying to figure out how to stay
healthy and to get enough rest and to get the
workout in when everything is so on the go and
(23:33):
you can't depend on there being, you know, the kind
of gem or the kind of food that you really
would rather have.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Is there a dream role that you haven't played yet,
a character or show that you're just dying to do?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Ah, Well, it's a tricky question, so yes and no,
there is a dream role that I have that haven't
been able to play yet on Broadway. My favorite show
is dream Girls. I've been able. I've been fortunate enough
to play Curtis Taylor Jr. A couple of times in
my career regionally, most recently last summer at the Muni,
(24:08):
which is the largest regional theater in America. Actually, so
I would love to get to play that part again
in New York on Broadway. So I think that will
be my dream role. And then, but I always tell
people too, my actual dream role is something that hasn't
been written yet or that we're unaware of yet. I
really want to originate another character out of the blue
(24:29):
so that people haven't come to know yet. But will
come to know as me first.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
And would that be something that you could envision creating
from scratch?
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Yeah, I love that process. I've been a part of
lots of workshops and new musical you know, twenty nine
hour readings we call them, and things like that. So yeah,
something that I can really sing my teeth into and
my creativity, my artistry into and create from the ground
up that you know has all to do with me,
but also to do with that character. And for me,
(24:58):
it would have to be something a role that sings
and dances and acts. And most recently the show that
I did off Broadway was called Joy the Musical and
I played Dan, who was Joy's boss from QVC who
hired her and gave her the opportunity to sell her
miracle mops. And that has been one of my favorite
(25:20):
roles that I would love to do again and do
on Broadway because I got to do all those things.
I got to sing, I got to dance, and I
also got to do dramatic and comedic acting. So I
really love getting to exercise all the different facets of myself.
I'm an artistry in one role and that has so
far been in one of those roles where I get
to do all those things.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
Charle Brown, thanks for bringing us the joy and bringing
us everything that makes us happy.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Man.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
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a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
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Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
My father especially has come to now understand that I
am following in his footsteps, and then I actually am
an athlete. And we won't even get into all the
stairs you got to climb backstage and the costume changes
and the backstage choreography of it all. So it really
is like, you know, doing going out there and playing
the game.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
I'm buzznight and welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast. Now,
most people remember exactly where they were when their dreams
came true. Charles Brown remembers where he was when his
dream almost ended sliding at second base in an eighth
grade All Star baseball game in San Diego. The broken
arm that followed led to a casting director suggesting he
(00:38):
auditioned for Annie. Now that accident became the origin story
of a Tony nominated Broadway career. Now he's touring with
something called the Do Wop Project, what he calls the
Avengers of Do Wop, and he's releasing his first original music.
We're gonna hear from Charles next on Taking a Walk.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Well, Charle, welcome to Taking a Walk. It's very nice
to be with you.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
It's great to be here. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
I wish we were taking a walk in person, but
too Yeah, well, we're going to talk about that, but
we're gonna first talk about if you could take a
walk with somebody living or dead. Do you know who
you would take a walk with and where would you
take that walk?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I do know. I think anyone who knows me will
know that my answer is Beyonce and my walk would
be from backstage to on stage with a microphone in
my hand.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Oh, making the magic happen right away.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I mean, if we can leave in the dream world,
I might as little be honest about it.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
That's fantastic. Now do you ever walk through the theater
district differently now than when you first came to Broadway
with Sister Act back in twenty eleven.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Absolutely, I do. I have a lot of memories now,
to say the least in the theater district. It's, you know, now,
having been in four Broadway shows and two off Broadway,
and a bunch of readings and things that rehearse in
the district, it really you know, I'm actually going to
be celebrating twenty years in New York next month, congrats,
(02:14):
And so you know there's every time I'm walking anywhere
in that theater district area. I have a specific memory
about most of the places that I've either worked in
or I have shows I've auditioned for and haven't gotten,
or the ones that I have, or things I helped create,
you know, did readings or workshops of but didn't necessarily
(02:34):
do on Broadway, things of that nature. So it now
has a lot of really great memories in that area.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Now you were in Harlem, right, That's where I'm in Harlem. Yes, yeah,
it's what's your favorite part of that neighborhood to walk in?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Well, I live now in the Hamilton Heights section of Harlem,
and I live one block from the Hudson River. So
my actual favorite thing to do is to walk over
to the riverbank park over here, and it's just beautiful.
I mean there is, there are restaurants, there's a carousel,
there's a roller roller skating rink, slash ice skating rink,
all of the trees and places to picnic and to barbecue.
(03:11):
I ride my bike through there for my cardio day.
So you know, the river aspect of my neighborhood is
actually what keeps my mental health together because I can
just like hop over there one block and all of
a sudden being nature and out of the busyness of
the city. So I think that's been really important for
me now.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Since playing Smokey Robinson. Do people walk by you and go,
wait a minute, could that be?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Not so much now? But that you know, it does happen,
especially if I'm at an event in the theater industry,
people will definitely, you know, recognize me from that and
from other things that I've done on Broadway and off.
But you know, when the show was running that happened
a lot.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Now you earned a Tony nomination for playing Smokey Robinson.
Take me back to when you first got that particular call.
Where were you?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
So, I at the time was living in the East
Village and I didn't even really remember that the nominations
were coming out that day. When I tell you, it
took me by surprise. I really was not expecting it
at all. But for whatever reason, my body woke me
up early that morning and I looked at my phone
as we often do. Unfortunately, first thing, and I had
(04:25):
noticed that the nominations were coming out within like the
next ten to fifteen minutes. So I was like, you
know what, I might as well, watch and see if
our show gets nominated. I had lots of friends. One
of my best friends, Stark Sands, who was nominated that
year for Kinky Boots. I wanted to see if he
was gonna get nominated. I wanted to see, you know,
how well our show would do, not really thinking that
I would be nominated, but also in the back of
(04:46):
my mind, you know, it was my first time being eligible,
so I thought, if it's going to happen, I want
to be awake to see it happen live and lo
and behold. Especially with my last name being Brown, I
was the first one in my category to be name
and my picture went up, and then my phone blew
up and the rest is history.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
How do you prepare to embody someone as iconic and
still living as a Smokey Robinson.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
So for me, it was really about his iconic sound.
I think you have to get that right in order
to play someone with such a legendary voice, and I
mean speaking voice as well as singing voice. So I
think the first thing I did was try to quote
unquote imitate his sound, but also bring my own spin
to it and also my own interpretation to it as well,
(05:37):
so that was the first thing I tack But luckily,
you know, we live in a day and age that
we have YouTube and so I can I could research
a lot of the clips of him being interviewed and singing,
so I tried to get that down first. But then also,
of course I read his autobiography, which really gave me
a lot of insight to his point of view and
his mindset, what he may or may not have been
thinking throughout the show. So with the those two things combined,
(06:01):
I definitely was able to craft my interpretation of the
legend and the iconic voice and person that he is.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
And you were ultimately able to bring that performance to
London's West End. Yeah, how did UK audiences respond? Was
it anything different the way they responded to you?
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I it wasn't different. But that's what surprised me, because
you know it Motown being such an American art form
or an American music label. I didn't realize the impact
that it has had globally and overseas. Of course I
know about it intellectually, but I didn't quite understand that
until I got there. But people came to the West
(06:42):
End to have a good time. The audiences were rowdier
on the West End than they were on Broadway, which
I found to be very surprising because Americans are known
for our outgoingness, we'll say, but the UK audiences were
even more so, so much so though we even have
to stop the show a couple of times, if I recall,
because of the rowdiness of the crowd. So that was
(07:05):
actually pleasing for me to have them be so engaged
in the story and to understand and know the music
and the songs so well. And I think that also
was having worked with mister Gordy Erry Gordy himself on
Motown in America and in London, I came to understand
that that was really important for him to take the
Motown brand global, and I think you know, when they
(07:27):
had their first hits in the UK, that really was
an important moment for him, which is why he was
so determined to make sure it happened on the West End.
And I think that that came full circle with Moltown
the Musical. So I was very honored to be a
part of that and the only one from the Broadway
company who got to experience that.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Will take us to back to Tony Night. What was
it like that moment and describe what that's like being
there and obviously being nominated.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
So I have been acting for thirty years. I started,
you know, when I was a pre tea. I went
to Performing Arts High school. That's where I got bit
by the bug of theater. And so the Tony Warts
has been on my radar for a very long time.
And so to be pulling up to the red carpet
after having done my matinee from my Tony Award nominated performance,
(08:16):
to get out of the car and have the cameras
flashing and be on me and people wanted to interview
me on the Tony's Red carpet. I mean, I will
start crying if I start talking about it too long.
Got gif really was one of the best moments of
my life. And then to be greeted with such kindness
from everyone in the community, A lot of people had
nothing but kind things to say about my performance. And
(08:38):
then to be sitting there when they announced my category
and to have not gotten the award, I really though,
felt for the first time what they mean when they
say it's an honor to be nominated, because I wasn't
sad or disappointed whatsoever. In fact, I was relieved in
a way because I didn't have to make the speech
that I had been practicing since I was twelve, but
(09:01):
I was just I had a feeling that I did
not expect, which was, you know what, like, no matter what,
they can never take this away from me. I will forever,
you know, be a Tony nominee until I'm a Tony winners.
But you know, and so I think that that sense
of gratitude really set in. I remember very distinctively, it's
set in in that moment that I have nothing to
(09:24):
but pride for having, you know, gotten to that point
and gotten that far. And then directly after that, being
whisked away to go do my first Tony Awards performance
with my cast in Motown was another magical experience. So
that entire evening was like, I you know, I think
about it now and I feel like I was living
through a dream, and I was living through a dream,
(09:45):
but it almost doesn't seem real.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
And there's another part of your story that's a bit
of a dream. You break your arm in an All
Star Baseball game.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Oh, you've done your research okay in eighth.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Grade, which led you to being cast in any how
do you have a moment like that going from a
trial by fire and then suddenly turning out to be
your path to a career.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
You know, yes, so it should be pointed out. I
come from a very athletic family. My dad and uncles
were all high school and college football stars. Both my
brothers were high school and college football stars. My dad
just retired this past season, but was a high school
football coach, you know, my whole life. So you know,
athletics was a big part of my upbringing and was
(10:32):
sort of like quote unquote expected of me. So I
didn't like football. I wasn't into the running or the tackle.
But I really found a neck and a talent in baseball,
So you know, I played that all throughout my childhood.
And then in the eighth grade, in the All Star
game that summer, I was sliding into second base. I
(10:53):
don't know why I was sliding into second base. I
was into the eighth grade, but I was sliding at
second base and I broke my arm and I couldn't
play anymore. And that very same year was the year
not only did my parents take me to Broadway for
the first time that summer, but also I started at
the San Diego School of Creative and performing arts. So
my whole world and thought process shifted in that one
(11:16):
year when I thought I would go on. You know,
I had high school recruits who had been following my
career because they knew my dad and stuff, that were
wanting me to come play for their high schools in baseball.
But then I got into the performing arts school and
that became my passion, and that became what I do still,
So it was a very integral time in my life
to eighth grade.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
What are the parallels here to being an athlete and
being conditioned and prepared, and the parallels of the rigor
of the work that you do as a Broadway performer,
which astounds me when I think about that. You know,
that work, that discipline, So what are the what are
(11:58):
the parallels in your mind?
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I love that question because there are a lot of parallels,
and it's taken me a while to quite grasp the
fact that actually we are athletes. You know, what we
do is not only very athletic, but you have to
have the same discipline and conditioning off the stage or
off the field that the athletes do. So for me,
it has been a testament to my upbringing in athletics,
(12:21):
and with my you know what I naturally gained from
my family as far as discipline and conditioning, but thinking
of it in that way adds another level of respect
I think that we all deserve, especially those of us
who do eight shows a week, and you know, on
top of eight shows a week, you have auditions throughout
that same week, you have rehearsals, you know, when you're
(12:42):
in the preview process six days a week on top
of doing the eight shows a week. So it really
is really taxing on your body and your mind and
everything and your spirit and everything else. So I think
in many ways, my father especially has come to now
understand that I am following in his footsteps, and then
I actually am an athlete. And we won't even get
into all the stairs you got to climb backstage and
(13:03):
the costume changes and the backstage choreography of it all.
So it really is like, you know, doing going out
there and playing the game.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk Podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
I'm going to be speaking with f Marie Abraham, who is,
as you know, starring as David Siegel and the musical
The Queen of Versailles. So from one Broadway performer to another,
do you have a question for f Marirae Abraham?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
My question would be what is what is your ritual
before the show? Because we all have our own rituals
and things that we do every you know, every before
every show in one capacity or another. So that would
be my question.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Oh, that's awesome, Thank you for doing that. Yeah, you
toured Europe with with Hair for two and a half
years and you became close friends with Adam Lambert. He
is it true he had to lend you clothes in
the South of France.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
You are a great interviewer. Oh my goodness. Yes, wow,
so we'll be okay. So this was back in two
thousand and three. We had just begun the tour and
our producer wolfgame Bosch Concerts at the time, they had
booked us to go to the Grand Prix and be
(14:31):
on a private yacht with these other pop stars named
No Angel, which was a pop group back then, and
we were all, you know, the cast of Hair and
No Angel, where we were the talent on the group
on the ship during the Grand Prix for this very
select you know group of people who were also passengers
on the ship. So we fly into Nice from Germany,
and you know, for those of you who understand the geography,
(14:54):
it's about what an hour or so drive from like
from the Nice airport to Monte Carlo, which is where
we got on the boat. So I got to the
airport and my luggage was lost. I had no clothes.
I'm in Monte Carlo for the first time, in the
south of France, trying to live this extravagant lifestyle on
this you know, exclusive yacht parked. I mean we were
literally docked or you know, we were anchored right across
(15:16):
from the Onasa's boat, the Onastas yacht. I mean it
was insane, and I have no clothes. So Adam Lambert
was my roommate and he was the only person tall
enough for me to borrow clothes from, so I had
to borrow his clothes the whole trip.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
That is great.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Wow, So let's talk about the do Wop project. You're
now touring with it in The Avengers of dou Wop. Yeah,
how do you go from playing motown legends to preserving
do Wop?
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Well, you know, it's sort of a natural progression. You know,
all of us met doing Jersey Boys on Broadway, which
is you know, which the four Seasons were basically a
do our group, but you know, sounds of the fifties
and sixties is really kind of what we focus on.
And then I did Motown after that, so I already
had sort of the background in this style of music.
(16:06):
But we decided to start the group because we need
side gigs. You're not always going to be starring on
Broadway or in hit Broadway shows that run for a
long time, or being able to act on a TV
show that runs for a long time, so we you know,
naturally need something other than you know, performing in those
mediums to do. So we thought it would be a
good idea to just get a group of guys together
(16:27):
who enjoy the same style of music, and we have
a pedigree in this style of music on Broadway. To
the guys in our group played Frankie Valley on Broadway,
another Dominic Nolfi, he played Tommy DeVito and it was
in the original cast of Jersey Boys. I of course
played Smokey Robinson. And then we have our base man,
Dwayne Cooper, who did Hairspray. He didn't do Jersey Boys
with us, but he was in Hairspray, which was across
(16:48):
the street from the August Wilson Theater where he did
that show. So we all, you know, naturally have an
inkling for this style of music, as it's been a
big part of our careers. So we thought we could
help make ends meet by touring the performing arts and
the symphony circuit with our show. At the time, we
were only doing like five six gigs a year. It's
now grown to about seventy five gigs a year, and
(17:10):
we just released our fifth album and we have a
brand new show called Echoes of the Street. So it's
kind of been this little engine that could. I don't
think any of us saw back then that fifteen sixteen
years later we'd actually still be doing this and thriving,
and there would still be a demand for it all
across the country and the world. We've gone as far
as China and Bermuda, So it really is has been
(17:35):
quite a blessing in disguise. It's like one of those
things that you never could have thought would work the
way it has, but there is a demand for it
and a lot of people love this music. I think
it's universal. I think you know, it's our songs are
about mostly about love or about the experience of loving,
you know, breaking up and things like that, and it
(17:56):
takes a lot of people back to a more innocent
time in their lives. The best part is that four
generations of family members can come to the same show.
And I think that's what makes us so unique. You
can bring grandma and your mom and your kids to
the same show and it have it be appropriate for
all the age groups, and even the kids will find
something new in this music. And we also do wopify
(18:20):
pop songs, so we make it relevant for the younger generation,
and we also are we have the nostalgia for the
older generation, and there's good music throughout, so it really
is for everyone in between.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Talk about community and in terms of certainly the way
you just described audiences and all different types of audiences
and why you know, certainly Broadway and community around music
is so important more than ever.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Well, the reason why I think it's more important than
ever is because we're seeing the advance of technology and
we're seeing you know, things like AI that are coming
for different parts or different corners of our industry. But
the one thing that is irreplaceable is the experience of
live music. Or live theater together with other beating human
hearts in the same place, having this one experience in
(19:10):
these four walls together, and I think that's something that
harkens back to the beginning of mankind itself. I think
there's always been the ritual of coming together and expressing
oneself through song or through spoken word, or through dance,
or through visual arts or some sort of the arts.
That really is what makes us human and you can't
replace with machines or technology. So I think now to
(19:32):
be on a journey to save doop and this specific
style of music I think speaks just to the universality
of music itself. I think we can all respond well
to good sounds and good stories and good memories, and
I think that's what we've tapped into. And I think
that's what keeps us going is because on one level
(19:53):
or not, every human can relate to love of you know,
even the kids can relate to loving their parents, you know,
teenagers can relate to their first love, and adults can
remember all of the above and break up and all,
you know, all the things that we sing about our
universal themes that no matter what your ethnicity is, no
matter what your financial status, is no matter even what
(20:15):
country you come from. I think that was the biggest
thing to discover when we went all the way to
like Beijing, that there were fans out there who knew
all the words in English and knew the music and
could relate to it. And they still, you know, stream
us on Spotify and things like that. I think it's
because music is a universal language that we all speak.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
And speaking to the rigors of Broadway, how does touring
with the Do Wop Project differ from doing a mere
eight shows a week on Broadway show?
Speaker 2 (20:48):
So there are ups and downs to everything that eight
shows a week are is definitely not easy. We don't
we don't do We don't typically do eight shows a week,
you know. I think we cap it. We try and
cap it at shows in any you know, especially when
we're on our annual Florida tour. We'll pack them in
because we can perform you know, Monday through through Saturday
(21:08):
out there. But it's different that, you know, we're not
home all the time. We don't get to sleep in
our own beds, and it's typically one night ers or
a couple of nights in the same town. If we're
with a symphony or so but you know, you really
have to. The travel is what takes a lot out
of us. And like as I said, we've been doing
this for over fifteen years, so we're not as young
of men as we used to be. So having to age,
(21:30):
you know, while touring on the road and all the
things that come along with being so mobile and not
being with your family and your loved ones, you know,
takes a toll on you. And I think that's why
all of us two do appreciate when the Broadway shows
or the off Broadway shows do come along that we
do get to sit home and only do eight shows
a week only.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Now you mentioned with my f Murray Abraham question the rituals,
So how do the rituals differ from the Broadway rituals
versus the touring rituals.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
So for me personally, I have one ritual that is
the same, which is I will work out at the gym,
you know, harkening back to the athleticism of at all.
I'll make sure I work out at the gym every day.
Every time I have to sing, I will make sure
that I get to work out in that day, which
not only keeps me me fit for you know what,
it takes to do the show. But also I found
(22:29):
that when my body is warm, my voice is warm,
So it's sort of like my warm up is to
go to the gym, and I feel like I can
sing a lot better once I've done that. As far
as you know the rituals doing inshows a week and
being at home, what makes it nice, especially once you
get into the flow of the show, is that I
can make my dinner at home, and I can plan
(22:49):
out when I'm going to eat a lot easier. When
you're touring, they will provide a meal before the show,
but you know, all throughout the day you have they're
trying to figure out how to eat and how to
eat healthy, which is another thing I try and do
because you know, when you're traveling so much, you need
your immune system to be good because you're around people
on airplanes and trains and you know, automobiles and the like.
If one of us get sick, we all get sick.
(23:10):
We just went through this last month where one person
was sick and by the end of it, all five
of us have the same sniffles and head cold by
the end of that month. Because that's just the nature
of things. So I think that for me, that's the
difficult thing is trying to figure out how to stay
healthy and to get enough rest and to get the
workout in when everything is so on the go and
(23:33):
you can't depend on there being, you know, the kind
of gem or the kind of food that you really
would rather have.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Is there a dream role that you haven't played yet,
a character or show that you're just dying to do?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Ah, Well, it's a tricky question, so yes and no,
there is a dream role that I have that haven't
been able to play yet on Broadway. My favorite show
is dream Girls. I've been able. I've been fortunate enough
to play Curtis Taylor Jr. A couple of times in
my career regionally, most recently last summer at the Muni,
(24:08):
which is the largest regional theater in America. Actually, so
I would love to get to play that part again
in New York on Broadway. So I think that will
be my dream role. And then, but I always tell
people too, my actual dream role is something that hasn't
been written yet or that we're unaware of yet. I
really want to originate another character out of the blue
(24:29):
so that people haven't come to know yet. But will
come to know as me first.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
And would that be something that you could envision creating
from scratch?
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Yeah, I love that process. I've been a part of
lots of workshops and new musical you know, twenty nine
hour readings we call them, and things like that. So yeah,
something that I can really sing my teeth into and
my creativity, my artistry into and create from the ground
up that you know has all to do with me,
but also to do with that character. And for me,
(24:58):
it would have to be something a role that sings
and dances and acts. And most recently the show that
I did off Broadway was called Joy the Musical and
I played Dan, who was Joy's boss from QVC who
hired her and gave her the opportunity to sell her
miracle mops. And that has been one of my favorite
(25:20):
roles that I would love to do again and do
on Broadway because I got to do all those things.
I got to sing, I got to dance, and I
also got to do dramatic and comedic acting. So I
really love getting to exercise all the different facets of myself.
I'm an artistry in one role and that has so
far been in one of those roles where I get
to do all those things.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
Charle Brown, thanks for bringing us the joy and bringing
us everything that makes us happy.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Man.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
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