Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Back here on eleven ten, kfab We thank you so
much for listening. We talk about all the great things
happening in our community and that includes at the Orphum
thanks to our friends from Omaha Performing Arts, the production
of The Wiz is at the Orpheum this week and
joining us in the studio a couple of the stars
of the show. First, we have Kyla Jade who plays
(00:20):
Anti m and Eveleene. Thank you so much for coming
in today.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Also on the other side, we have the guy who
plays Scarecrow and has a ton of as If you've
seen The Wizard of Oz, you know how important the
Scarecrow is to the story. Elijah ahmaud lewis here with
us today.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
He loo Hello, Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
All right, I'm sitting here. I'm I'm removed like roughly
fourteen hours from seeing you guys on the stage at
the Orphium. I had not seen The Whiz before, and
I'll start with nope, nope. I've seen The Wizard of
Oz about one hundred times and I'm familiar with Wicked obviously,
(01:00):
and the book The Whiz was a new one for me,
and man, it was crazy. First off, I want to
talk about just kind of the premise because it's a Kyla.
I'll start with you. The story is familiar, but it's
the way the story is told that makes this a
really interesting show for people. Sure. Yeah, so I guess
my first question would be what would be the way
(01:23):
you would describe it to somebody who's never seen it before.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Well, I think the story of Home is universal. Everyone
is looking for home. Home can represent your family, You
can represent a belief, a desire that you want to accomplish.
It could be love, it could be all of those things.
And so when I described The Wiz, it's basically an
African American cultural take on that journey to home. So
(01:50):
you have all of the nuances that you get from
the Wizard of Oz, but it's just an adaptation of
that story that's set in a different, different place, with
different experiences in different colors.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
It is honestly in Elijah. Maybe you can speak to
this too. We know the characters already. I don't know
if anybody who would see The Wiz who would not
be super familiar with the wizdo of Oz. And it
feels like the story, you know, is kind of streamlined
in that way because we have additional musical numbers, a
lot of musical numbers, some big dance breaks, and every
(02:25):
single person in the cast kind of gets that going
to church moment of just like owning the stage. Every
song just feels like it is about the performance. How
can you best describe that element of this show because
every single person, I think this may be the most
talented vocal group that we have seen in the orpheum
since I've lived in Omaha the last couple of.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Years, you know, I you know, to piggyback on what
Kylo said, you know, our culture is very expressive in
many lights, and voice is one of them. I mean,
predominantly are African American culture or you know, the roots
is church and having those elements of feeling and expressing
(03:08):
heart and soul and through song, through dance, through movement
is a very big part of what this is. And
our creative team is very adamant about making sure that
we add all of those elements into one and threw
them into one. You know, there are a lot of
talented people in the world, and the great thing about
this show is there are more than two principal characters,
(03:30):
so everyone gets a moment to express themselves and express
themselves through their character.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
That's such a great point there. Everybody knows the whole cast.
This is one of those interesting stories the Wizard of
Oz that I think anybody who's seen it can name,
you know, six or seven characters, and they're all really
important to the way the story is told. Kyla, I
kind of want to talk about your characters. Anti m
isn't really in the show that much, but you start
(03:59):
with this really powerful kind of like the opening tune.
It really is kind of a establishment of Dorothy and
how much love and DM has for Dorothy. But then
when you get into your other character, which is essentially
(04:19):
a take on the Wicked Witch of the West, it
is a very colorful variation of a very different type
of the story that we have seen. How do you
best describe that character and how you try to make
it your own while also, you know, knowing that you
are kind of a version of the Green woman that
(04:43):
we see in the nineteen thirty.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Nine film, I think you have to remove that. I
think the idea of that I am a version of her.
You have to first of all remove that whole thing,
because all of us have different experiences, so we may
live the same story, but our ideas and our experience
within that story are different. So I grew up in Kansas.
I was born and raised in Kansas, not far from Nebraska,
(05:07):
so I've been here before. But let's say you and
I went to high school together. Our experiences in high
school with different cultures would be very vastly different. So
the idea of Eveleene versus Wick of Richard of West
two very different experiences that don't marry. But the blessing
about Eveleene is well, let me just talk about our
(05:28):
show and as a whole. This is the fiftieth anniversary
tour of the Broadway play. So this story, this adaptation
is actually parts of the Broadway show, parts of the
movie married and then added some new cultural things, which
is the dancing that you see as a more modern
take or modern dances that we deal with. So playing
(05:51):
Eveleene for me was taking Mabel King who did it
on Broadway, and Mabel King who did it in the movie,
and then adding Eila Jade into it. And the difference
between her and on m has to be on very
separate planes. When you meet on em, you're in black
and white. Yeah, everything is great, Everything is dull as
far as the color is. But she's so warm. She's
(06:13):
warm to Dorothy, She's she's like, all right, baby, we
gonna make it. You're gonna be okay. And then you
move into color, you meet the Scarecrow, you meet all
of her other people, and when you meet even Lene,
you're now immersed. You're now in the world of Oz
and you in her pop out of the city. So
you better, you better get it together because you want
my side now. So it's it's a fun thing to do,
(06:34):
but I think it's problematic to compare because the experiences
are vastly.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Different and and the visuals are different. So you you
mentioned the visual of the black and white in the open,
and then we get to OZ pretty quickly and you come.
By the time we see you again, you look so different.
So we don't want you to know that. So yeah, yeah,
we definitely have to change that. But but but so
(07:00):
like for you personally, for those who you know are
I love the magic of like how people you know
create these things, and the screen that you guys have
behind you really immerses you into the world. But for
you personally, you get off the stage and then it's
almost like you're you have to get ready for a
completely different show. So how does how does that kind
of work for you on a night tonight basis?
Speaker 3 (07:23):
It's a lot.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Once once on Em leaves, she's done, she's gone. You
don't see her no more.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
You actually forget about her.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
But it's a whole What's the funny thing Isija and
I have a moment where we come off stage, we
discuss what's happened in the first five minutes of the show.
We check in with each other and then I'm like pew,
and then I'm running, So I run, I jump into
costume I have. I have how many songs will come out?
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Like four?
Speaker 3 (07:49):
I think? Yeah, I think I have like four songs.
They have Dorothy Scarecrow, ten men lying, So yeah, yeah,
it's like four songs. I have four songs to completely
change carecharacters, change costumes, change looks, change weeks, and be
ready to come out the station. So it's a lot,
but it's at this point it's fun.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah, what a fun character, Eveline. We're speaking here with
a couple of the cast members from The Whiz, which
is going through the weekend at the Orpheum. Elijah the Scarecrow.
It's about Dorothy. We know the stories about Dorothy, but
in the movie, in the book. I mean, you really,
like anybody who's familiar with the text, any text of
(08:27):
this show, the Scarecrow is maybe the most beloved character.
You know, the if I only had the brain and
then the way that you know in this show, the
comedy is immediate, right, It was just like and you
have the physical visual of this guy doesn't have a
working brain kind of thing and you know, trying to
(08:48):
scare off the crows. What was your history with kind
of this character? And then this adaptation of the character
as well, because there's a ton of great singing and
a ton of dancing while also you you know, kind
of doing the motions of a guy who doesn't have
his brain.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
You know, Scarecrow which originated hint in Battle Rest Assault
who originated this part? You know, there are so many
versions and takes of the Scarecrow. What I do understand
is that Scarecrow has been on this pole for.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
A long time, right.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I can't he can't, for the life of him be
a scarecrow to the crows. So you know, he's just
by himself. And as we start the show Dorothy feels
by herself. So this is the first moment where two
people by themselves find someone but like minds and we
instantly become best friends. So you know, when we have
(09:49):
the lion and tin man that comes along, Dorothy and
Scarecrow have created this bond already that I'm not leaving
your side, You're not leaving my side because now we
have each other. So with that whole part in telling
the story, I wanted to the Scarecrow is always perceived
AS's being dumb, stupid, aloof and I wanted to humanize
(10:12):
him in this way to where first of all, he
was a scientist. The man has a brain. Okay, he
just believed what Eveline told him when she cast a
spell on him. And you know a lot of times
in life we live our lives listening to what people
think we should do, how we should act, who we
(10:34):
should be, more majority of time for what they want
us to be for them, And I wanted to humanize
Scarecrow in a sense of you know, he says the
first thing that comes on his brain, Ironically, his brain,
the first thing that comes to his mind is what
he says, what he feels, and at the end, he
realizes that he has everything that needed all along. But
(10:54):
I just wanted to simplify him in a way of
letting people know that you're not dumb because you missed something.
You're not done because it goes over your head. But
his heart is big, and because his heart is big,
his heart channels to his brain funnels him.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, it's a great way to put it. And it's
interesting that you mentioned in this adaptation the way that
the discovery of well, you know, it's not some guy saying, hey,
ye had all this all along. It's really a self understanding,
like you realize it yourself, which I think is an
even more powerful message at the end of the show.
(11:30):
But let's not kid around here. The story is what
it is. It's the singing and the dance. Like I
sat there on multiple occasions, and I hadn't I was
unfamiliar with the whiz and the music. You know, I
recognize a couple of the songs, but you know, I
just I was blown away by how many opportunities all
of the cast members had to really just own that
(11:52):
stage so for and you guys have multiple songs and
you get to do that every single time. So I'll
start with Elijah here, What is the song for you?
Like the song for you that you know every time
you get a chance to perform it, you kind of
get those goosebumps and you look forward to that every performance.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Well, the great thing about this adaptation is typically in
the original Broadway show, the Scarecrow song was born before Yesterday,
and we have a version of that later on in
the show. But we were fortunate enough to get clearance
to do You Can't Win, which is.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
A song that was written to Michael Jackson for the movie.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
And for that to not be on Broadway, and we
have the privilege to celebrate these fifty years with doing
that song. It is a great moment that I get
with my Scarecrow character. I try to marry. I've done
my research, of course, on all the Scarecrows that have played,
and I try to marry all those that came before me.
And just to be able to touch something that was made.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
For Michael Jackson, it's pretty amazing.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
I know I'll never be him. I don't want to
be him. I don't want to imitate him, but I
want to honor what he did for that role.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Now he brought it to life.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
So being able to sing that song every night is
my homage gems to thank him.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
That's super cool. How about you, Kyla. That's kind of
the I mean, I feel like I know where this
is going because it's one of the I don't want
to say this in front of another customer, but it's
really like maybe the vocal highlight of the entire show.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Oh it is. I am not shaded by that. I
love my sister and that voice is iconic.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
What people don't know is we do eight shows a week, right,
and that's a big song to do, and sometimes we're
just tired. But Elijah is on the side of the
stage and so even if I don't have it, he
is hollering at me from the wings and it just
hypes me up the whole time. So I'm really grateful
(13:45):
one to be in a cast with Elijah. But we
support each other so much behind the scenes that it
helps us. So you all don't see you guys don't
know when we've been traveling, or that we're sick, or
we're under the weather, or we don't have it that
day because were human. But to be in a cast
of people that hold us up and encourage us has
(14:05):
been just wonderful. But singing that song every night, it's
hilarious because the people's response tickled. I laugh all the time,
and my character is not the happiest person. So it's
actually quite difficult to maintain because I get tickled all
of the time and I have to still be like
(14:27):
So it's a lot of smiling and growling. But I'm
grateful to do it nightly. This version speaks to the
church girl in me anyway. The tambourine thing is funny
because it's the first instrument I ever played, and so
they kind of wanted me to just it was more
of a prop when it was brocky. I said, honey,
(14:48):
if you hand me a tambouring I'm going to play
the tambourine. So it's it's become I know what people
are expecting, and so there's there's an expectating the same
with You Can't Win. It's people always know Michael Jackson version.
They're going to know that version before they kind of
know no bad news. So there is a there's a
(15:08):
expectation of the song. There is a pressure, there's a
responsibility that we have every night to give you what
you want, and a little bit of what you don't expect.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Well, I can say this no bad news when you
hear that. I mean the reason it, you know, for
people who haven't seen it, there are multiple times where
people just are like, I have to clap for this.
I just like, I can't. I can't wait till the end.
I have to just cheer because of how good this is.
And I just want to shine a little bit of
like she's not here, but the girl is playing Dorothy. Okay,
so she is insanely town.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Ye.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
She is on the stage essentially the entire time, and
I just I have no idea how old she is
but her okay, so, but she even feels younger than that.
And she is a perfect Dorothy. I mean she's the
way that she sings, the way she interacts. But you know,
what can you say about that character being kind of
(16:01):
the central force for a show that has all these colorful,
you know, you know, friends and foes that she's going
to interact with with. And I'll start with Elijah, How
can you like this like for to have somebody you
know like that as the centerpiece of the show that
you interact with throughout How important is that to have
(16:22):
that great relationship with the person that's actually playing the role.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
It's vital, you know for me, As I said, our
character is our best friends in the show, and it's
great that I have a good relationship with her on
and off stage also, And it was very important to me,
you know, with this being her first Broadway show and
to have been fortunate to have had some longevity in this.
(16:48):
It was great too literally lock arms, you know, and
got her through it as she discovered it. And her
talent is pure, her talent is God given, and just
to help navigate it and to be side with her
and both of us discovering things with each other is
really great. She's a phenomenal talent, and it's always great
(17:14):
to be able to grow with any co star that
you have. And we've been on this tour since February
right this year, and you know, I've seen monumental growth
in her and even in myself and learning things about
myself playing alongside of her. It's a really great experience.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Well, I can tell you this that the whole cast
is unbelievable. I was talking to my wife afterwards, you know,
because we go to every show and that's the one
thing I mean, like of course the ways. I'm sure
like the story, it's fifty years and all that stuff.
But you will leave and you will be thinking about
the voices you heard and the dancing that you saw,
and the visuals. I mean, it's just an unbelievable show.
(17:58):
And Elijah Ahmaudlu playing the Scarecrow and then Eveline along
with Anthem being played by Kyla Jade. You will see
them on the stage at the Orpheum the rest of
this week. Guys, thank you so much for stopping in
talking absolutely and I could talk about this forever, but
you have some other things you gotta go to. Thank
you so much for being here.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Thank you, thank you so much,
Back here on eleven ten, kfab We thank you so
much for listening. We talk about all the great things
happening in our community and that includes at the Orphum
thanks to our friends from Omaha Performing Arts, the production
of The Wiz is at the Orpheum this week and
joining us in the studio a couple of the stars
of the show. First, we have Kyla Jade who plays
(00:20):
Anti m and Eveleene. Thank you so much for coming
in today.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Also on the other side, we have the guy who
plays Scarecrow and has a ton of as If you've
seen The Wizard of Oz, you know how important the
Scarecrow is to the story. Elijah ahmaud lewis here with
us today.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
He loo Hello, Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
All right, I'm sitting here. I'm I'm removed like roughly
fourteen hours from seeing you guys on the stage at
the Orphium. I had not seen The Whiz before, and
I'll start with nope, nope. I've seen The Wizard of
Oz about one hundred times and I'm familiar with Wicked obviously,
(01:00):
and the book The Whiz was a new one for me,
and man, it was crazy. First off, I want to
talk about just kind of the premise because it's a Kyla.
I'll start with you. The story is familiar, but it's
the way the story is told that makes this a
really interesting show for people. Sure. Yeah, so I guess
my first question would be what would be the way
(01:23):
you would describe it to somebody who's never seen it before.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Well, I think the story of Home is universal. Everyone
is looking for home. Home can represent your family, You
can represent a belief, a desire that you want to accomplish.
It could be love, it could be all of those things.
And so when I described The Wiz, it's basically an
African American cultural take on that journey to home. So
(01:50):
you have all of the nuances that you get from
the Wizard of Oz, but it's just an adaptation of
that story that's set in a different, different place, with
different experiences in different colors.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
It is honestly in Elijah. Maybe you can speak to
this too. We know the characters already. I don't know
if anybody who would see The Wiz who would not
be super familiar with the wizdo of Oz. And it
feels like the story, you know, is kind of streamlined
in that way because we have additional musical numbers, a
lot of musical numbers, some big dance breaks, and every
(02:25):
single person in the cast kind of gets that going
to church moment of just like owning the stage. Every
song just feels like it is about the performance. How
can you best describe that element of this show because
every single person, I think this may be the most
talented vocal group that we have seen in the orpheum
since I've lived in Omaha the last couple of.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Years, you know, I you know, to piggyback on what
Kylo said, you know, our culture is very expressive in
many lights, and voice is one of them. I mean,
predominantly are African American culture or you know, the roots
is church and having those elements of feeling and expressing
(03:08):
heart and soul and through song, through dance, through movement
is a very big part of what this is. And
our creative team is very adamant about making sure that
we add all of those elements into one and threw
them into one. You know, there are a lot of
talented people in the world, and the great thing about
this show is there are more than two principal characters,
(03:30):
so everyone gets a moment to express themselves and express
themselves through their character.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
That's such a great point there. Everybody knows the whole cast.
This is one of those interesting stories the Wizard of
Oz that I think anybody who's seen it can name,
you know, six or seven characters, and they're all really
important to the way the story is told. Kyla, I
kind of want to talk about your characters. Anti m
isn't really in the show that much, but you start
(03:59):
with this really powerful kind of like the opening tune.
It really is kind of a establishment of Dorothy and
how much love and DM has for Dorothy. But then
when you get into your other character, which is essentially
(04:19):
a take on the Wicked Witch of the West, it
is a very colorful variation of a very different type
of the story that we have seen. How do you
best describe that character and how you try to make
it your own while also, you know, knowing that you
are kind of a version of the Green woman that
(04:43):
we see in the nineteen thirty.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Nine film, I think you have to remove that. I
think the idea of that I am a version of her.
You have to first of all remove that whole thing,
because all of us have different experiences, so we may
live the same story, but our ideas and our experience
within that story are different. So I grew up in Kansas.
I was born and raised in Kansas, not far from Nebraska,
(05:07):
so I've been here before. But let's say you and
I went to high school together. Our experiences in high
school with different cultures would be very vastly different. So
the idea of Eveleene versus Wick of Richard of West
two very different experiences that don't marry. But the blessing
about Eveleene is well, let me just talk about our
(05:28):
show and as a whole. This is the fiftieth anniversary
tour of the Broadway play. So this story, this adaptation
is actually parts of the Broadway show, parts of the
movie married and then added some new cultural things, which
is the dancing that you see as a more modern
take or modern dances that we deal with. So playing
(05:51):
Eveleene for me was taking Mabel King who did it
on Broadway, and Mabel King who did it in the movie,
and then adding Eila Jade into it. And the difference
between her and on m has to be on very
separate planes. When you meet on em, you're in black
and white. Yeah, everything is great, Everything is dull as
far as the color is. But she's so warm. She's
(06:13):
warm to Dorothy, She's she's like, all right, baby, we
gonna make it. You're gonna be okay. And then you
move into color, you meet the Scarecrow, you meet all
of her other people, and when you meet even Lene,
you're now immersed. You're now in the world of Oz
and you in her pop out of the city. So
you better, you better get it together because you want
my side now. So it's it's a fun thing to do,
(06:34):
but I think it's problematic to compare because the experiences
are vastly.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Different and and the visuals are different. So you you
mentioned the visual of the black and white in the open,
and then we get to OZ pretty quickly and you come.
By the time we see you again, you look so different.
So we don't want you to know that. So yeah, yeah,
we definitely have to change that. But but but so
(07:00):
like for you personally, for those who you know are
I love the magic of like how people you know
create these things, and the screen that you guys have
behind you really immerses you into the world. But for
you personally, you get off the stage and then it's
almost like you're you have to get ready for a
completely different show. So how does how does that kind
of work for you on a night tonight basis?
Speaker 3 (07:23):
It's a lot.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Once once on Em leaves, she's done, she's gone. You
don't see her no more.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
You actually forget about her.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
But it's a whole What's the funny thing Isija and
I have a moment where we come off stage, we
discuss what's happened in the first five minutes of the show.
We check in with each other and then I'm like pew,
and then I'm running, So I run, I jump into
costume I have. I have how many songs will come out?
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Like four?
Speaker 3 (07:49):
I think? Yeah, I think I have like four songs.
They have Dorothy Scarecrow, ten men lying, So yeah, yeah,
it's like four songs. I have four songs to completely
change carecharacters, change costumes, change looks, change weeks, and be
ready to come out the station. So it's a lot,
but it's at this point it's fun.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah, what a fun character, Eveline. We're speaking here with
a couple of the cast members from The Whiz, which
is going through the weekend at the Orpheum. Elijah the Scarecrow.
It's about Dorothy. We know the stories about Dorothy, but
in the movie, in the book. I mean, you really,
like anybody who's familiar with the text, any text of
(08:27):
this show, the Scarecrow is maybe the most beloved character.
You know, the if I only had the brain and
then the way that you know in this show, the
comedy is immediate, right, It was just like and you
have the physical visual of this guy doesn't have a
working brain kind of thing and you know, trying to
(08:48):
scare off the crows. What was your history with kind
of this character? And then this adaptation of the character
as well, because there's a ton of great singing and
a ton of dancing while also you you know, kind
of doing the motions of a guy who doesn't have
his brain.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
You know, Scarecrow which originated hint in Battle Rest Assault
who originated this part? You know, there are so many
versions and takes of the Scarecrow. What I do understand
is that Scarecrow has been on this pole for.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
A long time, right.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I can't he can't, for the life of him be
a scarecrow to the crows. So you know, he's just
by himself. And as we start the show Dorothy feels
by herself. So this is the first moment where two
people by themselves find someone but like minds and we
instantly become best friends. So you know, when we have
(09:49):
the lion and tin man that comes along, Dorothy and
Scarecrow have created this bond already that I'm not leaving
your side, You're not leaving my side because now we
have each other. So with that whole part in telling
the story, I wanted to the Scarecrow is always perceived
AS's being dumb, stupid, aloof and I wanted to humanize
(10:12):
him in this way to where first of all, he
was a scientist. The man has a brain. Okay, he
just believed what Eveline told him when she cast a
spell on him. And you know a lot of times
in life we live our lives listening to what people
think we should do, how we should act, who we
(10:34):
should be, more majority of time for what they want
us to be for them, And I wanted to humanize
Scarecrow in a sense of you know, he says the
first thing that comes on his brain, Ironically, his brain,
the first thing that comes to his mind is what
he says, what he feels, and at the end, he
realizes that he has everything that needed all along. But
(10:54):
I just wanted to simplify him in a way of
letting people know that you're not dumb because you missed something.
You're not done because it goes over your head. But
his heart is big, and because his heart is big,
his heart channels to his brain funnels him.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, it's a great way to put it. And it's
interesting that you mentioned in this adaptation the way that
the discovery of well, you know, it's not some guy saying, hey,
ye had all this all along. It's really a self understanding,
like you realize it yourself, which I think is an
even more powerful message at the end of the show.
(11:30):
But let's not kid around here. The story is what
it is. It's the singing and the dance. Like I
sat there on multiple occasions, and I hadn't I was
unfamiliar with the whiz and the music. You know, I
recognize a couple of the songs, but you know, I
just I was blown away by how many opportunities all
of the cast members had to really just own that
(11:52):
stage so for and you guys have multiple songs and
you get to do that every single time. So I'll
start with Elijah here, What is the song for you?
Like the song for you that you know every time
you get a chance to perform it, you kind of
get those goosebumps and you look forward to that every performance.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Well, the great thing about this adaptation is typically in
the original Broadway show, the Scarecrow song was born before Yesterday,
and we have a version of that later on in
the show. But we were fortunate enough to get clearance
to do You Can't Win, which is.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
A song that was written to Michael Jackson for the movie.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
And for that to not be on Broadway, and we
have the privilege to celebrate these fifty years with doing
that song. It is a great moment that I get
with my Scarecrow character. I try to marry. I've done
my research, of course, on all the Scarecrows that have played,
and I try to marry all those that came before me.
And just to be able to touch something that was made.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
For Michael Jackson, it's pretty amazing.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
I know I'll never be him. I don't want to
be him. I don't want to imitate him, but I
want to honor what he did for that role.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Now he brought it to life.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
So being able to sing that song every night is
my homage gems to thank him.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
That's super cool. How about you, Kyla. That's kind of
the I mean, I feel like I know where this
is going because it's one of the I don't want
to say this in front of another customer, but it's
really like maybe the vocal highlight of the entire show.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Oh it is. I am not shaded by that. I
love my sister and that voice is iconic.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
What people don't know is we do eight shows a week, right,
and that's a big song to do, and sometimes we're
just tired. But Elijah is on the side of the
stage and so even if I don't have it, he
is hollering at me from the wings and it just
hypes me up the whole time. So I'm really grateful
(13:45):
one to be in a cast with Elijah. But we
support each other so much behind the scenes that it
helps us. So you all don't see you guys don't
know when we've been traveling, or that we're sick, or
we're under the weather, or we don't have it that
day because were human. But to be in a cast
of people that hold us up and encourage us has
(14:05):
been just wonderful. But singing that song every night, it's
hilarious because the people's response tickled. I laugh all the time,
and my character is not the happiest person. So it's
actually quite difficult to maintain because I get tickled all
of the time and I have to still be like
(14:27):
So it's a lot of smiling and growling. But I'm
grateful to do it nightly. This version speaks to the
church girl in me anyway. The tambourine thing is funny
because it's the first instrument I ever played, and so
they kind of wanted me to just it was more
of a prop when it was brocky. I said, honey,
(14:48):
if you hand me a tambouring I'm going to play
the tambourine. So it's it's become I know what people
are expecting, and so there's there's an expectating the same
with You Can't Win. It's people always know Michael Jackson version.
They're going to know that version before they kind of
know no bad news. So there is a there's a
(15:08):
expectation of the song. There is a pressure, there's a
responsibility that we have every night to give you what
you want, and a little bit of what you don't expect.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Well, I can say this no bad news when you
hear that. I mean the reason it, you know, for
people who haven't seen it, there are multiple times where
people just are like, I have to clap for this.
I just like, I can't. I can't wait till the end.
I have to just cheer because of how good this is.
And I just want to shine a little bit of
like she's not here, but the girl is playing Dorothy. Okay,
so she is insanely town.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Ye.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
She is on the stage essentially the entire time, and
I just I have no idea how old she is
but her okay, so, but she even feels younger than that.
And she is a perfect Dorothy. I mean she's the
way that she sings, the way she interacts. But you know,
what can you say about that character being kind of
(16:01):
the central force for a show that has all these colorful,
you know, you know, friends and foes that she's going
to interact with with. And I'll start with Elijah, How
can you like this like for to have somebody you
know like that as the centerpiece of the show that
you interact with throughout How important is that to have
(16:22):
that great relationship with the person that's actually playing the role.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
It's vital, you know for me, As I said, our
character is our best friends in the show, and it's
great that I have a good relationship with her on
and off stage also, And it was very important to me,
you know, with this being her first Broadway show and
to have been fortunate to have had some longevity in this.
(16:48):
It was great too literally lock arms, you know, and
got her through it as she discovered it. And her
talent is pure, her talent is God given, and just
to help navigate it and to be side with her
and both of us discovering things with each other is
really great. She's a phenomenal talent, and it's always great
(17:14):
to be able to grow with any co star that
you have. And we've been on this tour since February
right this year, and you know, I've seen monumental growth
in her and even in myself and learning things about
myself playing alongside of her. It's a really great experience.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Well, I can tell you this that the whole cast
is unbelievable. I was talking to my wife afterwards, you know,
because we go to every show and that's the one
thing I mean, like of course the ways. I'm sure
like the story, it's fifty years and all that stuff.
But you will leave and you will be thinking about
the voices you heard and the dancing that you saw,
and the visuals. I mean, it's just an unbelievable show.
(17:58):
And Elijah Ahmaudlu playing the Scarecrow and then Eveline along
with Anthem being played by Kyla Jade. You will see
them on the stage at the Orpheum the rest of
this week. Guys, thank you so much for stopping in
talking absolutely and I could talk about this forever, but
you have some other things you gotta go to. Thank
you so much for being here.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Thank you, thank you so much,
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